GoF Chapter Eleven
Apr. 20th, 2007 11:18 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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deathtocapslock*So Harry wears jeans and a sweatshirt to the train, where "they" will change into their school robes. What do Pure-bloods wear? We just had a lot of emphasis placed on the idea that wizards can't work Muggle clothing. Are Ron and Ginny wearing home robes to the train? If they're wearing clothes like Harry, why? Where did they get them? How do they know how to put them together? I hear people complaining about the movie uniforms but I swear the books are completely inconsistent on this idea. Mr. Weasley, at least, is wearing robes. You can almost understand the young author's obsession with describing every outfit down to the last detail.
*Fire talking--Harry's never seen this before. Something tells me he'll be doing it soon!
*Heh--a shell-shocked cat walking around covered in potato peelings.
*Apparently Mad-Eye's dustbins come under the jurisdiction of Improper Use of Magic. Arthur is just sticking his nose in to smooth things over for Moody, who already has violations in this area. They don't want Mad-Eye to lose his new job.
*Iow, if Arthur had let the law take its course Voldemort's plan would have been ruined before Harry got to school. Go Arthur! Don't let them investigate what happened at Moody's! Voldemort needs all the help he can get!
*I feel sad for Percy apologizing that he has to get to work when nobody wants him to come to the station anyway.
*Btw, Charlie, a boss actually can rely on somebody whose name he doesn't know. Everybody seems to think Percy is lying about being busy.
*It's too bad Arthur couldn't borrow Ministry cars for the family. That's how come the Weasleys are so down-to-earth. Sometimes the government doesn't provide them with private transportation. Sometimes.
*Charlie hints he'll be at Hogwarts soon, but manages to not be judged harshly for hinting he knows something others don't by blaming Percy, who isn't there. Bill hints too, with the Percy-blame implied.
*Suddenly everyone cares about not knowing something unlike when Percy hinted because, you know, Percy.
*
Meanwhile, in the next compartment, Malfoy arrives to find a script on his seat with READ IMMEDIATELY written in big red letters. "Father actually considered sending me to Durmstrang..." he began with a sigh, then turned to Crabbe and Goyle. "Why am I giving a speech about Durmstrang? Wouldn't you two know my father almost sent me there? Should we do a role call while we're at it just to make sure we remember each other's names as well?"
Goyle jerked his thumb towards the next compartment. "Potter's in there. He needs to know about Durmstrang."
"Be sure and speak nice and loud," said Crabbe without looking up from his comic.
"Bloody hell!" said Malfoy, throwing down his script. "I'm always having to speak loud. And now she's giving me exposition? I won't stand for this. If I didn't know I had a good storyline coming up in Book VI I'd start talking about how all magic comes from Satan right now. See how much expositional dialogue you can write when you're defending yourself against Christian Fundamentalists."
"Good one, Draco. Tell us more about this 'Durm-strang,'" said Goyle, who hoped being helpful with exposition might one day earn him an actual line in canon. "Is it perhaps a play on the German expression 'Sturm und Drang?'"
*It's so inspiring the way Hermione, a Muggleborn, manages to become so assimilated she can develop prejudices against inferior wizard schools that sound only vaguely familiar to Ron, even though Ron is a big fan of Viktor Krum who currently goes there.
*And btw, how can the schools be traditionally very competitive if they don't know about each other? Or is Ron just exceptionally sheltered and/or ignorant? He doesn't know about things being unplottable either.
*Ron laments Draco's not going to Durmstrang, as it would be so easy to push him off a glacier and make it look like an accident. "Shame his mother likes him..." he says, a line which takes on deeper meaning when you know liking Draco will drive the woman to do more than just send him to Hogwarts. You don't notice the foundations for Narcissa being laid in this book as much as they are.
*I'm surprised Seamus' friends don't make him sit by himself if he's wearing a rosette that never stops yelling.
*Crabbe and Goyle have grown a foot, but I assume Draco's still short at this point?
*Okay, I have to say this, but Malfoy is not being evil when he comes into their compartment. If I didn't know better I'd think they were kind of friends. "For the first and last time in your life, Weasley..." and "Weasley, what is that?" really do sound like ordinary boy-teasing. Harry seems to be making it into much more of a war with his, "Don't recall anybody inviting you," nonsense (which Draco ignores). Draco assumes they know about the Tournament because they're always privileged and is asking if Ron and Harry are entering. I know it's fanon to make the Slytherins more socially sophisticated but man, the Gryffindors are like Neanderthals here. (Though I'm feeling very affectionate towards Neanderthals having finally been able to watch Ape to Man last night--go evolution!! ETA: I first wrote this entry a year ago--now I guess I should make a reference to the Geico cavemen intead.) It's kind of like the first robe shop scene, where Malfoy annoyed Harry by assuming he knew what Quidditch was.
*Crabbe and Goyle guffaw "stupidly," though it seems odd to imagine guffawing stupidly at a joke about how Ron's dress robes went out of fashion in 1890. Fashion jokes and stupid guffaws just don't go together. It's like the Scarlet Pimpernel meets the Farley Brothers.
*Jesus Christ, I mean...that conversation with the Slytherins was just not that bad and Ron slams the door so hard the glass shatters? Guess we've got to hit the RON IS RILLY RILLY RILLY INSECURE theme early and hard since it's the one book for it. It's not like Ron doesn't know that his father *does* know about the secret, he just hasn't told Ron.
*Btw, Ron, you probably could have gotten the info you wanted out of Percy if you'd tried nicely. 'Course, they probably could have gotten the information out of the Slytherins too. I guess I should just be grateful Super!Ginny wasn't in the compartment with them so we weren't subjected to her withering retorts.
Designated Hero
I'm sure Mad-Eye would be thrilled to know that his imposter's way to Hogwarts was smoothed by helpful Arthur Weasley, active member of Every Ministry Department Except His Own.
Also, I like the way our hero-kids, protectors of the socially outcast, manage to meet every attempt at normal interaction by the Slytherins with cold fury.
IITS
We didn't know Durmstrang and Beauxbatons existed five minutes ago. How can we be bitter rivals? IITS!
Idiot Picture
"You're not paranoid if people really are out to get you." -Fake!Moody
Informed Attributes
Harry and his gang are the nice kids you went to school with. Not the intimidating clique that made you feel like you'd overstepped your place if you entered into a conversation without permission.
Spring-Loaded Cat
Covered in potato peelings. Okay, he doesn't really exist but damn I want to get a spring-loaded cat in there somewhere!
The Stealth Monster Rule
Although Crabbe and Goyle have grown a foot over the summer, they're still able to appear suddenly in doorways without being heard. They're big, but graceful.
"Watermelon, watermelon, cantaloupe, cantaloupe"
Watermelon, watermelon, DURMSTRANG, cantaloupe, cantaloupe, MY MOTHER, watermelon, MUDBLOOD, cantaloupe, DARK ARTS...
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no subject
Date: 2007-04-20 06:13 pm (UTC)Those Weasleys eat some weird shit.
Iow, if Arthur had let the law take its course Voldemort's plan would have been ruined before Harry got to school. Go Arthur! Don't let them investigate what happened at Moody's! Voldemort needs all the help he can get!
Everything bad that's happened in the books can be linked back to the Weasleys.
Ron laughing at Draco's name in PS meant that Harry and Draco became rivals. If they hadn't, Harry wouldn't have gone along to the midnight duel and wouldn't have discovered Fluffy, and therefore the stone's hiding place.
In CoS there was GinnySue and her diary.
In PoA it was the rat that the Weasleys had kept for years.
In GoF, as you say, it was Arthur's habit of covering up for old friends of the Order and Dumbledork that led to fake!Moody entering the school.
In OotP Molly serves to antagonise Sirius, which gets him restless, which makes him go after the DA at the DoM; although admittedly this one is a stretch.
And needless to say, the Twins' stupid cabinet prank and their products allowed the DEs entry into Hogwarts in HBP.
No doubt GinnySue's treatment of certain characters in book 6 will prove to have been a mistake in TDH.
Btw, Ron, you probably could have gotten the info you wanted out of Percy if you'd tried nicely. 'Course, they probably could have gotten the information out of the Slytherins too. I guess I should just be grateful Super!Ginny wasn't in the compartment with them so we weren't subjected to her withering retorts.
"Drawlco Malfoy!"
"Riiiight..."
"Snot eater!"
"O-kay..."
"Dung for bogies!"
"Ginger bitch with hairy nipples?"
"...P-phlegm! Snot! P-prat!"
"Welcome to PWNsville. Population, you."
Although Crabbe and Goyle have grown a foot over the summer, they're still able to appear suddenly in doorways without being heard. They're big, but graceful.
Another foot? So, they'd grow a foot the year before, presumably? Just how big are they, then?
no subject
Date: 2007-04-20 06:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-20 07:26 pm (UTC)Also, I loved your evil Weasley connection. In support to the admittedly weak case for OotP, one might concur by saying it was Ginny who came up with the firecalling idea from Umbridges Office (the first time) leading to Umbridge getting wise to that trick the second time around etc.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-20 07:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-20 07:36 pm (UTC)You may rise. ;) Honestly though, if there was a kid in the compartment with a lisp, thick glasses and braces, she'd still only be able to think of snot-based insults.
Also, I loved your evil Weasley connection. In support to the admittedly weak case for OotP, one might concur by saying it was Ginny who came up with the firecalling idea from Umbridges Office (the first time) leading to Umbridge getting wise to that trick the second time around etc.
That's true - and also, had she and the twins not suggested it, Harry wouldn't have had the option of using the fire at the time and perhaps might have been forced to remember the mirror in his trunk, thus confirming Sirius' safety.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-20 07:47 pm (UTC)And btw, how can the schools be traditionally very competitive if they don't know about each other?
Oh come on - it's the same logic according to which the winner of the triwizard tournament wins eternal glory although nobody has ever heard about that competition!
It's so inspiring the way Hermione, a Muggleborn, manages to become so assimilated she can develop prejudices against inferior wizard schools that sound only vaguely familiar to Ron, even though Ron is a big fan of Viktor Krum who currently goes there.
It's only fair. How can Ron be expected to know a Quidditch player needs or needed to go to school as well? Quidditch stars play Quidditch 24/ 7 just like Death Eaters eat death.
The thing about inferior or superior schools is puzzling: We are told (I think in PS) that Hogwarts is the best wizarding school. According to what? I mean, it's not as if even the narrator's voice doesn't claim half the teachers to be incompetent or otherwise useless (Binns, Trelawney, Hagrid, 4 out of 6 DADA teachers...). And I may be wrong, but I seem to recall the idea the Triwizard tournament was held between all "the other" schools. Even if that was meant for Europe only - where the hell are all the other European nations sending their children?
Ron laments Draco's not going to Durmstrang, as it would be so easy to push him off a glacier and make it look like an accident. "Shame his mother likes him..." he says
I just wanted to point out that Ron fantasizing about killing Draco in this way is totally different from Draco fantasizing about Hermione being killed by some monster in CoS.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-22 05:46 pm (UTC)This makes me wish for a history of wizarding fashions (because costuming is one of my obsessions). Sadly, the absolute inconsistancy about something as basic as robes means that there won't be anything of the sort.