*I think Malfoy's sincere in his adoration of Snape, btw. I think at this point in his life Malfoy sounds the most phony when he's being most sincere.
Totally. Kid may be naive but he knows a competent teacher from a moron. Snape's reaction clinches it – he wouldn't be so pleased if he thought Malfoy was only angling for better grades. Anyone who thinks Snape is faking it 'cause his ascetic soul wouldn't tolerate such shameless flattery has been reading some other set of books. Wizards love flattery, and with Snape you can lay it on with a trowel. Part of him is still the scruffy lad who wanted to impress wealthy, influential purebloods.
At first I thought "I'll tell Father you're the best" was Malfoy pretending he can influence Lucius. But maybe it's rather that Snape's and Lucius' shared past has been kept from him.
What does Ron mean, exactly, by the forest turning his car wild? Just that it's muddy?
I don't really get it, but the car seems to be alive and somewhat intelligent, which it wasn't when they last saw it. Maybe Arthur's illegal charms interacted with the Forest's magic and gave birth to Frankencar. Or maybe it's just an obscure in-joke.
*OMG, if there's one thing I hate in this series it's all the non-humans who have to spout off about Hagrid being a good man because he likes monsters.
Yes. JKR probably intended Hagrid to be good with animals (isn't he the only Thestral tamer in the game?), but she put exactly the wrong slant on his love of dangerous creatures. A professional animal handler would care for predators on their own terms. Hagrid comes across as one of those besotted pet owners who can only see the animal through the lens of his own self-indulgent sentimentality.
*As if to prove what a good man Hagrid is, his beloved pet offers up Ron and Harry as a picnic, since Hagrid's sent them and all.
On the one hand, I like this as objective proof that Hagrid's judgment is as poor as that. On the other hand, nobody learns anything from the experience except Ron, whose insights rarely count. It took the kids until sixth year to start steering clear of Hagrid, and it'll take them more years to wise up and stop feeling bad about it.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-05-17 11:25 pm (UTC)Totally. Kid may be naive but he knows a competent teacher from a moron. Snape's reaction clinches it – he wouldn't be so pleased if he thought Malfoy was only angling for better grades. Anyone who thinks Snape is faking it 'cause his ascetic soul wouldn't tolerate such shameless flattery has been reading some other set of books. Wizards love flattery, and with Snape you can lay it on with a trowel. Part of him is still the scruffy lad who wanted to impress wealthy, influential purebloods.
At first I thought "I'll tell Father you're the best" was Malfoy pretending he can influence Lucius. But maybe it's rather that Snape's and Lucius' shared past has been kept from him.
What does Ron mean, exactly, by the forest turning his car wild? Just that it's muddy?
I don't really get it, but the car seems to be alive and somewhat intelligent, which it wasn't when they last saw it. Maybe Arthur's illegal charms interacted with the Forest's magic and gave birth to Frankencar. Or maybe it's just an obscure in-joke.
*OMG, if there's one thing I hate in this series it's all the non-humans who have to spout off about Hagrid being a good man because he likes monsters.
Yes. JKR probably intended Hagrid to be good with animals (isn't he the only Thestral tamer in the game?), but she put exactly the wrong slant on his love of dangerous creatures. A professional animal handler would care for predators on their own terms. Hagrid comes across as one of those besotted pet owners who can only see the animal through the lens of his own self-indulgent sentimentality.
*As if to prove what a good man Hagrid is, his beloved pet offers up Ron and Harry as a picnic, since Hagrid's sent them and all.
On the one hand, I like this as objective proof that Hagrid's judgment is as poor as that. On the other hand, nobody learns anything from the experience except Ron, whose insights rarely count. It took the kids until sixth year to start steering clear of Hagrid, and it'll take them more years to wise up and stop feeling bad about it.
-L