GoF Chapter Twenty-Two

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

*Once they’ve changed one animal into another, can’t they just change it back again? They seem to go through animals like kleenex at this school. I shudder to think where they get them all.

*Professor McGonagall announces a ball. I see no reason to drag this out with a dance lesson, but we wouldn’t want to miss a chance for Steve Kloves’ trademark cliché wit.

*You’d think somebody would have taken the opportunity to get to know the exchange students outside of a forced dance, but no. The only real reason to talk to people from other schools is if you’re hooking up with them.

*I like Harry and Ron's wand fight. What will Hermione do when there's not some big problem for her to manage all the time? Ron and Harry will just enjoy doing stupid stuff together shooting the breeze. Hermione will have to spend her life creating problems just to have something to talk about.

*Harry’s never noticed how many girls Hogwarts held before. Up till now he could have sworn it was filled mostly with hot guys. He’s no doubt irritated that he has to stop ogling them long enough to ask a girl to the dance.

*That Draco Malfoy is some evil bully. I can see why people demand death for all his evil deeds.

*Cho is popular, but not in a good way. As opposed to Ginny and Lily, who are popular because people recognize their moral superiority.

*Another sign that Ginny is the good kind of popular is that she has no actual friends to annoy a guy.

*None of the girls who ask Harry would have wanted to go with him if he wasn’t school champion and so famous. What a shame he does not remember his true love, Ginny, who who wants him because he's the boy who lived and so famous. Huge difference there. Hey, at least those other girls like you for something you actually consciously remember doing.

*Btw, this really points out the problem with Harry’s fame coming and going. Why are girls only after him now?

*As was mentioned on the other re-read, Rita’s not a very good reporter. If she wanted a teacher to insult Harry it wouldn’t take much investigating to figure out that Snape’s your man, not Hagrid. I suspect Snape wouldn’t allow her to interview him, since he has a brain.

*Harry might’ve bent a few rules, bu’ Hagrid thinks ‘e’s all righ’ really, isn’ he? And that’s still true today. What’s a few Unforgivables and a flaying more or less?

*Kloves will thankfully be dragging out the Hagrid/Maxime thing, because we all care so fucking much about Hagrid.

*The Weird Sisters should have called themselves "The Cheap Way To Tell the Audience Dumbledore's Dance is Cool." Since we’ve never heard anyone care about music once in the whole series, it’s just fake. Being Muggleborn would be no excuse for not knowing who the number one musical group was in your school. Like there wouldn't be plenty of Ravenclaws and Slytherins who hated the Weird Sisters because they're too popular.

*Also, why is it a wireless? Do wizards even know what a wire is?

*As usual, Snape is the most useful teacher. Poison antidotes Harry. These might be helpful later.

*Boy, Harry really is like some kid out of a fable: "The boy who left important things until the last minute." Weeks of worrying about a dragon have just evaporated.

*Ron insists Harry’s earned a bit of a break. Why do I think this will be the story of Harry’s life when the series is over? Harry without Voldemort would probably not have moved from an armchair for the last four years, except for Quidditch.

*"Because George wants to invite him to the ball"--LOL!

*Okay, I see that since Hermione wants Ron to ask her she has good reason to be hurt when he announces he’s going after the prettiest girl he can find (not her), but she’s hardly one to pretend to not care about peoples’ looks. It is kind of ridiculous that neither boy considers asking Hermione or even asks her if she’s going. Way to make it make it clear you think she’s got no chance, guys.

*Cho doesn’t laugh at Harry when he asks to speak to her alone. That bitch.

*I think I’ve made my thoughts on this scene clear here..

*No, Ginny! Come back! Sadly, Ginny steps through the portrait hole, is plucked from the story by a giant authorial hand, and will never be seen again, replaced instead by the Worst Character Ever. Damn you, Harry! If you’d only had the taste to ask her to the ball we might have got to keep this Ginny!

*Maybe I’m remembering ninth grade wrong, but aren’t these girls acting a little babyish? And by a little babyish I mean a lot babyish? Like maybe because Rowling’s women are all this far from hideous caricatures? I wouldn’t have giggled at 14 if a boy asked me or my friend to a dance.

*Why is it, btw, that Harry and Ron don’t realize that Parvati and Padma are pretty? Dean says they’re the prettiest girls in their year. I realize that Harry is gay, of course, and that Ron is seriously doing his best to stay pre-adolescent on principle, but would a boy really not notice that these two are pretty, just in a general way?

*Harry ends the chapter with one last stunning display of idiocy, when he hopes Padma Patil’s nose is centered. Padma, the identical twin of the girl standing in front of him. Is Parvati’s nose centered Harry?

*It’s kind of a shame JKR couldn’t have given Ron something here. Since Harry is the one all the girls are throwing themselves at and the one who gets to be the big hero and the sports champion and the Tri-wizard champion, maybe throw Ron a bone and make him the one who knows about girls? Instead Harry is everything: he’s the one that’s popular, but then also gets to be the everyman who worries about getting a date, and then also gets to be the cool guy who gets a date for his friend. And even when Ron starts getting some action in HBP it's always portrayed as if he's the slow one.





Idiot Picture
So after weeks of worrying about the last task, Harry’s just going to wing it on the next one. Believable for his character, but that character is an idiot. It’s a good thing he’s the hero of a warrior society with that kind of sluggish brain. Poor Barty’s got his work cut out for him there. He may at some point be wondering if he ought to Polyjuice into Harry to get him through the contest. Why doesn't Harry just hand the egg to Hermione and tell her to figure it out?

Informed Attributes
Harry’s ordinary, or famous, or not. The informed attributes will change scene according to plot needs.

Misdirected Answering
As fascinating as all this talk of balls and schoolwork is, is anybody following up on this question of who put Harry’s name in the Goblet and why? Anyone?

One Radio Rule
Actually, it’s a no radio rule, which is why Harry has somehow never noticed that wizards have a pop culture until it’s suddenly created for a dance.

Final score: 3

Comments

[splintercat.livejournal.com]

They were just waiting for the author to write in a big lame school event that no normal teenager would actually go to.

Hee, yeah. The Yule Ball is both very similar to and very different from my high school dance experiences. All the embarrassments over dates is familiar to me (more familiar than I'd like), but where are the students complaining about the stupid dance (but secretly dying to go)? Where are the students making a big fuss that they're not allowed to dance however they want, i.e. practically having sex with their clothes on? Where are the kids whining about the music choices? The girls surveying and judging everyone's outfit? Where are the kids who smuggle the alcohol in and then end up drunk in the bathroom at the end of the night? And where are the after parties?

It's too bad - Harry missed out on all the fun parts of a school dance!

[papier.livejournal.com]

There was this achingly sad attempt to make a dance at my school - teachers tentatively titled it 'Da Bomb', and needless to say it fell flat on its arse. Then, in my final year, there were plans for an American-style prom which were never followed through with because the idea was too tame to the kids who spent most nights out getting wasted.
The school dance thing has never been popular over here. I have to say I do envy American schools getting proms, because I'd have loved to have another thing to complain about with my friends, and another reason to look down on the popular kids. *sigh*