HBP Chapter 8: A Winner Is Snape!

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Sorry for being so late, folks; having to split about the previous chapter twice messed with my schedule.

In Which Harry Shows A Marked Lack of Perspective


- Is "lay" present or past tense? Because it seems to flare up among all the other verbs here.

- Harry's hatred for Malfoy is now apparently at an all time high because, as the previous book showed us, there's nothing Harry hates more than being completely outsmarted. You would think he would have gotten used to it by now.

- Also, Draco didn't even give him a kiss; what with all the UST, it's no wonder Harry's beast chose the first available girl out of desperation.

- Harry tries, and fails, to make non-verbal, wandless magic. Maybe next book, old chum.

- Harry despises himself for hoping that people might be worried sick about his absence, thus giving the requisite token "Harry So Humble" moment for the chapter (no tally for this one, though).

- And then, of course, he is saved by a Tonks Ex Machina. Even though it would have made more sense for Moody to find him, but at least now we know Tonks is good at deductive reasoning (which puts her ahead of three quarters of the Wizarding World).

- Was Emo!Tonks put to make us miss Punk!Tonks? Because it's succeeding, even if the cause for the change was getting ditched by her boyfriend who is gay a werewolf.

- Say hello to Snape (again). He hasn't changed at all over the summer, to the relief of many a weary reader.

- Snape notes maliciously (Gah! She's making me do it!) that Tonks' new Patronus looks weak. I think this is his way of saying "Didn't you know he was going to leave you the moment you became an inconvenience to his way of life?"

- Yet another case of Harry's selective memory: he actually didn't start hating Snape until some time after Halloween on his first year. Strange that he doesn't remember this, as it's a fact that unfavorably compares Snape to him.

- I take it Harry doesn't want to believe that Sirius wouldn't have rushed to the DoM to his aid, regardless of any needling from Snape. Also, I'm fairly sure that many among the Order saw Sirius as the emotionally unstable man of the house and, while not glad of his death like Snape no doubt was, aren't exactly going to miss him.

- Here Snape takes away 70 points from Gryffindor because he can. Harry's fury rages a bit more, because it's the trivialities that really make him hate Snape and not the whole "blaming the son for the sins of the father" bit.

In other news, the big picture, like this year's sorting, once again eludes Harry completely.

- Harry's sparkling wit eludes him as well; Snape's "dramatic entrance" taunt should have been countered with "I learned from the master, sir."

- Apparently, Emo!Tonks only fixed Harry's nose without stopping the bleeding. Because she's emo.

- The moment of HSH from earlier in the chapter is now undone, as Harry hopes his housemates will assume he got held back by a couple of Death Eaters and a Dementor and a pony. Meanwhile, Draco's rousing tale of PWNAGE was limited to the Slytherin table; nice to know the other Houses don't give a damn.

- Say hello to Trelawney; since Harry won't be taking Divination anymore, Rowling has resorted to randomly include Sybill in many spots among the book, while she deals with her UST re: Firenze and reads the Tarot Cards of Foreshadowing.

- What he would not give to fight Malfoy one-on-one...
a) HAWT.
b) With a few allies for back-up, right Potter?

- How thoughtful of Dumbledore, making sure everyone gets hit with the Impending Death Mallet before he begins his last welcoming speech.

- Dumbledore: Professor Snape, meanwhile, will be taking over the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
Harry: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Slytherins: WINNAR!!

- Harry savagely hopes Snape will die at the end of the year because of the Curse. And then he wonders why no one takes his suspicions about Snape seriously.

- Ron ignores his Prefect duties (because He So Pathethic). Why didn't any of the other Gryffs get chosen instead? Oh, because then Harry wouldn't have had his pity party. Right.

- It was a mark of the strength of their friendship that Ron didn't laugh.

As many people have noted, it says something about this society that anyone who likes Harry and dislikes Draco might have found that funny.

- I don't know if JKR intended the last lines of the chapter to be humorous, but I found them very funny. "Well shit, guess there's no stopping anyone from complaining about Hagrid's teaching now, huh?"