OotP Chapter Ten

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Sorry I forgot to post this yesterday!

*I hope we're not supposed to assume Voldemort is making Harry be jealous of Ron and Hermione in his dream. I'd also hope Mrs. Weasley crying over Kreacher was some hint that everyone has family, but it may just be there to create a jumble of images.

*ETA: Yup, turns out anything that looks like Harry being a natural jerk really was Voldemort as per recent interviews which just keep coming.

*In the continuing study of pain management in the Potterverse, the twins knocking Ginny down a flight of stairs with a flying trunk gets them yelled at because they could have caused her Serious Injury. Harry even asks how Ginny is, although of course she's not as hurt as a real girl would have been if knocked down the stairs. This should almost be a Jabootu category, whatever the opposite of the "Hero's battle death" category is. Heroes are more physically vulnerable than bad guys.

*Molly is described as looking like Petunia watching Sirius gambol about, but her advice would have actually protected him. Is there a parallel between Molly/Petunia and Sirius/Harry? Hmmm. Neither women like the person they're protecting, but Molly was right. Sirius makes sure everybody sees him at the station, doing everything but standing up on his hind legs and reciting the Gettysburg address over a megaphone.

*Poor Ron has to make it clear he's not like Percy. This whole thing has been so ruined for him, partly unintentionally, by Harry. He spends so much time feeling unworthy and hiding his pride he can't enjoy it. Hermione, of course, has no such problems. She deserves it and she is proud of it.

*Ginny introduces Luna as "Loony." She then gets into being the Great!Girl by sharply telling Neville he's not "nobody" compared to Harry--which is kind of interesting since we later find out actually, he's right. By a whim of fate he luckily got to be "nobody" instead of Harry.

*ETA: Btw, Harry and Ginny will totally be bffs with Neville and Luna as adults even though it's hard to imagine them ever going out of their way to have contact with them any more than they do in school.

*Harry says Neville must have skipped Luna's compartment because she looked dotty, but I doubt that's true. I think Neville just didn't want to disturb a solitary girl he didn't know in a compartment.

*Neville's family is usually described negatively, but in the all-important present competition they are winning hands down. They always give thoughtful, personal presents Neville really needs and likes. This plant just has to be significant, I think. Either Sirius was somehow affected by it or maybe Neville himself was/will be?

*ETA:Err...nope. Didn't go anyplace.

*Neville tells us he LOST the Rememberall that was the cause of so much fuss first year. Neville is careless with presents people went to a lot of trouble to get for him and Harry's big heroics were pointless in the long run. It was Harry's fight on his own behalf, not Neville's. In fact, it's kind of funny that at 15 that's still the main memory Harry has of Neville so it's all he can come up with to guess at Neville's present.

*ETA: Ultimately I'm not sure where JKR was always going with Harry's obviously not having the time of day for Neville. In the end he never had to feel like he underestimated him and it was like he was a great friend all along.

*Harry is more upset over being seen with Luna and Neville than even being covered in Stinksap because he would rather be with Cool People and he knows these kids aren't it. Please shut up all the people who think Harry's is either a) a big nerd/outcast or b) doesn't notice these things or c) prefers outcasts. He hates to see them bullied. He still thinks they're nerds. I think he takes after his father this way. (James had something against Snape; I don't think he picked on him because he thought he was a weak nerd.)

*Luna comes across as really affected to me.

*The Quibbler once again shows us that in the WW truth and lies are so mixed up the only way you know the difference is if you are the one doing the mixing up.

*Luna loses her dreamy voice when she tells Hermione off, which makes it seem more affected to me.

* Hermione "viciously" calls Pansy "that complete cow" who is "thicker than a concussed troll." (Second negative description--she criticized the Quibbler "scathingly" and made Luna, who's generally friendly, angry.) Apparently Hermione's Pansy-hate is very personal and passionate-suddenly?

*Ron follows suit with his plans to make Goyle write lines, like he hates/knows him personally-I'm not sure why. Did Goyle struggle too much when Ron knocked him out and stole his clothes? Not grunt loudly enough when Ron threw a firecracker in his caldron?

*Hermione claims Ron wanting to do that is "stooping" to Draco's level, though really Ron and Draco both live at this same level regularly, along with most of the school.

*Draco arrives and the scene comes to life.:-D He repeats the same idea Ron just said, reminding Harry he can give punishments, but he does not actually give Harry any punishment, even after Harry calls him a git and everyone laughs on cue, which is nothing like Malfoy making jokes that his friends laugh at loudly. Hermione is furious, I think because she's angry Dumbledore gave Draco a prefect badge like hers, thus sullying it.

*When they get off the train, Hermione comes up "panting" to tell us Malfoy's already using his badge to "bully people worse than ever" because he was "beastly" to first years. (Harry has just noticed that Draco and his friends just pushed by some "timid-looking" second years, timid for more villainy on the Slytherins' part-I wonder if Hermione just had a confrontation with them and they're angry about it.) Now, I've no doubt Malfoy would be generally obnoxious as a prefect as he is everywhere, but I can't see Hermione as objective, especially since she later scolds Ron for calling first years "midgets" and eventually seems to crush any confidence Ron has for asserting authority. To me it honestly seems like just as Malfoy encorporates his prefect badge into the bad parts of his personality, so too does Hermione, using hers to boss and nag and judge everyone worse than ever, telling other prefects they're doing it wrong and reporting them.

*The thestrels are cool, though of course Harry would have seen them last year. I like them being reflected in Luna's eyes. She goes back to the dreamy-quality to tell Harry's he's "as sane as she is." Yes, Luna, you are sane. You don't come across as crazy to me at all, so you can drop the "I'm so different" act.



IITS
Why does Neville, a character known for trying to fade into the background and not start trouble, do something so blatantly stupid as poking that plant to show everyone how it protects itself? He knew it sprayed sap even if he didn't know how much. Why would he think anybody would want to see that? Why would he want to release dung-smelling stuff into the air? Oh yeah--so that Cho could walk in and Harry could be covered in shit. IITS.

Also, the Slytherins seem quite jaunty and friendly for people last seen unconcious at the hands of just these people. IITS.

Nut o’ Fun
That plant--I wasn't sure whether it was a Nut or a Maguffin, actually, because it seems SO IMPORTANT but we never learned if it's affected anybody badly.ETA: just a nut. And a badly chosen one too, because it makes it seem like somebody was drugging Sirius.

Final score: 2.5