OotP Chapter Twenty-One

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

* God they have a lot of homework, and knowing how incapable Harry and Ron are of doing even a single essay just makes it seem like more.

* If I were Harry I'd be secretly glad to be off Quidditch for a while, but then I'm lazy. And also I, unlike Harry, have figured out that Quidditch is a really dumb game.

* Day Three: Hagrid still totally annoying. Making up for lost time.

* Also Day Three: Hagrid still bruised. If Malfoy is, Harry doesn’t mention it (perhaps Harry purposefully avoided the pretty face while going for everyplace he could reach...).

* Must quote this because I love it:

“…Anyway, they prefer the dark.”
“What prefers the dark?” Harry heard Malfoy say sharply to Crabbe and Goyle, a trace of panic in his voice. “What did he say prefers the dark. Did you hear?”

* First, I love me some Cowardly!Custard!Draco.

* Second, Draco’s history: In his first year he gets detention walking at night into a forest filled with dangerous creatures, his only guide being someone he knows as a savage incapable of most magic even when sober, which he often isn't. He also might be happy to feed Draco to the nearest animal on one word from his good buddy Harry. They get sent off alone and run into a horrible creature drinking blood. Then, first day of Hagrid’s class he gets mauled petting one of the animals. Even he, not knowing he’s a fictional character, must by now have figured out the class is dangerous and if anyone’s going to get attacked, it will be him. If this class were in South Park, Draco would be Kenny.

* I wonder if Dumbledore swore Draco to secrecy about the thing in the forest the way he did with Snape, or if he just assumed--ha ha--that nobody would believe him anyway.

* Draco should get a gold star for applying acquired knowledge to his behavior, though I think Wizards would call that cowardice.

*

Harry remembered the only other occasion on which Malfoy had entered the Forest before now; he had not been very brave then, either.

Once again, Harry confuses "courage" with "wisdom." Draco and Neville were both scared, but went in anyway because they had to go. (Though Draco probably was motivated only by the threat of expulsion unsullied by the stupid of needing to be brave in front of other Gryffindors.)

* Harry, btw, has no patience with those cowardly women who get nervous or avoid walking through deserted parking lots at night either. You should prefer being in dangerous places!

* Technically why would Harry know if that was the last time Draco had been to the forest? More correct to say Harry remembered the last time HE had seen Draco entering the forest. Or else perhaps Draco really does have no life outside of where Harry can see it. ETA: Or at least he did for one book only. I think the Draco of HBP just ran off and escaped to Massachusetts and that's why he didn't appear in DH.

*

He smiled to himself; after the Quidditch match anything that caused Malfoy discomfort was all right with him.

As opposed to, say, last week when anything that caused Malfoy discomfort would have kept him up all night worrying.

* The kind of pleasure that's making Harry smile to himself is sweet and fleeting, though. Like Chinese food, Harry will be hungry for more an hour later.

*After the Quidditch match, probably anything that caused Harry discomfort was all right with Malfoy, but that's because he's a petty, evil bully and Harry has done nothing to deserve such ill-wishing.

*Harry was worried about Malfoy’s behavior in class, but his question about being “sure they’re trained” isn’t strictly bratty. Harry has of course decided to submit to anything Hagrid does without question as a matter of principle, but any other kid is right to make it clear Hagrid has proven himself untrustworthy.

* I like that Draco links it to Hagrid’s face, even if it’s wrong. How sad am I? Any time a bad guy--or a Wizard--shows the slightest bit of reasoning skill I’m unduly impressed since they so rarely do it.

*Hagrid’s reaction is a good flipside to Snape, though I think Snape’s childish moments as a teacher are more actual moments while Hagrid goes through the entire class as a child. A kid's been hurt in his class before, even if Hagrid blames him for it, and when he’s challenged on the safety of what he’s doing he reacts defensively (“Course they’re trained!” “Mind yer own business”), making their point for them. It still doesn’t occur to him that it’s his JOB to make the class safe and take the fears of his students seriously, and that things would go more smoothly if he just did that.

*Not to mention, I thought this was a class in wild animals. Any idiot knows wild animals can only be trained so much. Well, not *any* idiot, apparenly. This one doesn't.

*I wonder if the Hagrid story is ever going to lead to Harry getting angry with him, since this is one subject where Harry’s not in complete denial—understandably. He’s okay with his friends being cruel or having a bad temper, I’d guess, but he’d rather they not be screw-ups.

*ETA: Nope, I shall just be taunted with the possibility of Hagrid's death through his own idiocy while Harry is assured he was always right to pretend he was more capable than he was. Or perhaps to put it more succinctly, "...while Harry is assured he was always right."

* I have always assumed the weedy boy just behind Goyle was Theodore Nott. I hope the fact that he's looking at the Thestrel’s eating habits with distaste means he’s just as snobbish a Pureblood as the rest of the Slytherins.

* Err...not that Slytherins don't also have the worst table manners. They're snobby, fussy *and* animalistic, remember.

* It continues to be interesting how the magical world, which is full of superstitions come to life, can have superstitions. Parvati has heard that Thestrels bring bad luck to people that see them, but Hagrid says that’s not true. It would make sense people would confuse it—people who have seen death have possibly been unlucky and only they can see Thestrels. But "you can only see them if you've seen death" is no less superstitious-sounding than "They bring bad luck if you see them."

* Not to mention, why would I listen to Hagrid anyway? Not only is he a general idiot, but he's willfully ignorant about dangerous animals when he wants to be. He'd never say anything to intentionally make an animal sound bad.

* Umbridge is obviously obnoxious for speaking to Hagrid as if he’s “slow,” though Hermione started the chapter by saying she talked at him for hours about the situation without his getting it. Perhaps if she’d talked slower…

* Draco looks like Christmas has come early—I’ll bet! Just as Harry is thrilled to find out other people can see Thestrels, Draco is probably thrilled another person can “see” his awful teacher.

* Hermione’s enraged by Umbridge making fun of Hagrid’s...personal quirks.

* Everybody should have to memorize Hagrid’s description of Thestrels as proof of why he shouldn’t be teaching the class:

“Thestrals aren’ dangerous! All righ’, they might take a bite outta yeh if yeh really annoy ‘em...”

Umbridge writes this down as showing Hagrid shows pleasure at idea of physical violence, but it also says a lot about Hagrid’s (and other’s) idea of danger: they’re not dangerous because they only hurt people who deserve it by being “annoying.” (Malfoy, compulsively annoying, has good reason to be afraid.)

*Basilisks, otoh, are dangerous, obviously, because they attack good people.

* Hagrid compares it to a dog biting you if you “bait it” but has shown that he defines “baiting” as “whatever the animal responds to with attack.” Dogs that bite people for annoying them are considered dangerous.

* Pansy is having a silent fit of laughter here—I wonder how she learned to shriek silently.

* ”Assuming they can understand you, of course,” is another one of Draco’s few actually funny lines.

* It’s mean of Umbridge to act like Hagrid is mentally challenged, but I don’t doubt many of the kids DO have trouble understanding him, and we’ve seen he’s not very good at adjusting himself to their needs and prefers to do the opposite. A teacher who tells students they’re asking “stupid questions” when they ask about safety is probably not one students are going to feel comfortable asking to repeat himself because he’s a) got a strange accent; b) sometimes addresses the most important bits of class to only a few students and c) tends to talk as if students know things they don’t know yet d) gets offended when he's got no real right or reason to be.

*Umbridge is probably correct in thinking the Gryffindors don't want to admit that they’re frightened, though it’s really not that Neville is intimidated, exactly. I'm not sure why he's upset and confused--Umbridge's act is pretty standard. If Neville wanted to make Hagrid look good surely he'd know to say, "I find them fascinating, thanks." Neville's not an idiot usually...oh, I guess JKR is just trying to make Harry look good by comparison.

*Heh—I hope nobody happens to mention that yes, they had expressed fear and frustration about Hagrid’s class, but Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron and Ginny Weasley told them to shut their fat mouth or they’d be sorry.

*Thanks to Hermione for explaining to me that Umbridge’s behavior to Hagrid was racist because he’s a half-breed, since her behavior to him was no different than her behavior to anyone else. She seemed to be reacting to Hagrid the individual to me. Even if we know she is racist, I can't imagine her reacting any differently to Hagrid if he was a Pureblood.

* Note that while it's racist to act like being half-giant makes you semi-retarded, there's nothing wrong with actual giants like Grawp seeming, well, fully retarded. Err. So don't talk to Hagrid like you'd talk to his brother. I guess. Um.

* ETA: Also, I find it bizarre that JKR will give Hermione a big "she's racist, I can tell, and so she's using her power in a sinister way!" and then present Slughorn's blatant racism about Muggleborns in a way that makes tons of readers defend him as totally not racist at all because he likes Harry, Hermione and Lily and really what else matters?

* Yay Ron, mentioning that Thestrels are dangerous. Boo Hermione for the fuzzy logic “They just can take care of themselves!” euphemism. One does not discount the other, Hermione. Ask your Muggle parents if you can't follow the logic there.

* ETA: Yes, I love the idea of these guys running the justice system. The murderer killed the witness to cover up his crime, your honor. He just knows how to take care of himself!

* To review, Hagrid didn’t learn anything from the Buckbeak incident besides that Malfoy is a jerk and deserves anything he gets. And that he’s got his job for life because Dumbledore is protecting him even from beyond the grave.

*Harry’s stoic “Would you?” when Hermione says she wishes she could see the Thestrels is just so worthy of eye-roll. Shut up, Harry.

*Do prefects usually do patrols? That’s a standard fanon convention but here we’re only told they have to patrol the halls around Xmas with Filch. Love that Ron thinks the younger kids are cheeky little snot-rags. Wonder if he’s “beastly” to them in return.

*Hermione’s fretting about the poor elves who want to be free for Xmas but can’t be because she hasn’t been making hats. Hasn’t it been made clear that any elf who wants to be free can just go to Dumbledore so they don't need the stupid hats that weren't given by their master anyway? I know it wouldn't be ooc at this stage for Hermione to create a little oppression to worry about where she could, but isn't this the kind of thing she would know?

* ETA: I can't wait until Hermione matures into a good slave-owner!

* Harry imagines Sirius alone in his house at Christmas pulling a lonely cracker with Kreacher. Okay, that really is pathetically sad. :sniff: ETA: Give him hell for me, Sirius!

* Note that Harry doesn’t think of Remus at all. Nor does he imagine him and Sirius spending Christmas Eve exchanging handmade commitment rings in front of the fire.

* The new beaters are nothing special, but new Seeker Ginny is pretty good! Wow! What a shock!

* ETA: "Pretty good" on your intramural high school team in this universe of course means "star athlete as soon as you graduate."

* Everybody still dislikes Zacharias. Think he’s the traitor yet? Good.

* Neville has improved beyond all recognition. Beyond all recognition. So feel free to put away those 4 books of relentless “Neville isn’t very good at stuff” and forget about them.

* Since there's nothing about Harry's teaching style that's so great (except his mere presence being inspiring). I imagine Neville the character getting a note before the Xmas DA meeting: “You’re good now. Have fun. –Signed, Your Creator.” Hope I get one of those soon.

* Cho’s never been able to Stun anything. Why? That's ridiculous. It seems like these hexes got much harder just in time to get much easier so that Harry could teach them when actual teachers couldn’t.

* Phew! *fans self* That kissing scene just knocked me out. I haven’t seen that kind of hormone-crazy teenage lust since Tom Sawyer gave Becky Thatcher a doorknob!;-)

* Hermione’s already all over the Harry/Cho. She predicted the kiss, she knows all about it, she’ll advise on what to do next, it’s no big deal, she’s got it under control. Cho may think she’s having a relationship with a boy, but she's just part of Hermione’s fifth year plan.

* In fact, Hermione will now happily lay out Cho’s motivations because they’re so simple. You know the funny thing? This storyline was far more interesting before Hermione jumped in with the exposition. Harry says Hermione’s explanation makes things more complicated, but it does the opposite by reducing it to an easy character breakdown. Show don’t tell, JKR Hermione. Why not use Cho for this? There's like no need to read anything else about Harry/Cho now.

* Hermione scolds Ron that not all of us have the emotional range of a teaspoon. A stinging rebuke coming from an Exposition Android. ETA: Next book Hermione will show her "emotional depth" by forgetting she likes mysteries, especially Voldemort-related ones.

* Interesting JKR makes Hermione one of those “boys are so dumb!” girls. Harry’s feelings are just as understandable as Cho’s, and expecting him to turn into Joe Soap Character who manfully comforts Cho is a little silly.

* Although Harry’s interaction with other boys is quite limited, the girls always seem to know everything about each other. It’s like Hermione has tons more contact with Cho than Harry and Ron, despite her still being in a different year and house. Do the girls spend an inordinate amount of time in the bathrooms or what? Should we assume Ginny’s Hermione’s connection to the gossip mill? Hermione seems to have more hours in her day than the boys, so that she has time to interact with all these other people and do tons of homework when we don't see her, leaving her to do her own stuff when the boys are around.

* Ron wonders what Hermione sees in Krum—well, first, Hermione doesn’t always form relationships like regular people do. A lot of people can't figure out what she sees in Ron.

* Second, one might just as well ask what Viktor sees in Hermione. He’s not that much older than she is, and I almost have an easier time imagining her with an adult (one she had a crush on because of his brains) than just a senior student. ETA: It's even odder to imagine what he sees in her once we see his new personality in DH.

* That’s a pretty badass dream Harry has. And let’s face it, who doesn’t love some hero-vomit-inducing angst?



Hero’s Death Battle Exemption
Harry brings this one up himself, so it should be mentioned: If Voldemort wants to kill you, you don’t stand a chance. Err...unless you’re Harry. Then it’s all, “Let’s duel! I lose!”

Informed Attributes
These hexes are really hard, even if they don’t seem that way.

Umbridge was being specifically racist against Hagrid in his class, even though she appeared to treat him the way she treated every other teacher she’s dealt with so far.

Also, although it’s not quite the same thing, surely Cho is now made entirely of informed attributes since Hermione went to the trouble of observing her for us.

POV Shots
Actual POV shot alert! This one’s even the chapter title—the eye of the tiger snake!

Final Jabootu score: 3.75

Comments

[kaskait.livejournal.com]

* Phew! *fans self* That kissing scene just knocked me out. I haven’t seen that kind of hormone-crazy teenage lust since Tom Sawyer gave Becky Thatcher a doorknob!;-)

I love how she juxtaposes grievous bodily harm/violent incidents with her "love" scenes. First Mr Weasely's attack in OOTP paired with Cho's kiss. Then Harry eviscerating Draco with Ginny's kiss as reward. Where did this writer learn her craft? How can she not understand the crazy messages a plot construction such as that causes?

She may think she is contrasting something horrible with something joyous. But that isn't the way it works.

[(Anonymous)]

Umbridge was being specifically racist against Hagrid in his class, even though she appeared to treat him the way she treated every other teacher she’s dealt with so far.

I've ranted about JKR's portrayal of "racism" before, and it still hacks me off. She just renders the term completely meaningless by using it to mean "being horrible to somebody who could be considered a minority".

There's also the problem that real racism is scary and dangerous because large numbers of people actually believe it's true. JKR's sanitized racism is just something evil people use to show how evil they are.

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

*I wonder if the Hagrid story is ever going to lead to Harry getting angry with him, since this is one subject where Harry’s not in complete denial—understandably. He’s okay with his friends being cruel or having a bad temper, I’d guess, but he’d rather they not be screw-ups.

*ETA: Nope, I shall just be taunted with the possibility of Hagrid's death through his own idiocy while Harry is assured he was always right to pretend he was more capable than he was. Or perhaps to put it more succinctly, "...while Harry is assured he was always right."

Well, it did in a way. In HBP, Harry got mad that Hagrid got mad that no one wanted to take his class. Luckily, as in all good-guy conflicts, they got over it because of a death. Doesn't it seem like that's the why every good-guy conflict works out in this series? Because of a death or near-death? Ron begs Harry for forgiveness when Harry faces the possibility of death in the dragon. Fleur and Molly get over their fight when Bill nearly dies. Ron and Hermione get over their conflict when Ron nearly dies. Harry makes up with Dumbledore for hiring the person who targeted his parents when Dumbledore dies... Heck, Sirius and Remus make up their estrangement through the prospect of killing Peter.

*Harry’s stoic “Would you?” when Hermione says she wishes she could see the Thestrels is just so worthy of eye-roll. Shut up, Harry.
It's definitely not as good as Ginny's, "Lucky you." Which I actually liked because Harry was being such a prat throughout this book. It was nice to have Harry for once actually remember that other people have sucky experiences with Voldemort, thank you very much.

* Hermione seems to have more hours in her day than the boys, so that she has time to interact with all these other people and do tons of homework when we don't see her, leaving her to do her own stuff when the boys are around.
When Harry was on the Quidditch team, then it made sense that Hermione might have time on her hands. Ron, too, come to think of it. But now Hermione's got all her mounds of homework to do, Ron's got Quidditch practice and Harry has... what? What is Harry doing? Putting together lesson plans for the D.A.? Sitting around seething because Dumbledore is treating him like any other student in the school?

[r-ganymede.livejournal.com]

Everybody should have to memorize Hagrid’s description of Thestrels as proof of why he shouldn’t be teaching the class:

“Thestrals aren’ dangerous! All righ’, they might take a bite outta yeh if yeh really annoy ‘em...”

Also why Dumbledore shouldn't be Headmaster - haven't those things been pulling the carriages every year?? You have a bunch of kids milling around, the vast majority of whom can't see these things, and they bite when annoyed? I'm surprised nobody's been bitten any of those times! Though for all we know they have been, but were outside the ten people Harry can recognize.

Hermione seems to have more hours in her day than the boys, so that she has time to interact with all these other people and do tons of homework when we don't see her, leaving her to do her own stuff when the boys are around.

Maybe she never actually gave up the time turner :)

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

Harry remembered the only other occasion on which Malfoy had entered the Forest before now; he had not been very brave then, either.
This is outrageous. First, for all the reasons you gave already (it would have been a sign of utter stupidity or overestimation of self not to be scared), second because it wasn't as if Harry had been braver. First off, he didn't know anything concrete about the Forbidden Forest, secondly he felt confident (however mistakenly) that Hagrid would look after him (in POA, IIRC, he imagined Hagrid to crouch behind when attempting his Patronus)and thirdly, when they encountered Quirrelmort, he didn't run because he was too scared to do it! What a hypocrit.

Note that while it's racist to act like being half-giant makes you semi-retarded, there's nothing wrong with actual giants like Grawp seeming, well, fully retarded. Err. So don't talk to Hagrid like you'd talk to his brother. I guess. Um.
In fact, this seems to be a pattern: It is racist to look down on muggleborns as if they were somehow inferior to other wizards, but it is totally alright (because the good guys do so from page 1) to see muggles as inferior to wizards. In a way, Hermione is like Hagrid: they are mongrels and need to be spared the indignity to be treated like their relations are.

"Pretty good" on your intramural high school team in this universe of course means "star athlete as soon as you graduate."
Of course - leading a study group qualifies you as head of an elite department, after all!

[horridporrid.livejournal.com]

Hermione scolds Ron that not all of us have the emotional range of a teaspoon. A stinging rebuke coming from an Exposition Android.

I thought it interesting how the movie handled this scene. (I often find it interesting how the movies tone down the ugliness of the books, actually.) But (IIRC) the trio all laugh when Hermione says this, and she and Ron sort of exchange a wry glance like Hermione was being slightly ridiculous, but you know, she's tired, or something. It was a lot gentler, and did a lot more to lay the groundwork of Ron and Hermione crushing on each other. And being friends.

[merrymelody.livejournal.com]

(Though Draco probably was motivated only by the threat of expulsion.)

God knows why. Transfer to Beauxbatons, Draco, it's not too late! (I was sad he doomed little Scorpius to Hogwarts too.)

I think the Draco of HBP just ran off and escaped to Massachusetts and that's why he didn't appear in DH.

He was probably too traumatized to be in DH after he found Ginny V.1 and the Original Krum's mouldering corpses rotting in the forest.

Hagrid compares it to a dog biting you if you “bait it” but has shown that he defines “baiting” as “whatever the animal responds to with attack.” Dogs that bite people for annoying them are considered dangerous.

Doesn't Aunt Marge's dog bite Harry for accidentally treading on it's tail or something? Bless it! Clearly a proud breed that knows how to take care of itself.

It’s like Hermione has tons more contact with Cho than Harry and Ron

Bite your tongue, Magpie, girls don't hang out together unless it's to plot man-getting. Although perhaps Hermione was nice to Cho to further her Machiavellian plan to get Harry kissed so he can marry his first proper girlfriend as a teenager content in the knowledge he has Life Experience.

[(Anonymous)]

* I wonder if Dumbledore swore Draco to secrecy about the thing in the forest the way he did with Snape, or if he just assumed--ha ha--that nobody would believe him anyway.

My guess is he did nothing. Swearing Snape to secrecy was a special case of damage control, being as Dumbledore's own ass was on the line. His bright idea to educate a werewolf at Hogwarts blew up in his face. I used to think he let the Marauders off lightly out of favoritism, but of course they had him over a barrel.

* ”Assuming they can understand you, of course,” is another one of Draco’s few actually funny lines.

According to statistics that I just now pulled out of my rear end, Draco averages one genuinely funny line per book, which puts him squarely among the top five wittiest HP characters. The twins have a way with words, but their humor is often puerile. Snape and Harry are hit and miss. Ginny's mainly just spiteful. Fans keep ranting that Canon Draco isn't all that funny, and no more he is compared to characters in other fandoms. But among HP characters he's lord of the zinger.

*Thanks to Hermione for explaining to me that Umbridge’s behavior to Hagrid was racist because he’s a half-breed, since her behavior to him was no different than her behavior to anyone else.

Umbridge had no problem with Flitwick, who's part goblin and a good teacher. She picks on Trelawney, who as far as we know is fully human and a bad teacher. Could there be some sort of logic underlying her beef with Hagrid? Nah.

-L