OotP Chapter Twenty-Three

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

*Why would Dumbledore not meet Harry’s eyes? It is a mystery! Especially since there's no way Harry can ask him that very question: "Eyes up here, Twinkles. Look at me when I’m talking to ya!" Gryffindors are brave, but very indirect in their personal relationships. It's Snape the Slytherin who camps out in front of somebody's door to apologize.

*The tainted feeling Harry feels is really...unexpected. For me, anyway. It just surprises me hearing Harry think of being "tainted" so he can’t sit next to "innocent people." Makes me wonder about his framing the world that way—who does he consider "tainted" and not fit to sit with "innocent people?" (Think I can guess.) ETA: Good thing he had that exorcism in DH. Now he's pure as the driven snow again.

*Harry’s thoughts on how Voldemort is somehow possessing him and thus he attacked Mr. Weasley don’t make sense, but they mostly just point out the idiocy of the adults here. How could anybody not think it was important to tell this kid what’s going on? After all, it's his head! Plus, they must know Harry's not the most logical thinker, or overly calm, and he pretty much always jumps to the conclusion that he’s got to take care of everything (it doesn’t occur to him that since he overheard the idea that he’s possessed from an Order member, if it were unsafe for him to be at Order headquarters he wouldn’t be let in). Remember how he went after the Philosopher’s Stone after being told it was safe? Yeah, me too.

*Oh wait. The adults in this series probably do think he's a logical, calm thinker. He's Harry Potter and so superior at all things good! The Philosopher's Stone episode just proves that.

*I do hope, btw, that the reason Harry is really convinced of this is that he’s beginning to figure out that his own attitudes are not innocent or healthy in themselves, and could be hurting him while he’s just blaming them on Voldemort. Maybe it’s me, but whenever I hear about somebody worried about things being "unclean" it sets off a little alarm bell.

*ETA: Ha ha ha! Harry figuring out his own attitudes aren't innocent and healthy. Bwahahaha! I am too stupid to live sometimes.

*Phineas gets a lot of Malfoy-tag-words associated with him!! He leans against the side of his portrait the way Malfoy leans against the tree at the QWC, his pointy beard is mentioned again and he speaks "lazily." He’s also watching Harry with amusement, probably affecting the relaxed attitude. ETA: And in the end, he'll claim a sort of slimy credit for his house that they don't deserve. Yup, totally a Malfoy.

*These kind of words, are I believe a big reason for SexGod!Draco in fanfic. As much as people insist he’s supposed to be ugly in canon, he’s usually described as a very vibrant physical presence, and leaning against something in a relaxed way and speaking lazily=seductive. Unfortunately in canon we never get to see much of Seductive!Slytherin because Draco, Lucius, and heavy-lidded-when-she-isn’t-nuts Bellatrix are the only characters who show any hint of it and their sucky qualities far outweigh anything else.

*Phineas and Snape share a hatred of teaching and a fondness for insulting kids with names like "dolt" and "dunderhead." Pointing to another one of those weird disconnects about Slytherin. Snape, Draco and Phineas seem to be under the impression it's the brains house (opposed to the brawn of Gryffindor) when in fact Slytherin is the dunderhead house. Have they just not noticed that?

*I mean, one could point to Gryffindor as producing Neville and Peter, who are both sort of timid, but Neville is actually totally brave and Peter's pulled off the most ballsy and daring stunts in canon. The dumb Slytherins, by contrast, really are just dumb and totally devoid of cunning.

*Naturally, Harry disregards every sensible thing Phineas just said. Go Harry! You know, I have to say, this is one of the reasons it bugs me when Harry’s OotP personality is summed up by "he’s a teenager!" No, he’s a very specific kind of teenager. A recognizable kind, but not the only kind.

**snicker* Harry won’t go to Hogwarts, because he’s sure he will maim or injure anyone he’s near. So he’ll go to the Dursleys. You know, the Muggles who are even more vulnerable than wizards. Voldemort wouldn’t hurt them—he loves Muggles!

*Really, why not go back to Hogwarts and bunk with Draco for Christmas hols, Harry? Kill two birds with one stone!

*You really do almost expect Harry to start rending his garments and pouring ashes on his head he’s so over the top in his self-pity. "Ron’s afraid to be in the same room with me! Except when he’s sleeping peacefully in the next bed over! I’m a danger to all who come near! Phineas must be here to make sure I don’t attack anyone with a chainsaw! Someone stop me before I kill again!"

*Meanwhile the actual werewolf is the calmest, most easy-going fellow in the house.

*Just as I hope Harry’s fears of being a violent monster are really his unconscious warning him about his very real and personal rage, I’m hoping his fear of being unclean is his unconscious telling him to shower more regularly./childish joke

*People are happy in the house. Sirius is singing. Harry is sitting in his room taking "savage pleasure" in the idea that he’s letting them all keep talking about him behind his back. Someone get this kid an lj--and an iPod at least so he can download the appropriate music for all this angst!

*Mum and Dad are "a bit disappointed" that Hermione told them she’s staying at Hogwarts to study instead of going skiing. Yeah, just a bit. Apparently skiing "isn’t her thing." Why do I suspect her parents came up with skiing because they knew she’d never just come home to spend time with them and they were trying to tempt her with something special, and are currently sitting in a lodge somewhere accepting they just can’t compete with wizards? It’s even sadder that the poor fools don’t know where she is. They think she’s at Hogwarts, really she’s with her new, better family.

*ETA: Who would have guessed the Grangers were getting off lucky here? At least they remember who they are.

*Hermione says, "[My parents] want me to do well. They’ll understand," and then "briskly" suggests going upstairs. I think the "briskly" indicates she really is trying to silence guilty thoughts on this. She says they will understand, not that they do, and "they want me to do well" sounds pretty sad and lame. She’s the one who obviously presented it as being about her doing well in school, and seems to have guilted them by saying all the kids who were serious were staying at school (so by bringing her home they’d be hurting her)...and of course it's a big lie, she isn't at school and she isn't studying.

*ETA: How sad that I'd like to think that all this is building up to Hermione's chilling mind-wipe of her parents in DH, but now I think it's laying the ground for self-sacrificing Hermione. Look how nobly brisk she is about her personal sacrifice of blowing off her parents! If she dies after she mind-wipes them they won't spend the rest of their lives mourning her! How sad is that for Hermione?

*Now that Mama Freud is here, everyone’s silly misunderstandings become clear. Hermione tells Harry to stop feeling all misunderstood and gets him talking.

*The two girls are confident in this conversation, while Harry and Ron are looking at their feet and getting flustered, presumably because they are the ones with the emotional depth of teaspoons. ETA: Welcome to the future, boys. Men are stupid, women take care of them. For their wedding gifts Ron and Harry probably got matching boxed sets of "Home Improvement."

*"Lucky you." Ginny’s such a badass. *kicks character in the shin*

*I love how Harry’s made to feel ashamed for not remembering her trauma, but as far as I recall there’s never been any hint of Ginny feeling indebted to Harry for saving her arse when she got suckered in by the wizarding equivalent of an Internet predator. Times like this I miss Jerk!Harry who would have told her off ("Oh right. How could I have forgotten you were possessed when I almost got killed saving you from your evil boyfriend". How rude of me.")

*You can't deny they're a perfect couple, though. The only reference we ever get to Ginny's possession is how everybody should feel sorry for her trauma while she herself is written as remarkably cheerful about putting several of her classmates into comas and almost killing them.

I also almost wish we still had the diary so we could see exactly how Tom seduced her: "Dear Ginny—What a beautiful poem. You are just like a caterpillar struggling to become a butterfly!" But then, that was PS-GoF!Ginny, whom I liked. This Ginny would have honestly impressed Tom with her awesome evilness.

*Harry’s mood swings back up again, and his previous black cloud is now just a crazy memory. Sirius, too, is no longer sullen. It’s nice that Harry and Sirius get to be hormonal teenagers together. For them, anyway. Maybe not so much of a pleasure to live with for others.

*They don’t open their presents under the tree with everybody all together? How odd (to me, anyway). Ron says he got a "good haul this year." Because Ron's kind of grasping. You may not have noticed. It's very subtle.

*But wait, how did Ron get a good haul? Doesn’t Ron just get maroon socks, lint and shame?

*Hermione’s presents well and truly suck. In case it's not obvious, this should be taken as kind of adorable.

*Sirius and Lupin give Harry a set of books together. This means...nothing really. Except perhaps that Sirius gets Harry presents and Lupin doesn’t, but since Sirius couldn’t leave and the whole Order is apparently giving presents to Harry this year he asked Remus to shop for something for both of them.

*Anyway, the two Marauders are naturally encouraging the DA. Also note that there’s a good side to Voldemort possessing you: Harry’s never gotten this many Christmas presents in his life!

*Because he's been very deprived, you know!

*Hagrid gives Harry a present he can’t use because it’s dangerous. Just keeping score here, for everybody who thinks Hagrid’s protests about things not being dangerous are supposed to be accurate.

*Percy sends back his Christmas jumper—bum bum BUUUUM. And Lupin steps in to calm Molly down—Lupin’s role as emotional pacifier is getting a little creepy. It’s a wonder nobody writes Lupin/Molly.

*The twins say he’s going to "cheer her up," which strikes me as funny. It makes it sound like Lupin’s going to tell her jokes and do silly impressions until she dissolves into giggles. Lupin's not exactly Mr. Cheerful.

*Bellatrix seems to be Kreacher’s favorite. ETA: Seems to be. Kreacher's favorite is whoever has the dog biscuits.

*So Hermione comes into Kreacher’s house, representing something he thinks is an abomination. She assists in throwing away or destroying all mementos of the people who are dear to him. But she’s gotten him a Christmas present. Isn’t that nice? It’s too bad Voldemort doesn’t quilt. It would do loads to ease the tension between him and Harry. ETA: I'm too stupid to live again. Of course Hermione's totally not crazy at all in giving Kreacher a quilt.

*ETA: So why isn't Kreacher falling all over Hermione? Is is just so we can pretend Harry is amazingly sensitive to other races later on?

*Btw, the first time I read this yes, I did know Kreacher’s disappearance was very very important. Best thing about Christmas for me, it was!

*"Of course, he might have crawled into the airing cupboard and died, but I mustn’t get my hopes up." Sirius, you have signs of your family wit in there somewhere.

*The Underground doesn’t run on Christmas Day? Interesting fact.

*Mundungus offers the kids a stolen car, which is perfectly appropriate for visiting Arthur. As long as no gold’s changed hands, he’d have no trouble looking the other way on this one. It’s stolen AND magicked? Excellent!

*Molly snarls at the idea of Arthur being treated with Muggle remedies, and does not like traveling without magic. She’s so Petunia, I love it.

*As soon as Remus sees a fight brewing he strolls over to the werewolf. *Pets Self-Preservation!Remus.*

*Hermione is so not a Muggle. "Well, [stitches] do work on non-magical wounds," she said fairly. Um, I think fair would be more like, "Stitches are a perfectly reasonable way of treating wounds. How do you think your regular cuts heal if not by the skin growing together? They just don’t work on these because Arthur’s wound is completely wrong for a snake bite this is some sort of magical thing." Fair might also be, "You know, to a Muggle drinking Eye of Newt for a medicine is just as crazy, and it wouldn’t work on them." Where’s Hermione’s glare of reproach when Muggles are being shown disrespect? Is it against her philosophy to ever educate wizards about Muggles because she likes the Weasley’s shaved-monkey version?

*All the healers are brutal-looking. Is that a nod to something like 19th century medicine? It’s funny, but I wonder what's the background behind it.

*Ron, as usual, looks like the clown when a wizard mistakes his freckles for a disease (for a second there I thought he might have acne). Doesn’t Ginny also have freckles, or has her skin turned creamy? I think there’s some sort of charm around Ginny that subtly protects her from ever looking less than cool in any scene. ("Marisoobalis!")

*Is this supposed to be a set-up for the incredibly stupid "ghoul pretends to be Ron" nonsense that slows down the plot even more in DH?

*That Lockhart scene is disturbing. Yes, I know what he was trying to do to Harry and Ron. I still wince reading about it.

*In fact, it’s worse for me than Neville’s parents, who have dignity and didn’t "deserve it." I wonder if the sudden disappearance of Lockhart’s fame is supposed to be a sign he didn’t deserve it, or an uneasy thought about fame itself. It was only three years ago. You'd think people would assume he was injured in some romantic, heroic way.

*That’s four people addled longterm in this book: Lockhart, who got hit with his own spell when trying to curse someone else, the Longbottoms, who were cursed by DEs for information because they were Aurors/OotP members, and Montague, who is pushed into the cabinet as a member of the IS for trying to take points.

*Neville’s been telling his grandmother all about kids who barely remember him when he’s not standing in front of them. That’s so much more humiliating than his parents being crazy. ETA: Did I say humiliating? No, it's a sign of the worthiness of Neville.

*ETA Again: And Neville is totally out-creeped by Luna's Wall o' Pretend Friends in DH anyway.

*Neville’s grandmother keeps pushing him to tell everyone about his parents and Neville doesn’t want to. He says he’s not ashamed and I don’t think he is. His grandmother reacts to Alice’s pathetic present in a brisk, nurse-like way, but Neville seems to see her much more as a person.

*Why is Neville so uncomfortable at people finding out about this? Is it that his grandmother keeps telling him how he’s not as good as his parents and he feels he doesn’t live up to them? Like they just add more stress to him when what he wants is just regular parents? He’s not interested in them as heroes, just as people (differently from the way Harry thinks of his parents)?

*::sigh:: I loved Elkins’ ideas about Neville opting out of the wizard warrior culture. Grandmother seems to only remember/talk about his parents as Aurors and martyrs. Her way of processing and accepting their fate does not seem to suit Neville, and her constantly telling him he’s not as good as her "real" son is pretty brutal. I wonder what the reason for it is, though. Does she harbor some anger to have Neville instead of Frank? Is she trying to protect him from Frank’s fate by telling him he can’t be an Auror? ETA: I'll miss these possibilities. Neville just proved himself by living up to his grandmother's demands for a warrior son.

*ETA: I wonder what Neville would have been like with Narcissa for a mother--you know, the mother who doesn't reject her child for not being violent enough. No wonder Draco turns out so badly!

*I wonder if Neville’s grandmother treats Frank differently than she treats Alice. I wouldn’t be surprised.

*Lockhart—LOL. This is one of those times the British word is just so much funnier than the American equivalent, which I think would be, "I didn’t learn cursive writing" or "I didn’t learn to write script." (Unless there are Americans who say "joined-up writing" and I’ve just never heard it.)



Exploitation Filmmakers’ Credo
Didn’t Harry just spend 20 minutes thinking about all the things Hermione, Ginny and Ron are telling him about possession? Why are they suddenly more believable now?

IITS
In fact, I just have a hard time buying Harry’s line of thought on possession anyway. It’s so strange to begin with why drop it because Hermione tells him you can’t apparate in Hogwarts, it’s in Hogwarts, a History? I would add many of Harry’s other nonsensical thoughts, but since they’re supposed to be nonsensical they don’t count.

Also, as churlish as it seems to admit it, if you’re a nurse with a talkative patient who wanders out of his bed, I doubt you’d mistake anyone you found him out in the hall with for personal visitors. JKR had to get them into the ward somehow, and as ways go this one’s pretty effective.

Idiot Picture
Why does no one with information share it with the person who clearly needs it? Molly has an excuse because she’s focused on Harry looking pale and her instinct is to treat him like a child, but that’s part of her personality.

McGuffin
So the weapon isn’t Harry...but what is it really?

POV Shots
Another one in this chapter, in Harry’s dream. Ah, the time he’d save if he just explained his dreams to people and they explained back how Voldemort maybe wanted to get into that room so Harry shouldn’t go there himself. But where’s the fun in that?

Final score: 5.3

Comments

[kaskait.livejournal.com]

*ETA: How sad that I'd like to think that all this is building up to Hermione's chilling mind-wipe of her parents in DH, but now I think it's laying the ground for self-sacrificing Hermione. Look how nobly brisk she is about her personal sacrifice of blowing off her parents! If she dies after she mind-wipes them they won't spend the rest of their lives mourning her! How sad is that for Hermione?

I don't have sympathy. Because mind-wiping her parents would almost have certainly led to wiping the memories of their closest friends and some of their patients. Hermione couldn't have allowed people to ask questions now could she? She must have had a busy summer grabbing everyone her parents knew. I wonder if Ginny helped. It sounds like her kind of job.

If Hermione had died, her parents would have been arrested for her murder. Hermione, so compassionate and worthy to be the friend of the CHOSEN ONE!

*Ron, as usual, looks like the clown when a wizard mistakes his freckles for a disease (for a second there I thought he might have acne).

Ron can't ever be or look acceptable. He must always be the village idiot. Sometimes I wonder what the guy Ron was based on thinks of all of this. I remember seeing him on a special about Rowling. He looked distinctly uncomfortable.

*Mundungus offers the kids a stolen car, which is perfectly appropriate for visiting Arthur. As long as no gold’s changed hands, he’d have no trouble looking the other way on this one. It’s stolen AND magicked? Excellent!

Hold on there, not totally excellent. Excellent would have included world class sporting event tickets for the whole family and anyone else they wanted to accompany them in the stolen car. We have to VALUES here, you know.

[merrymelody.livejournal.com]

You can just sort of imagine Muggles sitting around drooling and wishing people Merry Christmas randomly like that guy Arthur memory charms in GoF, with Ginny giggling - it's like they're drunks!

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

The Hermione story is so hilarious--especially since there's actually no indication that Voldemort gives a shit about any of these families. The precautions they take against Voldemort going after them are both too extreme and too ridiculous. By bringing them up it just calls attention to how silly it is that he isn't going after these people. Same goes for Harry's "heroic" dumping of Ginny--should we assume that Voldemort would totally have held her captive if only he hadn't heard they broke up?

Not to mention, not only did Hermione have fix everyone's memories, how did she get them new legal identities? Confound government officials?

I remember seeing him on a special about Rowling. He looked distinctly uncomfortable.

LOL! That must have been great.

[r-ganymede.livejournal.com]

Because mind-wiping her parents would almost have certainly led to wiping the memories of their closest friends and some of their patients. Hermione couldn't have allowed people to ask questions now could she? She must have had a busy summer grabbing everyone her parents knew.

Which would be a lot, given that they're dentists. Did she alter every patient's memory so they never had dental work at all, or did she go the distance and transfer all their records to other dentists and modify their memories so they'd always been treating these patients? Or maybe she didn't think of that at all and a bunch of people tried to make appointments only to discover their dentists never existed.

I don't get why she couldn't have simply told them what was going on and sent them away on a plane to Australia or America. It seems like Wizards don't even have a viable means of international travel or even international communication. Unless the Death Eaters stooped to Muggle means, they couldn't even get to a far off continent like that. The memory wipe was totally unnecessary.

'cause it's all new to me

[static-pixie.livejournal.com]

*ETA: I wonder what Neville would have been like with Narcissa for a mother--you know, the mother who doesn't reject her child for not being violent enough. No wonder Draco turns out so badly!
*hugs Draco/non-violent sensible!Neville and doesn't let go* Honestly, though, I thoght that was one of the most terrible things JKR ended up doing, legitimizing the fact that Neville's gran had picked on him all those years by turning him into a warrior. Couldn't all of his Herbology expertise simply have made him an excellent healer in DH? 'Cause it seems like the students needed one.

*Why is Neville so uncomfortable at people finding out about this?
Why don't more people know is what I wonder? If Frank and Alice were as famous as Neville's gran says they were, you'd think people would know about something as tragic as their being TORTURED into insanity. Of course, I suppose that would take away from the awesomeness of James and Lily's sacrifices and take away from Harry's own fame, so I suppose that could be it. But it just never really made sense that no one would know, especially given the Rita Skeeters of the world.

It makes it sound like Lupin’s going to tell her jokes and do silly impressions until she dissolves into giggles. Lupin's not exactly Mr. Cheerful.
Or Draco Malfoy for that matter. Too bad Fluer's not around yet, though. Then Ginny could have taken over.

*Sirius and Lupin give Harry a set of books together. This means...nothing really. Except perhaps that Sirius gets Harry presents and Lupin doesn’t, but since Sirius couldn’t leave and the whole Order is apparently giving presents to Harry this year he asked Remus to shop for something for both of them.
Also, Lupin's broke (doesn't he look shabbier and shabbier as the books progress?). Did she ever explain how Sirius managed to get money out of Gringotts despite being an escaped felon or are there just pockets of cash stowed all around the house?

*Hermione’s presents well and truly suck. In case it's not obvious, this should be taken as kind of adorable.
Poor Hugo and Rose. :(

It’s nice that Harry and Sirius get to be hormonal teenagers together. For them, anyway. Maybe not so much of a pleasure to live with for others.
I dunno, I think Snape got a pretty good kick out of it. :D

Times like this I miss Jerk!Harry who would have told her off ("Oh right. How could I have forgotten you were possessed when I almost got killed saving you from your evil boyfriend". How rude of me.")
But keeping Harry in character would mess with their TWU LUV. Although she does it in the next book; Harry completely ignores Ginny's advice about the Prince's book despite the very personal place it must have come from and she, of course, just takes it like the sweet little yeswoman she is. *barfs* That moment really should have been when H/G was all over from Ginny's perspective but then, she doesn't actually have one in canon.

It’s even sadder that the poor fools don’t know where she is. They think she’s at Hogwarts, really she’s with her new, better family.
You know, you honestly wonder whether she ever even bothered to take the spell off of them in the end. It would have made leaving them entirely behind for the WW so much easier and more convenient.

*These kind of words, are I believe a big reason for SexGod!Draco in fanfic. As much as people insist he’s supposed to be ugly in canon, he’s usually described as a very vibrant physical presence, and leaning against something in a relaxed way and speaking lazily=seductive.
Yeah, and, honestly, where is the canon to support the idea that he's ugly? All we really know is that, despite looking a great deal like Lucius, he has the nice Black bone structure and Tonks (who is, ostensibly attractive) has the same kind of sharp features. And also, Blaise. who is supposedly very attractive, has the same kind of lazy seductive air. Maybe he's no sex god (I feel like he's too obsessed with Harry to be) but he can't be that ugly, either.

Re: 'cause it's all new to me

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

It's like Neville's given the plant thing because he's gentle, but of course even the gentle people have to be able to kick ass if they're good people. I swear the only reason Neville ends up being as superior a person to Harry as he is is the stuff that was supposed to be a challenge for him to overcome (that he's not actually a bully). It makes him stand out like a shining star.

I guess we shouldn't be surprised people don't know about the Longbottoms given that people only know or don't know things as the plot requires, sometimes changing from one minute to the next. Even in the epilogue she tries to throw in the idea that the kids would have no idea why people are staring at Harry. I explain this to myself by assuming that the kids have never been outside of their tight family group until this moment.

Did she ever explain how Sirius managed to get money out of Gringotts despite being an escaped felon or are there just pockets of cash stowed all around the house?

Maybe he just sent Bill Weasley to take out money for him. For all the security at the bank, they seem remarkably happy to hand over peoples' money to friends of the account owner, even without his permission.

You know, you honestly wonder whether she ever even bothered to take the spell off of them in the end. It would have made leaving them entirely behind for the WW so much easier and more convenient.


I love that it never comes up again. Not that there's a place to put it, but I'd like to think that either she never took it off or that they never forgave her and finally told her what they thought of her.

Yeah, and, honestly, where is the canon to support the idea that he's ugly?

I really don't think he is--Harry would say so, obviously. He's not gorgeous, but pale and pointy isn't necessarily ugly. People used to point to his robes at the Yule ball of all things as proof he was ugly, because he looked like a vicar. Um, vicar's aren't ugly, people. They just wear black and high collars.

Re: 'cause it's all new to me

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

It would have made leaving them entirely behind for the WW so much easier and more convenient.
It is my firm belief that she named her children after them, thus integrating them in the WW by proxy. It would reflect the Harry/Ginny of doom: in both cases the alphas get to decide about their childrens' names and reinforce their own lineage.

[merrymelody.livejournal.com]

All the healers are brutal-looking. Is that a nod to something like 19th century medicine? It’s funny, but I wonder what's the background behind it.

I assume they have to get off on causing pain - surely there's something wrong with people who spend their lives fixing injuries rather than causing them? Cowardly or psychotic, there can be no good here. Probably a bunch of Slytherins (Maya's Crabbe-as-a-healer isn't far off!)

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

surely there's something wrong with people who spend their lives fixing injuries rather than causing them?

Now I get it!

[violaswamp.livejournal.com]

On the subject of "lazily" and such-like being sexy words: YES. Elkins had a really great meta on that about Lupin and how "lazily" is both evil and sexy in the HP books. And, really, in RL: if your mannerisms are "lazy," it's probably because a) you don't care too much about what's going on, which is a sign of a scary level of detachment, or you can SEEM like you don't care too much, which is a sign of a scary level of control, and b) it means your voice drawls and sort of stretches out when you talk and your posture is probably sprawling, with your body fully on display. Those things are sexy. I used to think that Rowling's villains were unsexy and that she was making a Tolkienesque point about evil degrading the evildoer--but really, that only applies to Pettigrew and Voldemort at the very end.

Hermione's attitude to her parents, culminating in the mindwipe, makes my blood boil. I can only deal with it by making fun of it and reminding myself how utterly dumb the worldbuilding is anyway. Thinking about it seriously tempts me to dwell with considerable pleasure on just how much that Cruciatus Bellatrix cast on her must have hurt, and that's not exactly a healthy attitude to take even to a fictional character.

[violaswamp.livejournal.com]

Oh, and this:


I also almost wish we still had the diary so we could see exactly how Tom seduced her: "Dear Ginny—What a beautiful poem. You are just like a caterpillar struggling to become a butterfly!"

Hee! I would have totally loved to see that.

I'll miss these possibilities. Neville just proved himself by living up to his grandmother's demands for a warrior son.

Well, there's that nod in (I believe) HBP where McGonagall's all "your grandmother should accept the grandson she's got, not the one she wishes for" or something, when they're discussing Neville's schedule.

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

how "lazily" is both evil and sexy in the HP books.
Another reminder of Rowling's rather alarming attitude towards sex(uality), it seems. The house of water (female/ sexuality)and the serpent (female/ male/sexuality) is THE EVIL. In fact, there seem to be two variations of sexiness in HP. The evil one is the seductive lazy "feminine" way of drawling, leaning, and sprawling on surfaces. The way actresses in the 20ies were shown, looking at you with big smudgy eyes, eating grapes and so on. The other way is the "clean" sexiness of Ginny and Lily which consists of amazon-like behaviour. They are sexy because they are pretty and fiery and fight. Sort of male, really. Nothing lascivious there. Reminds me of that wonderful fic about the Hogwarts houses' different takes on sex as delivered by Snape....

[r-ganymede.livejournal.com]

Remember how he went after the Philosopher’s Stone after being told it was safe? Yeah, me too.

The thing that always gets me about that is that the Stone was safe. Had Harry not been there, it would have remained in the mirror. He actually endangered the Stone more by going after Quirrell on his own. He did happen to stop Voldemort from wandering around in a possessed body, which was good, but entirely accidental. I can't help but wonder what would have happened had Harry not been there - or even if he'd gotten a teacher instead of going after Quirrell himself.

Neville’s been telling his grandmother all about kids who barely remember him when he’s not standing in front of them. That’s so much more humiliating than his parents being crazy.

Sooo much more humiliating. I tend to assume she was pestering him for information about the Great Heroes of Hogwarts and he just kind of said something to get her to leave him alone. I'm betting she encouraged him to become friends with Harry Potter before he went away to Hogwarts.

Why is Neville so uncomfortable at people finding out about this? Is it that his grandmother keeps telling him how he’s not as good as his parents and he feels he doesn’t live up to them?

That's probably part of it, but I also think he just doesn't want the attention. Most attention Neville gets is pretty negative, he might not want to add to it. And he already knows people see him as kind of pathetic and he probably wouldn't want to encourage them to pity him as "that poor boy whose parents were tortured to insanity".

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

He actually endangered the Stone more by going after Quirrell on his own.

Yes--though I get the feeling nobody in canon realizes this. I mean, nobody ever mentions it, and it seems like Harry's the big hero. That should have been my first clue that I wasn't going to get development where Harry was praised for his good intentions and bravery but also learned from his mistakes.

I will totally hope that it's Grandma who's pretending Neville's bffs with Harry Potter and not Neville himself.

[j-lunatic.livejournal.com]

The dumb Slytherins, by contrast, really are just dumb and totally devoid of cunning.

I am amused by the sort of Slytherfen who depict the house as exclusively populated by the slick, suave, and brainy. Do they ever acknowledge that Slytherin also is the house of Crabbe and Goyle?

Look how nobly brisk she is about her personal sacrifice of blowing off her parents! If she dies after she mind-wipes them they won't spend the rest of their lives mourning her! How sad is that for Hermione?

When I read Hermione's description of how she screwed with her parents' memories, my first thought was that DTCL was going to go ape****--"How long has she been wanting to do that?"

All the healers are brutal-looking. Is that a nod to something like 19th century medicine? It’s funny, but I wonder what's the background behind it.

Agreed. The history of (Muggle) medicine is not that far removed from the use of leeches for damn near everything, or amputations or other operations without benefit of anesthesia. But surely Wizarding medicine wouldn't have been bound by those limitations for so long. (I wondered if the previous chapter's Entrail-Expelling Curse might be how Healers treat appendicitis; or alternately would it be a way for the Good Guys in Book Seven to kill Bad Guys without using the Bad Guys' spells of choice? And I still like to think that Molly took out Bellatrix using the household spells used to kill or clean chickens.)

I wonder if the sudden disappearance of Lockhart’s fame is supposed to be a sign he didn’t deserve it, or an uneasy thought about fame itself.

It might be a comment on the nature of Lockhart's celebrity, or more specifically his largely female fanbase.

I wonder if Neville’s grandmother treats Frank differently than she treats Alice. I wouldn’t be surprised.

JKR could still address this in the encyclopedia, but I thought Alice would be revealed to come from a family of Aurors, and on some level Augusta blames Alice and her kin for what happened to Frank. Dontcha just hate it when a great theory is shot down by a lack of canon?

[little-aphid.livejournal.com]

I still like to think that Molly took out Bellatrix using the household spells used to kill or clean chickens.

That might actually make me like Molly a little bit, simply because that sounds so cool.

It might be a comment on the nature of Lockhart's celebrity, or more specifically his largely female fanbase.

I second this. We're women, we know how fickle we all are!

[horridporrid.livejournal.com]

*These kind of words, are I believe a big reason for SexGod!Draco in fanfic. As much as people insist he's supposed to be ugly in canon, he's usually described as a very vibrant physical presence, and leaning against something in a relaxed way and speaking lazily=seductive.

I can never understand the idea that Draco is actually ugly. Like Harry would've been coy about pointing out any physical flaw. That lack is part of the reason I've always figured Draco actually quite good-looking. (Though spaz trumps sex god, for me. In that Draco's more a spaz than a sex god, and I like it! *g*)

I'd say another reason for the SexGod!Draco is that hurt/comfort stuff Elkins did such an excellent job pointing out. It's bizarre to me that JKR didn't see what she was doing there, since she did the same with Harry. It's almost like she was writing two different stories or something.

*ETA: I wonder what Neville would have been like with Narcissa for a mother--you know, the mother who doesn't reject her child for not being violent enough. No wonder Draco turns out so badly!

Two thoughts on this: (1) Isn't it odd how the Malfoys turn out to be the best example of good parents within the books? Not that the bar was all that high or anything, but they're definitely the tightest family unit as far as I can tell. And didn't seem to have that many demands on each other there at the end.

(2) IIRC, there's a long fanfic (or series of fanfics?) where Neville and Draco couple and Narcissa is like their mom in residence or something... Does this ring any bells? I think AJ Hall was the author? Anyway, that fanfic pointed out (for me anyway) how alike Draco and Neville were in many ways. Two boys having to make it through on grit since no one was doing them any favors. (Oh! Hilarious bit! IIRC, Harry isn't treated at all well in the fic and that bothered me at the time. Now I think it was a wee bit prophetic. :D Though -- Hermione was an actual human being, when in canon she's a troll, but you can't have everything.)

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

I am curious: what is "spaz"?
I totally agree on the Draco = good-looking issue. A little more evidence:
- when Kreacher starts about Draco#s fine bone-structure, neither Harry nor Ron react by saying something along the line of "Are you blind?" Harry just tells the elf to shut up about it.
- Harry discribes Draco's hair as "gleaming" which sounds attractive
- JKR herself stated in an interview, when asked about Draco's looks "this doesn't mean he is a nice boy!" Of course it doesn't; but that would have been the point to tell her audience that, of course, Draco WAS ugly.

I don't know what Elkins wrote about this, however. Can you sum it up or give a link, perhaps?

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

It's bizarre to me that JKR didn't see what she was doing there, since she did the same with Harry. It's almost like she was writing two different stories or something.

He's definitely a kid who's story rivals Harry in how dramatic and interesting it is once Voldemort comes back. I understand JKR not putting it on the level of Harry's own but it amazes me she didn't write it at all in DH.

The Malfoys are ultimately kind of fascinating that way, because they're totally a combination of the worst kind of beliefs and yet warmest relationship. Looking at them in DH I can't help but wonder why they would be so drawn to this kind of thing. Goebbles was a family man, of course, but then he killed his kids. I can believe they'd be racists (especially given all Wizards are), and even that they're more extreme in their bigotry than others because they'd never have to mix with anybody with whom they didn't want to mix. But the Malfoys in DH seem like people who really would rather sit by the fire and play card games they made up than do evil, yet it's not even like we know how they've changed. In fact, presumably they can't have changed that much because if they did than Harry might have to--gasp!--consider a friendly relationship with Draco.

That fic would be be Lust Over Pendle.

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

it doesn’t occur to him that since he overheard the idea that he’s possessed from an Order member, if it were unsafe for him to be at Order headquarters he wouldn’t be let in
Well, that would require confidence in their superior knowledge. I wouldn't have it, either, to be honest.

I do hope, btw, that the reason Harry is really convinced of this is that he’s beginning to figure out that his own attitudes are not innocent or healthy in themselves, and could be hurting him while he’s just blaming them on Voldemort
To anybody who might be interested in this side of things, I highly recommend Fourth rose's current fic "Not in the hands of boys" (http://Fourth-rose.livejournal.com). It's a WIP, but updated very regularly.

"Lucky you." Ginny’s such a badass. *kicks character in the shin*
I think I have to step in here to defend OotP-Ginny who I really liked. Of course she totally is not the Ginny from the first four books, but I liked her new incarnation. She was self-assured but not psychotic like in HBP. Above all, she only bitched when there was reason for it (like in this chapter!). In fact, I thought it wasn't so much about Harry not having pitied her enough, but about him being so self-centered as not to even think about the whole issue in a reasonable fashion instead of having hysterics.

This Ginny would have honestly impressed Tom with her awesome evilness.
Where is she evil in OotP?

They don’t open their presents under the tree with everybody all together?
Funny you should mention this. I've always wondered whether this might be the way christmas presents were treated in Britain. So, is it?

And Lupin steps in to calm Molly down—Lupin’s role as emotional pacifier is getting a little creepy. It’s a wonder nobody writes Lupin/Molly.
Nah, it's just what the nice gay friends always do! Comforting the women-folk.

I wonder what Neville would have been like with Narcissa for a mother--you know, the mother who doesn't reject her child for not being violent enough.
Goodness, he might have turned out a Slytherin! I mean, the true Gryffindor way of mother love is to protect your son with your own life, until he is old enough to die a hero - and then cheer him on towards committing assisted suicide!

why drop it because Hermione tells him you can’t apparate in Hogwarts, it’s in Hogwarts, a History?
I kept waiting for this to bite them in the arse sooner or later. I mean, they always assumed that everything in a book was true, although most things about Voldemort quite clearly constituted something that had not happened before, so how on earth should any book provide fool-proof facts about it?

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

As you can see, I already despised OotP Ginny--yet even I was surprised at the depths to which she sank in HBP. In HBP she was awful as a character. My problem with her in this book was just that she was so obviously being set up as Harry's next girlfriend with the constant compliments and every word out of her mouth highlighting how effortlessly she was.

In fact, I thought it wasn't so much about Harry not having pitied her enough, but about him being so self-centered as not to even think about the whole issue in a reasonable fashion instead of having hysterics.

Yes, that's how I took it too. Of course she would never suggest anyone should pity her any more than Harry would. She's slamming him for saying something so incredibly self-absorbed as "Oh yeah, I forgot you were possessed."

Where is she evil in OotP?

I edited that line post-HBP, so "this Ginny" refers to the character in HBP as well. Exlusively OotP Ginny would impress Tom with her other talents.

Nah, it's just what the nice gay friends always do! Comforting the women-folk.

Sometimes the girls get the wrong idea...and that's how bad marriages happen!

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

*Harry’s thoughts on how Voldemort is somehow possessing him and thus he attacked Mr. Weasley don’t make sense, but they mostly just point out the idiocy of the adults here. How could anybody not think it was important to tell this kid what’s going on? After all, it's his head! Plus, they must know Harry's not the most logical thinker, or overly calm, and he pretty much always jumps to the conclusion that he’s got to take care of everything (it doesn’t occur to him that since he overheard the idea that he’s possessed from an Order member, if it were unsafe for him to be at Order headquarters he wouldn’t be let in). Remember how he went after the Philosopher’s Stone after being told it was safe? Yeah, me too.

It's especially weird when you consider that Lupin was hanging around the house. Lupin's the one who spent a year patiently dealing with Harry's fears and explaining things in a calm, relatively honest manner.

I also almost wish we still had the diary so we could see exactly how Tom seduced her: "Dear Ginny—What a beautiful poem. You are just like a caterpillar struggling to become a butterfly!" But then, that was PS-GoF!Ginny, whom I liked. This Ginny would have honestly impressed Tom with her awesome evilness.

How could JKR have missed that opportunity to convey Ginny's awesomeness? Instead of having Riddle talk about how stupid and boring Ginny was, he should have been saying, "Oh, yes, Harry. I managed to persuade her to do all sorts of evil things, although it was very difficult, given her strong, powerful nature. If I wasn't a total sociopath with no possibility of love, I would have found her fiery, cheeky temper irresistible! By the way, did you know that she can cast an awesome bat-bogey hex? It's true!"

*As soon as Remus sees a fight brewing he strolls over to the werewolf. *Pets Self-Preservation!Remus.*

Did I read it in a fanfic? I always imagine that Remus is going over there to tell the man about Werewolves Anonymous and the Lycanthrope Support Group. It just reinforced for me the Lycanthopy/AIDs metaphor that I thought she was going for. Although, I think a mental illness metaphor also works.

*Is this supposed to be a set-up for the incredibly stupid "ghoul pretends to be Ron" nonsense that slows down the plot even more in DH?

I think it's more likely that she came up with the ghoul later on, because she was so tickled by her own spattergroit joke. (And I thought it was acne, too.)

*::sigh:: I loved Elkins’ ideas about Neville opting out of the wizard warrior culture. Grandmother seems to only remember/talk about his parents as Aurors and martyrs. Her way of processing and accepting their fate does not seem to suit Neville, and her constantly telling him he’s not as good as her "real" son is pretty brutal. I wonder what the reason for it is, though. Does she harbor some anger to have Neville instead of Frank? Is she trying to protect him from Frank’s fate by telling him he can’t be an Auror? ETA: I'll miss these possibilities. Neville just proved himself by living up to his grandmother's demands for a warrior son.

I don't think I read the Elkins' on Neville. At least, I don't remember it. But I think what JKR was actually going for was a tribute to the ordinary folk who fought in WWII. You know, the mechanics or busboys or whoever, who signed up, not because they wanted to be soldiers, but because they were needed. Of course, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense when he comes from two auror parents.

I always got the sense that August harbored a lot of anger towards Neville for surviving her son and then not turning out to be very magical. I don't mind that he turned out to be a good general, or that he killed the snake. I'm just glad that someone turned out to be a competent leader.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

It's especially weird when you consider that Lupin was hanging around the house. Lupin's the one who spent a year patiently dealing with Harry's fears and explaining things in a calm, relatively honest manner.

I guess he's only helpful when Dumbledore's paying him for it.

It just reinforced for me the Lycanthopy/AIDs metaphor that I thought she was going for. Although, I think a mental illness metaphor also works.

This chapter is the one where werewolfism sounds the most like AIDS to me, definitely.

I always got the sense that August harbored a lot of anger towards Neville for surviving her son and then not turning out to be very magical. I don't mind that he turned out to be a good general, or that he killed the snake. I'm just glad that someone turned out to be a competent leader.

Yes, the WW needs all the good leaders it can get. And I do think Neville is a great example of that type of hero (the only one in the WW, it seems, since most of them go along and work for Voldemort in DH). But with that grandmother, Neville's got a personal reason to kick ass.

[(Anonymous)]

Ah, the time he’d save if he just explained his dreams to people and they explained back how Voldemort maybe wanted to get into that room so Harry shouldn’t go there himself.

Of course, it is rather incomprehensible why Voldy didn't just down some polyjuice, walk in there and discreetly grab the prophecy himself. After DH it looks like it would have been the simplest thing in the world. His cohorts could have grabbed a DM employée at any time, after all.
What is particularly funny, though, is that in DH Voldy has completely forgotten his ardent desire to learn the prophecy. Nothing else would explain his complete indifference to Trelawny, who was basically in his hands for that whole year.

Re: Voldy not attacking Hermione's parents. Really, if he had 2 brain cells to rub together and had been truly as cruel and dangerous as advertised, he would have started kidnapping and killing family members of Muggleborns and people closest to Harry and DD as soon as he returned, forcing a few into cooperation. After all, who would suspect a Muggleborn of working for Voldy? For that matter, getting Muggleborns expelled from Hogwarts should have been trivial and foolproof if CoS is any guide. Just have house-elves of the DEs visit their homes and perform some magic. Who needs a basilisk?

And isn't it funny, how not even known Order members leave alone Weasleys were thrown into Azkaban /killed once Voldy came to power? I mean, this whole "breaking up" with Ginny was stupid, of course, but really other family members would have served just as well. After all, what could a heroic Harry do if Voldy started cutting pieces from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley? We all know that he is not made of stern enough stuff to make personal sacrifices in order to defeat Voldy. He'd have given himself up. Or Ron (as depicted in DH) would have betrayed him.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I remember some people had theories that the whole plan to get DEs into the school in HBP wasn't what it was stated in that book, but all about getting Trelawney. But as you say, once OotP's over, LV forgets he ever wanted the prophecy. (And during that book he passes up plenty of easier ways to get the prophecy himself.)

I hadn't even thought about getting Muggleborns expelled that way, but of course that absolutely would be easy enough. Or you might even think he'd find a way to find them earlier than Hogwarts and just kill them if he was that bad. (I imagine in a story like that the Chosen One ought to be Muggleborn him/herself to fulfill the whole Herod-parallel you'd get.)

We all know that he is not made of stern enough stuff to make personal sacrifices in order to defeat Voldy. He'd have given himself up. Or Ron (as depicted in DH) would have betrayed him.

I know--instead he's got Arthur Weasley still happily working for him at the Ministry. He doesn't go after Harry at all through his friends, even though, as you describe here, the whole personality of the good side leaves them open to it. Rowling sort of uses it as a weakness on Voldemort's side (the Malfoys side with each other rather than Voldemort), but on the good side it's like bringing up the possibility just makes it that much more obvious that Voldemort ought to be doing it. Meanwhile Harry thinks of himself as having made a huge personal sacrifice just by fake-breaking up with Ginny for a few months, which is like the equivalent of Harry's going to college while Ginny's still in high school.

It's like the whole ghoul plan in DH. It just makes everyone involved look silly. Voldemort's minions are going after Ron as truant officers but not as Harry's sidekick, and anyway they can't even tell difference between a boy and some other creature.

[(Anonymous)]

*Bellatrix seems to be Kreacher’s favorite. ETA: Seems to be. Kreacher's favorite is whoever has the dog biscuits.

I'm not sure I understand what Kreacher likes about Bellatrix. That she's Voldemort's biggest fangirl? But Kreacher's beloved mistress didn't rate Voldemort any more than she did blood traitors. Guess Bella must have been nice to the house-elves as a kid. It's no more ridiculous than Parseltongue!Ron or Suddenly!Badass!Molly.

*That Lockhart scene is disturbing. Yes, I know what he was trying to do to Harry and Ron. I still wince reading about it.

Lockhart's brain injury continues to puzzle me. In CoS he clearly needed help: he'd lost his initiative along with his memory. But it seemed like a hopeful sign that he was interested in his surroundings and had some notion of what kind of person he really was (the comment about being a rubbish teacher). It was as though his fake hero persona had been stripped away. In three years at St. Mungo's, all they've managed to do for him is rebuild that fake self. With the result that apparently now he believes his own hype, which he didn't before. The progress, she is stunning.

-L

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, in the end it's like...why does he like her? She doesn't seem like she'd ever be nice to house elves. In OotP it seemed like he liked her on principle, but now we know he has none.

The Lockhart thing is pretty funny.