A new subject Harry isn't good at at all. Like Divination and History of Magic, it's not really something a hero needs.
Well, according to HP saga, a hero doesn't need to be good at anything, leave alone actually _work_ to become good at anything. All he needs is to be brave and to have the author on his side. Which is why the things Harry was good at came out of thin air and in the end he won using the spells he learned during his first 4 years at school.
Seriously, how bizarre is it that Hotheaded Sirius *never* brings up Lily in his fight with Snape here? As long as they're hitting below the belt, after all. It's like somebody put a jinx on them to never speak of her.
IMHO, it is actually quite believable. Much of Sirius's self-image and his and Lupin's depiction of the glory of the Marauders to Harry seemed to be grounded in viewing Snape as a lower form of life, who was envying them and trying to make their lives difficult due to that envy. Mentioning that Snape was Lily's friend would open up the whole can of worms about how James managed to "win" Lily, why he was so hostile to her friend, etc. Also, I think that this friendship somewhat "besmirched" Lily's image in Sirius's view and he didn't want to remember it, let alone to bring it up in front of Harry. I also don't think that the letter in this scene was Lily's letter that made it's improbable appearance in DH. Wasn't it mentioned that it was actually DD's letter to Sirius, with instructions about Occlummency?
Speaking generally about Sirius's incarceration in the house, in retrospective it makes even less sense. There were tons of disguise and concealment possibilities for him, which the kids successfully used for _their_ purposes during the series. Apparently, Sirius didn't do anything to make everybody think that he was too reckless to be let outside. So, what the dickens? Also, isn't it bizarre how a co-creator of the Marauder's Map can't find anything more useful to do for a whole year than to clean the house without magic (sic?) and to drink. I mean, at the very least he could have made copies of it or something.
Of course, after were treated to JKR's understanding of intellectual brilliance in DH, it is clear that one couldn't expect much of anything from a person who was supposed to have been a youthful prodigy in Potterverse.
I have to say that I find it incomprehensible why JKR chose to regurgitate some of her duller plots (Quidditch! Ron's insecurity and cluelessness with women!) in HBP, rather than to explore and flesh out the circumstances leading to Harry's predicament, or DESTINY, if you prefer. Really, in the end nothing in the backstory makes sense.
I pause here to mourn the Snape/Malfoy/Draco connection which was tossed over a cliff after it served its plot purpose. Snape and Draco's story in HBP must be the most elaborate mechanism to move a wooden stick from one hand to another in the history of literature.
This is would be too funny if it wasn't so sad, really. I still fail to understand how anybody sane and with IQ over 60 could finding anything attractive about Voldy's platform or being a DE, too... I used to hope that this particular connection would depict the reasons, silly naive me :(.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-04-05 06:04 pm (UTC)Well, according to HP saga, a hero doesn't need to be good at anything, leave alone actually _work_ to become good at anything. All he needs is to be brave and to have the author on his side. Which is why the things Harry was good at came out of thin air and in the end he won using the spells he learned during his first 4 years at school.
Seriously, how bizarre is it that Hotheaded Sirius *never* brings up Lily in his fight with Snape here? As long as they're hitting below the belt, after all. It's like somebody put a jinx on them to never speak of her.
IMHO, it is actually quite believable. Much of Sirius's self-image and his and Lupin's depiction of the glory of the Marauders to Harry seemed to be grounded in viewing Snape as a lower form of life, who was envying them and trying to make their lives difficult due to that envy. Mentioning that Snape was Lily's friend would open up the whole can of worms about how James managed to "win" Lily, why he was so hostile to her friend, etc. Also, I think that this friendship somewhat "besmirched" Lily's image in Sirius's view and he didn't want to remember it, let alone to bring it up in front of Harry.
I also don't think that the letter in this scene was Lily's letter that made it's improbable appearance in DH. Wasn't it mentioned that it was actually DD's letter to Sirius, with instructions about Occlummency?
Speaking generally about Sirius's incarceration in the house, in retrospective it makes even less sense. There were tons of disguise and concealment possibilities for him, which the kids successfully used for _their_ purposes during the series. Apparently, Sirius didn't do anything to make everybody think that he was too reckless to be let outside. So, what the dickens?
Also, isn't it bizarre how a co-creator of the Marauder's Map can't find anything more useful to do for a whole year than to clean the house without magic (sic?) and to drink. I mean, at the very least he could have made copies of it or something.
Of course, after were treated to JKR's understanding of intellectual brilliance in DH, it is clear that one couldn't expect much of anything from a person who was supposed to have been a youthful prodigy in Potterverse.
I have to say that I find it incomprehensible why JKR chose to regurgitate some of her duller plots (Quidditch! Ron's insecurity and cluelessness with women!) in HBP, rather than to explore and flesh out the circumstances leading to Harry's predicament, or DESTINY, if you prefer. Really, in the end nothing in the backstory makes sense.
I pause here to mourn the Snape/Malfoy/Draco connection which was tossed over a cliff after it served its plot purpose. Snape and Draco's story in HBP must be the most elaborate mechanism to move a wooden stick from one hand to another in the history of literature.
This is would be too funny if it wasn't so sad, really. I still fail to understand how anybody sane and with IQ over 60 could finding anything attractive about Voldy's platform or being a DE, too... I used to hope that this particular connection would depict the reasons, silly naive me :(.