OotP Chapter Thirty-Two

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

*Harry seems to have finished his exam before having his fit. Say what you like about Voldemort, but he’s quite considerate when it comes to Harry’s education. Stay in school kids!

*ETA: Not that he needed to be considerate that way. Quit school and take your rightful place as the boss of everyone at 27 kids!

*Oh god. It seems like Montague’s being spoon-fed. Maybe it’s medicine, but it’s creepy that he has no reaction to Harry at all. He sounds like he’s out of it to me.

*But it’s McGonagall who’s really injured. Four stunners straight to the chest at her age. Keeping track of which people feel pain, McGonagall is, unsurprisingly, one of those who can. Four stunners to the chest is bad at 70 (this is one of those times, imo, where wizards don't live twice as long as people). Do stunners shock the heart or something? Magic has rarely been connected to that kind of concrete physical thing.

*Okay, she’s in St. Mungo’s so that she’s not at the school—she’ll be fine (as opposed to Montague who's right there but who cares?).

*I remember reading this the first time and thinking how it’s amazing just how many people need to be gotten rid of before Harry has no adults personally loyal to him at school. I mean, most kids are always on their own. With Harry you have to get rid of a father substitute, a mother substitute and a very big brother substitute before he’s got no one to turn to—and even then he’s still got one if he’d only be bright enough to go to Snape.

*I don’t get why there’s all this talk about cowardice and daylight. They were subduing Hagrid, Minerva ran up to stop them and everybody turned around and stunned her (sort of like will happen to bad students at the end of this book). Why wouldn’t they have done it by daylight? Shouldn’t they be given bravery points for not being afraid of the dark? And what were they supposedly afraid of? Oh, I guess just her Gryffindor charisma that cows lesser folk into submission.

*Of course, Montague was attacked by two people, but at least it was during the day!

*’Sfunny all the kids are talking about how it’s unlikely Voldemort could have gotten Sirius into the DoM (by which I mean Hermione is saying it because she’s always right) and nobody suggests an alternate response besides "we have to go there ourselves and...do something."

*Why does Hermione say neither Ron or Harry are making sense with their theories of why Voldemort would want to use Sirius to get the "weapon?" They may not be correct, but I don’t see what about Ron’s theory doesn’t make sense. Sirius’s being a Pureblood and his brother being a DE and his family being very pro-Voldemort certainly could have had some connection. Harry’s at the Dursleys possibly because of his blood, why couldn’t Sirius’s blood be important?

*And now I’m all interested in the possible story where Ron was right, because I prefer it to the one we get.

*Hermione needs proof before she dare accuse Voldemort of hurting Sirius. Hermione’s like that. Sometimes. As the plot dictates.

*Hermione suggests Harry may just have a "saving people" thing. No wonder they get along so well. Saved all those other species single-handedly yet, Hermione?

*Harry’s logic continues to astound: Voldemort’s got Sirius and no one else knows. That means only he can save him. Um, no. It means you really ought to tell somebody else. If you’re going to break out of Hogwarts, for instance, maybe you should break out and contact Arthur Weasley? Amelia Bones?

*Isn’t it funny how Hermione is absolutely petrified of sounding like she’s criticizing Harry? She’s almost like any random Slytherin in many a fanfic dealing with Fanon!Draco who rules the house with an iron fist.

*Still, with all her criticism she doesn’t suggest, like, an alternate response to the crisis. It’s let’s all go get Voldemort or nothing!

*Note that Harry is still embarrassed about his "blunder" of saving everybody in the Triwizard tournament, like he doesn’t realize it’s just a sign of his heroic nature. And apparently doesn't remember he got rewarded for it.

*Funny, too, how Hermione has forgotten about Snape since Hermione’s the one who thinks he’s trustworthy. And when she’s scolding Harry about Occlumency too...

*Oh no, here comes Ginny to "coolly" tells Harry there’s "no need to take that tone with her" when she’s only trying to help. See how cool Ginny is? Here she's showing how she's probably the only girl who can talk to him like an equal and will be a great wife.

*Hermione’s really terrified, you guys. Because she’s actually a very soft character.

*Luna is getting ignored. Just thought I’d mention.

*Hermione says "some Slytherin" is bound to tip Umbridge off if they see what they’re doing. All the Slytherins are against the other students, not just those few keeping the nice ones in check through fear. Some Slytherin--they're all the same.

*We’re now talking about Occlumency, the Order, Sirius and Slytherins, and Hermione has yet to remember Snape. La la la... Why not throw in a few throwaway references to greasy hair and big noses that don't ping anything either? (Note I'm not even mentioning Sirius' present, the one's Harry's got for emergencies.)

*Fred and George were planning to set of garroting gas—neat. And it’s apparently fatal. Damn that Umbridge, ruining that joke!

*Hermione is not so upset about things that she doesn’t take a moment to appreciate how quickly Ginny comes up with a great lie. GO GINNY!!

*The broom really is under strict guard in the dungeons. Perhaps being shaved a little each day and made to watch while the splinters are fed to termites. Mwahahaha!

*GO MILLICENT!

*I assume Millicent is here instead of Pansy because it’s always funnier to use Millicent’s size to have her overpower Hermione, but I love the idea of Draco and Millicent working in tandem.

*Malfoy displays new talent by being able to laugh loudly and sycophantically at the same time. I hope that’s in the script for OotP. (*Pictures Tom Felton practicing in front of the mirror*)

*Malfoy and the other Slytherins laugh at McGonnagall being injured, another thing usually brought up to show just how heartless they are. As opposed to the type of people who set off deadly gas a joke. If only it were Filch or Montague.

*It’s quite nice of Crabbe to drag Neville in so he can finish his story arc for this book. Oops, I mean because he valiantly protected Ginny. Not that she needs protecting because nobody stands a chance against her.

*Now Harry remembers Snape, though he’ll still make him an enemy again for being smart enough to not enter the room screaming curses at Umbridge and declaring Harry’s innocence which in this universe is sometimes as bad as being on the other side.

*Heh—I forgot Umbridge put Snape on probation. I guess I forgot since Snape’s the only person who reacts normally about it. He doesn’t break down in tears or pull out a bottle of whiskey and start drinking. He bows ironically and leaves.

*"Sir?"
"Yes, Draco?"
"Could you teach me to bow ironically? Mine keep coming out all sarcastic."

*Snape notices Neville is being hurt and puts a stop to it. That’s Snape who puts a stop to it and Neville who was getting hurt. And a Slytherin who was hurting him.

*Snape’s line to Crabbe about job recommendations is so funny. Why do people wonder why people write about Slytherins? They have great senses of humor when they’re not having to look bad. And they all seem to develop this great sense of humor in adulthood after being humorously retarded throughout adolescence, so Fanon!Draco is totally within reason!

ETA: Guess Crabbe won't be needing any job recommendations after all. Luckily, since Snape won't be around to give them.

*Umbridge looks like she’s talking herself into something—her Crucio in the name of Ministry security. She is so totally Hermione. Seriously. She’s nervous, says she doesn’t want to do it, but ‘sometimes circumstances justify the use...’ Ah, she’s hit upon that lovely justification. Now she’s just excited to try it. ETA: Unlike Harry, in whom justification and badass use of Crucio just come together naturally in the moment.

*Trickiest sentence in the book: "Malfoy was watching her with a hungry expression on his face." Tricky because it’s in response to Umbridge’s ‘sometimes circumstances justify the use..." Yet somehow that sentence always jumps ahead to become a response to, ‘The Cruciatius Curse should loosen your tongue’ in fandom memory. The different placement changes it significantly.

*Surely I’m not the only one who can easily imagine Hermione being discovered with a freezer full of bodies as an adult and explaining that ‘somebody had to act.’

*Umbridge calls Hermione "Little Miss Question All." Dumbledore would be amused if he could hear that. She never questions him.

*When Hermione warns Umbridge that Fudge wouldn’t want her to break the law, doesn’t it seem like she might be talking to herself? I mean, that Hermione could so easily be in Umbridge’s place and the best way to talk her down is to tell her Dumbledore wouldn’t want her to break the law?

*Everyone is looking at Hermione shocked, because they’ve all fallen for her clever clever plan too! Why, what could Hermione be doing?! She must be betraying us to Umbridge! I hope she doesn’t break out in boils!

*Everyone is practically gaping at Hermione’s telling Umbridge Harry was trying to talk to Dumbledore. OMG, what could she be doing?! This reminds me of that awful movie Shining Through where Melanie Griffith plays the Worst Spy Ever and yet all the Nazis obligingly fall for her anyway. And her boss, Michael Douglas, is supposed to the absolute best spy ever, except for the tiny problem of his not understanding any language but English despite years of trying. So when somebody asks him if he wants coffee with his strudel he has to kill them.

*Luckily Umbridge and her ‘minions’ (yes, they’re actually called that!) are stupid enough to fall for Hermione's performance. Hermione is pretending to choke and sob but isn’t crying. She has to broadcast that she's being manipulative so that Harry doesn't kill her in a righteous rage and confusion.

*Malfoy, too, broadcasts his expression of greed and can’t conceal it fast enough. More interestingly, though, is that Umbridge is clearly suspicious of him anyway. When Hermione says there’s a weapon to be used, Umbridge’s eyes rest on Malfoy, like he’s obviously the one who would. She seems to see Malfoy as the enemy, though this probably doesn’t indicate that Malfoy isn’t loyal to her so much as that Malfoy is awful and backstabbing even to those he is loyal to.

*Anybody else here unsurprised that the plucky Gryffindors made quick work of the Slytherins, some of whom don’t even have names? At least we know they're not all Malfoy's gang if there are nameless sixth years there. Presumably just enough to make them cowards for outnumbering the Gryffindors, but not too many they can't be knocked down like bowling pins when necessary.



Exploitation Filmmakers’ Credo (n): "Come on, these dummies can’t remember what they saw five minutes ago!"
Haven’t we gone through this Snape thing before?

IITS
Okay, I can see why Harry doesn’t think of Snape, but why doesn’t Hermione?

Idiot Picture
Good to know when something’s really at stake villains will fall for someone saying "Boo-hoo!" with her hands over her eyes and not actually crying. And also everything else everybody does in this chapter.

Informed Attributes
Any ideas Ron comes up with for what might be going on are dumb and make no sense, even if they’re not. Nothing makes sense unless Hermione thinks of it.

James Bond Exposition Rule
Did I tell you about how I sent those Dementors to your house? I’ve been smart enough to not mention it before, but clearly the time has come as I’m about to moiderize ya.

Misdirected Answering
Thank you for explaining how it’s unlikely Sirius could have left the house and he and Voldemort could have gotten into the DoM (except later both of them will show up at the DoM), but what I’m wondering is why you’re not considering alerting oh, say, Ron’s parents instead of handling it yourself.

One Radio Rule
And it’s back to Umbridge’s office we go! Which is now more highly guarded, thanks in part of Harry.

POV Shots
Don’t you be tellin’ Harry about his pov shots, Hermione. POV shots can not be questioned!

Whooshing Powder
For fire talking.

Final score: 9

Comments

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

*Harry seems to have finished his exam before having his fit. Say what you like about Voldemort, but he’s quite considerate when it comes to Harry’s education. Stay in school kids!

No. Voldemort cruelly interrupted Harry twenty minutes before the end of the exam, so that he'd fail it! Damn that villain!

But he did considerately interrupt an exam that Harry couldn't care less about--and Harry got to leave it early, so that was a plus. All this consideration probably comes because Voldemort now has Lily's blood in his veins, and it's making him nicer.

*I don’t get why there’s all this talk about cowardice and daylight. They were subduing Hagrid, Minerva ran up to stop them and everybody turned around and stunned her (sort of like will happen to bad students at the end of this book). Why wouldn’t they have done it by daylight? Shouldn’t they be given bravery points for not being afraid of the dark? And what were they supposedly afraid of? Oh, I guess just her Gryffindor charisma that cows lesser folk into submission.

This is Madam Pomfrey, who has a sense of fair play. Hopefully, she was also indignant about Umbridge being set upon by dozens of centaurs in the dark of night. And hey, at least she's trying to help Montague. After all, he's just a Slytherin.

*’Sfunny all the kids are talking about how it’s unlikely Voldemort could have gotten Sirius into the DoM (by which I mean Hermione is saying it because she’s always right) and nobody suggests an alternate response besides "we have to go there ourselves and...do something."

Yeah, it's not like there are these special Ministry wizards who fight crimes or anything. Or an entire order of wizards who are personally loyal to Dumbledore and would gladly risk their lives to fight Voldemort and who can instantly Apparate to a location, rather than take hours to fly there.

Nope. Nothing like that at all.

*Isn’t it funny how Hermione is absolutely petrified of sounding like she’s criticizing Harry? She’s almost like any random Slytherin in many a fanfic dealing with Fanon!Draco who rules the house with an iron fist.

I think this is one of the moments that had me imagining Ron and Hermione being in a conspiracy all year to distract Harry by channeling his rage into the D.A.

*Oh no, here comes Ginny to "coolly" tells Harry there’s "no need to take that tone with her" when she’s only trying to help. See how cool Ginny is? Here she's showing how she's probably the only girl who can talk to him like an equal and will be a great wife.

I think she could have done more. I think she should have "coolly" kicked him in the balls at this point.

*Luna is getting ignored. Just thought I’d mention.

Who?

[merrymelody.livejournal.com]

I think she should have "coolly" kicked him in the balls at this point.

Ironically, that would make me like her where JKR's constant reiteration of her 389573894095 good points couldn't.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

No. Voldemort cruelly interrupted Harry twenty minutes before the end of the exam, so that he'd fail it! Damn that villain!

That's right! Forgot about that. But he was really being nice. Harry didn't have to finish the test in the class he doesn't like, and he had a handy excuse for his fail: He was fighting evil at the time.

This is Madam Pomfrey, who has a sense of fair play.

Was it? Heh--you'd think she'd know how fair play works given the students she must be curing!

Part 2

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

*It’s quite nice of Crabbe to drag Neville in so he can finish his story arc for this book. Oops, I mean because he valiantly protected Ginny. Not that she needs protecting because nobody stands a chance against her.

And notice how he's thoughtfully chocking Neville so that Neville has no chance to bring logic or reason into the situation. Were Neville able to speak, he might say something like this:

Neville: If it takes us four hours to fly to London, Sirius will be a gibbing idiot by the time we arrive. I know. My parents went crazy after three hours of crucioing.

*Now Harry remembers Snape, though he’ll still make him an enemy again for being smart enough to not enter the room screaming curses at Umbridge and declaring Harry’s innocence which in this universe is sometimes as bad as being on the other side.

I've been re-reading Mike Smith's take on DH, and while this is definitely the Super Dumbass chapter, Harry becomes Super Dumbass 3 in this moment with Snape.

*Snape notices Neville is being hurt and puts a stop to it. That’s Snape who puts a stop to it and Neville who was getting hurt. And a Slytherin who was hurting him.

Which is why Harry is a Super Dumbass 3. If Snape sticking up for Neville isn't a clear message to Harry of "Message received, let me go find out what's up," I don't know what is.

If Harry had stuck around for probably ten more minutes, Snape would have been back to inform him that Sirius was still in the Black House. I don't know how, but Snape would have come up with a way to do it.

Of course anything short of grabbing Harry by the hair and screaming, "He's SAFE, you twit!" would probably have been miscontrued.

*Surely I’m not the only one who can easily imagine Hermione being discovered with a freezer full of bodies as an adult and explaining that ‘somebody had to act.’

Nope. You're not.

****

This scheme of Voldemort's, BTW, is even stupider than the one from the year before. He fires this vision to Harry in the middle of the afternoon in which it appears that Sirius is imminent danger of being killed. But Harry is hours away from London by the fastest non-Apparition route (well, I suppose the Floo would have gotten him there nice and quick....)

Voldemort leaves it entirely up to Harry to figure a way out of a school ruled by a sadistic control freak. Why would Voldemort bank on Harry even finding a way out of the school? Although, come to think of it, couldn't Harry and Co. have taken the tunnel out to Hogsmeade, contacted friendly Rosmerta (with her soft spot for ickle Sirius), and asked to use her fireplace to contact the house?

Why did Harry have to break into Umbridge's office in the first place again?

Re: Part 2

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

This scheme of Voldemort's, BTW, is even stupider than the one from the year before. He fires this vision to Harry in the middle of the afternoon in which it appears that Sirius is imminent danger of being killed. But Harry is hours away from London by the fastest non-Apparition route (well, I suppose the Floo would have gotten him there nice and quick....)

LOL! It really is a great plan. In GoF, granted, he managed to put armed mermen, dragons and all manner of other beasts in between Harry and the thing he needed to touch for the plan to work. But here he gets extra points for bringing Harry to the place at all rather than just walking in himself and taking the prophecy.

[r-ganymede.livejournal.com]

*Hermione suggests Harry may just have a "saving people" thing. No wonder they get along so well. Saved all those other species single-handedly yet, Hermione?

Bah. They're not grateful enough for her to save them. That's probably why she gave up. *still doesn't understand what the house elf plotline was supposed to mean*

*Umbridge calls Hermione "Little Miss Question All." Dumbledore would be amused if he could hear that. She never questions him.

I always found it so strange that Hermione was supposed to be all "We need to question authority OMG" in this book, because she's just not like that at all. And it's not just with Dumbledore, it's with, like, everyone except Umbridge. And not a book later she's insisting their textbook couldn't possibly be wrong and that Harry shouldn't even think about the Prince's notes! Based on her character at other times, she should be all behind Umbridge, actually, since knowledge-wise she seems to care most about what will be on the exams, not necessarily what's interesting or useful. Screw Voldemort, I bet all this "rebellion" on Hermione's part came from knowing the OWLs had a practical portion.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I always found it so strange that Hermione was supposed to be all "We need to question authority OMG" in this book, because she's just not like that at all.

I know! She's the one who's the stickler for the rules even when there's no reason for them--and that's a good call pointing out that the following year she won't even look at instructions that make Potions better because she won't look at recipes that aren't Ministry approved. Huh? Doesn't Umbridge work at the Ministry?

Of course I think the secret is that Hermione is more always guided by the plot, which often leads to her having to recognize Dumbledore as benevolent God. So anybody against Dumbledore is obviously authority to be questioned. Dumbledore himself seems to be viewed as just this really cool guy, as if obeying him isn't obeying authority at all. She's totally deciding herself to do whatever Dumbledore says without knowing why.

[r-ganymede.livejournal.com]

The whole thing could have really worked for me if she had been herself for the first half of the book or so. Like, if she had been her usual "We need to follow even stupid rules" self while the others already knew Umbridge was bad news. If she'd started out wanted to comply with Umbridge, but got less and less comfortable with it over time until she just couldn't do it anymore, I think it could have been a good story. And then Hermione could Learn a Valuable Lesson about obeying authority too easily. Thinking about, it would almost be a better version of Percy's story. But nooo, she had to immediately know Umbridge was evil the moment she met her.

[little-aphid.livejournal.com]

Butting in here, sorry, but I just wanted to say that I really dig that idea. I never thought about it, but if JKR had characterized Hermione like that in the beginning, it would've been far less irritating to read, and it would've also made Umbridge's Reign of Terror more effective for me.

Insidious evil is always more effective than Hi-I'm-Evil-How-Are-You evil, and when they start out even fooling one of the smart protagonists, it gets scary quickly. *wishes for a book that never was*

[r-ganymede.livejournal.com]

Feel free to butt in all you like :)

It certainly would have made her Reign of Terror alot more plausible! The way it happened in the book, she doesn't even seem to have that much real power, even though everyone says she does. It's like, practically the entire school resisted from the outset, including all the other teachers. Had Hermione, the other teachers, anyone other than the Slytherins been seriously behind Umbridge, it would have been waaay different.

I think having Hermione go along with it at first not only would have made Umbridge scarier, it would have also made me like Hermione alot more, because not only would one of her very real flaws would have been a problem, but she would also have the chance to overcome it in a meaningful way.

[little-aphid.livejournal.com]

Exactly! It's just depressing to think about what a wasted opportunity the last four books were, this one especially. Well, Deathly Hallows especially, I think, but OotP comes in second.

It really boils down to the problem JKR has with connecting plot and atmosphere to characterization. It's especially odd here, because while usually an author would sacrifice one for the other, here both her characterization AND atmosphere/plot are off, and fixing one would fix the other.

Oh, if she only used her editor.

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

That's actually a really good point! The first time I read this book, I actually found Umbridge funny, because everyone kept rebelling against her in all these quirky ways. But it's true, if everyone who matters is against Umbridge already and it's just a question of waiting for her to get hers, then that isn't anywhere near as effective than if some of the main characters are willing to play along at first. After all, Thomas Jefferson's expression is, "all tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent," with the implication that it won't happen if everyone spots the evil people and removes them quickly.

But of course, Rowling simply can't do subtlety. With her, all designated villains are obviously-evil my-way-or-else types. And that was okay early on when she was writing children's books but Umbridge is meant to be a more complex and grown-up sort and... really just isn't.

[little-aphid.livejournal.com]

Oh god. It seems like Montague’s being spoon-fed. Maybe it’s medicine, but it’s creepy that he has no reaction to Harry at all. He sounds like he’s out of it to me.

Sending your enemies/vaguely annoying acquaintances into catatonic shock is the best revenge!

*Why does Hermione say neither Ron or Harry are making sense with their theories of why Voldemort would want to use Sirius to get the "weapon?" They may not be correct, but I don’t see what about Ron’s theory doesn’t make sense. Sirius’s being a Pureblood and his brother being a DE and his family being very pro-Voldemort certainly could have had some connection. Harry’s at the Dursleys possibly because of his blood, why couldn’t Sirius’s blood be important?

Clearly Hermione is the one with the magical power of being able to sort the makes-sense from the doesn't-make-sense. Even if the two categories look exactly the same in these books, Hermione knows the difference!

She does that quite a lot too, just saying that this works, while this doesn't, even if there's no logical reason evident. She just knows, ok?

*Fred and George were planning to set of garroting gas—neat. And it’s apparently fatal. Damn that Umbridge, ruining that joke!

That made me laugh way too hard.

*Trickiest sentence in the book: "Malfoy was watching her with a hungry expression on his face." Tricky because it’s in response to Umbridge’s ‘sometimes circumstances justify the use..." Yet somehow that sentence always jumps ahead to become a response to, ‘The Cruciatius Curse should loosen your tongue’ in fandom memory. The different placement changes it significantly.

I can't help but think that Rowling placed it before she mentions the Cruciatius Curse entirely by accident. Or at least she meant to imply that "Malfoy was watching her with a hungry expression" because he was imagining something similar in the near future, and was therefore immediately validated.
Of course, that doesn't change how I decide to interpret it.

Surely I’m not the only one who can easily imagine Hermione being discovered with a freezer full of bodies as an adult and explaining that ‘somebody had to act.’

OMG. Hermione is a self-righteous Dexter! It all makes sense now!

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Clearly Hermione is the one with the magical power of being able to sort the makes-sense from the doesn't-make-sense. Even if the two categories look exactly the same in these books, Hermione knows the difference!

And she says it with such authority in her voice nobody questions her. Have a nice life, Ron!

I can't help but think that Rowling placed it before she mentions the Cruciatius Curse entirely by accident.

I think so too. Or just because putting it after she says the name of the curse would undercut Hermione's dramatic reaction.

[little-aphid.livejournal.com]

Well, we all know that NOTHING, not even clarity should stand in the way of Hermione.

Also, yes, just one of many reasons I still find R/Hr implausible, or at least, depressing.

[lachlanm.livejournal.com]

sistermagpie: Four stunners to the chest is bad at 70 (this is one of those times, imo, where wizards don't live twice as long as people).

Which is especially stupid because according to JKR McGonagall is actually closer to the kids' age than to Dumbledore's (70 vs. 150).

[cressida0201.livejournal.com]

Although she retconned him to be "only" 115...and then she claimed that McGonnagall didn't become the next headmistress because she was too old. Grr.

[savagedamsel10.livejournal.com]

The whole "too old" comment pissed me off SO bad.

[merrymelody.livejournal.com]

IIRC, didn't she further qualify that the head teacher after Dumbledore was a man? Like, let's be honest here, JKR, and just admit that your instinctive reaction when thinking of an authority figure is to assign a male (just like all those people predicting Amelia Bones for MoM got disappointed when, unsurprisingly she died, and the space is filled by a dude.)

[cressida0201.livejournal.com]

IIRC, Harry tells one of his kids to say hello to the headmaster in the Epilogue. (Don't wanna get that thing out even to check a fact!) Then someone asked JKR why McGonnagall wasn't the new headmistress and she said that McGonnagall was too old for the job. It might just be JKR being bad at maths again, but it seems more likely to me that she never even considered that McGonnagall might take over after DD.

[r-ganymede.livejournal.com]

Which is so weird when you think about it, because it's one of those things that everyone just assumed all over the place and there's not really a reason to go against it.

[(Anonymous)]

If she took over Dumbledore, there would be two Gryffindor headmasters in line (Snape doesn't count). I would prefer Flitwick to become headmaster.

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

Even so, though, McGonagall was originally Dumbledore's deputy and so logically she should be the next Headmistress just by default. It makes zero-ZERO-sense for anyone else to take her place until she's gone.

You could of course make the case that people realized the issues of putting another biased Gryffindor in the headmaster position and so switched her out with someone more fair- but somehow I don't think that would occur to any of the characters either. Gryffindors really are superior, after all....

Oh, but the Harry Potter books are sooo feminist and gender-equal and wizards are so much more feminist than Muggles and Rowling is so superior to infamous Stephenie Meyer the sexist pig. *rolls eyes* Yeah, right!

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

*I don’t get why there’s all this talk about cowardice and daylight.
I suppose JKR was going for the "Gestapo comes very early in the morning touch".

Of course, Montague was attacked by two people, but at least it was during the day!
No no no, you still haven't got it. He wasn't attacked, he was punishe - and rightfully so.

*Isn’t it funny how Hermione is absolutely petrified of sounding like she’s criticizing Harry?
YES!!! To be honest, I never really understood what JKR intended to imply with it. Terrified for her to hurt her? He "wants to shake her" and presumably gave off some vibes in that direction, but still? Or is it a more psychological fear of him rejecting her as his best friend? What does that tell us about the friendship in question? Or - what??? Made me happy when Ginny came along to put him in his place. come to think of it - maybe that was the intention - showing how much better suited Ginny was for Harry? Hmm, but I seem to remember other incidents where Hermione is terrified of disagreeing with Harry. As, of couse, you should be where the Christ-character is concerned,...

I assume Millicent is here instead of Pansy because it’s always funnier to use Millicent’s size to have her overpower Hermione
I have a suspicion, that Millicent's size is a way to get around calling her fat without being called upon dissing fat girls...

Oops, I mean because he valiantly protected Ginny.
And it shows the chivalry in Gryffindor. Honestly, can you even imagine Draco or Crabbe or Zabini trying to protect Pansy or Millicent? OTOH, they are pug-nosed and big, so maybe they don't deserve it anyway.

She seems to see Malfoy as the enemy, though this probably doesn’t indicate that Malfoy isn’t loyal to her so much as that Malfoy is awful and backstabbing even to those he is loyal to.
Of course. It isn't as if he was in the house where you find true friends...um - wait.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I do think that was part of the point with Ginny there. Every scene she's in in books 5 and 6 is usually highlighting some form of that. It's just kind of funny that Hermione is so scared-she isn't with Ron. So what's the deal with Harry? Why is she scared of him? Does she think he'll dump her as a friend? Or is it really just his awful temper? It's not that I really think it's OOC for her, I just almost wonder why it doesn't seem OOC given what I've seen this girl do and how she stands up to everyone else.

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

Well, we know that next year Hermione has done her reading on survivor guilt, because she uses that to explain Tonks's change of hair color. So, perhaps she already started doing that realized that Harry was a walking powder keg. She's been squeaking and quaking all year (starting with when he goes off on her and Ron as they welcome him to the Black House).

There also some point (earlier than this) when Ron passes on something Hermione has said, and Harry blows up at him, and Ron counters by saying he's just the messenger--but that he agrees with Hermione nevertheless. From which I infer that Hermione and Ron were regularly discussing how to deal with Harry that year--and that Hermione was too scared to tell whatever it was (I think it was basically "stop being a jerk") to Harry directly.

But, of course, I'm probably making the wrong inferences. Really what was going on was that Harry was angry because his soul piece (as opposed to "soul patch"*) was acting up. And Hermione probably knew all along that Harry was an accidental horcrux (although, of course, she didn't know what a horcrux was), and she was just
naturally afraid of Voldemort's soul-fraction. This explains her insistence of Harry practicing his Occlumency. She was making the same mistake Dumbledore did, by not having enough faith in Harry's Power of Love to resist Voldemort's evil.

If only they had kept their faith in Harry! There would have been no need of Occlumency lessons at all!

* Wouldn't it be funny if, instead of having that horcrux entry scar, Harry had a soul patch? He would have gotten a lot more cool points in school.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Now I'm totally picturing Harry with a little bit of Voldemort soul hanging off his chin. I'm loving it.

[burninglikeice.livejournal.com]

*Harry’s logic continues to astound: Voldemort’s got Sirius and no one else knows. That means only he can save him. Um, no. It means you really ought to tell somebody else. If you’re going to break out of Hogwarts, for instance, maybe you should break out and contact Arthur Weasley? Amelia Bones?

I don't know, I kind of don't blame the kids for not going to an adult sooner. The majority of adults that they deal with on a daily basis and are forced to trust are irresponsible and immature, that wouldn't make me have faith in their ability to help out someone I love when he needs it most. And the more mature and responsible adults (re: McGonagall) are out of commission. Yes, Snape would have been a logical choice, but he's just as immature as any of them. Then again, I suppose the general Gryffindor sentiment is that the more immature and lazy you are, the more good of a person you are (OMG! Evil!Percy and his hateful ambition should not have been in Gryffindor!!!), so I guess that shouldn't have stopped them. Also, Dumbledore has sort of trained Harry to be "it's your job to save everything, even though you're barely a teenager," and with that deeply ingrained in him, along with that ridiculous Gryffindor "bravery," it means he's going to take it upon himself to solve a problem, even if someone is around to help. He does have a saving people thing, and I think it's Dumbledore's fault (add that to the list of things that are Dumbledore's fault).

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know, I kind of don't blame the kids for not going to an adult sooner. The majority of adults that they deal with on a daily basis and are forced to trust are irresponsible and immature, that wouldn't make me have faith in their ability to help out someone I love when he needs it most.

Say what you want about the Weasleys senior, but they have proven themselves rather helpful and ready to listen in the past. And due to their own experiences with Harry's visions they would have been ready believe at once. As an additional bonus, an initial contact could have been made by Ron from any old fireplace. They could have easily devised coded phrases for him to use. This way they would have gained several hours - if the goal had been to save Sirius, rather than for Harry and entourage to play heroes, possibly compromising members of the OoTP who'd have to bail them out in the process.

Or, as had been pointed out earlier, the trio could have sneaked out of Hogwarts via a secret passage and just flooed to the Burrow from Hogsmeade. But no, Harry had to play the big man without any real abilities to justify this colossal arrogance and everybody else was far too intimidated by him to be able to think, I guess.

Just to think that I was firmly convinced that this fiasco would make Harry grow up and actually _earn_ his successes, since he has (apparently) finally exhausted his huge store of dumb beginner's luck in OoTP! LOL.