Deathly Hallows, chapter 2

[anehan]

In Memoriam

* The Dursleys are leaving tea cups outside Harry's bedroom door. What are they, house elves?

*Harry has never learned to heal wounds and thinks it's a serious flaw in his magical education. Maybe he ought to have, you know, studied during the six years at Hogwarts instead of letting Hermione do all his work for him. Sorry, Harry, but you have no one else than yourself to blame. Normal people, if they had a lunatic after their blood, would have actually devoted some time for making sure they weren't completely unprepared.

* Harry has never cleaned his trunk before. Gross. Our Harry isn't much for hygiene.

* Finding a fragment of the mirror Sirius had given him, Harry feels a sudden upsurge of bitter memories, stabs of regret and longing. He suffers, I tell you.

* Harry is going to take his photograh album and a stack of letters with him. Good lord, what does he think he's going to do with them. The boy is an idiot.

* And we come to the sickening obituary by Elphias Doge. One more person whom Dumbledore managed to hoodwink into believing he was a noble person.

* Dumbledore never revealed the remotest anti-Muggle tendency. Except when he bullied the Dursleys. But that doesn't count, because the Dursleys totally deserved it.

* Dumbledore became the most brilliant student Hogwarts had ever seen and constantly outshone his friends. Bet he liked that. It would have done good for him to be second-best at something. Instead, everything confirmed him in his belief that he was superior to others and that it was his duty to manipulate others for the greater good.

* According to Doge, Dumbledore never had Ministerial ambitions. True enough. He just wanted to take over the world.

* "Albus Dumbledore was never proud or vain". Ahahahahahaa!

* Dumbledore's losses "endowed him with great humanity and sympathy". Bitch, please. The man is clearly incapable of empathy.

* Doge was right in one thing, though: Dumbledore always worked for the greater good. Too bad his methods and definition of "greater good" were rather questionable.

* Harry had thought he knew Dumbledore quite well. What made him think that? The great openness Dumbledore displayed in his dealings with Harry, perhaps?

* Harry thinks that the idea of a teen-aged Dumbledore was odd, like trying to imagine a stupid Hermione. Much as I love Hermione, I have no problem in imagining her stupid. She isn't half so clever as she likes to think. For example, what good did it do to the DA to brand the traitor's face? It didn't prevent Marietta from squealing.

* The only personal question Harry had asked Dumbledore was the only one he suspected Dumbledore hadn't answered honestly. That's too naïve even for Harry.

* Unpleasant Skeeter may be, but I at least would rather read her book than any more of Doge's pennings. There might ever be a shred of truth in what she writes, if you manage to discount the more lurid details.

* Skeeter calls the Potter-Dumbledore relationship unhealthy, even sinister. Brava! At least someone finally got it right.

* Another chapter in which nothing happens comes to an end. I really need that alcohol to get through this.



Informed Attributes:
Dumbledore is noble. No, really.

Misdirected Answering:
Did you hear what Dumbledore got up to as a teenager? What do you mean, you're not interested?

Nut o' Fun:
Desiccated beetle eyes.

Final score: 3. Nothing happens in this chapter.

Comments

[anehan]

Hello, and welcome to DTCL!

What's funny about this is that he thinks that, and then never even bothers to learn, relying on Hermione instead.

It's sad that I'm not the least bit surprised by that. He really is a lazy sod.

DH really is the worst book in the series. Even OotP and HBP had something to redeem them, but not so DH. I have to confess that I have no very clear memory og what happens in DH, because it's all so scattered and random and there isn't a real plot to sustain it.

[j-lunatic.livejournal.com]

*Nods* I've tried to reread it, but I keep skipping over the Camping Trip From Hell and jumping ahead to Neville's entrance. And they're going to make two movies out of this? What, are they going to shoot the tent sequences in real time?

[anehan]

Two movies? Oh my god.

[tabaquis.livejournal.com]

Well, they said that about GoF, too, but they didn't... which is too bad, it really could have used it.

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

It seems to have been confirmed.

Well do you blame Warners? There may not be a story in this book, but there are at least seven potential grand spectacular set-pieces. And that's too many for one movie.

Besides, heaven forfend that anyone should fail to have the whole Harry Potter franchise yapping at their heels until they can get the theme park open...

[mmmarcusz.livejournal.com]

*Nods* I've tried to reread it, but I keep skipping over the Camping Trip From Hell and jumping ahead to Neville's entrance. And they're going to make two movies out of this? What, are they going to shoot the tent sequences in real time?

Maybe they saw the "Che" movies and thought, hey, 2 films of sitting in tents in the woods. Hasta la profita siempre!

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

And does not really connect to anything that preceeded it. We really got our noses rubbed in the fact that 2/3 of the elements introduced in the previous two books went nowhere and apparantly were never *intended* to go anywhere.

HBP got up my nose by ignoring all the new stuff pointed out in OotP. DHs goes that even better by not ignoring, but *contradicting* the new stuff in HBP.

Funny thing about how Harry cannot heal wounds, and yet had no problem fixing Demelza Roberts's split lip after a collission in Quidditch practice in HBP...

[tabaquis.livejournal.com]

You know, JKR has said repeatedly that she doesn't reread her old stuff. She works from (apparently) a large, general outline. She's admitted repeatedly that most of her fans know her world a lot better than she does.

The woman's obviously never heard of a concordance :P And shame on her editors for not pointing this crap out.

[horridporrid.livejournal.com]

You know, JKR has said repeatedly that she doesn't reread her old stuff.

To which I always wonder, "Why?". Not just, why don't you reread, but more importantly, why are you admitting you don't reread? Does she think it's a good thing? Why is it a good thing? Just... why?

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Being very uncharitible about the caliber of the poses Rowling seems determined to strike in public, I'd say she thinks it enhances her; "Yes, I know I'm a genius." act, "I take dictation from the Universe, and do not *need* to consult my sources."

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

Is a concordance similar to a bible? In the Vander Ark trial, she mentions her editors having a couple of bibles for the series.

Which makes DH even weirder, unless they were really rushing to get the book out. Which I don't know why they would be. Even when the publishing date was announced, I thought it was much too soon and I would have gladly waited another year if it had resulted in a better book.

(Of course, the publishing world revolves around me.....)

But I think there may have been pressure from the movie world as well as the fan world for an early release of DH, since those actors aren't getting any younger....

[tdotm.livejournal.com]

I wish the publishing world did revolve around you....

There's no point in having a bible if you can't get JKR to use it. I said before that not being edited was the worst problem of the book. I should have said the second half of the series. Her fame rocketed after Prisoner of Azkaban, and the quality of the books started to plummet. That's no coincidence

If she's too important to be edited, then surely she's too important to be pressured into publishing early? It's not like she's worried she'll have to return an advance. Or can't renegotiate the deadline on a contract. They'd have jumped to her tune - they already did in the EDITING. If she'd wanted another year, she'd have got it.

In the films, the characters are all 17/18 now. They could easily be played by 23 year olds. That's why we have id - because some people look years younger then they are and some years older. An HP producer said as much in a recent interview - not all 18 year olds look the same. I don't believe there'd have been too much pressure.

I think she was fed up with the whole thing. She wanted the praise, but not to put up with the pressure, and she got spoiled by a bunch of yes-publishers. Emperor's new clothes indeed. It's up to us to point out that she's naked!

[t0ra-chan.livejournal.com]

What's even funnier is that Harry does know some healing spells (he healed Demelza's nose in HBP), but suddenly doesn't know any at all. Just like Hermione can alter her parents memories, but a few chapters later has never done a memory charm.

The seventh book is by far the worst of the series; it's full of long, meaningless chapters in which nothing happens at all. And when things do happen it's written so horribly awfully that it's almost worse than the filler chapters.

I think this is because a) JKR wanted it to fit in with the other books in terms of time passing (a school year), and b) to have enough time for Tonks' and Remus' baby to be born. Notice how much stuff suddenly happens in a very short amount of time after Teddy's birth. Everything from the Gringott's heist to the final battle with Voldemort happens all in one day.

[tdotm.livejournal.com]

But why? Why did she want that? Why did it have to follow the school year if they weren’t AT school. Why all the juicy hints of upheaval and guerilla warfare at Hogwarts, when we were stuck in the Tent from Hell?

Why try to fit things around Teddy? What was the point of Teddy? He went from being a photo of a baby, to snogging Victoire. We never met him. There was no meaningful discussion about war ripping families apart. Or Harry's destiny played out again, but peacefully. Harry and Ginny were school aged kids, it wasn't feasible for them to bring him up. It'd be years before they were ready (about the time that James was born perhaps!). Surely his Grandmother must have done it. Plus, how did Tonks (Auror) and Lupin (experienced fighter and werewolf) die, whereas all the (important) school kids survived? Totally unbelievable!

Why didn’t 90% of the plot happen in August? Why wasn’t Luna taken off the train on the way to school in September? Why didn’t the final battle take place on All HALLOWS Eve?

She shot through her credibility to create a plot that was worthless anyway. Arrrggghhh!

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I've been amused for a few books with the way people's behavior blatantly follows a schedule rather than logic. It started to be really obvious in HBP, I think, because she was filling time through most of the year, since the real plot was happening in Slytherin and Harry couldn't see it. So he just hung out until everything happened around June or so.

Dudley's tea is a great example too. Harry saved him way back at the beginning of OotP. Okay, he doesn't think about it right then so he hasn't yet changed. But there's no sign of it in HBP either. Sure Harry was all deep in grief at the time (sure he was!) but wouldn't Dudley have started stuff like the tea back then? Instead it's only obvious in DH--sort of like how Harry can suddenly see Thestrels not at the end of GoF, but in OotP.

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Swythyv's come up with a lovely explanation for why Harry didn't see the Thestrals at the end of GoF. She just posted a new essay on Thestrals over in HP_essays.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'll check that out. That one really doesn't bother me, actually. I can accept JKR's explanation that it hadn't "sunk in yet" even if I don't really think that's the reason. But they so are obviously following a schedule. Like in this book I swear there's parts where people can't get a chance to talk for weeks even though they're all cooped up in a small house. Or Harry and Hermione have to practice apparition for a *month* so that they can hit GH at Christmas.

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

Another example is Harry's crush on Ginny. She gets her personality transplantation between GoF and OotP, but he needs more than a year to actually react to it. Maybe this delay is due to Evans genes...

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

And iirc, even after he's noticed it it never comes up for the weeks he's living with her at her house for Christmas.

[kaskait.livejournal.com]

She took a lot of her plot lines from Alchemy theories. Alchemical works must adhere to a very set schedule in both the solar and lunar calendar. Hence HP actions taking place at certain times of the year and all the waiting around in between.

She just should have jettisoned this part of her plan, it but braces on her. Ones that she didn't need and didn't have the ability to overcome or work-around.

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

Or at least use! The whole alchemy theories fell flat anyway - so there shouldn't have been any reason why she adhered to the mere structure till the bitter end.

[kaskait.livejournal.com]

I think the structure overwhelmed her and she couldn't figure out a way to make it all work.

It was why she was so hell bent on 7 books when it all could have been wrapped up a lot sooner.

Alchemy

[cressida0201.livejournal.com]

She took a lot of her plot lines from Alchemy theories.

Was that ever proven/did she ever admit to it, or was it just a guess?

Alchemical works must adhere to a very set schedule in both the solar and lunar calendar.

There's a built-in excuse right there for the timeframe of her books; all she had to do was use it!

Re: Alchemy

[kaskait.livejournal.com]

In one of her many interviews she admitted that she studied a lot of Alchemy books and essays. The symbols are in there but the problem is is that there are so many theories, the main one being Rosicrucianism. It is kind of all mashed together in the series. Alchemy does stress love but it clashes with her belief that people are born innately good or bad.

What a mess.

She did adhere to the time schedule. She should have just thrown the whole thing out.

Or she plans to write more books in that universe. Therefore Lupin's child is important,especially the date he was born. Sigh. I hope she doesn't go there.