Deathly Hallows, chapter 6

[anehan]

The Ghoul in Pyjamas

* Harry is feeling guilt and grief. Harry and Moody were so close that it'll probably take him a long time to get over his death, almost as long as it took him to get over Sirius's death. So, in two weeks he should be all right.

* Lupin and Mr Weasley drop their inquiries the moment they are told that Dumbledore didn't want them to know anything about Harry & co.'s quest. Frankly, I think less of them for it.

* Mrs Weasley, though, isn't giving up. The whole thing is portrayed as if Mrs Weasley is once again being overprotective, but IMO she's just being sensible. Wouldn't you be if three seventeen-year-olds were dropping out of school to go on a mysterious quest, refusing to tell anyone anything about it except that Dumbledore wanted them to do it? But of course, Mrs Weasley is questioning Saint Dumbledore. Can't have that, now can we?

* Why does Harry think he's got to be the one to find the Horcruxes? Mrs Weasley is right: Dumbledore had the whole Order at his command. A group of fully qualified witches and wizards, who'd probably be far more capable of finding the Horcruxes than Harry & co. All Harry has to do is die. The rest can be done by anyone.

* By the way, Mrs Weasley has a manger. So it's not possible to smooth clothes by magic.

* The manger is wringing out one of Mr Weasley's vests. I thought Mr Weasley wore robes.

* Terrible of Mrs Weasley to keep Harry, Ron and Hermione busy with wedding preparations. She should do all by herself, the bitch.

* Ah, so here we have a half-baked explanation as to why the Ministry hasn't prosecuted Harry for soing all the magic he did while escaping the Death Eaters. Scrimgeour doesn't want to admit Voldemort is as powerful as he is.

* So Scrimgeour is as bad as Fudge for trying to keep the truth from coming out. The Wizarding World just has a terrible luck in leaders. If only Mr Crouch would have been able to become Minister.

* "I must not tell lies." Harry Potter, the Tortured Hero™. *gags*

* Mrs Weasley wears reading spectacles!

* "'And are they getting married in my bedroom?' asked Ron furiously. 'No! So why in the name of Merlin's saggy left --'" testicle. JKR is fond of almost-sexual jokes. Remember the Probity Probe?

* Ha! So the wizards do you Merlin's name as a swear word.

* Mrs Weasley calls Fleur's parents Monsieur and Madame Delacour. No, no, and a thousand times no! When speaking English, they are called Mr and Mrs Delacour. I am reminded of the Hercule Poirot adaptations with David Suchet, where people keep calling Poirot Monsieur Poirot in a terrible French accent and where Poirot, in turn, litters his speech with French words and calls everyone mademoiselle or madame or monsieur. Just, no. One speaks the language one is speaking. Besides, why is it always French words one inserts into one's speech and not words in another language? In GoF, Mr Ollivander calls Fleur "Mademoiselle Delacour" but Krum "Mr Krum". (Sorry, I seem to have stumbled on a pet-peeve of mine.)

* Mr Weasley isn't telling his wife that he has Sirius's bike in the coop. It's probably supposed to be endearing how Mr Weasley has his little hobbies, but to me it sounds like a pretty miserable marriage if you can't tell your wife about your hobbies without fear of being scolded.

* What is Ron doing carrying a greasy handkerchief with him? Normal people put dirty handkerchiefs into the laundry.

* From Mad-Eye's death, Ron's learned not to trust Mundungus. Frankly, I think Mundungus did the only sensible things: get away when Death Eaters are attacking, even if Apparating from a broomstick requires advanced acrobatics.

* Hermione coolly tells that she has mind-raped her parents. But that's okay, they are mere Muggles. They have to be protected for their own good. She has truly assimilated well into the Wizarding World, down to adopting their attitudes towards Muggles.

* Hermione is crying over her parents. I guess that makes it all right.

* Ron knows what an uvula is. Is that normal knowledge among English people? The only reason I know what that piece of my anatomy is called is because I've studied phonetics.

* Harry needs Hermione to point out to him that Voldemort might be keeping watch on Godric's Hollow. And Harry is the Saviour of the Wizarding World. If I were a witch, I'd leave Britain as soon as possible, because clearly the Wizarding World has no hope.

* I don't get how Harry & co. haven't realised who R.A.B. is. If I were one of them, I'd start going through wizarding surnames to find out who he is. From that, it's a small leap to Regulus Black. All of the readers probably got it in five minutes.

* I know that as a Headmaster of Hogwarts Dumbledore has a right to remove books from the library, but I still don't like his decision to remove the books on Horcruxes. Almost all forms of magic can be used for harmful purposes, but I don't see him removing books that tell you how to enlarge Muggles' tongues from the library.

* Hermione is feeling guilty for stealing the books on Horcruxes. I say that having entrusted Harry & co. with the task of destroying the Horcruxes, Dumbledore had no right to keep the books from them. Is it only me, or do you think that Dumbledore is deliberately making it as difficult as possible to destroy the Horcruxes? Ordering Harry not to tell anyone but Ron and Hermione about them, not telling Harry how to destroy them, and hiding the books on them. One could almost think that he didn't want them to be destroyed.

* Hermione the exposition machine at work. Topic: Horcruxes.

* Splitting your soul makes it unstable, so Hermione can't believe Voldemort has made six Horcruxes. Um, Hermione, have you ever heard from Harry about what kind of person Voldemort is? Because I think "unstable" describes him quite well.

* Harry wonders why he never asked Dumbledore how to destroy a Horcrux. Just your natural stupidity, Harry.

* The Ministry has placed security enchantments upon The Burrow. So the Weasleys are so important that they deserve special protection, while the likes of Madam Bones can be cheerfully left to their deaths. Also, does this mean the Ministry know Harry's at The Burrow? Oh dear, maths plotholes.

* Oh, I love the Delacours.

* Tell me, why aren't the Death Eaters keeping a watch on The Burrow and attacking Mr Weasley and the Delacours when they are outside the protective spells?

* In my private universe, Gabrielle marries Percy. (Let's forget that Gabrielle is only eleven years old.) None of Percy's family can understand how Percy could have got such a lovely wife and they'll be very rude about it to Percy. (I love it when Percy's family behaves badly against him, because then I can hate the Weasleys in peace.) *ships Percy/Gabrielle*

* The Delacour's are helpful, pleasant guests. I'm sure that if it were the Weasleys visiting the Delacours, the Weasleys wouldn't be nearly as charming. (Like I said, I love it when the Weasleys behave badly.)

* Mrs Weasley says it complicates organising a wedding, having all the security spells in place. Well, who on Earth organises a large wedding in the middle of a terrorist war? Such a gathering is like a come-hither look for a Death Eater attack.



IITS:
Why won't the Ministry prosecute Harry for doing underaged magic? IITS!

Idiot Picture:
No one except Mrs Weasley will try to stop Harry & co. Why? Because Harry says Dumbledore told them to go on a suicide mission!

Informed Attributes:
Only Harry can find and destroy the Horcruxes.

Ken and Andrew's Rule of Plotholes:
Why has The Burrow been warded by the Ministry?

Light Bulb Moment:
Harry realises he never asked Dumbledore how to destroy Horcruxes.

Nut o' Fun:
The Delacours!

Final score: 6.

Comments

[tdotm.livejournal.com]

Hard faced Hermione did something worse than the imperius on her own parents. Watch and learn Umbridge. I wish that in the missing chapters of Book 7, where JKR discussed the aftermath of the war, that the Grangers told Hermione that they could never trust her again. It’s not as if Hermione wouldn’t get over it quickly. It might also give a good message about letting adults decide their own fate etc. Sod those crocodile tears, the girl’s a monster.

Wizards only started to use Merlin as a curse , because of all the fan-fics that JKR read and emulated in order to come up with this book. We have no idea if magic in this world is physical or mystical or related to a religion, so what do we know? Does JKR say “In the name of Enid Blyton!” when cross in real life?

JKR shouldn’t have added R.A.B. She should have added a crest or something to the bottom of the note, that the Trio then recognise when they go to Grimauld Place. Then a) there would have been some suspense as opposed to everyone (apart from the Trio) working out R.A.B. immediately, and b) The trio wouldn’t have seemed so slow and stupid. She gave too much away at the end of Book 6, so there were very little surprises in this. Apart from the brand new rules introduced that directly contradicted what we’d already been told….

When I read that Hermione had just ‘accioed’ the books out of Dumbledore’s office, it was the first time I was actually shocked. Lots of what had gone before was nonsense, but this was so ridiculous I realised JKR had really lost it. In fact, no matter what came after, I knew that it couldn’t make up for the first part of the book. Once Hermione had really worked for her knowledge and ability. In this book, everything just fell in her lap - she had vast amounts of new knowledge we weren’t aware of at the end of the last book (about a month earlier!). Either that or nothing occured to her when it should have been obvious - eg calling a house elf when they were hungry in the forest. Hermione is no longer a character in this book - she’s just a plot device. Shame.

Mrs Weasley trying to stop them going was in character at least. The others being so easy going wasn’t. No-one with a brain would think that Harry was the only one who could destroy the Horcruxes. However I was happy with Dumbledore telling him he was - not the same thing at all.

If you presume (and hope!) that Dumbledore had endlessly looked into ways of destroying the not-a-horcrux in Harry, he’d have accepted his death as the last and only option. If Harry told the rest of the Order about the Horcruxes, how long before they’d have realised that Harry had his own piece of V’s soul in him, that he had to die? Moody or Kingsley might have understood, but they’d at least have wanted to tell the rest of the Order.

Would they have accepted it? Would Remus watch his friends’ son sacrifice himself, after their efforts to keep him alive? (We know Sirius would!) Could McGonagall let a pupil go to his death? We can all imagine Mrs Weasley’s reaction. How many months/years would they have spent trying to come up with another solution and doubling Dumbledore’s work? At Kings Cross, Dd could have explained that that’s why he didn’t want these experienced Wizards/Witches including Aurors/ex DADA teachers etc involved. Not because they couldn’t help - obviously they could, but because they might interfere with the final step in his master plan, and he couldn’t take that risk.

Cold, but then so was Dumbles. However, JKR decided that she’d not address this, and let Dumbles talk about wand-lore and himself and how great Harry is. Yawn.

If in Book 6, Dd had told Harry that he'd discuss how to deal with Horcruxes when he came of age, then Harry wouldn't look like such a retard now. Though I don't know how long he had before the curse on his hand killed him. Alternatively, he could have said he'd show him once they got back to the castle and they'd destroy the locket together. Just anything where Harry was thwarted by fate, not his own Grawp-level lack of wit.

[sunnyskywalker]

That definitely sounds like the reason Dumbledore didn't want to let anyone else in on the secret. If Harry were thinking, he'd remember that he made that promise not to tell anyone else before he decided that Dumbledore trusted people too much and made mistakes. That would lead him to wonder if Dumbledore trusted HRH too much in making them sole Horcrux-hunters. Hmm... maybe that's one promise to break, Harry? Since Dumbledore didn't even teach you how to dispose of the things and all. *sigh*

[va32h.livejournal.com]

When reading Carpet Book, I laughed out loud at the "Accio Books on Horcruxes!" part.

"Oh foolish faker," I said to myself as I wiped away tears, "what a ridiculous proposition. How can anyone believe that Rowling wrote this?

Oh me. Will I ever get over the bitterness? Anyway, the "Accio Books" thing is in the lead for Laziest Thing Rowling Did in DH. It was as if she just couldn't be bothered to come up with an interesting way for them to acquire the knowledge. It reminds me of those slash fics that never explain why two characters that loathe each other are suddenly naked and alone together. "Who cares how it happened, just get to the good parts."

Assuming of course that you think there are any good parts.

[(Anonymous)]

Would they have accepted it? Would Remus watch his friends’ son sacrifice himself, after their efforts to keep him alive? (We know Sirius would!) Could McGonagall let a pupil go to his death? We can all imagine Mrs Weasley’s reaction.

I am sorry, but this is a rather unrealistic approach, IMHO. Harry is not a little kid anymore, but of an age of countless young soldiers who died in the many RL wars. And they are in a state of war. McGonnagal already had lots of former pupils who went to their deaths. Etc.
And the fact that DD couldn't find a solution to Harrycrux would have convinced all those rabid supporters of his that it is indeed impossible.

It seems to me that this analysis falls into the trap of being hypnotized by Harry's speshulness. All these people cared about him, sincerely, but they weren't obsessed enough to let the whole world burn because of him. To ensure their quick acquiescence DD could have also suggested that Harrycrux might take control of Harry at some point, etc.

At Kings Cross, Dd could have explained that that’s why he didn’t want these experienced Wizards/Witches including Aurors/ex DADA teachers etc involved. Not because they couldn’t help - obviously they could, but because they might interfere with the final step in his master plan, and he couldn’t take that risk.

And instead he took an infinitely greater risk of the Horcruxes not being found/destroyed at all?
And "master plan"? What master plan? Leave everything to Harry, trust Harry, he'll swing it? And let's give this mediocre boy zero pertinent information /training and distract him with some completely unrelated item puzzles for additional fun.
Also, lest we forget the "final step", if we can call it such in the absence of any coherent plan, was only necessary to give Harry a chance of survival, nothing else.

[anehan]

Hermione is no longer a character in this book - she’s just a plot device.

She's always been an exposition machine, but really, in DH it becomes unbearable.

[cressida0201.livejournal.com]

Slightly belated, but...

Wizards only started to use Merlin as a curse , because of all the fan-fics that JKR read and emulated in order to come up with this book.

I think I remember reading an interview where JKR mentioned that she saw Ron as the type of character who would swear a lot, but she didn't want to put a lot of swearing into the books. This must be the solution she came up with, but I do have to wonder whether it came from fandom.

[mmmarcusz.livejournal.com]

When I read that Hermione had just ‘accioed’ the books out of Dumbledore’s office, it was the first time I was actually shocked. Lots of what had gone before was nonsense, but this was so ridiculous I realised JKR had really lost it.

For me it was the HBP broomstick conversation. Harry says, "I want to kill as many Death Eaters as possible!" DD weeps at seeing such Love.

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

Mrs Weasley, though, isn't giving up. The whole thing is portrayed as if Mrs Weasley is once again being overprotective, but IMO she's just being sensible.
I'd agree with you if I could believe Mrs Weasley was motivated by anything but instinctive protectiveness. I mean, normally, her trust in Dumbledore borders on insanity. But then, as you pointed out, she somehow agreed to Hermione and Ron working as decoy Harries, so I presume it's just another characterization bomb gone off.

All Harry has to do is die. The rest can be done by anyone.
OMG yes! After reading HBP and DH just once and never really thinking about it in detail ever since, it's only now that I realized how true that was. Horcruxes - could have been found and destroyed by anyone. Killing Voldy? Ditto, in fact, he WAS not killed by Harry, but by himself, so everybody could have done it. And really - what would have been different, if Harry HAD been killed by him on his first try 16 years ago? Someone else would have offed Voldemort and the Horcruxes and not even needed to bother about Harrycrux. so, in fact, Harry made it all more difficult for no reason at all!

The manger is wringing out one of Mr Weasley's vests. I thought Mr Weasley wore robes.
Naa, Arthur went to a fancy dress party the other week. As Muggle, talking about eckeltricity and waving a battery. So funny!

Terrible of Mrs Weasley to keep Harry, Ron and Hermione busy with wedding preparations. She should do all by herself, the bitch.
What really annoyed me, however, was the reason why she made them do it. To prevent them from talking. Are they four year olds? Is Molly retarded? has got to be either!

What IS a Probity Probe???

* Mr Weasley isn't telling his wife that he has Sirius's bike in the coop.
Any bets as to what Harry will be hiding in his shed in 20 years' time?

* What is Ron doing carrying a greasy handkerchief with him? Normal people put dirty handkerchiefs into the laundry.
Normal people take a bath more often than once every 4 years and clean out their school trunks...

Hermione coolly tells that she has mind-raped her parents.
I don't get what Rowling was driving at there. Hermione could have explained the situation to them. Even the Dursleys who don't trust the wizards one bit, could be convinced to go into hiding. Why wouldn't intelligent parents who supposedly love and support their witch-daughter do the same? But as it's written, it doesn't sound like Hermione even tried to do it.

Dumbledore had no right to keep the books from them. Is it only me, or do you think that Dumbledore is deliberately making it as difficult as possible to destroy the Horcruxes?
It is not only you. In fact, I can't imagine anyone with a brain not coming to the same conclusion. That was one of the major WTF threads in HBP: how CAN you tell someone to accomplish a task which is absolutely essential to get done and not give him the slightest information about it? And how can you accept that task and not ask the simplest question that any kindergarten kid would spout within seconds? I need more aspirin!

Harry wonders why he never asked Dumbledore how to destroy a Horcrux. Just your natural stupidity, Harry.
And an IITS of gigantic proportions. But I understand Rowling didn't want to spoil the big surprise for us. The methods to destroy Horcruxes are the major plot point in DH, weren't they? Took Hermione about three sentences. So, no, couldn't have had that in HBP already, thus allowing the hero an IQ above jellyfish.

The Ministry has placed security enchantments upon The Burrow.
Interesting, as according to Snape, the order did not want to floo Harry out of Privet Drive, because they didn't trust the ministry. So, did Snape lie to Voldemort? If no, why do they trust the ministry with their wards? if yes, why DIDN'T they floo Harry out of there?

Like I said, I love it when the Weasleys behave badly.
Yes! It's so in character!)

[violaswamp.livejournal.com]

I don't get what Rowling was driving at there.

Easy: Hermione is a Brave, Heroic Person who had to make Hard Choices because There's A War On, Don't You Get It, A War!.

Never mind either practicality or morality or plot-sense, of course.

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

*Hermione coolly tells that she has mind-raped her parents. /
I don't get what Rowling was driving at there.

IMO: The Dursleys were chickens who took the easy way out. Of course they'd run completely out of the book like Zacharias Smith knocking over firsties to get away. The Grangers, however, spawned the Magnificent Goddess of Hellfire and would never leave the battlefield until the last clone was down or they were carried off on a bier. So obviously, Hermione had to protect her foolishly brave parents from themselves. *rolleyes*

[(Anonymous)]

"Hermione coolly tells that she has mind-raped her parents."

I don't get what Rowling was driving at there. Hermione could have explained the situation to them.

Not to mention, that I thought that Memory Charm is complicated enough to have a full profession dedicated to nothing else?
And that creating and implanting false memories is something only a genius Legilimens like Voldy could do? Yes, at 16, but after a lifetime of practicing Legilimency? That it is so uncommon that nobody except DD would even look for an evidence of the tampering? Yet, suddenly Hermione can do it perfectly _at a first try_. Yes, symptomatic for the rest of the book, yet still bleah.

about the vest...

[(Anonymous)]

It's been mentioned a couple of times that people find it strange that arthur weasley wears a vest. As far as I understand it, a vest is an item of underclothing, making it perfectly possible to wear a vest under your robes (perhaps useful in winter).

The thing that confused me was that he was wearing a vest in summer... maybe his robes are very thin?

[anehan]

I'd agree with you if I could believe Mrs Weasley was motivated by anything but instinctive protectiveness.

You're right. She's just instinctively protective. She doesn't really challenge Dumbledore's decision. And you're also right, it's really childish of her to try to keep the Trio from talking to each other. Damn, there goes my feeble appreciation for Molly here. ;-)

What IS a Probity Probe???

I have no idea. It's some security measure Gringotts uses in HBP.

I don't get what Rowling was driving at there. Hermione could have explained the situation to them.

That's what I would have done in her position.

[violaswamp.livejournal.com]

I also love the Delacours, though I find it annoying how Fleur turns into yet another mini-Molly in DH. Aren't Hermione and Ginny enough?

[anehan]

She does? I must have blocked it from my consciousness, like so many other hideous things.

[mmmarcusz.livejournal.com]

"mini-Molly"? The term is "woman". They're all like that, aren't they! Fnarr!

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

* Ron knows what an uvula is. Is that normal knowledge among English people? The only reason I know what that piece of my anatomy is called is because I've studied phonetics.

A lot of people research what a uvula is. Any word has got to be better than "that dangly thing at the back of your throat." I learned the word when I was around eleven because of that. (I had a lot of sore throats while growing up) I might pronounce it wrong (you-view-la), but I only read it in books. You should hear my verbal rendition of 'hors d'oveurs'!

* Hermione is feeling guilty for stealing the books on Horcruxes. /
* Hermione coolly tells that she has mind-raped her parents.

Hermione needs a priority transplant.

Besides, why is it always French words one inserts into one's speech and not words in another language?

There is also the obligatory Spanish inserts where I have lived. Senor/Senora/Senorita, Si-si (accents on the 'i's, not if-if) senor, and all that. Proves someone's ESL in cartoonland - they use the easiest words in their language to translate, but, how you say, iterate the most confounded sort of verbage in English.

* Tell me, why aren't the Death Eaters keeping a watch on The Burrow and attacking Mr Weasley and the Delacours when they are outside the protective spells?

What? And make someone else speshul enuf to be targets besides Harry?

Such a gathering is like a come-hither look for a Death Eater attack.

Those seductive Weasleys! No wonder there are so many of them!

*ships Percy/Gabrielle*

Heeee!

(Like I said, I love it when the Weasleys behave badly.)

True. The bullying, snarking, emo reigning family of the WW, esp. now that Harry and Hermione are in it.

[anehan]

Proves someone's ESL in cartoonland - they use the easiest words in their language to translate, but, how you say, iterate the most confounded sort of verbage in English.

I hadn't realised that, but it's true. Just more reason to dislike it.

Those seductive Weasleys! No wonder there are so many of them!

*giggles*

Vests

[cressida0201.livejournal.com]

In British English, vests are what Americans call undershirts. So Mr. Weasley could easily wear both a vest and a robe.

(More soon, I hope, but I wanted to toss that in!)

Re: Vests

[anehan]

Thank you for explaining that. English is a foreign language for me, so I didn't realise "vest" has a different meaning in British and American English.

[(Anonymous)]

Mrs Weasley, though, isn't giving up. The whole thing is portrayed as if Mrs Weasley is once again being overprotective, but IMO she's just being sensible. Wouldn't you be if three seventeen-year-olds were dropping out of school to go on a mysterious quest, refusing to tell anyone anything about it except that Dumbledore wanted them to do it?

Well, there are such things as rules of conspiration and "need to know" in a war effort. Also, it is very clear that the kids would be in danger at school and endanger other students by their very presence, so of course they couldn't return.

Frankly, I always thought that it was pretty irresponsible and cold towards the rest of the kids for DD to have Harry at Hogwarts after year 1, leave alone to encourage Ron and Hermione to follow Harry into his hair-raising adventures. I mean, I understand DD being extra permissive towards Harry and rewarding him for risky behavior, both because he wanted to compensate the boy for his doom and because he secretly hoped that the kid will get himself killed, but encouraging normal children to emulate Harry was very callous, IMHO.

What is bizarre, IMHO is that the trio weren't deemed mature enough to join the Order until that point and now suddenly almost everyone except for irrational Mrs. Weasley is A-OK with leaving everything to them without even ensuring that they have standard OoTP training and equipment first.

Terrible of Mrs Weasley to keep Harry, Ron and Hermione busy with wedding preparations. She should do all by herself, the bitch.

Well, yes, quite terrible, actually. Even leaving alone that the whole idea of a big wedding in that situation was cretinistic and that foreign guests happily coming to terrorism-plagued Britain instead of insisting on a celebration in safe France was quite unbelievable, those kids were in mortal danger.
So, instead of trying to figure out how to keep them safe or at least letting them to do it for themselves, Molly does her best to distract them with idiotic busy-work? I mean, WTF? I know that a lot of fandom hated Molly from the get-go, but despite her many short-comings I never did. I really hated her here though, for her bovine stupidity and animalistic pseudo- protectiveness.

[anehan]

Frankly, I always thought that it was pretty irresponsible and cold towards the rest of the kids for DD to have Harry at Hogwarts after year 1, leave alone to encourage Ron and Hermione to follow Harry into his hair-raising adventures.

I'm not sure I agree with you. A lot of the danger the children were in wasn't specifically there because of Harry. Voldemort's plan to get the Philosopher's Stone had nothing to do with Harry. Also, in CoS, I don't see that Lucius's decision to plant the diary had anything to do with Harry. As to Riddle's plan, it was at first to rid the school of Mudbloods and to become corporeal through his manipulation of Ginny. Only later, when he heard of Harry from Ginny, did he change his plan to revolve around Harry.

In PoA, the apparent danger was because of Harry, true. In GoF, Voldemort's plan to get Harry endangered only Cedric, and in OotP, it endangered no one. In HBP, the object of Voldemort's plan was Dumbledore, and in DH, Harry wasn't at Hogwarts.

So, in conclusion, Dumbledore did many things wrong regarding Harry, but keeping him at Hogwarts wasn't necessarily one of those things.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

There's something so hilarious about all these adults still trying to be loyal to Dumbledore who is not only dead but set them up at the beginning of the book via his portrait for reasons that aren't exactly clear.

It's a shame that iirc Mrs. Weasley is just trying to keep the kids from doing anything instead of just insisting that the adults *should* do something. Harry doesn't know what he's doing at all and they're just going to assume he'll come up with something.

Also why does Hermione even have to know there are Horcrux books in Dumbledore's office? Couldn't anybody just Accio books on Horcruxes from anywhere in the world before that? That's even leaving aside that yes, Dumbledore's hiding all the books makes it seem more like his main priority is keeping anyone from stealing Harry's thunder by actually getting rid of Horcruxes on their own. Why didn't send Lupin, Tonks and other people on one Horcux each years ago?

Oh and yeah, nice that Harry doesn't trust Mundungus. Wasn't Mundungus forced into even being part of the team to begin with? Seems like he's the one who should be not trusting them--is it really surprising he ran?

Hermione isn't crying for her parents, she's crying for herself. If she dies they might not mourn her! She's sacrificed it all because they might be a danger to her plans with Harry if they spill information or get used as hostages for their own good!

And yeah, god knows how she did this. Even forgetting about the logistics of getting someone fake ID and all that, how did she implant all these false memories as well as erasing their own? Isn't that Voldemort level magic?

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

Isn't that Voldemort level magic?

Isn't it a little odd that the Golden Trio (that polyjuice of Harry's gives that phrase a whole new meaning) could get Mrs Black's portrait to shut up when the entire OotP together couldn't keep it from going off randomly just two years before? And that Hermione could heal Harry's snakebite when the fully-trained healers at St. Mungo's had a heck of a time with Arthur's bite? Sounds like Dumbledore level magic, only even Dumbledore couldn't do it just two years before.

[anehan]

Why didn't send Lupin, Tonks and other people on one Horcux each years ago?

That's the question, isn't it? It would have been so much easier to find the Horcruxes before Voldemort really took over the WW, but no, she had to have Harry do it.

Poor Mundungus, he really gets treated badly. Later on, the Trio will scold him for stealing the locket, but really, Sirius and the rest of the cleaning company were throwing heirlooms away willy nilly. What's wrong with pilfering a few of them to make some money?