Deathly Hallows, chapter 10

[anehan]

Kreacher's Tale

* "The gried that had possessed him since Dumbledore's death..." What is this? Grief? From Harry?

* Oh, Harry, of course you were just a tool to Dumbledore. I'm surprised it's taken you this long to realise.

* Phineas Nigellus' portrait is empty because he's spending the night at Hogwarts. Does this mean that, however many portraits of a person there are, only one of them can house the actual person? Does this also apply to things like Chocolate Frog cards?

* Sirius has pictures of sanctily clad women on his bedroom walls. He isn't gay. Definitely not. Being gay is only reserved to old, asexual headmasters.

* In the picture of the Marauders, Pettigrew is plump and watery-eyed. How could the Potters not have realised that Pettigrew was evil with all the evidence of his appearance?

* Lupin looks shabby even as a teenager. Is the guy constitutionally incapable of looking neat?

* Lupin also has "the same air of delighted surprise at finding himself liked and included". "The same air"? When else has he had that air? I don't like this, making Lupin look so pathetic. But I guess it's on par with the rest of the book.

* Sirius has used the Permanent Sticking Charm to keep his posters and the photograph on the walls. I would have thought he'd have wanted to take his things with him once he left his home, but I guess a teenaged rebel like him just had to leave them all there to annoy his parents.

* Aww, wee Harry on a toy broomstick. *is ded from cute*

* "Wormy." *sporfle*

* From Lily's letter, it looks like the Potters were already under the Fidelius Charm when Harry turned one, yet Pettigrew didn't betray them until Halloween. What's up with that? Or am I supposed to believe Voldemort waited three months to attack them on Halloween? Perhaps it was a magically auspicious time.

* Ooh, all these tantalising hints about Dumbledore, making it all since like some grand mystery.

* Lily writes her g's the same way as Harry. I didn't realise handwriting was hereditary.

* BTW, why did Dumbledore take James's Invisibility Cloak? Didn't he trust James to stay put if he had it? That was probably wise.

* Snape really is obsessed with Lily, to go to the trouble of ransacking Sirius's room to get her signature and a picture of her. Pathetic.

* So all of Moody's anti-Snape enchantments were for nothing. Snape managed to get into the house anyway.

* I wonder, why didn't the Order take the Fidelius Charm off and do it again with someone else as the Secret Keeper?

* Harry wants to know the truth about Dumbledore. Tell me, Harry, how exactly does that help you defeat Voldemort? You know, the main task you have?

* OMG, why is Rowling so determined to make Harry emote? It seems to me that Rowling is really bad at writing intense emotions convinvingly. That's why she has to resort to things like chest monsters.

* And R.A.B. is found. Harry only needed to be beaten upside the head with anvils to realise who it was. If Hermione had known Regulus was a DE who got cold feet, she would have guessed R.A.B.'s identity right away. I guess we can't expect higher brain function from Harry.

* Sirius and Regulus both seem to have been rebels. Sirius rebelled against his family; Regulus rebelled against Sirius.

* Regulus tried so hard to be everything Sirius wasn't, I wouldn't be surprised if he joined the Death Eaters just to spite Sirius.

* Regulus was rather less handsome than Sirius was. And Harry would notice this why, exactly?

* Ahahahaa, now your "cleaning" of the house comes to bite you in your arse.

* Kreacher is "the house-elf Harry had so reluctantly inherited from Sirius". Don't worry, Harry. Before long you'll come to appreciate the benefits of having your own slave.

* Sometimes I wonder what Mundungus Fletcher did in the Order. I understand why the Order would have him, but what was in it for him, apart from the Black family treasures?

* Ron is knowledgeable about elf magic. I love it when Ron comes across as the pureblood that he is. It reminds me that there is this wide cultural gulf between Ron, and Harry and Hermione. They quite literally aren't from the same world. I know this aspect isn't usually emphasised, but there's bound to be all kinds of cultural clashes in marriages between the purebloods and the Muggle-born.

* Harry wonders how Voldemort could have made the mistake of forgetting that house-elves have different magic from humans. Hermione provides her view: "Of course, Voldemort would have considered the ways of house-elves far beneath his notice, just like all the pure-bloods who treat them like animals." Now you're just being stupid, Hermione. Ron just demonstrated that it's the pure-bloods who know about house-elf magic, not Muggle-borns. And Voldemort was practically a Muggle-born.

* I wonder, did Regulus really change his mind about everything Voldemort represented? The turning point for him seems to have been the way Voldemort treated Kreacher. First he was all about what an honour it would be to serve the Dark Lord, and he eve volunteered Kreacher for the work. But then it was only a little while after the business with Kreacher that he decided to go against Voldemort. Was he already disillusioned when he volunteered Kreacher, doing that merely to garner more information on what Voldemort was doing? Or did he really decide to die just because Voldemort left Kreacher to die?

* Oh, poor Regulus. What a horrible way to die. I wonder why he chose to die there, when he didn't have to. Was he so convinced that Voldemort would get him that he chose this way as the lesser of two evils?

* Wasn't there a body of a man in the water when Harry and Dumbledore went to the cave? Or do I remember incorrectly?

* I love how Kreacher tries to bow to Hermione but can't quite manage it.




Box Picture:
Kreacher is The Sacrifice. Voldemort is The Evil Dark Lord. (He has red eyes, by the way.)

Informed Attributes:
The anti-Snape enchantments work. Really.

Light Bulb Moment:
R.A.B.! I know who he is!

McGuffin:
I must know the truth about Albus McGuffin Dumbledore!

Selling Wood:
Harry emotes. (This seems to become a permanent feature.)

Final score: 5.

Comments

Part One

[tdotm.livejournal.com]

How difficult would it have been for Wormtail to be thin and cute? Or even plump and cute? Then ended up a mess due to 12 years as a rat. Bad people being unattractive and the reverse for good people is unbelievably clichéd. Lily is slim and lovely, while Petunia is thin and scrawny. It’s like the film makers who felt that the films had to become drab and grey, as they became ‘darker‘. Suddenly it’s dirty smocks for Dumbledore. As if a man can't wear magnificent velvet and still be a manipulative s.o.b. Thieves don’t actually wear stripy t-shirts, masks and carry sacks marked ‘Swag’ (apologies to non-Brits). If everybody’s looks reflected their characters, the world would be an easier place to live in.

Lupin is a subset of the above - attractive = good, unattractive = bad, and shabby = dangerous creature? Maybe he was proud, but he had two wealthy friends - couldn’t they fork out for a new set of robes to put over his tatty everything else?

I don’t understand anything about the whole Potters in hiding, AT ALL. On top of what you’ve pointed out, why didn’t Snape predict that ‘his’ perfect Lily was too maternal to watch her child die and just ask Voldemort to STUN her. It’d save Voldie the hassle of arguing with her, Snape would still have Lily around to refuse to come near him, and we’d have had Harry dead. Result! Also, why didn’t James become his own secret keeper, as Bill apparently was in DH? He’s such a brilliant and *popular* Wizard, why did it not occur to him? You’d think that that rule was only invented for DH! Also, how did Dumbledore, and the rest of the Wizarding World know that Harry was ‘The Boy who lived’? For all he knew, Voldemort killed James and Lily, then was called away urgently. Harry, unattended, then fell out of his cot and cut his forehead open. Nobody was there, nobody *knew* for sure - Dumbles must have just guessed. Funny if he was wrong. I expected something key to have happened at Godric’s Hollow, I thought there‘d be a big reveal. Sigh.

I cringed over Snape in DH. He had a complete character makeover ( him and a cast of thousands), and it was a mistake. Or maybe he just hid his inner idiot from us for 6 books. From a cool, snarky bully to yet another two dimensional plot device. Well done JKR.

I said before that it should have been possible to have a 2nd secret keeper in waiting, who’d automatically take over on the death of the current Secret Keeper. JKR had so many things happen to move along the plot, such as it was, and 90% of them made no sense at all. Surely it made more sense to maintain this neutral place to meet up (though there wasn’t much in the way of Order meetings in DH, that we saw anyway.)

I presume Moody put the enchantments up within hours of Dumbles plunging from the Astronomy Tower - constant vigilance! Maybe Snape managed to get into the house later, because Moody was DEAD and any spells he created therefore null and void - or they should have been. Don’t ask me why they still seemed to be working. Though as to why the Order didn’t go in there the day after Moody’s death and secure the place - I’ve got nothing.

Harry remains a self indulgent, whiny little punk. With the blessed absence of the Ginny Monster for 95% of this book, I was able to re-connect with my Harry Hate once more. Everything’s always about him, how it makes *him* feel bad. Ron gets upset because he fears he isn’t good enough. It never occurs to Harry that he isn’t good enough, that he achieves nothing on his own. The only thing he does in this book is die - and as Sirius points out, that’s like falling off a log. I bet if Harry tried that, he’d miss.

Re: Part One

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

I said before that it should have been possible to have a 2nd secret keeper in waiting, who’d automatically take over on the death of the current Secret Keeper.

Wouldn't it have been a hoot if Dumbledore had made Snape the new SK before he died and didn't tell anyone? Imagine the reveal when everyone found out.

Re: Part One

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

It’s like the film makers who felt that the films had to become drab and grey, as they became ‘darker‘. Suddenly it’s dirty smocks for Dumbledore
Thank you. I never understood how the PoA tristesse was supposed to be "mature". The whole point of Harry's love for Hogwarts IS that it was some sort of fairy-tale come true for him and even if you want to take into account his disillusionment with the ww as he grows older, in PoA he had definitly not yet reached that point.

As for the wards against Snape - there are no words. Any elementary school kid would have laughed them off - and they were meant to somehow get to Snape, hard-core death-eater?

Re: Part One

[parenthesised.livejournal.com]

how did Dumbledore, and the rest of the Wizarding World know that Harry was ‘The Boy who lived’? For all he knew, Voldemort killed James and Lily, then was called away urgently. Harry, unattended, then fell out of his cot and cut his forehead open. Nobody was there, nobody *knew* for sure - Dumbles must have just guessed. Funny if he was wrong. I expected something key to have happened at Godric’s Hollow, I thought there‘d be a big reveal. Sigh


I'm truly sorry about this. Its just how it played out in my mind... Voldemort and Lily at Godric's Hollow...

V: Look, for the last time - Get. Out. Of. The. Way. One of my underdog's has a crush on you and I don't want to see him in a bad mood
L: *is blazing and defiant*
V: *Hates blazing and defiant people by nature. This is because it is only his eyes which can become red. Kind of like a rat*, and yes, we've covered this sign of evil too children. Gives in and kills Lily. Her blazing red hair swirls around her as she falls, mingling with the green...*
V: ...oh crap - I left the gas on. Even if the house hasn't blown up the bill will be astronomical. Shit. ...I hear Albania's nice this time of year... *dissaperates hurriedly*
H: *is a retard who falls out of his own cot onto shattered glass from the window*

Suddenly the outcome of the last battle loses all suspense.

Re: Part One

[anehan]

Also, why didn’t James become his own secret keeper, as Bill apparently was in DH?

That's what I've never understood. It'd make sense that the secret keeper would be someone who'd be protected by the Fidelius Charm. I used to think that there was some kind of rule that the secret keeper can't be one of those who are protected by the charm, but then there's Bill, like you said, which blows that theory to smithereens.