HBP Chapter Seventeen

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

*I guess "sluggish" in this case means not really necessary to the plot but helpful in giving Harry something to do before we get to a climax.

*Fleur’s at work when the kids go back to school. I just find that little reference comforting. Fleur isn’t actually as useless as some of the Weasleys see her. ETA: She doesn't work in DH, right? She has to take care of the cottage?

*Percy apparently stormed from the house covered in mashed parsnips for which George, Fred and Ginny (we love you, Ron!) all claimed credit. Remember how Old Ginny liked Percy? Glad she’s buried somewhere in the Forbidden Forest with her mouth sewn up and filled with salt!

*Draco Malfoy would so love to know that the Weasleys throw food at each other. Oh, the awful jokes that would inspire.

*Ginny pats her mother’s shoulder to comfort her though. She’s compassionate!

*Harry says he likes a quiet life. Watch this mildly amusing comment blown into something hilariously witty that’s Just So Harry!

*Ron’s pretty much forgotten to be pissy to Hermione while she’s been planning all day how she was gonna snub him.

*ETA: Get used to that, Hermione. That marriage is going to involve a lot of Hermione driving herself crazy while Ron's oblivious.

*So if the Fat Lady and her friend have drunk all the wine out of a picture, does the wine refill itself? Seems like surely all the wine in all the pictures would have been drunk by now if that’s all that was available for a thousand of years. This is the kind of thing I shouldn’t be thinking about, isn’t it?

*Ginny doesn’t sound enthusiastic about meeting Dean. Glad to have you back, Dean. Harry’s libido goes into hibernation without the competition factor.

*ETA: Of course Ginny's had her sights set on Harry from the beginning, but note how she didn't throw herself at him at all while she had him at her house, unlike lesser girls would have done. Only once they're Wizard!engaged--i.e., going out with the correct person in high school--will she take him to her room for fiery kisses before battle.

*Unlike Ginny, I am very enthusiastic about Ginny meeting Dean, because it means she’s not here anymore. Yay!

*Meanwhile, even Ron’s sexual encounters make him look stupid.

*Okay so…why is Hermione offering ridiculous alternatives for who Draco’s "Master" is? His father? Huh?

*ETA: It really is hilarious. In most books Hermione's working her brain feverishly because she's the only person solving the problems before them. In this book she's frantically trying to stave off the obvious answer to the mystery that isn't even a mystery. Why does Hermione not want Draco to be working for Voldemort so badly?

*And yet moment’s later she’s scolding Harry for not remembering Greyback’s name. Okay, yeah, Harry’s oblivious but Hermione's deep in denial and seems to have taken over from Fudge in the "I don’t believe it’s Voldemort" department.

*And then Harry and Hermione drift off into conversations about how hard done by Harry is. These are the same two who stayed up all night establishing that Barty Crouch Sr. was attacked by someone when he was with Krum. Now Draco’s a DE and they’ve got a sudden attack of ADD.

*The next morning an Apparition lessons notice is pinned to the bulletin board. Pinned? Really? To a bulletin board? Shouldn't the notice fly into everyone's room and sing itself to them when they wake up or something? Next thing we know they’ll be using staples and stickie notes!

*Remember that movie "How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days?" I didn’t see it but I think Lavender is starring in it. ("Ten days" in Potter-time being "one school year-marker to the next".)

*Charlie’s bigger than Ron. Oh, we have no doubt of that Ron. Mmmm. Charlie….

*ETA: Totally not gay! He's just really into dragons! *Dumbledore* is gay!

*Hermione tells us you can’t Apparate inside Hogwarts--everybody take a drink!

*ETA: Funny that Hermione's head doesn't explode when Montague kind of does Apparate inside Hogwarts.

*Seamus, too, is excited to Apparate. He and his cousin will amuse themselves for hours with their Apparition skills and Irish names!

*We’re told Charms is a soft class, but Professor Flitwick seems to get batted around like a puffskein in it.

*Confession: I don’t find the baboon brandishing a stick all that funny either. Not so funny I’d want to put it on an icon, at least. I still prefer the lines Christopher Chant had to write, copied out of that boarding school novel. Now that was funny! (Too bad I can’t remember it word for word.)

*ETA: Flitwick's a dueling champ, right? Too bad he doesn't think to organize any sort of resistance when DEs take over the school. Only Harry can do that! (I hear people saying, "No, Neville!" but Neville would be the first to say he was just continuing Harry's awesome DA. Good people don't steal Harry's glory.)

*It’s weird that Apparition is such a mystery to everyone. It seems like driving, so you’d think lots of kids would have already done it. No equivalents to the 9 year olds who drive the tractor and such?

*Harry answers questions about Apparition for hours, but Malfoy’s having quite possibly joined a terrorist organization gets two minutes. Guess that ADD comes and goes.

*Dumbledore makes a joke about the Prophet telling the truth only occasionally and by accident. Um, actually it seems to run about 50/50 when it comes to truth, depending on what it’s needed to do for plot purposes.

*ETA: Is it in the Prophet where Rita does her kind of true expose of Dumbledore? Let's face it, it's just in his best interests to say it rarely tells the truth because then he makes himself the source on whether it's telling the truth or not. Ironically Dumbledore himself tells the truth only occasionally--only he always does it by design, when the truth will get him the reaction he wants.

*By the way, I guess we should assume that Malfoy was right and you did cover up the basilisk attacks second year, Albus? Mm-hmm. (Lucius had no reason to, right?)

*Dumbledore gets all teary when Harry announces he told Scrimgeor he was Dumbledore’s man through and through. He’s overcome with his good luck. That idiot Scrimgeor got Harry to pledge away his independence in ways pounds of sherbet lemons weren’t able to do!

*ETA: God, any time Dumbledore tears up he's at his egotistical worst. Because he's obviously just overcome here. It's not played at all that he's GUILTY at Harry stupidly aligning himself to somebody who's planned his death. He just thinks this is an example of Harry's incredible power of love that he loves Dumbledore despite his flaws about which he's never told anyone.

*Dumbledore was forced to jinx Dawlish. How can people doubt what house this guy was in?

*Dumbledore does know the truth about the argument between Snape and Malfoy, but he cleverly pretends he doesn’t think it’s of any importance so that Harry will feel like he’s surrounded by idiots and must act on his own. So, the usual plan then.

*And when Harry makes it clear that’s what he thinks, Dumbledore gets all snippy. Apparently somebody needs a few lessons in just how Dumbledore’s Men behave!

*And then he throws in some "just imagine I’m basing all my thoughts on my personal trust in Snape that I won’t explain to you" to make Harry even more nervous. Instead of just saying something like, "I know what’s going on. I know it's serious. I’m on it."

*Harry’s pissed off at Dumbledore, which Dumbledore says happens "even between the best of friends." Seriously, how can Harry stand this guy? What a condescending jerk. Yes, Albus, the best of friends always have a dynamic where one person tells the other person what they may or may not question, especially when their own safety is at stake.

*Dumbledore assures Harry that what he has to say is really important. It’s not, of course.

*That is, he’s got something important to say but drags it out far longer than it would take to say it. And hints at how amazingly hard it was for him to obtain the memories. Yeah, yeah, Albus, you’re a regular Indiana Jones. Get that AK ready, Snape.

*Heh. I love that Dumbledore drops all these hints about the kind of feelings good-looking orphans inspire and Harry never relates it to himself. But they treat me horribly, sir! I never got any special treatment except a bit less than what I deserved!

*Okay, here’s an important bit. Harry is tempted to think that Dumbledore trusts people too much, just as Snape said, but really he knows that Dumbledore didn’t trust Tom Riddle. He just never makes the jump to seeing that Dumbledore’s problem isn’t that he trusts too much, it’s that he deals with the world on a strict need-to-know basis, since it makes it easier to manipulate. He’s the epitome of goodness!

*Is it bad of me that I’m totally rooting for little psycho Tom at school with Dumbledore? ETA: No, it's not bad of me.

*Dumbledore neatly categorizes Death Eaters into three types: the weak seeking protection, the ambitious seeking shared glory, the thuggish gravitating towards a leader for more refined sorts of cruelty. How did this group acquire a dark glamour?

*Anyway, note how petty and mindless the enemy is. You’ll never have to give much thought to more complicated reasons this guy managed to almost take over the world. Do any of those descriptions seem to truly cover Regulus Black? They don’t to me. They don’t completely explain Malfoy either from what we’ve seen. And I think Snape had a little more going on with him too.

*Harry finds the Gaunts’ house indescribably filthy in this scene. And we all remember what Harry’s room looked like after a few weeks home from school!

*The Black House was filthy too.

*ETA: I remember somebody having a theory how in DH Slytherin is redeemed because of the way the Black House gets all sunny and cheerful. Err...that's not redeeming Slytherin. That's exactly the opposite. It's having all the Slytherins die and then disinfecting their house and having Gryffindors live in it instead, bringing the sunshine with them. Sort of exactly what Voldemort says is the way things should work, only with Muggleborns.

*There’s a knock at the door. Tall, pale, dark-haired, handsome. It’s the teenaged Voldemort. Ooh, let him in! squeals Harry. Let him in! Do! It’s like Mystery Date!

*I like that Parseltongue can still incorporate British-y turns of phrase: Died years ago, didn’t he? I’m Morfin, ain’t I? It’s over, innit?

*Once the Riddles were found dead the authorities went straight to the known Muggle-hater. Well, surely this will come out all right. We know what a stellar record Wizard detectives have!

*ETA: Somehow I doubt that if a Slytherin died somehow I doubt they'd be knocking on the door of the nearest Slytherin-hater, though.

*The Ministry didn’t have to use Veritaseum or Legilimancy on Morfin. Unfortunately they didn’t have to use them with Sirius Black either…

*And then Tom implanted a memory with a complex form of magic…uh, you wanna back up there a bit, Albus? That’s quite a massive device you just slipped in there. You can implant false memories in people? Might have been better to go with a simpler magic we know, like Imperius. This just really sounds like Dumbledore’s just waving his hand because he has no idea.

*ETA: So Hermione and Voldemort are the only people who can do this complex form of magic, I guess? Since she gave her parents false lives? Only Hermione claims to have never done memory charms.

*I don’t even want to think about how Dumbledore "extracted" that memory. Twinkle twinkle.

*Dumbledore says whatever Morfin was, he did not deserve to die for murders he never committed. Wait, he didn’t? He was bad and racist, so doesn’t he just deserve bad things in general?

*Slughorn has straw-colored hair. I imagined him dark-haired for some reason, what little had left.

*Slughorn with his little feet on a velvet pouf, surrounded by his favorite young tittering boys. Albus, are you sure we ought to see this memory? Children read these books. ETA: And we know that makes homosexuality off-limits, right?

*Why are they all boys? If this were our world we’d assume it was just because at that time girls were shut out of this kind of thing, but the Wizarding World wasn’t supposed to have that sort of inequality, right? Seems like Slughorn was just forced to eventually let girls in. Hmmmm…

*ETA: It has been pointed out to me since that we don't know this is the Slug Club. It could just be Slughorn talking to his favorites.

*ETA: However I will say that I think the reason he's talking to all boys is just because the WW really is just based on our world and in this time period he would be talking to all boys. That it doesn't jibe with alleged Wizard history wouldn't matter.

*Harry recognized Riddle at once. His was the most handsome face. The most handsome in all the world. Harry Riddle. Tom Potter. Harry Potter-Riddle. Harry Riddle-Potter. The Dark Lords Potter-Riddle…

*Slughorn’s tampered with his memory, so it looks ridiculously fake. Too bad he didn’t know any of that *waves hand* complex memory magic like Tom (ETA: And Hermione!) knows.

*Dumbledore tells Harry the true memory is there beneath this one, but Harry must go back to Slughorn anyway. ::sigh:: Can’t you just fix this one that’s been crudely altered? There’s no CSI wizards? No Wizard equivalent of IT guys?

*Dumbledore assures Harry Slughorn has weaknesses like the rest of us. Just in case Harry didn’t notice that Slughorn is the personification of weakness. A well-timed Twinkie would probably do the trick here.

*Phineas says he can’t see why Harry can do this better than Dumbledore. Funny, I’d think Phineas would know about Slughorn’s pervy boy fancying.

*Ironically Harry actually can't do it better than Dumbledore. We don't even know if he can do it at all, because he just drinks a Potion to give him special powers to do it.

*A Potion that might have come in handy NEXT YEAR.





Exploitation Filmmakers’ Credo
How many times does Harry have to discover this nefarious plot of Malfoy’s before anyone else acknowledges the nefarious plot?

IITS
But why do I have to get the memory from Slughorn, sir? Can’t we just ask him the important information? Isn’t it right here under the slapped-on stuff? It’s just this will take several chapters…

Idiot Picture
Lots of people call their father Master.

Informed Attributes
Slughorn has weaknesses, but they are hidden.

Ken and Andrew’s Rule of Plot Holes
And then…and then Riddle did some sort of super magico stuff and Morfin though he killed the Riddles.

McGuffin
This memory I am sending you after is amazingly important Harry. We need the memory itself. I could in no way tell you what I think is in it. Nor could I just tell Slughorn what I think is in it and have him just confirm it.

Misdirected Answering
Yes, I know it looks like Malfoy’s up to something really serious but I really need to hear about Lupin right now, Harry!

Whooshing Powder
Floo!

Final score: 8

Slytherin Liquid Count:
Drunken Fat Lady, drunken Morfin, drunken monks, 500 year-old wine (none for Hermione, thanks!), Slughorn’s wine, Pensieve water.

H/D Cliche count
The one where only Harry cares about what's obviously going on with Draco.

Comments

[beatnikspinster.livejournal.com]

Only once they're Wizard!engaged--i.e., going out with the correct person in high school--will she take him to her room for fiery kisses before battle.
Hahahaha! I always love your spork on JKRs twisted gender politics. When Ginny's saying cruel things about people, I feel like the story see it as:"OMG! She totally talked back to someone without permission! And she's a girl. How progressive! *pats self on back*"

Harry recognized Riddle at once. His was the most handsome face. The most handsome in all the world. Harry Riddle. Tom Potter. Harry Potter-Riddle. Harry Riddle-Potter. The Dark Lords Potter-Riddle…i>
Too hilarious!

Can’t you just fix this one that’s been crudely altered? There’s no CSI wizards? No Wizard equivalent of IT guys?
Sometimes I wonder if that feeling of HP existing in it's own world is intentional. I mean, maybe it feels otherworldly because the author has no frame of reference for x-amount of day-to-day reality. It would explain why it careens between being twisted-derivative-world and alien-invented-world.

BTW, I don't comment very often (wank-avoidant), but I really appreciate your entries. I always read them. And look forward to them every week. Thank you for investing your time on this.

[eir-de-scania.livejournal.com]

ETA: She doesn't work in DH, right? She has to take care of the cottage?
***In all fairness, she's in hiding in DH.

*It’s weird that Apparition is such a mystery to everyone. It seems like driving, so you’d think lots of kids would have already done it. No equivalents to the 9 year olds who drive the tractor and such?
***They probably are wise enough to shut up about it so no-one in the Ministry finds out.
Seriously, that was what I was thinking, too, when I read that.

*Harry’s pissed off at Dumbledore, which Dumbledore says happens "even between the best of friends."
***Dumbledore must have read about that somewhere. I can't imagine him ever being "best of friends" with anyone, as that means you're equals. Our Albus has been superior from the cradle.

*The Ministry didn’t have to use Veritaseum or Legilimancy on Morfin. Unfortunately they didn’t have to use them with Sirius Black either…
***Or anyone else. Remember, Sirius said he wasn't the only one sent to Azkaban without a trial. And the trials we've seen hasn't inspired trust in the Wizarding legal system. If the Muggle world ever discover the wizard world, Amnesty International need to stock up owls, is all I'm saying.

There’s no CSI wizards? No Wizard equivalent of IT guys?
***Are you crazy? Even if there are, could you imagine DD seeking their help? Admitting there was something he couldn't do but lesser wizards/witches managed?

[elanor-x.livejournal.com]

ETA: She doesn't work in DH, right? She has to take care of the cottage?
I will be charitable and think she doesn't work since the Ministry is under DEs' rule & from what we have seen during the Trio's visit most people wouldn't want to approach it unless absolutely forced to. May be, she does something for the Order (what is that?).

*Okay so…why is Hermione offering ridiculous alternatives for who Draco’s "Master" is? His father? Huh?
Especially funny since Malfoy is supposedly a spoiled brat, not somebody downtrodden, living in constant fear of his cruel father.

I still prefer the lines Christopher Chant had to write, copied out of that boarding school novel. Now that was funny! (Too bad I can’t remember it word for word.)
Now I am so curious.

By the way, I guess we should assume that Malfoy was right and you did cover up the basilisk attacks second year, Albus? Mm-hmm. (Lucius had no reason to, right?)
May be Lucius did have a reason. He could want to cover up the attacks until somebody was killed, thus achieving 2 goals:
1) killing Harry(?)/Ginny(?)
2) wizards don't seem to care much about physical injuries, a murder, however, is another matter. D would definitely be dismissed after that, while only Petrified people may not be enough to achieve that goal.

*Harry finds the Gaunts’ house indescribably filthy in this scene. And we all remember what Harry’s room looked like after a few weeks home from school!
They must have been really filthy. I am somewhat uncomfortable imagining that. Why didn't Merope clean a bit? Or Harry is Petunia-like judgmental of other people's homes, while his own room doesn't have to meet such (or should I say any?) standards?

*ETA: Somehow I doubt that if a Slytherin died somehow I doubt they'd be knocking on the door of the nearest Slytherin-hater, though.
But, it's impossible! Everybody, wizard and Muggle alike, is Slytherin-hater (except Slytherins themselves, of course). With so numerous suspects, even Poirot wouldn't know what to do! Besides, they could be killed by other Slytherins, like criminals killing other criminals in our world. Why interfere?

*A Potion that might have come in handy NEXT YEAR.
If they used it in DH, the book may even benefit by looking more believable. Never thought I would say that.

[elanor-x.livejournal.com]

Dumbledore must have read about that somewhere. I can't imagine him ever being "best of friends" with anyone, as that means you're equals. Our Albus has been superior from the cradle.
What about GG? (But if it were the case, we all know to what results not being superior leads in D's case).

[artystone.livejournal.com]

There’s no CSI wizards? No Wizard equivalent of IT guys?
***Are you crazy? Even if there are, could you imagine DD seeking their help? Admitting there was something he couldn't do but lesser wizards/witches managed?

Hmmm. I've just decided that those sorts of wizards do exisit. And there's probably tons of them and they are very good at what they do. But because, as you point out, DD would never lower himself to ask assistance, and the fact that everything we get comes through the Harry Filter and sice Harry would never lower himself to ask anyone, "Hey is there someone we can call..."
In fact I bet that what we don'tget to see in Diagon Alley is that 90% of the wizards and witches are actually chatting away to their stock brokers, plumbers and CSI agents on bluetooth headsets.

[artystone.livejournal.com]

Why didn't Merope clean a bit?
NO! Of course not! Merope was a Bad Mother. If she'd done some housework she'd have been a Good Mother. Like Petun...oh...wait....

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

In all fairness, she's in hiding in DH.
IIRC, so was Bill. Doesn't Harry think or say something along the line of how Bill and Arthur had to go on working because they had to feed their families? So, apparently, Bill went to Gringotts and was only protected by the Fidelius while he was at home. So, Fleur could have done the same thing.
But I honestly think, the truth is, that - unless JKR consciously thinks about it, in which case she states the politically correct thing of working women - in Rowlingland a woman stops working as soon as she has to cook for her husband. Remember: we never got any indication of Molly relieving the Weasleys' alleged poverty by working herself - in spite of seven children out of the house for 10 - 12 months a year.

[eir-de-scania.livejournal.com]

we never got any indication of Molly relieving the Weasleys' alleged poverty by working herself - in spite of seven children out of the house for 10 - 12 months a year.
***Oh so true - and the two oldest have moved out permanently when we first meet the Weasleys. But at least that explains how Molly spent those long days when the kids were away and Arthur at work: she practiced duelling, probably on unsuspecting Muggles. How else could she neat Bellatrix?

I know. The power of The Good Mother. *headdesk*

[eir-de-scania.livejournal.com]

May be, she does something for the Order (what is that?).

***Keeping the menfolk happy?

Still, doing housework gives you something to do and something else but the latest reported deaths to think about.

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

She doesn't work in DH, right? She has to take care of the cottage?
Not of the cottage - of Bill! Don't you know that by signing a marriage certificate, a man gets constitutionally disabled and thus cannot decide what and when and how much to eat, when to change his socks, let alone do the washing and cooking? I mean, look at Ron and Harry - you really think they get better at it once they are married?

Glad she’s buried somewhere in the Forbidden Forest with her mouth sewn up and filled with salt!
Hee hee, that made me think of Mirabella's Shadow of his wings where there is a whole cemetery in the forbidden forest. I should have known it was all the assassinated characters that were buried there!

Harry’s libido goes into hibernation without the competition factor.
Can't you just see it in fifteen years from hence: the Potters at some party, Ginny flirting heavily with every male available in order to rise Harry out of his stupor? How else would the three Potterites have come into existence?

Dumbledore neatly categorizes Death Eaters into three types: the weak seeking protection, the ambitious seeking shared glory, the thuggish gravitating towards a leader for more refined sorts of cruelty
The advantage of this explanation is, that they are due to a person's psychological make-up. So - no need to change anything in the WW to prevent future Dark Lords from getting a fanbase. Just smite them, when they crawl out of the bog - and you know which house that is.

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

How else could she neat Bellatrix?
Ah, another instance of the books turning for the worse. In the first books, I liked how it took a lot of good guys and a lot of effort to even thwart Voldemort a little in his several schemes - which, IMO, is realistic because destruction always is infinitely easier than doing something constructive. So we did not get one hero fighting off half a dozen enemies (like in LotR) without even getting a scratch, because "being good" did NOT equal "being invincible". But alas... it started before DH, of course, but there it got its climax: being on the right side MEANT winning, no matter how improbable the odds.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Thanks for commenting now! We're all very progressive here.;-)

BTW, I don't comment very often (wank-avoidant), but I really appreciate your entries. I always read them. And look forward to them every week. Thank you for investing your time on this.

Thanks so much! I'm glad you like them--and you're probably very wise to be extra careful about the wank avoidance.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I was thinking I was unfair in calling her out when she was in hiding--but people seem to be saying that she and Bill are both in hiding but he's working. Which does seem like something that comes from the unconscious nostalgia element. Like the way the first time we hear about Alice Longbottom she seems like the wife of an auror, and then it almost feels like a correction when she's supposed to be an auror herself. As a single girl Fleur's character naturally has a job, but when she's married her husband's the one described as going to work.

Come to think of it, if Dumbledore can't do something it can't be done (except for killing Voldemort which has to be done by Harry) so there's no point in having experts.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

LOL--it's true, can you imagine anybody thinking Draco referred to his father as his master? Or wait, I can't remember now...I guess it's Snape who uses the term master? He says something like, "What are you hiding from your master?" Which would be a bit odd for a teacher to say. Unless he was supposed to be making a snotty comment about what he thought about Draco's relationship to his father.

The Luck Potion kind of goes on the list of things so powerful they destroy story points.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I remember when I was reading Testament of Youth, an autobiography of a nurse during WWI, I was totally confused at the protagonist being called home by her father because something happens to the mother and now she has to take care of the house. Only he lived in a flat in London--I couldn't figure out what she was needed to care for. My teacher explained he means she has to cook his dinner and things--of course he can't do that stuff himself, he's a man! A married man!

Didn't JKR at some point reference a graveyard in the FF? Not in the books but in an interview? Maybe I'm remembering that third hand.

It's too bad they can't have a hat that finds those qualities and then they could get rid of...oh wait, those are kind of covered by Slytherin.

[eir-de-scania.livejournal.com]

As I remember it, not in the FF but somewhere on the schoolgrounds. The film team wanted one in the "wrong" place or something - it's six o'clock in the morning and I've been working all night.

Personally I can't see why you'd want a cemetery or even a single grave on school grounds, but that's just me, I suppose

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

The Goth kids would probably appreciate it at least!

[flyingskull.livejournal.com]

Stellar, as always. One tiny thing:

And I think Snape had a little more going on with him too.

Yeah, his undying (and masochistic) TWOO LUUURVE for Saint Lily. Snape, the One Motivation Man. She (or whoever really wrote it) really went in an all-out attack against fan faves in DH, din't she? Dwindled and diminished into blah one-dimensional nothings (though I still think Draco's selfless saving of Greg makes him a Bastard Hero of the first water).

[merrymelody.livejournal.com]

I suppose that with all the usual freedom of Hogwarts from Teh Evil Bureaucracy!1!!! insisting that teachers actually teach and not allow kids to become chewtoys for monsters or have detentions with the Dark Lord; you're gonna need a lot of graves.

[t0ra-chan.livejournal.com]

Like the way the first time we hear about Alice Longbottom she seems like the wife of an auror, and then it almost feels like a correction when she's supposed to be an auror herself.

That's because it clearly was a correction (or a retcon if you want). In GoF it clearly says twice "Frank Longbottom, the Auror and his wife". Mrs. Longbottom didn't even have a first name, let alone a profession. But in OotP (a.k.a. the "I can haz gurll-power"-book as I like to call it) she suddenly is also an Auror.

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

*Ginny pats her mother’s shoulder to comfort her though. She’s compassionate!

Gee, sorry I drove my brother, the one you haven't seen in years, away. Have a parsnip.

*Ginny doesn’t sound enthusiastic about meeting Dean. Glad to have you back, Dean. Harry’s libido goes into hibernation without the competition factor.

Is this a Gryffindor trait? No (male at least) Gryff can be interested in a girl unless she's someone else's girlfriend? Or is this just the uber-hero's bane and burden? Or is this just proof that Ginny was shoe-horned in on Harry by his Creatrix despite his own wishes? Is this Harry Potter's Last Stand?

*Okay so…why is Hermione offering ridiculous alternatives for who Draco’s "Master" is? His father? Huh?

Because this is the book where Harry needs to suddenly (and from out of left field) prove that he's more Intuitive and Alert than anyone else, so Hermione gets a brain transplant.

Why does Hermione not want Draco to be working for Voldemort so badly?

Has anyone ever seen Astoria Malfoy and Hermione together?

*And then Harry and Hermione drift off into conversations about how hard done by Harry is.

Ah, Harry's favorite subject. Hermione's plan worked - get him to stop obsessing over Draco so she can obsess over him in peace.

Next thing we know they’ll be using staples and stickie notes!

It's that insidious Muggle Studies class having their turn at passing out announcements. Good thing Voldemort got rid of this malign influence early in DHs!

*ETA: Totally not gay! He's just really into dragons! *Dumbledore* is gay!

So... insinuating oneself on an innocent dragon is somehow better?

*ETA: Funny that Hermione's head doesn't explode when Montague kind of does Apparate inside Hogwarts.

I thought he began his Apparition between B&B's and Hogwarts, finishing the spell or whatever (this was before we saw the lessons) when he was within Hogwarts' boundaries. Now, could he have chanced his attempt during the Apparition classes for that year?

*Harry’s pissed off at Dumbledore, which Dumbledore says happens "even between the best of friends."

There was a sign off the freeway where we used to live that said, "Your kids have plenty of friends but only you for parents." The same holds true for mentors. Best friends? I'd rather my teachers teach me and leave my personal life off-limits.

...the weak seeking protection, the ambitious seeking shared glory, the thuggish gravitating towards a leader for more refined sorts of cruelty. *(snip)* *Anyway, note how petty and mindless the enemy is...

Just the usual practice of dehumanizing the enemy. It isn't meant to fix the problems in the civilian world, that's up to the civil authorities. The soldier's primary mission is to neutralize the threat so the civil authorities can do their job without duress. Unfortunately, our boy Al assumes that Harry will live and become part of that civil authority. Another failing - he needs to explain the duties of peace as well as those of war.

*Harry finds the Gaunts’ house indescribably filthy in this scene. *(snip and shimmy)* *The Black House was filthy too.

OMG! I'm a Death Eater!

And we all remember what Harry’s room looked like after a few weeks home from school!

Okay, so maybe I'm a hero.

*There’s a knock at the door. Tall, pale, dark-haired, handsome. It’s...

Fannon Snape!

...the teenaged Voldemort.

My bad.

*ETA: So Hermione and Voldemort are the only people who can do this complex form of magic, I guess?

And only Tommy "Voldemort" Riddle and Lily "The Sainted One" Evans can direct their magic before even knowing they're magical, and without wands. *wipes tear* Voldemort really could have been saved... if only... *sniff*

Funny, I’d think Phineas would know about Slughorn’s pervy boy fancying.

Maybe he knows about Slughorn's pervy Albus Worship fancying. Maybe, secretly, Horace puts what's-his-name from the wedding to shame in that department.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Oh, those Slytherins and their cunning plans. I forgot Snape wanted to become a DE because that would really impress his Muggleborn love.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Ginny's patting Molly's shoulder for how badly Percy behaved that forced them to throw parsnips to defend her! She's compassionate and gallant noble! (If she'd used Crucio she'd have been gallant.)

It looks like competition is the source of Gryffindor love. I'm trying to remember if anybody doesn't follow that pattern. I guess if we include the extra-canonical stuff Neville might not have had to compete for Hannah. George wins the prize, though, competing with the ghost of Fred.

Hee! I love that in the book where Harry's the most alert and intuitive the thing he's being alert to and intuitive about is pretty much laid out in front of him and told to his face.

Now, could he have chanced his attempt during the Apparition classes for that year?

That actually works, I think!

Another failing - he needs to explain the duties of peace as well as those of war.

Nah, the duties of peace come naturally if you're on the right side of the war. The Trio will reform the entire Ministry before they're 30.

[tdotm.livejournal.com]

- I also like the fact that Fleur (Tri Wizard Champion mind you) had a job - maybe even career(!) - of her own. I don't mind the confusion over Mrs Longbottom. As I rather think Remus/Tonks could have considered their son before they both fought in the last battle, two Aurors having a baby at the height of a war seems even more thoughtless to me. Especially with the super-duper magical contraception I'd hope they had access to. Fleur and Bill were child free and could both fight and work as they pleased. (Though JKR didn't please)

- Ginny valiantly continues her quest to be the biggest b*tch in children's literature - White Witch be damned. In my mind, Ron decided that while he resented Percy, Molly would be even more upset if she saw her children fighting each other. So he resisted the temptation to get physical. Ginny, and twin brothers decided that their feelings were of more importance than their heart-broken mother's. Then Ginny 'HYPOCRITE' Weasley comforted Molly, after contributing to making her feel worse! I know how this ends, but I still want Ginny to somehow DIE in Book 7. Sadly Ginny Fans (incl. JKR) probably though she was cool and edgy, and Ron a wimp. Pah.

- Hermione is now almost as much of an old bag as Ginny. This is bad news. Run, Ron, run! I started to despise her character over Scargate. Now I lost all confidence in her intelligence. (Until her ridiculous, over the top, renaissance in DH). JKR shredded her character in order to make Harry seem on the ball. If they'd then stayed the same in Book 7, it'd have just been foolish and irratating. However it really was a complete waste of time and effort, as Harry apparently had a Frontal Lobotomy between Books 6 and 7, and their characters changed AGAIN.

- If JKR had made Harry publicly accuse Draco of something early on and be proved wrong, that'd have made much more sense. Harry would then have to keep his subsequent suspicions to himself, (certainly not tell the judgemental Hermione, or the ridiculously absent Dumbles) knowing he wouldn't be believed. He could keep quiet until the big climax, though *we'd* understand his fears, and there wouldn't have been the tiresome back and forth, denials, and Hermione 'Brains' Granger ignoring LOGIC, to fret over the identity of the HBP. WTF?

- Dumbles was a git. I actually feel a little for Harry here, and that hasn't happened since Ron was ignoring him in Book 4.

- I don't remember the details, but also think it silly if Slughorn, apparently a talented and *experienced* wizard, was shown as shoddy in altering his memories. It'd have made more sense if they seemed fine to a casual viewer, but someone as all mighty as Dumbles was able to see the joins. JKR relentlessly emphasises Dumbles' brilliance, why not use it here? Then Slughorn would seem sly, as he should be, not stupid/incompetent - which I wouldn't have thought he was.

- I didn't mind the Felix Felicis being used for the memory, as it'd have had to be used at the end of Book 6 anyway. It reasonably explained why Ron and the other 4 came out of the fight unscathed. My problem is that it wasn't used at the end of Book 5.....

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

(If she'd used Crucio she'd have been gallant.)

You know we girls shouldn't try to outshine our men. Their egos are so fragile!

George wins the prize, though, competing with the ghost of Fred.

Maybe it's just a marriage of the Dead Fred Appreciation Society. Didn't they name their son Fred?

Me: Now, could he have chanced his attempt during the Apparition classes for that year?

Magpie: That actually works, I think!

If we'd known about the lessons in OotP, I think a lot of the speculation over how this was accomplished would never have happened. It explains things somewhat, though what to do about the Apparition ban only being released in the Great Hall is another matter. Still, it is the only plausible reason given in canon, IMO.

Nah, the duties of peace come naturally if you're on the right side of the war. The Trio will reform the entire Ministry before they're 30.

I can't see how children raised to wage war will provide good leadership during peace without some instruction or example, even if they are the heroes of the series. This would have been a good place for Muggle-born, intelligent Hermione to do some reading up on things and bring in examples from Muggle society.

I'm surprised that Draco Malfoy didn't take some initiative here. He, much more than Harry, didn't want to fight a war. All that Slytherin cunning and ambition gone to waste yet again and the WW remains as it ever was, with the possible exception of a definite and distinct underclass of Slytherins because of Voldy's ancestry.