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deathtocapslock2009-06-02 02:59 pm
montavilla.livejournal.com) wrote in deathtocapslock2009-06-02 02:59 pm
Deathly Hallows Chapter 4
The Seven Potters
Harry runs upstairs after the Dursleys leave and sees the car pulling out of the drive through the window. I may have spoken too soon last week when I said the Dursleys weren’t eaten by dragons. Here is the sentence: “The car turned right at the end of Privet Drive, its windows burned scarlet for a moment in the now setting sun, and then it was gone.” Eaten by dragons? You decide.
Without the Dursleys, Harry takes a tour with Hedwig in her cage, remembering all the good times he had when he was alone in the house. Hedwig, by the way, is still ignoring him. She isn’t really that much different from the Dursleys, is she?
In going over his memories, Harry takes pains to remind us of all the Dursley stuff from books past—and the stuff that happened in the last chapter. I wonder if this is going to continue for the whole book—each chapter going, “Hey, remember what happened six pages ago? You sure? Let me just recap it for you.”
The highlight of the tour is a return to Harry’s old cupboard bedroom. Harry remembers the strange dreams he used to have in there, with green flashes and a flying motorbike. He remembers how he mentioned that motorbike once to Vernon, nearly causing his uncle to crash the car from chagrin. Ah, good times. Good times.
I’m not sure why Vernon would react so strongly to the flying motorbike. It’s a dream for goodness sake. It’s not like Vernon even saw the motorbike, unless maybe James and Sirius used to buzz the house with it before James died. I could see them doing that.
Harry bangs his head on the low doorframe of the cupboard and uses “a few of Uncle Vernon’s choicest swear words.” It’s nice to know he learned something from his uncle.
The air outside the house shimmers as a dozen or so people appear. That’s a good image and it’ll be wonderful in the movie. But I can’t help thinking it would have been smarter to keep their Disillusion Charms up a bit longer, since they’re pretty sure the Death Eaters are watching the house.
In fact, I would have had people trickle in by ones and twos much earlier in the day if I had been Mad-Eye Moody. Why give your numbers away to the enemy like that? And it would be much easier to sneak people in while the Dursleys were there, opening doors and such.
JKR gives us a rundown on everybody in the room. More importantly, she gives us a rundown of their hair. Now I know that Mundungus has matted hair! I’ve been wondering for years!
Kingsley Shacklebolt makes sure we realize that Harry Potter is more important than the Prime Minister of England. As if we didn’t know that already. The Prime Minister is merely the Elected One. Harry is the Chosen One.
Tonks continues her character trait of demanding attention at inappropriate times by flashing a wedding ring. Harry realizes at once that she’s gotten married to Lupin. Maybe the ring is shabby and grey.
Lupin then apologizes for the seven hundredth time to Harry for having a life that doesn’t involve Harry.
Mad-Eye Moody explains that Pius Thicknesse (gone over to the “other side”) has placed Floo, Apparition, and Portkey restrictions on the house. These, Moody claims, are unnecessary because of the Lily’s love charm, which protects the house. I still don’t understand how Voldemort can’t get around that charm after using Harry’s blood. Lily’s charm never stopped Vernon (not a blood relative) or Petunia (a blood relative) from attacking Harry.
Mad-Eye then explains that Harry has a “Trace” on him, which tells the Ministry any time Harry (or any underage wizard) uses magic. So… is the Ministry tracking Harry’s magic usage, or the house’s magic usage? Or is it both? Maybe it is both because Harry’s so darn special?
So, instead of using any spells, the Order is using things that don’t require them: Brooms, thestrals, and motorbikes. Harry sees flaws in this plan. So do I. For one thing, the brooms are bound to be a lot slower than the thestrals. Why not just have everyone use the super-sonic horsy things?
Moody explains that he’s going to have six people polyjuiced to look like Harry, making it harder to follow as they go in seven different directions. Harry continues to find this a stupid plan and I agree with him. How about polyjuicing Harry to look like Dudley and walking him right out the front door?
At this point all of Harry’s good friends explain that he can give them the hairs, or they’ll simply take them by force. Yep. That sounds like wizard reasoning.
Harry drops his hairs into the potion and it turns clear gold, causing Hermione to coo, “Ooh, you look much tastier than Crabbe and Goyle, Harry.”
I’m just going to let you contemplate that line for a moment, because there’s really no way to top it.
By the way, Ron looks at Hermione and she blushes, feeding into the Ron-jealous-of-Hermione-and-Harry thing. Wow. Who would have thunk it? Ron’s a Harmonian. Anvil-sized hints, Ron! Anvil-sized hints!
Mundungus is forced into the line of Harry-posers, causing Fleur to wrinkle her nose and move in between Fred and George. I would have thought that a bad idea on Fleur’s part (I wouldn’t move nearer to the twins for a thousand pounds), but now I pause to consider the odd absence of Fleur-harassment from the twins. Why aren’t they susceptible to her Veela-charms? Is this a hint of Twincest?
Despite Hermione’s admiration of Harry’s essence, all the Harry-posers gasp and grimace as they drink the potion. So, I’m going to go ahead and conclude that Harry tastes like urine.
Hmmm. Hermione and Mundungus get taller as they drink the potion. The twins and Ron get shorter. In previous books, the twins were described as short and stocky, like Charlie. Ron, Percy, and Bill were tall. Either the twins went through a major growth spurt after leaving school, or I’m seeing movie-bleed.
True to form, the twins make stupid jokes, Ron says something idiotic, Fleur says something insulting, and Hermione makes a meaningless observation. Moody impatiently tries to hurry the plot along and I silently thank him for it.
Several million fans cheer as Sirius’s flying motorbike makes a comeback, but the moment is immediately dampened when Harry has to sit in a sidecar and finds it humiliating. Yes, Harry. Your friends are risking their lives for you. Whining about sitting in the kiddie car is the proper response.
Moody let us know that there’s no use in locking the backdoor because the lock wouldn’t keep the Death Eaters out. Yes, but it might help prevent number 4 Privet Drive from becoming the local crack house. Geez.
Everyone assembles in the back garden, giving the Death Eaters plenty of time to realize that there are seven Potters down below. But maybe the darkness helps?
In any case, Tonks helpfully calls Ron by name. It will only be the hearing-impaired Death Eaters who follow that pair.
Even more helpfully, Moody shouts to everyone that they’ll meet up at the Burrow in an hour. I have no words….
Meanwhile, Harry is still whining about sitting in the sidecar.
They are almost immediately surrounded by Death Eaters on broomsticks and the chase begins!
Hedwig is killed within seconds. Oddly, I used to love that owl and now I just don’t care. I must be suffering from post-Charity Burbage trauma.
Harry and Hagrid are followed by four Death Eaters. That’s about right, since the Death Eaters number roughly twice as many as Order members. Which means that either the Death Eaters weren’t all that surprised by the seven Potters (they did have several minutes to figure out what was up while the party was assembling in the garden), or they react really quickly to new information.
They are, however, terrible shots. None of the spells hit Hagrid, even though he is roughly the size of a barn.
Speaking of which, Hagrid conjures a brick wall and one of the Death Eaters flies into it. He plummets down as a second Death Eater tries to help him. Guess who’s getting a spanking from Voldemort tonight!
Harry, who didn’t have brainspace to contemplate Hedwig’s death instead contemplates the Muggles who might be watching the battle and assuming that someone is doing fireworks.
Hagrid pushes the Purple Button, which sends the motorbike into hyperdrive. And, like the Millenion Falcon, this tears the vehicle apart.
Harry hits a Death Eater with Impendimenta. The man is comically frozen in air before he starts to fall. There’s no description of anyone going to save his guy. So, I’m going to assume he simply fell to his death.
Harry finally manages to process the pain of Hedwig’s death by using her as an IED, taking out another Death Eater. This one is luckier than the Impendimenta guy, as the third Death Eater helps him.
Two more Death Eaters show up. Where they came from is anyone’s guess, since they should have been following another group. But the important thing is that one guy’s hood slips and Harry recognizes STAN SHUNPIKE!
Let us pause and consider Stan Shunpike. Harry sees that his face is “strangely blank.” This doesn’t seem strange to me, since Stan Shunpike was always a little blank. But what the hey, let’s just say he’s blanker than usual. Harry assumes then that Stan is under Imperius.
How is that Harry has Imperidar and no one else does? Rosmerta was under Imperius for months and no one realized it. Apparently, Moody can’t tell that Thicknesse is Imperiused, nor could Dumbledore tell that Crouch was Imperiused. But Harry can tell just by looking?
So, instead of using Stupefy, Harry shoots an Expelliarmus at Stan, revealing himself as the real Potter. (Because no one else ever heard of that spell, right?) Harry, not realizing the significance of his spell choice, wonders what gave him away. He wonders for a couple paragraphs in fact, as though this might turn out to be important…
It’s not really. But we’ll pretend that it is to be nice. After all, Harry just lost his pet.
Now Voldemort appears, flying sans broomstick or thestral and certainly without the fruity sidecar. This is probably going to be very impressive in the film, but it’s not all that impressive in the book. Sure, no one else can fly without a broom or a horsy, but so what? You can buy a broom anywhere—or just send a stray cat to pick up one for you.
Harry stuns one of the Death Eaters, who presumably falls to his death. Wow. At this point, Harry’s killed more people than Snape. Take that, Half-Blood Prince!
Hagrid tackles the second Death Eater and they both plummet downwards. It looks like it’s curtains for Hagrid! I imagine Sistermagpie giving a premature cheer as she read this book back in 2007.
Voldemort starts to cast the killing curse, but Harry’s wand--of its own accord--shoots a “golden” spell at Voldemort. We find out later that this spell destroys Lucius Malfoy’s wand. Back at Malfoy Manor, Malfoy is cursing Dobby for not killing Harry back in CoS.
Harry hears Voldemort calling for Selwyn’s wand as Harry passes through the protective barrier surrounding the Tonks house and crashes into a mud pond. Which totally cushions the impact of the fall from several hundred feet. Totally.
Just before he crashes, Harry sees Hagrid lying spread-eagle on the ground. I wonder what happened to the Death Eater Hagrid tackled. Did he bounce off the barrier and land somewhere outside of it? Or is he squashed like a bug under Hagrid?
Fan Service:
People polyjuiced into Harry, complete with sexual innuendoes.
Twincest!
The return of the flying motorbike!
Lupin and Tonks are married!
Fan Slappage:
The motorbike? Pretty lame.
Lupin and Tonks? Pretty lame.
Hedwig’s a bitch and then she dies.
DVD Extras:
TITLE CARD:
The Shop
INT. DAY – WEASLEY’S WIZARDLY WHEEZES
GEORGE leans on the counter, reading the Daily Prophet as VERITY restocks the shelves.
FRED runs into the front room, clutching a vial of polyjuice potion. He plucks a hair from George, puts it in the potion, and drinks it down. His features contort and meld into George’s, leaving him looking exactly the same as he was before.
FRED
Look! I’m George! Geddit? I’m George!
George and Verity stare deadpan at him for a moment, then go back to their tasks.
FRED
Oh come on. That’s funny! I’m George!
CUT TO:
STOCKROOM
Through the open door, we can see Fred accosting the shoppers and insisting that they address him as “George.”
Verity, holding a cardboard box, addresses the camera.
VERITY
Yes, we got in a shipment of polyjuice about a month ago. Since then, Mr. Fred has pulled that joke approximately…. (She thinks for a moment) eight hundred times.
CUT TO:
FRONT ROOM
Verity unpacks the box on the counter near George, who is still reading the paper. Off-screen, Fred can be heard laughing hysterically. Verity smiles at George.
GEORGE
Careful. I might be Fred.
VERITY
I know the difference.
She brushes her arm next to him for a millisecond before taking the box back to the storeroom. George glances up self-consciously at the camera, then turns back to his paper with a quiet smile.
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This is just endurance training for the camping trip. "These woods are a lot like those other woods where I complained about the woods we'd stayed in previously not being as nice as the woods before that."
In fact, I would have had people trickle in by ones and twos much earlier in the day if I had been Mad-Eye Moody. Why give your numbers away to the enemy like that?
Your muggle-logic does not compute with their superior wizard brains.
The Prime Minister is merely the Elected One. Harry is the Chosen One.
Book motto, right there.
Tonks continues her character trait of demanding attention at inappropriate times by flashing a wedding ring. Harry realizes at once that she’s gotten married to Lupin.
This was so horribly out of character. No way Harry would either (a) care, or (b) correctly identify Tonks' ring as a wedding ring. Frankly, I doubt he'd realize it was the ring she was trying to show him and would instead be looking for something weird about her hand.
Harry continues to find this a stupid plan and I agree with him. How about polyjuicing Harry to look like Dudley and walking him right out the front door?
Argh! More muggle-thinking! The logic burns!
In any case, Tonks helpfully calls Ron by name. It will only be the hearing-impaired Death Eaters who follow that pair.
Even more helpfully, Moody shouts to everyone that they’ll meet up at the Burrow in an hour. I have no words….
And these the two crack... erm... whatever the elite Wizard police force are called. (I can't believe I've forgotten that!) On a sadder note, it shows the lack of effort JKR put into shaping the action/adventure part of the series. It's all cliche and no thinking.
Meanwhile, Harry is still whining about sitting in the sidecar.
Something that struck me is how uncomfortable everyone is throughout this book, squeezed into small spaces (the crowd in the kitchen; Harry in the sidecar, Hedwig in her cage). I have to admit, I tend to think it reflects on JKR's discomfort in writing the book in the first place. :)
Hedwig is killed within seconds. Oddly, I used to love that owl and now I just don’t care.
I still boggle at JKR's inability to pull emotion out of the death of a pet. I mean, that takes skill (or something).
Let us pause and consider Stan Shunpike.
God, there was so much wrong about this storyline. It wasn't a bad idea (Harry standing up for justice and law and not persecuting convenient scapegoats) but it's not followed through! It's all Harry's prejudice (he thinks he knows Stan, he thinks he likes Stan) and stubbornness (Harry says he's innocent, therefore he is) with nothing to back it up. Which means it twists around into The Chosen One overthrowing The Elected One (to borrow your phrase *g*) in the person of Scrimgeour. It becomes the very thing it claims to be arguing against.
I adore your DVD extras! The Shop as The Office? Hilarious. :D
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***So very, very true...
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Obviously it's another clue that she's actually polyjuiced!Draco!
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That's a really interesting thought. I've been wondering if these recaps weren't JKR "revving" herself up to tackle each chapter by reviewing the previous one. There is also--as we'll see in subsequent chapters--a lot of the characters musing on how stupid their adventures are. I mean, it's not just the reader going, "this is stupid." It's the author and the characters egging us on to think it's stupid.
No way Harry would either (a) care, or (b) correctly identify Tonks' ring as a wedding ring. Frankly, I doubt he'd realize it was the ring she was trying to show him and would instead be looking for something weird about her hand.
This is so true! Like Harry's ever cared a whit about Tonks or Lupin!
The Shop as The Office?
I'm so glad you got that! I wasn't sure if anyone would.
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Wow! I didn't pick up on that! That's so perfectly awesome! :D I really think JKR had to force herself to write this last book. And hated every moment of it.
I'm so glad you got that! I wasn't sure if anyone would.
Hee! Not only did I get it, I was thinking, "oh God, she's making me like a twin..." ;D
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Actually, this is quite worrying. Think about it- how do you know that the Dursleys weren’t murdered? JKR doesn’t follow up/investigate her murders, maybe this was the ultimate example. What if they were intercepted by Voldemort’s men, who were already loitering? After all, if they were in a car, it takes just one ‘Nonsensical Hedwig Death’ spell, and the car and all the occupants would be consumed by a vast ball of flames. Just because nothing was mentioned, doesn’t mean everything went ok – JKR has form. Maybe they were captured and there was going to be a big blackmail plot, but she forgot, and as she doesn't appear to read over what she’s written, it was lost. All the best things in this book happened off the page. They could have been in the cell next to Luna for all we know.
- “The air outside the house shimmers as a dozen or so people appear. That’s a good image and it’ll be wonderful in the movie. But I can’t help thinking it would have been smarter to keep their Disillusion Charms up a bit longer, since they’re pretty sure the Death Eaters are watching the house.”
Other WTF things include shouting vital details at each other on leaving so as to attract unwanted attention. Plus the boys helping the girl-Harrys to get on their transport. I’d be complaining if this was just Harry, Hermione and the Twins, but I really can't accept it from Kingsley, Mad-Eye and Tonks. Apologies if they put the disillusionment charms on before they left the house. In fact, as I haven’t re-read, can someone remind me how Voldie’s Crew could see past these charms when they gave chase?
- “In fact, I would have had people trickle in by ones and twos much earlier in the day if I had been Mad-Eye Moody. Why give your numbers away to the enemy like that? And it would be much easier to sneak people in while the Dursleys were there, opening doors and such.”
WHY DIDN’T THEY JUST SIDE-ALONG APPARATE? 'Trace' my arse. Why not send Kingsley/Tonks or a senior member of the Order, polyjuiced to look like Dudley to collect him the day before, then hide under him under the invisibility cloak and walk out? Why not just send Dobby for Harry? Why did he go back after 6th year in the first place? JEEZUS. This chapter should have been cut, it's a real low-point in DH - with just one redeeming moment....
- Still, at least we’re treated to various Harry-Worshipping moments before the ‘action’ starts. Glad to see the future Minister of Magic thinks Harry’s Number One!
- Golden Polyjuice – what can I say? JKR forgot about showing, not telling, somewhere around the turn of the millennium. However she really can’t try and tell us that Harry is pure and good, when he constantly acts like a thoughtless, gullible, self-absorbed, immature, torturing little twat.
- “True to form, the twins make stupid jokes, Ron says something idiotic, Fleur says something insulting, and Hermione makes a meaningless observation. Moody impatiently tries to hurry the plot along and I silently thank him for it”
So guess who’s heading beyond the veil? Not b*stard Hagrid, that’s for sure. I’d have forgiven JKR everything if she’d killed Harry here. After all, his only role in this book was to die. Do it now, cut out the Jesus references and really surprise the audience!
- “ Hedwig is killed within seconds.”
You mean the highlight of the entire book occurs, when Hedwig plunges to her violent and explosive death. She's helpless in her cage due to her crap owner, tweeting with fear as the ground rapidly approaches. Either she lands on a dynamite factory, or Harry, not content with making her last few weeks totally miserable, has been substituting her owl pellets with small lumps of chemical explosive. Even worse, George is flying by and witnesses the resulting spectacular pyrotechnic display. He immediately starts thinking of a new line of WWW Inflammatory Fowl and starts making mental notes. Sadly, he's so distracted, he pays insufficient attention to the Snape Shaped Cloud approaching behind him, like a presence......
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We have absolutely no way of knowing. Hestia Jones and Daedalus Diggle seem like nice people, but it would be a lot easier to kill off the Dursleys and tell Harry that Voldemort found them than to put up with Vernon and Petunia for a year.
Even if they don't end up murdering the Dursleys, do we think they woudn't use them for target practice? Hagrid was waving his umbrella at them after ten minutes.
Plus the boys helping the girl-Harrys to get on their transport.
Yes. I thought that was odd, too. I guess they had to, because they are Gryffindors and therefore "chivalrous." But it would clearly signal that the Harries riding on the horses were girls. So.... only the blind Death Eaters would be following those pairs.
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***Not that Harry cares. One hundred fangirls, on the other hand, who has been complining for years about Remus' lack of interest...
Several million fans cheer as Sirius’s flying motorbike makes a comeback, but the moment is immediately dampened when Harry has to sit in a sidecar and finds it humiliating.
***Sirius would rather be seen dead than having a sidecar attached to his bike...wait...
Moody let us know that there’s no use in locking the backdoor because the lock wouldn’t keep the Death Eaters out. Yes, but it might help prevent number 4 Privet Drive from becoming the local crack house. Geez.
***By Muggles, yes. Since when does a wizard give the slightest thought to them?
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***Not that Harry cares. One hundred fangirls, on the other hand, who has been complining for years about Remus' lack of interest...
Yes, but oddly, every time Lupin sees Harry, he apologizes for not seeing him enough, or not writing, or not doing something else that would mean putting Harry above his pressing need to scrounge through bins or whatever.
Nobody else seems to feel this need to constantly apologize.
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Strangely blank - scared of heights? Recently tortured? Trying to remember how to cast an elementary spell?
I really thought the Stan Shunpike plot would involve Harry learning he's wrong about someone. Stan really was a DE. Why else would he be along on this mission? Who else mentioned could have been Imperiused? No one. This mission, IMO, should have been too important to LV to send along a mindless (not necessarily not brainless, it's Stan) puppet.
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Then, in HBP, Draco is able to remotely control Rosmerta through magical coins! How does that work?
Do you have to tell someone everything they're supposed to do or just key things? How the heck can you Imperius someone to do all the things necessary to effectively fight in a battle?
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Given the Rosemerta example, the only way I can see it working is that once the hook is solidly implanted you give the basic instruction and turn them loose to interpret it themselves. Since it works at the level of the will, it's probably best *not* to go into too much detail. That way, although the puppet may be working against his will or against his own best interests, he *doesn't* act out of character -- which is why the Ministry had so much trouble with it.
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It has been pointed out to me that -- rather to my surprise -- Dementors *can* fly, after all. Or at any rate they can glide through the air. Maybe they can't get off the ground under their own power, except in a high wind, but get them aloft and they soar like kites.
This being the case, why not just have a few of those lurking along with the DE, and either hand them some brooms, or have them hang onto the DEs brooms?
I really seriously doubt that taking Polyjuice is going to supress the form of your own Patronus. And everyone *knows* that Potter's Patronus is a stag. It's even recorded in his OWL results.
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ETA: Although considering the track record of any kind of investigation ever mounted by the Ministry, I don't know why they didn't do it anyway, knowing that no one is going to be in a position to ask questions by the time anyone gets around to it.
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It's hilarious how the Death Eaters instantly go to help each other (didn't one of them do the same in OotP?) and yet the Order have the 'Press on! Leave the weak behind!' attitude nailed.
(Just like Harry the Chosen One revels in torture with bad-ass remarks, while Draco the Death Eater has to be forced into it. That's how you tell the goodies from the baddies!)
It’s nice to know he learned something from his uncle.
Other than a mistrust of foreigners. And fatties. And of course, the importance of breeding.
Harry continues to find this a stupid plan and I agree with him. How about polyjuicing Harry to look like Dudley and walking him right out the front door?
The Order are all Gryffindors, I presume - avoiding an airbourne dramatic battle (so built for the movies it might as well be in script format) and the death of comrades = being a pussy. A decent plan would require cunning and thus make them no better than Slytherins.
Harry drops his hairs into the potion and it turns clear gold
Subtle. I'm surprised someone didn't exclaim that it tastes of the sweetest ambrosia, and cures all wounds instantly.
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Mostly so that when Harry saves anyone people can look at him like he's just done something that proves how saintly he is. Omg, I was there in the room with you all and you let me come with you when you helped your friends escape? Me, a lowly goblin? You are no ordinary wizard!
(Just like Harry the Chosen One revels in torture with bad-ass remarks, while Draco the Death Eater has to be forced into it. That's how you tell the goodies from the baddies!)
Yup, the baddies are too cowardly to torture. Unless they're so cowardly they love to torture. Harry's just right in the middle.
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Mostly so that when Harry saves anyone people can look at him like he's just done something that proves how saintly he is.
I think the low point of this was when Lupin praised Harry's saintliness in DH for using a Stunning spell (or maybe an Expelliarmus?) rather than just summarily killing the guy, even though Stupefy was just as effective and probably took a lot less magical power than Avada Kedavra (so far as we know about the "rules" of Unforgivables).
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It just kills me that there's this double standard in action adventure stuff. If someone kills someone by shooting them, it's evil. But the hero can shoot off hundreds of rounds and it's okay. It's not like his bullets could hit innocent bystanders or anything.
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(Just like Harry the Chosen One revels in torture with bad-ass remarks, while Draco the Death Eater has to be forced into it. That's how you tell the goodies from the baddies!)
Yes, I read a good essay once about the tactics used by the Death Eaters, and it noted that the DE's were really very sparing with the deadly spells. And that, in the MoM fight, except for Bellatrix (who is insane), there was a lot of restraint and reluctance to hurt children shown, especially by Lucius.
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http://terri-testing.livejournal.com/10552.html
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Yes. Plus, as far as the DEs know, Harry's used that spell once. In the duel with Voldemort. In the other fight situations, he used stunning spells, I think. And, of course, Sectumsempra.
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Part 1
I'm going to say yes so Dudley doesn't have to bow to Harry ever again.
I wonder if this is going to continue for the whole book—each chapter going, “Hey, remember what happened six pages ago? You sure? Let me just recap it for you.”
Yes. Yes it is. Only sometimes Harry himself won't remember.
But I can’t help thinking it would have been smarter to keep their Disillusion Charms up a bit longer, since they’re pretty sure the Death Eaters are watching the house.
It's really hilarious how little these things get thought about. Which isn't so much a criticism from me as envy--I would probably have never been able to plot these things because I'd get stuck on all this stuff. I mean, sometimes everybody misses obvious stuff, but this whole book is one nonsensical plan after another.
Tonks continues her character trait of demanding attention at inappropriate times by flashing a wedding ring. Harry realizes at once that she’s gotten married to Lupin. Maybe the ring is shabby and grey.
LOL! Seriously, how did he afford that since one of his main characteristics is "poor?" But still, Tonks becomes more ridiculous in each book. She barely seems to notice what Lupin's feeling at all. She'd probably keep flashing it even if she were polyjuiced.
So… is the Ministry tracking Harry’s magic usage, or the house’s magic usage? Or is it both? Maybe it is both because Harry’s so darn special?
It should be the house's. Isn't that the whole start of the plot in CoS, that they can't tell who did the levitation spell so Harry gets blamed? Poor Harry. The details never change to make things easier for him!
How about polyjuicing Harry to look like Dudley and walking him right out the front door?
Well, now you've just crossed the line and pointed out the whole thing's nuts. There's no going back now.
Harry drops his hairs into the potion and it turns clear gold, causing Hermione to coo, “Ooh, you look much tastier than Crabbe and Goyle, Harry.”
And yet I don't think it was even meant ironically. He really is just that golen.
Either the twins went through a major growth spurt after leaving school, or I’m seeing movie-bleed.
I think we should just assume movie bleed everywhere at this point.
True to form, the twins make stupid jokes, Ron says something idiotic, Fleur says something insulting, and Hermione makes a meaningless observation. Moody impatiently tries to hurry the plot along and I silently thank him for it.
LOL!
Yes, but it might help prevent number 4 Privet Drive from becoming the local crack house. Geez.
Yes, but that would be respecting something about Muggles and obviously they can't do that. Any crackhouse started accidentally by wizards is lucky.
Everyone assembles in the back garden, giving the Death Eaters plenty of time to realize that there are seven Potters down below. But maybe the darkness helps?
Probably not.
In any case, Tonks helpfully calls Ron by name. It will only be the hearing-impaired Death Eaters who follow that pair.
Tonks was probably too busy thinking about her marriage to remember Ron's undercover. You can see why she's an Auror. Well, for a few more minutes anyway. Until she has to sit home and gestate.
Even more helpfully, Moody shouts to everyone that they’ll meet up at the Burrow in an hour. I have no words….
At this point half the DEs just say, "Okay then, meet you there in an hour. We're going to get some chips in the meantime!"
Hedwig is killed within seconds. Oddly, I used to love that owl and now I just don’t care. I must be suffering from post-Charity Burbage trauma.
Charity Burbage winds up being the most emotional death in the book for me.
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***They would if they were Muggles. Wizards lack common sense. among other things.
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Too true, alas.
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And yet I don't think it was even meant ironically. He really is just that golen.
No, I don't think it is. That's what's so jaw-dropping about it.
Charity Burbage winds up being the most emotional death in the book for me.
Me, too. But I wouldn't exactly call her death emotional... My main emotion during that passage was puzzlement.
Part 2
Of course that has to be there, because we have to broadcast that poor Stan is a victim. We know he's a victim because Harry's been defending him for a couple of books. Harry not only has Imperidar, he has Innocent-dar, which is how he could self-righteously rally for Stan's release, vouching that he could never be a DE even though the guy was heard bragging about being one and that's about all Harry knows about him at all besides that he has a funny accent.
So, instead of using Stupefy, Harry shoots an Expelliarmus at Stan, revealing himself as the real Potter. (Because no one else ever heard of that spell, right?)
Certainly no one else could see it as useful in a fight, right?
Harry stuns one of the Death Eaters, who presumably falls to his death. Wow. At this point, Harry’s killed more people than Snape. Take that, Half-Blood Prince!
It doesn't count if you don't point the stick and say "Avada Kedavra." If you didn't really mean for the guy to die it doesn't matter if pushing him off a building killed him.
I imagine Sistermagpie giving a premature cheer as she read this book back in 2007.
Grumble grumble. I think I was cheering inside but trying not to, having learned never to trust Hagrid to die when he should.
Voldemort starts to cast the killing curse, but Harry’s wand--of its own accord--shoots a “golden” spell at Voldemort.
Because even a stick is more proactive and effective than Harry is.
Harry hears Voldemort calling for Selwyn’s wand as Harry passes through the protective barrier surrounding the Tonks house and crashes into a mud pond. Which totally cushions the impact of the fall from several hundred feet. Totally.
LOL! This reminds me of a movie I just saw where a woman is in a car w/no brakes speeding down Telegraph Hill--a massively twisty, steep hill in San Francisco. Luckily when the car tips over finally she spills out on a pile of dirt so is totally not hurt at all!
Or is he squashed like a bug under Hagrid?
A fate worse than death. That beaver skin coat is not well-ventilated.
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Apart from the most important thing of all - he admires Harry and his fame! This gives the reader a clue that anything he does wrong couldn't possibly be his fault. Therefore he was Imperiused. Simple JKR logic (luckily Harry thinks like JKR in every way!)
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***You think the poor thing had any choice? In one interview, when asked what she would say to Harry if she met him, our Jo said she'd say how sorry she was for putting him through so much hardship. Bull. She really ought to beg him to forgive him for making him a complete moron.
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Yes. I suppose JKR expected us to just fall in love with Stan Shunpike. Why, I don't know. There's nothing remotely appealing about him as a character. I guess we're just supposed to feel for him as the "little man" in the series.
I was just reminded about how, in Gaudy Night (SPOILER ALERT!) the guilty person is just dismissed out of hand mostly because of her social status. Because Stan is a lowly bus conductor, he couldn't possibly have any reason to join the Death Eaters or they any reason to recruit him. Ergo, JKR doesn't bother to establish his innocence. She figures we'll take Dumbledore and Arthur's word about it.
I can't help comparing Stan to those detainees who, we are told, were innocent when they were picked up by our soldiers, but come out of Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib as highly motivated terrorists. JKR had the chance to make that connection, but she never did. So, it's this weird little resonance that probably won't resonant at all in 20 years--unless, of course, we're still in this mess.
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Secondly I agree with you 100% on the whole stupidity of the aurors here. Moody, who once impressed me as one of the few with an active braincell, now is happy to reverse a disillusion charm *outside* the property, in full view of everyone around? I won't even start on Tonks calling to Ron and the "see you in an hour at the Burrow" bit as the stupidity speaks volumes for itself.
Thirdly; the whole "signature spell" arguement they have in the next chapter I find a bit silly. Snape taught it to the whole school several years ago. Harry reiterated its usefullness with the DA nearly 2 years ago. Many people know the spell already. Now Sectumsempra, used non-verbally, *thats* a signature spell! (Trust Snape to do it properly)
Lastly; Lol at the PM being the "elected one". Thinking of current UK events, the current one is not even that!!
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Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it.
Secondly I agree with you 100% on the whole stupidity of the aurors here. Moody, who once impressed me as one of the few with an active braincell, now is happy to reverse a disillusion charm *outside* the property, in full view of everyone around? I won't even start on Tonks calling to Ron and the "see you in an hour at the Burrow" bit as the stupidity speaks volumes for itself.
Oh, God yes. I can see that JKR really wanted to have seven golden Potters zooming around. It's so visual! It'll be so great in the movie!
Nobody seems to be talking much about the alchemical stuff, but she's still drawing on it in this book, I think. Anyway, that's the only reason I can think of for this stupid plan.
But it is so contrived. She has to create all these weird rules and limitations in order to force Harry into the stupid thing. The metaphor of him cramped into that stupid sidecar really is appropriate.
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The creepy part? How she works in the bit where there are seven mostly naked Potters crammed into the kitchen for a moment or two.
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But this sort of thing only works if it also MAKES SENSE PLOTWISE.