Deathly Hallows, chapter 19

[anehan]

The Silver Doe

* What is it with the Potters and animals of the deer family? James's Animagus form is a stag, and now we find out that Snape associates Lily with a doe. Though according to Dictionary.com, a doe can be the female of, among others, deer, antelope, goat and rabbit. I think I prefer to think Lily is a female rabbit. Or a goat. So that she can be paired with Aberforth's goat.

* A wreath of Christmas roses? What's that? Is it some kind of English custom to have roses on Christmas?

* Harry imagines someone is calling out to him in the distance. It is Ron, of course, who would rather call out to Harry than Hermione, because he is so much more important to Ron than her.

* Why is Hermione reading A History of Magic? Doesn't she remember it by heart already?

* Why is Harry wearing the Horcrux again? Wouldn't it be safer in his pouch? I would have imagined that Harry and Hermione would have realized how stupid it was to wear the Horcrux around your neck. But I need not wonder. Whatever stupid thing Harry can think of doing, he will do it.

* Oh, so it's bitterly cold in the Forest of Dean, is it? As someone who hails from Lapland, I snap my fingers at your bitter coldness. Apparently wizards can manufacture tents that are as spacious as a real house but not tents that are warm.

* Harry feels as though he is recuperating from some brief but serious illness, an impression reinforced by Hermione's solicitousness. That's because he must turn everything into high drama. One would think that after meeting Voldemort so many times, another confrontation would not faze him, but apparently it was enough to make him lose his sleep.

* Harry is wearing all the sweaters he owned, but he is still shivery. Apparently wizards can't make warm clothes either. Or maybe they are Dudley's cast-offs, which makes me wonder why Harry has continued to wear them even after he came to money? Or is it fanon that he wears them? I can't remember.

* Or maybe it's not wizards who can't make warm clothes. Maybe it's the English. At the very least they can't make warm houses. I once read a Finn who had lived in England write that he had never felt so cold in Finland as he had felt in an English house.

* Harry was on the point of taking out the Marauder's Map, so as to watch Ginny's dot for a while. Creepy, or what?

* So Harry follows the deer. Without telling Hermione where he is going. Is the boy stupid, or what? Oh, but he knows this is no Dark Magic. Of course it isn't, it's a Patronus. Doesn't mean a Death Eater couldn't have cast it.

* By the way, how does Snape know where Harry and Hermione are?

* He thinks the doe is going to speak to him. Which she would do only once she had led him deep into the forest.

* Oh, now Harry considers whether the doe has led him into an ambush. Our glorious hero. Stupid as a sock. (And possibly quite as smelly, too, if he has continued to bathe as often as he did at Hogwarts.)

* I'd like to know why the sword must be at the bottom of a pool.

* Harry remembers that "their daring, nerve and chivalry set Gryffindors apart". Well, if you consider foolhardiness to be daring and nerve, then it's true, as far as that goes. But chivalry? Maybe from someone like Neville, but Harry? Our resident drama queen?

* The description of Harry drowning? Well, let's just say that Rowling reveals another kind of scene she can't write to save her soul.

* Even Ron realizes how stupid it was to dive while wearing the Horcrux. You know, the stupider Harry acts, the more Ron grows on me. Not that he is much better, but at least no anvils of how great and noble he is are dropped constantly on me.

* Harry thinks Ron is supposed to be the one to destroy the locket. "Supposed to"? So now Harry wants to abandon being a hero. Of course, JKR only wrote it this way so that we could have the affecting scene of Ron's insecurities being thrown on his face. Puh-leeeze. As if the readers weren't already perfectly aware of what Ron's insecurities are. Must it always be anvils, JKR? They are so heavy.

* Please, no more Harry intuiting (is that a word?) things.

* Harry shouts and bellows and yells at Ron to stab the thing, but Ron does not listen. Yet he still stubbornly insists it's got to Ron who destroys the locket.

* Okay, so I don't really understand why Ron is so fazed with the locket-Harry and Hermione. Surely he has got the two brain cells that are required for him to realize the locket is preying on his fears.

* Now this Hermione I like. Looking demented, putting Harry and Ron in their places. "Don't you tell me what to do, Harry Potter!" Sweet, sweet words. If only she remembered them when Harry was being his usual self. *cheers Hermione on*

* Ah, the magical Deluminator appears. Or rather, Deus Ex Machina, as I prefer to call it. One of many in the series. And of course Dumbledore would know Ron would need it. The man can't stop meddling even after he is dead.

* Ron's pyjamas are maroon. Somehow I'm not surprised. Molly must really hate him, only she can't admit it to herself, so she takes it out in this passive-aggressive way. (I think this last piece is the most interesting bit of the chapter.)

Comments

[tdotm.livejournal.com]

Too Right! Intent is surely what's key for the majority of magic. I refuse to believe that a Death Eater couldn't call on witnessing the birth of their child and feel equally strong happy thoughts. I'm sure WB could come up with some black patronuses for those wicked Slytherins. I do believe some magic would be dark in itself - creating a horcrux for example, but this would surely be in the minority.

Even 2/3 of the Unforgiveable Curses could be classed as amoral. 500 years ago, Avada Kedevra could have been used for capital punishment. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but Muggles used it as well at that time. I also think it would be far more humane then the Dementor sucking out your soul scenario.

Imperius is obviously wrong, as it's forcing people to act against their will, but I had little trouble with the way it was used at Gringotts. To quickly get out of a tricky situation, rather than force someone to do your bidding, frequently illegal/wrong especially in the long term. I could see Aurors using it in the same way, even if it's not ideal.

The Cruciatus is one of relatively few spells that couldn't possibly have any other use except for torture. So what does our 'hero' use for no good reason? He even gets praised for it. Bastard.

[anehan]

So what does our 'hero' use for no good reason?

Yes! You can think of more-or-less benign uses for the other Unforgivables, but not for the Cruciatus. Harry picked his spell well.

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

Even 2/3 of the Unforgiveable Curses could be classed as amoral.

Oh, absolutely! AK = execution or euthanasia. Imperius could be used by an undermanned and overwhelmed Auror patrol to keep captured criminals from running off while they continued to hunt the others. Healthcare workers could use it to restrain violent patients. The way it was used at Gringotts was a perfect example of its use in a war situation. No doubt about it.

Cruciatus has no other reason than to torture. Even if it's just a second or two, pain's pain and gratuitous inflicting of pain is torture. I'm amazed that so many fans still trot out the now-old chestnut of Harry not being a plaster saint. It's one thing to be fallible, another to torture when another spell would have been at least as effective if not moreso.

[tdotm.livejournal.com]

I HATE that reasoning. It's almost as bad as blaming all of Book 5 on 'Voldemort *made* him be a jerk!'

When Harry saved Draco's life, and minutes later he was back to his old tricks, I actually laughed when Ron punched him in the face! Not ideal behaviour, but *that's* how you let your temper get the better of you in such a bad situation. That's how you prove someone's not perfect (though JKR ensured we already knew that about Ron.)

If Harry had punched Carrow in the face (it was the male wasn't it?), I wouldn't have blamed him for a second, just smirked. Instead he used torture, and not even in a battle situation. He used it as punishment, putting him on a par with the worst Death Eaters. And where does JKR get off making McGonagall praise him? If she'd warned him that to fight a monster, it's important not to become one yourself, the whole scene could have been saved. Pah.

A pox on Harry and this book series.

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

It's almost as bad as blaming all of Book 5 on 'Voldemort *made* him be a jerk!'

I'd almost buy that above the Cruciatus in DHs. LV waltzing in and out of his head, bringing his own issues, sure, it might affect Harry. I don't see why Rowling just couldn't have had it be the usual teenaged angst and dramatizing. Either way, I'm the person who warned the daughters that PMS is not an excuse with me for emo angst so guess what I'd tell Harry.

Oh, yeah. Punching someone is a time-honored way of showing stress. Here we have Wizarding-raised Ron using it so it's apparently a universal reaction. Maybe there's a WW equivalent spell or something, like maybe "Puncharella," but nothing is as satisfying as actually winding up and striking.

Lacking that, yes, McG acting like the teacher she is supposed to be and telling Harry the whole monster lecture would have worked. That "Gallant" remark was just gratuitous. Everyone has to succumb to the Saviour of the Wizarding World in the end or die.

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Hell, AK could have been used for hunting. Unlike a pistol, it wasn't developed *only* to kill humans. And, frankly back in the day, it probably had a better range than an arrow or a spear, and wouldn't have been deflected by wind or anything but the most pounding rain. Definitely an advantage for getting your village through the winter.

And of course even among wizards there were situations where a "mercy stroke" may hae been called for. Although capital punishment was a lot more likely to have been the intended use.