Deathly Hallows Chapter 31

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

The Battle of Hogwarts

We start this chapter in the Great Hall of Hogwarts, with the enchanted ceiling stars shining down on the sleepy and disheveled students—all standing at their tables. Sorted into their Houses.

For some reason, this image reminds me of the moment in The Final Battle, where all the stars fall from the heavens and all the creatures of Narnia are sorted into the saved and damned. Well, it ought to, because that’s exactly what’s going on here.

McGonagall informs the students that they are to be evacuated and that Angus Filch and Madam Pomfrey will oversee their departure. From reading dozens of fanfics that pre-imagined the Battle of Hogwarts (we all knew it was coming), I’m astounded that Pomfrey is being wasted on herding students out of the building. Why isn’t she in the Hospital Wing, prepping for casualties?

Ernie Macmillan, representing Hufflepuff interrupts to ask what about the students who want to stay and fight? A Ravenclaw girl (identified only as “a girl at the Ravenclaw table” asks about their things. Will they be able to take them? A “girl from the Slytherin table” asks what happened to Professor Snape.

So, this shows us the priorities of the various Houses. The Hufflepuffs are worried about the school. The Ravenclaws are worried about logistics. The Slytherins are worried about Snape.

By the way, McGonagall informs the students that Snape has “done a bunk.” As a Snape-fan, I am insulted by that terminology. He didn’t do a bunk. He was chased out by his staff who conveniently forgot how he’s been protecting them all year. Oh, and unsurprisingly, the non-Slytherin students send up a great cheer at the news.

Harry moves along the Gryffindor table, looking for Ron and Hermione. After spending the last three or four chapters under his Invisibility Cloak, I wonder why Harry doesn’t have it on now.

I’m also wondering why he’s looking for Ron and Hermione instead of that Lost Diadem. Because right now the entire castle is evacuating so that he can do that.

The evacuation is interrupted now by Voldemort’s voice coming from all directions. If they will give him Harry Potter, he will leave the school untouched. They have until midnight.

At this point, Pansy Parkinson damns all of Slytherin by pointing at Harry and shouting out, “But he’s there! Potter’s there! Someone grab him!”

A careful reading of the text shows that the Gryffindors all stand at this moment, facing the Slytherins. Then the Hufflepuffs stand, followed quickly by the Ravenclaws, and all of them draw their wands on the Slytherins. Harry is just amazed by this show of support from three quarters of the schools against… that one girl that stood up and pointed at him.

McGonagall tells Pansy and the rest of the Slytherins to leave first. It is only after this that the Slytherin benches scrape with the sound of rising Slytherin students. I only mention all this because I have seen posts from readers who seem convinced that the Slytherins drew their wands first. It’s pretty clear that they didn’t.

And, as many readers have pointed out, any Slytherin student who might have wanted to fight against Voldemort got lumped in with Pansy and cast out of the castle. On the other hand, there isn’t the slightest indication that any of them wanted to stay and fight.

The Ravenclaws are ordered out next, but some of the older students stay to fight. Because, (unlike the Gryffindors), the Ravenclaws know how to count up to seventeen. Hufflepuff is the third House to go, but more Hufflepuffs stay behind. That’s because any epic battle needs red shirts.

Last to go are the Gryffindors, and of course, most of the older students stay to fight, and a few younger students have to be urged out by McGonagall.

Kingsley takes over the meeting to give out battle assignments, while McGonagall goes over to Harry and pointedly reminds him that he’s supposed to be looking for something.

Thank God. It’s been driving me crazy. It’s half an hour until Voldemort invades and Harry’s faffing around, staring at everything like some kind of yokel tourist.

There’s this book that E.M. Forster wrote about novels in which he describes cavemen sitting around the fire as the first writers told stories. All the listening cavemen (and women) would be rapt in attention, wondering what comes next? If the storyteller didn’t tell them that, they’d take their clubs and beat him/her to death.

Perhaps this helps explain why I’m tempted to strangle Harry at this point. Because all this activity? Not story. It’s set decoration. The story isn’t going to move forward until we find that Lost Diadem, no matter how many wands are drawn or people die in the meantime.

Harry has been distracted this whole time by Ron and Hermione’s absence. Without Ron and Hermione to help him he could not seem to marshal his ideas. Yes. It’s official. Without Ron and Hermione, Harry is literally incapable of thought.

But he makes a valiant effort. Screwing up his face and pressing his hands to his eyes, he manages to come up with a fact! Voldemort thought Harry would go to Ravenclaw tower! So, the missing artifact must be connected to Ravenclaw!

Yes, Harry. It’s the diadem. We’ve known that for two years now. And you’ve known it for two chapters at least. But… good start!

Harry then ponders how Voldemort could possibly have found the diadem, when it had been lost for centuries. No one in living memory knew where it was.

Mm. You’re getting colder, Harry. It doesn’t matter how Voldemort found it. He did. Now you need to find it. You know what it looks like and you know where people go to hide things in Hogwarts. You even saw it last year. So, you really don’t need any more information.

But Harry decides that he needs to find the Ravenclaw ghost, first.

So, he runs past the departing students, who are panicked and near to chaos. Zacharias Smith is pushing aside firsties on his way out the door. Man, that is not where I saw that character going after OotP. In that book, he was only one with the balls to question things. Maybe he was traumatized by getting hit with Ginny’s speeding broomstick. I’ll bet that’s it. He’s suffering from PTSS.

Harry finally finds Nearly Headless Nick and we find out that after six years in school, Harry doesn’t even know the Ravenclaw ghost by sight. Nick points her out and tells Harry that she’s known as the Grey Lady.

Readers now finally have the names of all four House ghosts. Nearly Headless Nick, the Bloody Baron, the Fat Friar, and the Grey Lady. How come Nick’s the only one with a name, instead of a title? Or maybe he does and we’ve just never heard it. The other Houses call him Clueless Cavalier.

Harry runs after her, even though she tries to avoid him by drifting through a solid wall. When he catches up to her, he decides that she looks “haughty and proud.” Doesn’t it seem like most adult women appear this way to Harry? Perhaps it’s something about him?

She tries to put him off, but Harry pushes her for information about the diadem. It’s about fighting Voldemort, damnit! So, she admits that she’s Helena Ravenclaw, daughter of Rowena and tells the tale of how she stole the diadem and fled to Albania. When her mother fell ill, she sent Helena’s former lover to find her. But when Helena refused to return, he became violent and stabbed her to death. Then he killed himself, becoming the Bloody Baron.

The diadem remained hidden in a hollow log in Albania until the Grey Lady told the story to a charming young student named Tom Riddle. So, that’s how Voldemort found the Lost Diadem and made it into a Horcrux.

Okay, it’s an interesting story, but you know what? Harry doesn’t actually need this information at all. It doesn’t matter how Voldemort found the diadem! All this does in practical terms is waste another twenty-five minutes while Harry gets the story and then figures out that Voldemort must have hid the diadem back at Hogwarts when he interviewed with Dumbledore for a job.

Well, duh. Of course he did. You knew that five chapters ago when he was listing his Horcruxes and decided to check the Hogwarts one last.

Would it make a difference if we hadn’t had two years to speculate about a hiding place in Hogwarts? Maybe we had two years, but Harry had nine months in a tent—all of which he spent discussing possible hiding places with Ron and Hermione, so I’m not inclined to cut him slack about this.

Anyway, before Harry can figure it out, Hagrid comes flying through a window. Oddly, he does not leave a Hagrid-shaped hole. Hagrid tells Harry that he heard Voldemort’s proclamation all the way up in the hills and came down to join in on the fun.

Hmm. So, Hagrid never got one of those fun fake galleons, and neither the Order of the Phoenix nor the staff of Hogwarts bothered to tell him what was going on. Guess we know how much confidence people have in him.

Hagrid asks Harry where Ron and Hermione are, reminding Harry that they are missing. So, instead of searching for the diadem, they go wandering aimlessly around, trying to find Ron and Hermione.

I find it somewhat interesting that Hagrid is panting in order to keep up with Harry as they rush down the corridors, since Hagrid’s legs are probably two or three feet longer than his.

They pass by a couple of stone gargoyles lying on the ground. (The “first casualties” of the battle.) One of the gargoyles will probably be played by Terry Jones or Michael Palin, since it calls out, “Oh, don’t mind me…. I’ll just lie here and crumble.”

This reminds Harry, by an association of ideas, of the marble bust he saw last year in the RoR wearing a tiara! Harry figures out that Voldemort is arrogant enough to think he was the only student to ever find the room, while Dumbledore and Flitwick were too perfect to ever need it.

I wonder what it was that Voldemort was hiding when he discovered the room.

Anyway, now that Harry has figured this out, it’s time for more distractions! Professor Sprout and Neville run by, their arms full of lethal plants. (Earth Power!) Actually, they are carrying Mandrakes (shout out to CoS), and wearing earmuffs. So, I figure those plants are probably going to take out some of the good guys as well as the Death Eaters.

Harry and Hagrid run past portraits, where the painted figures are going wild, screaming and running from picture to picture. Then an explosion shakes the castle and Hagrid goes running after a terrified Fang. Fine. Neither of them was doing anything useful anyway.

Harry runs along with Sir Cadogan for a bit, then comes upon Fred and some students guarding a secret passage. He passes a parliament of owls being hissed at Mrs. Norris, and then Aberforth appears to scold Harry about the number of students passing through his bar. Oh, and for not taking the Slytherin kids hostage.

“There are kids of Death Eaters you’ve just sent to safety. Wouldn’t it have been a bit smarter to keep ‘em here?”

Harry counters that Albus would never have done anything like that. He doesn’t mention that they don’t have the resources to spare to watch hostages in any case. He does note, correctly, that Voldemort wouldn’t care about hostages.

As Harry runs off, he emphasizes that point to himself. Dumbledore, who had sheltered Snape, would never have held kids for ransom. I wonder why JKR is drawing this connection. Is this ironic foreshadowing for later on when we discover that Dumbledore used Lily as a pseudo-hostage to force Snape into lifelong servitude?

Then Harry skids around a corner and sees Ron and Hermione with basilisk fangs and a broomstick. He feels mingled relief and fury—which always seems to be his attitude when seeing his best friends after any extended period of time. Abandonment issues much, Harry?

Eesh. No wonder it took Ron and Hermione so long to procreate. Harry was probably calling them every five minutes on the Floo after they got married to make sure they hadn’t forgotten him. It took them years before they could grab enough time to have sex.

Hermione “breathlessly” tells Harry that Ron had the “absolutely brilliant” idea to get basilisk fangs from the Chamber of Secrets. Moreover, he used his mimicry skills to open the Chamber with parseltongue! (What skills, you ask? Um… they’ve been there all along. Really. When Ron was so good at chess, he was really mimicking Bobby Fischer. Yeah… that’s the ticket.)

And for once, for once, Hermione and Harry are both genuinely and wholeheartedly impressed with Ron. I guess we fans should be happy that Ron finally gets some recognition. Even if it’s for a skill we never realized he had.

Another explosion shakes the castle, prodding Harry into telling Ron and Hermione about the last Horcrux and how he knows where it is and everything.

Wait a minute…. You mean that all this time, Harry’s been looking for Ron and Hermione and not the diadem? What the hell? People are dying, Harry! Why are you still wasting time?

So, now the Trio goes back to the RoR to find it occupied by Ginny, Tonks, and Augusta Longbottom. Remember that argument that ended with Ginny having to stay in the room? My guess is that was all in order to get this image of the three aspects to the Goddess: Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Okay. Fine. I get it.

I just don’t get why we have the Goddess showing up here. If this were Buffy, then I’d take it as a precursor to some major ass-kicking. But since it’s JKR, I’m figuring it’s something she read in a book once and decided would be a cool image, full of sass and symbolism and signifying nothing.

Having fulfilled their symbolic purpose, the women waste little time in making themselves scarce. Augusta toddles off to look for Neville. Tonks, wringing her hands in anguish, rushes off to die with Lupin.

How is it that Lupin must forgo the Horcrux hunt in order to stay with Tonks, but Tonks (and Lupin) can just leave a newborn baby to go get themselves killed? It’s like that wonky pro-life agenda where unborn children must be protected at all costs, but actual children can starve or go without healthcare. (I know, I know, not all pro-lifers are like that…)

Harry orders Ginny out of the room so they can change it into the lost items mode. But he reminds her sternly that she is to come back after he’s done with it. I imagine this is the same tone he’ll use seven years later when he informs her that their first-born son is not to be named Neville Michael Dean Potter.

So… apropos of nothing, Ron shouts out that they forgot the elves. Not, as Harry supposes, to have them fight, but to warn them. “We can’t order them to die for us,” Ron observes.

And suddenly, he’s assaulted by Hermione with a full-on kiss on the mouth. The kiss that Ron/Hermione shippers have been waiting for since she first told him he had dirt on his nose.

Again, I get it. JKR wanted their first kiss (that Harry witnesses anyway) to be BIG. But Oh. My. God. How lame is this? I mean, it’s pretty funny that Harry has to break them up—but people are dying, you self-absorbed jerks. They are dying because you all decided to stage the showiest sneak-in to Hogwarts imaginable and drew the Death Eaters down on innocent students with a vengeance.

Then you do everything but look for the Horcrux you were asked to find thirty-six chapters ago! As Harry says (and he’s really one to talk about wasting time), “D’you think you could just—just hold it in until we’ve got the diadem?”

By the way, I’m now imagining Ron with a full-on boner. Thanks for that, Harry.

And I haven’t even mentioned yet how Hermione is rewarding Ron for expressing the view towards elves that he’s had all along.

They pick up the fangs and go outside to find that the situation has deteriorated severely. There’s debris and dust everywhere and the lights of dueling wands is very close to the castle now. Great. Thanks for all the procrasination, Harry. Hogwarts appreciates it.

If Snape were there, he’d be deducting points right and left.

Ginny and Tonks are at a window firing down spells. Grawp is outside, swinging a stone gargoyle, prompting Ron to express the hope that he steps on some Death Eaters.

Either Ginny or Tonks responds: “As long as it’s not any of our lot!”

That should be emblazoned on the Gryffindor banner, I think.

Aberforth slopes by to comment on the battle. Tonks goes running after him, in the hopes she can find Lupin, who was last seen dueling Dolohov. Is this undying love or simply fear that he’s going to find and start snogging random Death Eaters? (Or Snape!)

Ginny is now defending her window alone and Harry tells her to stay safe while he, Ron, and Hermione change the RoR. Sigh. Is there any reason, if you’re so worried, Harry, that Ginny can’t simply come with you? What is your deal?

They get inside and Ron speaks for all readers when he asks why wouldn’t Voldemort realize that anyone could get in here? Harry explains it by saying Voldemort thought he was the only one. Yeah. That totally explains it.

When you think about it, it’s a miracle that no Ravenclaw ever found the diadem. In the years after Voldemort hid it, you’d think that some desperate student might have paced that corridor thinking, “I need that diadem! I need it to pass my O.W.L.s! Please, I need that diadem!”

Hermione tries to Accio the diadem, but that doesn’t work. Because… it doesn’t.

So, they split up to look for a stone bust of an old man wearing a tiara. Harry ventures deep into the labyrinth and finally sees the old cupboard in which he hid the Potions book. The Potions book! Forget about the tiara, Harry! Grab the book! Grab the book! That’s going to revolutionize potion-making! Get the book!

Too late. Harry hears a voice and turns to see Crabbe and Goyle pointing their wands at him. Behind them, he can see Draco Malfoy.

Draco demands his wand back, but Harry retorts, “Winners, keepers.” He asks whose wand Draco is now carrying and Draco tells him that he is using his mother’s wand. So… according to canon, neither Bellatrix, Lucius, nor Narcissa has a wand at this point. How are they existing without magic? Can they even open the doors at Malfoy Manor without one?

Harry asks why the three aren’t with Voldemort and Crabbe finally gets a line after nearly seven books. His voice is surprisingly soft and he doesn’t pronounce his “h”s. Are all the Slytherins inbred? Except for Draco and Blaise (and Snape), they all seem to be oversized village idiots.

Even Harry can’t believe he’s being thwarted by the special students. He tries to get them to monologue in order to gain time, prompting Goyle to boast (with a “gormless” grin), “We was hiding in the corridor outside. We can do Diss-lusion Charms now! And then, you turned up right in front of us and said you was looking for a die-dum! What’s a die-dum?”

I’m impressed that Crabbe and Goyle can do Disillusionment charms. You know, that would have come in really handy for the Trio. How come Hermione never learned those?

Also, this is a small thing, but I’m surprised no one caught it. Harry didn’t mention the diadem outside in the corridor. He only mentioned it way earlier, when he first found Ron and Hermione. Since they’ve been inside the RoR, Harry has only referred to the diadem as a “tiara.”

If Goyle heard it back then, the three Slytherin students must have been following Harry for about half an hour now—and they would have heard all about the cup Horcrux. And since Crabbe says that their intention was to bring Harry back to Voldemort, they should have attacked a long time ago.

Draco and Crabbe start arguing about this very thing, with Draco saying they should figure out what the diadem is, since Potter is keen to get it, and Crabbe saying that it’s Potter Voldemort wants and Draco isn’t the boss of him any longer.

Harry lunges for the diadem, but misses and it flies into the air, getting lost in a pile of junk. Hermione appears, shooting a stunning spell at Crabbe, who calls her a Mudblood and shoots an Avada Kadavra back at her. Malfoy’s (Narcissa’s) wand get knocked away and rolls under something, while Draco screams out not to kill Harry.

Awww. Draco/Harry lives!

Goyle is disarmed. Draco cowers behind a wardrobe, leaving Crabbe to duel Harry, Hermione, and Ron at the same time. He does surprisingly well. Neither Hermione nor Ron can hit him with a spell, even though he’s huge. And, before Harry can find the diadem, Crabbe sets the room on fire.

Crabbe and Ron come running up the aisle. But Goyle was stunned by Hermione and Draco remains behind to drag his unconscious body.

In a cool effect, the fire takes the shape of magical creatures. It seems to become sentient, circling around the Trio. (The Slytherins have already disappeared into the flames.) Fortunately, Harry sees a couple heavy broomsticks and they climb on them to fly above the flames.

Harry looks through the flames, thinking that he never wanted the students to have to die in such a horrible way. Well, honestly, who would? Even though Ron is urging him to leave, Harry continues to look until he finds Draco perched on a desk, with his arms around the still unconscious Goyle.

Harry tries to grab Draco, but Draco won’t let go of Goyle and they are too heavy to lift together, so Ron and Hermione are forced to take Goyle on their broom, while Draco climbs behind Harry and they all race to the door, with Draco screaming like a girly-man. In a sheer bald-faced contrivance, Harry sees the diadem and dives to catch it around his wrist.

Then he makes for the door with Draco “screaming and holding Harry so tightly it hurt.”

Hehe. Draco/Harry lives!

They make it through the door and hit the wall. Malfoy immediately falls off the broom, gasping, coughing, and retching. Because he’s a Slytherin and they are prey to bodily functions. Harry simply rolls over and sits up, making no disgusting sounds.

Draco asks about Crabbe and Ron tells him harshly that Crabbe is dead, even though they don’t really know, do they? It’s just that nobody feels like going back to look for him. It’s too dangerous and I don’t blame them. But they don’t know.

Harry notices that Ginny is missing, and Ron wonders if the RoR would even work after being burned up like that, and Hermione asks Harry about the diadem hanging around his wrist, which reminds Harry that he has it. As he looks at it (reading the Ravenclaw motto engraved on it), it bleeds a black, tarry substance, shudders, and breaks into pieces.

How convenient.

Hermione explains that Crabbe used Fiendfyre, a spell so dangerous she wouldn’t have even attempted it. So, nicely, Crabbe managed to destroy a Horcrux and kill himself while taking all the blame for the destruction because he was using Dark Magic.

As long as it’s not any of our lot.

Hermione reminds them that they only need to kill Nagini and Voldemort will be mortal again. But then they are interrupted as the Death Eaters breach the castle walls and Fred and Percy appear, dueling a group of the masked evildoers.

One of the masks slips and the Death Eater is revealed to be Pius Thickness, the Minister of Magic! So, is he Imperiused or not? Regardless, Percy hexes him with a quip about handing in his resignation.

Fred is amazed and delighted to hear Percy make a joke, even a lame joke. It’s like a dog walking on its hind legs!

But then a huge explosion blows the castle wall apart. Harry is thrown through the air, ending up half-buried in wreckage and “bleeding copiously.” He staggers up to see Hermione pulling herself out of the debris and the three Weasley boys grouped on the ground.

Percy is shaking Fred and Ron is kneeling, and Fred, like Dobby, is staring up with unseeing eyes. They are too small to tell whether or not they are reflecting the indifferent stars….

As long as it’s not any of our… never mind.

Fan Service:
Pansy Parkinson finally does something dastardly to justify her bad reputation.
Zacharias Smith makes an appearance! And he’s more obnoxious than ever!
We finally learn about the Ravenclaw ghost! And she has a tragic backstory! And a romance with the Bloody Baron!
Mandrakes come back!
It’s Sir Cadogan!
OMG! OMG! Squee! Ron and Hermione kissed!
Crabbe and Goyle get to talk!
This chapter is chock fullof Draco/Harry.

Fan Slappage:
What? Madam Pomfrey is going off to the Hog’s Head just before the big battle? WT Fuck!
Wait… we hate Sir Cadogan.
Contrary to most expectations, the Weasley destined to die was not Ron.
Harry never has to deal with Zacharias Smith as a person.
Harry is the worst boyfriend in the world.
The book! Harry! Get the book!
Draco’s redemption consists of not leaving someone to burn to death. It’s not exactly Spike, is it?

DVD Extras:
EXT. NIGHT -- OUTSIDE THE HOG’S HEAD
A group of sixth and seventh-year Slytherins emerges from the Inn.

BLAISE ZABINI
Are you coming, Theo?

THEODORE NOTT
To fight? Forget it. That’s my dad’s thing. Not mine.

Theodore apparates with a snap of his fingers. Blaise hesitates, then strides off towards the Shrieking Shack, followed by the other students.

Draco Malfoy is left standing in the street. A dark figure approaches.

Draco steps back, apprehensively. The figure steps into the lamplight. It is Professor Snape, with billowing cape and everything.

SNAPE
Malfoy! What are you doing here?

DRACO
We were thrown out of the castle. Everyone’s gone to join… him.

There is a long pause as Snape’s eyes bore sternly into Draco’s. Then Snape folds his arms.

SNAPE
(quietly) Muffliato.

He takes a step closer to Draco.

SNAPE (cont’d)
What are you going to do?

DRACO
Either way, I’d end up fighting my friends. (swallowing:) Potter’s the only one who can kill him, right?

SNAPE
So the prophecy goes.

Draco paces back and forth, his hands in his hair.

DRACO
What will happen if I don’t show up? What will happen to Mother and Father?

The questions hang in the air for a moment. Then:

SNAPE
There are any number of reasons that you might have stayed in the castle. One of them might be to try and capture Potter yourself. (shrugging:) He might believe that.

Draco hesitates, close to tears.

SNAPE
No one is going to make this decision for you.

DRACO
(almost a whisper) Will you help them?

SNAPE
If I can. (he takes a breath) But I don’t know if I can help anyone any more.

With a desperate wrench, Draco turns and runs toward Hogwarts castle. Snape watches him, then turns and heads for the Shrieking Shack.

Crabbe runs into the street, followed by Goyle.

GOYLE
He’s heading back to the castle!

CRABBE
He must be trying to grab glory for himself! Let’s go!

They run after Draco.

FADE OUT

Comments

[moonspinner.livejournal.com]

Funny how we get so much detail about the Grey Lady and Bloody Baron's epic love but despite half of the book being Dumbledore/Grindewald back-story, it takes an interview for JK Rowling to define their relationship. ::thoughtful::

Poor Fred. At least he was reincarnated in his nephew when his twin brother inherited his girlfriend. A relationship that, in Rowling's own words, is "disturbing."

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

It's funny, the story of Helena and the Bloody Baron is only about as long in the book as my recap. It's only one or two paragraphs. But I had remembered it being much longer.

What is long about the story is the amount of time it takes Harry to see, catch up to, and then convince the Grey Lady to tell it.

My theory is that JKR was dying to put that tragic story into the books, but felt she had to make it difficult in order to explain why no one else knew it.

That Rowling calls the George/Angelina relationship "disturbing" is a hopeful sign. At least she recognizes it!

[sunlit-music.livejournal.com]

[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<i.funny>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

<i.Funny how we get so much detail about the Grey Lady and Bloody Baron's epic love but despite half of the book being Dumbledore/Grindewald back-story, it takes an interview for JK Rowling to define their relationship. ::thoughtful::</i>

Yes, exactly! There's nothing wrong with gay relationships, or showing them in fiction openly. If she doesn't mind gay relationships, why not mention it in the canon?

Mentioning that Dumbledore loved Grindlewald in canon wouldn't have made the HP books All About Dumbledore. The books would still be All About Harry. I remember Terry Pratchett's book Monstrous Regiment portraying major characters in a lesbian relationship. I didn't come across readers who suddenly thought this made the book All About Lesbians.

[merrymelody.livejournal.com]

Why isn’t she in the Hospital Wing, prepping for casualties?

It's very illustrative of JKR's mindset, though. This isn't a world where there's shades of grey. There's no conscientious objectors or people choosing to aid their side by being medics, say, or any sense of a world outside the battle. You could tell she didn't really like not letting the small children fight, and while in a real war you wouldn't be on the frontlines in your old age, in her world there's conveniently no limit. You fight, or you're a coward.

Draco’s redemption consists of not leaving someone to burn to death.

In the movie, they're cutting Crabbe, and having Goyle die, therefore Draco will save no-one. (Just in case anyone forgot who the true hero was. Wait for the inevitable cut of that Crucio, while they're at it...)

I haven’t even mentioned yet how Hermione is rewarding Ron for expressing the view towards elves that he’s had all along.

One of my favourite quotes ever about this series (I think it was sisterm) was 'You've got to wonder about a series that can't even commit fully to being anti-slavery.'
It's just so symbolic of the mindset - we can't order slaves to die for us is considered incredibly thoughtful and heroic (just like Lily not standing aside to allow her baby's murder) when it should be obvious and the bare minimum of humanity.

Draco isn’t the boss of him any longer.

LOL, Crabbe's so stupid he's forgot all his previous characterisation. (Which is say, three sentences in seven book?) If he and Goyle don't like Draco and are just riding his coattails, what were they looking lonely for at the end of the last book?

In that book, he was only one with the balls to question things.

You have to look at it from JKR's perspective. Questioning things is too close to intellect, when she favours heart. (IE. you should just have faith in Dumbledore/God and Harry/Jesus, and wondering about proof or why it's okay for Harry to do things that damn the other sinners just makes you a heretic.)

So, I figure those plants are probably going to take out some of the good guys as well as the Death Eaters.

They'll die in battle - could there be a more honourable death?

Harry counters that Albus would never have done anything like that.

We get a whole list of stuff Dumbledore's too good to do (dark magic, taking hostages, anal), unfortunately he never seems to commit to actually doing something, considering he was the most Powerful Wizard Evar!1!
He can lower himself to getting involved with Harry's Quidditch team, but actually reaching out to the Slytherins when they don't a) have a wand pointed at him or b) have something to offer him apparently would be too much to ask.

Tonks (and Lupin) can just leave a newborn baby to go get themselves killed?

The really good mothers in this series don't lower themselves to do any actual parenting, they just prove their love by dying and leave the imperfect types like Petunia or an elf to do the work. (Or prove their love by murdering, like Molly - no better way to show you're a good person, in the Potterverse, than be willing to fight.)
And obviously being a good father isn't an issue at all.

And she has a tragic backstory! And a romance with the Bloody Baron!

Shows what happens to commies with crazy ideas about mating outside their houses. If a Slytherin loves you, they will kill you.

[baeraad.livejournal.com]

One of my favourite quotes ever about this series (I think it was sisterm) was 'You've got to wonder about a series that can't even commit fully to being anti-slavery.'

It's just so symbolic of the mindset - we can't order slaves to die for us is considered incredibly thoughtful and heroic (just like Lily not standing aside to allow her baby's murder) when it should be obvious and the bare minimum of humanity.

This, damn it. This. I don't know what's worse - that Rowling holds her heroes to such a low standard that any glimmer of not being a complete selfish, hateful bastard is considered tantamount to sainthood, or that she actually seems to believe that that's how the world works. Does she actually think that not being outrageously evil is the best that people can aspire to?

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

In the movie, they're cutting Crabbe, and having Goyle die, therefore Draco will save no-one. (Just in case anyone forgot who the true hero was. Wait for the inevitable cut of that Crucio, while they're at it...)

Huh. That's weird. I bet that Draco will do something, then. Instead of the near nothing he does in the books. He has to, or the audience is going to wonder why the character got so much screen time over the years.

'You've got to wonder about a series that can't even commit fully to being anti-slavery.'

I would never have cared that the series wasn't anti-slavery (since an author is allowed to make up her own rules in worldbuilding), but having Hermione bring up the subject, spend two books pushing that crusade, and then get credit for it with the goblins--all the while condoning Harry's ownership of Kreacher is just silly.

The really good mothers in this series don't lower themselves to do any actual parenting, they just prove their love by dying and leave the imperfect types like Petunia or an elf to do the work.

That's sadly very true. On the other hand, bad mothers also die. But in that case, there were no blood relatives to take care of the kid.

If a Slytherin loves you, they will kill you.

That's the true moral of the series.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

We get a whole list of stuff Dumbledore's too good to do (dark magic, taking hostages, anal),

*spits tea at the screen*

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[go-back-chief.livejournal.com]

Draco’s redemption consists of not leaving someone to burn to death.

Hey, you ask him to do more than the heroes!

DVD Extras:

This makes more sense than anything else. I would actually not be surprised if they... choose to extrapolate a bit like this in the movie.

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

The other explanation that makes sense for me as to why Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle ended up in the castle was that Crabbe initiated the return, wanting to get the "glory" of capturing Harry. Draco went after Crabbe to keep him from either killing Harry or getting himself killed.

But I suppose if asked, JKR would probably say that Draco went back because it was safer than going to the Death Eaters.

But my way is the most dramatic. :)

[sunlit-music.livejournal.com]

Draco’s redemption consists of not leaving someone to burn to death.

Hey, you ask him to do more than the heroes!

*laughs* And the disturbing thing is, JKR expects very little from her heroes.

DVD Extras:

This makes more sense than anything else. I would actually not be surprised if they... choose to extrapolate a bit like this in the movie.

There was a *lot* of extrapolation/changes made in the HBP movie, so I wouldn't be surprised if they did the same thing for the DH movies.

[eri1980b.livejournal.com]

Ok so the chapter may be called the Battle of Hogwarts, but as battles go this sucks! Where are the dementors, werewolves, inferi, giants, other scary monsters that JKR managed to squeeze into this series? (sorry my brain hurts therefore can't think of them all.) As a head-count:

No. of werewolves that showed up: 1 (Greyback, I would assume he was there. I'm not counting Lupin as he can't transform outside of the full moon and no-one mentions one. That and he dies)

No. of Inferi that showed up: 0. So what's the point of them again?

No. of giants that showed up: 1 (Grawp - however due to brainache I may be wrong on this.)

No. of Dementors that put in an appearance: 0

Surely this is not battle. At best we have a rabble. Base it at a pub not a school and you've got enough for a good barroom brawl. But that's about it. Its hardly Helm's Deep is it? Even the trees showed up to that fight! I thought the goblins might put in an appearance for Team Harry, but alas this fight's for wizards only...

Oh and Hufflepuff = Operation Human Shield

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

No. of werewolves: You're right. It was just Lupin and Greyback and Greyback--I'm not sure if he was ever transformed during the battle. He bites someone, but it's not at all clear that he's in werewolf state when he does.

No. of Inferi: Again, you're right. None of them showed up. They were so last book!

No. of giants: There were 3. Grawp and two others. But they don't do all that much.

No. of Dementors: The Dementors are around. They don't show up individually, and they don't suck out anybody's souls, but they are present like a presence.

Big Juicy Chapter (but not in a good way) Part 1

[tdotm.livejournal.com]

--- “Madam Pomfrey will oversee their departure...I’m astounded that Pomfrey is being wasted on herding students out of the building. Why isn’t she in the Hospital Wing, prepping for casualties?”

*You’re* astounded?! I presume Hagrid is upstairs preparing to take care of the wounded? Filch, as a squib, can’t fight– that makes sense, but why can’t Professor Binns help him? Surely anyone too old or too dead to fight would be better used in helping with the evacuation than the MEDICAL EXPERT! What about the fifth and underage sixth year prefects for crying out loud? Jeez!

--- “McGonagall goes over to Harry and pointedly reminds him that he’s supposed to be looking for something.”

No rush, Harry, you insufferable ars*-w*pe. This book, even with the basic ‘plot’ intact, could have been 1,000 times better if the pacing was improved and the endless chaff removed. Why are watching all this?

Harry should have come looking for Ron and Hermione, just as Voldemort made his announcement. Pansy could have said her piece. McGonagall should have warned the Slytherins that while they were welcome to stay and fight, anyone who agreed with Pansy should leave. Then she and Slughorn should have turned the Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables into GIANT PORT KEYS and sent all the underage (and cowardly!) children 100 miles away in 3 seconds flat. Slughorn and another teacher/Filch could go with them to take care of them. Portkeys were monitored, but what did it matter now? Then when they were all settled God knows where, Slughorn could make his triumphant return. Also, what was the point of saying that Nott didn’t follow the Slytherin herd, if that’s all we ever saw him do? Why couldn’t he and Daphne Greengrass stay behind?

--- “You’re getting colder, Harry. It doesn’t matter how Voldemort found it. He did. Now you need to find it. You know what it looks like and you know where people go to hide things in Hogwarts.”

I don’t know - you and your common sense! After Harry has his sandwich and we are treated to a few chapters of falling action to wind down not just the book, but the series (Ha!) this Grey Lady/Bloody Baron stuff might be quite interesting. As long as it’s brief. Maybe, as you said, they could have worked it out during their 48249359327 weeks of camping. Here it’s just too dull/pointless. We need increasing action – the next lull should be Snape’s memory. Pacing, JKR!

---“Aberforth appears to scold Harry ... for not taking the Slytherin kids hostage ...Harry counters that Albus would never have done anything like that.”

YES HE WOULD! Has Harry learnt NOTHING about Albus? What was all that tiresome angst-in-a-tent for? I only met Aberforth a couple of chapters back and I already know he’s more of a team player whilst his older brother was more into being in charge.

Maybe I wouldn’t keep them as hostages, but I’d certainly be wary that they’d come back and fight *against* me – even if they’d been sent 100 miles away, they could apparate back. Harry is no Auror in the making – never mind a hero. He has no common sense, no understanding of how others think, no strategy/tactical skills and no ability to analyse key data (even if collected together in a handy tell-all biography that he’s READ and whined about ENDLESSLY).

Re: Big Juicy Chapter (but not in a good way) Part 1

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Just wanted to note: we never actually were told that Nott didn't follow the Slytherin herd. JKR just put her little paragraph description of him up on the website to explain who he was for the one scene he was going to actually be in, which was mostly about showing a contrast b/w Harry's life and Draco's, and explaining to us just what the DE children had heard about Harry. He was a loner who didn't "feel the need to join gangs" presumably to explain why he wasn't always with Draco even though they were both DE kids.

So long story short, I don't think she ever really intended to imply he was anti-DE. Fandom just took it that way hoping for a Great Hope for Slytherin.

Big Juicy Chapter (but not in a good way) Part 2

[tdotm.livejournal.com]

--- “Hermione “breathlessly” tells Harry that Ron had the “absolutely brilliant” idea to get basilisk fangs from the Chamber of Secrets.”

Meaning he’s already out-performed Harry in this chapter.

--- “And I haven’t even mentioned yet how Hermione is rewarding Ron for expressing the view towards elves that he’s had all along.”

Too right – plus he’s the one that realises that fighting on their behalf won’t amount to a hill of beans whilst they’re positive they don’t want what you’re insisting they need. The Wizarding World is so entrenched in their ways; they won’t change something so fundamental without a *lot* of work, which should start with getting the House Elves behind you.

The kiss should have happened at Shell Cottage when the pace was naturally slower. Maybe it could have happened an hour before the Snatchers caught them, which would make the Malfoy Manor torture more poignant. It shouldn’t take centre stage at this time – like the ghosts’ history, it’s time wasting while the enemy smashes up the castle.

--- “Hermione tries to Accio the diadem, but that doesn’t work. Because… it doesn’t.”

I’m glad this was at least tried, rather than them just plunging into the big action scene. Maybe it’s part of the spell on the RoR? If you want to hide something, it should be impervious to being simply 'accioed'? Ahem. I also automatically thought that Voldemort presumed that the other rubbish didn’t belong to other people, but had been created by the room to hide the Tiara in. After all, hiding it in an empty room would make it far too conspicuous. It was only later that I realized that JKR never said any such thing.

The whole RoR battle had the makings of a great scene, but somehow fell short. It was better than 80% of what came before though.

--- “Percy is shaking Fred and Ron is kneeling, and Fred, like Dobby, is staring up with unseeing eyes.”

I hated Fred; I thought he was far more of a bully than Pansy. So I was only upset for Ron here (and a little for Percy). Hopefully George might be less obnoxious now, but it’d have been better if JKR had dealt with the twins differently. When the Death Eaters were able to enter Hogwarts in HBP (and Bill was mutilated) due to Draco being able to buy their products, then they should have got some come-uppance from Arthur/Kingsley/Moody. Then they could have used all those brilliant products in *this* battle, maybe flying on brooms along with Oliver Wood and Madam Hooch and .....oh who am I kidding?

Re: Big Juicy Chapter (but not in a good way) Part 2

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

Meaning he’s already out-performed Harry in this chapter.

That he's done anything at all means that he's out-performed Harry in this chapter.

The kiss should have happened at Shell Cottage when the pace was naturally slower. Maybe it could have happened an hour before the Snatchers caught them, which would make the Malfoy Manor torture more poignant. It shouldn’t take centre stage at this time – like the ghosts’ history, it’s time wasting while the enemy smashes up the castle.

Oh, exactly. I love the idea of Ron and Hermione kissing back in the tent--because that would mean Hermione finally got out of the epic snit she was in. But it's like JKR just had to hold it back until the third act.

You know, that's exactly what's wrong with the Percy apology, too. We all knew these moments were coming, and JKR kept piling on the build-up to them... but they ended up being held back so long that they weren't emotionally satisfying--they were just annoying. There just comes a time when you have to have the lovers kiss and THEN MOVE ON.

My feeling is that it should have happened in HBP, after Ron was poisoned. In fact, I was convinced that it had happened and JKR simply didn't show it. Which I thought was brilliant. :)

Yeah. Turned out I was way wrong about that.

I also automatically thought that Voldemort presumed that the other rubbish didn’t belong to other people, but had been created by the room to hide the Tiara in. After all, hiding it in an empty room would make it far too conspicuous.

Here's the funny thing to me: It always seemed out of character (to me) that Voldemort would want to put a Horcrux into a pile of junk. I guess I'm wrong about that, since he hid the ring in a shack...

But I thought he was all about collecting souvenirs and showing everybody how clever he was. It really seemed more in character for him to have made that school trophy into a Horcrux. Remember the theory that he transfigured the cup into the trophy and hid it in the trophy hall?

Hmm. Maybe the hiding stuff is related to his upbringing in the orphanage and having to come up with clever hiding places to keep your things away from other kids...

In which case, it might have been fun to relate that to Harry having to hide stuff in the floorboards of his room.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I love that we get that final ranking of bravery and goodness based on the sorting: Almost all the Gryffindors stay, then a lot of Hufflepuffs, then fewer Ravenclaws, and then no Slytherins, except the ones hiding.

Oh dear lord, Harry. You really are the dumbass messiah.

Silly, Zach didn't question *things* he questioned *Harry.* A sure sign of cowardice and bad character. Ginny recognized it immediately, of course, and preemptively punished him for pushing all those firsties out of the way.

Harry doesn't need to know the story of the diadem (but we can't miss out on that juicy, imaginative backstory!). Yet he will hear it anyway, and thus the sexual orientation of two ghosts somehow become more important to the story than the sexual orientation of the one gay guy in all the WW.

Love how Harry indignantly says that Albus would *never* take hostages, as if Harry was even bright enough to consider taking hostages. They wouldn't do that because it's too Slytherin/Ravenclaw. Gryffindors consider it a point of honor to always just fight man to man. Voldemort wouldn't care about hostages, but the DEs would--in fact, Harry's pretty much going to be saved by that fact. The one quality Slytherins have in all 7 books that is useful and easily exploitable is that they care about select people for some reason.

God, that Maiden, Mother, Crone image really is awful, isn't it? Like, why would Neville's grandmother be here at all? Please! (And let's just leave Tonks as mother out of it.)

Ah, the R/Hr kiss. Which for me will ever be remembered as the moment the whole House Elf philosophy storyline got completely screwed up. Ron did not change his views, Hermione did!

God, Tonks does seem like she's either running after Lupin because she's afraid of losing him (and not to death) or that she's just terrified to be without him for five minutes, doesn't it?

Seriously, I know Voldemort's arrogant and all and that usually does explain his actions, but how could he possibly think he was the first person to find a room for hiding when it's already filled with hidden stuff? Did he think the room just created all that stuff to give him the hint he could hide something there? It could have just created a bank vault with safe deposit boxes.

I love the way Crabbe has an illerate way of speaking after spending his entire life around upper class snobs. Dialect doesn't work that way, you know. Double negatives aren't actually a sign of slow-wittedness.

I would guess Goyle was supposed to have heard Harry talking about the diadem only moments ago and JKR just blessedly didn't make us listen to the 3 of them chattering about the thing the whole time. Remember, these are 3 students who can talk all night long to go over facts like "Somebody stunned Viktor Krum..."

As someone pointed out to me recently, Crabbe destroying the diadem is a bit like Gollum destroying the ring. Except, of course, without Gollum being a character and without Harry having to show any compassion or understanding of anyone.

Fred's dead. Good thing there's two of him.

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

Silly, Zach didn't question *things* he questioned *Harry.* A sure sign of cowardice and bad character.

But in any other story, those type of characters end up being gold, because once the questions are answered, they are the most loyal and dedicated. (I'm thinking specifically of Bigwig, who spent the first half of Watership Down challenging Hazel at every point, and the second half as his right-hand rabbit.)

Harry doesn't need to know the story of the diadem (but we can't miss out on that juicy, imaginative backstory!).

Exactly.

Yet he will hear it anyway, and thus the sexual orientation of two ghosts somehow become more important to the story than the sexual orientation of the one gay guy in all the WW.

The gay guy who fell in love with HItler.

Voldemort wouldn't care about hostages, but the DEs would--in fact, Harry's pretty much going to be saved by that fact. The one quality Slytherins have in all 7 books that is useful and easily exploitable is that they care about select people for some reason.

Well, in order to think of that, Harry would have to understand the Slytherin psyche--and he never does.

Odd--Voldemort doesn't have this Slytherin quality. How is it that he was sorted into that House? He really should have gone into Ravenclaw.

[lissa2.livejournal.com]

"Voldemort thought Harry would go to the Ravenclaw tower"
Why would Voldemort think that? the diadem isn't in there. Shouldn't he be more worried that Harry would go to the room of hidden things?

"So she admits that she's Helena Ravenclaw, daughter of Rowena"
Was that a secret? didn't Dumbledore know she was Rowena's daughter?

"...be played by Terry Jones or Palin since it calls out "oh don't mind me, I'll just lie her and crumble"
From which sketch this line is taken? it sounds familiar.

"And I haven't even mentioned yet how rewarding Ron for expressing the view towards elves that he had all along"
House elves being forced to take part in a battlefield was never even an issue in the series. What does Ron think about them being forced to do domestic chores? did he change his mind about that?
After all that was what SPEW was all about.
Ron is only one member in the WW, so how the hell is that properly addressing the house elves issue?
And we still didn't get an answer to why the house elves behave they way they do. Is it their nature to serve or did someone put an enslavevment enchantment on them a long long time ago?

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

Shouldn't he be more worried that Harry would go to the room of hidden things?

Yes. Of course he should have, although in the next chapter, Harry will "connect" as he's gloating about how no one could have ever discovered his secret hiding place.

didn't Dumbledore know she was Rowena's daughter?

Apparently Dumbledore cared even less about the ghosts than Harry did.

"...be played by Terry Jones or Palin since it calls out "oh don't mind me, I'll just lie her and crumble"
From which sketch this line is taken? it sounds familiar.

I'm not really sure. What it really reminds me of is Marvin the Paranoid Android, who says something like, "I'll just lie here and rust" at some point. (At least I seem to remember him saying that.)

But it wouldn't be as funny to say he'd be played by Alan Rickman. But I can also hear something similar in that funny squeaky voice that both Jones and Palin did on occasion. Maybe it's the "I'm not quite dead yet" line from Holy Grail that I was thinking of?

[detritius.livejournal.com]

Ugh, battle indeed. Harry wanders around gormlessly while the good stuff (presumably) happens off-screen. The pacing is really just horrible. That being said, though, I think Ron's Parseltongue mimicry is possibly justified. He has done a certain amount of "cruel but accurate" impressions over the years, usually when he was fighting with Hermione. It was just never played up as a skill, so the Parseltongue thing feels like it comes out of nowhere. But then, it's hard to judge the significance of anything in this series, since buildup and time spent appear to have no relation to the eventual payoff, if any. Sigh.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

The real skill is probably Ron's ability to remember a series of unintelligible noises Harry made once five years earlier enough to imitate them!

[sunnyskywalker]

Maybe Tonks went running after Lupin so frantically because she just found out he and Snape had been in communication all year, plotting to swoop in after the battle when both sides were either destroyed or weakened and take charge. They finally bonded over being screwed by both the bad guys (DEs/Greyback's werewolves) and the "good" guys (they finally realized they both got screwed by Sirius in the long-ago Shrieking Shack incident, for instance, not to mention being Dumbledore's Men), and decided some housecleaning was in order...

Oh, who am I kidding. That would actually be complex and require people to look beyond appearances (how is it that NO ONE figured out Snape was being oddly Diet Coke of Evil that whole year?) and get over high school rivalries.

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

Well, Snupin stories rarely involve them taking charge in any situation. They usually involve them running off together to begin a life in some remote and exotic location--and learning how to meditate and/or cook.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

At this point, Pansy Parkinson damns all of Slytherin by pointing at Harry and shouting out, “But he’s there! Potter’s there! Someone grab him!”

Ain't that the truth. Everyone - including the author - damns the entire house because of Pansy's self interest. The treatment of the Slytherins was really one of the most simplistic themes of the entire series - they're all rotten apples. Snape? As soon as we're shown he's on Dumbledore's side he's immediately promoted to Gryffindor ("I sometimes think we Sort too soon ...").

When you deal in Rowling's post-publication attempts to retcon her canon - oh, some Slytherins *did* return - really! - it all looks even worse. I like sistermagpie's comment that any Slytherin allies would have most definitely been noticed by Harry.

Yes, Harry. It’s the diadem. We’ve known that for two years now. And you’ve known it for two chapters at least.

...

Okay, it’s an interesting story, but you know what? Harry doesn’t actually need this information at all.

I don't agree. When Harry slips back into Hogwarts and meets up with Neville and the DA he asks about possessions of Ravenclaw's and Luna suggests the tiara. And things seem to move on from there, with the *assumption* that the 'missing diadem' is Riddle's horcrux. But it's never *proven*. The identity of the Ravenclaw horcrux isn't even supplied by the ridiculous Dark Lord Mental Broadcast Network which otherwise tells our hero everything he needs to know. As far as I can remember, anyway.

So I think the history lesson from the Grey Lady might have been useful in that regard, even though it's still never *proven* that the diadem is a horcrux, is it? Right up to the point where it shrivels into ash?

But the only object anyone seemed to associate with Ravenclaw was the lost diadem... and how could the Horcrux be the diadem? How was it possible that Voldemort, the Slytherin, had found the diadem that had eluded generations of Ravenclaws?

It's only a possibility ... all the Grey Lady says only reinforces that possibility ... although what she says - that she told (only?) Riddle about it and its hiding place - goes some distance in firming up that possibility.

Meh. The whole horcrux thing was messy from day #1. Rowling couldn't have 'horcrux detection' spells or Arithmantic theorems *proving* the number of horcruxes because then the whole surprise of Harry being a horcrux would have been untenable. So instead it's one of the fuzziest parts of the whole series. A pity it was also one of the most important.

Is this ironic foreshadowing for later on when we discover that Dumbledore used Lily as a pseudo-hostage to force Snape into lifelong servitude?

Too complex for Rowling, I think; plus I believe we're supposed to all think good of Dumbledore (like Harry). Nice concept though!

Ginny and Tonks are at a window firing down spells. ... Aberforth slopes by to comment on the battle.

I'd like to note that this is the one and only time we have any idea of what Ginny did in the battle. Remember how Rowling had promised, in the "Interview o' Doom", that Ginny would show some 'powerful magic' in the final novel? I debated a pro-Jo apologist once who could only find this scene in the book:

Even as he watched, Ginny sent a well-aimed jinx into a crowd of fighters below.

“Good girl!” roared a figure running through the dust toward them, and Harry saw Aberforth again

That's it for Ginny's battle prowess - one "well-aimed" jinx. HA HA HA!

Which, sadly, eclipses all of her accomplishments in the earlier books - breaking her ankle at the ministry and ducking curses at the end of HBP.

Grab the book! That’s going to revolutionize potion-making! Get the book!

Heh. :-)

Nah, we've all forgotten the book; that was just filler for the sixth novel, something to fill up the school year until we got to Dumbledore's death scene.

... it bleeds a black, tarry substance, shudders, and breaks into pieces.

How convenient.

Yes! It must have been Fiendfyre, something that we readers didn't have a clue about until it was actually used ... oh, right, this is a Rowling book.

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

***Okay, it’s an interesting story, but you know what? Harry doesn’t actually need this information at all.

I don't agree. When Harry slips back into Hogwarts and meets up with Neville and the DA he asks about possessions of Ravenclaw's and Luna suggests the tiara. And things seem to move on from there, with the *assumption* that the 'missing diadem' is Riddle's horcrux. But it's never *proven*.

Right. But it isn't "proven" after the Grey Lady tells her story, either. It simply, as you say, "reinforces" the possibility. But, at the same time, there are absolutely no other Ravenclaw artifacts mentioned by anyone, and Harry knows that Voldemort was worried about Harry looking in Ravenclaw Tower--so the diadem is not only the likeliest object, it's the only object Harry knows about at all.

So, while the history of it is interesting, he could as easily find the diadem without knowing any of it. I mean, he already knows that if it is the object, then Voldemort found it. So, making the connection through the Grey Lady to Tom Riddle is unnecessary to the finding of the diadem.

And it won't be "proven" until he finds it and sees the black tar leaking out of it.

But you're quite correct. There ought be something--a spell, a potion, or perhaps a Horcrux-seeking medallion--that tell Harry for sure when he's found one.

Remember how Rowling had promised, in the "Interview o' Doom", that Ginny would show some 'powerful magic' in the final novel?

You're right! I totally forgot that. Ginny was definitely being built up, in the text as well as the interviews, as poised to do something truly awesome in the final book. And then she did nothing that couldn't have been done as well by Lavender Brown or Parvati Patil.

Yet another dropped character ball.

Nah, we've all forgotten the book

Not me! I was like--what's the point of hiding it if you're never going to go get it again? Of course, the point was to have Harry see the "tiara," so that he could remember that fleeting glimpse a year later.

[mmmarcusz.livejournal.com]

At this point, Pansy Parkinson damns all of Slytherin by pointing at Harry and shouting out, “But he’s there! Potter’s there! Someone grab him!”

Pansy's only a teenager, and is probably terrified that she and all her friends will be killed. Also, she knows nothing about Horcruces or Deathly Hallows -- as far as she knows, opposing Voldemort will just cause even more death, and they should surrender.

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

Yes. When you think about it, Pansy's actions are very understandable. But someone's got to be the bad guy.

And it's sort of a hard three sentences for Crabbe to yell out. One of those words has two syllables in it.

[lissa2.livejournal.com]

"Any Slytherin who might have wanted to fight against Voldemort got lumped with Pansy and cast out of the castle. On the other hand, there isn't a slightest indication that any of them wanted to stay and fight"

I just thought of something: it seems that in previous generations there was at least one good/not completely rotten Slytherin. Until we reach Harry's generation where there is zero percent of Good Slytherins. All of them are rotten.
This is under Dumbledore's leadership, this happened right under his nose.
So Dumbledore, the best and most brilliant headmaster Hogwarts ever had, actually managed to deteriorate the Slytherin house. He managed to eradicate the phenomenon of the good non-racist Slytherin.
You'd think that under the leadership of "the best headmaster Hogwarts ever had" the percentage of good Slytherin would have increased instead of going down to zero, wouldn't you?

I can't believe it never struck me before.

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

I'm sure, though, that if asked about this, JKR would attribute it to Snape's leadership of Slytherin House.

And Snape, the one good Slytherin from his generation, was under Dumbledore's leadership.

But you're right that the number deteriorated under Dumbledore.

I was working on a Snape pov epic (although I never got it to the Harry years), but I was thinking that during the period after Voldemort's first fall, Snape would have been working overtime to try and get the Slytherins back into wizarding society. That overachievement of winning House Cup seven years in a row was his way of showing them that they didn't need the Death Eater organization to succeed in life. They could do it all on their own.

But that all went out the window when Dumbledore decided to hand the cup over to Harry. And all Snape's work was for nothing. Every Slytherin who attended school that year knew exactly where he or she stood in terms of wizarding society--below Gryffindor. This lesson was only reinforced every year after that, when Gryffindor managed to win the House Cup due to a last-minute point dump.

[eir-de-scania.livejournal.com]

I’m astounded that Pomfrey is being wasted on herding students out of the building. Why isn’t she in the Hospital Wing, prepping for casualties?

***You're astounded? I'm a nurse, and for me it would be unthinkable to leave in such a situation. I can't imagine any of my colleagues doing so, either.

JKR probably wrote down the first names she could think of.

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

Probably. But it just cracks me up because it's so silly. There are so many fics out there where Madam Pomfrey is a major part of any final battle.

I can't feeling that JKR tore through these battle chapters in some marathon all-night writing session. Not that I'd blame her. That much action has to be really boring to write, unless you just do it in a rush.

[mage-989.livejournal.com]

Draco’s redemption consists of not leaving someone to burn to death.

Well that makes him better than Ron, Hermione and Harry who are going to leave a man to bleed to death in a rotted shack in the next chapter.

At this point, Pansy Parkinson damns all of Slytherin by pointing at Harry and shouting out, “But he’s there! Potter’s there! Someone grab him!”

I don’t understand why we our supposed to accept the damnation of Pansy and the other Slytherins, and who knows whether any of them actually agreed with Pansy’s demand to hand Harry over it’s not like anyone waited for them to give their opinions on the matter, for doing what Harry himself is about to do a mere three chapters from now!

And why shouldn’t Pansy want Harry given over to Voldemort if it means everyone else will live? One life in exchange for countless others isn’t that what Dumbledore will be preaching to Snape as the ‘Greater Good’ in the prince’s tale? Looking at it from her POV what has Harry ever done for her besides make life difficult for her Draco and shoot her and her classmates dirty looks? Why should everyone risk their lives for him and why do the other houses support Harry and raise their wands against the Slytherins anyway? What has he ever done to earn their loyalty?

The whole horcrux thing was messy from day #1. Rowling couldn't have 'horcrux detection' spells or Arithmantic theorems *proving* the number of horcruxes because then the whole surprise of Harry being a horcrux would have been untenable.

Actually I think this could have been an interesting story for DH. Well anything is better than what we have in DH really.

Lets say the trio begin studying horcruxes finding out that indeed seven in the magic number to be the most stable, or powerful form, or whatever, but wait they only have six things that Voldemort put pieces of his soul into (you would probably have to use something other than Nagini but that’s fine we can just have Dumbledore be wrong about her and have Harry be mad at him for that instead of this whole Grindewald business), so what is the seventh one? The hunt for known horcruxes begins as they try to figure out along the way what the final one is and over time Harry comes to realize that Voldemort went to kill the one who was prophesized to be his equal. What better way to prove his power and might then to make his final horcrux out of the murder of the one destined to defeat him? And what if he accidentally succeeded? Now Harry knows the truth in order to defeat Voldemort he must die. Is he willing to do that? Does he look for any other way in vain? I don’t know, but I do know that I find this a hundred times more interesting to think about than reading that Harry will go to his death because Dumbledore told him to.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

I do know that I find this a hundred times more interesting to think about than reading that Harry will go to his death because Dumbledore told him to.

I quite agree!! Harry's immediate and unquestioning acceptance of his role as a lamb for the slaughter seems ridiculous; zero tension (still quite poignant though). But, like you say, what if that fate had been something he'd been railing against for many chapters (or years)? It's disclosure could have been a climax of the sixth book, maybe. Hermione doing everything she could from that point to find a way out of it for her best friend. Harry getting his affairs in order, maybe. Being told that he was Teddy's godfather a bitter sweet pronouncement. Yet another opportunity for Rowling to show us some (any!) sign of emotional intimacy between him and his 'soul mate', Ginny. Continually unfolding suspense over whom should be told the secret next. And then, this moment in DH, Harry heroically saying "I can't put it off any longer" and striding off. And so forth. Gawd, I have no imagination and even I can see possibilities (although probably cliched).

But Rowling wanted, above all else, the fact that Harry was a horcrux to be a BIG SURPRISE. And thus there couldn't be any 'exact' science about the horcuxes. The number was just *assumed* to be seven. No detection spells. Otherwise the Harry/horcrux thing would have been impossible to hide, even beyond Rowling's high threshold for convenient coincidences and plot holes.

[mmoa.livejournal.com]

It's only just occurred to me - in spite of having read just about every post in these comm - that I don't remember any of this stuff. I'll admit to being a sloppy reader (took me ages to realise Lyra had killed God, for example) but there is so much stuff I can't even laugh about because I was so domman bored I pretty much skipped an entire frickkin' chapter.

JKR. Your book is bad and you should feel bad. I mean this.

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

I mostly skipped this chapter on the first read, too. I was looking for the story, and there was more stalling than story in it. What I remembered from the first read was the story of Helena--because that looked like story, and Hermione kissing Ron, because that was so unbelievably dumb.

[sunlit-music.livejournal.com]

Harry has been distracted this whole time by Ron and Hermione’s absence. Without Ron and Hermione to help him he could not seem to marshal his ideas. Yes. It’s official. Without Ron and Hermione, Harry is literally incapable of thought.

Given how the HP series seems anti-intellectual, it's not surprising that Harry (who is incapable of independent thought in the later books) is the hero. Albus Dumbledore is an intellectual, and he fell in love with an evil wizard and manipulated everyone like puppets. Voldemort is an intellectual who studies a lot, and he's a Dark Lord. Snape is an intellectual (and heroic, although I'm not sure JKR recognises this), and Rowling treats him abominably.

Aberforth and Harry (who are both non intellectual) are portrayed as being more honest, and I got the impression JKR thinks they're more honourable than the intellectual characters in the books.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

*is fearful for our Hermione*