PoA Chapter Four

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Since Diagon Alley is full of the most fascinating wizarding shops in the world, Harry has no desire to venture into Muggle London. He’s got a robe shop, broom shop and an ice cream parlor.

Harry likes eating breakfast in the Cauldron and watching the other customers. Almost as if he’s a curious boy with interest in the world around him. I’m thinking Dumbledore must have slipped him something to kill this once he got to school.

One of the people Harry sees is someone who looked “suspiciously like a hag” ordering from behind a baklava. Perhaps Marietta looked suspiciously like a hag in her baklava too.

Btw, are hags yet another creature that aren’t fit for polite society from birth?

Harry also gets free sundaes every half an hour. Wow. Does he look a little more like Dudley by the end of the week or what?

Harry’s tempted to buy himself a set of solid gold gobstones. Luckily just in time he remembers that he doesn’t actually play gobstones.

Harry’s metabolism is no doubt as far-seeing as his financial sense. He won’t be getting fat no matter how many sundaes he eats.

Gobstones squirt nasty-smelling liquid into the other player’s faces when they lose a point. Honestly, for all the claims of how great it is, the wizarding world mostly tastes and smells terrible all the time.

Harry also gets his first look at the best broom ever. What do you think the chances are he’ll get one of these Firebolt things by the end of the book like last time?

Not that this great broom will in any way give Harry an unearned advantage over any other Seeker, of course. Our brooms, like our choices, simply show who we are.

LOL! There’s something wonderful about Harry reminding himself that it’s not like he’s ever lost a Quidditch match on his Nimbus 2000. He might as well have reminded himself that he never seems to lose at anything, really. To be fair, he hasn’t yet entered the TWT.

The bookstore manager has already been bitten several times in one morning by Hagrid’s stupid book. Nice to know Hagrid’s powers of irritation are just that powerful.

Harry’s eye falls on a book about death omens that has a picture of a black dog on the cover, thus neatly making his vision of Sirius look like an omen. Well done there.

Other kids pop up at Diagon Alley, like Dean and Seamus. Harry also sees Neville, but doesn’t stop to chat. Shock.

Arthur has of course heard all about what happened to Aunt Marge. He was probably disappointed he didn’t get a chance to cover that up for Harry himself.

Hermione says Harry’s blowing up his aunt isn’t funny. After all, she’s amazed he wasn’t expelled. Nice foreshadowing of Hermione’s take on the Sectumsempra issue.

The Weasleys are randomly staying at the Cauldron this year because Harry is. (Maybe they’re afraid he’ll get adopted by some other family if they leave him alone another minute.)

Let me guess, will Hermione be staying too? Why yes, she is! Her parents obediently dropped her off by herself at a hotel. Maybe she just lied and told them she had to be there early.

Hermione is taking Muggle studies because she thinks it will be fascinating to see them from the wizard pov. If by “fascinating” you mean infuriating and condescending, I guess.

Hermione’s got extra money because it’s her birthday in September. I know that note’s for us but it almost makes it sound like it’s new information for Ron and Harry. Or at least Harry, whose birthday is the only important one until Ron almost gets killed on his. (Though after that one the Weasleys probably started celebrating it as the anniversary of the time Harry saved Ron rather than Ron’s birthday.)

Hermione says she wants an owl, which gives Ron a reason to pull Scabbers out of his pocket and note he’s looking droopy. He thinks because Egypt didn’t agree with him, but of course really it’s because he’s scared of Sirius!

It also gives us a reason to go to a pet shop: Animals are Important in this Book!

They go to the pet shop, which is also foul-smelling. The clerk makes a point of helping someone else so they have time to look around and give us a nice long descriptive paragraph.

Like nearly everything Ron owns, Scabbers is second-hand. Hey, he finally got a new wand, didn’t he? It’s not even pre-owned!

The witch asks what powers Scabbers has. So are all magical familiars supposed to have powers? I guess Hedwig’s ability to care whether or not Harry has a happy birthday doesn’t count?

The witch says an ordinary garden rat can’t be expected to live more than three or four years. Well, obviously, there’s his power!

So Hermione chooses to buy the cat that attacks Ron’s rat on sight. Yup, that neatly fits their pattern all right. Not exactly optimistic symbolism for that marriage.

Black’s not going to be caught by a 13-year-old wizard, Arthur says, a line that sounds incredibly silly given that you’d think a world war wouldn’t be fought and won by a 17-year-old wizard and his idiot friends, and yet it will.

Ginny goes red and mutters hello to Harry without looking at him. It’s amazing the way that if you look back at past books, Peter’s true personality is actually clear in Scabbers and Barty Crouch’s true personality is clear in Fake!Moody…yet the fantastical Ginny of OotP and HBP remains completely hidden. I mean, it’s not even like Harry walks in on something that looks like Ginny being clumsy but on re-read is clearly Ginny having just beaten all her brothers into submission or something.

If only Colin Creevey had been tongue-tied instead of babbling he might have been given a new, awesome personality too.

Percy greets Harry as if they’ve never met, which makes Harry almost laugh instead of get angry and judgmental. Weird, isn’t it?

Percy, of course, can’t hide his personality. He’s already been smug and pompous and he’s just appeared on the page.

Fred and George jump in to elaborately make fun of Percy for Harry.

George is revolted at the idea of being a Prefect, because it would take all the fun out of life, and Ginny giggles. I guess there’s our Big Clue to the firecracker within.

The twins also tried to shut Percy in a pyramid in Egypt. They’re so funny and awesome.

Everyone eats their way through 5 courses at dinner. I’m so glad we’re away from the fat people so we can get down to enjoying all this good food!

Percy curiously asks why the Ministry’s sending cars for their family and George says it’s because of Percy, and they’ll have little flags that say HB for…wait for it…Humongous Bighead! Fred adds that! That’s hilarious! Are these boys really only 15?

So the car for Arthur is “doing him a favor” because he doesn’t have a car anymore. That would be because his car was illegal and his kid lost it. If there’s one thing that says poor, it’s fleets of government cars taking your kids to school, yeah?

Still, it’s nice of the Ministry to do something to make up for Arthur losing his totally illegal car that specifically went against his own area of law enforcement. I doubt anybody in the Muggle world would be that thoughtful.

Arthur feels it makes no sense not to tell Harry he’s in grave danger. Naturally he won’t be winning this argument. Nobody ever tells Harry anything he should obviously know. Though to be fair, Harry never actually seems to want to know anything he should obviously know.

Since Arthur’s not going to tell Harry anything, he resorts to having a loud, angry “As you know, Bob” conversation with Molly while Harry’s listening.

So to bring us up to date: Sirius muttered “He’s at Hogwarts” in his sleep, which everyone assumes refers to Harry because honestly, who the hell cares about any other single person at Hogwarts even if you’re not in jail for killing Harry’s parents?

Molly says Dumbledore would never let anything hurt Harry at Hogwarts, even though Harry’s already almost died at Hogwarts twice in the two years he’s been there.

It turns out Fred and George actually stole Percy’s badge to change it to read “Bighead Boy.” Just as Harry is protected from the harsh reality that everyone thinks Sirius is after him, apparently the twins are kept from the harsh reality that they are pretty much lacking in wit.

Like, remember that scene in Annie Hall where little Alvy has to deal with “Joey Nickles” and his allegedly hilarious jokes? And even though he’s a small child he just wanders away saying, “What an asshole?” I see a lot of that in the Twins’ future.

Harry thinks maybe Sirius should be afraid of Dumbledore since Voldemort was. Nope, one of Sirius’ most appealing qualities was that he wasn’t afraid of Dumbledore. Which is also pretty much why he spent his life in prison and then died young, really.

Worst of everything, of course, is that Harry can’t go to Hogsmeade. Um, yeah. That’s definitely the worst thing about finding out a mass murderer is gunning for you. No unchaperoned trips to the bug, grass and vomit-flavored candy store!

Harry vows not to be murdered. And I have to appreciate Harry coming up with even that vague of a plan. Nobody can accuse him of not fulfilling at least that goal.

Things done twice:

Harry sees a second incredible broom he’ll soon own.

Hermione is attracted to a cat that attacks people, thus becoming another pet owner like Marge and Hagrid.

Harry’s kept out of the loop on a big secret about himself throughout a whole book, much like OotP.

Fred and George fix Percy’s badge to say something different. The badge technology in GoF does NOT come out of nowhere!

It’s a gun. No it isn’t! It’s Chekov! No it isn’t!

Firebolt
Status: Fired, just in the way you’d expect.

Arthur says the Ministry is no nearer catching Black than inventing self-spelling wands
Status: Fired, and we didn’t even know it was a gun!
Hey, Arthur, Harry’s already got one of those! It’s just waiting until the seventh book to randomly reveal itself!





Exploitation Filmmakers’ Credo
If Molly didn’t follow this credo her husband would have no reason to exposit information he’s already told her for Harry’s benefit.

Hero’s Death Battle Exemption
Harry reminds all those people, in his head, how wonderfully he’s managed to keep himself alive so far. It’s good to have your name in the title!

Idiot World
Arthur says the Ministry’s pulled people them all off their regular jobs to find Sirius. I love that the Ministry is so useless they would look for a fugitive by deputizing a bunch of accountants (without the accountants doing anything useful like checking financial transactions that could lead them to Sirius, of course.)

Spring-Loaded Cat
Hey, an actual spring-loaded cat!

Jabootu Score: 4

Comments

[oryx_leucoryx]

Btw, are hags yet another creature that aren’t fit for polite society from birth?

They are said to eat children, according to the introductory chapter of FB.

Harry also gets free sundaes every half an hour. Wow. Does he look a little more like Dudley by the end of the week or what?

Is he still wearing Dudley's trousers or does he have his own once he's away from the Dursleys?

LOL! There’s something wonderful about Harry reminding himself that it’s not like he’s ever lost a Quidditch match on his Nimbus 2000. He might as well have reminded himself that he never seems to lose at anything, really. To be fair, he hasn’t yet entered the TWT.

Or encountered Cedric. (That he remembers.)

Harry also sees Neville, but doesn’t stop to chat. Shock.

Neville is just a forgetful boy who mislaid his booklist. Foreshadowing of the password list business. Also, Harry sees Gran, so when he sees the Granified-Boggart!Snape he would be able to make a comparison. And he doesn't want Augusta to hear of his impersonation stunt. (Though I think Augusta would have been flattered.)

He was probably disappointed he didn’t get a chance to cover that up for Harry himself.


LOL

Hermione says Harry’s blowing up his aunt isn’t funny. After all, she’s amazed he wasn’t expelled. Nice foreshadowing of Hermione’s take on the Sectumsempra issue.

Well, she wasn't expelled for stealing Polyjuice ingredients and illegal brewing. Nor will she be expelled for scarring Marietta.

Hermione is taking Muggle studies because she thinks it will be fascinating to see them from the wizard pov. If by “fascinating” you mean infuriating and condescending, I guess.


I wonder how much this wizarding perspective had to do with her adopting the view that she had to stay as far apart from her parents as possible, and then take control of their own lives.

He thinks because Egypt didn’t agree with him, but of course really it’s because he’s scared of Sirius!

He will forget Scabbers had been droopy since Egypt when he later blames his state entirely on Crookshanks.

The witch asks what powers Scabbers has.

I like the irony of that one. What powers? For starters he is a wizard. Who has the supposedly rare power of Animagus (but how many unregistered Animagi are there? We can't know).

Black’s not going to be caught by a 13-year-old wizard, Arthur says

More irony: No, he won't be caught by a 13-year-old wizard, he will be freed by one (OK, two).

So the car for Arthur is “doing him a favor” because he doesn’t have a car anymore. That would be because his car was illegal and his kid lost it. If there’s one thing that says poor, it’s fleets of government cars taking your kids to school, yeah?

Still, it’s nice of the Ministry to do something to make up for Arthur losing his totally illegal car that specifically went against his own area of law enforcement. I doubt anybody in the Muggle world would be that thoughtful.

Compare to Vernon getting a company car, probably in reward for performance at work. (Definitely not for deliberately messing up something he was in charge of.)

And something that caused me a personal brain-stumble out of cultural difference: Bighead being a derogatory word. In 1980s Israeli slang 'rosh gadol' - literally 'big head' means someone who thinks ahead, sees the big picture, acts responsibly.

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

In English "big head" means arrogant. It comes from the idea of having a "swelled head" from absorbing tons of unearned flattery.

[eir-de-scania.livejournal.com]

Gobstones squirt nasty-smelling liquid into the other player’s faces when they lose a point. Honestly, for all the claims of how great it is, the wizarding world mostly tastes and smells terrible all the time.

***Gobstones are a popular children's game in the wizworld. It says a lot about wizarding humour, really.

Harry also sees Neville, but doesn’t stop to chat. Shock.

***Wasn't Neville with his Granny? There's a woman you take a wide berth sround if ypu have any sense!


The twins also tried to shut Percy in a pyramid in Egypt. They’re so funny and awesome.

***They probably are, by wizarding standards. And by JKR's.


Harry thinks maybe Sirius should be afraid of Dumbledore since Voldemort was. Nope, one of Sirius’ most appealing qualities was that he wasn’t afraid of Dumbledore. Which is also pretty much why he spent his life in prison and then died young, really.

***Hear, hear!

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

It says a lot about wizarding humour, really.

As does Harry, Hermione, Ron and others continually falling over themselves 'roaring with laughter' as Ginny, once boosted into the limelight, says bitter and means things about Fleur and Ron which we all know are riotously witty and funny from the response they garner.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

The thing I will always love Sirius and Lupin for, especially in this book, is the way they totally screw things up for Dumbledore. For all the crap Lupin later gets, I love that he didn't tell Dumbledore about Sirius even though it was wildly irresponsible and Snape's right to say that. I think because I can't help but think that at least part of the reason for it is that Lupin is protecting the only friendships he ever had.

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

Harry’s eye falls on a book about death omens that has a picture of a black dog on the cover...

Ah. Remember the days when Harry was actually curious about books? Maybe the Potions book was the last straw to turn him off reading forever.

Arthur has of course heard all about what happened to Aunt Marge.

I'm sure that the story made the rounds at the Ministry, complete with indulgent chuckling at the little dickens. They probably put moving pictures of Marge in her blowed-up state on whatever it is the wizards have that's better than the internet.

Hermione says Harry’s blowing up his aunt isn’t funny. After all, she’s amazed he wasn’t expelled. Nice foreshadowing of Hermione’s take on the Sectumsempra issue.

Hermione sure talks about Harry being expelled a lot. How come there aren't conspiracy theories about how she was secretlly trying to get him kicked out of Hogwarts?

Hermione is taking Muggle studies because she thinks it will be fascinating to see them from the wizard pov. If by “fascinating” you mean infuriating and condescending, I guess.

I would believe her if she ever once brought up how the wizard's POV affects the class. But when you think about it, it's a great way for Hermione to assimilate the wizard's contempt for muggles as well as she does. (Harry is a natural at that!) I'll bet her showing up early was a pre-class summer homework assignment.

Dear Future Student:

Allow me to introduce myself. I am Professor Charity Burbage and I will be teaching you about the fascinating subject of muggles in the coming year! To get us all started, I would like to assign you a few tasks over the summer. Be sure to jot down your thoughts in your wizarding journal so that we can discuss them in class!

For Muggleborn students:

Lie to your parents at least once a week during the summer. If possible, try to convince them to leave you on your own in the wizarding world for the last weekend before school. It's vitally important to start training them to accept your new way of life.

For Halfblood students:

Work with your magical parent to create plausible lies should you return home with the following:
1) Three heads
2) Antlers
3) Three heads with antlers

For Pureblood students:

Schedule a field trip with your parents into a muggle community. Be sure to gawk and laugh.

Hermione’s got extra money because it’s her birthday in September. I know that note’s for us but it almost makes it sound like it’s new information for Ron and Harry. Or at least Harry, whose birthday is the only important one until Ron almost gets killed on his. (Though after that one the Weasleys probably started celebrating it as the anniversary of the time Harry saved Ron rather than Ron’s birthday.)

It's it bizarre how important Harry's birthday always is, but we never hear about any party for Hermione or Ron. I was sort of shocked when Ron got presents in HBP!

The witch asks what powers Scabbers has. So are all magical familiars supposed to have powers? I guess Hedwig’s ability to care whether or not Harry has a happy birthday doesn’t count?

Is the magical powers thing a Chekhov gun that never got fired? It doesn't seem like any pets have powers that you'd bother calling powers. It's magical the way owls can find people and deliver messages, I suppose. But what about Crookshanks? He's just very smart, right? And what about Trevor? Maybe Trevor has the power to become invisible (which is why he keeps escaping)? Or maybe Trevor has his very own teeny-tiny invisibility cloak!

Percy greets Harry as if they’ve never met, which makes Harry almost laugh instead of get angry and judgmental. Weird, isn’t it?

What's weird to me is how Percy went from being an amusingly pompous older brother to being the scourge of the wizarding world. I guess the hazing that the twins give him in this book is pre-emptive punishment for insulting their father two years later.

So the car for Arthur is “doing him a favor” because he doesn’t have a car anymore.

Actually, I think that's supposed to be an excuse. The reason for the cars is that the Ministry is worried about Sirius Black killing Harry and so they provided cars and security.

[sunnyskywalker]

Trevor is probably really Neville's second cousin. Neville's hiding him until that incident with Griselda Marchanks and the very unfortunate Transfiguration accidents during his O.W.L.s blows over. And yes, he shrank his invisibility cloak.

What's weird to me is how Percy went from being an amusingly pompous older brother to being the scourge of the wizarding world.

I would love to see a version where, sometime during GoF, Percy snaps and decides he must take over the wizarding world for its own good. Fred and George will be first into the reeducation camp. (This is entirely compatible with Percy playing Redheaded Pimpernel in OotP, too - for his own ends. He'll just let Dumbledore think he's secretly on his side until the time is right.)

[oryx_leucoryx]

But what about Crookshanks? He's just very smart, right?

So smart the goblins let him access Sirius' gold. Maybe he is a reverse-Animagus. Or is that an Anthropus? Or whatever - an animal that can impersonate a human?

(Anyone wrote HP/Discworld crossovers with Crookshanks and Greebo? Too bad they're both male.)

[tdotm.livejournal.com]

---"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Professor Charity Burbage and I will be teaching you about the fascinating subject of muggles in the coming year!"

If only she *had* been introduced in PoA! I was always impressed by the way JKR seemed so in control of her story when she introduced Cedric long before he became important. And Cho. Even Sirius and his motorbike got an early soundbite. Either she stopped bothering, or Burbage's death was a last minute thing. Some people think it should have been Trelawney, some think it was meant to be - but she hardly had a vital role in DH, so why change? I can understand why Voldemort would want to kill a teacher trying to teach young wizards about Muggles, but this woman was a Star Trek redshirt - something 20th century JKR didn't resort to. All it needed in PoA was Hermione mentioning ONE LESSON and the teacher's name, either saying she was a Muggle-born who understood the difficulties in entering a new world, or a half-blood who understood both sides of the coin. Then in DH, Voldemort could be resentful of a 'Mud-blood' spreading Muggle propaganda, or a half-blood being a traitor. Two or three sentences would have been enough, but nothing;which makes me think it was a late addition to the story.

---"What's weird to me is how Percy went from being an amusingly pompous older brother to being the scourge of the wizarding world."

Actually he was the scourge of Harry and the Weasleys and no-one else - but that's enough in this series. He obviously didn't genefluct appropiately when entering The Presence and therefore deserved to be CAST OUT.

---"For Muggleborn students:...If possible, try to convince them to leave you on your own in the wizarding world for the last weekend before school. It's vitally important to start training them to accept your new way of life."

I'm suprised there wasn't a school of thought that believed that all Muggleborns should be removed from their muggle parents permanently. If Hermione can wipe her parents' memory at first attempt, I'm sure Arthur's dept and many others could manange it with ease. Stick all the children in a special orphange - 'St Cuthberts School for muddy blooded inferiors'. Tell them their parents were Wizards who died in a war, wipe their memorys, brand them with an 'Unclean' tatoo, but tell them they had a hereditary 'illness'(it would also warn the pure-bloods). That would remove the need for any Muggles to know about the Wizarding World. I'm sure Commandant Hermione is working on it as we speak.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Maybe Hermione doesn't get the expellation theories because Snape so openly seems to want him expelled? Clever Hermione. Remember, she totally starts all the trouble in Umbridge's class that Harry gets blamed for.

I imagine Muggle studies being like those awful texts about race from not so long ago, where Hermione would be learning all sorts of nonsense that proves that Muggles are unintelligent, closer to animals and more suited to being ordered around by Wizards.

Good call on the car. I love how Sirius makes the WW makes sense in the first part of this book. (Unfortunately for all the fuss about him nobody seems to really have a plan for catching him...)

[horridporrid.livejournal.com]

Dear Future Student:
Allow me to introduce myself. I am Professor Charity Burbage...

Oh! This is perfect! (It's funny because it's true!)

[sunnyskywalker]

I would love to know what they actually learn in Muggle Studies. Does Hermione occasionally comment that in all fairness, stitches work for non-magical woulds?

Nobody can accuse him of not fulfilling at least that goal.

It doesn't count if you suicide-by-dark-lord because your headmaster told you to!

Muggle accountants would nab Sirius as soon as he made that withdrawal from Gringotts. Follow those pets!

You know what else is nice about the Sirius = Grim fakeout? In the ww, there could be genuine history behind that superstition, long enough ago that everyone's forgotten the origin. Perhaps there used to be another animagus with a black dog form who also happened to be a serial killer.

[eir-de-scania.livejournal.com]

Muggle accountants would nab Sirius as soon as he made that withdrawal from Gringotts.

***But Muggles wouldn't be so stupid to let people who are constantly rebelling against them be in charge of their economy. I doubt the MoM has any insight at all in the Gringott's affairs.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Like I said above, sometimes I imagine it being like race teachings all too familiar in racist societies with bogus biology proving that Muggles are more like animals.

But when you think about her reaction to Divination it's hard to know how she made it through Muggle studies. You'd think as a Muggleborn she'd be jumping up correcting Wizards and calling them stupid. But of course as we see with lines like the one about stitches, Hermione seems to share their view on Muggles already.

I love the idea that there was an actual serial killer animagus named Grim. Like, Carl Grim, the beast of Bristol back in 928.

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Sionna Raven explained the origin of the Grim, and - it's Muggle! She says that, during the Black Death, if you saw a large yard dog wandering loose, it meant that all that dog's household had died. I thought that was an interesting little factoid. She added that these yard dogs were kept, basically, for their bark, not their bite. They were generally poorly socialized and poorly trained, but would bark at strangers.

Now, how all that reflects on poor Sirius is another question!

[papier.livejournal.com]

I would love to know what they actually learn in Muggle Studies.

Wasn't there something about a diagram showing Muggles lifting heavy objects ...which would suggest Wizards can't, or something. "Look at the poor Muggles lifting things, class! Remember we discussed opposable thumbs last week?"

[tdotm.livejournal.com]

---“Not that this great broom will in any way give Harry an unearned advantage over any other Seeker, of course. Our brooms, like our choices, simply show who we are.”

I started to lose interest well before the end of the series, but does Harry end up as the best Seeker Hogwarts had ever seen? I remember he was the *youngest* (and best for someone so young) which was fair enough as I liked him in the early books. I’m desperately hoping that his banning in OotP and absenteeism in DH means that Charlie had a better record as a Seeker overall. Charlie was the least developed Weasley and therefore unspoilt. If Harry was the ever-so-bestest *as well* overall, not just for his age, but didn’t take it up professionally because of his duty to his community and his vocation as a law enforcement genius, I swear I’ll spit...

---“Nice foreshadowing of Hermione’s take on the Sectumsempra issue.”

Not to mention her own tendency to apply permanent physical damage to people who crossed her . At least you could see Crookshanks coming, spitting and all. Hermione’s attacks were a lot more sly.

---“It’s amazing the way that if you look back at past books, Peter’s true personality is actually clear in Scabbers and Barty Crouch’s true personality is clear in Fake!Moody…yet the fantastical Ginny of OotP and HBP remains completely hidden.”

Maybe in the late ‘90s, JKR felt that Harry’s scarred personality (no pun intended) needed a gentle and kind character, who’d shared a key part of his life that no-one else could understand (possession by Voldemort). She’d not only understand, but be able to encourage him out of his moods, rather than try to nag him out of them. However, as JKR’s relationship with WB developed, she realised what he really needed was a hideous c*w, who b*tched about the place, being unrealistically high achieving, yet physically perfect (in his opinion) that would attract the tween market. Harry’s abused past meant he’d probably need a lot of reassurance as a partner, so why create a character who was so arrogant, then expect us to believe she’d be so supportive? Ginny could have been *anyone* once she came out of her shell, sadly JKR chose to turn her into generic two-dimensional fan insert number 546832, as seen in any number of fan fics/Hollywood B movies/straight to video masterpieces.

---“George is revolted at the idea of being a Prefect, because it would take all the fun out of life, and Ginny giggles. I guess there’s our Big Clue to the firecracker within.”

BITCH

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

... and Ginny giggles. I guess there’s our Big Clue to the firecracker within.”

BITCH

Hee. :-)

Ginny had it easy. No pressure, she could giggle and do what she liked in the first five books, knowing that she was going to be placed in the 'love interest who is AWESOMELY AWESOME befitting the hero' slot regardless of anything she might say or do (or even despite it).

Save your pity for our Hermione, who slogged away for seven hard years helping and protecting Harry. :-(

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Given the way Quidditch is scored, I wouldn't be surprised if Harry could be the best Seeker ever without setting foot on the field all 7th year! Aren't we told that while Charlie Weasley had the best record Slytherin was still managing to be champion for all those years? (Gryffindor players seem to have an surprising record for churning out professionals. Charlie, Oliver, Ginny and therefore Harry all seem to be professional level.)

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

Not that this great broom will in any way give Harry an unearned advantage over any other Seeker, of course. Our brooms, like our choices, simply show who we are.

I've always hated that. And enjoyed the couple of fanfics which have made a point of equalising matters, making things fair between all the Houses, a level playing field.

So Hermione chooses to buy the cat that attacks Ron’s rat on sight. Yup, that neatly fits their pattern all right. Not exactly optimistic symbolism for that marriage.

GOD BLESS YOU.


I loved the snarking against Ginny; please keep it up!! :-)

As I've mentioned in another comment, Ginny didn't really have to worry about things in the first five books, she could take it easy, she was going to be boosted into the prime-time spot of AWESOMELY AWESOME LOVE INTEREST regardless of what she did or how rotten she was. She got a free ride in the series ... and she didn't deserve it.

But here, in deathtocapslock, we'll see her for what she really was, yay!!


Molly says Dumbledore would never let anything hurt Harry at Hogwarts, even though Harry’s already almost died at Hogwarts twice in the two years he’s been there.

Hermione's pointed out the inability of most wizards to handle logic, right?

(She was probably rolling her eyes at Harry while Molly said that.)

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

It's one of the funniest things about this book the way everyone agrees that the Firebolt makes Harry unbeatable, yet it literally never occurs to anybody to think of it in a negative way--except the Slytherins who are really just jealous that Harry's soul is so much shinier in general.

I'm still surprised about Ginny just because by the end of GoF I pretty much figured her for the top contender of Harry's girlfriend and had nothing against her. And then OotP happened and I was like...really? Because that and HBP so clearly lays out what makes her ideal for Harry and wow, I'd love to hear what other parents had to say about having to deal with the two of them at school meetings.

[biting-moopie.livejournal.com]

LOL love this recap. JKR can be very funny but it's when she's trying to be side-splittingly funny that she sadly isn't.

Everyone eats their way through 5 courses at dinner. I’m so glad we’re away from the fat people so we can get down to enjoying all this good food!

Yes! That really bothers me - it's okay to eat a lot of food as long as you're not fat, because only bad people eat so much that they get fat. But if you're good, then you will stay thin. I don't think JKR did it on purpose but it is upsetting that she's continuing to perpetuate a stereotype.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I don't even think I'm super sensitive about this stuff. I mean, I wouldn't automatically have a problem with fat people and good meals. It's just that there's so much emphasis on the fatness of the fat characters I can't help but think of it anytime anybody tucks into one of these huge meals with such gusto!

[horridporrid.livejournal.com]

Harry also gets free sundaes every half an hour. Wow. Does he look a little more like Dudley by the end of the week or what?

It's interesting to get the reminders of how very fantastical these books were back in the beginning. Very "kids eye view" with the sort of exaggerations that would especially appeal to children. (A sundae every half hour?!? AWESOME!) But there is the uncomfortableness of reality bumping up against it. Maybe because JKR doesn't stick to her own rules? Can you have one child shown as greedy for loving his dessert while another one equally loving his dessert, somehow (magically!) isn't greedy? Injuries get the same treatment. Later on, Draco can drip blood and it's a funny exaggeration; Harry gets bruised and it's a horrible thing.

I'm also noting how Harry, who can well afford paying for all the sundaes he'd like, still gets it for free. Just like... gosh, every single one of his brooms, iirc. Meanwhile, Ron has to scrimp and save -- or his parents do -- for every item he owns. Another odd, and not dealt with at all, juxtaposition.

Arthur has of course heard all about what happened to Aunt Marge.

Arrrgh! Seriously? What an opportunity for a little message about misusing his superior power gone to waste! (Another sign that JKR didn't so much lose her way as have all her mistakes pile up to a point they became too big to ignore.)

Hermione says Harry’s blowing up his aunt isn’t funny. After all, she’s amazed he wasn’t expelled.

Which is code, I think, for "Way to go Harry!" After all, if the voice of prim disapproval is sounded, you must have been doing something right, right?

Hermione is taking Muggle studies because she thinks it will be fascinating to see them from the wizard pov.

The cultural indoctrination continues. This is where Hermione learns that mind-raping your parents is a good thing. They're Muggles; they need to be kept well in hand by the superior wizards around them (bless their hearts).

So Hermione chooses to buy the cat that attacks Ron’s rat on sight.

When I first read this I liked the idea that Hermione would pick the most difficult pet in the shop. It seemed to fit her character: going for the challenge, embracing the awkward, showing some empathy for a creature labeled difficult, and at the same time a total blindness to its effect on those around her. But... it's never taken anywhere. Hermione never has to face the fact that her pet wanted to kill her friend's pet, never took responsibility for the danger she put another into. She doesn't learn anything. (In an incredibly weird move, somehow it's Ron who learns a lesson. Or something.)

So in the end, I suppose this is the beginning of the long slide into Hermione becoming my one of my least favorite characters. (When I finished HPB, one of the reasons I didn't reread was I didn't want to cement Hermione as a distasteful character for me. I was expecting a final growth spurt that would undo what had been done. Alas.)

Ginny goes red and mutters hello to Harry without looking at him. It’s amazing the way that if you look back at past books, Peter’s true personality is actually clear in Scabbers and Barty Crouch’s true personality is clear in Fake!Moody…yet the fantastical Ginny of OotP and HBP remains completely hidden.

*nods* Yeah, I think Ginny is probably JKR's most failed character (and that's saying something) in that she never actually becomes a character. This particular Ginny (who I personally found charming, along with the Ginny who put her elbow in the butter dish) is just not related to the Ginny of OotP or HBP or DH.

It's like those last three books had a different girl stepping into the role each time. And the audience just wasn't supposed to notice that an entirely different character kept showing up. (Rather tentatively, I'll say that I do think Ginny was one particular girl all the way up until OotP. And then the mad casting shifts began. If my memory is serving me at all well.)

Percy, of course, can’t hide his personality.

Awww, Percy... *snuggles him* I adored how awkwardly pleased and proud he was of his brand new badge. He was a good kid. *studiously ignores the twins*

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

The Crookshanks thing is very weird. I mean, it's part of the theme of people snuggling these animals that are behaving dreadfully, but it's more like a joke than a character trait--depending on the character. I think Herimone's love of Crookshanks is supposed to be funny, like Hagrid's love of his animals, where of course Aunt Marge just proves herself a dreadful person with her awful dog.

I mean, Hermione doesn't seem to see Crookshanks as a challenge at all, and as we'll see later, she's amazingly insensitive about other peoples' pets, always just denying that Crookshanks would go after Scabbers when we see him go after Scabbers. But then, iirc, things sort of get shifted as if it was all about Crookshanks being innocent and Scabbers guilty instead of being hurt that your friend doesn't care if your pet dies at the hands of hers.

I like Ginny 1-4 as well. OotP is then almost like a drumroll for OotP. That book already started highlighting her every scene with a "watch--watch! Ginny's going to be awesome and cool here!" view, but it's in HBP where we see her really in action insulting everybody and everything when Harry doesn't have the time. Then in the 7th book she's like the symbol of hearth and family. It totally is like seeing a different girl stepping into the role each time.

[octopuspatronus.livejournal.com]

Harry likes eating breakfast in the Cauldron and watching the other customers. Almost as if he’s a curious boy with interest in the world around him. I’m thinking Dumbledore must have slipped him something to kill this once he got to school.

Aw, I miss curious Harry. There's my little mongoose. Though if Dumbledore did kill his curiosity, I suppose he did it for a good reason. You can't have a mentee who's too curious, after all. Otherwise he might try to learn magic more useful than transfiguring bunny-rabbits into bunny-slippers (I know I've always got too many bunny-rabbits lying around and not enough bunny-slippers), start wondering too much about whether he should hate the Slytherins so much... maybe even begin to question the Holy Word according to Dumbledore.

'Tis better to have an incurious hero, otherwise he might try to do something other than walk to his death on your orders-- like I don't know, trying to find an alternate solution. Perish the thought!

LOL! There’s something wonderful about Harry reminding himself that it’s not like he’s ever lost a Quidditch match on his Nimbus 2000. He might as well have reminded himself that he never seems to lose at anything, really. To be fair, he hasn’t yet entered the TWT.

Never lost anything? Dear Sister Magpie, have you forgotten that no character in the history of literature has ever experienced more loss than Harry Potter? (http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/2816/hpmyparentsaredeeaaaaaa.jpg)

The witch asks what powers Scabbers has. So are all magical familiars supposed to have powers?

Of course. Otherwise they'd just be boring Muggle animals and therefore not worthy of magical attention other than as potions ingredients. And to transfigure into various footwear.

Harry also gets free sundaes every half an hour. Wow. Does he look a little more like Dudley by the end of the week or what?
&
Everyone eats their way through 5 courses at dinner. I’m so glad we’re away from the fat people so we can get down to enjoying all this good food!

It'd be interesting if witches and wizards needed to eat a lot because of their magic—like they need more energy intake. When I was working on my story about people who could do magic, that was one of the first 'rules' of magic that I came up with.

However, I'm fairly sure that wasn't JKR's intention. Not to mention, the thought of eating sundaes every half-hour sounds kind of revolting. And I'm a fat kid who loves ice cream.

Percy curiously asks why the Ministry’s sending cars for their family and George says it’s because of Percy, and they’ll have little flags that say HB for…wait for it…Humongous Bighead!

Boo. Stick to the pranks, boys, you're obviously not cut out for cutting wit. My boy Draco's probably the biggest dork in the series but even he's come up with better ones than that. As the twins are supposed to be good guys and funny, however, I think this is proof that characters can only be as clever as their creators. "Phlegm" comes to mind. ::shudder::

It turns out Fred and George actually stole Percy’s badge to change it to read “Bighead Boy.” Just as Harry is protected from the harsh reality that everyone thinks Sirius is after him, apparently the twins are kept from the harsh reality that they are pretty much lacking in wit.

And didn't they already do that trick with Percy's prefect badge to make it say 'Pinhead'? Get some new material! Though I can see how the twins might have been confused-- after all, aren't you supposed to recycle trash? BOOM!

::hangs head in shame:: Oh, God. I'm an even bigger dork than Draco, clearly.

Worst of everything, of course, is that Harry can’t go to Hogsmeade. Um, yeah. That’s definitely the worst thing about finding out a mass murderer is gunning for you.

That's kind of adorable, though. It reminds me of little!Hermione's "killed, or worse, expelled!"

Harry vows not to be murdered. And I have to appreciate Harry coming up with even that vague of a plan. Nobody can accuse him of not fulfilling at least that goal.

Hee. I wonder if I can get away with that at any point. "Well, I haven't been murdered! That's an accomplishment!"

[oryx_leucoryx]

Hee. I wonder if I can get away with that at any point. "Well, I haven't been murdered! That's an accomplishment!"


Well, in DH that was the main accomplishment of the trio on their camping trip at some point - they even acknowledged it (or rather, Harry did).

[hello-aquitaine.livejournal.com]

Black’s not going to be caught by a 13-year-old wizard, Arthur says, a line that sounds incredibly silly given that you’d think a world war wouldn’t be fought and won by a 17-year-old wizard and his idiot friends, and yet it will.

I know that stuff like that is actually pretty standard in children's book, but I feel as if HP series reached a new lame... I mean, she came up with dozens of adult characters that were *called* knowledgable, skilled, powerful and so on, and so on... And then they just sit there and do nothing while kiddies run around pretending to be heroes. Seriously. There is at least fifty seven ways to engage others and still have Harry where she wanted him.

George is revolted at the idea of being a Prefect, because it would take all the fun out of life, and Ginny giggles. I guess there’s our Big Clue to the firecracker within.

Actually, I think that's a good enough clue given that all I got from Ginny's awesome personality was the fact that she turned out to be a really mean, ill-natured girl.

I also want to add that this recap reminded me quite skillfully where did that vast feeling of disappointment come from when only *one* twin died...

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

It's true that the kids saving everything is a children's book staple, but I think it's fair to say that the end of the series stretches it far past the breaking point. I mean, if you want it to come down to Harry and his friends pretty much doing what they did back in PS/SS, don't go to all the trouble of saying it's WWII only in this version everybody just sits around and trembles until the kid saves them! The stakes were both too high and never high enough in DH.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Ginny goes red and mutters hello to Harry without looking at him. It’s amazing the way that if you look back at past books, Peter’s true personality is actually clear in Scabbers and Barty Crouch’s true personality is clear in Fake!Moody…yet the fantastical Ginny of OotP and HBP remains completely hidden.

'Moody' was a one-book character. Scabbers was introduced in PS, but how much did we see of him after the chapter in which he was introduced (6 of PS) in the first 2 books? Of course in POA when we get Peter's story Scabbers is consistent with Peter's character. (I'm not saying Rowling didn't have POA Peter in mind when she wrote Scabbers in PS, just that he has so little page space it is hard to know she definitely did.) But with Ginny, if Rowling had the later Ginny in mind when she wrote books 1-4 she did a very poor job of it.