notes and observations on HP #4

[salixbabylon]

Whoo! Past the half-way point - and just in time for the movie tomorrow afternoon!

NOt much to say about this one, really. Either I'm getting lazy or just not much stuck me as unusual...



Things I Noted On This Reading/Ranting and Raving/etc

1) Draco = totally screamingly gay. I'm working on the theory that he wasn't at all affected by the veela at the Quidditch World Cup, since if he had been acting as goofy as Ron (and even Harry, a little bit), surely those two would have mentioned it. Since they didn't, Draco is obviously as queer as a 5-knut coin. ;)

2) Voldie and the DEs fall for the #1 flaw of all Evil Overlords - too much damned melodrama. Why not have Barty Junior hand Harry a portkey on the third day of class? Why wait for the whole damned tournament? (I know, I know - then there wouldn't be a book. I get all caught up in wanting JKR to be logical. *sigh*)

3) I'd forgotten how deliciously nasty Rita Skeeter is. I think she's my favorite not-actually-evil bad guy.

4) Sirius is actually quite wonderful in this book. He's compassionate, supportive, caring, willing to go out on a limb to be there for Harry when he needs Sirius... So WTF happens in the next book when he's a total ass, stuck in Grimmauld Place? Inconsistent, man.

5) Mistake/question -- Why does the portkey/goblet/trophy re-set to take Harry back to Hogwarts? No other portkey seems to act like this in the books, I don't think. I thought they were all one-way tickets and had to be "reprogrammed" to do another trip. But all Harry has to do is touch the portkey in the graveyard and he goes right back to Quidditch pitch(although not straight back to the middle of the maze...?).

6) Small mistake - when Harry goes home to the Dursleys, the carriages are still horseless. He ought to be able to see the thestrals right away, shouldn't he?



Two more books to go!

Comments

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I've been enjoying your write-ups of the books.

I thought I'd mention it since tonight, I am commenting in every journal that I read, when I usually peer voyeuristically through the window lurk. Some people are going to be very surprised.

Icarus

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It's been a lot of fun re-reading them all, rediscovering canon.

I lurk on your LJ, too. I wonder if there's a word for mutual lurking... ;)

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I wonder if there's a word for mutual lurking... ;)

We'll have to coin one. My first ideas are stupid: mu-lurk. Tandem lurking.

*Icarus makes a face.*

You've gotta be able to do better than that.

Icarus

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

MLS? Mututal Lurking Society? *g*

Can't think of anything - too crampy to be clever today. :)

[second-banana.livejournal.com]

1. Pretty much.

4. Grimmauld Place happened to Sirius. I totally buy the 180 he did between the two books. In GOF he's a free man for the first time in 12 years, he's helping his godson, and he's taking active control over his own destiny. When he is sent back to GP he not only loses his freedom, but all control over his own life. That's not to mention GP itself. This is a place he ran away from at 16, probably hoping never to set foot in it again. He was so different from his family that his brother and he were on different sides of an ideological war. Every time the doorbell rings he, quite literally, hears the voice of his mother shrieking about his failures. Cupcake has issues. I really can't blame him for being a raging ass for most of the book. (Plus, he was locked up in his early twenties and something tells me Azkaban isn't exactly the place for healthy development. He's a stunted puppy.)

6. In an interview JKR gave the slightly cop-outy answer that Cedric's death was so fresh he hadn't had time to come to terms with what he had seen. Basically you not only have to have seen a death, but understand it (which is why Harry couldn't see them from day once since he presumably saw his mother die when he was wee). She also then admitted that she tought introducing the thestrals right then would have been too confusing and take away from the emotional impact of the ending as it stands.

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

Cupcake has issues.

Have I said how much I love you lately? You have the best way with words. :) Come visit - I have a spare guest bedroom and everything.

Excellent points about Sirius - the movie yesterday reminded me that he's not a total ass, as my brain had remembered him. I'm looking forward to rereading the book today/tomorrow/etc.

You are scarily up on theory and mistake correction and JKR's explanations -- I think you're more obsessed with HP than I am! Yay! *hug*

[second-banana.livejournal.com]

I'm a mod at a Harry Potter message board for adults that focuses on good detailed discussion of the books.

I am a huge geek.

I'm really really trying to make it down! There is a bit of drama with schedules and funding, but I'm working really hard at it!

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

Yay! To both of those. *happydance* Keep me informed with what dates you're considering -- salixbabylon at yahoo dot com. :)

[zooniverse.livejournal.com]

I finished listening to gof the other day and one thing struck me: fake!moody seems far too keen to encourage Harry to defy the imperius curse. Surely only appearing to encourage it would have been more suited to his ends without him making Harry do it till he perfected it!

[zooniverse.livejournal.com]

Also, resisting the imperious curse is effectively kicking someone out of your mind... So why is Harry so good at that but completely useless at occlumency?

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

I agree - fake!Moody has always been too helpful of Harry's DADA skills, IMO. He goes far beyond teaching Harry just enough to get through the tournament, and teaches him some seriously useful stuff for fighting Voldie... Another illogical/inconstistent moment, I think.

Good question... I would hazard a guess that Harry sucks at occlumency because no one has told him how to do it properly. Whereas to resist imperious, he just has to be his usual stubborn self. ;)