Chapter 15: The Unbreakable Vow

Aug 29, 2005 23:36

...and the Slug's Christmas party ( Read more... )

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Comments 29

cadesama August 30 2005, 04:15:28 UTC
"large groups of girls tended to converge underneath the mistletoe bunches every time Harry went past" -- Groupies! Really, Harry, you ought to put those girls to work doing something. Like fighting dementors with their squeeing ( ... )

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house_elf_44 August 31 2005, 03:02:55 UTC
Okay, I see why Hermione didn't confiscate the love potions, but why not report the conspirators to McGonagall? They've admitted to possession of products from the twins' store, which are all forbidden at the school.

"love potions aren't Dark of dangerous" -- So, er, Hermione totally forgot everything Slughorn said about love potions?

Two good catches. What would it take for Hermione to forget what Slughorn said? If she remembered but disagreed, I think it would show. Or maybe it's ambiguous about them being dark. They're supposed to be able to brew it by NEWTS, and Fred and George can sell it.

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shocolate August 30 2005, 07:56:12 UTC
Damn - I really read that as Harry + snogging!Ron - well, you know how my mind works....

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rainfletcher August 30 2005, 09:18:03 UTC
All I can say (and I've been saying it a lot) is thank goodness for Luna. What a wonderful diversion that date turned out to be. I am not normally prone to squee, but both the asking-out scene and the date itself were so loffly. Admittedly, my reaction may be a bit skewed because (a) I adore Luna, and (b) compared to what we were seeing from the Hormonal Ones, having something as ordinary and healthy as a go-as-friends date was an incredible breath of fresh air ( ... )

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cadesama August 30 2005, 19:37:43 UTC
Anyway, the snarfing of the mead was a great moment, but I had mixed feelings about the line "Really, it had been worth bringing Luna just for this" (or whatever the actual wording was). I'd like to hope that he was, in fact, enjoying the inherent humor of her quirks rather than being derisive. Finding humor with her rather than making fun of her, if that makes sense. Am I overly biased in hoping for that? Probably.

I dunno. I think that Harry's show of support in the train belies any quasi-derisive behavior toward Luna later on. And since Ron changes his opinion to match Harry's, I don't think that JKR would mean for us to think that Harry's opinion is that watching Luna flail around with stupid theories is a good laugh. And, since this instance is fairly ambiguous, I very much prefer reading it the way you do.

just shudder at the idea of people drawing the conclusion that Hermione deserved to get groped and pawed at because of the way she asked him out solely to make Ron jealous. Is that the message we're supposed to take from ( ... )

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cheeringcharm August 30 2005, 13:52:49 UTC
The most interesting line of the chapter...

They're all hoping they're going to get you to take them to slughorns party, and they all seem to have bought Fred and George's love potions, which I'm afraid to say probably work - (emphasis mine ( ... )

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chasezgranger August 30 2005, 15:49:55 UTC
Pre-interview I believed in the love potions, but these scene could be ambiguous in that we already know that Hermione now thinks highly of Fred and George.

When I read that Draco learnt Occlumency, I wanted to strangle Harry for being so inept! Dumbledore for assuming Voldemort won't every try Legilemency again! This could honestly be Harry's downfall.

I must've missed this snogging between Hermione and Cormac. (I have to catch up on chapter reading!)

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cheeringcharm August 30 2005, 15:57:25 UTC
I must've missed this snogging between Hermione and Cormac

Well, she escaped from him under the mistletoe. It's implied more than anything.

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chasezgranger August 30 2005, 17:01:04 UTC
Yes I was told that before-hand, but when I read it I was like 'huh?' I'm just being innocent I suppose. *bats eyes*

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pilly2009 August 30 2005, 14:34:48 UTC
I thought it was great that Harry refused to talk shite about either Ron or Hermione when he was with one or the other...I hate it when people talk about their friends behind their backs in RL, so I'm glad it wasn't promoted in HBP.

It's almost as great as the fact that, unlike the Cat/Rat fight in PoA, he didn't choose sides between them. More maturity! And yeah, this might have only been because Ron was usually more occupied with Lavender, but I have honestly never seen the Harry/Hermione friendship appreciated so strongly on Harry's side as it was in the last two chapters -- I found it cute that both times she became distraught over Ron, he ran after her to see if she was okay, but never knew what to say once he actually did find her. And then speaking severely to her over an error in her judgement. *pumps fists in air* I never thought I'd see this in canon, Harry and Hermione switching big sister/little brother roles to big brother/little sister ( ... )

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cheeringcharm August 30 2005, 15:15:22 UTC
I thought it was great that Harry refused to talk shite about either Ron or Hermione when he was with one or the other...I hate it when people talk about their friends behind their backs in RL, so I'm glad it wasn't promoted in HBP

I agree. I wanted Harry to say to each of them: You're being stupid, get over it and talk to them. I defintely think he did the right thing in not agreeing with the negative things they were saying about the other.

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chasezgranger August 30 2005, 15:45:54 UTC
And then speaking severely to her over an error in her judgement. *pumps fists in air* I never thought I'd see this in canon, Harry and Hermione switching big sister/little brother roles to big brother/little sister.

Reminds me of Emma where Mr. Knightley says something along the lines of "badly done Emma" and she cries. But you are right the roles do change in this book continuously.

I've become a Harry/Luna fan from this party. I never thought they'd make a good couple. JKR has shown me that they can be. :)

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cadesama August 30 2005, 19:45:59 UTC
And of course, much squee-age over Harry/Luna; it's funny how the most refreshing interaction of a romantic sort in this book happened between two friends. I laughed at the entire "he asked her to the dance?!" mentality that seemed to come from his groupies, and yay, more maturity again! Was so glad that he actually chose to go to the party with someone he had fun with -- and he held her hand and dragged her everywhere. *squee*

Hee. This is why my fellow H/L fans and I were probably the happiest of all the shippers (barring the H/D folks) after this book. We got a smidge of our ship, it wasn't demeaned, and it was adorable beyond all reason. It was actually way more than most of us expected, and a wonderful foundation for fanfiction. Doesn't hurt that it won a lot of people over to our side, either. ;)

Maybe McLaggen's behaviour was portrayed as funny and light-hearted in this scene, but that doesn't make it any less serious, because the imagery is still of a girl being taken advantage of by an older boy under the mistletoe (and ( ... )

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