Chapter 24 - Sectumsempra

[cheeringcharm]

Harry tells Ron and Hermione about the horcruxes during charms. Ron is so astounded that he makes it snow which leads to the first time JKR uses a non-aggressive adverb in describing Hermione talking to Ron. SCORE! Of course, Lavender can tell that Hermione is talking "patiently" instead of snapping, berating, or otherwise belittling Ron and she

Comments

[anonymous]

OK, now that I've got that out of my system :D Harry is monumentally stupid in this chapter. Using Sectumsempra on Malfoy without knowing what it does? He deserves every bit of detention and then some.

I agree that he shouldn't have used this spell, but Draco was going to use an unforgivable on him, a crime which can be punished with a life sentence in Azkaban. It's not like he just attacked Draco. In a way, Draco got off easy, he was hurt, but didn't got any punishment on attemping to use the cruciatus curse. He did have the right to defend himself.

[anonymous]

I agree that this wasn't the right spell to use, and Harry did show luck of judgment here, but what bothers me is that Hermione, McGonagall and the rest didn't even care what cause him to use the spell. I would like to see what Hermione, who loved to lecture others all the time would do in a situation like this? Would she have managed to stay so calm and logical in danger? What would McGonagall do if someone was about to use an unforgivable on her? Whould she bothered being nice and polite to him? So even though I agree it was really wrong to use this place, I really don't think someone could be blamed that much for something he does in self defense in a situation like this. And if Draco had managed to curse Harry I'm sure Snape wouldn't have punished him at all.... He would have punished Harry like he always do. But Snape I never expected to be fair.

[pilly2009]

I don't see Hermione and McGonagall being at fault in this situation; whatever led up to these circumstances, the end effect is an injured student who could have been killed because Harry behaved thoughtlessly. Of course, self-defense is always something to be considered, but it's not a strong enough reason to pardon throwing hexes around when you don't know what they do -- I mean, even in real life this is stupid.

I was actually pretty glad to see Hermione rail at Harry for his actions, though I wish she had concentrated more on the issue at hand than on the "I told you so!" aspect of it all.

[anonymous]

But Draco did try to use crucio on him. When you attack someone with a curse like this, don't be surpirsed if you get hurt. I think he's almost lucky that it ender this way, considering the punishment for using the curse is a life sentense in Azkaban. (Not that I think he Snape would have somehow got him out...). Ofcoruse Harry shouldn't have used a curse he didn't know, but when you are about to be hit with this curse (which Harry already familier with it's effects from personal experiance) you don't really have time for logical thinking.

[schtroumph_c]

Just a little problem with it:

No one knows Draco wanted to use Crucio but Harry. If Harry didn't tell, no one can know.

[pilly2009]

As for Dudley, maybe the twins were angry because he used to bully Harry (as they claimed). Or maybe they chose a Muggle to test their dangerous product on

Which suggests, against strangely popular fanon opinion, that Harry didn't try to justify his use of the Sectumsempra curse, even when it might have benefitted him. He knows he was wrong.

[pilly2009]

I agree that Harry displayed a lack of judgement in this scene, but the thought process behind said lapse in judgement is fairly logical, imo.

Draco was about to use Crucio. The last person who used Cruciatus on Harry was Voldemort, his worst enemy. In retaliation, he threw a curse that he had seen clearly labelled "For Enemies". As far as he knew, the curse may simply have made Draco grow an absurd amount of hair, or it could have been the Avada Kedavra itself, but the only thing he knew for sure about this curse was that it was "for enemies". I don't rule out a connection having been made there.

[woman_ironing]

Word! Also Harry had this spell on his mind and had been wanting to use it, so really it just came out automatically. It was narsty though. I wonder if it works on people who aren't your enemies? I wonder if Harry will ever use it again? Snape should have insisted Harry help him take Malfoy to the hospital wing, but I guess that such is the enmity between Harry and Malfoy and Harry and Snape that it was unthinkable.

[fraught]

The "several sunlit days" line just KILLS me. It's this totally unintentionally fucking hilarious line that I absolutely cannot read with a straight face. Or believe that she wrote it with a straight face.

When I was eleven or twelve, I used to read those terrible Harlequin/Mills and Boone novels -- those had some awful lines, none of which that even come close to the "sunlit days" line.

*bitchslaps Ginny, just 'cause*

Sobs uncontrollably

[woman_ironing]

Aw, no, it's sweet!

But Harry/Ginny? Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

[psychic_serpent]

I agree that it's bizarre, but Ginny doesn't come off badly, Hermione does. The implication is that the girls were having a previous disagreement that had already put them at odds. I wonder whether we'll get the full story in the last book. I like Ginny even MORE after she stands up for Harry in the face of Hermione's persistent and incredibly annoying nagging and I-told-you-so attitude. And Hermione proves wrong about Draco in the end, doesn't she? They wouldn't have been battling Death Eaters in the school if Draco hadn't let them into the castle through the vanishing cupboard, so that would have been Harry's chance to say I-told-you-so to HER, wouldn't it? But Harry didn't do that. It's only Hermione who's that petty toward her best friend.

[psychic_serpent]

No, that's clearly a continued conversation that we weren't previously privy to. We're not being told the whole story. The comment about Quidditch rather comes out of the blue otherwise. Ginny doesn't just snap at people for no reason. Fleur was being a snob about staying at the Burrow. (Hermione was no more charitable toward Fleur than Ginny was.) When Ginny snapped at Ron after he and Harry discovered her kissing Dean what she said carried the weight of a lot of history between her and Ron and ALSO clearly followed on conversations with Hermione concerning her kissing Viktor and Harry kissing Cho. Hermione had to have said something to set Ginny off, we just don't know what it is. To call this childish, petty and outright mean is illogical; we don't know specifically what happened between the girls, but I'll bet the disagreement they were already having had a lot more to do with Harry than Quidditch. (Perhaps Hermione was trying to convince Ginny that Harry was becoming interested in her and Ginny didn't want Hermione