Comments | a_chapter_a_day: Chapter 24

cheeringcharm in a_chapter_a_day

Chapter 24 - Sectumsempra

Sep 09, 2005 15:00

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 ( Read more... )

Leave a comment

Back to all threads

cadesama September 9 2005, 23:15:30 UTC

You know, Harry wouldn't have to rely on the Prince's spell to prevent eavesdropping if the Order had decided to train him up on some spells that might be helpful to a Chosen One.

"Ron looked immensely guilty and turned his back on her." -- Emphasis mine. I never really sympathized with Lavender before this moment when Ron is acting like an utter cad. Doesn't help that Ron was terrible to her the whole book. Argh, sorry, this whole scene sums up why I dislike the treatment of romance in this book. Everyone is just so petty and caught up with what they want, never mind who else might get hurt ( ... )

muggle_prof September 9 2005, 23:48:16 UTC

"Ron looked immensely guilty and turned his back on her." -- Emphasis mine. I never really sympathized with Lavender before this moment when Ron is acting like an utter cad. Doesn't help that Ron was terrible to her the whole book

So glad to hear you say that, because I really felt for poor Lavender here. Ron misuses her and treats her badly and he then doesn't even have to feel guilty for dumping her, because for one brief moment she comes to her senses and dumps him (but then she goes back to being a lovesick puppy.)

Did anyone actually care about Quidditch in this book? I've actually enjoyed it a lot in the past, but it seemed like the book itself didn't care this time around.
I've never much cared for it actually, but JKR's heart was definitely not in it this time around, because when she wants to she can create exciting sports scenes. I'm still trying to figure out how Gryffindor lost to Hufflepuff by about 300 points, but is still ahead of them in the standings, but "maths" as they say.

Do you think a Horcrux might be hidden ( ... )

Quidditch house_elf_44 September 10 2005, 02:32:37 UTC

...JKR's heart was definitely not in it this time around

Yes, another lovely kick in the gut from The Interview was hearing Jo say that Quidditch has been the bane of her life in the Harry Potter books. Very nice.

Re: Quidditch cadesama September 10 2005, 02:49:02 UTC

Yeah. Why invent something and make it integral to your books if you don't even like it?

Re: Quidditch house_elf_44 September 10 2005, 13:59:30 UTC

I think it's very rude to belittle anything your fans are excited about. Come to think of it, that covers many things in The Interview.

Re: Quidditch merrymelody September 14 2005, 17:25:07 UTC

Not to mention how limited the results always are: it doesn't take a genius to work out that Gryffindor will win nine times out of ten. Wow, exciting.

(The comment has been removed)

Re: Quidditch house_elf_44 September 13 2005, 17:58:17 UTC

Yeah, I saw that, and don't think she should have told us that either. It still doesn't tell us whether the school will be closed, or open but Harry won't be playing Quidditch.

cadesama September 10 2005, 02:53:20 UTC

So glad to hear you say that, because I really felt for poor Lavender here. Ron misuses her and treats her badly and he then doesn't even have to feel guilty for dumping her, because for one brief moment she comes to her senses and dumps him (but then she goes back to being a lovesick puppy.)

I've always had a secret soft spot for the characters that JKR derides and pushes aside, like Lavender and Parvati (and Fleur and Zacharias), when we don't every really know them. It really annoys me that the characters can treat others so badly and get away with it because, "they were shallow anyway."

speculation centers on the tiara as a possible Ravenclaw item ...

Hmm. I suppose that's as good as anything. I don't really want Ravenclaw's item to be coded so obviously female, though.

(The comment has been removed)

cadesama September 11 2005, 01:17:41 UTC

I really don't know what she meant to do with Fleur. Were we honestly supposed to be sympathizing with her all book, when Ginny's nasty jokes about Fleur were part of what draws our hero to her in a romantic sense? JKR, imho, wrote the end scene with Fleur actually loving Bill as some kind of "revelation" and seemed to paint Ginny, Molly, and Hermione's treatment of Fleur as justified for most of the book. I've like Fleur since GoF, so I tend to think of how JKR treats her in terms of nearly two books of the main female characters bad mouthing her, instead of in terms of the two pages where Molly comes to her senses.

I'd probably be upset if my brother was engaged to a silly, elitist, narcissist too -- but we've known since GoF that Fleur isn't so shallow. She's a very competent, brave witch who cares deeply about her family. So, I don't know why it seemed like JKR thought we had forgotten about the second part.

madderbrad September 10 2005, 00:25:15 UTC

So if Rosemerta Imperiused Katie, that means you can cast Imperius while under Imperius? You think there'd be a crazy feedback reaction, or at least problems from a mindless zombie creating a mindless zombie.

Nice! I never thought there was a problem, though; because (a) I didn't see any problem with an Imperius spell being transitive in its application, and (b) I'd assumed that the person casting the Imperius on Rosemerta likewise cast it on Katie, once she was manoeuvred into the right spot. In any case, no 'crazy feedback', since there's no cycle or loop in the chain of spells - Katie wasn't casting Imperius in turn.

Did anyone actually care about Quidditch in this book?

No. I felt I was supposed to, but did not. Anticlimatic, really, how Harry was knocked out of one match and wasn't present for the final. But it served to grant Ginny her "hard, blazing look" which attracted Harry (and his monster) so at the right time.

Ah, Sectumsempra. Now that's a curse. Is it a sign of Snape's loyalty to the Order that the DEs at the ( ... )

cadesama September 10 2005, 02:29:01 UTC

(b) I'd assumed that the person casting the Imperius on Rosemerta likewise cast it on Katie, once she was manoeuvred into the right spot

Oh, by the time we found out about Rosemerta I'd forgotten about Katie actually being under Imperius herself, so I just assumed it was all by Draco. Looking at it here, it seems like it was probably Rosemerta. Which is . . . odd, since you usually don't suppose mind-controlled zombies retain declarative knowledge. Although, I suppose we could get into a deeply nerdy conversation about whether spell casting is declarative knowledge or procedural knowledge, when you take into consideration that silent casting seems to rely on the cast channeling the emotions and power necessary for the spell without thinking about it very much.

The whole thing seemed a bit contrived to me, Harry could have used oodles of other spells I would have thought.Harry's use of the spell is kinda interesting to me. It seems to be reflecting his arc of darkening through the series. He wants to kill Sirius in PoA, he ( ... )

madderbrad September 10 2005, 13:50:29 UTC

I don't like that the spells which should have been known to characters who grew up in the universe are as new to them as they are to Harry.

EXACTLY!!!! Thanks, great to read someone summarising my feelings so much better!

Crabbe and Goyle show a lot of loyalty and devotion to Draco, far more than Ron and Hermione display in this book.

Ah, but Crabbe and Goyle are unthinking zombies, just slavishly following Draco around, not *actively* trying to go out of their way to help him at all. Whereas Hermione and Ron have always helped Harry, they've *partcipated* in assisting him to solve all his problems, they've .... hold on ... oh. HBP. Right. Sorry.

You have the right of it after all.

Sigh.

pilly2009 September 10 2005, 19:09:20 UTC

Crabbe and Goyle show a lot of loyalty and devotion to Draco, far more than Ron and Hermione display in this book.

I think these things really have to be judged within a similar context. Crabbe and Goyle's loyalty was significant throughout the year in which Draco was suffering his emotional/personality crisis. But as was Ron and Hermione's during the year in which Harry was suffering his. Whereas they are currently having more problems (um, if romantic problems are to be taken seriously) during this year, the situation turns so that it's his loyalty to them that's significant.

When Draco is injured, Pansy flees to his side. Hermione didn't do that for either boyHarry in PoA (where she cried when he fell off his broom, and both she and Ron spent the entire weekend with him in the hospital wing) and Ron in HBP ( ... )

cadesama September 10 2005, 19:23:05 UTC

Crabbe and Goyle's loyalty was significant throughout the year in which Draco was suffering his emotional/personality crisis. But as was Ron and Hermione's during the year in which Harry was suffering his.

True, but I'm not so much trying to demonstrate the moral superiority of the Slytherin kids as the equability. It probably is overstating it to say that Draco's friends are more loyal than Harry's. I do think they are no less loyal, though.

Of course, the threat of death to yourself and your whole family hanging over certainly influences any final choices you will have to make, but Ginny didn't even have this choice.Actually, we don't know for sure that she didn't have a choice. CoS never adequately explains why Ginny stole the diary back from Harry. Riddle says that Ginny stole it back because she was afraid that Riddle was going to spill all of her secrets to Harry. Unfortunately, he's an unreliable narrator. On the other hand, Riddle gladly takes credit to everything else terrible he's done, and seems genuinely annoyed ( ... )

Back to all threads