You guys are great! I'm especially snickering over Harry Potter and the Stereotypical Foreign Visitors.
Did anyone else read or have relatives who read those American Girls books? Now I'm imagining the series going,
- Meet Harry - Harry Learns a Lesson (Gryffindor is best!) - Harry's Surprise (omg my godfather is a felon! wait, he's innocent!) - Happy Birthday, Harry! - Harry Saves the Day (Snape is gnashing his teeth, or perhaps rolling his eyes) - Changes for Harry (camping is much different from living in a castle with magical servants!)
Ah, but don't the American Girl books involve some sort of character development for the main characters? Harry, of course, is a perfect paragon of love just the way he is. He doesn't need to change one bit! *blargh*
I'm having trouble thinking of a good title for HBP because I'm not sure what the book is even about. It doesn't exactly have a plot, or even a central conflict.
We didn't know it when we read it, but in part it is Harry Potter and the Elder Wand, Part 1 - because Dumbly's plans for his death were motivated by his need to control the inheritance of his wand (and then Draco interfered). But from Harry's POV it was Harry Potter and the Dark Lord's Home Videos or Harry Potter and the Troubles of the Quidditch Team, and yes, Harry Potter and the Chest Monster of Doom.
Better the Dark Lord's home videos than the chest monster...
It's too bad we didn't get more of Snape's DADA lessons. I bet those could have been relevant to the book somehow. Especially of JKR played up that Harry resisted learning from Snape-in-class but loved learning from the Prince's book. (And hey, maybe the inferi lesson could have stuck with Harry better and he actually remembered the fire trick himself, and then got to feel pissy that Snape had taught him something useful. How dare an evil person be competent!)
Oh, I like that! It appears early on, drives a lot of the action (not that Harry knows, but you can see it in retrospect), and is crucial to the climax.
Though I think Rowling was trying to make Snape's true allegiances a surprise in Book 7. I wonder if the Unbreakable Vow as a title would have been too much of a hint.
I think since we see an Unbreakable Vow actually being made in chapter 2 of book 6, it would work. While reading, we wouldn't be quite sure what Draco's task was and so what Snape was promising, but we would feel it as an ominous force throughout just because it's in the title, and that conversation Harry overhears between Snape and Draco would seem even more portentous. At the end of the book, we still wouldn't know Snape's motives for making it - was he really trying to support V's cause and killing Dumbledore was a major goal, or protect Draco (or both), or was it on Dumbledore's orders? And we could have spent the time between 6 and 7 wondering whether that was the only UV in play, or whether the Dark Mark is a variant of it and so Snape has to be a loyal DE since he's still alive, or whether Snape ever made one to Dumbledore (and if so, what was it), and so on.
Come to think of it, why didn't Voldemort work some of the function of an Unbreakable Vow into the Dark Mark? You take it, which means you swear loyalty to the Dark Lord
( ... )
4 - Harry Potter and the Black Magic Champion 5 - Harry Potter and the Disappointing Mentor 6 - Harry Potter and the Personal Trainer 7 - Harry Potter and the Crisis of Faith (or Harry Potter and the Plot That Had to Last a School Year)
Personal trainer is unfortunately so appropriate for Book 6...
Someone could probably have fun writing a story about how Hogwarts is so central to wizarding mentality, such a brake on them ever growing up, that even Voldemort just can't help scheduling everything around the school calendar.
Harry Potter and the Death Eaters might work for Book 4 as well, though I like "black magic champion" too. (Like Danny's suggestion of HP and the Dark Arts above, maybe a title like this would get Rowling to actually tell us what makes them different from non-dark, non-black magic.)
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Harry Potter and
4) the Stereotypical Foreign Visitors
5) the Voldie Visions
6) the Chest Monster
7) the Camping Trip from Hell/the Most Boring Camping Trip in History
It's fortunate for Rowing that truth in advertising laws don't apply to book titles, or DH would have sold a LOT fewer books. :-D
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Did anyone else read or have relatives who read those American Girls books? Now I'm imagining the series going,
- Meet Harry
- Harry Learns a Lesson (Gryffindor is best!)
- Harry's Surprise (omg my godfather is a felon! wait, he's innocent!)
- Happy Birthday, Harry!
- Harry Saves the Day (Snape is gnashing his teeth, or perhaps rolling his eyes)
- Changes for Harry (camping is much different from living in a castle with magical servants!)
They went in six-book series, oh well.
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It's too bad we didn't get more of Snape's DADA lessons. I bet those could have been relevant to the book somehow. Especially of JKR played up that Harry resisted learning from Snape-in-class but loved learning from the Prince's book. (And hey, maybe the inferi lesson could have stuck with Harry better and he actually remembered the fire trick himself, and then got to feel pissy that Snape had taught him something useful. How dare an evil person be competent!)
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Come to think of it, why didn't Voldemort work some of the function of an Unbreakable Vow into the Dark Mark? You take it, which means you swear loyalty to the Dark Lord ( ... )
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5 - Harry Potter and the Disappointing Mentor
6 - Harry Potter and the Personal Trainer
7 - Harry Potter and the Crisis of Faith (or Harry Potter and the Plot That Had to Last a School Year)
Reply
Someone could probably have fun writing a story about how Hogwarts is so central to wizarding mentality, such a brake on them ever growing up, that even Voldemort just can't help scheduling everything around the school calendar.
Harry Potter and the Death Eaters might work for Book 4 as well, though I like "black magic champion" too. (Like Danny's suggestion of HP and the Dark Arts above, maybe a title like this would get Rowling to actually tell us what makes them different from non-dark, non-black magic.)
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