01 HP Prisoner of Azkaban

[chantaldormand]

And now we are back to regular program.

According to one of my relatives I filled out my vulgarity and dick-jokes quotas for this month. Me, being over-competitive jerk had to take it as challenge. So this chapter is Work Safe-ish?

Ch1 Owl Post

Comments

[sunnyskywalker]

I like to think that this textbook, and maybe others, were bowlderized and had propaganda added for student editions. The original editions were more nuanced (though probably still condescending toward Muggles).

Harry's hardly been anywhere in his life but Little Whinging and Hogwarts (and he doesn't talk to many people at Hogwarts). That can really throw off your scale of comparison as to what's "extremely poor" or not. Too bad he didn't talk to Colin the milkman's son or Stan Shunpike about their standards of living. Poor Harry is just so isolated that he doesn't even know how much he doesn't know.

Oh, Arthur the gambler sounds sadly plausible. In support, look at his kids, who would have learned a lot of their behavior by observing him: Percy bets ten galleons he doesn't have on a Quidditch match in this book (iirc) to impress a girl, and Fred and George bet their life savings on another Quidditch match in the next book (and with the blatantly sketchy Ludo Bagman). Plus Bill robbing tombs is basically gambling whether this one will have a good haul and be worth the effort. Arthur probably tells himself they're all only little bets, so it's not like he's risking much... this time...

Snape chopping off Hermione's essays would have been a nice character moment. The kids could all be enraged at how evil he is, and older readers could go, "Wait, actually, he's got a point..." And then after a few years, the boys would find out that McGonagall's been doing it too and Hermione's been too ashamed to say...

[chantaldormand]

The tone used in the textbook's excerpt makes me wonder if this is WW's answer to WW II. No matter how well protected were wizarding homes, somehow I doubt there were no magical victims of muggle warfare in WW II.

I agree that Harry is super sheltered, but quite often his author acts equally sheltered/disconnected from uglier sides of life. It's shame too since it would be interesting to watch Harry grow from even talking with people from different ways of life.

Actually, I'm surprised that Jo didn't do such a thing in books. It fits Severus' teaching style and Harry would have yet another thing to rage at Snape. Even if we don't get the second punch in the shape of Minnie also cutting off essays it would still be great to see in the books.

[sunnyskywalker]

It would be hard not to notice large chunks of London turning into rubble, yes. And Shield Charms only help if you can perform them reliably in the first place (according to Fred and George, lots of people can't, and that's why their Shield Charm Hats are selling well) and you know your house is about to blow up. I agree, it's unlikely that no witches or wizards were caught unawares or just couldn't work up decent protective charms. Same for any building-strengthening charms--can you do it or afford to hire someone? No? Too bad, there goes your house! The idea that Muggles could kill magicals en masse before the magicals even realized what was happening must have been traumatic for everyone who realized it. And just think how the few of them who heard of the Cold War would react.

It all comes back to that lack of follow-through with Harry. His being ignorant of a lot of things, having a hard time connecting to people, not trusting adults to help, reflexive defiance, etc. are all more or less given his background... but they ought to have caused him more trouble than they did, and forced him into a place where he would have to try to overcome those problems. And maybe not entirely succeed, but at least show that he's become at least vaguely aware that these are problems and that he's at least sort of trying to work on them, because they're actively interfering with his other goals in life (kill Voldemort, play Quidditch, pursue law enforcement as a career). If the last book or two had done that, it all would have looked like brilliant set-up in retrospect. I'm sometimes inclined to look at it that way anyway--the set-up is fine; it's just the end that falls flat.