Reading roundup and meme

[hamsterwoman]

I was going to wait to post until I'd finished Natural History of Dragons #2, but I'm stalled on the last 50 pages, it appears, since I got my Kindle back, and a neat fannish meme came along on Tumblr, so:

10. H.P.Mallory, To Kill a Warlock (Dulcie O'Neil book 1 -- not that I'm planning to read any more of them) -- Oh my god, this book was so bad

Comments

[hamsterwoman]

HP is a great fandom for this meme!

My favorite parent-child relationship
OK, actually, it's the Malfoys and Draco. I'm not suggesting they're model parents or anything, but when it comes to nuclear family, they're probably my favorite one, and Narcissa, at least, has her priorities straight.

My favorite sibling relationship
All the Weasley sibs, but especially Fred and George!

My favorite family relationship (other)
I like the glimpse we have of the various Weasley cousins in the epilogue (and hope there's lots more in The Cursed Child).

Also, if godfather counts as "family relationship", I really loved the brief time Harry and Sirius had together.

My favorite friendship between two people
Harry and Ron.

My favorite friendship between a group
The Marauders! (I love the Trio, too, but I'm not sure three people qualifies as a "group".

My favorite mentorship
I'm not really sure if Dumbledore can be really said to mentor Harry -- mostly he leaves Harry to figure out stuff on his own -- but it still kind of works. Also, in a rather different way, Lupin's mentorship of Harry in book 3.

My favorite rivalry
Fanon has made good things with Harry and Draco (usually as a precursor to Harry/Draco) but in canon I think I'm more interested in the rivalry between James Potter and Snape. Not that we see a lot of it, either, but what we do see implied about both how it was when they were younger and how James became the bigger person (presumably, to win over Lily) is really interesting.

My favorite hatred/antipathy
Dumbledore and Voldemort. "The only one he ever feared" and all :)

My favorite potential relationship between characters who never talk in canon
Oh. Oh! I would really love to see the relationship between Albus Severus and both of the Headmasters he's named after. I'm sure there's fic out there about young Albus Potter being mentored by the two portraits, and hey, maybe we'll even get canon about that, but it's bound to be hilarious.

I would also really have liked to see Andromeda Tonks and Sirius interact.

re: Goodreads -- it seems like a really good way to keep track of to-read books, yep... I have an account, but only use it to read other people's reviews, because I don't like the implied need to do ratings, as I don't like rating books or trying to be objective in any way about this sort of thing. But it does seem super-handy as a to-read pile, and maybe I should start trying to use it as such...

[aravishermione]

I think Narcissa has her priorities straight, as you say, and I always loved her love for her son. Lucius I think was an extremely domineering father though, and I think Draco did a lot of the "bad" things he did only because he was so terrified. I have a soft spot for Draco, what can I say.

lol I bet fic about wee!Albus Potter being mentored by the two portraits would be extremely entertaining!

And yes, I'm going to try mousing around Goodreads this weekend and see how it goes.

[hamsterwoman]

I definitely don't think Lucius was a good parental role model, but I see him less ass domineering (and so Draco less scared of him) and more like someone very concerned with projecting the right impression and nothing except appearance matters -- not unlike the Dursleys, I guess, though not nearly as coddling of the child, and rather making it clear he's disappointed when Draco doesn't live up to totally arbitrary expectations. Which is really damaging, too, but in a different mode.

(I guess I just don't see Narcissa letting Lucius get away with actually browbeating Draco. She seems to get her way in the relationship more than he does...)

But there's so little Lucius (especially pre-Azkaban Lucius) in the actual books, that's really all conjecture either way.

[aravishermione]

I know. I always wonder about backstories of the different characters, the ones we don't see. I don't think Lucius would have physically abused Draco, but I do think Draco was frightened of him. Or maybe frightened of disappointing him? I can't get out of my mind that (if I remember correctly) JKR said Draco's boggart would have been Lucius.

[hamsterwoman]

Or maybe frightened of disappointing him?

My read is, frightened of disappointing him, but not in a healthy way, but, like, because he felt Lucius's regard (love? whatever positive emotion Draco hoped to elicit from him) was entirely conditional on Draco living up to some arbitrary ideal/not disappointing him.

(I think this could also be consistent with his boggart taking Lucius' form. But also, like, what else does third-year Draco have to be afraid of? He's led a pretty charmed life, compared to someone like Neville or even Ron, let alone Harry.)

But this is all headcanon, as we say.

[aravishermione]

Very true. Draco had a lot of pressure placed on him from a young age, and kids pick that up. I know Narcissa shielded him as best she could, but kids can sense if they're disappointing a parent. And kids, for the most part, want to make their parents proud.

I wish we had more canon to go on.