The HP Reread: Philosopher's Stone
Like many others in the HPN Read-A-Thon thread, I was delighted by the humorous tone, witty language and Harry's snark. Many little details, such as the Railview Hotel, had gone unnoticed in the previous reads.
Dursleys
It is indeed striking how gruesome Dursleys appear towards Harry. However,more of a revelation to me was that they actually had a motivation to all this... As misguided and unpleasant they appear towards Harry, they intentions were not profoundly and purposely malicious. Vernon says: 'Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?'. This seems to me be an indication that they actually did care about Harry at some level. A bit like how, not that long time ago, it was commonly believed best for left-handed people to force them to only use their right hand instead.
As for Petunia and her knowledge of the magical world... for example, she must have known from the times Lily went to school that children weren't allowed to use magic at home - yet, there is no indication she is aware of this (though it only becomes obvious in the beginning of the CoS.
McGonagall
The character of Professor McGonagall as teacher seems to parallel that of Snape: strict, no nonsense and radiant with unquestioned authority. However, unlike Snape whose actions always seem cool and pondered (giving the impression, through Harry’s eyes, of cold and calculated), McGonagall is more than once seen acting rather impulsively, showing some temper. Not unlike many otherwise perfectly sensible real life people, she goes completely crazy when her favourite sport is involved.
Her awarding and deducting points also seems inconsistent (this has also been noted by other rereaders). In particular, the punishment for wondering out in the corridors during the curfew does not seem to fit the seriousness (or lack thereof) of the crime but rather reflect her own disappointment and hurt feelings - 50 points from each first year of her own house, perhaps for betrayed trust rather than braking the rules as such. Note that Malfoy only loses 20 points for the exactly same offence - only maybe he is not offending McGonagall personally as he’s not in her House.
Maybe this is supposed to illustrate the Gryffindor/Slytherin difference. 'Showing courage' may be a result of acting upon instinct and impulse, whereas a fulfilling an 'Ambition' requires careful planning and seems to almost equate to what business consultants would call "results oriented'... Whether these really are true signs of courage or ambition is another question but these seems to be how many people see them. We do have the example of Neville (worth only 10 points, though) showing other kind of courage, i.e. standing up for something one considers right.
Snape’s classes
Despite years of discussions over Harry Filter, it still amazed me how little negative was objectively shown about Professor Snape's classes. Apart from the first class (Chapter Potion's Master, which is one of my favourites in the whole series) where Snape does commit a mistake of making assumptions about Harry that aren't true (spoiled, arrogant etc.) and acting accordingly, there isn't really much else proof of his alleged horribleness. Instead, a general impression is created skilfully by the author: in the beginning of the Chapter 12 (Mirror of Erised) we read that 'Worst of all were Professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons...' yet, careful reading shows that there is absolutely nothing suggesting this was because of the Professor. It was because it was cold in the dungeons: '... where their breath rose in a mist before them and they kept as close as possible to their hot cauldrons.
A few unanswered mysteries
There is the obvious question of the missing 24 hours , but related to that, also the blow-up of Godric's Hollow. This may give more reason for Petunia's fear '... And come back and find the house in ruins?'... My question, which has (like almost everyting in the books) been discussed earlier, is what really caused Godric's Hollow to go in ruins? Could it, indeed, have been distressed baby Harry's accidental magic? The Avada Kedavra course does not usually do much damage to inanimate objects. The spell did hit the statue in the Ministry in OotP, but even then the harm was nothing close to complete destruction.
A rather less significant question is the funny smell from Quirrell's turban. Did we ever get a definite explanation to it? There was only a speculation by Fred and George that he had stuffed some garlic in there ... but that seems unlikely (unless Voldemort, a great garlic lover, had insisted upon it...)
Dursleys
It is indeed striking how gruesome Dursleys appear towards Harry. However,more of a revelation to me was that they actually had a motivation to all this... As misguided and unpleasant they appear towards Harry, they intentions were not profoundly and purposely malicious. Vernon says: 'Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?'. This seems to me be an indication that they actually did care about Harry at some level. A bit like how, not that long time ago, it was commonly believed best for left-handed people to force them to only use their right hand instead.
As for Petunia and her knowledge of the magical world... for example, she must have known from the times Lily went to school that children weren't allowed to use magic at home - yet, there is no indication she is aware of this (though it only becomes obvious in the beginning of the CoS.
McGonagall
The character of Professor McGonagall as teacher seems to parallel that of Snape: strict, no nonsense and radiant with unquestioned authority. However, unlike Snape whose actions always seem cool and pondered (giving the impression, through Harry’s eyes, of cold and calculated), McGonagall is more than once seen acting rather impulsively, showing some temper. Not unlike many otherwise perfectly sensible real life people, she goes completely crazy when her favourite sport is involved.
Her awarding and deducting points also seems inconsistent (this has also been noted by other rereaders). In particular, the punishment for wondering out in the corridors during the curfew does not seem to fit the seriousness (or lack thereof) of the crime but rather reflect her own disappointment and hurt feelings - 50 points from each first year of her own house, perhaps for betrayed trust rather than braking the rules as such. Note that Malfoy only loses 20 points for the exactly same offence - only maybe he is not offending McGonagall personally as he’s not in her House.
Maybe this is supposed to illustrate the Gryffindor/Slytherin difference. 'Showing courage' may be a result of acting upon instinct and impulse, whereas a fulfilling an 'Ambition' requires careful planning and seems to almost equate to what business consultants would call "results oriented'... Whether these really are true signs of courage or ambition is another question but these seems to be how many people see them. We do have the example of Neville (worth only 10 points, though) showing other kind of courage, i.e. standing up for something one considers right.
Snape’s classes
Despite years of discussions over Harry Filter, it still amazed me how little negative was objectively shown about Professor Snape's classes. Apart from the first class (Chapter Potion's Master, which is one of my favourites in the whole series) where Snape does commit a mistake of making assumptions about Harry that aren't true (spoiled, arrogant etc.) and acting accordingly, there isn't really much else proof of his alleged horribleness. Instead, a general impression is created skilfully by the author: in the beginning of the Chapter 12 (Mirror of Erised) we read that 'Worst of all were Professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons...' yet, careful reading shows that there is absolutely nothing suggesting this was because of the Professor. It was because it was cold in the dungeons: '... where their breath rose in a mist before them and they kept as close as possible to their hot cauldrons.
A few unanswered mysteries
There is the obvious question of the missing 24 hours , but related to that, also the blow-up of Godric's Hollow. This may give more reason for Petunia's fear '... And come back and find the house in ruins?'... My question, which has (like almost everyting in the books) been discussed earlier, is what really caused Godric's Hollow to go in ruins? Could it, indeed, have been distressed baby Harry's accidental magic? The Avada Kedavra course does not usually do much damage to inanimate objects. The spell did hit the statue in the Ministry in OotP, but even then the harm was nothing close to complete destruction.
A rather less significant question is the funny smell from Quirrell's turban. Did we ever get a definite explanation to it? There was only a speculation by Fred and George that he had stuffed some garlic in there ... but that seems unlikely (unless Voldemort, a great garlic lover, had insisted upon it...)