Chapter Thirty

[merrymelody]

Grawp -

This’ll be fun! Who doesn’t like Grawp?

(Am still behind a good five chapters. I’ll post them sooner or later, unless Mirabella/y’all would rather we keep moving in a more linear fashion?)

Comments

[violaswamp]

One of the things that’s kind of annoying - Fred and George have now completely abandoned their younger siblings to Umbridge (do they know about her detentions?) who now has a grudge against their family in specific.

Yeah, isn't that rather, well, unchivalrous?

And it fits in nicely with the wish-fulfillment ‘OMG HARRY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THE WORLD, any attempts at escaping this horrific prison are foiled by trolls, dragons, knife-wielding assailants! Harry Potter is the top priority of the WW and even his broom must be monitored!’ theme.

I really, really hate that about the books. I think it's possible to do the Chosen One thing without getting annoying about it, but HP hasn't succeeded at this, IMO.

This strikes me as coming from the same impulse as her 'Why don't we try for some inter-house unity, by which I mean, I'll ask you guys for permission, and if you say no, I'll never mention it again. I know the right thing to do, but I’m not going to stick my neck out doing it, since I must obey my menfolk over my own

[mariagoner]

Honestly? I don't think she really cares about doing right. I think she wants to think of herself as the kind of person who's doing right, and so she makes these perfunctory gestures in the direction of morality, knowing full well that the guys will slap her down--and relying on them to do so, because she doesn't actually want to do what she knows is right but at the same time doesn't want to face the fact that she's not Little Miss Moral.Eeeeeexactly

[violaswamp]

She basically argued that Hermione was just being very normal in disregarding the well-being for someone who was her enemy and outside her normal social circle.

Huh?

I'm not sure how a normal person could avoid being seriously freaked out if their friends caused anyone, especially someone who wasn't being physically aggressive, serious brain damage. I just can't imagine how that wouldn't cause an "Oh, damn" reaction in a normal human being.

[merrymelody]

Yeah, even Ron felt bad about Lockhart (Harry didn't understand that, of course. It involves human emotions like 'regret' and 'guilt') and he was going to abandon Ron's sister to death and incapacitate Ron and Harry.
(Which is why the reaction is so bizarre, here. I guess it's intended to show how psychotic the House rivalry's gotten, and it's certainly not OOC for Ron/any of the Trio to be a jerk, but if you can find Lockhart sympathetic, and not the poor guy who tried to take points from your brothers?...)

[violaswamp]

Yeah--maybe this can be fanwanked by arguing that Ron would have felt guilty over Montague if he'd actually seen him the way he saw Lockhart, rather than hearing about Montague third-hand. Or something.

[merrymelody]

(They were) just being very normal in disregarding the well-being for someone who was their enemy and outside their normal social circle.

Oh, sure. It's like if you saw someone bleeding to death while out for a jog. Wouldn't everyone assess who they were, how they'd previously treated you (subtracting five minutes before calling the ambulance for every instance of rudeness), whether they'd be sufficiently grateful for assistance, the probable circumstances that leading to their injury and whether or not they were deserving of it, and who it would affect/assist/hinder if you left them?
I know I would!

Hermione is a damn hypocrite with her social crusading, considering that she feels that house elf rights are perfectly fine to fight for, but wounded human beings her own age aren't worth the effort to help.Yeah, that's a pretty big problem. Because obviously part of the Trio's friendship is this...well, fear of each other. Nobody seems to trust anyone else not to dump them if they play up. So it's fairly IC for Hermione to hem and haw

[pacoman]

We're not expected to buy that Angel's locking up 20 Wolfram and Hart lawyers in a basement with two seriously evil vampires is good or justifiable in any way.

We are, however, expected to buy that Angel firing the MoG is lower on the moral scale. At least, going from the way they treat him in Epiphany.

But yeah, it's nice that the show acknowledges that Angel can be a total asstard with or without the soul.

[violaswamp]

I don't think his firing them was portrayed as lower on the moral scale so much as more hurtful on the emotional scale. And his firing them was, I think, supposed to indicate that not only could Angel do wrong but he planned to do wrong and to insulate himself from all who could influence him otherwise. /OT

[merrymelody]

Yeah. With Buffy, we'd probably have gotten a three-episode arc of 'I pushed you away because I care too much! You guys don't know what it's like to be the Slayer, and I didn't want to endanger you! I feel better than you, and at the same time, inferior!' (*ships Harry/Buffy - theirlovehassomuchrestingonit'swearyshoulders!11)

[merrymelody]

And I actually read that book you talked about.

Bwhahaha! That's so cool, I thought I was the only one ;) It has lived on in my memory for years for that incredibly lame 'We made Puff cool!' but now HP has topped it in the stakes of suckitude... *sighs sadly*

There must be some! I would be one of them!

Me too!

Yeah, isn't that rather, well, unchivalrous?

I know the Twins are Gryffs, but have they ever demonstrated chivalry? Or for that matter, bravery?

I think she wants to think of herself as the kind of person who's doing right, and so she makes these perfunctory gestures in the direction of morality, knowing full well that the guys will slap her down--and relying on them to do so, because she doesn't actually want to do what she knows is right but at the same time doesn't want to face the fact that she's not Little Miss Moral.Yes, she has prejudices of her own, which is why the 'Hermione as Moral Authority' doesn't work and is in fact, actively irritating/hypocritical - she seems to take the high-ground until something