H/D alert: Harry is pleasantly surprised that Draco's wand is working for him "at least as well as Hermione's".
This was only the first of a bunch of H/D wand stuff that came up in the chapter. When Harry casts that Imperius, he feels a pleasant "tingling" from the wand.
More Dark Arts shops have been opened since Harry's last visit, jumping at the golden opportunity provided by the Twins' departure.
Heh. I missed this little detail on my re-read. I wonder what this is supposed to signify? That people are more interested in Dark Magic because of the Death Eaters? That only Death Eaters are allowed to open shops, and that the only thing they are capable of providing is Dark Magic? The Dark Arts shopkeepers are no longer ghetto-ized to Knockturn Alley?
Is there now a Dark Wand shop?
Err, those people failed the test of X "pure" generations, they aren't Muggle-borns, and we all know how wizards cultivate ties with their Muggle relatives.The standard for "X" generations is 1/2. Half-bloods seem to be tolerated or better.
( ... )
When Harry casts that Imperius, he feels a pleasant "tingling" from the wand.
I thought it was a standard feeling of casting Imperius. The unsubtle example of Dark Magic tempting its' users, like drugs, to delve further & further.(Heard theories of Dark Magic driving its' users insane).
RE: Dark Arts shops. I think it's all 3. Don't think there is a Dark Wand shop since Travers is confused where Bellatrix could get a new wand after Ollivander's disappearance.
So, if these people aren't Muggleborn, who are they?I think I got it! May be it's like this: Muggle-borns are taken away, other undesirables are treated on an individual basis? I mean loud opposers of the new regime, people with such relatives or even somebody with a rich history of "Muggle-loving", as this poor, killed by V Muggle-studies professor. Neville says DEs have a history of going after children to unsure their parents' compliance and that only recently they started doing the reverse and went after his grandmother. Of the first we get Luna as an example. Most likely
( ... )
The people in Diagon Alley could easily have been Muggleborns whose magic-aware Muggle relatives are no longer alive or in the country for some reason or other. Only the immediate family of a Muggle-born Hogwarts student is made aware of magic. An only child who loses one's parents may have trouble explaining why s/he suddenly needs a place to stay to some distant cousin. Enough middle-aged people lose parents with no need to involve a war as an explanation.
I really doubt they were political objectors when the Weasleys were left alone for months. Even someone who was actively causing trouble like Xeno wasn't arrested and didn't have his wand taken, though the regime leaned on him very heavily by capturing Luna.
I wonder. Is this supposed to be funny? I mean, is JKR deliberately writing this break-in as failing in order to portray her heroes as adorable bumblers?
I doubt she wanted the scenes to be 'funny', but you're right, they're certainly bumblers (albeit not 'adorable'). But even the characters know this. Harry ruminates on how all those weeks/months of planning at Grimmauld Place only got them through the front door of the Ministry. Here their plan falls apart *before* they get in the front door. Ron exclaims "we thought you had a plan!" during the infinite camping trip. They forget about footsteps in the snow in the graveyard. Oops, oops, oops, oops.
Rowling seemed determined for the kids to win through with only fourth year magical spells and the first-year Invisibility Cloak and so had to dumb everyone else down to compensate.
Hermione was established in HBP as being a terrible actress, and Ron is supposed to be rather good at mimickry.Sigh. My poor Hermione has been copping flak from all over this past week
( ... )
It probably didn't disappear from his hands. He'd probably already stowed it in the Museum of Goblin History. So, it disappeared from its highly guarded display case.
Sorry if we're giving your Hermione a rough time, Madderbrad. But remember. This is DH Hermione. We can hardly bash her harder than JKR did in that book.
Sadly he won't have it for long. I wonder what he thought when it disappeared from his greedy little hands roughly 24 hours later?
Rethinking the sword subplot makes me realize what a pointless shell-game the whole thing was. It doesn't matter that they lost the sword to Griphook. Or that Dumbledore had Snape put the sword in the pond, either, or that Harry retrieved it, or that there was a fake sword, or anything else. Why bother? Because whenever it's really needed, the Hat will just spit it out again. (Does the fact that there's a precedent for this in COS make it better? I don't think so.)
But Jabootu-wise, that makes the sword a McGuffin, doesn't it? Add one more Jabootu point for this chapter!
Heck, had anyone been thinking Severus could have owled them the Sorting Hat just after the Sorting ceremony. They were still at 12GP that night (which could be confirmed by the activation of the Taboo from there) and we know owls can enter Fidelius protected 12GP, we saw them doing it in OOTP.
So they would have been able to destroy the locket in early September, and wouldn't have been under Horcrux-influenced madness, perhaps Ron wouldn't have left, so they might have been caught by the Taboo thing without having to be stupid about it (in canon they only learned of the Taboo from Ron). They may have not visited Godric's Hollow though, so they wouldn't have seen the sign of the Hallows on Ignotus' grave and in Dumbles' letter to Gellert in Rita's book - they might have skipped the whole Hallows quest. It might have been a much shorter book.
(But would Severus have known that the sword can be pulled from the Hat or is this another thing Dumbles kept from him for the sake of being annoying?)
If only Rowling had thought to make the Trio's loss of competence over the years the result of the repeated trauma of almost being killed every June after a long year of monsters, murderers, and smear campaigns. That could have potential! But no, they just fluctuate as needed for the plot.
I would love to read the goblins' version of Griphook's adventure. Brave bank teller tortured by evil wizards, forced to rob own bank by wizard juvenile delinquents, and still makes it back with the sword stolen 1000 years ago! I'm still disappointed in the lack of a goblin rebellion in DH, though. What is the point of mentioning goblin rebellions every freaking book, upping the ante with threatening debt-collecting goblins and accounts of wizarding racism, and then giving us... this? Talk about a wet firecracker.
Comments 17
This was only the first of a bunch of H/D wand stuff that came up in the chapter. When Harry casts that Imperius, he feels a pleasant "tingling" from the wand.
More Dark Arts shops have been opened since Harry's last visit, jumping at the golden opportunity provided by the Twins' departure.
Heh. I missed this little detail on my re-read. I wonder what this is supposed to signify? That people are more interested in Dark Magic because of the Death Eaters? That only Death Eaters are allowed to open shops, and that the only thing they are capable of providing is Dark Magic? The Dark Arts shopkeepers are no longer ghetto-ized to Knockturn Alley?
Is there now a Dark Wand shop?
Err, those people failed the test of X "pure" generations, they aren't Muggle-borns, and we all know how wizards cultivate ties with their Muggle relatives.The standard for "X" generations is 1/2. Half-bloods seem to be tolerated or better. ( ... )
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I thought it was a standard feeling of casting Imperius. The unsubtle example of Dark Magic tempting its' users, like drugs, to delve further & further.(Heard theories of Dark Magic driving its' users insane).
RE: Dark Arts shops. I think it's all 3. Don't think there is a Dark Wand shop since Travers is confused where Bellatrix could get a new wand after Ollivander's disappearance.
So, if these people aren't Muggleborn, who are they?I think I got it! May be it's like this: Muggle-borns are taken away, other undesirables are treated on an individual basis? I mean loud opposers of the new regime, people with such relatives or even somebody with a rich history of "Muggle-loving", as this poor, killed by V Muggle-studies professor. Neville says DEs have a history of going after children to unsure their parents' compliance and that only recently they started doing the reverse and went after his grandmother. Of the first we get Luna as an example. Most likely ( ... )
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I really doubt they were political objectors when the Weasleys were left alone for months. Even someone who was actively causing trouble like Xeno wasn't arrested and didn't have his wand taken, though the regime leaned on him very heavily by capturing Luna.
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I doubt she wanted the scenes to be 'funny', but you're right, they're certainly bumblers (albeit not 'adorable'). But even the characters know this. Harry ruminates on how all those weeks/months of planning at Grimmauld Place only got them through the front door of the Ministry. Here their plan falls apart *before* they get in the front door. Ron exclaims "we thought you had a plan!" during the infinite camping trip. They forget about footsteps in the snow in the graveyard. Oops, oops, oops, oops.
Rowling seemed determined for the kids to win through with only fourth year magical spells and the first-year Invisibility Cloak and so had to dumb everyone else down to compensate.
Hermione was established in HBP as being a terrible actress, and Ron is supposed to be rather good at mimickry.Sigh. My poor Hermione has been copping flak from all over this past week ( ... )
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She is!! But in DH Rowling turned her brilliance on and off like a tap, depending on what was necessary to move the horrible plot forward.
Such loving heart & generosity of spirit!
Yes, he's not very nice in the last couple of books, is he? Ugh.
GINNY DESERVES HARRY. :-)
Behold the saddest sentence of the book for first-time readers:
"As they had lost Perkin's old tent … Bill had lent them another one."
Imagine the readers' faces at getting a promise for more camping
Ha ha ha!!! :-)
"It was Griphook who had seen it and Griphook who lunged, and in that instant Harry knew that the goblin had never expected them to keep their word."
Sadly he won't have it for long. I wonder what he thought when it disappeared from his greedy little hands roughly 24 hours later?
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Sorry if we're giving your Hermione a rough time, Madderbrad. But remember. This is DH Hermione. We can hardly bash her harder than JKR did in that book.
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Rethinking the sword subplot makes me realize what a pointless shell-game the whole thing was. It doesn't matter that they lost the sword to Griphook. Or that Dumbledore had Snape put the sword in the pond, either, or that Harry retrieved it, or that there was a fake sword, or anything else. Why bother? Because whenever it's really needed, the Hat will just spit it out again. (Does the fact that there's a precedent for this in COS make it better? I don't think so.)
But Jabootu-wise, that makes the sword a McGuffin, doesn't it? Add one more Jabootu point for this chapter!
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*sighs sadly*
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(But would Severus have known that the sword can be pulled from the Hat or is this another thing Dumbles kept from him for the sake of being annoying?)
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I would love to read the goblins' version of Griphook's adventure. Brave bank teller tortured by evil wizards, forced to rob own bank by wizard juvenile delinquents, and still makes it back with the sword stolen 1000 years ago! I'm still disappointed in the lack of a goblin rebellion in DH, though. What is the point of mentioning goblin rebellions every freaking book, upping the ante with threatening debt-collecting goblins and accounts of wizarding racism, and then giving us... this? Talk about a wet firecracker.
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