Harry Potter. Because I can.

[debitha]

This rambles all over the place. I started trying to organise it, but it got hard, so I gave up. What? It’s my journal and I'll be lazy if I want.




What an opening! The Stately Home with an unconscious body hanging upside down over the table in the drawing room and a screaming prisoner in the basement. Top marks.

Snape gets the big YAYs! Although I cannot help but feel that posthumous character development is a bit of a cop out. How would people deal with horrible old Snape turning out to be noble and tragic? How would misanthropic Snape deal with people being all, "You're so noble and tragic!"? JKR says "Too Hard Basket!"

I am very ambivalent about Remus/Tonks. It has always felt forced (it doesn't have to, it's been done really well, just not by JKR), but for it then to turn out that the whole reason she did it was so they could sprog and die, so it would be all cyclical and Harry could be a better godfather than Sirius... No. Not happy.

The Dumbledore Developments were fantastic. Even though Harry always had complete faith in him, his actions kept displaying a bit of a chess-player mentality. "For the greater good" was obviously not something he really gave up on, he just learned to temper it a bit. Which makes him morally and ethically ambivalent. My favourite flavour! (So to speak. Remove your mind from the gutter please!)

Can anyone work out why JKR hates the Blacks so very much (apart from Regulus, for some reason)? I mean, OK, yes, not a nice family as a whole. But Sirius was always trying to be a decent (if arrogant and messed up) person, and she just wouldn't let him. And Andromeda. Yikes! Hi, here's Andromeda. (Finally. After six books.) Now watch while I slaughter her husband, daughter, son-in-law and sister, and leave her to raise another metamorphmagus baby. On her own! *cackle* *rub hands together* *cackle some more!* (I know she probably wasn't real fond of Bella, but a sister is still a sister.)

Which leads me to the Malfoys. I had a major "Go, Cissa!" moment when she decided that the Dark Lord could take a hike, if she could just get to her kid. But on the whole I was quite disappointed. I kept waiting for them to pull something out of the hat. I was so sure at the start, with the way she was guiding Lucius and Draco in their responses to the goading, that she had a plan. There should have been a plan, dammit.

I had another moment of cheering (thank God no one else was home. I'd have been so embarrassed) for Percy. He was another character I was holding out for. It's a real shame he wasn't busily subverting the ministry back again from his position of trust, but I can't have everything. (No one's ever given me a good reason why not, but apparently I can't.)

I rather had Aaaawwwws over Kreacher coming over all mumsy. I may have had sniggers, too. It was a pretty damn funny image.

Neville... I'm still not sure about Neville. The things he was doing were fantastic, and I loved them. They just didn't seem very Neville to me. He was developing nicely in the books, but he never struck me as having a great resistance leader deep down inside him.

The wanduendo great. Ron's comment to Harry when he gives him the book for his birthday, about how it's not all wandwork? *snerk* Although it puts another spin on the whole "I am the true Master of the Elder Wand!" bit. Plus, the Elder Wand having been Dumbledore's.... errrr. I end that line of thought there.

I was very impressed with the ruthless genius of Hermione's plan to protect her parents. Absolutely brilliant. I'd have been a bit reluctant to marry her after that, though, were I Ron.

Poor little Scorpius. He wins the lottery on the worst name ever stakes. Although Albus Severus and Xenophilius (rough translation: Lover of Strangers) were giving him a good run for it. I have read mutterings about a Scorpius/Rose pairing. Oh, hell yes.

Did I miss something? Did the good guys have a whole bunch of professional Quidditch players on side, and FAIL to launch an aerial strike? Who the hell was in charge?

Also, at what point did Griphook play tooth fairy and slip the sword back under the metaphorical pillow? That one was definitely a WTF.

Comments

[holding-pattern.livejournal.com]

Yuss. For Snape cop-out one must turn to fanfic. Le sigh. It's just a bit too easy to have Harry go "Ohhh..." once the snarky bastard's dead and he doesn't have to deal with him any more. Bit harder to be all "he's so brave and wonderful!" if he's returning your Owls on fire :D.

Ditto on cyclical Remus/Tonks. They were more interesting characters than that. Deserved better, really. Not a better *death*, as such, but better handling. WTF happened to cool OotP-Tonks? I'd wondered if Remus was going to be offed simply to round out that generation, because, along with the convinced-he-was-good, I was nearly convinced Snape wouldn't make it through. Wormtail was always going to die.

Ambivalent Dumbledore *rocks*.

The Blacks never really got a break, did they :-/. I'm very pleased by the Malfoys as family unit - there's been too much assumption that Lucius was awful to Draco, and I just don't see evidence for that in the first six books, since the wee brat is obviously devoted to his family. Someone made the interesting point that the Malfoys can be contrasted against the Weasleys and Lupin-Tonkses - they dropped everything, flagged fighting, just to find their kid. If everyone had done that, there wouldn't have been much of a fight, and V coulda just walked in. Still. I enjoyed their family focus. I thought it worked for them, and gave them a bit of dimension. Even though they were self-serving till the end... but it was believable. Rock on, Narcissa :D.

I was SO HAPPY when Percy came through. I sodding love Percy, and, yay, he went ahead and joined in when it mattered. I may also have had sniggers at the shiny house and yummy Kreacher food etc, but it still made me go aw. And because it really *would* have made a difference if Sirius had treated him differently. And then, he might not be dead. Gah. Stupid Sirius.

I think from book one Neville was shown as someone who would stand up when he thought it was necessary and could work up the nerve :). And he'd been getting more confident in the later books. So I didn't find resistance-leader-Neville to be that peculiar.

Ahah wanuendo. Awesome. *steals word* Hermione's ruthless plan was also awesome. I was impressed by how she handled that. Because, really, they would have been prime targets, and all unprotected n stuff.

Scorpius is a terrible name. Although it comes from a family of terrible names, and is accordingly *less* awful than AS, who sits between Lily and James. Although. Ginevra. Abraxas, Lucius (Lucius is fine), Draco, Scorpius. Oh, dear. With a name like that, how can he not grow up to take over Gotham City grumpy?

Sword - that was a bit wtf, yeah. General opinion is that it hearkens back to a Gryffindor in need being able to pull it out of Gryffindor's hat, AKA the Deus ex Sorting Hat. You know, the one Voldemort conveniently set on fire over Neville's face (SO EVIL). So it probably clocked him on the head just like Harry in CoS (it's not like Fawkes put it in there for him - it's clearly supposed to be a hat mechanism. It's just a bit lame). Somewhere, there is a very pissed off goblin, swearing a blue streak about wizards.

Apparently a different person dealt to each Horcrux, which is kinda cool. Harry/Diary, Dumbledore/Ring, Ron/Locket, Hermione/Cup, Crabbe/Diadem (by lame accident), Neville/Nagini, Voldemort/Harry, Harry/Voldemort.

[debitha.livejournal.com]

Albus on its own isn't that bad, and don't forget that we don't know little Scorpius' middle name.

A lot of the names are bad. I actually like Draco and Ginevra. In context. I wouldn't inflict Draco on any kid of mine. Actually if it weren't for the whole Harry-Potter-character stigma, I don't think Ginevra would be too traumatic. I'm more worried about Teddy Ruxpin Lupin.

I'm sure the sword in the hat does hearken back to the Griffindor in need thing. It just seems fucked up that it apparently transcends any rules about distance or ownership. I could buy that it might appear from anywhere in Hogwarts (although wasn't it originally put in the hat, which was sent in by Fawkes-mail?), but that the hat can just yoink it from wherever it is or whoever has it? No.

Poor, angry Griphook.

i reply, and ramble of my own.

[zephfi.livejournal.com]

ah, i bought the whole Snape thing, because from the first book i was always convinced that there was something that had turned him/held him back from being OTT evil - and it clearly wasn't love for ppl as a whole. he was always disparaging about Harry and James, but not Lily, and from the flashback in Book 5, where Lily appears - i was pretty sure he had a thing for her. actually, as book 7 moved on, i was holding on to the fantastical idea that Snape was Harry's father, but had never forgiven him for Lily dying. which made noooo canon-sense at all, but it would have been awesome. i don't know that i completely bought Harry forgiving Snape so easily (i.e. by the time he fought Voldemort), but maybe a combination of Snape giving him those memories with his last breath, and the moments of clarity that he had with Dumbledore.. plus he would been trying to throw Voldemort off. actually, Snape's character reminds me of Spike from Buffy (his actions are not motivated by a desire to do good, but out of a somewhat selfish love for someone) and the Hunchback from ND. part of me wanted one of those memories to have him a lil more broken tho, but i would imagine that to the last, he wouldn't be giving Harry the satisfaction.

wasn't the whole bit with the sword it's big thing that was mentioned way back. this book, Bill made a big deal about the difference between how the goblins and wizards viewed ownership of goblin-made artefacts and how you had to be careful in your dealings. stands to reason that Gryffindor would have been aware of that as well, and likely enchanted the sword so that it would aid Gryffindor house in its hour of need, no matter who 'owned' it and where it was. Harry could have saved himself some trouble going after the hat, rather than heading into the bank, maybe.

i actually suspected Bill and/or Molly Weasley of being under the sway of V for most of the book. it was a 'perfunctonary' hug from Bill at one point, and Molly's over-excessive mothering. i've always found her character cloying and frustrating. which i think is kinda the point (the characters need a mother figure to outgrow), but even so - gyargh!

Luna love again tho - i think at least in part because the adorable actress from OotP is firmly stuck in my head.

also - Kreacher luff - i was pretty teary during all the fighting, but then Kreacher leading the house elves was just...

/end ramble

Re: i reply, and ramble of my own.

[holding-pattern.livejournal.com]

Oo, I like your tricksy Godric vs tricksy Goblin theory.

I got the feeling from the memories that Snape actually *had* started to care about Harry. Tried to refute that, sure, with his Only-Lily-Patronus, but his arguments, there was something there.

Snape as Harry's actual father woulda been *fun*. If really, really tragic. I've read something like that, somewhere, and it was pretty neat (although based on older canon, like after OotP or something).

Re: i reply, and ramble of my own.

[zephfi.livejournal.com]

dagnabit. i just got the Messiah reference (self-sacrifice to save everyone, and then coming back from the dead). of course, it's a hugely popular fantasy theme, i suppose. ironic, that some Christian groups were hugely anti-Potter tho. *just saw a Jesus ad on tv, and finally made the connection*

Snape could never really tell Lily how he felt, so i guess even if he did care for Harry, he wouldn't be able to show it

*glowers* why have all my sponsor-ads switched from anime online paper dolls to some sort of possible porn?

Re: i reply, and ramble of my own.

[debitha.livejournal.com]

I have to admit, I missed the whole Snape/Lily thing. I'm not surprised the memories didn't show him more broken, because he wouldn't have shown it. Never mind Harry at the end, he wouldn't have given ANYONE EVER the satisfaction.

I'm not sure about Gryffindor enchanting the sword to come from anywhere. It seems a little too sneaky for a Gryffindor, let alone THE Gryffindor. Interesting idea, though.

Luna was wonderful. I re-read Order of the Phoenix and HBP recently, and was shipping Harry/Luna by the time I was done. She recognised him by his expression when he was Barny! And she'd have been so much better for him than Ginny. (Does anyone else suspect that JKR had a mad crush on some boy at school, and she's Mary-Sue-ing for all she's worth?)

Re: i reply, and ramble of my own.

[zephfi.livejournal.com]

i spent much of the books going "gyah! Harry! could you just trust Dumbledore's judgement!", so i was always looking for things to vindicate Snape or give him more back story.

it's not entirely sneaky if Gryffindor put the needs of 'his ppl' ahead of the issue of goblins and wizards having a different idea of ownership. it would be 'pragmatic'. i.e. he felt that access to the sword for a Gryffindor in need outweighed it being owned or possessed by any particular person. i mean, i think Harry would have pulled it out of the Sorting Hat regardless of who the headmaster was or what the headmaster's feeling on use of antiques by students was.

actually, sort of on that note, i was interested in that the prologue clearly indicated the Houses were still going, considering all the stuff from.. book 4 or was it 5? about the Houses being a huge part of the problem in the first place. the Sorting Hat telling them it was a bad idea etc.

Re: i reply, and ramble of my own.

[debitha.livejournal.com]

That'll be it then. I spent much of the books going, "Gyah! Harry! Dumbledore's up to something, watch your back!"

Heh, I trusted Snape and not Dumbledore. But I still missed the suggested backstory. D'oh!

I got RAB/Regulus, though. I was so convinced by it, that I was very puzzled when they didn't know and were suprised when they saw the door. I was going, "Yes, you knew that already", till I realised they didn't.

I don't think the Hat was saying the Houses were an inherently bad idea, more that the concept was being taken to divisive extremes. You kind of have to have the Houses at some level, since there are separated sleeping areas. Anyway, can you imagine if Dumbledore had made everyone mix it up? The Hufflepuffs would never have been able to sleep for fear of the Slytherins offing them in the night.

[holding-pattern.livejournal.com]

It's true. He could be Scorpius Matthew, something completely normal :D.

Hee. I have already seen a Teddy Ruxpin/Lupin icon. Teddy. Good god.

Griphook will surely want revenge... But against which person?

[debitha.livejournal.com]

Scorpius Bob? Or it could be something way off the weird scale of naming.

Why are you limiting Griphook's options? Why can't he want revenge on EVERYONE?