Random things noticed in HBP
Jul. 23rd, 2005 01:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snorkackcatcherNo elaborate theories here - just little connections, parallels and the like noticed in passing in HBP, that amused me or otherwise caught my eye.
(1) Luna's commentary on the Quidditch was entertaingly reminiscent of the kind of cricket commentary Johnson and Blofeld used to do on Radio 4 - in which they would spend a lot of time talking about the weather, the crowds, the bus going down the street outside the ground, the chocolate cake a member of the audience had sent in, and occasionally (when they had nothing else to talk about) the actual cricket ...
(2) "Tea? Coffee? Pumpkin juice?" Harry asks Ron which drink he'd like him to (apparently) spike with Felix Felicis in the exact same words Umbridge used when trying to give him Veritaserum. Nice to know the Toad Lady taught him something useful!
(3) Harry doing the Noble Thing by giving up Ginny contrasts strikingly with Remus trying to do the Noble Thing by giving up Tonks, until she finally doesn't let him. Wonder if Mr and Mrs Weasley will tell Harry he's taking a 'ridiculous line' when he gets to the Burrow for the wedding? Or more likely, whether Ginny will pick her moment to do exactly what Tonks did?
(4) Worple at the party offers to interview Harry for a biography, and intimates that he'd done the same with Sanguini. Mmm, yeah, Interview With The Vampire - sounds like a good title for a book.
(5) Anyone else think that Slughorn literally took a fancy to Lily - actually, the latest JKR interview suggests several people did - which is why Harry can influence him to do stuff? And maybe that he saw echoes of her in Ginny, which is why he asked her into his little soiree on the train? New ships could be launched before we know it. :)
(6) Malfoy is careful to tread on Harry's fingers as he leaves the carriage after Body-Binding him - in the same way George is described as careful to tread on a similarly helpless (albeit unconscious) Malfoy on the train at the end of GoF.
(7) At the Welcoming feast: "Hagrid had never quite managed to comport himself with the dignity of Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House" - well, I wonder if he might get that job now when (if) the school reopens?
(8) More from the feast: Harry longs for a chance to fight Malfoy one on one. Well, he gets it eventually, doesn't he ... (Also noted: Malfoy puts up a pretty good fight. I never did think he was actually crap, just that he overrated himself)
(9) Felix Felicis is "the colour of molten gold"? Actually, I have a vague recollection from quiz books that molten gold is green, but I doubt that's a clue!
(10) Ginny yells at Ron after they encounter her with Dean in the corridor "you've got as much experience [snogging] as a twelve year old!". Hmm ... come to think of it, wasn't she thirteen when she started going out with Michael Corner? Oh dear, don't tell Ron, girl. :)
(11) Early on, Dumbledore tells Harry just before Apparating them both 'I do not think you need worry' (about being attacked) because 'You are with me'. After they get out the cave near the end, and Harry prepares to Apparate them back, Dumbledore says 'I am not worried, Harry ... I am with you.' Nice parallel.
(12) Something which amused me in retrospect: usually, Harry and Ron suspect Snape of being evil, Hermione defends him - and she's right. This time, Hermione suspects the Half-Blood Prince of being evil, Harry and Ron defend him - and she's right.
(1) Luna's commentary on the Quidditch was entertaingly reminiscent of the kind of cricket commentary Johnson and Blofeld used to do on Radio 4 - in which they would spend a lot of time talking about the weather, the crowds, the bus going down the street outside the ground, the chocolate cake a member of the audience had sent in, and occasionally (when they had nothing else to talk about) the actual cricket ...
(2) "Tea? Coffee? Pumpkin juice?" Harry asks Ron which drink he'd like him to (apparently) spike with Felix Felicis in the exact same words Umbridge used when trying to give him Veritaserum. Nice to know the Toad Lady taught him something useful!
(3) Harry doing the Noble Thing by giving up Ginny contrasts strikingly with Remus trying to do the Noble Thing by giving up Tonks, until she finally doesn't let him. Wonder if Mr and Mrs Weasley will tell Harry he's taking a 'ridiculous line' when he gets to the Burrow for the wedding? Or more likely, whether Ginny will pick her moment to do exactly what Tonks did?
(4) Worple at the party offers to interview Harry for a biography, and intimates that he'd done the same with Sanguini. Mmm, yeah, Interview With The Vampire - sounds like a good title for a book.
(5) Anyone else think that Slughorn literally took a fancy to Lily - actually, the latest JKR interview suggests several people did - which is why Harry can influence him to do stuff? And maybe that he saw echoes of her in Ginny, which is why he asked her into his little soiree on the train? New ships could be launched before we know it. :)
(6) Malfoy is careful to tread on Harry's fingers as he leaves the carriage after Body-Binding him - in the same way George is described as careful to tread on a similarly helpless (albeit unconscious) Malfoy on the train at the end of GoF.
(7) At the Welcoming feast: "Hagrid had never quite managed to comport himself with the dignity of Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House" - well, I wonder if he might get that job now when (if) the school reopens?
(8) More from the feast: Harry longs for a chance to fight Malfoy one on one. Well, he gets it eventually, doesn't he ... (Also noted: Malfoy puts up a pretty good fight. I never did think he was actually crap, just that he overrated himself)
(9) Felix Felicis is "the colour of molten gold"? Actually, I have a vague recollection from quiz books that molten gold is green, but I doubt that's a clue!
(10) Ginny yells at Ron after they encounter her with Dean in the corridor "you've got as much experience [snogging] as a twelve year old!". Hmm ... come to think of it, wasn't she thirteen when she started going out with Michael Corner? Oh dear, don't tell Ron, girl. :)
(11) Early on, Dumbledore tells Harry just before Apparating them both 'I do not think you need worry' (about being attacked) because 'You are with me'. After they get out the cave near the end, and Harry prepares to Apparate them back, Dumbledore says 'I am not worried, Harry ... I am with you.' Nice parallel.
(12) Something which amused me in retrospect: usually, Harry and Ron suspect Snape of being evil, Hermione defends him - and she's right. This time, Hermione suspects the Half-Blood Prince of being evil, Harry and Ron defend him - and she's right.
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no subject
Date: 2005-07-23 02:54 pm (UTC)Yuck, that's rather sinister... I don't think so, just because even if he did, I don't think JKR is going to put it into HP. They are still intended to be read by quite young children. What I think - and I touch on this in my challenge entry 'Levicorpus' - is that Slughorn wanted Snape and Lily to get together. I think he'd be much more likely to want to pair up two of his proteges than to desire one himself, just because that's how he seems to operate. Whether either Snape or Lily ever did want a romantic relationship is another matter - JKR refused to say either way in her interview. I'll stick with them being platonic friends for now.
well, I wonder if he might get that job now when (if) the school reopens?
I really hope so! I think he'd do a good job, and Hagrid deserves something nice like that.
Luna's commentary on the Quidditch was entertaingly reminiscent of the kind of cricket commentary Johnson and Blofeld used to do on Radio 4
Oh, good comparison!
Also noted: Malfoy puts up a pretty good fight. I never did think he was actually crap, just that he overrated himself
Yes, Malfoy does come out of book 6 well in some aspects - though not in morality. He's clever, determined, resourceful... well, everything you'd expect a Slytherin to be. And also pretty brave. I must say, he has more about him than I initially imagined.
This time, Hermione suspects the Half-Blood Prince of being evil, Harry and Ron defend him - and she's right.
No, she's wrong! Snape isn't evil! He's a good guy pretending to be evil ;-) I think the Prince is morally ambiguous more than evil - he wrote some nasty curses, but there's no evidence that he used them; at least, no more than Harry did. In fact, I did think 'the Prince' came across quite a lot like Sev in ToT - someone who drew boundaries at a different place to normal people, and was more enchanted with the cleverness of his inventions than he was concerned about their uses and consequences.
PS. I Niffled 'Meetings' this week. That's one very good fic!
no subject
Date: 2005-07-23 03:59 pm (UTC)Maybe. Hopefully. :) Actually, I think the odds are about 50-50 at this point - I hope book 7 gives us an actual answer (because you could see Snape acting in some ambiguous way and getting killed and Harry, and us, never quite being sure). After the latest interview, Snape/Lily is actually looking possible.
Yuck, that's rather sinister... I don't think so, just because even if he did, I don't think JKR is going to put it into HP. They are still intended to be read by quite young children
Oh no, I wouldn't expect it to be stated clearly even if she did have that sort of idea somewhere at the back of her mind - it was just a rather odd impression I got from the way he was behaving. He definitely got rather maudlin about her, and about Harry as her son, but it probably is meant innocently enough. Obviously too much exposure to Pumpkin Pie and Wolfstar arguments has subconsciously corrupted me, and I now see Spurious Shipper Subtext in the unlikeliest of places. :)
PS. I Niffled 'Meetings' this week. That's one very good fic!
Oh good - rather noncanon now, but I think it was the first longish fic I ever read.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-23 05:07 pm (UTC)Yes, I agree. The more I think about it, the more I can't help agree that Slughorn's philosophy is rather eugenic. He seems to want his star pupils to mingle among themselves and I definitely wouldn't put it past him to egg on a romantic relationship between Lily and Snape. Whether he was successful.... we shall see.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-23 05:03 pm (UTC)Hehehe. That's quite funny. Of course, he could be mocking her style because of its blatant suspiciousness (which was an advantage for him). It's akin to Ginny saying "Hem hem" to quiet the D.A., I suppose.
Felix Felicis is "the colour of molten gold"? Actually, I have a vague recollection from quiz books that molten gold is green, but I doubt that's a clue!
This made mye interested. I Googled "molten gold" and found that it still looked orange or, well, golden in appearance. Perhaps it depends on technique?
Something which amused me in retrospect: usually, Harry and Ron suspect Snape of being evil, Hermione defends him - and she's right. This time, Hermione suspects the Half-Blood Prince of being evil, Harry and Ron defend him - and she's right.
True but noooo! I think I agree with Hannah that Snape is definitely not evil. Just as in OoTP, he was not a poor helpless boy. Snape's ambiguous and that's why he's an awesome character. I think that people trying to pina label on him right now are really ignoring the bigger picture. Although Snape seemed evil, there's still more to his story. *crosses fingers for Book VII*
no subject
Date: 2005-07-24 12:59 pm (UTC)Hopefully, but the latest interview contains some ominous comments from JKR - I'd say it's about 50-50 at this stage.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-23 10:02 pm (UTC)Other than that, nice thoughts!
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Date: 2005-07-24 12:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-28 10:53 am (UTC)I realise now that I'm speaking about a very esoterically Australian thing and have thus alienated anyone north of the Equator. But I did see the humour and just general gleefulness in Luna's commenting. One of my favourite parts of the book.
I also wonder if JKR based Mundungus impersonating a zombie on seeing 'Shaun of the Dead'. That's wishful speculation on my part, but it intrigues me nonetheless that she may have seen this gem.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-11 06:50 pm (UTC)