amiu - "crow mother" :: PoA 11 :: metafandom

[pauraque_bk]

For cheyinka:

ngáre "crow mother"

X-SAMPA / Na_(low)r\E_(low) /

Phonetic ngéR "slime" + determinative "dragon" = ngór "crow"

ngór "crow" + animate bringer derivation = ngáre "crow mother"

One who brings forth crows -- a mother of them, naturally. A father of crows would be a "crow caller".

And that's the last of the icon requests. Merci, merci, to everyone who asked for one and everyone who commented. Next is a Shakespeare translation for lolaraincoat (oh, thought I'd forgotten, did you?).

*

PoA 11: The Firebolt

He watched, as though somebody was playing a piece of film, Sirius Black blasting Peter Pettigrew (who resembled Neville Longbottom) into a thousand pieces. (158)

Ah, Neville's other symbolic purpose. JKR puts our affection and pity for Neville to use, transferring it onto Peter, about whom we know next to nothing -- only that he was a "fat little boy" (154) who followed James and Sirius around.

This completely (and deliberately) misleading parallel has ultimately affected the fandom's view of Neville more than that of Peter. Actually, Neville hardly ever follows the Trio around, and certainly doesn't fawn over Harry the way Peter did over James -- it's Colin Creevey who plays that role.

It's also our only evidence that Neville is fat. He's otherwise described as "round-faced" (PS/SS).

Those who use this line to support the theory that Neville will turn, or be tempted to turn, sometimes also point to Dumbledore's comment that it took courage for Neville to go against his friends (PS/SS), which was certainly the case for Peter.

'Listen ... you know what Pettigrew's mother got back after Black had finished with him? Dad told me -- the Order of Merlin, First Class, and Pettigrew's finger in a box. (159-160)

One does wonder what ever happened to Peter's "poor mother" (155)... and whether his father was ever on the scene.

'I'll never know what [my parents would] have wanted because, thanks to Black, I've never spoken to them,' said Harry shortly.
There was a silence, in which Crookshanks stretched luxuriously, flexing his claws. Ron's pocket quivered. (160)

JKR wants us to think Scabbers is reacting to Crookshanks, but he can't see Crookshanks, as he's in Ron's pocket! In fact, Peter has been listening to the Trio's chilling discussion of whether Harry should take revenge on Sirius, and shudders in response to Harry's coldly controlled expression of rage and grief. Excellent.

The hearing will take place on April 20th[...] (162)

And it's only Christmas! Like any good bureaucracy, the MoM is hopelessly inefficient.

'Er -- shall I make a cup of tea?' said Ron.
Harry stared at him.
'It's what my mum does whenever someone's upset,' Ron muttered, shrugging. (163)

As usual, Ron's sense of how to be a caretaker comes from Molly. fernwithy had a good post a few days back that discusses this.

'[...]An' -- an' I'm scared o' breakin' the law...' He looked up at them, tears leaking down his face again. 'I don' ever want ter go back ter Azkaban.' (164)

Perhaps an argument for brief stays in Azkaban like Hagrid's -- they can serve as a deterrent, which Muggle prison generally doesn't.

'[Dumbledore] wouldn't spend hundreds of Galleons on [a Firebolt for] me.' (166)

So, Sirius ripped off an item costing hundreds of Galleons. Niiiiiice.

[EDIT: Bad assumption, corrected by commenters. Mea culpa.]

'Crackers!' said Dumbledore enthusiastically, offering the end of a large silver one to Snape, who took it reluctantly and tugged. With a bang like a gunshot, the cracker flew apart to reveal a large, pointed witch's hat topped with a stuffed vulture.
Harry, remembering the Boggart, caught Ron's eye and they both grinned; Snape's mouth thinned and he pushed the hat towards Dumbledore, who swapped it for his wizard's hat at once. (169)

The infamous cracker incident, often brought up in snapesupport debates. Is Dumbledore being intentionally cruel here, or just ignorant of the fact that Snape has no sense of humor about himself? Is Snape really all that ticked off about being embarrassed in front of co-workers and students? Does the fact that Dumbledore doesn't harp on the joke, but gets off it "at once" change anything?

[Trelawney:] 'Never forget that when thirteen dine together, the first to rise will be the first to die!' (169)

A Christian superstition, based on the Last Supper.


Past re-read posts are here.

*

Metafandom:

There's been a discussion chez fernwithy on why fans sympathize with the characters they do, split off from the Snape vs Lupin debate in the past few chapters.

Also, from switchknife: Are you an "invisible reader"? In case anyone was curious, I do read, cherish, and answer all feedback. Even if it's only one line. Even if it isn't all positive. If you've ever sent me feedback, you know this.

Feedback for all writers! And gracious responses for all feedbackers!

Comments

[fernwithy.livejournal.com]

So, Sirius ripped off an item costing hundreds of Galleons. Niiiiiice.

Well, he wasn't supposed to have ripped it off. In one of the less believable animal moments, Sirius says that he got Crookshanks to take money out of his own vault to pay for it. I guess a cat who can bring a list of passwords to him can bring a note and a key to Gringotts, and apparently, what happens at Gringotts stays at Gringotts.

The infamous cracker incident, often brought up in snapesupport debates. Is Dumbledore being intentionally cruel here, or just ignorant of the fact that Snape has no sense of humor about himself?

I don't think it's either, exactly. I think that he's, at this point, modeling the concept of having a sense of humor about himself. The vulture hat popped out of the cracker, which could have been very embarrassing for Snape (as Harry and Ron demonstrate by immediately grinning), and instead of saying anything or doing anything to call attention to the parallel, he grabs it himself with delight, and wears it happily.

[fernwithy.livejournal.com]

Ack, I forgot to get into the Neville/Peter business!

I think that Harry's comparison of Peter to Neville had a couple of points. The first was to show how Harry sees both Neville and Peter in terms of the story he's just heard--poor little Neville, not all that powerful, a tagalong... not nice, exactly, since the description of Peter wasn't terribly flattering. But kind, in its way. He feels sympathy for Neville.

Another thing it does--and the reason it's such a mistake to assume Neville will go dark--is point out the problem with making direct parallels, which is a fannish tendency that really throws people's expectations off.

[pauraque]

In one of the less believable animal moments, Sirius says that he got Crookshanks to take money out of his own vault to pay for it.

Aha. I expect JKR wants us to take that at face value, but it certainly does stretch credulity. It tries much too hard to make Sirius into a nice guy.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's either, exactly. I think that he's, at this point, modeling the concept of having a sense of humor about himself.

That could be the case, but if so, would that even work? People do have different personalities and different senses of humor, and Snape is not someone I can see ever laughing at himself in front of a lot of people he doesn't *like*.

That Dumbledore hasn't figured that out after knowing the man for almost 20 years... isn't good.

[marksykins.livejournal.com]

what happens at Gringotts stays at Gringotts

I want this on a t-shirt.

[ellen-fremedon.livejournal.com]

So, Sirius ripped off an item costing hundreds of Galleons.

Actually, no-- he owl-ordered it, convincing Crookshanks to take the order to the post-office, using Harry's name but paying for it with money from his own Gringotts vault.

Which means that the transaction must have been mediated by Gringotts. And that the Gringotts goblins were perfectly willing to essentially launder money on behalf of the most wanted criminal in the wizarding world without alerting any wizarding authorities. The Swiss banking industry has nothing on these guys.

I've been of the opinion that the goblins are going to become *very* important for several books now. They're always talking about goblin rebellions in History of Magic-- the goblins have not always been on good terms with the WW-- and yet goblins have a *huge* degree of control over the WW economy, and don't appear to consider themselves answerable to the Ministry.

In OotP chapter 5, Bill, Arthur, and Lupin have a short but important talk about goblins; Remus remarks that "if they're offered freedoms we've been denying them for centuries, they're going to be tempted" to join Voldemort; the WW has evidently not been giving them full civil rights. And Bill says they're still upset about Ludo Bagman.

So, goblins. Yeah.

[caesia390.livejournal.com]

i am waaay too tired to be doing this.

So, Sirius ripped off an item costing hundreds of Galleons. Niiiiiice.

i can't believe my first reaction to this was - wait, you think sirius STOLE?!?!? *facepalm* but siriusly... (-_-) i read this as *sirius is able to access his bank account because gringotts doesn't give a shit about human affairs* whichever way... w00t amorality.

on the cracker: i think this is dumbledore-speak for, 'so, about this rivalry between you and lupin...' and then when he takes the hat it's 'get over it; just trust my judgement'

oh my god i can't believe i just tried to interpret dumbledore. -_- it is obviously way, way too late for me...

[dailyplanet.livejournal.com]

I always thought Dumbledore put the hat in the cracker! If only because it was perfectly embarrassing, and because Snape immediately gives it to Dumbledore.

Sort of an, "Ha. Ha. Now, take it back." ??

Plus, Dumbledore puts it on his head so they all get to gaze upon it during the meal. This is the sort of teasing crap MY BOSS would come up with.

"Hey, there's a mug at your place setting that has a picture of you asleep in your office on it."

I'm not saying that happened to me.

I'm just saying.

[desevera.livejournal.com]

Interesting point that Dumbledore's behaviour meant the hat stayed in view for the rest of the meal. Left with it himself, Snape could have just got rid of it quietly after the initial 'fun' had died down. (or thrown a hissy fit, which is perhaps more canonically plausible).

[cheyinka]

Aaaah! I love it! I love it!
And I love how the mother brings forth what the father calls!
*incoherent squealing*

[cheyinka]

and... forgot to use my new icon in my squealing.
*squealing resumes*

[pauraque]

You're welcome!

[dphearson.livejournal.com]

One does wonder what ever happened to Peter's "poor mother" (155)

Gah. And doesn't that hit the gullet? Peter is looking scarier and scarier by the minute.

And as for Dumbledotre, I am sure he did same thing when Snape was bullied at school:

"Oh, they only you stripped naked in front of the school, old boy. Stop crying- look at me, I'm naked! Whee!"

And we wonder about the chip on Severus' shoulder.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

You know, that brings the "Naked Time" song to mind...bad bad images...

[dphearson.livejournal.com]

Severus would be scarred for life!

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Actually, Neville hardly ever follows the Trio around, and certainly doesn't fawn over Harry the way Peter did over James -- it's Colin Creevey who plays that role.

And the dynamic is quite different between the Trio and MWPP. For one, Harry is loathe to be in the spotlight, and shuns the Colin's fawning when he can, and tolerates it when he must. James encouraged Peter's behavior.

Perhaps an argument for brief stays in Azkaban like Hagrid's -- they can serve as a deterrent, which Muggle prison generally doesn't.


Or short-term stays crush any impulse to be out of step with general Wizarding society. Given how unevenly the law is applied, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Azkaban is used to crush political dissent and social activism that upsets the powerful.

'[Dumbledore] wouldn't spend hundreds of Galleons on [a Firebolt for] me.' (166)

The whole bit of Sirius buying the Firebolt -- with Crookshanks as an intermediary! -- just shows how little the rule of law is respected in the Wizarding World. Sirius has access to his Gringott's account, even though he's a wanted criminal on the lam!

How the heck do Aurors and Hit Wizards solve any crimes if they can't follow the money? Also, if the financial system is entirely ungoverned by the legal system, I bet the Ministry can't be funded by taxes...

The infamous cracker incident, often brought up in snapesupport debates.

I think Dumbledore really doesn't understand Snape. Their personalities are very different, and Dumbledore seems like the kind of person who would push people to find his jokes funny even when the other (Snape, in this case) is obviously not amused. That sort of unintentional and unaware cruelty makes me believe that Dumbledore is not as sympathetic as he thinks he is.

[marksykins.livejournal.com]

Ah, one of my favorite chapters, this one. No need to go into yet another Neville-Peter rant, so I'll leave that be. Scabbers quivering in Ron's pocket is one of those moments I completely glazed over in my first reading (and possibly second), but when I picked up on it my "Good show, Joanne!" mentality came roaring back. Those kinds of things kill me.

One does wonder what ever happened to Peter's "poor mother"

I bet Mrs Pettigrew is still alive. She was still alive when Peter "died", he's been in hiding most of the time since. If she didn't die of natural causes and Peter decided to go kill her or something, it's possible we haven't heard of it, but it would have been a fairly recent occurrence.

In fact, I wonder who else has parents that are still around. Remus? Lucius? Snape? JKR has said Harry's grandparents are all dead, which is exactly what I assumed before she confirmed it, and I've gone off on rants because Lily, Petunia, and James were awfully young to have dead parents, even for us regular old humans. Say Lily died when she was 21 (approx.) and Petunia's, I don't know, three or four years older. That makes them both younger than I am. Both of my parents are just barely fifty and I have three surviving grandparents. If wizards are supposed to live so long, where's the rest of this 'grandparent generation' or even the one before? Killed off by Voldemort? Grindewald?

[Trelawney:] 'Never forget that when thirteen dine together, the first to rise will be the first to die!'

Who's first mentioned as up from the table? Is it Harry? I forget.

[(Anonymous)]

Who's first mentioned as up from the table? Is it Harry? I forget.

Harry and Ron, basically at the same time.

[marksykins.livejournal.com]

Eep. Yeah, considering Trelawney's track record is actually pretty good, all things considered, that worries me. Especially given that OotP thing with Sirius being the first to rise.

First actual fandom related comment...

[aristide.livejournal.com]

Considering the long life of Wizards, it's possible that they could have children far later than Muggles.
The Weasley’s are good proof of this and that could easily be the case, in a face-value sort of way that is.

It's also probable that part of Lily and James desire to going into hiding could be spurred by Death Eaters attacking family for information. Lily was muggle born, after all and it could be clued by Petunia’s distaste for the Wizarding world despite her knowledge for it.

Um, yes. That said, I'll go back to lurking in the bowels of fandom.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

If wizards are supposed to live so long, where's the rest of this 'grandparent generation' or even the one before? Killed off by Voldemort? Grindewald?

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if there are entire generational cohorts that were destroyed in the campaigns of Voldemort and Grindelwald.

Harry's generation, for one, seems very small -- if he was born at the height of Voldemort's first war, than it makes sense that he was born during a baby bust.

If the casualities for his parents' generation -- out of MWPP+L, two dead, one incarcerated, one in hiding, one free survivor; out of the Slytherins, two dead (Rosier & Wilkes), three incarcerated (Bellatrix and the LeStrange brothers), two free (Snape & Avery) was typical, then the Wizarding World is going through a unaknowledged population crash.

[marksykins.livejournal.com]

the Wizarding World is going through a unacknowledged population crash.

Oh goodness. A world populated entirely by Weasleys is inevitable, isn't it?

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Even the Weasleys aren't immune to the population bobble. JKR's bad math skills not withstanding, there is a serious gap between Bill and Charlie, and Percy, Fred, George, Ron and Ginny. A gap where you could easily place one or two more children -- who aren't there.

[nakedcelt.livejournal.com]

Given all the discussion over this issue in the commentary to Chapter 8, I can't help noticing that the way McGonagall and Trelawney address each other as "Sybill" and "Minerva" during Christmas dinner, in front of several students, has gone quite unremarked.

[pauraque]

You're right, I didn't notice it, nor have I ever heard it brought up in this context, actually. McGonagall and Trelawney appear to dislike each other, but we don't know why -- if they had the same kind of known history that Lupin and Snape do, maybe more would have been made of it.

This is largely why I asked the "what else could Lupin have done" question. Snape is obviously put out by their interaction, but as everyone should know, he's oversensitive about being disrespected and embarrassed, particularly by MWPP or anyone tied to them. So while I still think Snape felt needled by the first-names thing -- and I still think Lupin knew that -- I also think Snape would have found plenty of reasons to be annoyed besides that even if Remus had taken the hint.

[nakedcelt.livejournal.com]

Actually, truth to tell, after a hasty re-read, I'm not sure there was even necessarily a hint to take. Snape addresses everyone by their surname only, nearly all the time — except, of course, for "Headmaster".

[glitterdemon.livejournal.com]

McGonagall and Trelawney appear to dislike each other, but we don't know why -- if they had the same kind of known history that Lupin and Snape do, maybe more would have been made of it.

1) Does Trelawney ever actually show dislike for McGonagall?

2) Does McGonagall ever actually show dislike for Trelawney, or just her abilities as a teacher? Because there's also that scene in OotP where Umbridge is trying to kick Sibyll out of the school, and it's Minerva who comes to her aid and, in fact, is very comforting and sweet to her. If there is any kind of discord between them, it's probably based all on Minerva's opinions in the professional sphere and isn't strong enough to extend to the personal. Certainly nothing of the caliber of the enmity between Snape and Lupin.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_hannelore/]

I'll go out on a limb and hazard that Dumbledore either knew or made the hat from the cracker look like boggart!Snape's hat. He couldn't have been clueless about all the Snape teasing way back when and he certainly is willing to overlook rule-breaking and even reward it.

I don't think it was meant to be a blatant slap in the face, but a bit of the ol' "hee hee, heard about you as that boggart!" But then again, his last words to Snape in this book seem much more telling so... maybe he's just trying to cheer Snape up while realizing he's not going to cheer him up. Besides, Dumbledore likes funny hats.

It would be curious to know if poor Mrs. Pettigrew knows her son is alive...

[marinarusalka.livejournal.com]

Those who use this line to support the theory that Neville will turn, or be tempted to turn, sometimes also point to Dumbledore's comment that it took courage for Neville to go against his friends (PS/SS), which was certainly the case for Peter.

I don't think that works as a parallel. Neville went again his friends because he believed, based on limited information he had, that his friends were in the wrong and he was doing the right thing. Peter, by his own words, turned on his friends because he thought Voldemort was sure to win and there was no point in opposing him. Not because he thought Voldemort was actually right. Neville acted out of courage, Peter out of cowardice.

Ironically, Neville's actions are closest to Snape's. Snape, after all, went against his own DE friends when he became a spy, presumably because he, too, was trying to do the right thing.

Of course, Snape would probably explode if somebody pointed out to him that he was like Neville in any way. :-)

[pauraque]

Ah, but he is like Neville! They share an all-consuming fear of humiliation.

[desevera.livejournal.com]

I wonder if Snape's overblown reaction to Neville isn't because he sees rather too much of himself in Neville and is attempting to 'toughen him up'. We know (albeit from Sirius, who's unreliable as a source) that Snape hung around with a group of friends at Hogwarts, but there is no evidence that he was at the heart of any group. Coupled with his fear of humiliation and the fact that he's learnt that you can't (or shouldn't) rely on anyone, it is possible that he's trying to 'toughen Neville up' in some way.
Not that I approve of his methods, which are stunningly ineffectual, but that might be the idea behind them.

Either that, or he was responsible for the condition of Neville's parents in some way (or *feels* responsible) and deals with it in the only way he knows how. We've seen he's not the most emotionally intelligent man ever.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Of course, Snape would probably explode if somebody pointed out to him that he was like Neville in any way

There are a lot of parallels between Neville and Snape.

1) They both seem on the periphery of their Houses throughout school.

2) They both excel in non-flashy fields of study.

3) They both seem to be neglected-to-abused by their families.

4) They both try to do what they see as the right thing, regardless of consequences or cost.

But yeah, Snape would throw a hissy if someone pointed it out to him.

Frankly, I think he *attacks* Neville in part because Neville reminds him of himself -- the awkward, lonely child he was. That could also be why part of he attacks Hermione -- he hates being reminded what an overacheiving swot he was.