art recs :: CoS 10

[pauraque_bk]

I make no secret of my love for kaptainsnot's art. Here are two recent pieces that exemplify something she's really tops at: expressions.

Vanilla Afternoon (G, Snape/Harry)
Look at Snape's face. Sneering, yet there's some strange affection there. The nostalgic old-photograph-ness of it... mm.

Sacrifice (G, Padfoot)
I said: "Superb! Padfoot's expression (whole body, as it should be with a dog) says it all: In his mind, it's Peter."


*

Great discussion on the last chapter. Talk of the reasons Hogwarts may have been founded here and here, and discussion of what Snape found funny about Mrs Norris's petrification here. (On that last one, I have to say, I still don't get it. Is this something we were supposed to really notice? One of the "questions we haven't been asking"?)

Oh, and an observation from jheaton that made me grin:

"Something else to ponder: if Hogwarts was founded in 992 or thereabouts, then the entire British public school system must have been deliberately patterned after Hogwarts."


CoS 10: The Rogue Bludger

We're at the halfway mark -- nine chapters down, nine to go.

Since the disastrous episode of the pixies, Professor Lockhart had not brought live creatures to class. (122)

I hate to say it, but doesn't this remind you of Hagrid? Hagrid isn't as bad a teacher as Lockhart, but he did make a similar mistake, with a similar result.

Instead, he read passages from his books to them, and sometikmes re-enacted some of the more dramatic bits. [...] Harry was hauled to the front of the class during their very next Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, this time acting a werewolf.
[...]
'[...]I then screwed up my remaining strength and performed the immensely complex Homorphus Charm [...] and he turned back into a man. Simple, yet effective -- and another village will remember me forever as the hero who delivered them from the monthly terror of werewolf attacks.' (122)

Lockhart confesses to having stolen the brave deeds of others, but can that possibly be the case here? Does the Homorphus Charm a) exist, and b) do what Lockhart implies it does? If Lockhart is saying the man was cured, he thoroughly contradicts the way lycanthropy is presented in PoA. Or does he mean that forcing the man back to human form allowed him to be identified, and imprisoned or killed?

Any thoughts on the significance of Harry acting the part of a werewolf?

The bell rang and Lockhart got to his feet. (122)

I keep thinking I'm going to mention this, and then not -- there are bells at Hogwarts to signal the start and end of class. I always forget this, and I think other people do as well, possibly because it seems so incongruous. Can't we at least get a bell tower tolling or something?

[Lockhart] pulled out an enormous peacock quill. 'Yes, nice, isn't it?' he said, misreading the revolted look on Ron's face. 'I usually save it for book-signings.'
He scrawled an enormous loopy signature[...] (123)

Someone tell JKR not to use the word 'enormous' twice in as many paragraphs.

Although JKR's narrative is sometimes awkward and rarely poetic, her dialogue is consistently excellent.

There were bright pink patches on [Hermione's] cheeks and her eyes were brighter than usual. 'I don't want to break rules, you know. I think threatening Muggle-borns is far worse than brewing up a difficult potion[...]'
'I never thought I'd see the day when you'd be persuading us to break rules,' said Ron. (125)

Ron doesn't react to the fact that what Hermione's saying is that she's afraid for her _own_ safety, and shouldn't that come before rules in her friends minds? Harry doesn't seem to pick up on it either. Although he does have a lot of compassionate responses in this book (to Dobby, to Filch), he doesn't appear very affected by how terrifying this must be for Hermione. He does "fiercely" insist that he should be there to protect her (134), but so far I haven't seen any signs of empathy.

[George:] 'I've just seen Marcus Flint yelling at Malfoy. Something about having the Snitch on top of his head and not noticing[...]' (132)

Quite right, he was too busy laughing at Harry's predicament with the Bludger. In Chapter 7, neotoma commented that Draco must have at least some skill or they wouldn't let him on the team and ruin their chances of winning. At this juncture it seems that he has some skill, but doesn't take the game seriously enough.

'Ah, if Harry Potter only knew!' Dobby groaned [...]. 'If he knew what he means to us, to the lowly, the enslaved, us dregs of the magical world! Dobby remembers how it was when He Who Must Not Be Named was at the height of his powers, sir! We house-elves were treated like vermin, sir![...]' (133)

I still haven't answered the question of why this should be so to my own satisfaction, though there was a great deal of useful talk about it back in Chapter 2.

'Another attack,' said Dumbledore. 'Minerva found [Colin] on the stairs.'
'There was a bunch of grapes next to him,' said Professor McGonagall. 'We think he was trying to sneak up here to visit Potter.' (135)

Why grapes? Am I missing something?


Past re-read posts are here.

Comments

[kaptainsnot.livejournal.com]

The Homorphus Charm -- that is something I've always been confused over. It can either mean to keep a man from changing, or to change a man back from his werewolf state, depending on whether it's Latin or Greek -- but both seem just as unlikely. I do think it would have come up in PoA if it were true, or that Hermione, if not Lupin himself, would have brought it up. I think that if anything, it is a way to identify a werewolf -- perhaps certain features are morphed back, but the nature of the beast remains. More of a regressive-transfiguration type of spell than anything resembling a cure for lycanthropy, perhaps using an under-the-surface magical signature of the person to reveal the wolf's identity.

Hm, and I remember finding the comment about grapes amusing, thinking it having to do with Creevy's near worship of Harry. I doubt it was meant to be funny, what with the tragedy at hand, but it made me chortle the first time around. Creevy -- he had grapes with him, he must have been on his way to Harry's feet.

-hugs- I cannot tell you how happy I become when you recommend my art. Your comments are always insightful and make me believe that what I dream of expressing is brought across, and that means everything to me. Thank you!

[pauraque]

More of a regressive-transfiguration type of spell than anything resembling a cure for lycanthropy, perhaps using an under-the-surface magical signature of the person to reveal the wolf's identity.

Yeah, this is about where I was going. Chalk up the rest to Lockhart's imagination, his emphasis on the "saved the village from attack" rather than "killed the werewolf".

Creevy -- he had grapes with him, he must have been on his way to Harry's feet.

Is there some significance of grapes that I'm missing?

Thank you!

Don't thank me, just keep making great art. :*

[kaptainsnot.livejournal.com]

Well, I always had this very vague idea, coming back from Greek myths, of servants and worshipers of a certain emperor, god, what have you -- feeding them grapes. There are sculptures that depict this, and while it might have simply been because of their abundance, it was a common motif. [I just asked someone on AIM about this to check if I was off my perch or not, but they seemed to understand]

Aaah, this was probably not intentional, but it always did strike me as funny, considering the way Creevy fawned over him. The last straw would have been feeding him grapes to the mouth.

Don't thank me, just keep making great art. :*

;] Hey, you're an inspiration! That's enough to give you my gratitude.

[pauraque]

Oh, I guess I see what you mean. "Peel me a grape" and so on.

[kaptainsnot.livejournal.com]

Yes. -shrugs- It's a pretty lame connection, but otherwise it seemed...rather random. It was probably a simple matter of "If Creevy were sneaking off anywhere, it'd be to Potter's". Perhaps he simply didn't want to arrive empty-handed -- and grapes seemed as good a choice as any, its cultural implication just an add-in.

Also, to just make a comment on Draco and Quidditch -- I think it simply serves as yet another reminder that while both Draco and Harry have some sort of fame, Malfoys well known among wizards and Harry being who he is, they have almost opposite reactions toward it. Harry, wishing to be distinguished for his talent or ability as opposed to the scar on his head, actually pours effort into Quidditch, the thing he most excels at. Draco, however, is comfortable with sliding by, for he knows there will always be his name and fortune to keep him out of social shadow. Obvious, perhaps, but it's good to see this represented through something so general as the wizarding sport.

[serriadh.livejournal.com]

If people are visiting someone in hospital, it's traditional to take a bunch of grapes as a gift (like flowers, or something). Presumably because they're small and easy-ish to eat. I would think that it's more likely JKR is referring to this in Creevey's case. She could have said that he was bringing flowers, but then all the slashers' alarm bells would have started ringing!

[pauraque]

It's a British tradition? That makes it make more sense, then.

And yes, I think flowers could have been a bit excessive... though not far off, since it's Colin.

[kaptainsnot.livejournal.com]

Aah, that makes a lot more sense, yes. It's interesting, I hadn't heard of it.

[serriadh.livejournal.com]

Yep, it's a British tradition. Strange what things don't translate, isn't it? I kinda assumed it happened everywhere

[leni-jess.livejournal.com]

It's a tradition familiar to me as an Australian (certainly my immediate assumption was that Colin was hospital-visiting with the trad gift - it is also trad for the bringer rather than the patient to scoff the grapes). Now I wonder if the familiarity is completely derived from literature - no one ever brought me grapes!

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I dunno...that seems like a bit much to take out of this incident. I think the kid wants to win at Quidditch as much as the next person. Malfoy would certainly like to have his name mean something, but it seems like he's been insecure about that since Year 1 thanks to Harry. If he were really that secure and happy to slide by I don't think he'd care about Harry so much.

I thought it was just supposed to be another ha-ha moment to Malfoy, that his obsession with Harry (which would trump his interest in Quidditch no matter how much he wanted to win) not only made him miss the Snitch but get yelled at by his captain. Plus the very thing that should be keeping Harry from winning ends up helping him, because it distracts the other Seeker. It's a good way of integrating the bludger into the narrative of the game so one thing leads to another.