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

[hermione-like.livejournal.com]

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

I'm wondering if it's some sort of symbolism for Harry and his own inner demons--a way of JKR comparing Harry to werewolves. Lupin, for example, literally transforms into his demon, but Harry's inner demons are more subtle. For instance, Harry took on some of Voldemort's powers when he was attacked the first time, and Harry questions who he is throughout CoS because of almost being put in Slytherin. He is just finding out he can speak Parseltongue as well, and people are accusing him of being the Heir of Slytherin. Harry really starts wondering here if he is bad or if he could turn evil, since the Sorting Hat thought so (according to him).

Obviously, there's also the tie to PoA because that's where Harry's relationship to Voldemort evolves even more. We already know he's angry and sad that his parents were killed, but it becomes even more personal with Sirius on the loose, and then later on hearing that Sirius suspected Lupin, the werewolf. I'm sure others have thought of this, although I've never seen it brought up, but I think Lupin's being a werewolf factored into Sirius thinking Lupin was the traitor (and not just the fact that no one thought it was Peter). Voldemort would want dark creatures to help him so why not try to manipulate some into helping him? Knowing that Lupin is a werewolf might have affected his thoughts on that.

Going back to CoS then, until Harry (and we the readers) come to know Lupin, we think werewolves are bad. They're regular people who transform and do bad things, but who knows if they even remember hurting people in their werewolf state? Harry questioning if he is the Heir of Slyterin is very similar to that--did he do something that he wasn't aware of? And then we get it again when it's revealed it was Ginny who did everything but was not aware of it.