CoS 15

[pauraque_bk]

[ETA: asphodeline, I got your package! It arrived at a very timely moment.]

Don't forget to turn your clocks back an hour tonight if you're in an area that observes Daylight Savings Time. Liberals and conservatives alike enjoy an extra hour of sleep, says I.


Highlight of Chapter 14: What will become of Percy?

CoS 15: Aragog

ART: Due to a terrible typing error... by iibnf (at the very bottom of the page).

'Sir,' said Malfoy loudly. 'Sir, why don't you apply for the Headmaster's job?'
'Now, now, Malfoy,' said Snape, though he couldn't suppress a thin-lipped smile. 'Professor Dumbledore has only been suspended by the governors. I dare say he'll be back with us soon enough.'
'Yeah, right,' said Malfoy, smirking. 'I expect you'd have Father's vote, sir, if you wanted to apply for the job. I'll tell Father you're the best teacher here, sir...' (198)

Oh, Draco. I really doubt Snape is smiling because he wants to be Headmaster... more likely smiling at Draco's naivety. I don't think Draco gets that Snape *has* to be nice to him in order to maintain a necessary connection with Lucius (at least in my reading).

[...]and off they went, crocodile fashion[...] (198)

Huh?

'That Draco Malfoy character,' said Ernie, breaking off dead twigs, 'he seems very pleased about all this, doesn't he? D'you know, I think he might be Slytherin's heir.'
'That's clever of you,' said Ron, who didn't seem to have forgiven Ernie as readily as Harry. (199)

Well, that's pretty uncharitable of Ron, given that he thought the same. Or was that a self-deprecating remark, Harry's perception aside?

'Er -- aren't there -- aren't there supposed to be werewolves in the Forest?' [Ron] added[...] (200)

Now, that can't be true, can it? A rumor, but an interesting one... werewolves are reduced to the level of monsters living wild in the woods, not people with a disease. This comes from Ron... it's what he's gathered from the people around him.

[Harry:] 'There are good things in [the Forest], too. The centaurs are all right, and the unicorns.' (200)

Centaurs are all right, eh? That's what he thinks.

'Don't you people realise,' said Lockhart, speaking slowly, as though they were all a bit dim, 'the danger has passed! The culprit has been taken away.'
'Says who?' said Dean Thomas loudly.
'My dear young man, the Minister of Magic wouldn't have taken Hagrid if he hadn't been one hundred per cent sure that he was guilty,' said Lockhart, in the tone of someone explaining that one and one made two. (200)

Hm! Way back in Chapter 6, I brought up the fact that he puts himself forward as an advocate for peace between wizards and Muggles, and thought he was trying to align himself definitely with Dumbledore. Now he comes off as a Ministry mouthpiece... but are Dumbledore and the Ministry seen as part of the same establishment at this point? Oy, I don't know if I'm up for picking apart the politics here. Somebody help.

Instead he contented himself with scrawling a note to Ron: Let's do it tonight. (200)

Snerk.

'C'mon, Fang, we're going for a walk,' said Harry, patting his leg, and Fang bounded happily out of the house behind them[...] (201)

I like it when Harry's shown to be kind to animals. He's gentle and pretty conscientious with Hedwig and the other owls (as well as with Scabbers, pre-GoF).

Harry suddenly realised that the spider which had dropped him was saying something. It had been hard to tell, because he clicked his pincers with every word he spoke. (205)

Convenient that the spiders speak English. It probably wouldn't have bothered me, except for the emphasis on Parseltongue in this book. Unless Hagrid taught Aragog to speak, and he taught his family? Hm, that could explain why Hagrid thinks he can teach Grawp English.

'The thing that lives in the castle,' said Aragog, 'is an ancient creature we spiders fear above all others[...]' (206)

Do spiders appear in the basilisk myth?

[Ron:] 'What was the point of sending us in there? What have we found out, I'd like to know?'
'That Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets,' said Harry[...] (208)

And that Myrtle is the key, but there are other ways they could have found that out.

I'm trying to figure out why this book is constructed the way it is. It makes sense that we have to eliminate Draco as a suspect, because in terms of character he naturally would act suspiciously. And of course that gives JKR the opportunity to introduce Polyjuice, which is important later.

The second part of the story explains why Hagrid was expelled, re-emphasizes his weakness for monsters, carries on the sentient-car gag (which is odd, but I'm not sure what to say about it), introduces Azkaban... introduces the whole concept of governmental corruption, really. Harry witnesses the wrongful arrest of someone who is innocent, someone he really likes. Hm.


Previous re-read posts are here.

Comments

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

I really doubt Snape is smiling because he wants to be Headmaster... more likely smiling at Draco's naivety. I don't think Draco gets that Snape *has* to be nice to him in order to maintain a necessary connection with Lucius (at least in my reading).

You can smile at someone's naivety and still be fond of them. I think that Snape does like Draco to an extent, regardless of the political situations between himself and Mr. Malfoy.

Well, that's pretty uncharitable of Ron, given that he thought the same.

I think Ron is often an example that even with a nice family and good intention, it's easy to be cruel and thoughtless. Ron express the subtler Wizarding prejudices (his reaction to werewolves, Giants, etc.), while Draco expresses the blatant ones.

Oy, I don't know if I'm up for picking apart the politics here. Somebody help.

Lockhart is just blowing whichever way the wind is. He's hardly a reliable supporter of anything, except himself.

At this point, Fudge is still relying on Dumbeldore for support and advice, but has begun to move more under Malfoy's guidance -- imprisoning Hagrid and supporting Dumbledore's ouster are definitely moves independent of the Order's interests.

Unless Hagrid taught Aragog to speak, and he taught his family? Hm, that could explain why Hagrid thinks he can teach Grawp English

That could explain a lot -- especially since a lot of creatures in the Wizarding world seem unusually bright.

[strangemuses.livejournal.com]

I think Ron is often an example that even with a nice family and good intention, it's easy to be cruel and thoughtless. Ron express the subtler Wizarding prejudices (his reaction to werewolves, Giants, etc.), while Draco expresses the blatant ones.

But the giants are dangerous, terribly so. And until very recently, being bitten by a werewolf was essentially a life-sentence. We don't know how recently that werewolf potion was invented. Lupin refers to it as being 'recent.' Even now, the potion that Lupin takes doesn't prevent the transformation, it only mitigates the effects.

I don't see Ron's statements as reflecting prejudice really, as much as a sort of residual but legitimate fear.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

A residual and legitimate fear, except that on finding out that Remus Lupin is a werewolf, yes, but upon learning of this Ron recoils and screams at Lupin to get away from him -- Lupin is completely human *and* try to help at that moment. There is no threat to Ron right then, and he still reacts badly.

A residual and legitimate fear of infection is not the reason behind the werewolf-employment restrictions in OotP. A sane government would be making it easier to werewolves to get by in society, instead of driving them into poverty and desperation -- unless you think it's a ploy by the Death Eaters to get werewolves so desperate that they'll join Voldemort's side of sheer lack of options?

I'll grant you that the Giants do seem dangerous as heck, but I wouldn't be that friendly towards the people who've driven my race to near extinction and totally disrupted what is left our society either.

[strangemuses.livejournal.com]

I agree with you about the anti-werewolf employment restrictions. I can almost see restrictions being justified in the past when there was no 'cure' for lycanthropy and no viable way to prevent a werewolf from transforming into a vicious killer. One bite and you're doomed, like rabies in the real world. The legislation plays directly to fear.

What we don't know is how easy it is to make that potion, or when it even became available. You'd think that a kind society would put it's effort towards educating the public and making the potion freely available to lycanthropy victims.

As for the Giants, I don't blame their near extinction entirely on the wizards (or the Muggles). The Giants are violent, dangerous beings. Crammed together they become even violent towards each other, but left alone they are still a hazard to themselves and others. But they can't be entirely bad. We have Hagrid as living proof that man and giant can co-exist and even cross-breed (though I have absolutely no idea how they managed it, nor do I want to know).

[arclevel.livejournal.com]

You'd think that a kind society would put it's effort towards educating the public and making the potion freely available to lycanthropy victims.

I agree. Unfortunately, we have a great deal of evidence that this is not a kind society. I see this suggestion as a wizarding equivalent to socialized medicine, and I really *can't* see 98% of the wizarding world going for it, despite the fact that it makes *them* much safer. Far easier to make yourself "safe" by staying as far away from werewolves as possible, even if that position doesn't really make you safe. Another example of this (and where Ron gets it) is the first St. Mungo's scene in OotP; Arthur comments that a wardmate was bit by a werewolf, and Molly is upset that he's in a public ward, despite the fact that it isn't the full moon.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

You can smile at someone's naivety and still be fond of them. I think that Snape does like Draco to an extent, regardless of the political situations between himself and Mr. Malfoy.

I agree. I personally am a firm believer (I definitely want to believe) that Snape likes Draco independent of whatever ties he's trying to retain with Lucius. It's more interesting to me and also makes Snape and Draco more interesting and less one-note. This is, to me, one of the few (only?) positive smiles Snape ever gives in canon, one that he "can't suppress" indicating it's real. For once he's not smiling at someone's humiliation or something bad happening to someone else, but at someone complimenting him. Draco seems to genuinely like Snape and wants him to be headmaster--I don't see why Snape wouldn't honestly appreciate that kind of enthusiasm even while smiling at how artless and naive it is. Imagine this exchange between Harry and Remus (if the headmaster was one Harry didn't like) I think it would play much the same.

This exchange also came back to me in OotP when Sirius hints that Snape and Lucius have a long history. Draco doesn't seem aware that they know each other. So I thought part of Snape's smile was at the idea that Draco thinks he would be putting in a good word to Lucius when Snape is already not knowing Lucius already knows all about him.

Ron express the subtler Wizarding prejudices (his reaction to werewolves, Giants, etc.), while Draco expresses the blatant ones.

I love how very much alike the Weasleys and Malfoys seem to be underneath it all--when it comes down to it, Ron and Draco are from the same country, which is different than the one Harry and Hermione are from.

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

Draco seems to genuinely like Snape and wants him to be headmaster

I'm skeptical as to how much of that is directly due to Snape's favoritism. Would Draco like Snape any better than his other teachers if it weren't for that?

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I'm sure it's a big part of it--In my mind it's a combination of Snape's ability to assert real authority AND like Draco to boot is an irresistable combination. If Draco didn't respect him and Snape liked him I suspect Draco would be more contemptuous of him even while he enjoyed the advantages. With Snape he seems to like him but he also obeys him, it seems to me.

[arclevel.livejournal.com]

At this point, Fudge is still relying on Dumbeldore for support and advice, but has begun to move more under Malfoy's guidance.

IIRC, the only thing we really know before the end of GoF is Hagrid's comments in SS that the Minister sends daily letters to Dumbledore asking for advice. Later, he gets confident in office and worries that D'dore is trying to take over. I think it's possible that it's already moving this way by the start of SS, but Hagrid doesn't realize it yet, but I only think that because it seems like a very sudden change otherwise. I really wonder when Fudge was "elected," whatever that may mean in Wizarding Britain.