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

[pauraque]

I'm somewhat resistant to the idea that Snape likes anything that's "fun". I would think he'd be annoyed by someone as outgoing as Draco.

When I said there were other ways they could have found out about Myrtle, I meant there were other ways JKR could have constructed the plot. She chose to go out of her way to introduce the giant spiders and the Hagrid-goes-to-Azkaban thread.

[millefiori.livejournal.com]

I'm somewhat resistant to the idea that Snape likes anything that's "fun". I would think he'd be annoyed by someone as outgoing as Draco.

But Draco's main idea of fun seems to be 'getting' Harry Potter, something Snape enjoys. (He certainly seems to when he's reading that Prophet article aloud in class.) Also, as a teacher and head of house he's in complete control of the relationship. I imagine Draco could easily grate on the nerves after a while, but with Snape his access is limited, and he's no doubt careful not to push too hard.

When I said there were other ways they could have found out about Myrtle, I meant there were other ways JKR could have constructed the plot.

Oh, I'm sorry -- I misunderstood.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Snape apparently liked Lucius once, and joined the DEs of his own free will, presumably, and perhaps thought tormenting Muggles and Mudbloods was fun. Draco seems to definitely look to Snape for how to behave--he doesn't jump in on Harry when he comes into the Pensieve scene. In class it's usually Snape who's being outgoing and putting on a show while Draco backs him up by laughing at his jokes on Harry.

It's funny, because I understand where people are coming from when they think Snape must be playing Draco, but to me that seems as strange to me as his genuinely liking Draco seems to them. It seems to me like they really would like each other and have a lot in common. If they were exactly alike maybe Snape would like him less. Even disagreeing on the Dark Lord doesn't seem like an impossible barrier to me. We don't know exactly how they would approach the subject--Snape is now working against V, but he called people Mudbloods at 15 too. Draco supposedly supports V but is scared of his name just like any regular kid. So they might actually have more in common on that score than what one would immediately suspect.

So it's actually harder for me to imagine Snape so smoothly playing a little boy for all this time. Snape was a spy, but in special circumstances I think. He joined the DEs honestly and then just covered up his change of heart. Whereas usually we're told when Snape is irritated with people. He's never nice to anybody that we see, so when I think of Snape trying to fake being nice to a kid he doesn't like I think...Snape? How would he even know how to go about that? Seems like he'd be even scarier if he was faking being nice!

[millefiori.livejournal.com]

Snape was a spy, but in special circumstances I think. He joined the DEs honestly and then just covered up his change of heart.

That's a great observation. I don't think Snape could successfully be the kind of spy who has to infiltrate a group without raising suspicion, and report back to his masters without being caught. Deciding that Voldemort had to be stopped doesn't necessarily mean that he stopped liking his DE friends.