pauraque_bk | CoS 18

Chapter 17 generated an unusual amount of discussion! Y'all are smart kids. :*

CoS 18: Dobby's Reward

[...]just as Harry found himself and Ron being swept up into Mrs Weasley's tight embrace.
'You saved her! You saved her! How did you do it?' (241)

I think it's weird that we're not shown Molly hugging *Ginny*, just the boys. The way Ginny is treated in this chapter is weird generally. More on this in a few pages.

[Dumbledore:] 'Very few people know that Lord Voldemort was once called Tom Riddle. I taught him myself, fifty years ago, at Hogwarts. He disappeared after leaving the school ... travelled far and wide ... sank so deeply into the Dark Arts, consorted with the very worst of our kind, underwent so many dangerous, magical transformations, that when he resurfaced as Lord Voldemort, he was barely recognisable. Hardly anyone connected Lord Voldemort with the clever, handsome boy who was once Head Boy here.' (242)

Except the "intimate friends" with whom Tom was already using the name at school! One wonders who they were... or if they even existed. We know Tom was a favorite of the staff, but was he popular? A half-blood in Slytherin today would meet with bigotry, but was that the case in the 1930s and 40s? Was he admired for his accomplishments, or seen as a geek, a weird uber-smart teacher's pet? Early on, I think it's Harry who compares Tom to Percy (though it might have been Ron, I can't recall).

Dumbledore offers no indication of *why* Tom disappeared, nor whether he set off to explore the Dark Arts or merely fell into them. My sense is that he was already interested in immortality, which could be confirmed by his urge to "back up" his memories in diary form, as

caesia390 commented in Chapter 13. I can't find it now, but someone also said in a comment that it makes sense for him to have a great interest in permanence and personal security, given his childhood circumstances.

[Dumbledore:] 'This has been a terrible ordeal for her. There will be no punishment. Older and wiser wizards than she have been hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort. [...] Bed rest and perhaps a large, steaming mug of hot chocolate. I always find that cheers me up [...] You will find that Madam Pomfrey is still awake. She's just giving out Mandrake juice -- I dare say the Basilisk's victims will be waking up any moment.' (243)

We talked about this passage a bit in the last post. How can it be considered sufficient to "not punish" an 11-year-old kid who's been mentally violated, forced to do terrible things, and very nearly killed? To dismiss her suffering with a prescription of bed rest and chocolate (even considering its known magical properties) seems like madness. But it's not inconsistent with the wizarding world's general attitude toward suffering and psychological damage -- these things just aren't taken seriously.

One can debate the rightness of that in the characters and their culture, but that's a separate question from whether JKR herself is taking Ginny's trauma seriously, and there's precious little evidence that she is. The last time we see her in this book, she's giggling over Percy and his girlfriend (250), and we hear nothing more from her about the events of CoS until OotP, where she seems offended that the incident slipped Harry's mind. But who can blame him? All the other characters seem to want nothing more than to gloss the whole thing over.

On another note, in the last chapter

gmth quite reasonably asked how Nick was able to take the potion.

_hannelore suggested that splashing it on him could work, but aside from that, I haven't the foggiest. Nick is mentioned once in passing in PoA, but what happened the previous year is not remarked upon.

'Am I a Professor?' said Lockhart in mild surprise. 'Goodness. I expect I was hopeless, was I?' (244)

Again, we don't know the exact nature of Lockhart's mental state here, but if we can take this as something he truly believes about himself -- or believed about himself at one time -- it's very interesting indeed.

'He tried to do a Memory Charm and the wand backfired,' Ron explained quietly to Dumbledore.
'Dear me,' said Dumbledore, shaking his head, his long silver moustache quivering. 'Impaled upon your own sword, Gilderoy!' (244)

Hm, so Dumbledore knows about Lockhart's memory-modifying ways. And appears to be amused by his fate! I think this supports the notion that Dumbledore hired Lockhart in the first place to teach him a lesson of some kind.

'You can speak Parseltongue, Harry,' said Dumbledore calmly, 'because Lord Voldemort -- who is the last remaining descendant of Salazar Slytherin -- can speak Parseltongue. Unless I'm very much mistaken, he transferred some of his own powers to you the night he gave you that scar. Not something he intended to do, I'm sure...' (245)

And yet, after intentionally pouring his soul into Ginny, she's left unscathed. Right-o.

'It only put me in Gryffindor,' said Harry in a defeated voice, 'because I asked not to go in Slytherin...'
'Exactly,' said Dumbledore, beaming once more. 'Which makes you very different from Tom Riddle. It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.' (245)

Man, where to start with this?

1) When Harry asked for anything but Slytherin, he wasn't making an informed decision. He'd heard some exaggerated claims about what Slytherins are like, and, more immediately, wanted to avoid getting stuck in a dorm with a kid he already disliked.

2) It's hard to read this and come up with anything but "Slytherin is bad", which is just... sigh. Possibly "personal ambition is bad", which goes along with Lockhart's severe punishment, but ambition is Slytherin's symbolic trait, so there you are again. Is Harry virtuous not because he fought to save Ginny, but because he chose to wear red and gold?

3) It may not be the best of ideas to incorporate a major "free choice" theme into a story where you've also got real prophecies, not to mention a time travel event that's depicted in a way that suggests pre-destination. If for no other reason than that it makes my little head hurt.

[Dumbledore to Lucius:] '[...] Several of them seemed to think that you had threatened to curse their families if they didn't agree to suspend me in the first place.' (246)

Mm. The implication being that Lucius is more powerful than your average wizard, I guess. Special Dark Powers?

'And imagine,' Dumbledore went on, 'what might have happened then ... The Weasleys are one of our most prominent pure-blood families. Imagine the effect on Arthur Weasley and his Muggle Protection Act, if his own daughter was discovered attacking and killing Muggle-borns[...]' (247)

This seems to be conjecture on Dumbledore's part. It makes sense, but only Lucius knows for certain.

[...]and Lucius Malfoy had been sacked as a school governor. (250)

Who appoints and dismisses the school governors, I wonder?

And together they walked back through the gateway to the Muggle world. (251)

And that's that.

After allowing time for discussion of this chapter, I'll do a wrap-up post. The rest of the re-read posts are here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The end of this book was just so... "WTF?" when I first read it. It sort of reminds me of the battle in the Dept of Mysteries in OOtP: highly unlikely, truly bizarre and the kind of suspension of belief that usually movies are made of.

Molly's coddling of Harry ever since Book 1 makes me wonder if the Weasleys had more ties to the Potters. She goes head-to-head with Sirius over the guardianship of Harry, it's Harry she hugs after her daughter has been presumed dead. She also picks out Harry as "family" when Arthur has been attacked. Also, it's boggling why the dread and horror of the Weasley family is so palpable in OOtP when Arthur is attacked, but the reaction of the Weasley parents at the end of CoS seem like a reaction to a prank gone wrong, not the fact that they were told their assumed Ginny was dead.

'Dear me,' said Dumbledore, shaking his head, his long silver moustache quivering. 'Impaled upon your own sword, Gilderoy!'

Why would Dumbledore hire such an inept professor if he knew Lockhart was a fake? Hagrid (I think?) says Lockhart was "the only" candidate for the job, but can that be true if Snape applies for the job again and again?

*cough* Excuse me for the following, I'm an unabashed Tom/Albus fan. I think even though "Dumbldore kept an annoying close watch on me after that," Tom was Albus' "pet" (and dirty little secret). This might be why Dumbledore knows what has happened to Tom over the years, his transformation and the way he talks to Harry about him. He points him out as handsome, too.

I would have been all in favor of thinking that Ginny was treated to a little chocolate Oblivation too, but because she does talk about being possessed in OOtP, perhaps that rules that out. On the other hand, if there wasn't anything of this sort, it seems pretty crap of Rowling to insert the chipper "on the other hand, Ginny was perfectly happy" stupidity after all Ginny's been through. Also, when she awakes in CoS she calls him "Riddle" but in OOtP it's back to "You-Know-You."

And I don't have the book in front of me, but I wonder if Dumbledore is using Legimency on Lucius when he makes these claims:

'And imagine,' Dumbledore went on, 'what might have happened then ... The Weasleys are one of our most prominent pure-blood families. Imagine the effect on Arthur Weasley and his Muggle Protection Act, if his own daughter was discovered attacking and killing Muggle-borns[...]' (247)

Or if he really knows, or if he's just doing a "Murder She Wrote" exposition for younger readers?

Off-handedly, I wonder if some of the simplistic "fixes" in these early books like PS and CoS are aimed for those younger reasons, while in OOtP, the scenarios are more complex because it's assumed the readers are older.

Lastly, because I forgot, the way Arthur is so completely horrified at Ginny almost sounds like he at one time was put under the spell of some Dark object. Working with the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts, maybe he stumbled across something that had been charmed with the Dark arts and he is thinking about this as he leaves so dazed and "shaken."

Lastly, because I forgot, the way Arthur is so completely horrified at Ginny almost sounds like he at one time was put under the spell of some Dark object. Working with the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts, maybe he stumbled across something that had been charmed with the Dark arts and he is thinking about this as he leaves so dazed and "shaken."

I'm a big proponent of the idea that Arthur was put under Imperius during the First War.

I would buy this.
I think it would explain his irrational reaction, but also, why he had warned his child (presumably repeatedly) not to miss with things unless you can see where they keep their brain.

Maybe this is a common warning in the wizarding world, but it does seem an odd thing to emphasize, especially with perfectly harmless "thinking" objects like the sorting hat, the portraits, and other such items.

I'm a big proponent of the idea that Arthur was put under Imperius during the First War.

More of this? For what purpose and by whom? *curious*

but it does seem an odd thing to emphasize,...

Yeah, especially since he seems much more shaken up by what Ginny was possessed by, not so much that she's actually alive and not dead.

The Arthur-Imperius theory comes primarily from

skelkins, who has several posts about it on her site. As far as I can tell, the chronologically first one is here, but if you do a search, there are more.

I would have been all in favor of thinking that Ginny was treated to a little chocolate Oblivation too, but because she does talk about being possessed in OOtP, perhaps that rules that out.

I'm sure "they" couldn't fully modify her memory, as other people were involved in the situation, but I wouldn't be surprised in the least to learn that her memory was modified enough to make her forget some of the trauma.

I have a pet theory that Ginny, now that she's old enough to date, has been dating around in a quest to find her Tom. Tom had hold of her, after all, and at such an impressionable age. I tend to wonder if she, somewhere in her mind, has him idealized and is looking for someone to take his place. (Probably not, though. Fanfic!)

I think even though "Dumbldore kept an annoying close watch on me after that," Tom was Albus' "pet" (and dirty little secret). This might be why Dumbledore knows what has happened to Tom over the years, his transformation and the way he talks to Harry about him. He points him out as handsome, too.

I don't think you have to be a Tom/Albus fan to get this notion. He does talk about Tom as though their relationship was more intimate than the typical teacher and student.

You know, I half suspect Tom's anti-muggle stance might have been purely to be a slap in the face to Dumbledore.

I'm sure there are plenty of other ways to gain power in the wizarding world, and certainly, if it's as unstable as any other society, other dividing points to pick at, so it's always been curious to me that a half blood would choose that one.

But, it is the most hurtful thing he could have chosen to if he wanted, even subconsciously, some kind of revenge on Dumbledore. This occurred to me based also on what he said in GoF, which I don't have right now ^^

I agree too, that Dumbledore seems to allude to at least as unprofessional a relationship with Tom as he currently has with Harry.

The final battle in OOtP also seemed to scream Tom/Albus, with Albus saying (paraphrase) "You shouldn't have been here tonight" and telling him that the Aurors will be on their way. Not to mention Albus only shows up at the opportune moment when Voldemort finally makes an appearance. That he looks "almost frightened" when it appears that Voldemort might have been suffocated. I'm almost wondering if Harry hasn't picked up on this relationship as well.

You know, I half suspect Tom's anti-muggle stance might have been purely to be a slap in the face to Dumbledore.

I suspect too that everything went downhill once Tom left Hogwarts. Perhaps before he did, Albus realized he was starting to have severe anti-muggle sentiments, maybe even trying to reason with him.

CoS 18

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject