GoF 15

[pauraque_bk]

In Chapter 14 we had further talk of why Snape is so wary of Moody, which I enjoyed.


GoF 15: Beauxbatons and Durmstrang

[Harry] wished he still had Quidditch to distract him; nothing worked so well on a troubled mind as a good, hard training session. (203)

I'll say! *whipcrack*

'Look at that, you lot ... Potter fought! He fought it, and he damn near beat it! We'll try that again, Potter, and the rest of you, pay attention -- watch his eyes, that's where you see it -- very good, Potter, very good indeed! They'll have trouble controlling you!' (204)

I was already beginning to wonder if Harry's amazing ability to throw off the Imperius curse (he learns it within an hour) was related to his ability to deflect another Unforgivable -- the Killing Curse -- and when I got to watch his eyes, that's where you see it, I felt pretty certain. We're always seeing Lily's influence in Harry's eyes, and I have a feeling this is the same deal. Then again, he doesn't seem to have any special ability to deflect the Cruciatus Curse... but he can't cast it.

I also wonder a bit if when he says "they'll have trouble controlling you", he doesn't (only) mean the DEs, but also Dumbledore &co., which is true too.

Crouch!Moody says that Dumbledore wanted him to place the Imperius curse on the students. Do you guys think that's true?

Harry and Ron were deeply amused when Professor Trelawney told them that they had received top marks for their homework in their next Divination class. She read out large portions of their predictions, commending them for their unflinching acceptance of the horrors in store for them -- but they were less amused when she asked them to do the same thing for the month after next; both of them were running out of ideas for catastrophes. (206)

But as we were saying last time, there really may be truth to their made-up predictions. Can we credit Trelawney with realizing this on some level?

'Yeh'll do wha' yer told,' [Hagrid] growled, 'or I'll be takin' a leaf outta Professor Moody's book ... I hear yeh made a good ferret, Malfoy.'

The Gryffindors roared with laughter. (206)

Despite the fact that I doubt Hagrid really could transfigure Draco into a ferret (maybe he could give him a wee ferret tail), this is a bit disturbing when you know Moody's actually one crazy and evil dude. But his antics are hilaaaaarious to our heroic Gryffs.

[McGonagall:] 'Longbottom, kindly do not reveal that you can't even perform a simple Switching Spell in front of anyone from Durmstrang!' (208)

Interesting that she says Durmstrang, not Durmstrang or Beauxbatons. Perhaps a hint of not wanting to show weakness in front of Dark or at least potentially Dark wizards. Or maybe Durmstrang is considered more academically rigorous.

Some people, like Neville, had paid [for a SPEW badge] just to stop Hermione glowering at them. A few seemed mildly interested in what she had to say, but were reluctant to take a more active role in campaigning. Many regarded the whole thing as a joke. (210)

We aren't told whether the few who are interested are Muggleborns or not, but I'd expect they would be.

'Weasley, straighten your hat,' Professor McGonagall snapped at Ron. (212)

Fandom tends to forget that the kids are supposed to be wearing pointy wizard hats, I think, since they aren't shown in the movies and JKR rarely refers to them. Maybe she sometimes forgets too.

Harry, whose attention had been focused completley upon Madame Maxime, now noticed that around a dozen boys and girls -- all, by the look of them, in their late teens -- had emerged from the carriage and were now standing behind Madame Maxime. (215)

I hear the movie is planning to depict Beauxbatons as a girls' school, which it isn't.

Slowly, magnificently, the ship rose out of the water, gleaming in the moonlight. It had a strangely skeletal look about it, as though it was a resurrected wreck, and the dim, misty lights shimmering at its portholes looked like ghostly eyes. (217)

More cinematic imagery here, ditto for the giant horses. There are a lot of impressive spectacles in this book, which could make for a very pretty film.

Karkaroff had a fruity, unctuous voice; when he stepped into the light pouring from the front doors of the castle, they saw that he was tall and thin like Dumbledore, but his white hair was short, and his goatee (finishing in a small curl) did not entirely hide his rather weak chin. (217)

Fruity? *rolls about laughing*

Aaaha. Yes, anyway. Karkaroff has a weak chin, which should tell us right off that he's a shady character. Lockhart is also weak-chinned.


Previous GoF posts are saved in memories here.

Comments

[des06.livejournal.com]

'Yeh'll do wha' yer told,' [Hagrid] growled, 'or I'll be takin' a leaf outta Professor Moody's book ... I hear yeh made a good ferret, Malfoy.'

The Gryffindors roared with laughter. (206)

Perhaps I'm cutting Hagrid too much slack but I've always seen this as a bit of a silly toungue in cheek threat. He's not seriously threatening Draco and the both of them know it.

[arclevel.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's intended as a serious *threat*, but it's still completely out of line for him as a teacher. He's deliberately humiliating a student for one thing. I also think he's intending Draco to pick up on a threat here, even if Hagrid couldn't/wouldn't actually turn him into a ferret. But then, I've long thought that Hagrid's treatment of Draco was extremely similar to Snape's treatment of Harry.

[des06.livejournal.com]

Mmm. You have a point with the similar treatment thing but where Draco deliberately sets out to ruin Hagrid's classes and at one point get Hagrid fired, Harry doesn't do that to Snape.

[arclevel.livejournal.com]

No, but Harry is *extraordinarily* disrespectful to Snape, at one point apparently screaming obscenities at him and frequently glaring and being rude. Additionally, the majority of Snape's accusations about Harry are, in fact, entirely *true*. I think if Harry could have come up with some excuse to get Snape fired (which Draco more or less had on Hagrid), he would have used it without the slightest hesitation.

Yes, Draco is very antagonistic to Hagrid. If not for that, I'd have almost compared Hagrid's treatment of him to Snape's treatment of *Neville* rather than Harry. Hagrid's rudeness to Draco starts all the way back in PS, at the detention scene. Draco's pretty clearly terrified, and Hagrid all but mocks him for it. At this point, the only thing Draco's done to Hagrid -- besides being Lucius Malfoy's son -- was see that Hagrid had a dragon. Which was a situation where Hagrid was entirely in the wrong and would eventually have had to give up Norbert anyway.

[pilly2009.livejournal.com]

No, but Harry is *extraordinarily* disrespectful to Snape, at one point apparently screaming obscenities at him and frequently glaring and being rude.

Harry begins with the glaring and other rudeness in third year, after two years of dealing with Snape's hatred in which he never responded, and for the most part tried to keep his head down, while Draco starts with Hagrid from the very first class.

At this point, the only thing Draco's done to Hagrid -- besides being Lucius Malfoy's son -- was see that Hagrid had a dragon. Which was a situation where Hagrid was entirely in the wrong and would eventually have had to give up Norbert anyway.

But this, I think, would only make the parallels stronger to Snape vs. Harry, especially the bit about Hagrid hating him for being Lucius Malfoy's son (as far as I know, Snape has nothing personal against either of the elder Longbottoms).

[arclevel.livejournal.com]

Yes, hating Draco b/c of Lucius does parallel Harry (though I really wouldn't be surprised if Snape *did* have something against the elder Longbottoms -- there were Aurors, after all). I was just referring to Hagrid apparently picking up on a student's genuine fears and using them against him. At least that's how it reads to me.

So if Draco starts up in the first class, that would be third year as well. As I said, Hagrid seems to have started in on Draco in first year, although they certainly would have had far less interaction through those first two years than Harry and Snape did. (Also, Draco had damned good reason to go after Hagrid after that first class.) I'm not saying the interactions are *exactly* the same, mind you, just that there are strong parallels. In both cases, the teachers act seriously out-of-line in regards to the students they don't like, and in both cases the students are far from blameless.

[pilly2009.livejournal.com]

But I'm seriously not remembering this "out of line"-ness of Hagrid's; where did he use Draco's fear against him? The closest I can think of is when he says "Fang is a coward." Draco insisted he wasn't going into the forest, and Hagrid (most likely being entirely truthful) told him that if he didn't carry out his detention he'd be expelled. It's Filch who uses fear against Draco.

[arclevel.livejournal.com]

Perhaps it's just my reading, but I've always read that scene as Hagrid being quite sneering and rude. Sort of a "shut up and do it, you little coward" attitude (though those definitely aren't the words he uses). I think part of the reason that I read him as being so rude to Draco is that he's simultaneously being so *nice* to Harry and Hermione, even though all four of the kids are there to receive the same punishment for the same rule infraction. (And while they were out of bed for different reasons, all four of them were out because of Hagrid's irresponsibility in owning Norbert.)

[pilly2009.livejournal.com]

Oh, I definitely agree that Hagrid's personal bias shines through in this scene; I mean, he doesn't even greet Neville either, although Neville too is a Gryffindor. I just don't know whether it's actually a case of Hagrid deliberately picking on Draco for being a coward. After all, a bit later in the scene there is a prime opportunity for him to do just that, when Draco fearfully asks what would happen if whatever killed the unicorn finds them first, yet Hagrid's response is reassurance ("There's nothin' that lives in the forest that'll hurt yeh if yer with me or Fang").

[likethemodel.livejournal.com]

Wasn't Care of Magical Creatures a first year class? I distinctly remember a textbook for it on Harry's book list for first year, but it's never mentioned.

[arclevel.livejournal.com]

They need Fantastic Beasts in first year, but they never say why. Maybe for Defense Against the Dark Arts? They definitely start CMC in third year, and their book is the Monster Book of Monsters.

[t0ra-chan.livejournal.com]

Draco deliberately sets out to ruin Hagrid's classes and at one point get Hagrid fired

1. Draco ask questions in class, which any good teacher should be able to answer. That Hagrid can't shows that he isn't one.

2. When does Draco get Hagrid fired? In PoA? Because he doesn't, it's all about Buckbeak's executions, firing Hagrid isn't even brought up.

[arclevel.livejournal.com]

I think the Malfoys do call for Hagrid to be fired after the Buckbeak incident, but it's dropped almost immediately -- Dumbledore would never allow it -- so they turn their full attention to Buckbeak. Also, you could probably make a case for it in regard to his "inspection" by Umbridge, though she'd have tried to get rid of him no matter what his students said, and they probably realized it.

I agree with you on the first point. Especially in regards to the skrewts, Draco's asking completely legitimate questions. Also, being injured, with the potential for much more serious injury, in the first class of a subject because the lesson was too advanced, the teacher didn't have safety precautions in place (like, say, only having one student go at a time so he could pay attention to them), and yes, also because you weren't paying close enough attention to the directions, is *not* going to endear you to a teacher and make you likely to respect their authority.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

In the normal world, of course, Hagrid would at the least be put on probation for what happens to Draco in his first class. It always amazes me when people even suggest Draco lies about what happens in the class to get Hagrid in trouble, as if the truth somehow makes Hagrid look good. (Or as if Draco's not hearing one throwaway line is a shockingly bad thing to do, even though Harry doesn't pay attention plenty of times in class, as do all kids.)

I think the text makes this very clear. Hagrid does not just have a problem with Malfoy; Malfoy is just the kid that speaks up. We're often told the other students agree with him, that they don't like Hagrid as a teacher--it's hard to believe Hagrid doesn't have plenty of more Malfoys in all his other classes. In sixth year it definitely seems implied that the whole school gets out of Hagrid's classes as soon as they can. Even the Trio prefers Grubbly-Plank for the very reasons they deny when not wanting to agree with Malfoy. Snape, by contrast, is mean but the students seem to respond to him as a teacher. His treatment of Harry is unbelievably out of line and inappropriate, but apart from him he just seems to be a very hard teacher who is mean to you if you mess up.

[jamoche]

Another thing that's often missed is that Draco did do the first step properly - Buckbeak bowed to him - and he's out of classes from the first day (whenever that is - Sept 1 is always Monday to JKR) til Thursday's Potions class. He may have exaggerated his condition to get sympathy (what kid wouldn't?) but I think it really was serious.

There's just no way to read any of the series that makes Hagrid a good teacher, and I don't think he'd have been one even if he hadn't been expelled. If I didn't have other reasons for believing in Snape in HBP, Dumbledore's faith in Hagrid would cause me to seriously doubt his judgement regarding other people.

[conuly]

He didn't do the first step properly. Buckbeak bowed, sure, but then Draco proceeded to insult him. Ennnh! Do not pass go, do not collect $200.

[pauraque]

Hagrid does not just have a problem with Malfoy; Malfoy is just the kid that speaks up.

Absolutely. The Trio actually agree with what Draco is saying, they're just too polite to say it to Hagrid's face.

[undeadgoat.livejournal.com]

I remember in Chem class when the teacher was basically "No matter how intentionally stupid you are, if anything happens to you in this class I'm out on my ass, signing the contract thing isn't liability in any way, etc." and I would say that (1) you are very right and (2) Draco was stupid enough that it probably didn't deserve an actual firing.

[conuly]

Well, Draco *does* lie, or at least, exaggerate, about what happened in the class, and he wouldn't've had the problem if he'd just followed the instructions given at the beginning of the class.

Regardess, I agree, the class was too advanced for the first day, and Hagrid never seems to learn from that mistake.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Actually, Hagrid's line to Draco there also reminds me a bit of Snape's line to Hermione about her teeth. They're very different lines, but in each case the teacher is stooping to take a cheap shot at a student that's embarassingly inappropriate. Snape should not be making fun of Hermione's looks and Hagrid should not be doing what he's doing here, which is basically reacting to to being hurt by Malfoy's blunt announcement that he's not going to start visiting Hagrid after class to pretend he likes his hobby by saying, "Nyah nyah, you got turned into a ferret and bounced around in front of everyone."