GoF 27

[pauraque_bk]

GoF 27: Padfoot Returns

And so do we. By popular demand, I think I can fairly say!

[Rita's article:] However, it might not be Miss Granger's doubtful natural charms which have captured these unfortunate boys' interest.

'She's really ugly,' says Pansy Parkinson, a pretty and vivacious fourth-year student, 'but she'd be well up to making a Love Potion, she's quite brainy. I think that's how she's doing it.' (444)

If you like the theory that Ginny's using a love potion in HBP, here's more foreshadowing.

'I told you!' Ron hissed at Hermione, as she stared down at the article. 'I told you not to annoy Rita Skeeter! She's made you out to be some sort of -- of scarlet woman!'

Hermione stopped looking astonished and snorted with laughter.

'Scarlet woman?' she repeated, shaking with suppressed giggles as she looked round at Ron.

'It's what my mum calls them,' Ron muttered, his ears going red again. (445)

Certainly reminiscent of Ron's "D'you think I want peo­ple saying my sister's a--" in HBP, though I doubt he was going to say "scarlet woman" that time. Ron is very worried about the girls he cares about being seen as sluts.

'If that's the best Rita can do, she's losing her touch,' said Hermione, still giggling, as she threw Witch Weekly onto the empty chair besdie her. 'What a pile of old rubbish.'

She looked over at the Slytherins, who were all watching her and Harry closely across the room to see if they had been upset by the article. Hermione gave them a sarcastic smile and a wave[...] (445)

I don't know whether this should be a surprising reaction from her. Instead of getting upset at the petty bullies, she later exacts her revenge on Rita, the one who's really done her wrong.

'Ah ... reading magazines under the table as well?' Snape added, snatching up the copy of Witch Weekly. 'A further ten points from Gryffindor ... oh, but of course ...' Snape's black eyes glittered as they fell on Rita Skeeter's article. 'Potter has to keep up with his press cuttings...'

The dungeon rang with the Slytherins' laughter, and an unpleasant smile curled Snape's thin mouth. To Harry's fury, he began to read the article aloud.

'Harry Potter's Secret Heartache ... dear, dear, Potter, what's ailing you now? A boy like no other, perhaps...'

Harry could feel his face burning now. Snape was pausing at the end of every sentence to allow the Slytherins a hearty laugh. The article sounded ten times worse when read by Snape. (446-447)

It's a pretty long article, too! I hope no one was actually trying to, you know, do some schoolwork while Snape was hamming it up. This is one of those times where you can't really justify Snape's behavior; he's just being an ass.

Interestingly, we get no reaction shots from Hermione here. Perhaps because the entire performance is really directed at Harry, as we can see when Snape moves Harry to sit in front of his desk, and carries on:

'You might be labouring under the delusion that the entire wizarding world is impressed with you,' Snape went on, so quietly that no one else could hear him [...] 'but I don't care how many times your picture appears in the papers. To me, Potter, you are nothing but a nasty little boy who considers rules to be beneath him.' (447)

Which is nothing we haven't heard before from him, though every time Snape complains about Harry "breaking rules" it sounds very disingenuous to me. Snape doesn't hate Harry because he thinks rules are beneath him, but because of James (and I don't think he hated James because he "broke rules" either).

Anyway, this segues into:

'So I give you fair warning, Potter,' Snape continued, in a softer and more dangerous voice, 'pint-sized celebrity or not -- if I catch you breaking into my office one more time--' (448)

'[...]But unless you watch your step, you might just find that my hand slips --' he shook the crystal bottle slightly '--right over your evening pumpkin juice[...]' (449)

Though the context is not the same, I'm surprised at how closely the dialogue here matches the "closet scene" in the movie. Of course, the movie doesn't convey Harry's reaction very well:

He didn't like the sound of that Truth Potion at all, and nor would he put it past Snape to slip him some. He repressed a shudder at the thought of what might come spilling out of his mouth if Snape did [...] there were all the other things he was concealing ... like the fact that he was in contact with Sirius ... and -- his insides squirmed at tthe thought -- how he felt about Cho ... (449)

Nice foreshadowing of the Occlumency plotline in OotP, how strongly he resists Snape's intrusion into his memories of kissing Cho -- ie, his sexual feelings (the ones that make him feel all squirmy inside! my goodness). Snarry isn't my favorite pairing, but I will totally grant that there's a wealth of relevant canon to make it more interesting.

Next comes the Trio's visit to Sirius's Cave of Angst and Rat-Eating. I always found this scene sort of pointless, and didn't resent it not being included in the movie, but now that I look more closely at it, it's actually very nice as a character interlude.

[Harry says Crouch Sr has been ill.]

'Getting his comeuppance for sacking Winky, isn't he?' said Hermione coldly. She was stroking Buckbeak, who was crunching up Sirius' chicken bones. (453)

Hermione's protectiveness of Winky is obliquely compared to affection for an animal, not a human being. Clever.

Sirius paced all around the cave in silence. Then he said, 'Harry, did you check your pockets for your wand after you'd left the Top Box?'

[...]

'Are you saying whoever conjured the Mark stole my wand in the Top Box?'

'It's possible,' said Sirius.

'Winky didn't steal that wand!' said Hermione shrilly.

'The elf wasn't the only one in that box,' said Sirius[...] (454)

Indeed not. But as usual, Sirius's advice is of mixed value. He raises some valid points and introduces a lot of information, but also casts doubt on a number of innocent characters.

'Oh, I know Crouch all right,' he said quietly. 'He was the one who gave the order for me to be sent to Azkaban -- without a trial. [...] Crouch used to be Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, didn't you know? [...] Crouch fought violence with violence, and authorised the use of the Unforgivable Curses against suspects. I would say he became as ruthless and cruel as many on the Dark side.' (456-457)

It's not clear whether Crouch had special wartime powers that someone in his position wouldn't normally have. Ron gasps along with Hermione at the revelation that Crouch imprisoned Sirius without a trial, but is it the act that shocks him, or the person who committed it?

'Most go mad in [Azkaban], and plenty stop eating in the end. [...] You could always tell when a death was coming, because the Dementors could sense it, they got excited. [...] Crouch never came for his son's body. The Dementors buried him outside he fortress, I watched them do it.'

Sirius threw aside the bread he had just lifted to his mouth, and instead picked up the flask of pumpkin juice and drained it. (459)

That last is surely significant. The Trio brought that pumpkin juice, so it's not spiked, but doesn't it seem that Sirius reaches for a drink out of habit, subconsciously wishing to dispell the horrible memories he's just relived? Very much the Sirius of OotP who smells of stale alcohol, I think.

The image of Dementors burying a corpse is perhaps a little strange, but they are corporeal, so it's not completely absurd. The point is that a human gravedigger would have noticed it wasn't really Crouch Jr, but his mother, I expect.

'So you think Snape could be up to something, then?' asked Harry, but Hermione broke in.

'Look, I don't care what you say, Dumbledore trusts Snape--'

'Oh, come off it, Hermione,' said Ron impatiently, 'I know Dumbledore's brilliant and everything, but that doesn't mean a really clever Dark wizard couldn't fool him--'

'Why did Snape save Harry's life in the first year, then? Why didn't he just let him die?'

'I dunno -- maybe he thought Dumbledore would kick him out--'

'What d'you think, Sirius?' Harry said loudly, and Ron and Hermione stopped bickering to listen. (460)

This exchange works on two levels. With an example of his occasional uncanny intuition, Ron tells us the truth, but in a form we don't recognize.

Simultaneously, Ron and Hermione speak as Harry's inner voices, arguing back and forth until Harry himself has to yell for them to shut up, seeking a second opinion outside his own head. (Someone he sees as wise, though we may not agree.)

'[Snape] was part of a gang of Slytherins who nearly all turned out to be Death Eaters.' (461)

That's Rosier, Wilkes, Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Avery. If we take what Sirius says in OotP into account, we can add Lucius to the "gang", I reckon. Whether Snape was really friends with any of these people, or was more like their "lap dog", is up for debate.

'He showed Snape something on his arm?' said Sirius, looking frankly bewildered. [...] 'Well, I've no idea what that's about ...' (461)

The practice of marking Death Eaters wasn't and isn't widely known, even to someone who has every reason to know a lot about the DEs. It's sort of hard to imagine how the secret could be kept, unless you accept that the mark could be hidden at will.

[Sirius:] 'And don't forget, if you're talking about me among yourselves, call me Snuffles, OK?' (463)

Aside from just sounding silly, does this actually make sense? Why wouldn't they just call him Padfoot? Or, say... Bob. If you overheard people talking about "Snuffles", wouldn't you be more likely to ask who that was, not less?

Well, aside from that, this is a very nice chapter. I wish they were all like this.


Previous GoF posts are saved in memories here. I should probably go read them too, since it's been so long...

Comments

[embossedsilver.livejournal.com]

'He showed Snape something on his arm?' said Sirius, looking frankly bewildered. [...] 'Well, I've no idea what that's about ...' (461)

This has always bugged me. I would think, even if he completely cut off contact with his family, he would have to know. He is a member of the order, after all.

[pauraque]

I don't think anyone in the Order knows. If they did, surely they'd have had an easier time picking out spies.

[pitchblackrose.livejournal.com]

Have nothing to add, but just wanted to squee a bit over the fact that you've started this up again :) *stares adoringly at you* You're so clever! :)

[pauraque]

Aw. Thanks for saying so. :)

[nakedcelt.livejournal.com]

The Dementors buried him outside he fortress, I watched them do it.

You have to wonder: how much did Sirius actually see? Clearly he doesn't know that what he actually saw was Mrs Crouch's burial. But if "plenty stop eating in the end", then he'll have seen a lot of burials at Azkaban. So how did he know which prisoner was getting buried here? If someone drinks Polyjuice Potion and dies within the hour, do they revert to their original form or not?

[pauraque]

I was confused about that part too, so I looked ahead:

'My mother died a short while afterwards in Azkaban. She was careful to drink Polyjuice Potion until the end. She was buried under my name, and bearing my appearance. Everyone believed her to be me.' (594)

That seems to imply that there were people there (other than the Dementors, who, as Barty mentions, are blind) who might have noticed if Mrs Crouch reverted to her original body. I never imagined Azkaban having any human guards, because for one thing, how would you keep them from going mad just like the prisoners?

[godlessharlot.livejournal.com]

Sorry for being completely irrelevant, but your icon freaks me the fuck out. Love it. *g*

[pauraque]

This one? The art's by pnkrockbigmouth. I love it too. :D

[http://users.livejournal.com/_hannelore/]

Sirius's Cave of Angst and Rat-Eating. I always found this scene sort of pointless

I certainly want to see an icon of Angst and Rat-Eating. Or it could be a mood feature.

But hurrah to the bits of Harry and Snape, I love reading more about how vicious they are together, but they do indeed have history.

I still want to know why Dementors bury the bodies at all. Why not just dump them somewhere? Also, an "excited" Dementer... er, I'm sure there's fic in there somewhere.

[pauraque]

Who was it who wrote that really excellent fic from a Dementor's POV? It wasn't sioniann, was it? Now I have to go searching...

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Yay ! I missed those, they're very fun ^^

Which is nothing we haven't heard before from him, though every time Snape complains about Harry "breaking rules" it sounds very disingenuous to me. Snape doesn't hate Harry because he thinks rules are beneath him, but because of James (and I don't think he hated James because he "broke rules" either)
I can see the conjunction of breaking the rules and getting away with it because James/Harry are the golden boy of Gryffindor especially infuriating him.


The practice of marking Death Eaters wasn't and isn't widely known, even to someone who has every reason to know a lot about the DEs. It's sort of hard to imagine how the secret could be kept, unless you accept that the mark could be hidden at will.

It always annoys me when people forget this in canon. Or have Sirius know that Snape was a Death Eater during the First War.

That's Rosier, Wilkes, Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Avery. If we take what Sirius says in OotP into account, we can add Lucius to the "gang", I reckon.
I wonder how many of them were in Snape's year. Lucius' older, of course. We know Bellatrix must be older, at least by a couple of year. I'd be surprised if Rodolphus was younger than her.

[pauraque]

I wonder how many of them were in Snape's year. Lucius' older, of course. We know Bellatrix must be older, at least by a couple of year. I'd be surprised if Rodolphus was younger than her.

I noticed this too. There does seem to be a suggestion that Snape was hanging out with older students rather than those in his own year. Perhaps that's partly because (as Sirius says) he was academically advanced.

[amythis.livejournal.com]

First of all, hurrah! What a pleasant surprise!

If you like the theory that Ginny's using a love potion in HBP, here's more foreshadowing.

Of Hermione's making? I think it's more likely Slughorn's.

Ron is very worried about the girls he cares about being seen as sluts.

Agreed. I think Ron is old-fashioned enough to have a virgin/whore complex. There are the sexy girls, like the Veela, and there are the nice girls, like his sister and his best female friend.

It's a pretty long article, too!

I would've loved to have seen at least some of this in the movie, though the Snape-pushing-up-his-sleeves-to-hit-the-boys was a funny substitute.

I hope no one was actually trying to, you know, do some schoolwork while Snape was hamming it up.

I'm guessing anyone taking Potions knows by now that Snape has to take up classtime being theatrical, esp towards Harry.

Though the context is not the same, I'm surprised at how closely the dialogue here matches the "closet scene" in the movie.

It reminded me of the corridor confrontation in PoA-movie. The directors and/or the scriptwriter seem to prefer Snape and Harry to be alone when they face off.

Of course, the movie doesn't convey Harry's reaction very well

Or any of Ron's reactions in the whole story, but that's another issue.

Nice foreshadowing of the Occlumency plotline in OotP, how strongly he resists Snape's intrusion into his memories of kissing Cho -- ie, his sexual feelings (the ones that make him feel all squirmy inside! my goodness).

And in OtP Harry's sexual feelings/dreams are linked to the ones about the Department of Mysteries. Got to open that door!!

I always found this scene sort of pointless, and didn't resent it not being included in the movie, but now that I look more closely at it, it's actually very nice as a character interlude.

The "fire" scene didn't work particularly well, but this scene would've taken too long to set up and show.

But as usual, Sirius's advice is of mixed value. He raises some valid points and introduces a lot of information, but also casts doubt on a number of innocent characters.

One of the things JKR does best is to sneak in clues wrapped in misinformation.

I would say he became as ruthless and cruel as many on the Dark side.'

I just wanted to note that JKR also is good at showing that good and evil may be blurred, which I think is one reason why some object to her books. While there are the clearly good (Dumbledore) and the truly evil (Voldemort), there are a lot of people with both good and evil in them.

...but doesn't it seem that Sirius reaches for a drink out of habit, subconsciously wishing to dispell the horrible memories he's just relived? Very much the Sirius of OotP who smells of stale alcohol, I think.

If he is drinking in GoF, I don't think he's yet become depressed. He's so much more vital (and sane) here than in the next book. It probably would've been better if he could've stayed on the run rather than been basically under house arrest.

Nothing to add about Ron's intuition, or him and Hermione as Harry's inner voices. Just agreeing.

That's Rosier, Wilkes, Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Avery. If we take what Sirius says in OotP into account, we can add Lucius to the "gang", I reckon.

Well, Lucius is something like six years older. And I've never been clear on the birth order of the Black sisters.

Aside from just sounding silly, does this actually make sense? Why wouldn't they just call him Padfoot? Or, say... Bob.

LOL, plus I've never noticed anyone eavesdropping on them when they discuss anything worth eavesdropping on.

[pauraque]

Of Hermione's making? I think it's more likely Slughorn's.

No, I didn't mean that Hermione had actually made a Love Potion for Ginny. I simply meant that JKR raises the possibility of someone playing such a trick, which is often the way she does her foreshadowing.

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

I've never noticed anyone eavesdropping on them when they discuss anything worth eavesdropping on.

Except Draco in HBP. But that did indeed seem to be the first time anyone had overheard them say anything important--I was kind of shocked when it happened because it was just something I'd come not to expect.

I like this chapter too.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I don't know whether this should be a surprising reaction from her. Instead of getting upset at the petty bullies, she later exacts her revenge on Rita, the one who's really done her wrong.

Hermione's dismissing all this a little too soon, which is sort of typical. She thinks that it not bothering her is all that matters, but the article is a big embarassment to Harry, everyone bugs her about Viktor, it makes Viktor worry about H/Hr, and it gets her a small egg from Molly. Hermione does get her revenge on Rita, but I like that her original view of it all is shaken, where she thought she was above silly stories in the press because of course no one would believe that rubbish.

Also re: Ron's Scarlet Woman comment, I can't help but find it interesting that both Ginny and Hermione deny any danger in the idea, but Ron is actually correct in pointing it out. Not that either girl is a slut, obviously, but that that is something that's used against girls. As much as they want to dismiss Ron as being an ass, his pov may be too widespread to just laugh at. People always accuse him of "almost calling Ginny a slut" in HBP but really, iirc, he is warning her that other people will call her things that he himself won't say about her. The twins bring up the same concerns-the twins, who are supposedly so happy-go-lucky and daring. And then we've got Molly's reaction to Hermione. These, to me, are signs that the Weasleys definitely buy into some very traditional ideas about sex roles and no matter how much Ginny and Hermione may think they're above those kinds of labels, they're not. (And of course, Fleur adds a whole new level to that.)

Snape doesn't hate Harry because he thinks rules are beneath him, but because of James (and I don't think he hated James because he "broke rules" either).

I think the whole "breaking rules" thing is just supposed to mean he thinks he's special because other people give him special treatment. James was the same way for him, imo. Snape's just found what he thinks is a "teacherly" way to put it, I think. Draco's probably expressing the same thing with his, "Perfect Potter's got a broom" stuff.

I actually like the scene in the cave a lot, I found to my surprise.

Hermione's protectiveness of Winky is obliquely compared to affection for an animal, not a human being. Clever.

Not to mention her suggesting Crouch might be seriously ill as punishment for firing a house elf. People who displease us not deserving general compassion is a pretty consistent theme.

The Trio brought that pumpkin juice, so it's not spiked, but doesn't it seem that Sirius reaches for a drink out of habit, subconsciously wishing to dispell the horrible memories he's just relived? Very much the Sirius of OotP who smells of stale alcohol, I think.

I love it. Maybe it's saying he's just off his food with the thought, but I do think it's a nice foreshadowing to drinking!Sirius.

Whether Snape was really friends with any of these people, or was more like their "lap dog", is up for debate.

Gryffindors seem to often take it for granted that any relationships Slytherins have isn't really genuine, which may actually be a weak point for Gryffindors, especially given the emotional quality of Slytherin/water.

Re: I like this chapter too.

[black-dog.livejournal.com]

I like that her original view of it all is shaken, where she thought she was above silly stories in the press because of course no one would believe that rubbish.

This is a major theme of GoF, isn't it? That you may flatter yourself that you're aloof from, a spectator to, a messy, morally questionable world, but you find yourself implicated by it, playing its game, when you least expect it. I'm thinking about the whole cheating theme that permeates the book, or Ron's vulnerability to envy and self-inflation, or the way Hermione learns to fight dirty against Rita, or my own riff below on how Harry and Snape bring out something ugly in each other. I think each of the major protagonists discover, in this book, that they're only human, although the insight may remain latent for a while, in some cases.

These, to me, are signs that the Weasleys definitely buy into some very traditional ideas about sex roles and no matter how much Ginny and Hermione may think they're above those kinds of labels, they're not.

Again, this may echo a theme of being stuck in a society that you didn't choose, of being partly determined by it whether you like it or not.

[t0ra-chan.livejournal.com]

Aside from just sounding silly, does this actually make sense? Why wouldn't they just call him Padfoot? Or, say... Bob. If you overheard people talking about "Snuffles", wouldn't you be more likely to ask who that was, not less?

It also seems rather useless, as Sirius will in one of the later chapters (maybe even the next) sign his letter to Harry with 'Sirius'. The big dumbass.

Anyway, I'm glad we're getting more chapter reviews from you.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

The big dumbass.

He would have signed the letters that, but Snape would totally have figured it out.:-)

[mouseykins1.livejournal.com]

This is off topic, but where did you get your mood theme? I'm in love with it.

[pauraque]

I made it myself. Thank you. :)

[black-dog.livejournal.com]

It’s great to you doing these again! As always, I love your close readings, which make the chapter seem almost brand new and at the very least much more complex and tricky than we usually give JKR credit for.

What charged me up most in this chapter was a bunch of issues relating to Sirius. But I can’t resist a few points, first, about the Potions scene, and Snape:

First, I know I see homoerotic subtext under every chair, but bear with me a second, and look closely at the way Snape reads, and pauses, over the opening of the article --

'Harry Potter's Secret Heartache ...’ dear, dear, Potter, what's ailing you now? ‘A boy like no other, perhaps...'

Is “a boy like no other” Harry’s secret heartache? Obviouisly that’s not what the article is suggesting at all. But in Snape’s “dramatic” reading the shift in emphasis, the deliberate pause, comes off as an insinuation, a specifically homosexual taunt. Moreover, it scores off of Harry (who blushes) much the way Dudley scores in OOTP with “Is Cedric your boyfriend?”

I think this adds a rather sinister undercurrent to Snape’s remarks a moment later about Veritaserum. If you think about it, Snape wouldn’t necessarily need Veritaserum to prove whether Harry broke into his office “again” – which is the ostensible point of his threat. Surely some sort of simple detection charm would do the job, if Snape really feared that kind of intrusion? So Snape is doing something very nasty here, deliberately playing with adolescent sexual insecurity with his insinuations and the threat of mind-reading.

And however you read Harry in this scene, Snape clearly believes he is on to something and is using it for a power trip. It’s not clear – but it is irresistibly interesting to speculate about – what basis, in his experience or his observation, he may actually have for thinking this.

*whistles* So gay. So very, very gay. :)

Now, on the other hand: reading the whole scene over, I almost start to think that Harry and Snape deserve each other. Because in Harry’s response to Snape, throughout the scene, we see Harry displaying some of his worst and most infuriating traits. It’s a little bit like the way he deals with Dobby at the beginning of CoS – faced with an antagonist whose behavior rattles him, Harry’s first instinct is to shut down any human connection, to treat him like an object to be manipulated, rather than to engage him as a fellow-person, in a way that might defuse the tension or the conflict. I don’t excuse Snape here, because I think he should be in better control of himself. But I think his taunting spirals out of hand precisely because Harry is so determined to show that he regards Snape as less than a person, as beneath any kind of response or engagement. And Snape is human enough to be infuriated by this.

For example: it’s perfectly reasonable for a teacher to object to students’ talking and gossiping during a lesson –a shot of sarcasm on the teacher’s part, here, is hardly an instance of full-blown evil. So Snape first verbally lashes the Trio for not paying attention. Then he notices the newspaper. From a perfectly reasonable point of view, this represents a slightly higher level of insolence than just whispering, so we get Snape reading the article out loud – again, not an unheard-of form of rough discipline – and moving the Trio to separate desks.

[continued . . . ]

[black-dog.livejournal.com]

[. . . continued]

Then things start getting out of hand. What do we make of Snape’s quiet remark to Harry about his press clippings having “inflated his already overlarge head?” We know Harry thinks it’s a deliberate provocation. But really, we could equally read it as a quiet demand for an explanation – a reasonably direct request that Harry account for his behavior. And a more normal student might take advantage of the opening, and explain or defend himself, even through gritted teeth, even if he sounded like he was making excuses. But Harry ignores Snape, refuses eye contact, shows utter contempt for him.

And Snape, resenting that contempt, can’t resist bearing down harder, focusing more pointedy on Harry’s arrogance. He clearly believes that Harry has been in his office to steal ingredients, and though he’s wrong about calling Harry a liar, it’s ironic that Harry really does lie to him, consciously and deliberately, a few moments later, as JKR emphasizes. I almost forgive Snape for the Veritaserum taunt just because I can understand his need at that point to get some kind of reaction out of Harry, his need to ruffle that insolent surface. And by the end of the scene, after Harry has lingered behind to spy on Snape’s conversation with Karkaroff, it’s really hard to argue with any of Snape’s major conclusions: Harry has behaved as an arrogant, lying sneak. And Snape has found a way to make him feel small and insecure, which, if the tables were turned on the two characters, many people might consider fair and reasonable payback.

It’s scenes like this that make me respect JKR as an ironist. It’s JKR herself who uses the phrase “’I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Harry lied coldly.” It’s JKR herself who chooses her words when Harry “sneaked” a glance at Karkaroff and Snape. At one level, the stock situation is setting us up to sympathize with Harry against a tyrranical and overbearing teacher. But on a closer reading, Harry’s character is being dissected mercilessly. The overall feel of the scene is tragic, rather than simply moralistic or satiric. We see two damaged people provoking each other to worse and worse behavior, to more and more intimate levels of cruelty. And in this particular story, that pattern echoes endlessly.

Um. This Snape stuff was going to all be incidental, and I was mainly going to talk about Sirius. *facepalms* I seem to have a block about Sirius. I may come back to him later. :)

[amythis.livejournal.com]

This is well-put and I just wanted to add that we get a glimpse here of the HBP Harry, who is definitely sneaky and manipulative. (And "obsessed" with Draco, to tie into the homoeroticism you also brought up.)

[pilly2009.livejournal.com]

I will totally grant that there's a wealth of relevant canon to make it more interesting.

Hmm. Snape/Harry makes the whole story :) I mean, besides that thing with Voldemort and Harry.

'[Snape] was part of a gang of Slytherins who nearly all turned out to be Death Eaters.' (461)

This vagueness of this statement has often been used to debunk the credibility of Sirius's accounts in the HP series, because it's constantly pointed out that these people would have left Hogwarts in Snape's second/third year, and Snape was alone in the Pensieve scene. I just see it as an example of the Slytherin hierarchy, which we have seen at work in the present generation (indeed, by OotP, Draco and Pansy seem to be at the top of it). Even though Draco's "main" gang consists of Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy, and Blaise, we know that he is often seen with many other Slytherins, not all of whom can be in his year, and not all of whom he hangs around with all the time (ie, Theodore Nott, although they are friends) -- yet they can all be seen as part of his gang, especially by outsiders.

That to me seems to be what happened here, although it does cast my vote for Lapdog!Snape, his being so much younger than them and all. Bellatrix, being of a similar mold as Draco (and especially at that age, I suspect) could easily have been at the top of the hierarchy, possibly playing the Pansy-Draco role with Rodolphus Lestrange, only with the actual roles reversed. The other Slytherins Sirius named may also have been at the top by association; it's the main way I can account for these names being the one to stick out most in Sirius's mind, although he also would have been in third year at the most when they left school.

The practice of marking Death Eaters wasn't and isn't widely known, even to someone who has every reason to know a lot about the DEs.

Fandom Idea No. X debunked.

Thoughts on Sirius - I

[black-dog.livejournal.com]

The more I think about the way Sirius is depicted in this chapter, the more fascinated I am with JKR’s trickiness. Many things about the way the chapter is set up, many conventional aspects of the scene in the Cave, reinforce Harry’s sense of excitement at seeing his godfather, reflect his sense of admiration and sympathy for him, heighten a dramatic sense of Sirius as a kind of romantic hero. At the same time, we also notice a set of descriptions and images that are radically subversive of Harry’s view, and that suggest that Sirius is a remarkably unsympathetic personality.

I should say at the outset that I find Sirius is a disturbing and creepy character throughout the series, and I resist (and think JKR intends to subvert) the generally sentimental way that Harry tends to see him. And I don’t just mean that Sirius is reckless or a bad boy. Fundamentally, I see Sirius as a born User, someone who almost instinctively misrepresents himself and manipulates Harry for his own ends, taking advantage of Harry’s emotional neediness while pursuing an opportunistic agenda that has little to do with Harry. Without going into an obsessively close reading here, I want to make some suggestions and then invite people to re-consider the scene and see if these suggestions seem plausible.

The very concluding words of the chapter nail down the basic irony here: Ron says, “Poor old Snuffles . . . he must really like you, Harry . . . imagine having to live off rats.” This is precisely the impression that Sirius has worked to create, leaving Harry with the sense that Sirius is ferociously devoted to him, self-sacrificing, etc. I don’t buy it at all.

First, why has Sirius gone to such lengths to station himself outside Hogwarts? To watch over Harry? How exactly does living as a dog in a cave, half an hour from Hogsmeade, help him accomplish that? I think Sirius is there for an entirely different reason – to watch for an opportunity to avenge himself on Crouch Sr., who is supposed to be attending the Tournament as a judge. It’s very similar to the situation in PoA, where Sirius allows Harry to believe that he escaped from Azkaban to protect him, while I think you can make a case that what drove him in PoA was the hope of revenging himself on Peter once he had learned his whereabouts. It’s a tricky case to make in either example, but I think what makes it persuasive is, first, the ability of the “revenge” theory in either case to explain details of Sirius’ behavior – the way, in GoF, he preserves his distance from Harry; or the way, in PoA, he tries to ingratiate himself with Harry by giving him a broom but seems oddly indifferent about frightening him or hurting Ron. The revenge motive is hinted at but de-emphasized, and covered by a convenient parallel story that plays directly to Harry’s emotional needs.

In this chapter JKR certainly signals some wariness, even disgust, about Sirius as a personality. She is very careful to reinforce doglike or animal-like aspects of his behavior throughout the cave scene. At the moment Sirius changes back into a human being, he still has newspapers in his mouth. (Featuring stories about Crouch!) Once he spits out the newspapers, the first thing he says isn't "How are you, Harry?" It's “Chicken!” Sirius is hungry, and his hunger comes first. He bolts his food like a dog, and guzzles his pumpkin juice like a dog (I like your theory about taking a drink but I think it’s more just a matter of crudeness.) He even “barks” his laugh at one point.

It’s not at all clear that Sirius takes much emotional interest in Harry. The very first significant thing he says to Harry, when Harry asks him what he’s doing there, is that he’s “doing my duty as a godfather.” This comes off, to me, as strikingly passive-aggressive, insincerely self-pitying, mainly calculated to manipulate Harry’s emotions.

[continued . . . ]

Thoughts on Sirius -- II

[black-dog.livejournal.com]

[. . . continued]

Throughout the conversation in the cave, Sirius is more interested in explaining and exploring his own conspiracy theories, especially regarding Crouch, and he uses hard-luck stories to attract and keep Harry’s sympathy. We all make much of the rat-eating. But how do we know Sirius has been eating rats? Because he says so. And yet a big friendly dog would probably dine fairly well behind the inns and bake shops of Hogsmeade. Sirius tries to pre-empt this obvious objection by saying he didn’t want to “attract attention” in Hogsmeade, but what’s more natural and inconspicuous than a dog begging for scraps? And if you’re a dog, what’s wrong with a rat dinner, anyway?

Does anyone on this thread really consider Sirius a reliable narrator in general? It’s interesting that this chapter opens with Ron exaggerating stories about his “kidnapping” for the Second task. I suspect we’re being clued in, here, to the unreliability of self-dramatizing narrators, prepared and warned to take Sirius with a bushel of salt.

If we suspect Sirius of tendentious storytelling, then, what should we conclude about the other important information he passes along in this scene: his account of his non-trial, his reading of Crouch’s behavior? I’m particularly struck bv what Sirius says about Crouch being a bad father, which must have some powerful resonance with his own family tensions, and possibly more to do with Sirius' private grievances than with the actual facts. The thing we’re inclined to forget is that Sirius is simply wrong about his interpretation of the Crouches. Crouch Sr. may well have been justified in his aggressive tactics against the DEs, even if Sirius himself was caught up as an innocent victim. (You never hear Dumbledore, for instance, say a harsh word against Crouch Sr.) Crouch Jr., in fact, wasn’t innocent. Crouch Sr. probably was wracked by guilt and regret. And he was a devoted enough father to help Crouch Jr. escape and to try to keep him safe at home, however misguidedly. Ironically, it’s Sirius who wants to reduce Crouch Sr. to a black and white character, a figure of absolute evil rather than of tragedy, and who is stalking him with uncertain but probably sinister purpose. Meanwhile, he is overlooking and excusing the real guilty party, the real source of danger to Harry – Crouch Jr. He’s making the same mistake that Crouch Sr. made thirteen years ago in persecuting him instead of Peter.

I would like to believe that Sirius has some genuine concern for Harry, even if only narcissistically, as a reminder or symbol of better days with James. But I’m not sure we see even that much real emotion in GoF!Sirius – the “godfather” references seem too consciouisly part of a strategy of manipulation. There is very little humanity left in Doggish!Sirius, other than a craving for very personal vindication and revenge. Mostly, I think, Sirius sees Harry as a tool, a resource. He wants to keep him loyal and devoted, and a source of information when needed, but in practical terms he also wants to keep him out of the way. I find it almost bizarre that after drawing Harry and his friends half an hour out into the wilderness beyond Hogsmeade, Sirius sternly cautions Harry never to visit again because it’s not safe.

Why does any of this matter? After all, in the end Sirius doesn’t do any actual harm to Harry, and doesn’t wreak vengeance on Crouch Sr – that’s left to Crouch Jr. One thing that’s worth stressing is that, for all his visibility as a character, Sirius is really much less important in driving the actual course of events than his oversized romantic presence, and his role in Harry’s imagination, would suggest. He’s a fantasist, a poseur, and is ultimately ineffective in almost everything he takes on. But he’s very important, I think, to JKR’s analysis of Harry’s own potential character traps, of the way that attractive characters go bad through excessive self-regard, through indulgence of passions and the pursuit of idealized closure to their personal stories, oblivious to Dumbledore-style irony and sympathy and pragmatic reason. He’s an example of what not to let yourself become. This may be why, in OOTP, JKR called his catastrophe “a necessary death.”

Re: Thoughts on Sirius -- II

[cs-luis.livejournal.com]

I don't have much to add here, but I think you're dead-on - this was really gratifying to my own reading of Sirius. Thanks!

[nakedcelt.livejournal.com]

That's Rosier, Wilkes, Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Avery.

From HBP:

"Nonsense," said Slubhorn briskly, "couldn't be plainer you come from decent wizarding stock, abilities like yours. No, you'll go far, Tom, I've never been wrong about a student yet."

The small golden clock standing upon Slughorn's desk chimed eleven o'clock behind him and he looked around.

"Good gracious, is it that time already? You'd better get going, boys, or we'll all be in trouble. Lestrange, I want your essay by tomorrow or it's detention. Same goes for you, Avery."

...Oops.

[amythis.livejournal.com]

Could've been Rodolphus's father. I didn't get the impression Rodolphus was in his 70s in Harry's time.

[alya1989262.livejournal.com]

Crouch fought violence with violence, and authorised the use of the Unforgivable Curses against suspects. I would say he became as ruthless and cruel as many on the Dark side.

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."