pauraque_bk | PoA 12

We're at the halfway mark, gang. Eleven chapters down, eleven to go.

PoA 12: The Patronus

'I said I wonder what's wrong with Lupin, and you--'
'Well, isn't it obvious?' said Hermione, with a look of maddening superiority.
'If you don't want to tell us, don't,' snapped Ron.
'Fine,' said Hermione haughtily, and she marched off. (175)

I wonder if she'd really have told, or just wanted to lord it over them that she knew something they didn't.

Harry cast about for a happy memory. [...] Finally, he settled on the moment when he had first ridden a broomstick. (176)

Not the first time Harry remarks on his love of flying. If he doesn't end up a bird Animagus by the end of the series, I'll be surprised.

[...]he didn't want to [hear his mother again] ... or did he? (177)

But he'd never be able to produce a proper Patronus if he half wanted to hear his parents again... (180)

Sad. Part of him feels that hearing them being murdered is better than not hearing them at all. Not entirely unlike the Pensieve scene... the combination of delight at seeing James, and misery at seeing what he did.

[James:] 'Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off--' (178)

chresimos, this is what you suggested the other day-- Lily should have grabbed a broomstick and flown with Harry out the window. Apparently James had the same idea. My only explanation as to why she didn't is that she panicked. It's like when a kid says if a truck is coming at you, you should just fall down in the road and let it pass over you -- easy to say, impossible to do at the time.

'If you knew my dad, you must've known Sirius Black as well.'
Lupin turned very quickly.
'What gives you that idea?' he said sharply.
'Nothing -- I mean, I just knew they were friends at Hogwarts, too...'
Lupin's face relaxed.
'Yes, I knew him,' he said shortly. 'Or I thought I did[...]' (179-180)

We're meant to suspect Remus here. On second reading, the fact that he relaxes when he does suggests that he's feeling guilty for not doing enough to aid in Sirius's capture -- obstructing justice, as it were.

'[...]Professor Vector, that Arithmancy witch[...]' (181)

Vector is canonically female.

'I'm not buying anything Malfoy thinks is good,' said Harry flatly.' (181)

Silly. There's no need to reemphasize the Harry-Draco animosity here, since Draco's been such a notable jackass for the entire book. Actually, Draco has nothing interesting to do in PoA. He's a relentlessly shallow villain -- believable as a high school jerk, and effective in initiating the Buckbeak plot thread, but nothing more meaningful than that.

'Well -- let's drink to a Gryffindor victory against Ravenclaw! Not that I'm supposed to take sides, as a teacher...' [Lupin] added hastily. (182)

We shouldn't have needed the interview to tell us Remus was in Gryffindor and not Ravenclaw -- it's right here. Silly us.

It's also a bit cute that Remus doesn't want to be seen as biased. All the other teachers are -- why shouldn't he be? As usual, he's trying very hard to be the best teacher he can.

'They call it the Dementors' Kiss,' said Lupin, with a slightly twisted smile. 'It's what Dementors do to those they wish to destroy utterly. I suppose there must be some kind of mouth under there, because they clamp their jaws upon the mouth of the victim and -- and suck out his soul.' (183)

Lupin's morbid sense of humor comes out when he's uncomfortable, as here, and much more in the Shrieking Shack.

The suggestion is that this is what Lupin meant when he talked about the Dementors making people into something like themselves -- "soulless and evil" (140). Is there a "death row" in Azkaban? I wonder. If a Kissed person does become a Dementor, the MoM would have reason not to execute criminals unless they're a continued threat -- they already have hundreds of Dementors, which have proven difficult to control. The last thing they should want is more of them.

'[Black] deserves it,' [Harry] said suddenly.
'You think so?' said Lupin lightly. 'Do you really think anyone deserves that?'
'Yes,' said Harry defiantly. 'For ... for some things ...' (183)

Harry doesn't exactly change his mind on this... He refuses to kill Peter, but says directly that he deserves Azkaban. Then again, he doesn't say Peter deserves the Kiss... but Harry doesn't know enough about wizard law to say if Peter would have been Kissed if he'd been arrested at the Shrieking Shack. It's possible that he would have, since Sirius had that tacked onto his sentence once he became a fugitive, and Peter's been a fugitive for twelve years. Then again, perhaps the MoM ordered Sirius's execution simply because he was at large.

I also wonder if Remus is feeling Harry out on some level... trying to figure out what he'd think if he knew that he was keeping things about Sirius secret.

'And Potter -- do try and win, won't you? Or we'll be out of the running for the eighth year in a row, as Professor Snape was kind enough to remind me only last night...' (184)

The rivalry between McGonagall and Snape strikes me as respectful, even friendly. McGonagall was a teacher when Snape went to school -- the fact that she *does* treat him as a rival, an equal, indicates respect. Snape has taken kindly to this; he treats her with none of his usual sneering contempt, and appears glad to see her when she returns from the hospital (OotP).

There was something red on [the sheet]. Something that looked horribly like--
'BLOOD!' Ron yelled into the stunned silence. 'HE'S GONE! AND YOU KNOW WHAT WAS ON THE FLOOR?'
'N-no,' said Hermione, in a trembling voice.
Ron threw something down onto Hermione's Rune translation. Hermione and Harry leant forward. Lying on top of the spiky shapes were several long, ginger cat hairs. (186)

Peter probably pulled the hairs off of Crookshanks's brush. Convincing frame-ups are a specialty of his.

He chooses this moment to make a break for it, but it isn't clear why. Perhaps he saw Crookshanks swipe Neville's list of passwords (184, 267) and put two and two together.

Past re-read posts are here.