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.