pauraque_bk

People are signing up for another day of

circe_tigana's Second Annual Friendslist Exchange. My partner for today (well, for Saturday) is

rensong. This should be fun. ^_^

In Chapter 3:

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fernwithy on Dudley's intelligence

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maidenjedi on the handling of "gifted" children in other fantasy series

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sistermagpie on how what the books do contradicts what they say

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prongsphile on the meaning behind the Dursleys' gift-giving

PS 4: The Keeper of the Keys

There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands -- now they knew what had been in the long, thin package he had brought with them. (39)

This surprised me; I'd forgotten about it. For all his bluster, Vernon is one who merely _threatens_ violence. He says a couple of times that "a good beating would have cured" Harry (once in this chapter), but apparently he never actually hit him. (Though he did look the other way when Dudley hit him.)

'Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby,' said the giant. 'Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mum's eyes.' (39)

Pounces right in with this, doesn't she! Quick: How many times is Harry told he has his mother's eyes?

'True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts.' (40)

What's that mean exactly, keeper of the keys? Does it ever come up again?

'A wizard, o' course,' said Hagrid [...], 'an' a thumpin' good'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be?[...]' (42)

A slow learner like Neville, perhaps? I don't think there's much hard evidence that _degree_ of magical talent is inherited. As we see throughout this chapter, Hagrid is maybe a leetle excessive in his adoration of James and Lily.

'I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him,' he said.

'A what?' said Harry, interested.

'A Muggle,' said Hagrid. 'It's what we call non-magic folk like them. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on.' (43)

Hagrid isn't exactly what you'd call politically sensitive. He uses "Muggle" as an insult several times in this chapter, and in this first definition of the word, it isn't clear whether it just means non-wizards, or non-wizards _like them_.

'Knew!' shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. 'Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that -- that school -- and came home every holiday with her pockets full of frog-spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was -- a freak! But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!'

She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years.

'Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as -- as -- abnormal -- and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!' (44)

Poor Petunia. It doesn't take a close reading to get the impression that she was very jealous of Lily -- her parents' favorite. You can read that she was also jealous of Lily for being special, and see her ultimate "she was a freak" reaction as sour grapes. Some people think Petunia got a letter herself, and turned it down, but I find myself doubting that.

I'd like to think that Petunia loved Lily on some level, though. There's a certain emphasis on Lily _leaving_... "disappeared to that school", "they left and got married", "went and got herself blown up" (as though she did it on purpose). I wouldn't be surprised if Petunia misses her, even if she can't quite admit it to herself.

As far as the frogspawn and transfigured teacups go, there seem to have been basically three schools of thought: 1) The restrictions on underage magic were less strict at the time. 2) The restrictions have never been very strict; they're just applied strictly to Harry because he's Harry. 3) Petunia is exaggerating.

Of course, now we have an official answer.

'I never expected this,' he said, in a low, worried voice. 'I had no idea, when Dumbleodre told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know[...]' (44)

Hagrid's behavior seems a little contradictory here. He's familiar enough with the Dursleys to feel okay saying "Budge up, yeh great lump" to Dudley (39) and "Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune" to Vernon (40) when he's just walked into the room. Also, why wouldn't Dumbledore give him fair warning?

'Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head Boy an' Girl at Hogwarts in their day![...]' (45)

Was there ever an answer on this? The issue, of course, is that James wasn't a prefect in his fifth year, Lupin was. It's often been speculated that James was made Head Boy after he saved Snape's life and cleaned up his act. Which hardly seems very fair to Lupin... though he wasn't exactly a superb prefect either.

'[...]Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before ... probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side.

'Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em ... maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way[...]' (45)

Hm, I can't say I ever wondered this. Hagrid knows nothing about the prophecy, so the conclusion he reaches is that V wanted James and Lily to join him. Naturally he would, since they're so gosh-darned wonderful!

'That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh -- took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even[...]' (45)

When fake!Moody demonstrates the Killing Curse, the spider merely twitches and dies. When Peter uses the curse on Cedric, he, too, simply drops dead. I don't think Hagrid's on the right track, here... I think it was _Harry_ who blew up the house (when the curse rebounded), not V.

'[...]Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' back.' (46)

Huh. If there's any truth to this, then we should strongly suspect anyone who was allegedly under Imperius (not that we don't already suspect Lucius et al, but any "good guys" who may later be suggested to have been entranced). Then again, Hagrid may have no idea what he's talking about. Don't get me wrong, I don't think he's stupid -- but he is under-educated.

'Stop Lily an' James Potter's son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born[...]' (47)

JKR notes that everyone who shows signs of magic before their 11th birthday gains a place at Hogwarts. Harry certainly showed magic when he defeated V, and may even have done so earlier in infancy... but it still shouldn't have anything to do with his being James and Lily's son. Tsk, Hagrid.

'[...]He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world[...]' (47)

As noted, JKR says that Hogwarts recognizes no degrees of magic -- if you've got magic, you're in. So... yet again, Hagrid's word can't be taken at face value. Bias bias bias.

'I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!' yelled Uncle Vernon. (48)

HA! Oh, Vernon, sometimes you just rock. *wipes tear*

But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head. 'NEVER --' he thundered, '--INSULT -- ALBUS -- DUMBLEDORE -- IN -- FRONT -- OF -- ME!'

He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley -- there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal and next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers. (48)

Now wait just a bloody minute. Dudley hasn't said one word to Hagrid -- it's Vernon who's been flinging insults and waving firearms. WTF?

Past re-read posts are here.