pauraque_bk | GoF 5

This was supposed to go up yesterday, but I fell asleep! Chapter 6 will be up tomorrow, as scheduled.

GoF 5: Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes

'Did he eat it?' said Fred excitedly, holding out a hand to pull Harry to his feet.

'Yeah,' said Harry, straightening up. 'What was it?'

'Ton-Tongue Toffee,' said Fred brightly. 'George and I invented them, we've been looking for someone to test them on all summer...' (49)

I feel like we covered all the things that are wrong with this pretty thoroughly in Chapter 4, so I won't rehash it all here. Go read all the smart things people said in the last chapter, especially

dphearson on the extremes to which revenge is taken in the WW and

arclevel on just how dangerous this "prank" really was.

'We didn't give it to him because he was a Muggle!' said Fred indignantly.

'No, we gave it to him because he's a great bullying git,' said George. 'Isn't he, Harry?' (50-51)

sistermagpie articulated very well what's wrong with this argument: "Muggle-baiting refers to playing magical tricks on Muggles, because Muggles can't do and don't understand magic. Doing this to Dudley is Muggle-baiting. It's like, if you knew a blind person who was really obnoxious would you play mean tricks on him by using his lack of sight against him? You could, but it would still cross the line." Well spoke, well spoke.

While both Arthur and Molly get upset about the incident, Arthur is enraged that his children would harm a Muggle, whereas Molly is just pissed off that they want to open a joke shop.

Okay, moving on.

[Charlie] had a broad, good-natured face, which was weather-beaten and so freckly that he looked almost tanned; his arms were muscly, and one of them had a large, shiny burn on it. (49-50)

If I were JKR's editor, I'd have advised her not to use "freckly", "muscly", and "shiny" in the same sentence, but that's not why I pointed to this. The burn scar on Charlie's arm has led some to believe that dragon-related injuries can't be healed by magic, because they themselves are magical creatures. In a lot of folklore, dragons are said to have corrosive bodily fluids that can destroy weaponry and do serious damage to human flesh; perhaps Charlie's burn is from acidic blood or saliva, not fire. If any of this is so, it makes the first task in the tournament look a lot scarier.

Harry knew that [Bill] worked for the wizarding bank, Gringotts, that he had been Head Boy of Hogwarts, and had always imagined Bill to be an older version of Percy; fussy about rule-breaking and fond of bossing everyone around. However, Bill was -- there was no other word for it -- cool. He was tall, with long hair that he had tied back in a ponytail. He was wearing an earring with what looked like a fang dangling from it. His clothes would not have looked out of place at a rock concert, except that Harry recognised his boots to be made, not of leather, but of dragon hide. (50)

'...with a horrible great fang on it, really, Bill, what do they say at the bank?'

'Mum, no one at the bank gives a damn how I dress as long as I bring home plenty of treasure,' said Bill patiently. (59)

Of course Bill's cool -- he isn't a banker, he's a treasure-hunter. I forget who pointed this out in a previous book, but this is indicative of an attitude towards antiquities (or "buried treasure") that is Victorian or pre-Victorian, not modern. Egyptian gold is something to be dug up and put in a bank, not a museum.

So, Bill and Charlie. What are they (narratively) for? There are a few possible reasons for the Weasleys to have seven children -- just to bring home the point about Ron and the hand-me-downs, for there to be a reason that they're hard up for money... As we know, seven is a magic number, and the seventh son of a seventh son is supposed to have magic powers. (We know Arthur didn't have six siblings, but we only know that Molly had at least two siblings, the Prewett twins, am I right?)

None of these are compelling reasons for Charlie and Bill to be introduced and have actual personalities, if you ask me. Bill got a plot thread in HBP, but Charlie's just hanging around. I think one or both of these kids is toast in book seven.

Both of them smiled at Harry, who grinned back, which made Ginny go scarlet -- she had been very taken with Harry ever since his first visit to The Burrow. (51)

Even before that, actually. She seems to already have a little fangirl crush on him -- or the idea of him -- when they're on the platform in PS/SS. (If that's supposed to be indicative of impending True Love, I have to wonder why we didn't get Harry/Colin instead.)

I want to look for signs in GoF that Ginny's personality shift in OotP didn't come from nowhere, but I didn't see any in this chapter. She gets some exposition here, so that Ron doesn't have to explain absolutely everything, but doesn't have a very strong presence. I'll keep my eyes peeled.

'What are Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?' Harry asked, as they climbed.

Ron and Ginny both laughed, although Hermione didn't. (52)

Hermione doesn't say anything, but maybe she's as unhappy about the Muggle-baiting episode as we are! Or is that wishful thinking? I'm not sure what the intended reading is... Why else would she be unhappy about F&G starting a joke shop?

Ron's old rat, Scabbers, was here no more, but instead there was the tiny grey owl that had delivered Ron's letter to Harry in Privet Drive. (53)

Harry knew Ron too well to take him seriously [about his complaining about Pig]. He had moaned continually about his old rat Scabbers, but had been most upset when Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, appeared to have eaten him. (54)

This is a prime opportunity for a little exposition, but JKR doesn't take it! It actually reads weirdly to me that she mentions Scabbers's absence twice but doesn't explain the reason for it.

'However,' Percy heaved an impressive sigh, and took a deep swig of elderflower wine, 'we've got quite enough on our plates at the Department of International Magical Co-operation without trying to find members of other departments too. As you know, we've got another big event to organise right after the World Cup.'

He cleared his throat significantly and looked down towards the end of the table where Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting. 'You know the one I'm talking about, Father.' He raised his voice slightly. 'The top-secret one.'

Ron rolled his eyes and muttered to Harry and Hermione, 'He's been trying to get us to ask what that event is ever since he started work. Probably an exhibition of thick-bottomed cauldrons.' (58-59)

A friendly anonymouse suggested that the twins resent Percy because Molly so often compares them negatively to him, and I have to agree. Molly goes on and on in this chapter about how the twins have no future compared to Percy (which I found a little inappropriate, her ranting on to Harry and Ron about that). As soon as Percy becomes a family outcast, they're thrilled to express overt hostility towards him.

On the other hand, although Percy's behavior in this chapter is kind of obnoxious, I don't think he's trying to rub it in his siblings' faces that he's successful. It reads to me like a clumsy attempt to get them to notice that he has a successful and (to him) interesting life. The detail of him wanting his brothers to ask him about the Tournament, and them refusing, is telling.

'What happened?' said Harry eagerly, regretting more than ever his isolation from the wizarding world when he was stuck in Privet Drive. Harry was passionate about Quidditch. (59)

He is? He loves to play the game, but we never see him take an interest in how things are going in the professional league(s), do we?

The other thing that goes on in this chapter is the introduction of Bertha Jorkins's disappearance. She's been gone for a month. I don't have anything particular to say about it; how about you?

Previous GoF re-read posts are saved in memories here.