HP Survivor :: PoA 9

[pauraque_bk]

I am hopelessly addicted to hp_survivor. Even if you haven't been following the game, killing_curse's hilarious parting speech is not to be missed.

Lesson: Ordering your tribemates around never, ever works. Even if you *are* the Dark Lord. Tsk.

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On the canon side of things, the discussion of Chapter 7 has hit 50 comments! *analysis happiness* Check out exchanges on anti-werewolf bias, whether Snape was right to expose Remus, and the mysteries of the Snape-Neville interaction.

And the debate on how much Snape and Lupin each contribute to the animosity is still going strong in Chapter 8. Unsurprisingly, I have quite a lot of Snapeists on my flist, but fernwithy has been admirably representing the Lupin-lovers' side, for which I thank her. *g*

Also from Chapter 8:

"Anybody who says JKR isn't capable of subtlety or complex characterizations should be smacked upside the head with a copy of PoA."
-marinarusalka

Word.

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PoA 9: Grim Defeat

Augh, the puns! Mercy, JKR, mercy!

'It's very lucky he picked tonight, you know,' said Hermione [...]. 'The one night we weren't in the tower.' (123)

I'm blanking on why Sirius *was* there that particular night. Anyone? Bueller?

'[...]I'll have Mr Filch restore [the Fat Lady].' (124)

As atdelphi recently pointed out, Squib or no, Filch is assigned to restore a magical painting, and apparently does quite a good job.

'It seems -- almost impossible -- that Black could have entered the school without inside help. I did express my concerns when you appointed--'
'I do not believe a single person inside this castle would have helped Black enter it,' said Dumbledore, and his tone made it so clear that the subject was closed that Snape didn't reply. (124-125)

Snape is in the right, though not for the reasons he thinks. Remus isn't actively helping Sirius, but he's lying to Dumbledore by omission -- not revealing that Sirius is an Animagus, which apparently means he can get past the Dementors. I feel bad for Snape here, the way Dumbledore shuts him down.

'I must go down to the Dementors,' said Dumbledore. 'I said I would inform them when our search was complete.' (125)

Apparently, one can talk to Dementors. Or at least, Dumbledore can.

'But I'm afraid no Dementor will cross the threshold of this castle while I am Headmaster.' (125)

Because they're Voldemort's "natural allies" (GoF), no doubt.

But it wasn't Professor Lupin who looked up at him from the teacher's desk; it was Snape. (127)

Whatever the reason Dumbledore refuses to let Snape teach DADA, it doesn't apply to letting him sub for a day or two. I wonder if this was arranged previously, or if it's designed to placate Snape after Halloween night.

'You are easily satisfied. Lupin is hardly over-taxing you -- I would expect first-years to be able to deal with Red Caps and Grindylows. Today we shall discuss--'
Harry watched him flick through the textbook, to the very back chapter, which he must know they hadn't covered.
'--werewolves,' said Snape. (128)

Ah, back to his usual theatrics. Snape must know the real reason they're behind, which has nothing to do with Remus. Of course, that in itself is nothing compared to the fact that he's brazenly attempting to lead the class to the conclusion that Remus is a werewolf. This is quite a dramatic escalation of the animosity, far worse than anything Remus has done to him (though not, of course, worse than anything Snape *thinks* Remus has done to him).

It's also good to remember that Snape thinks Remus is collaborating with Sirius, and that Dumbledore refuses to entertain the possibility. In addition to taking obvious pleasure in belittling and endangering Remus, Snape may think he's doing the right thing for the school: This is the only way he can think of to get Remus fired, for everyone's good.

'the werewolf differs from the true wolf in several small ways. The snout of the werewolf--' (129)

At least a hundred Dementors, their hidden faces pointing up at him, were standing below. (134)

Emphasis added. Things to keep in mind when judging the movie's canonicity.

[...]the silhouette of an enormous, shaggy black dog, clearly imprinted against the sky, motionless in the topmost, empty row of seats. (133)

So... Sirius climbed up to the top of the stands, unnoticed? Seems a little unlikely.

[Voldemort:] 'Stand aside, you silly girl ... stand aside, now...' (134)

He seems to gives Lily a chance to save herself. Hm.

'Still in the showers,' said Fred. (135)

Mm, magical plumbing.


Past re-read posts are here.

Comments

[caesia390.livejournal.com]

I mean, if Remus was helping Sirius, Snape's idea of putting him under closer surveillance would have served to put him on alert, while the assumption that he was totally trusted would keep him calmer... and doing whatever he was doing.

Absolutely. I think the implication here is that Dumbledore knew all along (or at since since before the beginning of PoA) that Sirius was innocent. I'm a big Ron = Dumbledore proponent myself, so both his knowledge and his noninterference make sense to me.

And Voldemort is very, very powerful, but in the killing scene, he'd just killed James. Maybe if he had killed Lily, he wouldn't have had the strength left to kill his target, Harry?

That makes sense. From a dramatic standpoint, Voldemort associating Lily with his own mother always worked for me... (and apparently, this is what happened, if we believe Dumbly's explanation at the end of OotP). But on the other hand, I like to think that he is indeed a fairly cool evil mastermind once he gets his stride, not to be tripped up but emotion. In the actual books, we see him struggling up from nothing, but in the early 80s he had everything going for him.

[muridae-x.livejournal.com]

I think the implication here is that Dumbledore knew all along (or at since since before the beginning of PoA) that Sirius was innocent.

I think this is very possible. He doesn't seem to have to struggle with the concept at all, despite the fact that he only has a very few minutes to talk to Sirius before he goes to Harry and Hermione to arrange his escape. There's no time there for incredulity and the overturning of 13-year-old assumptions of guilt.

Clearly though he can't have had any inkling of what really happened to Peter. Most likely he thought that there was some other dark wizard in the equation, and that what happened on that Muggle street was Peter being killed and Sirius framed by someone else who then fled. I doubt Lupin was his prime suspect, but he may well have thought that he was Sirius's... in which case appointing Lupin as DADA teacher may have been designed to pull Sirius to Hogwarts so that he could be caught in order to talk to him and find out what had really happened all those years ago.

So... while everybody else thought that Harry was Sirius's target, Dumbledore probably imagined that Lupin was. I wonder whether the attempted break-in to the Gryffindor common room and the apparent attack on Ron shook him at all?

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

But on the other hand, I like to think that he is indeed a fairly cool evil mastermind once he gets his stride, not to be tripped up but emotion. In the actual books, we see him struggling up from nothing, but in the early 80s he had everything going for him.

Well, Voldemort *was* a fairly effective mastermind in the late 70's, but I think a decade of being disembodied has made him lose his grip.

What he needs now is a review of the Evil Overlord List (http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html), especially the points about "I will not gloat over my enemies' predicament before killing them" and "One of my advisors will be an average five-year-old child. Any flaws in my plan that he is able to spot will be corrected before implementation."

[caesia390.livejournal.com]

>:D

again, note the like to believe... it's a bit of a leap of faith, but hey... maybe voldiepants just has a pretty wacky sense of humour. he's just doing it all for fun. >:D