02 May 2013

Harry Potter HFriday - Post the FOR SOBBING OUT LOUD




I MISSED YOU GUYS! I am going to be seriously adrift in Blogland when these Harry Potter shenanigans are over. The frustrating thing about having missed the last 2 weeks is that I actually completed my reading BOTH TIMES and just wasn’t able to write up the post due to the plague (week 1, super shitty!) and a father/daughter weekend in Seattle (week 2, loads of fun!).

SO. Let’s just say I approached this week’s reading with a big ol’backlog of things to talk about, most of which I am going to assume someone in this group covered at some point. But here are my bullet points:
  • Dumbledore telling off the Dursleys and Dudley’s confusion
  • “Let us not deprive Molly any longer of the chance to deplore how thin you are.” Dumbledore knows what mothers like best.
  • Snape. UGH you are being such an ASSHOLE. I have sympathy for you, I really do, but seriously man, you are the only one of the Mauraders generation who had even a CHANCE at a normal adult life, so try not being such a gigantic douche-canoe, would you?
  • Ginny, you are amazing and I want to kiss you on the mouth.
  • I think we can all take a moment to appreciate Madam Pince’s reaction to writing in books. Or at least I can, because why would you do that when there is a wide world of post-its out there?
  • And another moment for this, which I noted as “might be a perfect paragraph”:

She left. At once Lavender and Parvati put their heads together to discuss this new development, with everything they had ever heard about McLaggen, and all they had ever guessed about Hermione. Ron looked strangely blank and said nothing. Harry was left to ponder in silence the depths to which girls would sink to get revenge. (314)
JK, you may not have a good handle on the romantic relationships in your stories, but damn girl, you sure know how to describe people.
  • McGonagall sets Seamus lines: I am a wizard, not a baboon brandishing a stick.


You tell'em, Dame Smith!

One last thing for catchup: Ron’s love potion from Romilda Vane was so incredibly fantastic, and then he’s safe, and then he’s in Terrible Danger and how good is JK at foreshadowing and how guilty did I feel for laughing at Ron a moment before?! Most of my notes in this section amount to “aaauuuughhhh this is so good!”

******

OKAY. It happened, that Thing we have all been dreading, for we shall Dumble no more.



 And this whole book I have been approaching the end much like this:

Why is it in a saucepan? Why is there a towel on its head? Why do I suddenly want a kitten?
BUT FIRST, I have jumped on Alice and Rainbow's bandwagon and may supplement my lack of Harry Potter when June rolls around by reading Harry/Draco fic. 
“I need to see what Draco Malfoy is doing inside you…”

Now KISS.

But onward we must trudge, heavy our hearts and heavy our eyelids for staying up way too late to read children's' books:
Back at the beginning Harry was all, “why won’t something attack me?” and Dumbledore is like, “because you’re with ME and I am the baddest ass in these here parts.” (that last may have been just in my imagination, yes?) And then when Harry is taking Dumbledore out of the cave, Dumbles is all, “I am not worried, Harry. I am with you.”

He's going to talk to some food about this.
I’mma segue here a little and assume you are all Firefly fans because you are cool like that. Do you remember when you saw Serenity for the first time? I DO. I went to opening night and stood in line and won a t-shirt that has since disappeared (dammit). And at That Moment We All Remember, the whole theater stopped breathing. But we didn’t get time to cry because there was SLAYING KILLIN’ to be done by River Tam, Intergalactic Badass.

The second time I went to see Serenity, a very unexpected thing happened. When the crew got to Miranda, I started to sob. Great, heaving, trying-to-be-quiet-and-failing sobs. My friends who didn’t know what was coming were extremely uncomfortable, but I wept on undeterred. Because I knew what was coming. Megs and I got choked up over it this afternoon, in fact; it was one of the most devastating things I have ever experienced for a fictional character.

I haven’t read HBP since just before I started book 7, and I was racing through so I could crack open that orange behemoth. I didn’t know. I didn’t understand. I was firmly in the “Snape is evil” camp – I had a bookmark and everything (remember those?).

But this time through… this time, I just wept at the inevitability of it all, from the moment Dumbledore said, “I am with you.”

No exaggeration was used in the creation of this image.



So hey, how about that Fleur, huh? I’m pretty sure that “”Our Great-Auntie Muriel has a very beautiful tiara” anagrams into, “sorry I was mean and dismissive of you; welcome to the family.”

She is quite good looking enough for both of them.

Comments (25)

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I have that same experience THE WHOLE WAY THROUGH BOOKS 1 - NOW. Knowing what we now know any time Dumbles says something adorable, or Lupin looks sad, or Fred and George are charming together I die a little more inside. It's wonderful and terrible at the same time. Damn you JKR *shakes fist menacingly in direction of the UK*
3 replies · active 638 weeks ago
YES! I spend most of my moments with the Twins feeling a lot like the octopus up there. The first time I read DH, I quite literally threw my book across the room and dissolved into tears. Which made the 6th graders whose silent reading I was overseeing all jump and want to know what happened; it was somewhat awkward.
Oh man I feel those feels. I walked around the house crying myself blind, bumping into walls for YEARS after DH. Damn, do we *really* have to revisit that?!
Maybe we read Beedle the Bard and stop there? Maybe we do.
I have that experience with a character who totally doesn't die at all and that makes me response super irrational. Which is Neville. Every time Neville speaks or does anything, I basically start crying. HE IS JUST SO BRAVE.
4 replies · active 638 weeks ago
That's been happening to me with Neville this time around. First read through he didn't stand out to me at all but now, anytime he's around I cry and want to give him hugs.
Yeeeesssss! Poor Neville. He's such a lovely soul. When Luna helps him to the hospital wing after the big fight, I cheered. THAT is probably the moment where the Neville/Luna ship sets sail, and I am behind it 110%.
They're the only members of the D.A. who show up to the fight. Because they MISS being part of a group. *weeeeps*
That is so heart-wrenching. I cannot even.
The whole series up to this point I wavered on if Snape was evil or not. Then that scene on the tower I was convinced he's definitely evil and the worst thing ever. Reading it through this time I was like "LOOK AT ALL THE SIGNS! HOW DID YOU MISS THIS?" But like you, I also had the last book waiting for me so the goal was "hurry hurry hurry and see how this shakes out" instead of looking for nuances.

(From your earlier bullets, wizards totally miss out on things like post-its because they seem to skip all of these super helpful Muggle inventions. A lot of prejudice in the wizarding world...)
1 reply · active 638 weeks ago
Right? I mean, the whole POINT was that we all missed it because we see things through Harry's eyes. And Dumbledore could be wrong about this one thing, y'know? And back in the pre-DH days, people who fought on Snape's behalf had soooo much less to go on than we did. It's all a matter of perspective!

(Post-it flags are one of my favorite things EVER. I may have just purchased 3000 of them for $10...)
Well. Nice work making me SUPER want to watch Firefly (I already wanted to watch it a bit, but now I'm like 'IT IS MY LIFE'S MISSION TO WATCH IT!' Ahem.)

Anyway- yes at this inevitable crying thing. It is DREADFUL, but also kind of wonderful that we know it so well, and care about everyone so much and still cry about them? Maybe? But also, CRY AND WAIL.

I love that the thing flips and Dumbles passes on his protectorship to Harry. Just... Yes.
So much excellence in this post, I don't even know where to begin, so can I just say "Bravo!"?

I had the same experience re-reading this one, because the first time I read it I was all OMG-what-is-going-to-happen and the second time (this time) I was all WATCH-FOR-DETAILS-NOW-DAMMIT.

And also you are so spot-on about how knowing how some of the characters' stories end just makes their earlier bits all the more poignant/important/powerful/emotional.

I'm going to go back to just "Bravo" now because otherwise I'll get all ramblylike.
1 reply · active 638 weeks ago
Haha, thank you! *bows*

Yea, the re-reading now that I know is harsh. JK is a master of subterfuge and perspective.
But more importantly, WHY is that kitten in a saucepan?
1 reply · active 638 weeks ago
WHYYYYYYYYY?!?
I am so glad that you brought up Serenity--that is the most apt comparison and it's brilliant that you made it.

Also, you and I were on the same wave length this week re: Drarry. If you read any good fanfic you simply must tell me. I'm begging you here, seriously.

I could hardly disagree with you more re: the sentiment, but douche-canoe is now my favorite word. Good one!
2 replies · active 638 weeks ago
Yay Serenity! People are always quoting Wash's "I'm a leaf on the wind" and I invariably cringe because NO! Stop that!

Dude. I have never delved into fanfic before, but your post about Hermione/Snape was interesting, so I'mma have a peek and see what I can see!

We should talk about Snape over cocktails. California is nice this time of year; come visit! :D
If I ever find myself on the far side of the Mississippi RIver, I will definitely keep on goin' to the left coast for the express purpose of Snapish talk and cocktails. You sure you can't come to the BEA milkshake meetup?

For really realz, as the teen who lives with me says, you must keep me posted on any good fanfics out there. I mostly read the same two dozen because I cannot bear delving into the sea of sewage that most fanfiction comprises.
OMG EXCELLENT POST

And the kitten in a saucepan! Adorable but slightly worrying... I hope that is not the prelude to kitten stew :O

I can't believe I never noticed that Snape is the most normal of all the Marauder-era people. Lupin is a werewolf/ostracized from society, Sirius is locked up/on the run, James is dead, and Pettigrew is hiding as a rat/cutting off limbs for a psychopath. Man, Snape does seem like he should have taken better advantage of being the most successful dude from his graduating class ( this assumes there were exactly five guys in their year... but as we have no proof to the contrary...)
Role of the study and subjects in the lives of the students is increasing and expanding. It is intricate and utilized for the dynamic and long term radicalization. It is inquisitive and proposed for the betterment and efficiency.
thanks for sharing

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