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.
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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:
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Why is it in a saucepan? Why is there a towel on its head? Why do I suddenly want a kitten? |
“I need to see what Draco Malfoy is doing inside you…”
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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.”
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He's going to talk to some food about this. |
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.”
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.”
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She is quite good looking enough for both of them. |
Kayleigh_M 92p · 638 weeks ago
Tikabelle 87p · 638 weeks ago
Kayleigh_M 92p · 638 weeks ago
Kayleigh V · 638 weeks ago
jennysbooks 89p · 638 weeks ago
What Red Read 121p · 638 weeks ago
Tikabelle 87p · 638 weeks ago
Meg · 638 weeks ago
Tikabelle 87p · 638 weeks ago
What Red Read 121p · 638 weeks ago
(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...)
Tikabelle 87p · 638 weeks ago
(Post-it flags are one of my favorite things EVER. I may have just purchased 3000 of them for $10...)
Laura · 638 weeks ago
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.
Kerry · 638 weeks ago
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.
Tikabelle 87p · 638 weeks ago
Yea, the re-reading now that I know is harsh. JK is a master of subterfuge and perspective.
Meg · 638 weeks ago
Tikabelle 87p · 638 weeks ago
Emily Crowe · 638 weeks ago
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!
Tikabelle 87p · 638 weeks ago
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
Emily · 638 weeks ago
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.
Rayna · 638 weeks ago
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...)
ukbesteessays · 510 weeks ago
Nokia 8 ADB Driver · 175 weeks ago