Thoughts on HBP.
Jul. 18th, 2005 12:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
I wanted to share my thoughts about HBP before reading anyone else's review, so this is my undiluted, unvarnished thoughts on the book (well, except for Jade, but she doesn't count). I'm really interested to see what other people's reactions are to HBP -- no doubt others saw a ton of things I didn't see, and made connections I didn't make. I love that about reading books or watching movies on a massive scale, where I can get the immediate reaction of dozens of other people; inevitably, someone points out something I've never seen, or would never see, if left to my own devices.
Anyway, in a nutshell: I loved it.
If that's all you're curious about, whether or not I liked it, then there's your answer. Go no further. I loved it. HBP might be my favorite book now -- a position that GoF has long held.
I'm going to use the same format that I did for my review of OotP, for this review of HBP. It's just cleaner for me to do it this way, since my mind and thoughts are often a jumbled mess. This forces me to have some semblance of order. But speaking of OotP, let me just say that my reaction to HBP was completely the opposite of what it was to book 5. I was indifferent to OotP once I was done; HBP had me totally fired up and dying to read the next book. It took me and Jade several days to finish OotP; HBP we read in one sitting (12 hours, including calling each other up and chatting after every chapter). And it has nothing to do with length; if HBP had been the length of OotP, we wouldn't have been able to put it down, would have finished it. (In fact, I wish the book I liked had been massively long, rather than the book I didn't much care for.)
So. Here we go.
Characters
Harry: I'm glad he's gotten over being an Angry Young Man. At least, the AYM he was in OotP. And I'm also glad that he wasn't overly mopey and depressed because of Sirius's death; he grieved just the right amount in just the right way, so that we understood how pained he was by it, but it didn't take over the whole book.
He's gained a bit of confidence in the love department, hasn't he? He seemed to have zero nerves about Ginny -- was it because she was familiar to him, or because girls aren't a big deal anymore? It was just a little perturbing that he went after Ginny with very little hesitation once she was available, and very little thought to how she would react to his advances. (But I'll get more into that when discussing Ginny/the ships.)
For perhaps the first time, Harry was right, and Hermione was wrong. Wow. That is a Big Deal. One of the things we've come to expect is that anything Hermione says is gospel truth. That's why, when she was skeptical about Harry's concern over Draco, I ceased to be concerned as well. In fact, JKR did a brilliant job of leading us astray wrt Draco and his doings -- but more about that later. I have to confess that I found myself irritated with Harry several times for obsessing over Draco. Since Hermione didn't think he was right, I assumed he wasn't right, and thus should just give up his crazy conjecturing. (The height of my annoyance was when he was trying to catch Draco in the Room of Requirement after he'd already been reprimanded by Dumbledore to get the memory of Tom Riddle/horcruxes from Slughorn. He felt immensely guilty about that; said himself that obviously Dumbledore wouldn't ask him to do it if it weren't important; we knew, of course, that it was important, and yet he persisted in obsessing over something Hermione showed no concern over. Of course, he managed to get the memory anyway, and was right about Draco, so I guess I have no room to complain.)
Harry being right about Draco (and Hermione being wrong), is a very important step in molding him to be the kind of person he needs to be to defeat Voldemort. Like any other leader, he has to be the one to make the decisions -- that's what a leader does. It's been really good for him to have someone like Hermione around, and he'll continue to need his friends, but he needed to get to the point where he was making decisions, and those decisions needed to turn out to be right. Up until this point, culminating in the confrontation at the Ministry, Harry hasn't been very good at decision making (both at being decisive, or being right when he was decisive) -- but he needed to be. He couldn't really be trusted to make good decisions; couldn't be trusted to be right (unlike, say, Buffy, who frequently needs to make hard decisions, and can be trusted to have good judgment -- at least about things that don't have to do with her personal life <g>). Now that's changed. Harry has taken on that quality of leadership.
Another thing that needed to happen: Dumbledore's death. I'm sorry it happened; I love Dumbledore, but just as with Sirius, Harry needed to lose his protectors (as HBP plainly says) in order to be able to stand on his own. A true leader is always alone -- a recurring theme in Buffy -- and if they have someone to depend on, they can never become what they need in order to lead. A depressing, but believable, truth. This is exactly why Giles leaves Buffy (sorry for the constant allusions to BtVS, I didn't mean to do it, but it all fits so perfectly) -- perhaps best expressed in the lyrics of his song from OMWF, Standing. Not that I think Dumbledore would have let himself die if he could have helped it (though certainly, given the textual evidence, I think an argument could be made for that); I'm sure he wanted to be with Harry at the end, to help him. But as a writer JKR needed Harry to lose those dependencies, so that it was all on him. Poor guy.
Hermione: I liked her MUCH more in HBP than I did in OotP. Maybe because she was finally fallible? Maybe because was just generally less obnoxious? Maybe because I could actually commiserate with the crap she was going through wrt Ron? I don't know, but I actually liked her in this book. Don't have much to say beyond that...
Ron: Initially I enjoyed the idea of Ron/Lavender, but once it happened I pretty much wanted to club him over the head. But I like Ron, he was just being a stupid boy, so all is forgiven. Plus, he was pretty much pushed into it by raging jealousy over Hermione/Krum, and Ginny's harsh condemnation about his lack of experience. Like Hermione, his role as Harry's "sidekick" was rather diminished in this book -- and I think it all goes toward needing Harry to stand alone. Certainly his two friends had a lot less to do with the main plot this time around, unlike every one of the previous novels. Primarily they served as support roles.
Ginny: Okay, she's kind of whorey, and she can be kind of a bitch, but hell, that's probably why I liked her. I especially liked what we saw of her at the Burrow; I didn't like it so much when we saw her with first Dean, then Harry. I HATE, absolutely hate, the idea that she's been pining for Harry all along. That is exactly why I didn't want the ship to happen; the lesson shouldn't be that, hey, if a girl pines long enough, she'll get her man. UGH. I wanted her to be truly over him; he should have had to earn her. But no, the second Harry showed interest, she was just like, Okay! Blah. (I was actually enjoying Harry's crush on Ginny until it resolved itself; I liked the idea of H/G in canon until it was revealed that it was all going to happen just as we feared. :-l)
I find it a bit difficult to believe that Slughorn chose Ginny to be in his little elite circle just because he found her doing a spectacular hex. I think there's still way more to come about Ginny, especially now that we are really starting to get the goods on Voldemort.
On Ginny's physical attributes: Long red hair. Good looking. Still no idea about height.
Draco: Wow. Wow. WOW. So much excellent Draco character development in this book. How squeeful. And a little surprising, I must say -- I had almost ceased to hope that he would ever be of consequence. But in retrospect, of course, I think that was exactly what JKR needed. She was brilliant in leading us on here: Hermione, up to this point, has always been right. So we were safe to assume that she was right again, and anything Draco was cooking up couldn't possibly be that important or dangerous. Draco himself, up to HBP, has been painted as someone who was more of an annoyance than a true threat -- regardless of his posturing to Harry. He's been shown as a pesky bully, while Harry has always had bigger fish to fry. His father had to buy his position on the Quidditch team. He wasn't at the top of his class (though not shown by any means to be academically challenged). All of his cunning plans against Harry have never worked out, and often ended in his own humiliation. There was no reason for us to suspect that he had any level of competence, especially not when it came to the main plot.
But. He found a way to bring Death Eaters into Hogwarts. Holy crap. He did it by being clever and resourceful -- and even Dumbledore couldn't guess how he'd done it. And let's not forget that perhaps, for the first time ever, he outsmarted Harry by discovering him in his compartment on the train. We also see Draco in all the high-level classes that the trio are in. I'd like to have known exactly how many O.W.L.s he got. I'm surprised he didn't brag about it, actually.
He cares about his family. In the beginning, he was very smug about his importance in being given this job. He was glad to do it, for so many reasons, but it's made clear that by the end of it, he's only still in it out of fear for his life and for the lives of his family members. (I'm going to use this section to also voice my approval of Narcissa Malfoy as a mother, even if she is a biatch.) Anyone who has affection for their parents automatically gets a plus in my book -- especially given the ready comparison that we have to Tom Riddle. He was crying -- actually crying -- about it, to Moaning Myrtle. (I had hoped/suspected the crying boy might be Draco, and was very glad to be right.) It goes to show, imho, that in spite of everything, he's just a boy. Obnoxious and an asshole, maybe, but not evil.
We're told, very clearly, that he was a pawn -- and by the end, an unwilling one, at that. We can also take as gospel that Draco would not have killed Dumbledore. Not only is Dumbledore absolutely convinced of this fact (and regardless of his mistakes, I still judge him to be absolutely reliable about people), but Harry himself reiterates it in the aftermath. I did fear that Dumbledore's certainty that Draco wouldn't kill him would backfire, and provoke Draco into doing it -- but even then, Draco did not.
At this point, I would consider Draco "redeemed." Or that he will be, in book 7. Given his behavior in HBP, and given Dumbledore's sacrifice (I have little to no doubt that he allowed himself to be killed in order to save Draco), anything else would be wrong. Dumbledore's gift can't be for nothing; his belief in Draco can't be wrong. What kind of legacy would that leave? Thus, his death serves two purposes: To make Harry a leader, and to turn Draco to the right side. Both of which are absolutely crucial to defeating Voldemort (especially if you believe the Sorting Hat).
On Draco's physical attributes: white-blond hair, light-grey eyes, tall. Did I miss anything?
Dumbledore: I think I've said pretty much all I have to say about Dumbledore, in the other character run-downs. I've always loved him -- not as a favorite character, but as someone I would probably love if I met them -- and his death was truly shocking, truly regretful. I didn't want it to be true. (Sirius's death, I was completely indifferent to.) I admit that for a time, I wondered if Dumbledore was really Dumbledore, but in a world like HP, can you blame me? The only other thing I have to add here has more to do with others' behavior. After he's died and McGonagall takes Harry into the Headmaster's office, there's a portrait of Dumbledore there, snoozing away. Why the bloody hell didn't someone wake him up and consult him???
Snape: Still my favorite character. Nothing and no one can persuade me that he's not Dumbledore's man, just like Harry. He's as imperfect as ever, but that's part of why I like him. He has the most dangerous job in the HP universe. He has to play the Dark Lord's stooge, without ever giving away his true loyalties. I would not be surprised to learn that Voldemort has known it all along (after all, ultimate evil would not be as menacing if it could be fooled like anyone else), but still. It's such a dangerous, fine line, and he has to play it.
Did Snape really know of the plan Narcissa was talking about, and did he really know what he was promising when he made an Unbreakable Vow? I'm not sure. I rather like to think he did know, and was willing to sacrifice himself for Draco (I've always liked the idea of Snape being more of a father figure to Draco, and bearing him true affection), because there was no way he was going to actually kill Dumbledore. Jade and I believe that the argument Snape and Dumbledore had (which Hagrid overheard) was the two of them fighting about what he had to do. And Dumbledore's pleas at the end were not for mercy -- no. They were for Snape to do what he'd promised, what they'd discussed. He could not, of course, have said as much in the company of the other Death Eaters, but Snape knew the full meaning.
Snape was almost single minded in getting Draco out of there. His concern -- just like Dumbledore's -- was for Draco's life. And it was right and damn good for that to be the case, because if Draco didn't have Snape, then he had no one. Given his (probably) new loyalties, there would have been nowhere for a young boy like him to turn, nowhere to seek guidance. But now he has Snape.
Another reason I don't believe Snape to truly be in the Dark Lord's service (or an indication that Voldemort doesn't really trust him) is because of something McGonagall said. She says that Snape didn't seem to know that the Death Eaters were coming. No doubt he took immediate, decisive action once he did find out -- I wonder if there will be consequences for him having killed Dumbledore rather than Draco? The Death Eaters were adamant that it had to be Draco who did it; that had to have been under Voldemort's orders. Will Voldie be pissed off that Draco didn't do it, or will he be pleased at this sign of loyalty from Snape? Of course, Voldemort supposedly doesn't know of the vow Snape made to Narcissa.
Harry can still push Snape's buttons like no one else -- probably because of James. Snape falters one time in his mad dash to get Draco out, and it was when Harry called him a coward. "I AM NOT A COWARD!" bellows Snape, and I can't help but feel for him here ... because if what I believe is the truth is the truth, then he is as far from a coward as anyone can be, and is, in fact, behaving like a stupidly brave Gryffindor. :D
I do wonder what it is that made Snape turn to the good side at last. We got a hint of it in HBP -- the fact that what he overheard of Trelawney's prediction got a bunch of his classmates killed (though I'm not sure why it made such a big difference, when surely he had killed other people prior to that, and you'd think of anyone, he'd want to see James dead), but there's more. There has to be more, because Dumbledore has never, ever answered a direct query as to why he trusts Snape. He merely answers that he just does. Which tells me that it's Snape's secret to reveal, but obviously it's gotta be pretty damn convincing for Dumbledore to be this absolutely certain.
Loved that he was the half-blood Prince, and that 'Prince' had nothing to do with royalty or heirs or whatever. Speculation ran RAMPANT about it, and it's nice that JKR can still surprise us -- and obviously, our imaginations are often too wild for our own good. I'm not really clear on why Snape should be so enamored of his Prince roots to give himself that name, but whatever. I started to suspect it was Snape's book when it turned out to be a potions textbook. And yet I still didn't see the prime piece of evidence we were given to absolutely be certain -- during the lesson on poisons, Harry even reflects back to that first lesson Snape taught about the bezoar. D'oh on me!
Tom Riddle/Voldemort: So interesting. I love that we got to find out this much about Voldemort, and see what a malevolent bastard he was, even as a small child. But unlike Harry, and unlike (surprisingly) Dumbledore, I do pity the young Tom Riddle. It's true that he probably inherited some pretty iffy mental problems from his Gaunt relatives (apparently, the trailer trash of the wizarding world) ... but surely that was exacerbated by the fact that he had no one to love him, or even tell him any history about himself/his parents? Harry was an orphan, too, but at least he always knew who his parents were. He lived with his (albeit sucky) family, and he knew (generally) where he came from. But Tom, like most orphans who grow up in orphanages, didn't have a clue. He probably spun fantasies about how his parents were probably famous/rich/awesome people, who had died in a blaze of glory/were secretly undercover government agents/saddled by amnesia but would soon recover to come for him. In short, he wanted confirmation that he was special (especially given his powers). Did it help that he soon found out the truth about his lineage? I would think not.
I'm not saying that if he had been cared and nurtured for, Tom would have turned out differently. In fact, I'd say he probably would have turned out just the same. But the point is, nothing about his childhood would certainly have helped matters.
And I'm always sorry to see a handsome boy turn into a disgusting creature with scary red eyes. :))
Fleur: Okay, JKR, you got me. I didn't like Phlegm just like the rest of them, and fully expected her to desert Bill once she saw what had happened to his face ... and instead, her reaction, and Molly's subsequent offer, actually made me weepy. I officially like Fleur.
Slughorn: I liked him. I like that there was a Slytherin head of house who epitomized Slytherin house -- with regard to its ambition and self interest -- but who certainly wasn't evil. Again, because Dumbledore likes/trusts him, I'm okay with him too. Not to mention, bringing it back to the Sorting Hat, that it seems far more likely for all the Houses to unite now. (But even with Snape, it would have happened, given my beliefs about Snape's true loyalties.)
Percy: Still bear total loathing.
Luna: I'm with Ron -- she should commentate on all the Quidditch matches from now on. Speaking of, though, what was with Zacharias Smith being a commentator, when he's on a Quidditch team? That makes no sense. They should have gotten a permanent commentator like Lee Jordan.
Neville: Surprisingly small role. I can't figure out whether Trevor is really just a recurring gag, or whether something important is going to happen with him. Then again, the whole pet thing has been done.
My OTP: I have both more hope and no hope at all for D/G after HBP. <g> D/G was always a far-off fantasy, but now it's so close I can almost taste it. I'd give it a 10 percent chance of happening at this point, depending on other factors. And of that 10 percent, that includes even temporary D/G -- i.e., Harry mistakenly believes they have something going on, or maybe they do get something going before breaking up and leaving the path for Harry. But honestly, I don't really see it happening. I want to, but ... I don't think the ships that are sailing at the end of book 7 are going to be ones that will really surprise us.
One of the biggest questions is how long it will take Snape and Draco's true loyalties to surface in book 7. If it takes a long time, there will be no chance for D/G, imho. And all indications are, given how secretive JKR has been so far about revealing everything about Snape, hat it will likely be too big a deal to take care of in the opening chapters (unlike the new Minister of Magic and the Black estate). I only caught a few extremely minor D/G parts: Any time Ginny talked about Malfoy, usually started by someone else; Draco on the train wondering what was so special about Ginny Weasley; Pansy on the train talking about how Ginny was good looking, and watching Draco for a reaction.
Other Ships:
Ron/Hermione: I thought it was cute, even if Ron was a dunderhead. It was clear from GoF that JKR wanted to ship R/Hr, and it was cute even then. I've always borne the same amount of affection for R/Hr that I have for H/Hr ... the latter just conveniently frees up Ginny, which is why I like to use it in my stories. <g> If I had any doubts about R/Hr, it was due to the fact that there was zero mention of it in OotP, and the movies. The movies have deliberately played up the H/Hr angle, probably because they think people want to see the female lead get with the hero. But I don't see how anyone could be in doubt about R/Hr after HBP -- not just because Harry is into Ginny, but because he is obviously not into Hermione that way.
Harry/Ginny: Sigh. I've always secretly kind of liked H/G in canon, but with one specific caveat: That it not come together all hunky dory, with Ginny getting her man after ages of pining. Which is how it happened. Sigh. It's not the most evil, heinous thing in the world, but it is disappointing. Plus, it was so boring and bland once it happened. And I'm not really fooled about their "break up" at the end -- this is no doubt a way for Harry to be 'rewarded' once he's defeated Voldemort, a bit of joy to give back to him, and so that we'll feel 'happy' too. Yes, it's all in quotation marks for a reason.
Blaise/Ginny: Nothing overt, of course, but B/G fans certainly have a springboard now, don't they? :D
Harry/Draco: Must have been an H/D fan's DREAM, with Harry so completely obsessed over Draco. Hahahaha!
Narcissa/Snape: Yes, I find that I have a soft spot for this one.
Snape/Lily: One of my favorite guilty-pleasure ideas. And maybe not so guilty? Lily, it was reinforced multiple times, was a genius at potions. Which Snape would have undoubtedly loved. And I could see her death as one he would regret, after the whole prophecy thing -- Snape couldn't care less about James, but that he had caused Lily's death (if, in fact, he loved her), would have been a severe blow.
Draco/Pansy: I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. My belief is that just because he allows her to pet him and be his bitch, does not a true girlfriend make.
Neville/Luna: Was it just me, or was there a hint of Neville/Luna??
Lupin/Tonks: Added 7/19 -- I guess the fact that I forgot about that ship kind of speaks for itself, huh? ;) But actually -- from what we got, I thought it was cute/fine. I don't have any great passion for the ship, but neither am I opposed. I had even suspected it, given that others were convinced Tonks was moping about Sirius, but from the text it seemed that she was actually heartsick about something else. I'm not really clear about her Patronus changing, though -- why that happened, what it means, etc.
The Plot of HBP: Really gripping and excellently done. JKR strings us along for nearly the entire book, and only in the last few chapters do we get to know what any of it meant. It felt like old school HP to me, which is a good thing, considering old school HP rocked. OotP is the only one that strayed from that, and I'm glad it was an anomaly.
Random Notes:
* The idea that Harry would have Gryffindor classmates -- particularly ones around his age -- that he doesn't know, seems totally ludicrous to me. It's just not that big a school. And okay, you could say that Harry's just generally oblivious, but it's not like the classmates expect him to know who they are, either.
* Is it just me, or is the idea of nonverbal spells really stupid? Okay, being able to do it isn't stupid, but the idea that it's something you have to be able to do in order to pass your sixth-year classes -- something that everyone is thus required to do -- is stupid. Then why does anyone bother saying spells at all? Especially the Death Eaters???
* Since when are first years allowed to be on Quidditch teams, officially? Did that rule change after Harry became Seeker? When were we told the rule changed? It could have very well happened in OotP; I don't remember that book very well. But I was definitely surprised that first years were allowed to try out.
* I didn't like that because Snape was no longer Potions master, "underachievers" could take the N.E.W.T.-level course. It's not so much that I didn't want them to take it, as I think it ought to be a standardized process. Considering that a N.E.W.T. in potions is required to become an Auror, so many people's futures/dreams can be dashed at the whim of a teacher? How is that fair? Or does it just mean that some years, you get really proficient Aurors wrt potions, and some years you don't? It's a crapshoot depending on who's teaching at Hogwarts? It doesn't make any sense. Given the consequences, it seems to me that this is something that ought to be regulated on a higher level, either by the school or by the Ministry, even -- since it's the Auror pool that will be affected.
* Why wouldn't Death Eaters just take a bit of Felix Felicis every time they faced the opposition? The reasoning for why people don't use it a lot doesn't really work wrt the Death Eaters. So they don't take a lot of it, enough to die -- but they could take as much as, say, Harry did. And same deal w/ the other side -- why not take it when facing Voldemort? And what happens when two people who have contradictory wishes take it at the same time?
* My belief about whether Harry is going to survive the series remains unchanged: It is an unequivocal yes. JKR would never kill Harry, not when the point of the series is Harry (good) triumphing over Voldemort (evil). And I'm sorry, but no matter how okay Dumbledore is with death, Harry dying would hardly mark a W in the 'good' column. Not to mention, it's fucking depressing and that's just not JKR's end goal. I'm just going to paste in what I said in reply to this question in my Aparecium interview:
Do you think Harry will be alive at the end of the series?
Yes. I have very little doubt about it, actually. Because so many of us in fandom are adults, I think we tend to attribute too much adult-novel consequences into these books. At their heart, they are still meant for people of a younger persuasion (no matter how smartly written, so that adults can enjoy them as well) -- which doesn't make them dumb or trite. People get really defensive when it's said that these are young-adult novels, as if they're being personally attacked for lack of taste or something. I have no problem characterizing them as such, and saying that I love them. I love many young-adult novels, actually.
But I'm getting a little off track. The point is, as someone who sees the HP books as being written for young people, I think they are meant to convey a lasting and positive impression. In my humble opinion, the books are ultimately about perseverance, in overcoming obstacles; faith, in believing in and trusting one's friends; and most of all, about hope -- that one young boy, against all odds, can make a difference. And if Harry isn't alive at the end of the series to enjoy the life that he's finally able to have, free of Voldemort and terror and abuse, then those messages fall flat, if they aren't obliterated completely.
So I guess the real question is, do I think JKR will take a little boy, murder his parents, make him totally miserable, show him a glimpse of what life can be like, with friends and people who care about him, make him save then world, then kill him so he can't ever know what it's like to live without fear and hatred?
No. I don't.
* More as I think of them...
[Poll #534788]
Anyway, in a nutshell: I loved it.
If that's all you're curious about, whether or not I liked it, then there's your answer. Go no further. I loved it. HBP might be my favorite book now -- a position that GoF has long held.
I'm going to use the same format that I did for my review of OotP, for this review of HBP. It's just cleaner for me to do it this way, since my mind and thoughts are often a jumbled mess. This forces me to have some semblance of order. But speaking of OotP, let me just say that my reaction to HBP was completely the opposite of what it was to book 5. I was indifferent to OotP once I was done; HBP had me totally fired up and dying to read the next book. It took me and Jade several days to finish OotP; HBP we read in one sitting (12 hours, including calling each other up and chatting after every chapter). And it has nothing to do with length; if HBP had been the length of OotP, we wouldn't have been able to put it down, would have finished it. (In fact, I wish the book I liked had been massively long, rather than the book I didn't much care for.)
So. Here we go.
Characters
Harry: I'm glad he's gotten over being an Angry Young Man. At least, the AYM he was in OotP. And I'm also glad that he wasn't overly mopey and depressed because of Sirius's death; he grieved just the right amount in just the right way, so that we understood how pained he was by it, but it didn't take over the whole book.
He's gained a bit of confidence in the love department, hasn't he? He seemed to have zero nerves about Ginny -- was it because she was familiar to him, or because girls aren't a big deal anymore? It was just a little perturbing that he went after Ginny with very little hesitation once she was available, and very little thought to how she would react to his advances. (But I'll get more into that when discussing Ginny/the ships.)
For perhaps the first time, Harry was right, and Hermione was wrong. Wow. That is a Big Deal. One of the things we've come to expect is that anything Hermione says is gospel truth. That's why, when she was skeptical about Harry's concern over Draco, I ceased to be concerned as well. In fact, JKR did a brilliant job of leading us astray wrt Draco and his doings -- but more about that later. I have to confess that I found myself irritated with Harry several times for obsessing over Draco. Since Hermione didn't think he was right, I assumed he wasn't right, and thus should just give up his crazy conjecturing. (The height of my annoyance was when he was trying to catch Draco in the Room of Requirement after he'd already been reprimanded by Dumbledore to get the memory of Tom Riddle/horcruxes from Slughorn. He felt immensely guilty about that; said himself that obviously Dumbledore wouldn't ask him to do it if it weren't important; we knew, of course, that it was important, and yet he persisted in obsessing over something Hermione showed no concern over. Of course, he managed to get the memory anyway, and was right about Draco, so I guess I have no room to complain.)
Harry being right about Draco (and Hermione being wrong), is a very important step in molding him to be the kind of person he needs to be to defeat Voldemort. Like any other leader, he has to be the one to make the decisions -- that's what a leader does. It's been really good for him to have someone like Hermione around, and he'll continue to need his friends, but he needed to get to the point where he was making decisions, and those decisions needed to turn out to be right. Up until this point, culminating in the confrontation at the Ministry, Harry hasn't been very good at decision making (both at being decisive, or being right when he was decisive) -- but he needed to be. He couldn't really be trusted to make good decisions; couldn't be trusted to be right (unlike, say, Buffy, who frequently needs to make hard decisions, and can be trusted to have good judgment -- at least about things that don't have to do with her personal life <g>). Now that's changed. Harry has taken on that quality of leadership.
Another thing that needed to happen: Dumbledore's death. I'm sorry it happened; I love Dumbledore, but just as with Sirius, Harry needed to lose his protectors (as HBP plainly says) in order to be able to stand on his own. A true leader is always alone -- a recurring theme in Buffy -- and if they have someone to depend on, they can never become what they need in order to lead. A depressing, but believable, truth. This is exactly why Giles leaves Buffy (sorry for the constant allusions to BtVS, I didn't mean to do it, but it all fits so perfectly) -- perhaps best expressed in the lyrics of his song from OMWF, Standing. Not that I think Dumbledore would have let himself die if he could have helped it (though certainly, given the textual evidence, I think an argument could be made for that); I'm sure he wanted to be with Harry at the end, to help him. But as a writer JKR needed Harry to lose those dependencies, so that it was all on him. Poor guy.
Hermione: I liked her MUCH more in HBP than I did in OotP. Maybe because she was finally fallible? Maybe because was just generally less obnoxious? Maybe because I could actually commiserate with the crap she was going through wrt Ron? I don't know, but I actually liked her in this book. Don't have much to say beyond that...
Ron: Initially I enjoyed the idea of Ron/Lavender, but once it happened I pretty much wanted to club him over the head. But I like Ron, he was just being a stupid boy, so all is forgiven. Plus, he was pretty much pushed into it by raging jealousy over Hermione/Krum, and Ginny's harsh condemnation about his lack of experience. Like Hermione, his role as Harry's "sidekick" was rather diminished in this book -- and I think it all goes toward needing Harry to stand alone. Certainly his two friends had a lot less to do with the main plot this time around, unlike every one of the previous novels. Primarily they served as support roles.
Ginny: Okay, she's kind of whorey, and she can be kind of a bitch, but hell, that's probably why I liked her. I especially liked what we saw of her at the Burrow; I didn't like it so much when we saw her with first Dean, then Harry. I HATE, absolutely hate, the idea that she's been pining for Harry all along. That is exactly why I didn't want the ship to happen; the lesson shouldn't be that, hey, if a girl pines long enough, she'll get her man. UGH. I wanted her to be truly over him; he should have had to earn her. But no, the second Harry showed interest, she was just like, Okay! Blah. (I was actually enjoying Harry's crush on Ginny until it resolved itself; I liked the idea of H/G in canon until it was revealed that it was all going to happen just as we feared. :-l)
I find it a bit difficult to believe that Slughorn chose Ginny to be in his little elite circle just because he found her doing a spectacular hex. I think there's still way more to come about Ginny, especially now that we are really starting to get the goods on Voldemort.
On Ginny's physical attributes: Long red hair. Good looking. Still no idea about height.
Draco: Wow. Wow. WOW. So much excellent Draco character development in this book. How squeeful. And a little surprising, I must say -- I had almost ceased to hope that he would ever be of consequence. But in retrospect, of course, I think that was exactly what JKR needed. She was brilliant in leading us on here: Hermione, up to this point, has always been right. So we were safe to assume that she was right again, and anything Draco was cooking up couldn't possibly be that important or dangerous. Draco himself, up to HBP, has been painted as someone who was more of an annoyance than a true threat -- regardless of his posturing to Harry. He's been shown as a pesky bully, while Harry has always had bigger fish to fry. His father had to buy his position on the Quidditch team. He wasn't at the top of his class (though not shown by any means to be academically challenged). All of his cunning plans against Harry have never worked out, and often ended in his own humiliation. There was no reason for us to suspect that he had any level of competence, especially not when it came to the main plot.
But. He found a way to bring Death Eaters into Hogwarts. Holy crap. He did it by being clever and resourceful -- and even Dumbledore couldn't guess how he'd done it. And let's not forget that perhaps, for the first time ever, he outsmarted Harry by discovering him in his compartment on the train. We also see Draco in all the high-level classes that the trio are in. I'd like to have known exactly how many O.W.L.s he got. I'm surprised he didn't brag about it, actually.
He cares about his family. In the beginning, he was very smug about his importance in being given this job. He was glad to do it, for so many reasons, but it's made clear that by the end of it, he's only still in it out of fear for his life and for the lives of his family members. (I'm going to use this section to also voice my approval of Narcissa Malfoy as a mother, even if she is a biatch.) Anyone who has affection for their parents automatically gets a plus in my book -- especially given the ready comparison that we have to Tom Riddle. He was crying -- actually crying -- about it, to Moaning Myrtle. (I had hoped/suspected the crying boy might be Draco, and was very glad to be right.) It goes to show, imho, that in spite of everything, he's just a boy. Obnoxious and an asshole, maybe, but not evil.
We're told, very clearly, that he was a pawn -- and by the end, an unwilling one, at that. We can also take as gospel that Draco would not have killed Dumbledore. Not only is Dumbledore absolutely convinced of this fact (and regardless of his mistakes, I still judge him to be absolutely reliable about people), but Harry himself reiterates it in the aftermath. I did fear that Dumbledore's certainty that Draco wouldn't kill him would backfire, and provoke Draco into doing it -- but even then, Draco did not.
At this point, I would consider Draco "redeemed." Or that he will be, in book 7. Given his behavior in HBP, and given Dumbledore's sacrifice (I have little to no doubt that he allowed himself to be killed in order to save Draco), anything else would be wrong. Dumbledore's gift can't be for nothing; his belief in Draco can't be wrong. What kind of legacy would that leave? Thus, his death serves two purposes: To make Harry a leader, and to turn Draco to the right side. Both of which are absolutely crucial to defeating Voldemort (especially if you believe the Sorting Hat).
On Draco's physical attributes: white-blond hair, light-grey eyes, tall. Did I miss anything?
Dumbledore: I think I've said pretty much all I have to say about Dumbledore, in the other character run-downs. I've always loved him -- not as a favorite character, but as someone I would probably love if I met them -- and his death was truly shocking, truly regretful. I didn't want it to be true. (Sirius's death, I was completely indifferent to.) I admit that for a time, I wondered if Dumbledore was really Dumbledore, but in a world like HP, can you blame me? The only other thing I have to add here has more to do with others' behavior. After he's died and McGonagall takes Harry into the Headmaster's office, there's a portrait of Dumbledore there, snoozing away. Why the bloody hell didn't someone wake him up and consult him???
Snape: Still my favorite character. Nothing and no one can persuade me that he's not Dumbledore's man, just like Harry. He's as imperfect as ever, but that's part of why I like him. He has the most dangerous job in the HP universe. He has to play the Dark Lord's stooge, without ever giving away his true loyalties. I would not be surprised to learn that Voldemort has known it all along (after all, ultimate evil would not be as menacing if it could be fooled like anyone else), but still. It's such a dangerous, fine line, and he has to play it.
Did Snape really know of the plan Narcissa was talking about, and did he really know what he was promising when he made an Unbreakable Vow? I'm not sure. I rather like to think he did know, and was willing to sacrifice himself for Draco (I've always liked the idea of Snape being more of a father figure to Draco, and bearing him true affection), because there was no way he was going to actually kill Dumbledore. Jade and I believe that the argument Snape and Dumbledore had (which Hagrid overheard) was the two of them fighting about what he had to do. And Dumbledore's pleas at the end were not for mercy -- no. They were for Snape to do what he'd promised, what they'd discussed. He could not, of course, have said as much in the company of the other Death Eaters, but Snape knew the full meaning.
Snape was almost single minded in getting Draco out of there. His concern -- just like Dumbledore's -- was for Draco's life. And it was right and damn good for that to be the case, because if Draco didn't have Snape, then he had no one. Given his (probably) new loyalties, there would have been nowhere for a young boy like him to turn, nowhere to seek guidance. But now he has Snape.
Another reason I don't believe Snape to truly be in the Dark Lord's service (or an indication that Voldemort doesn't really trust him) is because of something McGonagall said. She says that Snape didn't seem to know that the Death Eaters were coming. No doubt he took immediate, decisive action once he did find out -- I wonder if there will be consequences for him having killed Dumbledore rather than Draco? The Death Eaters were adamant that it had to be Draco who did it; that had to have been under Voldemort's orders. Will Voldie be pissed off that Draco didn't do it, or will he be pleased at this sign of loyalty from Snape? Of course, Voldemort supposedly doesn't know of the vow Snape made to Narcissa.
Harry can still push Snape's buttons like no one else -- probably because of James. Snape falters one time in his mad dash to get Draco out, and it was when Harry called him a coward. "I AM NOT A COWARD!" bellows Snape, and I can't help but feel for him here ... because if what I believe is the truth is the truth, then he is as far from a coward as anyone can be, and is, in fact, behaving like a stupidly brave Gryffindor. :D
I do wonder what it is that made Snape turn to the good side at last. We got a hint of it in HBP -- the fact that what he overheard of Trelawney's prediction got a bunch of his classmates killed (though I'm not sure why it made such a big difference, when surely he had killed other people prior to that, and you'd think of anyone, he'd want to see James dead), but there's more. There has to be more, because Dumbledore has never, ever answered a direct query as to why he trusts Snape. He merely answers that he just does. Which tells me that it's Snape's secret to reveal, but obviously it's gotta be pretty damn convincing for Dumbledore to be this absolutely certain.
Loved that he was the half-blood Prince, and that 'Prince' had nothing to do with royalty or heirs or whatever. Speculation ran RAMPANT about it, and it's nice that JKR can still surprise us -- and obviously, our imaginations are often too wild for our own good. I'm not really clear on why Snape should be so enamored of his Prince roots to give himself that name, but whatever. I started to suspect it was Snape's book when it turned out to be a potions textbook. And yet I still didn't see the prime piece of evidence we were given to absolutely be certain -- during the lesson on poisons, Harry even reflects back to that first lesson Snape taught about the bezoar. D'oh on me!
Tom Riddle/Voldemort: So interesting. I love that we got to find out this much about Voldemort, and see what a malevolent bastard he was, even as a small child. But unlike Harry, and unlike (surprisingly) Dumbledore, I do pity the young Tom Riddle. It's true that he probably inherited some pretty iffy mental problems from his Gaunt relatives (apparently, the trailer trash of the wizarding world) ... but surely that was exacerbated by the fact that he had no one to love him, or even tell him any history about himself/his parents? Harry was an orphan, too, but at least he always knew who his parents were. He lived with his (albeit sucky) family, and he knew (generally) where he came from. But Tom, like most orphans who grow up in orphanages, didn't have a clue. He probably spun fantasies about how his parents were probably famous/rich/awesome people, who had died in a blaze of glory/were secretly undercover government agents/saddled by amnesia but would soon recover to come for him. In short, he wanted confirmation that he was special (especially given his powers). Did it help that he soon found out the truth about his lineage? I would think not.
I'm not saying that if he had been cared and nurtured for, Tom would have turned out differently. In fact, I'd say he probably would have turned out just the same. But the point is, nothing about his childhood would certainly have helped matters.
And I'm always sorry to see a handsome boy turn into a disgusting creature with scary red eyes. :))
Fleur: Okay, JKR, you got me. I didn't like Phlegm just like the rest of them, and fully expected her to desert Bill once she saw what had happened to his face ... and instead, her reaction, and Molly's subsequent offer, actually made me weepy. I officially like Fleur.
Slughorn: I liked him. I like that there was a Slytherin head of house who epitomized Slytherin house -- with regard to its ambition and self interest -- but who certainly wasn't evil. Again, because Dumbledore likes/trusts him, I'm okay with him too. Not to mention, bringing it back to the Sorting Hat, that it seems far more likely for all the Houses to unite now. (But even with Snape, it would have happened, given my beliefs about Snape's true loyalties.)
Percy: Still bear total loathing.
Luna: I'm with Ron -- she should commentate on all the Quidditch matches from now on. Speaking of, though, what was with Zacharias Smith being a commentator, when he's on a Quidditch team? That makes no sense. They should have gotten a permanent commentator like Lee Jordan.
Neville: Surprisingly small role. I can't figure out whether Trevor is really just a recurring gag, or whether something important is going to happen with him. Then again, the whole pet thing has been done.
My OTP: I have both more hope and no hope at all for D/G after HBP. <g> D/G was always a far-off fantasy, but now it's so close I can almost taste it. I'd give it a 10 percent chance of happening at this point, depending on other factors. And of that 10 percent, that includes even temporary D/G -- i.e., Harry mistakenly believes they have something going on, or maybe they do get something going before breaking up and leaving the path for Harry. But honestly, I don't really see it happening. I want to, but ... I don't think the ships that are sailing at the end of book 7 are going to be ones that will really surprise us.
One of the biggest questions is how long it will take Snape and Draco's true loyalties to surface in book 7. If it takes a long time, there will be no chance for D/G, imho. And all indications are, given how secretive JKR has been so far about revealing everything about Snape, hat it will likely be too big a deal to take care of in the opening chapters (unlike the new Minister of Magic and the Black estate). I only caught a few extremely minor D/G parts: Any time Ginny talked about Malfoy, usually started by someone else; Draco on the train wondering what was so special about Ginny Weasley; Pansy on the train talking about how Ginny was good looking, and watching Draco for a reaction.
Other Ships:
Ron/Hermione: I thought it was cute, even if Ron was a dunderhead. It was clear from GoF that JKR wanted to ship R/Hr, and it was cute even then. I've always borne the same amount of affection for R/Hr that I have for H/Hr ... the latter just conveniently frees up Ginny, which is why I like to use it in my stories. <g> If I had any doubts about R/Hr, it was due to the fact that there was zero mention of it in OotP, and the movies. The movies have deliberately played up the H/Hr angle, probably because they think people want to see the female lead get with the hero. But I don't see how anyone could be in doubt about R/Hr after HBP -- not just because Harry is into Ginny, but because he is obviously not into Hermione that way.
Harry/Ginny: Sigh. I've always secretly kind of liked H/G in canon, but with one specific caveat: That it not come together all hunky dory, with Ginny getting her man after ages of pining. Which is how it happened. Sigh. It's not the most evil, heinous thing in the world, but it is disappointing. Plus, it was so boring and bland once it happened. And I'm not really fooled about their "break up" at the end -- this is no doubt a way for Harry to be 'rewarded' once he's defeated Voldemort, a bit of joy to give back to him, and so that we'll feel 'happy' too. Yes, it's all in quotation marks for a reason.
Blaise/Ginny: Nothing overt, of course, but B/G fans certainly have a springboard now, don't they? :D
Harry/Draco: Must have been an H/D fan's DREAM, with Harry so completely obsessed over Draco. Hahahaha!
Narcissa/Snape: Yes, I find that I have a soft spot for this one.
Snape/Lily: One of my favorite guilty-pleasure ideas. And maybe not so guilty? Lily, it was reinforced multiple times, was a genius at potions. Which Snape would have undoubtedly loved. And I could see her death as one he would regret, after the whole prophecy thing -- Snape couldn't care less about James, but that he had caused Lily's death (if, in fact, he loved her), would have been a severe blow.
Draco/Pansy: I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. My belief is that just because he allows her to pet him and be his bitch, does not a true girlfriend make.
Neville/Luna: Was it just me, or was there a hint of Neville/Luna??
Lupin/Tonks: Added 7/19 -- I guess the fact that I forgot about that ship kind of speaks for itself, huh? ;) But actually -- from what we got, I thought it was cute/fine. I don't have any great passion for the ship, but neither am I opposed. I had even suspected it, given that others were convinced Tonks was moping about Sirius, but from the text it seemed that she was actually heartsick about something else. I'm not really clear about her Patronus changing, though -- why that happened, what it means, etc.
The Plot of HBP: Really gripping and excellently done. JKR strings us along for nearly the entire book, and only in the last few chapters do we get to know what any of it meant. It felt like old school HP to me, which is a good thing, considering old school HP rocked. OotP is the only one that strayed from that, and I'm glad it was an anomaly.
Random Notes:
* The idea that Harry would have Gryffindor classmates -- particularly ones around his age -- that he doesn't know, seems totally ludicrous to me. It's just not that big a school. And okay, you could say that Harry's just generally oblivious, but it's not like the classmates expect him to know who they are, either.
* Is it just me, or is the idea of nonverbal spells really stupid? Okay, being able to do it isn't stupid, but the idea that it's something you have to be able to do in order to pass your sixth-year classes -- something that everyone is thus required to do -- is stupid. Then why does anyone bother saying spells at all? Especially the Death Eaters???
* Since when are first years allowed to be on Quidditch teams, officially? Did that rule change after Harry became Seeker? When were we told the rule changed? It could have very well happened in OotP; I don't remember that book very well. But I was definitely surprised that first years were allowed to try out.
* I didn't like that because Snape was no longer Potions master, "underachievers" could take the N.E.W.T.-level course. It's not so much that I didn't want them to take it, as I think it ought to be a standardized process. Considering that a N.E.W.T. in potions is required to become an Auror, so many people's futures/dreams can be dashed at the whim of a teacher? How is that fair? Or does it just mean that some years, you get really proficient Aurors wrt potions, and some years you don't? It's a crapshoot depending on who's teaching at Hogwarts? It doesn't make any sense. Given the consequences, it seems to me that this is something that ought to be regulated on a higher level, either by the school or by the Ministry, even -- since it's the Auror pool that will be affected.
* Why wouldn't Death Eaters just take a bit of Felix Felicis every time they faced the opposition? The reasoning for why people don't use it a lot doesn't really work wrt the Death Eaters. So they don't take a lot of it, enough to die -- but they could take as much as, say, Harry did. And same deal w/ the other side -- why not take it when facing Voldemort? And what happens when two people who have contradictory wishes take it at the same time?
* My belief about whether Harry is going to survive the series remains unchanged: It is an unequivocal yes. JKR would never kill Harry, not when the point of the series is Harry (good) triumphing over Voldemort (evil). And I'm sorry, but no matter how okay Dumbledore is with death, Harry dying would hardly mark a W in the 'good' column. Not to mention, it's fucking depressing and that's just not JKR's end goal. I'm just going to paste in what I said in reply to this question in my Aparecium interview:
Do you think Harry will be alive at the end of the series?
Yes. I have very little doubt about it, actually. Because so many of us in fandom are adults, I think we tend to attribute too much adult-novel consequences into these books. At their heart, they are still meant for people of a younger persuasion (no matter how smartly written, so that adults can enjoy them as well) -- which doesn't make them dumb or trite. People get really defensive when it's said that these are young-adult novels, as if they're being personally attacked for lack of taste or something. I have no problem characterizing them as such, and saying that I love them. I love many young-adult novels, actually.
But I'm getting a little off track. The point is, as someone who sees the HP books as being written for young people, I think they are meant to convey a lasting and positive impression. In my humble opinion, the books are ultimately about perseverance, in overcoming obstacles; faith, in believing in and trusting one's friends; and most of all, about hope -- that one young boy, against all odds, can make a difference. And if Harry isn't alive at the end of the series to enjoy the life that he's finally able to have, free of Voldemort and terror and abuse, then those messages fall flat, if they aren't obliterated completely.
So I guess the real question is, do I think JKR will take a little boy, murder his parents, make him totally miserable, show him a glimpse of what life can be like, with friends and people who care about him, make him save then world, then kill him so he can't ever know what it's like to live without fear and hatred?
No. I don't.
* More as I think of them...
[Poll #534788]
