Chapter 13 Summary

[catherine at cator-manor.demon.co.uk]

No: HPFGUIDX 20144

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Trina" <lj2d30 at g...> wrote:
> 1. Why does Hermione not exhibit the least bit of sympathy for Ron 
on 
> the loss of Scabbers? Does Ron just have it in for Crookshanks 
> because he jumped on his head in Diagon Alley?
>
Well for one thing, she barely gets a chance to because Ron is 
already not speaking to her because of the Firebolt etc.  I also 
think that although she does feel bad for Ron, she is being 
protective of Crookshanks - I think she intuitively knows that 
Crookshanks wasn't responsible.  Also - proof.  Hermione is always 
very fair minded.  The evidence against Crookshanks is 
circumstantial - she cannot therefore admit that Scabbers is dead and 
that Crookshanks ate him, because she doesn't know this to be the 
case.  Therefore, she and Ron are in a kind of stalemate.
 
> 2.  Did Harry see the Grim on the way back to the castle or was he 
> just imagining things?  Why doesn't he tell Ron?

Of course he didn't see the Grim - he saw Sirius!  I don't think he 
imagined it, because there is at least one other instance when Sirius 
and Crookshanks are seen together by Harry, so it follows that he was 
probably there on this occasion too.  

I don't think he tells Ron because Ron has already got into a panic 
about how bad it is to see a Grim - and Harry doesn't want any more 
doom and gloom at the moment.  I think he also realises that it 
sounds slightly melodramatic - and he hates drawing attention to 
himself in that way.

> 3.  Do you like the descriptions of the Quidditch matches?  Are 
they 
> just a waste of pages? 

I, personally, love the Quidditch descriptions.  I've never been a 
great sports enthusiast, but JKR's description here is brilliant.  
They are so visual.  I also am a big Lee Jordan fan - I love his 
commentary, I love the interaction between him and Professor 
McGonagall (love it when she loses her cool and shakes her fist at 
the Slytherins)  and I also like the fact that JKR moves away from 
Harry's POV on occasion during the matches - such as the scene when 
Harry is being cursed by Quirrell and Hermione sets fire to Snape.  
Or when Neville squares up to a fight with Crabbe and Goyle.  
Wonderful.  I still get excited - and on every reading think that 
perhaps Harry won't get the Snitch afterall.

> 4.  Only 50 points from Slytherin for the dementor trick?  (Harry, 
> Hermione, and Neville lost 150 in the Norbert aftermath.)  Should 
it 
> have been more?  less?  detention?

I agree with Jamieson - I'd have expelled him.  Perhaps not, but such 
tactics could at least have got Slytherin disqualified from the 
Quidditch Tournament that year.

> 5.  What did the spectators see when the patronus charged down 
Malfoy 
> and gang?

I thought they saw the stag - because Dumbledore noticed the form it 
took, and remembered when he was told that James was an animagus stag.

> 6.  Why did Percy pin his HB badge to his jammies?  Is he afraid 
the 
> others will forget he *is* Head Boy?

Poor Percy!  I know he's a pompous twit, but he is so lovably anal!  
He must also have a severe inferiority complex.  He strikes me as 
someone who feels he isn't accepted as himself, and therefore has to 
have some kind of label/ position for validiction.

> 7.  Neville: brave, or "abysmally foolish"?

Poor Neville, as well.  I wish he hadn't owned up, because he didn't 
deserve the punishment - and we know that Crookshanks stole the 
passwords.  I think he's brave - he always comes through in the end, 
and for someone with his memory problems, dealing with Sir Cadogan 
must have been a nightmare.  Ever since it was mentioned recently, I 
have been scanning the books for references to Neville's memory.  JKR 
hardly ever mentions him without making some comment about his 
forgetfulness.  I am becoming more and more convinced that she is 
deliberately drawing attention to this, and that Neville was the 
recipient of a memory charm.  (Probably why she used Bertha Jorkins 
as well - so parallels could be drawn).