New elements - filk - R & HG's judgment

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 15506

Stacy wrote:

>While I agree with most of your observations -- that most of the 
>things just come up when they come up and that it makes the books 
>more interesting -- I think that "Death Eaters" has a very specific 
>reason for not being brought up as early as PS/SS: it's too dark. 

Very true.  I'd say the same for Dementors--we know in CoS that 
Azkaban is a nasty place, but clearly, JKR doesn't want to go into 
details yet.  The PoA narration is also quite cagey about them until 
the actual scene on the train--they're just referred to as the Azkaban 
guards.  She builds up to the full horror.

Margaret wrote:

>Remember how Sirius Black is actually
>=mentioned= in PS/SS Chapter One, before we have the least
>inkling that he's going to be a pivotal character in Book Three? 

Here's a question:  who here remembered that name when they got to the 
first PoA mention of Sirius Black?  I don't think I made the 
connection until Hagrid told his part of the story in "The Marauder's 
Map," many chapters later.  When I read Book 5 I'm going to make 
notations of my current theories on stickies as I go.  I can never 
remember afterwards what my speculations were when, and it'll be 
interesting to see what red herrings I swallow and what real clues 
pass me by entirely.

>The Dark Lord's in Disarray (filk)

LOL!  Oh, my.  The image of Cornelius Fudge in fishnets and mascara'd 
eyelashes (he already has the bowler) may give me nightmares.

Demelza wrote:

<lots of good stuff on Ron's judgment vs. Hermione's.>  However, I'll 
disagree with a couple of points:

>However, Trelawney WAS correct about Lavander Brown's dreaded thing,

Hermione may have been insensitive to Lavender, but she was right:  
Lavender wasn't dreading anything happening to her rabbit.  I really 
think JKR is making fun of the kind of vague predictions that can fit 
almost anything, and the people who will twist the events in their 
lives to fit the predictions.

>Hermione's assessment of the Ron-Harry feud (GoF Chs.17-20) has 
>always puzzled me. Hermione assesses that Ron is jealous of Harry. 
>Yet, as readers, we are privy to the break-up (GoF Ch. 20).

Yes, we are privy to it, and I agree with Hermione--it is about 
jealousy.  It's about trust, as you say, but the question is =why= Ron 
doesn't trust Harry on this.  Harry says very plainly and repeatedly 
that he didn't put his name in; and (speaking of their respective 
skills as judges of character) his expression when his name comes out 
made it abundantly clear to =one= of his best friends that far from 
being happy, he was stunned and upset.  Furthermore, we readers, being 
privy to Harry's thoughts, know that Harry is telling the truth and 
that Ron's mistrust is completely baseless.  So what is going on with 
Ron that he won't believe what Harry says?  Hermione hit it on the 
head:  he's jealous.  We aren't likely to get it spelled out for us by 
Ron, because it's not the kind of thing someone usually admits, though 
they may give it away by saying something like, oh, say, "You'd better 
get to bed.  You probably have a photo call tomorrow."  Ron may not 
even realize himself that jealousy is what's burning him up.  It just 
warps his judgment so that he suspects Harry of doing things that 
wouldn't have worked (using the Cloak) and that he wouldn't have done 
(using the Cloak without inviting Ron to use it too).  And so that he 
can't see that the thing he is jealous about is something Harry 
desperately wishes he didn't have.

>Here's another: Dumbledore. (GoF Ch 27) Hermione, Ron and Harry are 
discussing Snape. 
>Hermione states that Dumbledore trusts him with the implication that 
>Dumbledore's judgement can't be flawed. Ron, however, thinks 
>otherwise: "I know Dumbledore's brilliant and everything, but that 
>doesn't mean a really clever Dark wizard couldn't fool him--". Ron is 
>correct. Dumbledore IS fooled by a "really clever Dark wizard" from 
>the first day of school to the finish of the Triwizard Tournament, 
>nearly an entire school year.

Very good point, but look back at Hermione's statement:  it's as right 
about Snape as Ron's is about "a really clever Dark wizard," assuming 
(dangerous assumption, I know) that Snape really is trustworthy.  
Hermione is overestimating Dumbledore's omniscience, but Ron is 
wrongly doubting Dumbledore's judgment re: Snape.  Or so things stand 
at the end of GoF . . . we shall see.

>The difference, IMO, between Ron's and Hermione's judgment is that 
>Hermione has a pattern of thinking "black and white". 

Again, good point re: Trelawney, but I think it's unfair as a global 
statement.  Her judgment of Snape is a case in point; from the very 
beginning of the books she was more able than Ron (or Harry) to 
imagine that Snape can be a thoroughly nasty guy without actually 
being murderous.  In GoF, Ron is still unwilling to make the 
distinction.

She proves to be wrong about Crookshanks--he =is= out to get 
Scabbers--but I think this is less a case of believing no evil of her 
own cat than putting his behavior down to normal cat behavior.  She 
doesn't say he isn't chasing Scabbers; she just says it's because he's 
a cat and Scabbers is a rat.  She's wrong, of course, but she's not as 
blind as you're making her out to be.

Amy Z

-----------------------------------------------
 Harry remembered how touchy Myrtle had always 
 been about being dead, but none of the other 
 ghosts he knew made such a fuss about it.
                  -HP and the Goblet of Fire
-----------------------------------------------