HP and the Superfluous Scene (was TBAY etc.)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 40104

 Pippin argues that nothing is insignificant:

>>"It's not as though there's a video of everything that happens in 
thePotterverse, and all Rowling does to create her novels is 
mentallyplay it back and write everything down just as it 
happened. Even ifthat's an imaginary exercise that Rowling 
performs as her first step,what ends up on the page is what 
Rowling means to tell us. Every sentence serves a 
purpose,whether it's to entertain, inform, persuade or confuse." 
(39968)<<

Dicentra:
>>[I] came across a scene that struck [me] as useless.  It 
doesn't appear tocontribute anything to the rest of the story, 
either as aclue-pointer-outer, a character definer, a mood-setter, 
or even a red herring.  

The scene is in the middle of "Grim Defeat," right after Snape
substitutes for Lupin and right before the Hufflepuff/Gryffindor
Quidditch match where Harry sees the Grim and the Dementors 
knock himoff his broom (page 173, Scholastic edition).

Harry wakes up before dawn, thinking that the howling wind of 
thestorm awoke him. But no, Peeves was floating above him, 
"blowing hardin his ear."  He asks Peeves what the sam hill he 
was doing that for, but Peeves just cackles and blows himself 
out of the room. <<

This is  Crookshanks'  first Sirius-directed effort to nab 
Pettigrew. We don't know that on first reading, though Rowling 
helpfully offers us a hint: "mangy cur!"  It also establishes that 
Peeves has access to password-protected Gryffindor tower. The 
ghosts and such don't usually invade the students' bedrooms. 
We get the impression from Myrtle that they're not really 
supposed to. Did Peeves break the rules at Crookshanks' 
instigation to distract Harry and get him to open the door ?  We 
know he was willing to break a cabinet for NHN. It could be 
significant some time in the future that Poltergeists can get into 
otherwise inacessible places.

The rest of the section is indeed a mood setter. If you look at 
what comes before, it's  the tense and conflict-ridden Snape 
substitute scene. At the end of it Harry is wondering why Snape 
is so hostile to Lupin. We are  wondering if Lupin has been 
poisoned, per Harry's suspicions about the potion taking scene 
earlier.  If Rowling goes  straight to the Quidditch match,  we'll 
still be focusing on Snape and the missing Lupin. The start of 
the game would be anti-climactic. Instead, Rowling sends in  
Peeves for comic relief, then gives us a long  morning in which 
Harry's apprehension over the coming match can slowly build.


Pippin
too lazy to get the croquet set out this morning but who thinks 
Dicentra plays a good game