TBAY: HP and the Superfluous Scene

[dicentra63]

No: HPFGUIDX 40163

Dicentra, heartened by her talk with Cindy, and eager to take charge
of a flotation device of her very own, backstrokes her way across
Theory Bay from the Big Bang destroyer to her shiny new barge.  But as
she clambers on board, she sees two shadowy figures over by her first
precious can(n)on.  They're trying to toss it overboard!  Dicentra
rushes forward to stop these dastardly fiends in their dastardly deed.

Pippin and Debbie!

Dicentra isn't surprised by this.  She knew Pippin wouldn't take it
lightly that Dicentra had discovered a superfluous scene so soon after
Pippin's "nothing is there by mistake" speech.  Huh.  Funny how she
has to go recruit Debbie to help her.  "Can't do it yourself, eh?"
Dicentra mutters between clenched teeth.

Pippin and Debbie look up at Dicentra's approach.

"Unhand that can(n)on, foul knaves!" shouts Dicentra.  "That can(n)on
is mine by right. I have won it by the power of mine own sword in
goodly battle."

"I doubt that," says Pippin, eyeing Dicentra carefully and backing
away slowly.  "You've not found a superfluous scene but an extremely
*subtle* scene.  Look, it's 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!'"

Dicentra pulls her waterproof copy of PoA out of her robes and turns
to page 364 of the Scholastic Edition. "I don't think you can assert
*when* Sirius and Crookshanks began to collaborate. Look at this:

"This cat isn't mad," said Black hoarsely.... "He's the most
intelligent of his kind I've ever met.  He recognized Peter for what
he was right away.  And when he met me, he knew I was no dog.  It was
awhile before he trusted me.... Finally, I managed to communicate to
him what I was after, and he's been helping me.... He tried to bring
Peter to me, but couldn't ... so he stole the passwords into
Gryffindor Tower for me...

"See?  There is no timeframe given as to when they began to work
together.  Sirius doesn't say that he first tried to get in, then he
got the cat to help him.  You can assume that if you want, but the
text doesn't support it.  Frankly, the timing in this is all screwed
up anyway: Sirius goes after Scabbers for the second time *after*
Scabbers fakes his own death.  Sirius knew it was a faked death, so
why go looking in Ron's bed for him? This smells suspiciously like a
FLINT to me.  But this barge don't collect FLINTS, it collects...
um... superfluity."

"Oh yeah," says Pippin.  "So how about this? 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."

"Hey, I saw the Grey Lady walk *right through* the Gryffindor common
room, just today.  And I mean *through*," countered Dicentra.

"She's talking about the Trailer," says Debbie in a loud stage whisper.

"Even so," continues Dicentra, "since when did Peeves stay in-bounds?
 That he goes where he's not supposed to is hardly front-page news. 
And besides, the password protects the opening behind the painting. 
Ghosts and poltergeists aren't going to be stopped by the Fat Lady."

Pippin puts her foot on the can(n)on and gives it a shove. "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 inaccessible places."

"If Crookshanks asked Peeves to wake Harry, that fact should have come
out in the Shrieking Shack, the scene when All Is Revealed," counters
Dicentra. "Sirius would have known, and he would have mentioned it, to
prove his story is true.  As for establishing that a poltergeist can
get into inaccessible places, that was established before JKR went to
the cafe that first time.  It's hardly necessary here."

"OK," says Pippin, her foot still firmly on the back of the can(n)on.
 Forget about the cat and the geist. 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."

"A palate-cleansing interlude, in other words," sneers Dicentra. 
"Like a couple of soda crackers between courses?  Perhaps, but you're
supposing that the Snape-as-Substitute scene comes across as anything
more than further evidence that Snape's an obnoxious git, at first
reading.  The last thing we hear of that scene is Ron fuming because
he was sentenced to clean out the bedpans in the infirmary without
magic.  Perhaps you're saying that she is courteous enough not to skip
to the oatmeal straightway, so to spare our delicate constitutions? 
Well then, let's say it does serve that purpose.  In that case, ANY
scene would have served that purpose, which further demonstrates the
superfluous nature of its content."

"Let me try," says Debbie, elbowing Pippin out of the way. "Harry's
restlessness also paves the way for his first defeat at Quidditch.
Though the immediate cause of defeat was the appearance of the
Dementors, the omens of defeat are already there. Harry is presented
as weakened and unable to resist in any way shape or form, through
cold, wet, and exhaustion from lack of sleep. In addition, it very
nicely parallels the night before the next Quidditch match, when he
again sees Crookshanks prowling on the grounds and thinks it's the
Grim; and the night before the last Quidditch match, when Harry again
can't sleep and sees Crookshanks through the window, but with
dog-Sirius this time. The scene establishes a new pattern of Harry's
restlessness before Quidditch matches."

Dicentra contemplates these points, and flips through the pages again.
"Lessee... how about some quick little examples..."

"Harry's restlessness" There is no mention of Harry being restless in
the superfluous scene.  No clenched stomach, no obsessive thoughts, no
worrying "what if."

"Harry is presented as weakened and unable to resist ... through cold,
wet, and exhaustion from lack of sleep." No mention of Harry being
tired or trying to keep his eyes open or anything like that.  Cold we
have. Tiredness, nope.

"It nicely parallels the night before the next Quidditch match when he
again sees Crookshanks ... and thinks it's the Grim."  Not sure how
this is a parallel, but whatever you say. :D

"Harry again can't sleep and sees Crookshanks through the window..." 
He is awakened by a nightmare brought on by all the pressure Wood and
all of Gryffindor are putting on him to win the final game by 200
points.  The whole school is a pressure cooker at this point.  But no
mention of him not being able to go to back to sleep.

"The scene establishes a new pattern of Harry's restlessness before
Quidditch matches."  Again, he doesn't seem restless before the first
two matches.  The only thing these three matches have in common is he
sees Crookshanks at night, twice associated with the Grim, which is
what gives him the willies and the feeling of impending doom.  But the
scene in question, the one represented by that can(n)on right there
(and get your hands off of it already), establishes no mood of
restlessness, no feeling of impending doom, no Grim."

Dicentra folds her arms and looks smugly at Debbie and Pippin, who
roll their eyes.  Dicentra shoos them away from the can(n)on.  "This
baby is staying right where it is, ladies.  Right next to the *whole
chapter* of GoF that Cindy gave me.  Now, Disapparate out of here
before I call the brute squad."  

With two faint pops, Debbie and Pippin disappear.  

--Dicentra, who needs a name for this barge, preferably an acronym