[HPforGrownups] Re-reading

[manawydan]

No: HPFGUIDX 76575

bboy_mn:
>But I will add, I don't think the memory in OotP was Snape's worst
>memory. Remember he put several in the Pensieve. But it was the memory
>that most moved the plot forward. Harry now has empathy for Snape. He
>understands that his Dad, James, wasn't a saint.

True. It was the phrase about the "odd, twisted smile" and the particular
time of year that the encounter occurred that led me to link the two. Of
course, in PS/SS, Harry has no idea that Snape is anything other than the
bad guy...

>If Quirrel wasn't to fussed about it, why should Volemort be? There
>was nothing to stop Quirrel or to stop Voldemort from forcing Quirrel
>to turn around and give the Weasley brothers a month of detentions.

It's not said _who_ gave the twins the punishment so your suggestion could
well be how it worked out. But Quirrel would have had to punish within the
confines of the school rules (admittedly that gives him considerable scope).
And though Voldemort would certainly have had other things on his mind, I
don't think _I'd_ want to pelt a snowball at him "ah, come on Tommy, mate,
where's your sense of fun"!

>Students are all those nameless faceless people who are milling around
>in the background. Student characters are students who have a presents
>in the story, a presents in that they are named, a presents in the
>form of spoken lines, or lines being spoken about them, or reaction
>'shots'.

But there are several names mentioned who really _haven't_ been developed as
characters (as our frequent discussions about Blaise Zabini on this list
show - I'd put Boot and Abbott in roughly the same category. Meanwhile,
students like Ernie MacMillan and the Patil sisters _have_ been developed
even though their houses weren't mentioned in the original list. As I
commented to Geoff a couple of postings ago, my own reading of this passage
is that it's scene-setting and that we are meant to come away with the idea
that the houses shake down roughly equally.

Though I don't think that your split is too far distant from my own mental
picture (I'd probably see more Slyths and fewer Huffles, but that's just my
personal view.

>So, in the examply you cite, Percy is directing them to a stairway
>that will take the students to the single room to which they have been
>assigned.

That was indeed the point that I was highlighting - that it was a single
room and there was no indication that there were any "hidden Griffs" in
other dorms. There are just the 5 first years that we've met.

Cheers

FFred

O Benryn wleth hyd Luch Reon
Cymru yn unfryd gerhyd Wrion
Gwret dy Cymry yghymeiri