TBAY:Casual Chat with Jo...

[lucky_kari]

No: HPFGUIDX 71401

"Risti, is that who I think it is?"

Risti smiled. "May I introduce you to my good friend, Jo, Eileen?
But... errr... don't tell Captain Cindy."

"I'd never dream of it," says Eileen, rushing up to them, and
thrusting her hand at JKR.

"I want to thank you so much for everything you've written," says
Eileen. "Especially for Barty Crouch Sr." 

Jo raises an eyebrow.

"He's so sexy, and well... his son's a pretty cool character too.
Though rather iccky. The Crouches have provided me years of
entertainment now."

Risti shoots Eileen a warning look. "Jo's supposed to be relaxing
after finishing OotP. Don't rile her up."

"Oh, sorry," says Eileen. "Cute baby, by the way. I was so relieved
you named him David and not Dallas or Spencer. Really got my hopes up
in you."

"Your hopes were down?" asked Jo.

"Well, you know me. 'Trust no author until she's finished.' And
really, there were parts of OotP that didn't sit well with me. For
example, Tonks."

"Tonks was significant!  She's a metamorphmagus."

"But what did she do? Really, I could have done without Tonks. But
I'll worship you forever for that line, 'Everyone's all right. Well,
everyone except for Avery.'" Eileen gazes down the beach where Elkins
is bent over Avery, trying to give him mouth to mouth resucitation.
"Hey, even if he wasn't Fourth Man, I think Redeemable!Avery was given
a nice push by OotP."

JKR raises her eyebrow again. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't you? You know, Jo, I'm pretty convinced now that you read
HPFGU. Maybe not all the posts. But the way you talked in that
interview just before OotP came out, the way you said no one had come
close to the heart of the thing, that you had checked to see if they
had, seems to me to indicate that you read HPFGU. And there's other
things..."

"We got introduced to a whole host of new strong, female characters,"
Risti began ticking points off on her hand.  "Tonks, Umbridge, Luna,
and Bellatrix, to name the main ones, not to mention nice appearances
by  Madam Bones, Grandma  Longbottom, and Arabella Figg.  Ginny, Cho,
and other female  students seemed to get a little more attention as
well.  After the famine comes a flood?"

"Yes," says Eileen, nodding. "And that was all too the good. Except
I'd be a bit careful there. You contradicted yourself with Mrs.
Longbottom. She can't be both an Auror and an Auror's wife. Not in a
society with a female Minister for Magic."

Risti waves that aside. "You were questioned at one point about
whether or not Harry gave out Christmas gifts.  In this book, he
obviously did," Risti said, looking pleased with herself.

"So?" Jo said, still looking quite confused.

"So you're giving the fans what they want.  Dumbledore finally 
explains why he thought it was a good idea to leave Harry with the 
Dursley's when people everywhere were questioning how this could 
possibly be the best option.  On that topic, we learn that Dumbledore
is quite capable of making mistakes, not omnipotent as I'm sure you
knew so many fans believed."

"What about the ghost?" asks Eileen. "You explained the ghosts. And
you gave us a timeline for the Crouch-Fudge thing. And you specified
Lucius Malfoy's age. The exploration of the bully issue, and the
distinction between Fred and George's "bullying" and James and
Sirius's. And oh so many things that seemed there to answer the fans."

"Is that bad?" asks Jo.

"No," says Eileen with a grin. "You can't believe how interesting I
find it to think Crouch Sr. was Head of Magical Law Enforcement up to
the year Harry first went to Hogwarts.... But Risti's right. You have
been watching us fans."

"What is your point with all of this?" Jo asks, stopping suddenly.

"For the  first four books, you wrote almost without stopping," says
Risti. "I think for  the first time since you created the series, you
stopped and looked back on what you'd done while you were writing this
book.  The results are a slightly different Harry, and a slightly
different Harry Potter series.  Oh, and for the record, I happen to
like the new Harry much better then the old."

"Me too," says Eileen. "He's not nearly so much of an incosiderate
idiot as he used to be."