OoP - Jenny's Big Questions - Spoilers!

[Marco]

No: HPFGUIDX 61429

keeping the spoiler space, if you haven't read the book stop reading
now!!!

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> 1. What do you all think of House Elves now, especially with the 
> awful Kreacher being introduced?  Do they really choose their lot
or 
> are they completely "trained" by their owners (as Dumbledore 
> implied)?

I think the books sort of implies that Kreacher has serious mental
issues (how he let the house go to seed etc. etc.) I think 10 years
alone with that portrait would do this to pretty much everybody...

> 2. What do you think of Harry using Crucio on Bellatrix?  This was
a 
> big shock to me.

well, given that Harry nearly had crucio used on himself a little
earlier and given all the 'adolescent angst' theme of the book it
doesn't surprise me at all.

I was interested in Bellatrix's explanation on how to make 'crucio'
work: still it seems that when Harry was showed its effects in the
DaDA class (the spider) the curser (can't remember if it was Lupin or
the fake Mad Eye) didn't seem to hate the spider...

> 3. Why do you think JKR chose for Sirius to be the one to die?  Was 
> she taking it too far for Harry?

Sirius was the only one that could have killed without creating
problems with the plot: my feelings is that JKR has been setting this
up for a -long- time given all the 'Sirius Black is a murderer'
subplot: having a character that can't even get out of the house must
be very limiting for a writer.

While Sirius was a central character (in this book esp. with his
confirming Snape's recollection of James' spate with him, which was a
real surprise as I thought Snape had put a fake memory in the pensieve
to get Harry to lose some admiration for his father and maybe to get
him to not be as good with the Patronus) his disappearance is not
going to change things that much.

If JKR had killed a character that existed from book 1 it would have
made much harder to keep the balance in the books (can you imagine how
dull things would be without Snape? :)

> 4. What do you think of the way JKR portrays the MoM - and 
> government in general?

I think the portrayal doesn't explain that well how the minister of
magic could have such absolute control, after all there must've been
people in the MoM that were pro-Dumbledore, so why didn't they do
something?

> 5. Should Hagrid stay on as CoMC teacher?  Am I the only one who 
> continues to think he's a moron?

In a way I hope he won't, as the constant reminders of the Hippogriff
incident by Malfoy every time they meet are getting kind of old...

> 6. Why did Percy turn his back on his family, especially his
mother?  
> What will become of him now?

that was one of the major shockers of the book for me, while one could
see the signs that for Percy his job was the #1 priority in GoF still
I didn't expect him to turn back on his family so much...

Methinks JKR will get him to apologize and things will get back to
normal (and hopefully he'll see how family ties are more important
than a job!)

> 7. Are we supposed to dislike James Potter now?

I don't think so, I believe the whole James thing was a way to show
that nobody's really perfect, and that even good people (as James
proved himself to be later on) can be pretty nasty when they're
adolescents :)

> 8. Who else dreamed about Harry last night?

I don't think I did, but then I didn't sleep much (it was really hard
to make myself stop reading OoP after 5 chapters (got the book at
midnight) and continue in the morning instead of pulling an all
nighter...)

Marco