OOP: Assorted Replies on Draco, Neville, Patroni, and Intended Ages

[Jennifer Boggess Ramon]

No: HPFGUIDX 62426

*this is the sacrificial spoiler-free first line*

Everybody properly unspoilered?
Wand in pocket?
Let's go -


At 2:00 AM -0400 6/23/03, RhianynTheCat at aol.com wrote:
>Rhianyn mewses:
>
>Has anyone else wondered what on earth Dumbledore was thinking when he made
>Draco a prefect?  Surely he didn't think Draco could be trusted not to abuse
>the privilege/power?  If Draco's the best of the lot for Slytherin 
>5th years it must be a very very bad lot indeed.  Or is it a hint 
>that DD thinks the evil little git might be redeemable?

Well, it appears there's always one male and one female prefect in 
the 5th year of each house.  Who are our options for Slytherin house?

1.  Vincent Crabbe.  Eh, no.
2.  Gregory Goyle.  Um, even worse.
3.  Blaise Zabini.  Total unknown.  (We're not even 100% this person is male.)
4.  The unnamed Slytherin boy who can see the Thestrals (assuming 
this isn't Blaise).  Again, total unknown.
5.  Draco.  Has demonstrated at least some leadership capability, 
even if he has used it for bad ends.

Not that I'd want him as a prefect, but of the available choices - 
given that Blaise and the unknown fifth have not shown any obvious 
leadership capabilities at all - he seems to be the only one possible.


At 2:17 PM +0000 6/23/03, chappysmom wrote:
>What do you suppose will happen when Draco (inevitably) finds out
>that Snape has been working for the good guys? I mean, he obviously
>looks up to Snape (if he looks up to anyone), and he clearly learns
>all sorts of things from his father, so whenever the death-eaters
>find out about Snape being a double-agent, we know Draco will . . .
>what is he going to think about Snape fighting on the same side as
>HARRY?? He's going to blow a gasket!

At the very least, it will give him something to think about.  I 
suspect it will be the first time someone he looks up to and admires 
will have been shown to be on the "good" side.

I'm rather disappointed in his portrayal in OOP - I was hoping for 
something a little more well-rounded - but I'm not giving up on 
RedeemableJerk!Draco until he makes this choice.


At 9:32 AM +0000 6/23/03, LadyMyneh wrote:
>--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Jeff Durand" <dudeperson at h...>
>wrote:
>
>>  Well... this is sort of a streatch... but Harry did an amazing job
>>  with the Dumbledore Army.. I mean, they were able to learn
>>  Patranous' (or however they are spelled) That in itself is quite
>the
>>  accomplishment.. I would not be suprised if Dumbledore somehow
>found
>  > a way to make the D.A. a class...
>
>Yeah, Harry did do a pretty good job, but I doubt that Dumbledore
>will let any student teach a class, no matter how good they are. For
>one thing, the Slytherins would slaughter him.

For another, he doesn't know what will be required on the NEWTs. 
While both Harry and Hermione have some of what it takes to teach 
(moreso than Snape, Hagrid, and Trelawney do), and are both clearly 
very good tutors, I don't think there's any chance of them officially 
becoming Hogwarts teachers until after NEWTs are over.

A number of us have suspected that Neville will be the one who comes 
back and teachers, and that he will replace Sprout as the Herbology 
teacher.  I am beginning to suspect that we have the right person but 
the wrong subject - that Neville will become the DADA teacher and be 
the one to un-jinx the job.  (I will leave as an exercise to the 
reader how Snape, presuming he survives, will take that.)  He seems 
to have quite an aptitude when he's properly encouraged.

>As for the Patronus charms, they were able to produce them without
>the presence of a dementor, in which case it would be pretty easy for
>them to summon up a happy thought, and put the weight of that behind
>the spell. Even Harry can't produce a proper Patronus all the time
>when faces with real Dementors.

True, but the OWL examiner seems mightily impressed that he can do it 
at all, as do those present at Harry's hearing.  It's not an easy 
spell, whether there's a Dementor present or not.

And was anyone else highly amused that Hermione's Patronus is an otter?  ;)


At 1:30 PM +0000 6/23/03, abha_j wrote:
>--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "saintbacchus"
><saintbacchus at y...> wrote:
>>  Although the fact that Snape is apparently not on the tapestry is a
>>  strong point, I'm not convinced. Are half-bloods even allowed in
>>  Slytherin?
>
>Tom Riddle was a half-blood, and he was in Slytherin.

Strictly speaking we don't know that - nothing in canon explicitly 
states that he was in Slytherin.  We have contamination from the 
Celluliod That Must Not Be Named 2 that he at least wears a Slytherin 
tie, and Dumbledore's speech at the end of CoS strongly implies that 
he was in Slytherin, but we don't have iron-clad canon proof.

Having said that, I will idly point out that we are not told of the 
names of Crabbe, Goyle, Zabini, or Bulstrode on the Black family 
tree, either.  I seem to recall the infamous notes about the students 
in Harry's year are interpretable in such a way as to imply that 
Crabbe and Goyle are half-bloods.  Harry is a half-blood (by Riddle's 
standards, at least), and the Sorting Hat seems to have seriously 
considered putting him in Slytherin.  My personal guess is that 
half-bloods are acceptable by Slytherin's standards, but muggle-borns 
are not, and purebloods are preferred.


At 2:19 PM +0000 6/23/03, sueeeyqbong wrote:
>But is anyone else thinking that this is all a bit too much grief and
>heartache? For a children's book, at least.

I don't think this is a children's book.  This is squarely in the 
Young Adult section now.  There's smooching and relationship stuff, 
there's adolescent angst, there's at least a suggestion of underage 
drinking, the twins drop out of school; there's pretty much all the 
stuff that makes one want to shelve a book in YA except for cussing 
and nudity.

And, speaking of that . . .



At 1:11 PM +0000 6/23/03, darrin_burnett wrote:
>-- Ok, Luna Lovegood really sounds like the name of a porn star.
>Sorry, SOMEONE had to say it.

I notice that you have no comment on Nymphadora Tonks . . .  ;)

-- 

  - Boggles, aka J. C. B. Ramon			boggles(at)earthlink.net
"It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the 
act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment. "
	- Gauss, in a Letter to Bolyai, 1808.