OOP: My favorite Harry/DD moment; other thoughts

[dowen331]

No: HPFGUIDX 64251

***standard disclaimer:  I haven't read all the posts; I don't know 
if anyone has said these things before; etc., etc.***

HARRY AND DUMBLEDORE:
The most emotional moment in the book for me was when Dumbledore 
explained why he hadn't made Harry a prefect.  After all the 
monumental stuff  he had just told Harry, the moment he had a tear 
came in connection with something as normal as being a prefect, and 
his desire to give Harry a break with everything else going on.  The 
humanity, vulnerability, and love that came through in those few 
sentences just about undid me.  It also showed that Harry would never 
be able to have a normal childhood, despite Dumbledore's attempts to 
allow him that.

MRS. WEASLEY:
I kept waiting to find out Mrs. Weasley's reaction to the twins 
leaving school.  Ron alludes to the fact that she'll probably blame 
him, but we never see that or any other response.  The family is 
together in the train station, so presumably she was eventually okay 
with the idea, but given her character I expected something more 
explicit.  Perhaps she realized that things had gotten to such a 
state at Hogwarts that she wasn't as mad as she might have been.

UMBRIDGE:
I would subtitle this book "The Struggle for Hogwarts."  This evil 
woman turned my stomach into knots every time she entered the scene.  
This whole story line, though, really showed the tactics used in long-
term struggles such as this:  those who control the education of the 
next generation control the nature of the fight.  Add to that the 
fact that the one place Harry truly felt as Home was now turned 
against him. Some have commented on this book's place in the series 
as just a "place-holder" on the way to the final showdown, but I 
think Dumbledore establishing his firm control over Hogwarts is very 
significant.

SLANG WORDS:
Many American readers have commented on the increased amount of 
British slang.  Do I remember reading on this list that this would be 
the first book not translated into "American English?"  Didn't we all 
fuss in previous books at the discrepancies that came up with those 
translations?  I assumed that was why I was coming across more 
British slang than before, and certainly most terms I could figure 
out by context pretty easily.

HARRY AND NEVILLE:
Despite the ambiguities of the prophecy, I believe that Harry is now 
definitely the one indicated in the prophecy.  It may be just because 
Voldie went after him first, so he was the one to fulfill it.  
Nonetheless, he is now the one who is marked and connected to Voldie, 
and there is no undoing that or going back to say, "Whoops!  It was 
really Neville all along!"  I think these types of prophecies are not 
so much predestination for the individual named, as indicators of 
what may be.  I'm thinking of "The Matrix" (I'm not a Matrix scholar, 
so forgive me if I don't get this exactly right):  the Oracle told 
Neo he was not The One, because he didn't believe that he was.  Only 
when he himself chose to take on that role did he become the one who 
would fulfill the prophecy.

Those are my scattered, most pressing thoughts on OOP.  Overall I 
say:  WOW!  It took my breath away in so many ways, and I had to 
apologize to my children for being angry all day as I kept reading 
about Harry being angry.  One more thing:  I think JKR captured the 
first crush, kiss, date with Cho perfectly!  Now Harry can move on to 
a more mature relationship, but haven't we all experience the 
awkwardness of puppy love like that!

Deb331