CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chapter 16: In the Hog's Head

[fauntine_80]

No: HPFGUIDX 95782

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Melody" <Malady579 at h...> wrote:
> Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
> Chapter 16
> In the Hog's Head
> 
> Questions:
> 
> 1)  Why is Hermione now saying Voldemort's name?  Why did she not 
ever
> say it before?  Why did she say it in a very public place?

She did state that "Fear of a name only creats fear of the thing 
itself"  I think she is finally taking these words into action. 


> 
> 2)  What is Ron's annoyance with Victor Krum and Hermione's
> relationship based on?  How has it shifted through the last two 
books?
>  Is Ron's protective nature towards Hermione the same as his
> protection of Ginny when hearing she too has a possible "boyfriend"?

Ron has started to have feelings for Hermione, however, he has not 
worked out what these feelings are completely.  He is jealous of VK 
because he is a famous quidditch player and he's older.  Again, Ron 
is shoved into the background.  Ron doesn't know what to make of it.  
As LOTS of young adolescent boys do when they like a girl, they argue 
with the girl or they make fun of her because the boy doesn't know 
how to handle what he is feeling.  Ron is doing just that.


 
> 3)  Harry is particularly sensitive about how Dumbledore is treating
> Sirius.  Through Sirius's new imprisonment and Harry's summer hell, 
is
> Harry now coming to understand the definition of freedom and how
> overly protecting situations can be almost as worse as punishment?

Harry is young and still immature in a lot of ways.  He doesn't know 
all the complexities of the situation and is looking at it from a one 
sided perspective and leading with his emotions.  I think he will 
evetually grow out of this stage as most teenagers do.

 
> 4)  Why did Hermione pick Hog's Head when it actually is more 
obvious
> a place for suspicion than anywhere else?  Why did they not heed 
note
> when Hagrid got into trouble there years before?  

I think it was just a serious lack of judgement on Hermione's part.  


> 5)  How did the kids not get sick from those filthy mugs they drank?

The dust was on the bottles, not in the drink.  I think that wizard 
drinks might have some sort of magic seal on them that keeps the 
contents good for longer periods of time.  The beer would have been 
extremely flat being left in those bottles for so long, I would not 
be surprised if there was a special warming spell or containment 
spell to keep the beer fresh.  Maybe "fresca longevis Butterbeer!"...

> 6)  Why is there, once again, no Slytherins willing to have even a
> smidgeon of an open mind about things?  Did the other students just
> not tell them, or did Slytherins not want to come?  

I think most of them are steering clear from the Slytherins 
considering they are the unfavored house and the students were 
already having trust issues.

 
> 7) Why is this the first we see of Zachaias Smith?  He seems to be a
> vocal protagonist against Harry, and yet he has not spoken up 
before. 

Why not?  He is older than HP, so naturally, he wouldn't have had 
much interaction with him in the first place.  I think he was just a 
random student curious about comming to hear what HP had to say for 
himself.  He then becomes rather vocal during the meetings.  That's 
not so unusal.  Think about people you meet in life.  Are the 
only "vocal protagonists" you are ever going to come across are going 
to be around from the get-go?


> 8)  Why had the truth about Harry and his adventures never been
> confirmed before?  Were the kids too scared to ask him directly, or
> was Harry such an odd person and reclusive that kids just left him
> alone?  Why does Dumbledore allow the rumors and does not confirm 
them
> or deny them?

It was stated in the book that it was at the end of the summer and 
students went away and then heard the rumors over holiday.  The must 
have drawn their own conclusions, and it would have been in vain for 
DD to say anything if the kids were told he was "off his rocker."


> 9)  Hermione and Luna have the same relationship as McGonagall and
> Trelawney.  Is this parallel meant to be carried further to say Luna
> might actually be correct about one of her oddball views, or is it
> only to be amusing?

Possibly.  I really think people underestimate Luna, just like they 
underestimated Trelawney.

 
> 10)  Why does Hermione take Luna to be such a threat?  

Hermione doesn't like anything that doesn't seem logical, which, we 
realize, can be Hermione's greatest weakness.


> 11)  Ginny now seems to be past her little girl crush with Harry.  
Is
> her newfound love for boys an attention at moving on or just passing
> time until Harry is ready?

I am not going to get into that one.

 
> 12)  In the end of the chapter, Hermione is the social informer to 
all
> things romantic.  Is this within her character's scope, or is she
> branching out beyond her normal self?  Or another way of asking, is
> she just acting like a 15 year old girl?

Girls talk and girls observe things.  Hermione is the only girl out 
of the HRH combo.  She is kind of showing off that she knows more 
about what is going on, socially, than they do.  Girls do that. 


> Melody
> who did not realize how much shipping there was in this chapter....

~Mo, joining in on the Chapter discussion.