Plot in OotP

[annemehr]

No: HPFGUIDX 118142


 
> > Pippin:
> > Harry  doesn't drag Cedric's body anywhere. 
<snip excerpt> 
> > So, he's holding onto Cedric's wrist with his left hand, points 
> his 
> > wand at the Cup with his right, the Cup soars to his right hand 
> > and Harry catches it by the handle. Not being a smoker myself, 
> > I've never tried to hold a cup of hot coffee and a burning 
> cigarette 
> > in the same hand, but I've certainly seen it done. This sounds a 
> > lot easier.
> 
> Potioncat:
> But it isn't a cigarette, it's a wand, and it isn't a coffee mug, 
> it's a trophy.  It would work if the cup sailed over and his wand 
> went through the opening in the handle.  But I'm with Carol, I don't 
> see how he "catches" it with his hand.

Annemehr:
Actually, I've caught things tossed at my by my kids while my hands
were full.  I picture Harry saying "Accio," then as the cup flies
toward him, he keeps his wand pinched in the crook between his thumb
and his hand so as to catch the cup with his fingers against his palm.

Remember, this is a kid with lightning reflexes and exquisite eye-hand
coordination who catches snitches all the time.  Plenty of RL teenaged
athletes do more difficult things.

Some more general responses to the whole thread:

The MoM scene is indeed well plotted and believable. Well, *of course*
the DEs cleared Harry's way into the DoM for him, and don't forget
there were at least three of them there who were well familiar with
the Ministry -- Malfoy, Rookwood and McNair. The real mystery, though,
is why Hermione didn't object to it being *too* easy (though by then
she may just have had her mouth shut and her eyes open).  Also, if you
read the narrative carefully, it is possible to identify the DEs that
Harry fought with, partly because JKR carefully named them all as
Lucius paired them off to hunt Harry. It took me pages of notes, but I
did it. Jo was definitely working from a chart in those scenes.

As for "connecting the dots," I believe JKR intends that we do a lot
of that ourselves.  All she has to do is lay all the dots out in some
logical pattern. She is not going to spell everything out, such as why
the kids ran into no MoM guards.  This isn't "Nancy Drew," after all.
 Besides, we are only 5/7 of the way through. I even think I know why
(for example) Crouch Jr. had to use the Triwizard Cup as a portkey,
and also why Jo hasn't explained it yet; I expect it has to do with
Hogwarts' defenses and things that would come up in the event of an
attack on Hogwarts.  The "no apparition" defense is meant to be a
hint, IMO.

Harry's "mood" is another issue.  Judging by traumatising events in my
own life, and keeping in mind that Harry had just been kidnapped,
witness to a murder, tortured, violated and nearly killed, I find his
behaviour in OoP not only understandable, but quite good under the
worsening circumstances -- circumstances which, far from being
arbitrarily contrived, follow well from the foregoing plot. Events are
closing in on him, and in his stubborn struggle to live his life, he
will become the person who is capable of defeating Voldemort --
believably.  Jo warned us this story would get very dark, and OoP is
probably Harry's darkest hour.

That said, I do agree that some of the prose could have been tightened
up in certain chapters, and in certain short passages. I also wonder
why we had to miss Ron's Quidditch triumph.  These are fairly minor
points to me, compared to the overall genius of the book. I realise
other people will have different tastes, but I also think that OoP is
not a bad book, nor is it a pefect book, but it is a very good book
that a fair few people dislike.

Oh, and adverbs? Equal rights for adverbs, I say!  It's time for them
to leave their second-class position and take their place amongst the
elite with the verbs, nouns, and prepositions! We must learn to no
longer devalue the information they impart! Besides, someone once
rewrote a phrase to convey the same information without one, and it
turned out to be a small paragraph; imagine the size of OoP if Jo'd
done that?

 > Pippin
> > who thinks OOP was meant to be sipped and savored, not 
> > chugged

Oh, absolutely. The complex flavors and aromas are amazing when you do.
Annemehr
who loved OoP very much, once the initial shock was over...