HBP thoughts

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 132918

These are just first scattered thoughts about HBP, which could 
change after the rereading or after listening to you guys. I am 
still absorbing the book, but don't want to postpone
participating 
in the discussion of it.

Oh, my. I loved this book, loved it SO much. The most important 
thing is that I did not need to convince myself that I loved it as I 
tried with OOP.

The story was great – tightly weaved plot  and  very big BANG,
IMO. 

For now I will just skip to my favorite part of the series – the 
characters.

1. 	Dumbledore, Dumbledore. As dear Phoenixgod said – the real 
Dumbledore had been hiding during OOP. He decided to skip book five 
and jumped straight to HBP.

I loved everything about him in this book. I cheered on how he 
handled Dursleys.
I liked how he basically spelled out that the only reason Harry was 
left with them was for protection (none of that toughening Harry up 
staff anymore, thanks G-d).

I think Albus expressed his displeasure of Dursleys very eloquently. 
Thank you, JKR.
"Dumbledore paused, and although his voice remained light and
calm 
and he gave no obvious sign of anger, Harry felt a kind of chill 
emanating from him and noticed that Dursleys drew slightly closer 
together.
You did not do as I asked. You have never treated Harry as a son. He 
had known nothing but neglect and often cruelty at your hands. The 
best that can be said is that he at least escaped the appalling 
damage you have inflicted upon the unfortunate boy sitting between 
you." HBP, p.55

 His mentoring of Harry was brilliant, IMO. I think I loved the best 
his reprimand of Harry, when he failed to retrieve Slughorn's 
memory. Dumbledore did not raise his voice, he did not scream, he 
just showed that he was disappointed in Harry and THAT put Harry to 
shame. 
"A hot prickly feeling of shame spread from the top of
Harry's head 
all the way down his body. Dumbledore did not raise his voice, he 
did not even sound angry, but Harry would have preferred him to 
yell; this cold disappointment was worse than anything" –
HBP, p.428.
It reminded me how Remus handled Harry's sneaking to Hogsmeade in 
PoA. 
Snape, take notes on which disciplinary method works best on Harry! 
Oh, I forgot, no more teaching for Snape for now. 


I am finally convinced that Dumbledore loves Harry ("I am not 
worried Harry, I am with you" was such a moving line) and not 
treating him as a weapon, but IS concerned with his survival
("and I 
most certainly hope it will help you to survive"- paraphrase)

I loved Dumbledore`s willingness to share everything with Harry,
I 
loved him not trying to protect Harry anymore and I cried for him.
As far as I am concerned, Puppetmaster!Dumbledore is  put to rest 
also.


2.	Harry was great in this book, IMO.  I would have liked to 
see him screaming sometimes, since disappearance of CAPLOCK Harry 
was a little bit too fast, IMO, but I can handle that, I suppose. 
After all, Harry is supposed to be a very strong person. I loved how 
he learned his lessons from OOP and went straight to adult about his 
suspicions about Malfoy and Snape. I loved the irony that it did not 
help him much and was SO happy that at least Harry will not be alone 
in his mistrust of Snape anymore, since nobody in the Order seems to 
trust him either.

I think Harry pulled a magnificent fight at the end. He could not 
get Snape with magic, but he at least got him with the insult, 
finally. :-)


3.	Right, this brings us to my major source of happiness with 
HBP – Snape. :-)
I am delighted that in my mind this book put to rest "poor dear 
victim of big bad Marauders"! Snape. I was laughing a lot over
irony 
of Snape being hit with the curse, which his majesty himself had 
invented.  

Sirius was right after all about Snape's fascination with Dark
Arts. 
Masterfully done, JKR.
I am also ready to bet many galleons right now, that if we ever to 
see Pensieve scene again, some things were would look REALLY 
different. I don't know which exactly would be different, but I
am 
pretty positive that something would be. We do have an idea that 
person's memory CAN be modified by that very person. I am also
not 
put off by the fact that Slughorn's memory had thick fog in it
and 
that is why how Dumbledore figured it out. After all, Albus said 
that it was "crudely done" and that implies to me that Snape
could 
do much better job with modifying his memories than Slughorn did. He 
is a genius after all.

Did Dumbledore beg Snape to kill him or not? I am not sure, but I do 
think that there are many holes in "Snape killed Dumbledore on
his 
orders" justification. Dumbledore talks with Draco as a man, who 
makes contingency plans and is ready to implement them, not as 
someone who knows that he is dying.
Many had been saying that Dumbledore was ready to die to save Snape 
from his vow. That makes Dumbledore to be a noble man, but how 
exactly that absolves Snape of responsibility, I am not sure.

Snape could have easily get out of giving this vow in the first 
place, no? Bella was against it anyway. Snape only had to remind 
Narcissa to be proud of her son and keep secret things 
.well, 
secret. As of now it seems to me that Snape is much more loyal to 
Malfoys than to Dumbledore.

Oh, and I am also happy that Harry finally got to insult Snape which 
REALLY got to him. His face full of rage in response to 
Harry's "coward" was priceless.

I think Snape is "deeply horrible person' even if Dumbledore
begged 
him to kill. After all, Avada IS one of the unforgivables  and I 
think that Unforgivables in Potterverse are called so for a reason.

That is why I am also not so sure that Dumbledore would ask anyone 
to kill for any reason.

I also wish to take back my assertion that JKR cannot write villains 
well. Snape looks like a great villain to me, multifaceted and all.

Boy, I just can't forget how creepy he was through the whole
book. 
He still calls himself a Prince? Time to grow up, Snape, and stop 
calling yourself the name you invented when you were a kid.

Now the only redemptive ending I see for Snape is his big death in 
book 7, regardless of the reason he killed Dumbledore.

To paraphrase Phoenixgod again – "the betrayer of Potters,
the 
slayer of Dumbledore (for whatever reasons) should not be allowed 
happy ending" I agree with it, it is just same vicarious
retribution 
all over again. Snape as of today has way too much blood on his 
hands and should pay for it, IMO.

I even finally appreciated Tom Riddle as a villain. Finally he was 
portrayed as competent and scary bad guy, IMO. I found horcruxes 
story to be very elegantly crafted. Bravo, again JKR.

4. 	Do I share the theory that Harry could be one of the 
Horcruxes? 
I certainly think that at some point he would believe so and would 
go into final confrontation with Voldemort ready to sacrifice 
himself, but at the very last moment it would be deemed unnecessary 
for some reason.

5. 	Was there something I did not like about the book? Probably 
romances. Now, could someone explain to me where exactly Remus/Tonks 
came up from? Honestly, it is not only because I would prefer for 
Remus to love Sirius. I think it was the most awkwardly handled 
romance ever, even for secondary characters.

6. 	I also found Harry/Ginny to be lacking spark ( Phoenixgod 
should stop smirking NOW)
Let me make myself clear – I am still very open towards this
SHIP, I 
just hoped for more elegant writing about them. The scene of their 
breakup indeed reminded me cheesy fanfiction story.
The only new romance I loved in this story was Bill/Fleur, no matter 
how little time was devoted to them. They seem to have lots of 
chemistry and Fleur is one strong lady.

7. 	I actually loved Molly/Arthur in HBP. I think JKR indeed 
pays attention to the fans, despite her claims to the contrary. 
SSSusan pointed out to me how Molly was proud of twins doing well in 
business, how she did not yell at Bill at all. I myself noticed how 
she and Arthur almost did not bicker at all this book. I have no 
doubt anymore how JKR views Molly – loving mother of the big
family. 

8. 	What else? I also wanted more Remus in the book, of course, 
but then I realized that by keeping Remus distant from Harry JKR 
ensures that he would live longer. I think we got nice explorations 
of Sirius and Dumbledore and look where it got them. So, I guess I 
would settle on distant but alive Remus in the books, and there is 
always fanfiction for deep exploration of his character.

I was quite happy about few Remus' glimpses we got (except his 
romance with Tonks, as I said earlier. I don't even mind it that 
much; I just did not think that it was written well).

I loved him reminiscence about James calling his illness "furry 
little problem" Very nice touch. I also loved Harry noticing
Remus 
loosing control for the first time when he learns about
Dumbledore's 
death.  Shows to me how much Remus loved Dumbledore. 



I seem to be all over the place in this post, but we are just 
starting, right?  There would be plenty of time to form eloquent 
theories till book seven comes out.


One last thing for now – JKR did the impossible. She made me feel 
sorry for Draco. NO, I don't like him, or respect him. But I do
pity 
him now. Again, bravo JKR. I thought I would not be able to feel any 
kind of positive emotions towards Draco ever. On the other hand, I 
am still looking for that mysterious being called "good
Slytherin" 
to emerge among Hogwarts students, because I certainly did not see 
any.


Just my impressions,

Alla.