HBP Thoughts, Snape, Likes and Dislikes

[kiricat4001]

No: HPFGUIDX 132942

Warning: a bit long...

I greatly preferred this book to OoP.  It was much more organized 
and complete, rather than have story lines that wandered off, like 
Hagrid's tale of the giants and the events with Grawp. However, 
there were a lot of things raised in OoP that have not been 
addressed, such as all the information about the rooms in the 
Department of Mysteries.   Maybe in Book 7


I've read the book twice already.  (It took me 2 years to read OoP 
for the second time.) The first time through I felt that JKR was 
sort of going through a check-list of questions that could be 
answered, not just plot-related questions, but questions raised by 
fan discussion: Sirius' estate. Check. Where does Kreacher end up? 
Check. Fudge admits Sirius' innocence.  Check. 

In my second reading, even more of these things jumped out. How does 
the Ministry detect the use of under-age magic? Can people Apparate 
directly into someone's house?
How many people know the full wording of the Prophecy? 

Harry seems more fully the hero than in any book in the past.  His 
assumptions are more often correct than not.  He's right about 
Draco, he figures out things more quickly and accurately than even 
Hermione, for the most part. I have no problem with this, but I 
wonder if others will find too much of a character change in Harry 
from OoP to HBP.

This book actually left me with some interest in Draco.  On the one 
hand he was his usual swaggering self when boasting to his friends 
on the Hogwarts Express, but then, as he had difficulty during the 
year in completing his task, I think he became more aware that his 
family would suffer should he fail.  I'm sure he got some pointed 
reminders along the way.  And yet, when it was time to walk the 
walk, he couldn't do it.  I'm not sure if I think this is because 
there is a core of decency in Draco, or if he does not have the 
level of ruthlessness necessary to become a good DE.  I think 
Narcissa was right that Draco was chosen as punishment for Lucius' 
mistakes.  If he failed, no great loss to Vmort.  And if he 
succeeded, then he would have indeed have proven himself a worthy DE.

I must say I was astounded that Snape actually killed DD. And, no, 
I'm not buying the "DD's not really dead" posts I've read.  Shades 
of Sirius Denial...I've never been a Snape fan, so I was actually a 
bit let down in the beginning because, as soon as Snape and Narcissa 
formed the Unbreakable Vow, I was convinced that Snape was truly a 
baddie.  And that felt very flat to me.  Having had more time to 
reflect and to see others thoughts on the whole issue of whether 
Snape was actually carrying out DD's instructions, I'm more 
undecided.

I can accept that Snape and Dumbledore had talked about the 
possibility that Snape might have to be the one to kill Dumbledore, 
both to save Draco, keep Snape from dying from breaking the Vow, and 
as a final set-up to send Snape back to Voldemort's right-hand and 
be perfectly positioned to help with Vmort's downfall.  Since Snape 
would then be vilified by the Order, his position within the Death 
Eaters would be solidified.  However, whatever actions Snape could 
then take to set Vmort up for a fall would be done solo without 
coordination with what the Order or Harry were doing.  Unless there 
is a second spy


On the other hand, Dumbledore made some sort of comment about his 
own cleverness and intelligence, at least 3 times, IIRC.  And that, 
since he was so clever, his mistakes were consequently bigger than 
the average person's.  Add that to the continued insistence that 
Snape was to be trusted, and I can believe that the big BANG here 
was that DD did make a monumental mistake in trusting Snape.  The 
pleading tone of "Severus
please" might then have been a plea such 
as "Severus, please don't repay the trust I've placed in you by this 
betrayal." 

We'll hash this to death, I'm sure over the next few years, so 
enough about Snape for now. 

Things I liked:

R.A.B. acting to thwart part of Vmort's immortality plan.  I'm sure 
RAB is Regulus Black.  The fact that this faux Horcrux was the one 
found by DD and Harry, and thus made their attempt fruitless, was a 
terrible irony.

Slughorn – I loved that our first introduction to him was as an 
overstuffed chair.  I did rather like him, in spite of his 
insufferable name-dropping and wheedling need to have connections.

The young Riddle/Voldemort was actually a scary person. Perhaps 
because we saw evidence of his cruelty and viciousness and heard him 
in more real-life settings, as opposed to standing around 
pontificating in true Evil Overlord fashion.

Lily described as being good in Potions.  Did this get up Snape's 
nose? 

The curses written in by the Prince.  How much use did he make of 
them at school, and was this a contributing factor to James' hatred 
of Snape?

Very little of Grawp and S.P.E.W.

Things I didn't like:

Dumbledore's stated reason for accepting Snape's remorse for his DE 
past.  I mean, are you kidding???  Giving people second chances is 
all well and good, but this was way too weak.  Unless, as I suspect, 
Dumbledore gave only part of the reason why he trusted Snape.

No provision in Sirius' will for any money to go to Remus.

No memorial service for Sirius and no explanation for why this 
wasn't done.  I can understand a funeral for DD, but if we can have 
also time for a funeral for Aragog, surely the members of the Order 
could have held a private memorial for one of their fallen. Of 
course, now that Harry has (finally!) expressed a desire to visit 
his parents' graves, perhaps he will see to it that some sort of 
memorial is created for his godfather.

And, speaking of Sirius, did Fudge's admission to the Prime Minister 
about Sirius' wrongful conviction also make it into the Wizard 
world?  Did the inquiry into his death at the Ministry ever occur?

The relative unimportance of Neville.  I loved his development in 
OoP and was sorry not to see more of him.

Still no good Slytherin.

No further explanation of the backstory to the Prank.

Remus/Tonks. UGH!  Being an incurable SB/RL shipper, I hated that my 
boat was apparently sunk.  However, maybe I can switch Remus in my 
mind to being bisexual.  It certainly seems like Tonks didn't start 
losing her powers and getting weak until after Sirius was out of the 
picture.  

General questions for HBP and the future:

Why didn't anyone think of sending Kreacher to Hogwarts in OoP to 
get him out of the way and keep him from causing trouble?

Why is Borage's book the standard text for Advanced Potions, when 
even Hermione often doesn't get good results?

Why didn't Lily Apparate with Harry to escape from Vmort?

Will Wormtail turn on Snape?  He seems to have been placed in a 
somewhat servile position.  I wonder if he'll have the spine to 
actually fight back.

We still don't know who will exhibit magic late in life.

Will Ollivander reappear?

Will someone use the Amortentia Potion in Book 7?

Will there be payment for any of the Weasleys' life debts to Harry?

Marianne