Gneral Book Six comments

[Kathryn Cawte]

No: HPFGUIDX 133019

Firstly - this is the best book so far for me. I loved every minute of 
it - even if I could have wished it had taken me longer than four and a 
half hours to read it.

There were some nice flashes of humour (Go back and punch Percy if you 
want to Ron <g> It'd make us feel better too). I did wonder if I'd 
stumbled on to a romance novel at a couple of points but *shrugs* having 
said that I always thought those pairings were where she was going and I 
thought it was believably written.

Harry - yes I know you're getting good marks thanks to the book, kid, 
but honestly have you leanred *nothing*? Just occasionally *please* 
listen to Hermione before I start praying JKR will voice all our 
frustrations and have her smack you over the head with a cauldron.

Neville - growing into himself definitely. Loved McGonagall helping him 
pick his courses too.

Didn't really like or dislike our new Potions Professor - even despite 
the memory thing I thought he was kind of pointless.

Loved the way Harry got somewhat 'Captain Ahab' over Draco but (and it 
sort of got lost in all the grief over Dumbledore) he was pretty much 
essentially proved right on all counts - although I would second Ron's 
point about there being no rule that only one person has to be plotting 
against you.

Congratulations JKR you made me like Fleur - and can I just say, Bill, 
with the dangerous job and the earring and everything with wolfish 
characteristics added should have the girls falling all over themselves 
even despite his injuries.

Remus/Tonks - well I'm not against the idea in principle but it seemed 
rather sprung on us. I realise Harry was so focussed on Draco that he 
was unlikely to have picked up any clues but no I didn't lik the way it 
was done.

Harry - needs to learn to pay attention to other people. His two best 
friends were on the verge of self destructing, he noticed Tonks was 
unahappy in a kind of peripheral way but never bothered to act on it, 
same with Hagrid, Myrtle told him about a boy crying in the bathroom and 
he didn't even bother to ask who ... I know he has some important stuff 
going on but frankly he seems to have lost almost all his 
compassion/feeling for others, if he goes on like this I'm not so sure 
he will have the capacity to love the AD hept on about. He's turning 
into a very isolated, by his choice, kid, thank goodness for Ron and 
Hermione or he'd be screwed.

Quidditch - fantastic, please don't leave Hogwarts Harry because I 
really enjoyed all the quidditch interactions and he wasn't makng a bad 
captain.

The Twins - as usual *rocked*

Snape - I'm  not saying this to disparage anyone but I genuinely cannot 
see how anyone could have read the climactic confrontation between the 
DEs and AD and interpreted it in any way other than Snape doing what 
Dumbledore had asked him too. I'm not trying to say 'oh anyone who 
thougt that is clearly an idiot' or anything I just can't see that it's 
at all ambiguous.I always thought Snape was a sexy beast, not a 
particularly nice person mind, but sexy, but now I have an immense 
amount of respect for him. To do something that painful, that hard, 
because it was necessary (which in a nice parallell was of course the 
same idea as AD making Harry promise to obey his orders no matter waht) 
and at no little cost to himseld if AD's comments about fracturing your 
soul are to believed, is unbelievably courageous. I wanted to smack 
Harry so much when he called Snape a coward - to my way of thinking 
Snape's actions are, with the possible exception of Lily's sacrifice, 
the single most courageous act we've seen in the books. I liked the way 
she had Hagrid reveal that they were arguing and Dumbledore was 
insisting he carry through with something and we were supposed to wonder 
what he was up to only to turn it around here and realise that they were 
probably taling about Draco's orders and Snape's vow. I would give good 
money though to know exactly what the effects - short and long term - of 
that liquid AD drank on the island were. I suspect that rather than 
poison it was something which would have sapped his will and made him 
malleable or controllable by Voldemort, AD would no doubt have found 
that to be a fate far worse than death. Unfortunately I now think 
Snape's fate is sealed and his death in book 7 just became a certainty. 
Just a feeling.

Loved the Potions book too btw - just shove a bezoar down their throat, 
I'm amazed I didn't twig that it was Severus' at that point. Snarky and 
ultimately practical too - antidotes take time to brew and you can't 
practically carry 50 or 100 with you. Just carrying one bezoar is a hell 
of a lot more useful in general. Wonder if he'd have chosen to pass on 
that piece of information if he'd known Harry would use it to save one 
of the banes of his life. Still he doesn't have to teach Ron anymore so 
maybe he wouldn't care :)

Oh and (I keep remembering stuff I loved!) the scenes with the PM. I 
would assume that's the chapter she's been trying to fit into the books 
for a while. She kept all the names out of it but it just screamed Tony 
Blair to me :) The Minister of Magic is a typical politician and I 
wanted to applaud Harry when he stood up to him. Twice.

And something that just occured to me .... so there's now part fo the 
Forest Hagrid can't enter is there? I wonder if that will become important.

I am now more eager for the next book than at any point so far in this 
series. Half-Blood Prince kicked aome serious ass.

K