Slytherin House Victorious!!

[huntergreen_3]

No: HPFGUIDX 133635

Betsy Hp wrote:
>>How much did I love Draco *finally* getting some
of his own back with a helpless Harry? Probably a bit more than is
entirely ethical.<<

HunterGreen:
I have to admit liking that scene too, even though I'm not a Draco 
fan. Harry was really asking for it by sneaking into their 
compartment and spying on them, I can't see Draco even going that far 
(Harry was acting rather Snape-like in HBP wasn't he?). Considering 
that Draco was with Voldemort by that point, Harry was lucky he only 
did what he did (pretty mild, compared to what he could have got away 
with. I was really worried he was going to steal the invisibility 
cloak).

Betsy Hp:
>>And how incredibly cool was Draco throughout the book? His family
is in danger and he sacrifices *everything*, quidditch, his
schoolwork, his obsession with Potter, to try and save them. Plus,
he was incredibly clever with the vanishing cabinet idea. And he
was very good to keep his friends as ignorant of his delimma as he
could, even when he was falling apart from the pressure. And he
dropped his wand in the end! Yay!<<

HunterGreen:
He really was. By the end I felt really sorry for the poor kid. 
Narcissa was right, I'm sure Voldemort only gave him that task to 
punish him for Lucious failing at the DoM. Even Voldemort hasn't 
suceeded in killing Dumbledore, but he sends a sixteen-year-old to do 
it? The surprising part was that Draco actually could have suceeded, 
he came up with a really good plan. But Draco isn't evil, at least 
not yet. He was working for Voldemort out of fear, which is in line 
with what we've been told about his followers. If only Draco had a 
few more minutes with Dumbledore before the Death Eaters made it to 
the tower, than things might have gone a lot different for him. I 
can't wait to see him in book 7.

Betsy Hp:
>>Slughorn was great! I loved the Slug club, and I loved how much
insight he gave us on Lily. So Lily would have made a good
Slytherin, eh? Harry came by it honestly! (See? Slytherin is *so*
JKR's second favorite house.)[snip]
(Plus, total hints that Lily and Severus were study buddies -- yay 
for thickening plots!)<<

HunterGreen:
And we have a good Slytherin! He's even friends with Dumbledore! It 
was nice to finally have someone be talking about young *Lily* as 
opposed to James. If only it extended to hearing about her friends, 
who still remain anonymous (I'm really starting to suspect that Snape 
is "that boy" who told Lily about the dementers....they were both so 
good in potions). 

Betsy Hp:
>>And let's not forget Harry's new best-friend, the Half-Blood
Prince.<<

HunterGreen:
Oh, from the moment Harry started reading that book I thought Its 
Snape! Its Snape!, unfortunately when it was revealed to be so, I was 
so distracted by the plot that it no longer seemed to matter. 

Betsy Hp:
>>And how cool has Regulus Black become? I'm dead certain he left
that "In your face, Freak-show!" note to Voldemort, which goes to
show he really *was* Sirius's brother, and what a shame the two of
them didn't get to fight side by side.<<

HunterGreen:
(LOL!!) Yes, he's got some of that Black Family Moxy. With Sirius and 
Tonks and Andromeda and now Regulus, they're starting to not seem so 
dark. (we don't know for sure, of course, that its Regulus, but its 
very likely....we even know that Sirius had an uncle who's name 
started with A, Regulus Alphard Black, it fits perfectly). If it is 
Regulus, I can't wait for Harry to actually figure that out.
 
Betsy Hp:
>>Tonks/Lupin - Yup, the Sirius/Lupin ship has sadly been sunk but I'm
quite sure it'll float on in fanon. In the meantime, Lupin gets him
some lovin' and Tonks has mood-hair. What's not to love?<<

HunterGreen:
And we didn't have to suffer through Tonks having a crush on her own 
cousin. Its nice to have insight into both Lupin and Tonks in that 
way. Not that its surprising that Lupin would avoid romantic 
intanglements, but now that his best friends have either died or 
turned to evil, I love him having a girlfriend, its so sweet. 

Betsy Hp:
>>Greyback - Probably JKR's most chilling villain yet. HE EATS
CHILDREN!!! ON PURPOSE!! Tell me he's not an obvious stand-in for
a pedophile. And he's the one who turned Lupin. I foresee a mighty
payback in his future.<<

HunterGreen:
Oh that was so creepy. I couldn't believe it when he showed up at 
Hogwarts, that was unnerving. And Lupin is working undercover with 
him, how uncomfortable that must be.

Betsty Hp:
>>Voldemort's history - So *that's* what kind of family he comes
from. Did anyone else get a flash-back to the X-Files'
episode, "Home"?<<

HunterGreen:
That's *exactly* what I thought! Something about them all standing 
around speaking Parseltongue to each other made them seem even more, 
uh, inbred and strange. Voldemort is actually *lucky* that he's a 
half-blood, otherwise I doubt he'd have the charisma that took him so 
far, not to mention the looks. 

Betsy Hp:
>> Plus, turns out Tom Riddle, Sr. was the innocent
victim in all of this. Nice twist.<<

HunterGreen:
Yeah, I didn't see that one coming. I feel bad for Tom now, its hard 
to blame him for reacting badly, that was pretty ridiculous what 
Merope did to him, and then he gets killed by his own son for it 
(what a shock that must have been for him and his parents when a 
teenager walked in who looked just like him).  
I guess that's what we get for listening to Voldemort, of course he'd 
assume the muggle was the bad guy in the whole situation. 

Betsy Hp:
>>And finally, Dobby vs. Kreacher - Oh my gosh, that was funny. <<

HunterGreen:
That was really clever. Kreacher talking about Malfoy with such 
reverence was fantastic, I'm sure he'd *love* to be *their* house-
elf, even if they treated him badly (which he thinks Sirius and Harry 
are doing anyway). Its a lot easier to take one or two house-elf 
scenes than a whole book sprinkled with them (anyone else happy with 
the seeming death of SPEW?).

>>Overall, I was well pleased with HBP. Yay, JKR!<<

I liked it so much more than OotP. So much backstory on Voldemort 
(way more than I thought she'd give us) and such an interesting plot, 
and no months where the whole school hates or fears Harry, it was my 
favorite since Azkaban. I'm both looking forward to book 7 and 
fearing the end of the series now. Just one left!


-Rebecca / HunterGreen