CHAPDISC:HBP19,Elf Tails

[zgirnius]

No: HPFGUIDX 157501

zgirnius: Hi KJ, nice summary and questions. Thanks for putting this 
together!

 > 1.	This comparison is very interesting in that Hermione appears 
to have gone from hate to love in a very short time.  Has she really 
had an epiphany about her feelings for Ron? Is she feeling guilty for 
treating him so badly?  This description seems over-done to me, 
particularly in comparison to Fred's and George's reactions.  Do we 
expect to see Ron's family more concerned than Hermione?  Is this 
emotionality in character for her?

zgirnius:
I found the description of Hermione convincing; I would have expected 
her reaction to be at least as strong as Ron's family's. I don't 
think she hates Ron at any point in HBP. Her animosity is in my view 
driven by her jealousy over Lavender, a feeling which would not 
affect her, were she not in love with Ron.

> 2.Have we been given any previous information on Essence of Rue?  
As many of the named potions in the story have been used in later 
books, are we likely to see this one again or is it a Skele-gro type 
of potion?  What purpose might it serve?

zgirnius:
I think this is one of the cases where Rowling is displaying her 
familiarity with historic RL medicinal herbs. Rue is a real plant, 
which has been used for madical purposes historically, including 
against digestive spasms, which might plausibly be a side effect of 
either poisoning or bezoar use.. I this this is similar to her 
inclusion of aconite (also known as wolfsbane) in the Potion of the 
same name. (It was historically planted to scare off werewolves; it 
is also a poison).

> 3.	Since the readers know more than the characters at this 
point, are the two attempts to harm someone confirmation that Draco 
is actively, if unenthusiastically, trying to kill Dumbledore?  Do 
you think that Harry has enough information to come to the same 
conclusion but fails to do so? 

zgirnius:
I did not figure it out myself, so I will not fault Harry on this.:D

> 5. Considering the information that we have been given on Life 
Debts, is this fore-shadowing of what will come in Book 7?  Has 
Arthur just realized what this could mean for the Weasley family?  
Does the fact that he speaks in a constricted voice mean anything 
other than his distress at nearly losing Ron? 

zgirnius:
In light of Rowling's statement that Ginny does not owe Harry a life 
debt-I doubt Ron or Arthur do either. I think Arhtur is just worried, 
relieved, and grateful, as is natural under the circumstances.

> 6.	 Does Harry understand what has been said here?  Does 
Hermione owe Harry and/or Ron a life debt after the troll incident, 
and could Ron's near-death experience be having a magical affect on 
Hermione?  How many people owe Harry their lives at this point?

zgirnius:
I think Peter is the only one with a magical Life Debt to Harry, 
again because of things Rowling has said.

> 7.	Why is Hagrid so careful to make sure that no one over-hears 
their conversation and then blurts out to Harry that Dumbledore was 
angry with Snape?  Hagrid was very clear about two of the 
statements, "doesn't want to do it any more" and "you agreed to do 
it," but unclear on the rest.  As the character of Hagrid has been 
used to blurt out information that Harry is not supposed to know, is 
this concern for security in character for someone who is about to 
commit an indiscretion?  Do you think that Hagrid has been giving 
Harry the information he needs at Dumbledore's instruction? 

zgirnius:
I did not find Hagrid's behavior odd, myself. He does not wish to be 
overheard by random people, but he is not careful of Harry himself. I 
have a lot of difficulty picturing Hagrid as a conspirator. He is 
just so straightforward as a person.

> 8.	Knowing what we do about the Unbreakable Vow, and assuming 
that Dumbledore was told about it by Snape, is there anything he, 
Dumbledore, could have done to secure the castle, or apprehend Draco 
early in the game, without triggering the Vow?  Do you believe that 
Dumbledore was willing to risk others in order to protect his spy and 
keep his plan in action? 

zgirnius:
I actually believe that Dumbledore's inaction was for Draco's 
benefit. As he himself suggests in "The Lightning-Struck Tower".

> 9.	 What would the effect on the Vow have been if Draco had been 
stopped and hidden before he actually began to perform the steps 
necessary to complete his task?

zgirnius:
I believe that if at any point Draco had given up the intention to 
serve Voldemort and kill Dumbledore, and had accepted Dumbledore's 
offer to hide him, the Vow would have been fulfilled and Snape would 
have been off the hook. My interpretation rests on the precise 
wording of the Vow. In my opinion, a decision not to try is not 
failure. The other reason Snape might be expected by the Vow to act 
would be if Draco was in danger, which he would not be in hiding.

> 10.	We have seen in the books that Snape had promised four 
things, to go back to Voldemort as a spy, to protect Draco, to help 
Draco in his task, and to perform the task if Draco is unable to do 
so.  Which promise do you think Dumbledore was insisting Snape 
keep?   Do you think that the promise Dumbledore wanted from Snape, 
in their conversation near the Forbidden Forest, was unrelated to 
these prior promises?

zgirnius:
My personal opinion on this scene is that Snape was getting nervous 
about Draco and the Vow, and wanted Dumbledore to do something about 
Draco sooner rather than later. I think what Snape agreed to do when 
the Vow and Draco's mission were discussed at the start of the year 
was play along with DUmbledore's hands-off approach and keep an eye 
on Draco. (Implicit in this is my additional opinion that Dumbledore 
knew the precise phrasing of the Vow and the nature of Draco's 
mission from Snape, of course. :D)

> 12.	We are not told who the girls were who were accompanying 
Malfoy.  Would Harry have recognized other students from Slytherin, 
or was he simply too focused on Malfoy to realize that he did not 
recognize them?  Were they strangers?  Were they Crabbe and Goyle? Is 
there any indication that students are allowed to have visitors at 
Hogwarts? 

zgirnius:
Polyjuice requires a physical piece of another person to work. For 
this reason, I assumed the two girls were younger Sytherins that 
Harry did not recognize, whose hairs Draco or a friend had obtained 
for the impersonation.

> 13.	We have seen Harry as pretty clueless when it comes to 
feelings, but here we see him put two and two together and come to 
the right answer when it comes to Ron and Lavender.  Is this out of 
character for him?  Did Harry care about the fairness of the 
situation or was he only hoping that Lavender would stop bothering 
him if she knew that Ron was no longer interested in her?

zgirnius:
I think Harry mostly just wanted Lav-Lav out of his hair, yes.
 
> 15.	Why did Harry not call Dobby in the first place?  He knows 
that he can trust Dobby, and knows full well that he can not trust 
Kreacher.  Has Harry done enough to ensure Kreacher's silence? 

zgirnius:
I think Harry called Kreacher because Kreacher is his slave. He did 
not think of calling on Dobby, as he is a free elf.

> 16.	 Since Ron was surprised by this demand of Harry's for 
Kreacher to spy on Draco, is it possible that this kind of behaviour 
is frowned on in the Wizarding World? 

zgirnius:
I would guess is was more because Ron comes from a not-so-upper-class 
family which does not have House Elves. Though he is familiar with 
the concept, it is odd for him to suddenly have a friend that has 
such an option open to him.

> 17.	We have been given a great deal of information in this 
chapter, but has anything occurred to actually move the plot forward 
in this book?  Has anything happened in this chapter which is likely 
to have an impact on the final book? 

zgirnius:
I think mostly it was the information that was important here. Though 
the precise nature of the argument in the Forest might be of 
inportance. I firmly believe DDM!Snape, and I believe the memory of 
this conversation might be a piece of evidence to support the idea of 
Snape's loyalty (though this would not be my first choice of approach 
for dealing with that subject, were I writing Book 7). This is most 
true if in fact Dumbledore WAS telling Snape to kill him if 
necessary, which I certainly consider a possibility, even though I 
suggested an alternative above.