CHPDISC: HBP14, Felix Felicis

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 151849

CHAPTER DISCUSSIONS: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Chapter 
> 14, Felix Felicis
> 
<snip Potioncat's admirably concise summary>
 
> 1.The strange mist, which we know is due to Dementors breeding, is
so thick the Trio has trouble finding the Greenhouse. It's mentioned 
very casually. Do you think it's important? Could it contribute to 
any of the emotions we see in the next few chapters?

Carol:
Interesting question, and you're right that casually mentioned tidbits
usually prove important. And yet in this instance, the emotions of the
characters have other explanations, including general immaturity and
inexperience in handling hormonal urges. Possibly the mist contributes
to or intensifies certain emotions or mental states, such as Ron's
lack of self-confidence, but I don't see anything resembling the
depression that Dementors generally stand for; no one's happiness is
being sucked away. I think it's more of an ominous foreshadowing,
reminding us that the world outside Hogwarts is getting darker and
more dangerous (rather like the hands on Mrs. Weasley's clock, now
pointing uselessly to "mortal peril").
> 
> 2. The Snargaluff scene is very well described for something that is 
> unimportant. It seems a mixture of the Devil's Snare episode from 
> SS/PS, having dental work done, and a character from "Winnie the 
> Pooh." Is this just more scenery?

Carol:
You must be thinking of Heffalumps. I thought of Snuffleupagus from
"Sesame Street." I don't think that Snargaluff pods will prove
important lately, but the students needed to be doing something
colorful and mildly dangerous to keep them occupied during class. I
think the Snargaluffs just provide color and humor, in keeping with
what sixth-years would be learning in Herbology at this point. (I
could be wrong, of course, but I'm still waiting for Mimbulus
Mimbletonia to be something more than a password.)
> 
> 3.Harry makes some difficult decisions as a Quidditch captain. In 
> what ways has he grown?

Carol responds:
I think he does a much better job handling McLaggen than he does
dealing with Zacharias Smith in the DA, but of course Quidditch is
much less personal (and deadly) than the events in the graveyard that
he doesn't want to talk about in OoP. I think he's finally developing
some "people skills"--knowing when to compliment a person (e.g.,
Demelza), when and how to stand up to them and assert his authority
(McLaggen), and even how to handle Ron's moodiness and lack of
confidence without damaging their friendship ("Ron, you're my best
mate, but--"). I think that, for the first time, he feels confident in
his leadership abilities (thanks to the DA), and his experiences with
the Daily Prophet and the fickleness of public opinion have made him
virtually immune to unpopularity. Unlike Ron, he no longer cares what
people think of him as long as he has his two best friends (who are
somewhat harder to manage than his Quidditch team in terms of their
friendship with each other).
> 
> 4. The Slytherin team members are Urquhart, Harper and Vaisey. Any 
> thoughts on those names and what they might mean, or what images
they conjure? How do they compare to the names of the Gryffindor
beaters Peakes and Coote?

Carol:
I hadn't thought about the names at all. However, Harper seems like a
clone of Draco both in personality (sneering contempt for blood
traitors, etc.) and skill at Quidditch; if Harry hadn't distracted him
by implying that Draco had bribed him to take his place, Harper would
have caught the Snitch. (Luck and/or cunning on Harry's part!). And
Urquhart seems like the usual hand-crushing lout of a Slytherin
captain. Vaisey isn't mentioned; apparently he's a skilled player
whose absence gives Gryffindor an advantage. Peakes and Coote seem to
be adequate replacements for the Twins and one of them (Peakes) shows
some spunk, standing up to McLaggen despite his size. And McLaggen,
whom you don't mention, seems to epitomize the worst qualities of
Gryffindor. Nice to have an unpleasant Gryffindor for a change (along
with Romilda Vane), to balance out the houses a little.
> 
> 5. Many Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had taken sides. Does this give
the impression that Slytherin House is not universally disliked? It
sounds as if the individuals within the two houses had taken sides,
not that one house was pulling for one team. What does this mean?

Carol:
I agree with you that it sounds as if it's no longer Slytherin against
the world, maybe in part because Slughorn's Slug Club contains
non-Slytherins and he's perfectly willing to hand out points to
Gryffindor (and presumably to other houses)? Or maybe, as JKR hinted,
there are DE's children in other Houses who would support Slytherin on
principle against Gryffindor? I really don't know, but any lessening
of anti-Slytherin prejudice indicated by this scene will be seriously
undermined, IMO, by the events on the tower. (If Hogwarts is still
open, will Crabbe, Goyle, and Theo Nott come back to school for their
seventh year? Draco almost certainly won't.)
> 
> 6. Do you think Malfoy had to "bribe" Harper to play? Does Harper 
know Malfoy is up to something?

Carol:
I think that Harper is a good player himself and leaped at the chance
to play, no bribe necessary--unless, as a good Slytherin, he took
advantage of Draco's desperation and demanded either galleons or the
use of Draco's broom. But I doubt that he has any clue what Draco is
up to. He probably takes him at his word that he's ill.
> 
> 7. Zacharias Smith is pretty petty in this scene. Do you think he is
related to Hepzibah Smith? How are they alike?

Carol:
I think we have a teeny bit more of JKR's attempts to unstereotype the
houses here; an unpleasant Hufflepuff as opposed to nice but pompous
Ernie and sportsmanlike, all-around-good-guy Cedric. Smith, of course,
is an extremely common name, but the Hufflepuff connection is unlikely
to be accidental, and his father (briefly mentioned near the end of
the book) strikes me as an arrogant pureblood very much aware of his
lineage (an attitude that isn't confined to Slytherin). So, yes, I'm
sure there's a connection and that we haven't been introduced to
Zacharias for nothing. I'm sure that he and Harry will somehow come to
terms and that he'll be connected to the hunt for the Hufflepuff
Horcrux in some way. I don't see any resemblance between him and
Hepzibah, however; she seems empty-headed, vain, and frivolous, not to
mention unsuspicious, whereas Zacharias is rather bright and observant
and not afraid to voice his suspicions in OoP. How he got placed in
Hufflepuff is unclear to me; maybe his family, like the young Sirius
Black, rejects Dark magic and Death Eaters without abandoning the
arrogance that seems tied in with their pureblood heritage (and their
link to Helga Hufflepuff).
> 
> 8. What do you think of Ginny's retaliation? If McGonagall was
there, why wasn't she giving Smith what for?

Carol:
I don't think that Zacharias's commentary was any more blatantly
biased than Lee Jordan's, and he does at least know Quidditch. (In
fact, Harry wouldn't have known that Harper had seen the Snitch if
Zacharias hadn't pointed it out.) Possibly, McGonagall is holding her
impatience in check so that she won't appear to be favoring Gryffindor
over Slytherin (which, of course, she is). After all, she has it in
her power to choose another commentator for future games, even those
in which Zach isn't playing. As for Ginny, I don't think her
retaliation is any worse than what Wood or the Twins might have done.
If Zacharias were a Muggle, he'd have been hurt, but since he's a
wizard all he received was public humiliation and maybe a few
scratches. I suppose that JKR intended it to be funny, and it's
certainly in character for Ginny (who earlier hit Zacharias with her
Bat-Bogey Hex), but it doesn't add to my fondness for or admiration of
Ginny. I guess she's our substitute in HBP for the Twins, but all she
does is argue with Ron, switch boyfriends when they annoy her, and
retaliate against people she doesn't like. Maybe she's supposed to
remind people of Lily with her red hair and her cheek, but she reminds
me more of James, hexing anyone who annoyed him just because he could.
> 
> 9. We don't hear anything about the Snape-McGonagall Quidditch
rivalry anymore. JKR has said she's glad to have written the last
Quidditch game. Did JKR tire of the rivalry too? Do the two 
professors have more important things on their minds? Do you miss the
rivalry?

Carol:
I don't care for Quidditch, but I miss the Snape/McGonagall
interaction. I'm not sure that McGonagall had anything more on her
mind than the usual school duties, including those of assistant
headmistress. Snape, however, had Draco Malfoy's mission and his own
UV to worry about, and though he does mention Quidditch to Harry in a
later chapter, I'm sure it's the least of his concerns.
> 
> 10. How can Ron really be mad at Hermione for something that
happened two years ago? Is he using Lavender, or does he need/want
someone who admires him?

Carol:
I think Ron is using the Krum/Hermione "snogging" (which may not even
have occurred) as an excuse to be mad at her because he's still so
confused about his own feelings (and self-conscious about his own
inexperience). We don't see into his mind, but I'm sure he's being
bitten by the same green-eyed monster that attacks Harry when he sees
Ginny kissing Dean, only Ron has less control of his feelings than
Harry does, and less self-confidence in general. I don't think he's
using Lavender, exactly; she's the one who initiates the relationship
(if it can be called by that term) and she certainly doesn't mind
being publicly "snogged." So, yes, I think he needs someone who likes
him and finds him attractive, and he certainly doesn't mind having
Hermione see that someone else likes him (which probably evens out the
Hermione/Krum attraction in his mind). Ron is a kid, clumsily making
his way through adolescence with no adult guidance, and Hermione isn't
helping matters by doubting his Quidditch abilities (thinking that he
could not have made those saves without Felix Felicis) or angrily
attacking him with her conjured birds. (I know; she's a kid, too, but
she's more aware of her feelings than he is, and ought, maybe, to help
him out.) Anyway, I like Ron and trust him to come to his senses once
he understands that Hermione really does like him as more than a friend.
> 
> 11. We see Hermione with a flock of yellow birds around her head. 
That image is often used to represent innocence or love. Next thing we
see, those birds are attacking Ron, and apparently do some damage. 
What does this tell us about Hermione? Or does it tell us more about love?

Carol:
We've known for quite awhile that Hermione likes to get revenge (Rita
Skeeter and Umbridge come to mind), but this is the first instance I
can recall in which she uses her own magical abilities against someone
who can't match them and actually physically hurts someone she cares
about. I suppose the violence of her reaction indicates the strength
of her feelings and the intensity of the emotional pain she's feeling
in response to Ron and Lavender (her turn to feel what Ron felt with
Hermione and Viktor?) as well as bewilderment at his reaction to the
phony Felix incident. Hermione's intellectual development is ahead of
her emotional maturity, and at this point she loses control in her
anger and frustration. Quite possibly JKR is making a statement about
teenage hormones and the different ways in which boys and girls
mature, but I think the problem has more to do with their individual
temperaments and upbringing than with love in general. Certainly the
boarding school environment has something to do with it; teenagers of
both sexes sharing a common room with no adult supervision, the only
control being the spell that prevents boys from entering the girls'
dormitory (but not vice versa). If this weren't a children's series,
I'm afraid we'd see more than "snogging" under such circumstances.
(Sorry to ignore the part of the question about the birds, but I can't
think of any symbolism except that the seemingly innocent creatures
turn vicious at Hermione's command. Wonder how Ron got free of them.) 
> 
> 12. JKR set us up. The title of the chapter, the description at
breakfast and the description of the game all made it look as if 
Harry had spiked Ron's drink. Did you think Harry put Felix Felicis in
Ron's juice? What did you expect the outcome to be?

Carol:
She did, indeed. Very sneaky the way she makes us think that we know
Harry's plan. Sad to say, I'm pretty sure that I fell for it just as
Ron did. I certainly didn't anticipate the flare-up when Ron realized
that it was his own skill, which both Hermione and he had doubted,
rather than the potion that enabled him to make those saves. Immature
and hypocritical on his part, maybe, but unwise on Hermione's to
express her doubts in front of him. And Harry may have learned a
lesson, too, as he watched his seeming well-laid plan gang aglay.
> 
> 13. "Felix Felicis" is the title of the chapter. What part did the
potion really play? Does this tell us anything about the potion or was
it just part of the set up?

Carol:
I think the potion was more of a plot device than anything, setting us
up to have the rug pulled out from under us, bringing about the
conflict between Ron and Hermione, and foreshadowing the chapter(s) in
which the potion is actually used. Watching Ron through Harry's eyes,
we get an idea of the effects of the potion. We also understand why
it's banned in sporting competitions and get into the ethical
questions that permeate the book ("Hark who's talking," Harry says to
Hermione, reminding her that she confunded McLaggen to help Ron get on
the team). And there's the general question of the uses to which Harry
is putting the Prince's book, notably winning the Felix potion in the
first place without having a clue as to Golpalott's Law and its
applications. So I'd say that, while the potion isn't actually used,
it nevertheless plays an important thematic role as well as being an
essential plot element.
> 
> 14. Felix Felicis wasn't really in the chapter "Felix Felicis." Was 
> Snape's worst memory really in the chapter with that name? Can you 
> think of other chapters that may have been written like this?

I agree with you that "Snape's Worst Memory" comes under more
suspicion as an accurate chapter title thanks to "Felix Felicis," and
I would note that the narration of the chapter (sly hints designed to
make us think one thing while concealing what's really going on)
should alert us to the unreliable narrator technique elsewhere in the
book. (No wonder JKR handles Snape so well; she's a master [make that
"mistress"] of half-truths and subtle misdirection herself, as is our
beloved "epitome of goodness," Dumbledore.) As for other chapter
titles that might be similarly misleading, how about "Snape
Victorious," in which Snape seems to be achieving a long-cherished
ambition but is in fact being publicly acknowledged as the latest
appointee to a jinxed, or perhaps cursed, position that ultimately
leads to disaster for him and for Hogwarts?
> 
> Potioncat, who would like to thank Penapart_Elf and Carol for 
> suggestions and encouragement.

You're welcome. Thanks to you and Penapart_Elf for getting the
discussions up and running again!

Carol, whose discussion of chapter 15 just needs a bit of tightening
and should be ready within a week