CHAPDISC HBP 15, The Unbreakable Vow

[meriaugust]

No: HPFGUIDX 152147

Meri - Great summary Carol!  

> Discussion Questions:
> 
> 1) What do you think of Ron's public "snogging" sessions with 
Lavender
> and Hermione's reaction? What about Ron's and Hermione's behavior 
in
> Transfiguration? What does Harry (whose thoughts are paraphrased by
> the narrator) mean by "the depths to which girls would sink to get
> revenge"?

Meri - Ah, teenage romance. Makes me miss the good old days...a 
little. Anyway, teenagers invariably make poor, emotional and rash 
decisions when it comes to such matters and then, by learning from 
their mistakes, figure out how to behave in situations such as this. 
If they never spent time with the wrong people how on earth would 
Ron and Hermione ever figure out who the right person was? And as to 
the "revenge" statement, I don't know about anyone else, but I think 
boys can be just as cruel when it comes to matters of the heart, 
just as manipulative and just as angry. 

snip
> 
> 3) Harry expresses real interest in the Prince's notes on 
Everlasting
> Elixirs and defends his book against both Hermione's aspersions and
> Madam Pince's grasping hands. Is he just using the Prince's notes 
to
> get marks he doesn't deserve, or is he really learning more from 
the
> Prince than he ever learned from the adult Snape or Slughorn? How
> might this new interest in Potions, if it lasts, play out in Book 
7?

Meri - I look at Harry's relationship with the book as a positve 
(and wholly ironic) one. This is just another example of Harry's 
Slytherin side, his "reckless disregard for the rules" and his 
acceptance of ideas that come from outside the box. Using this book 
to his own advantage (and against Hermione's advice) is maybe not 
necessarily the most correct thing to do, but the book is in fact 
helping Harry to earn higher grades in Potions class than he ever 
has before. 
 
snip
> 6) Why do you think that Harry invited Luna to Slughorn's party? 
What
> does his doing so tell us about him, compared to or contrasted with
> Hermione's inviting Cormac McLaggen? Do you agree with Harry that
> Hermione got what she deserved when Cormac ambushed her under the
> mistletoe? Why or why not?

Meri - I think Harry considers Luna a friend and ally and knows that 
she'll be someone fun to hang out with (and let's face it, Ron and 
Hermione aren't that much fun to be around at the moment). He 
accepts Luna for her eccentricities and quirks and is becoming more 
mature; coolness doesn't matter so much to him anymore. And while 
Harry invited Luna not only because he wanted to hang out with her 
but because he felt bad that she was lonely, Hermione invited Cormac 
to tick off Ron, which did achieve its objective. And yes, I'd say 
she deserved what she got, inviting him to the party. She asked for 
it, didn't she? 

snip
> 9) Draco's appearance suggests that he's suffering from stress or
> insomnia. Do you think that he was really too ill to play Quidditch
> (previous chapter)? How do you account for the change in his 
attitude
> toward his Head of House and former favorite professor? What
> parallels, if any, do you see between this relationship and Harry's
> with Dumbledore?

Meri - Draco doesn't think he needs Snape anymore. He's been asked 
by Voldemort himself to take out the Albus Dumbledore. Why should he 
need help from someone like Snape? If Snape is so smart why didn't 
LV ask *him* to kill DD? I personally always thought Draco's fawning 
over Snape was a little bit of sucking up, just keeping on the 
Prof.'s good side knowing that if he does he can probably get away 
with anything and knowing from Lucius that Snape was once a Death 
Eater probably gave Draco a little insight/hold over Snape as well. 
 
snape

> 11) What do you make of Draco's contempt for DADA, his attempt at
> Occlumency, his reaction to Snape's Unbreakable Vow, and his
> accusation that Snape is trying to steal his glory? How successful 
are
> his attempts to evade Snape's questions? What, if anything, does 
Snape
> learn from Draco's answers?

Meri - Draco feels he is above school now, and he's probably only 
there to complete his mission from LV. He's got better teachers now 
(like Aunt Bella and LV) and doesn't need the education (or the 
lifestyle) that Hogwarts can offer him. His full contempt for the 
place can now be shown. But this, too, can be misleading, because 
Draco really isn't doing this for his own glory (althouigh he might 
want to think that he is and he will do his best to project that 
facade), he's doing this because LV will kill him and his mother and 
father if he fails in his mission. Draco loves his family and they 
love him back, and even if LV doesn't really understand that love he 
can still exploit it for his own ends. Sorry to get a little OT, but 
I think this is important to emphasize. This bluster of Draco's (and 
the bad boy attitude that went with it) was probably mostly an act. 
 
snip 
> 14) How did this chapter affect your views on where Snape's 
loyalties
> lie? Why do you think the chapter is titled "The Unbreakable Vow" 
when
> the vow is barely mentioned?

Meri - Well, I don't know whose side he's on, that's for sure. Snape 
is playing, I think, the ultimate Slytherin. His loyalties lie with 
himself and no one else because if he doesn't project that face to 
the world he's dead. I think DD trusted Snape for a legitimate 
reason and I think Snape did, in fact, abandon the Death Eaters 
before LV's fall and that he did turn spy for the Order at great 
risk to his life. And I think I believe that DD was informed by 
Snape what the Unbreakable Vow was and what he had to do. And I 
think DD's murder was all part of a larger plan. But there is one 
thing that I keep going back to that makes me question whose side 
Snape is really on now: the deaths of two Order members (Emmaline 
Vance and Amelia Bones) because of information that Snape provided. 
Now I know DD believed in sacrafice, but I'm sure even he would not 
approve of sacrificing the lives of two members of the Order just to 
preserve Snape's cover. And as to why this chapter is titled as it 
is, I can only assume that it is because this is the first Harry 
learns about the vow. 

Meri - in the middle of her annual summer HP readathon!