[HPforGrownups] Re: CHAP DISC, HBP 25, The Seer Overheard

[J]

No: HPFGUIDX 161717



Alla:

1. "'How can I have hung round with you for five years and not

think girls are clever?' said Harry, stung by this." What does this

remark tell you about Harry?


 


Jeremiah:


Harry is being glib. It’s nothing more than Harry’s
developing sarcasm and a nodd to Hermione for being brilliant.



 

2. The narrator tells us that the reason why Harry disliked

Snape's detentions was because they were taking away from his time

with Ginny. Would have Harry liked them otherwise?


Jeremiah:



Would you? LOL. I think Harry (or anyone for that matter)
would use any current issue to dislike detention with a professor who detests
them.


 

3. Why does Dumbledore want fewer visits from professor

Trelawney?

 Jeremiah:




Two reasons: 1) Yes, she has become incessantly more
annoying (than usual, though I love her) and 2) Her incessant threats to leave
are not useful to DD. She cannot leave or she will be tortured for information
and then possibly killed.


4. The card that Trelawney pulls and reads to Harry correctly

predicts what will happen soon. Did that cause you to change your

opinion of Trelawney's prediction powers, card reading and other

Seer abilities for the better? If not, why not?


Jeremiah:




Absolutely. The first time she does it I thought, “Hmm… that’s
funny. She’s right. Harry doesn’t like the drunk lady divining with the cards.”
And then it got freaky. I actually started to reread the series looking at her
predictions. 


 

5. We have discussed many times Trelawney's version of the

prophecy, Dumbledore's version of the prophecy, whether they are

compatible or not, etc., so I am not going there, but there is a

small detail which I am not sure I remember an answer to

(speculative answer of course). How did Trelawney know that Snape

was looking for a job at the time? Alla imagines Snape and

Trelawney's evening tea conversations.


Jeremiah:



Maybe Snape was hired the same year and she “assumed”
(ass-U-me… ed) that Snape was trying to butt in. 


 

6. "Snape and Peter Pettigrew together had sent Voldemort

hunting after Lily and James and their son ..." Do you agree or

disagree with this quote? Why?

 Jeremiah:




I agree and disagree. Voldemort would have chassed down
Lilly and James, Harry being a consequence… possibly, since other students have
lost their parents it is possible that Harry would have been orphaned. So the statement
that includes Harry is where I agree. Voldemort would have nothing to gain by
killing Harry if it weren’t for Snape’s rendition of the prophesy (since he didn’t
hear it all) and Pettigrew revealing the Potter’s location.


 


 7. "Dumbledore
did not speak for a moment; he looked as though

he was trying to make up his mind about something. At last he

said, 'I am sure. I trust Severus Snape completely.' " What was

Dumbledore trying to make up his mind about?


Jeremiah:



I assume it was a decision on what to say to Harry. How much
should he say to Harry. Of course if you believe SS isn’t DDM!Snape (see, I
learned to use !’s) then it would be a hesitation in weather or not he truly trusts
him. I do not believe this.


 

8. "'He hated my dad like he hated Sirius! Haven't you noticed,

Professor, how the people Snape hates tend to end up dead?'" We also

know so far that people whom Harry loves tend to end up dead and

some of the names on the list of people whom Snape hates and Harry

loves tend to be the same. If you were to predict the next person to

die by that criteria, whom would you pick?


Jeremiah:



Ms. Weasley. It would be absolutely devastating to Harry and
drive him to the edge. (Don’t hate me for saying that. It’s honestly how I
think… and it would rip my heart out).


 

9. "Breathing hard as though he were fighting, Harry turned

away from Dumbledore, who still had not moved a muscle, and paced up

and down the study, rubbing his knuckles in his hand and exercising

every last bit of restraint to prevent himself knocking things over.

He wanted to rage and storm at Dumbledore, but he also wanted to go

with him to try and destroy the Horcrux; he wanted to tell him that

he was a foolish old man for trusting Snape, but he was terrified

that Dumbledore would not take him along unless he mastered his

anger ..."


Harry is trying to restrain himself from knocking things over. Is it

because he has undergone some character development and is trying to

control his temper, or is he simply afraid that Dumbledore will not

let him come? Any other ideas?


Jeremiah:




Well, in OotP he does that. I think that Harry has grown
past such acts of useless violence and it is showing his development. Also… I
wouldn’t take him if he’d destroyed my office… again. 


 

10. "'You're leaving the school tonight and I'll bet you haven't

even considered that Snape and Malfoy might decide to -' To what?'

asked Dumbledore, his eyebrows raised. 'What is it that you suspect

them of doing, precisely?'" Why is Dumbledore asking Harry this

question?


Jeremiah:



Harry overheard the conversation in the bathroom during Slughorn’s
party. But Harry really doesn’t understand all of it. DD may have wanted to
know what Harry “might” know, which is nothing. Of course we must also realize
that DD never considered the vanishing cabinet as a means into the castle. He
may have been hoping for a bit of news and Harry had nothing to offer except that
Draco is off the map and possibly in the Room of Requirement. I regard it as DD
wondering what to say because he need’s Harry’s full attention and focus on
retrieving the Horcrux. So, he may have been hiding something from Harry. The
question would be a ruse to deflate Harry’s incessant curiosity.


 


 11. `Thanks,' said
Ron. 'Er - why do I need socks?' Here we

meet socks again. In fact, we have attempted to figure out possible

socks symbolism in the books for quite some time now. So, is there

any possible symbolic reason why Harry gives Felix felicis to Ron

wrapped in sock?


Jeremiah:



Fabulous. Socks… (and I’m still trying to finish knitting my
first pair. Angora… tan). There’s something very home-y
about socks. Very mundane. But they hide so many magnificent things in their
socks. Sneakoscopes and potions, etc. My guess is that socks represent the “common”
and we all have them (even if you don’t wear them) and to use them to hid
magical things is a great dichotomy and disparity in value of objects.
Honestly, who would think of looking in someone’s socks to find things… of
course I do now that I’ve read these books. LOL. 


Now, as far as symbolism, Ron gets a pair of socks for
Christmas in SS/PS and tosses them aside. Ron thinks nothing of them and that’s
the “mundane” and Ron doesn’t even think that Harry has hidden stuff in his
(Harry’s) socks. Also, I think Ron might think for a second that they might be
Magical Invisibility socks or Socks of Invincibility LOL or even Sock of Massive,
Righteous Destruction!!!! Ron’s got a funny way of thinking some times. It wouldn’t
phase me if he thought those things. But as far as having it be “symbolic” for
Harry to give the potion to Ron hidden in socks… no. It was just faster. And I
think Harry would have thought Ron would have been a bit brighter about
figuring out there was something hidden in them.




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]