CHAP DISC, HBP 25, The Seer Overheard

[Charles Walker Jr]

No: HPFGUIDX 161723

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214" 
<dumbledore11214 at ...> wrote:

> 
> 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?
> 

Charles:
This remark tells me that Harry still has respect for Hermione and 
her abilities, despite disagreeing with her conclusions. I think the 
remark that he is responding to tells us a great deal more about 
Hermione. It shows that she is desperate to seperate Harry from the 
HBP's potions book, no matter what arguments she has to resort to.

Alla:
> 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? 
>
Charles:
I actually read it as that they were worse than ordinary detentions 
because it seperated him from Ginny. Harry *like* a detention with 
Snape? Not in *several* million years! 
> 
Alla:
> 3.	Why does Dumbledore want fewer visits from professor 
> Trelawney?
> 
Charles:
I see three reasons for this. First, she is trying to get him to fire 
Firenze, which DD's loyalty would not allow him to do. Second, she is 
often drunk when we see her in this book, and I don't think he wants 
to smell her cooking sherry. Third and most improtantly, I think 
she's been predicting him *to* death, as well as just predicting his 
death.

Alla: 
> 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?
> 
Charles:
I've been pretty equivocal about Trelawney's ability. We have seen 
her make real prophecies before, but with a change in persona. We've 
also seen her make countless off the mark prophecies. They say even a 
broken clock is right twice a day. That may or may not be the reason 
that she's right here.
 I don't want to get too much into the religion of it, but in my 
belief system, the Tarot is a very powerful tool for aligning the 
subconscious with the world around it. Entering into a chemically 
altered state before using the Tarot is not generally advisable, 
because the changed functioning of the mind changes the way the 
subconscious interacts with the world. In this case, however, I think 
that one could see the altered state of drink is substituting for the 
altered state of trance, allowing SPT to tap her gift consciously. 

OTOH, I'm not so sure that we're not meant to ignore the fact that 
it's the often wrong Sybill that shows the card and see just the card 
itself as foreshadowing of the events on the AT.

Alla:
> 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.
> 

Charles:
I'm not so sure she knows it for certain. She has a certain way of 
assuming things that tends to be off the mark. I think we're shown 
that with her expectation that as soon as she started teaching again 
Firenze would be booted out the door.

Alla:
> 
> 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? 

Charles:
No. I think that Snape started the hunt, but Pettigrew didn't start 
Voldemort after the Potters, he just gave them to Voldemort on a 
silver platter.

Alla:
> 
> 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?
> 
Charles:
I think he was trying to make up his mind how much to tell Harry. 
There's a lot more to why DD trusts snape than he told Harry that 
night. I think that a good long talk with DD's portrait or a dive 
into the pensieve is in Harry's future for that more than any other 
reason. 

Alla:
> 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?
> 
Charles:
Hermione or Remus. Most likely Hermione. I think that while he's 
pretty nasty to Remus, Hermione is more likely to be the one Snape 
hates more.

Alla: 
> 9.<snip of quote> 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?
> 
Charles:
I think there's a little bit of both here. I also think that 
subconsciously, Harry realizes that he has a much better chance at 
convincing DD about Malfoy if he keeps his cool.

Alla:
> 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?
>
Charles:
Because DD doesn't have a clue exactly what Draco is up to. I'm 
certain he knows about the plan to kill him- but the details aren't 
there.
 
> 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?

To paraphrase Dr. Freud, "Sometimes a sock is just a sock" IOW, I 
don't really think so. I may be wrong, but I'll leave it to those out 
there who theorise about soft footwear. :-)

Charles, who is about to go to bed *really* late, and is now afraid 
he will be dreaming about the metaphysical and metaphorical 
implications of socks.