Re: CHAPDISC: HBP20, Lord Voldemort’s Request

[snow15145]

No: HPFGUIDX 158176



Snow:

>Snipped Anita's summary to the question portion<

1)	Later, we discover the "small girl" was Crabbe or Goyle, and 
he was serving as lookout for Draco. Who suspected this was more than 
it seemed at the time? (I didn't at all suspect polyjuice, but I did 
think this wasn't just a throwaway scene.)

Snow:

The way you worded this made me think very hard since it really is 
quite difficult to recall just what I thought of any scene on first 
read, some obvious and some not. 
I seem to recall that the scene looked out of place making it 
suspicious looking but as you say, I never suspected the polyjuice

again. 


2) There's a fair amount of shipping in the beginning of this 
chapter. Do we learn anything about the relationships between 
Harry/Ginny, Hermione/Ron, Lavender/Ron that we don't already know? 

Snow:

Not that I get into the whole shipping aspect to any grand degree, 
since to me it is almost a sub-subject, but the Harry/Ginny thing 
floored me, didn't even expect this one. Ron and Hermione have always 
been inevitable in my eyes but the Lav Lav scenes and the reason 
behind them was very age appropriately childish and good for a laugh. 

3) Once again, Luna comes up with what could be viewed as comic 
relief (CR). However, we're also given the information that there is 
an antidote in the Gurdyroot – is this simply CR or will we discover 
Luna's not as "loony" as we presume? On a related note: What did you 
think of Ron's reaction to Luna in this scene? Did it surprise you? 
Is your own reaction to Luna similar or different from Ron's? 

Snow:

The Gurdyroot used to ward off Gulping Plimpies is right up there 
with Nargles (that infest Mistletoe) and if they exist at all. Then 
again Luna isn't anymore loony than Lupin who was also called loony 
possibly because he had an infliction that made him different (if the 
teachers new that Lupin was infected by a werewolf certainly Peeves 
knew and that's who called him loony), in fact maybe they are both 
inflicted
Luna does mean moon, right? Ron's reaction to Luna seemed 
to be hesitant and stunned to me. 

4) What does the scene with Trelawney do at this point? It keeps her 
on the reader's radar, but is there a larger purpose for seeing her 
at this point? Do we need reinforcement that she is antagonistic to 
Firenze? Is its purpose to remind us that she is in danger from the 
prophecy, of which she is oblivious? 

Snow:

I think I like your last option best. There is no need to have 
Trelawney harp about the horse any more at this point and we can see 
this is frustrating Dumbledore to no end and yet she is not being 
dismissed from the appointment herself, so
she must just be a 
liability. 

5) In this scene, we see one of the few times that Dumbledore really 
calls Harry to task for his failings. Does this scene fit the 
Dumbledore of Book 6? Does it fit the Dumbledore of Books 1 – 5? How 
did you feel about DD in this scene?

Snow:

I saw it as Dumbledore running out of time and becoming a bit 
frustrated at Harry's refusal to take this task as serious as he 
needed to. So yeah I did see Dumbledore act out of his usual 
character and I'm fairly sure this is what alerted me that Dumbledore 
was on a major time schedule. 

6) Do you find Dumbledore being manipulative here, playing on Harry's 
healthy sense of guilt? Or is he genuinely seeking Harry's opinion 
for some reason?

Snow:

I think Dumbledore was testing Harry's astuteness of what he is 
learning and how serious he is taking this appointment. Is the boy 
actually putting 2 and 2 together the way Dumbledore expects him to. 
Is Harry aware of the hightened need for progression. 

7) Dumbledore talks about how disappointed certain staff members are 
that Tom went to work at Borgin and Burkes. Is it because they see 
him as a "cashier," rather than an influential rising star, or is it 
because he's working for Borgin and Burkes, purveyors of Dark Arts 
paraphernalia? 

Snow:

You know I was more interested in which staff persons took that much 
of an interest in Tom
then again I have hindsight they might not have 
been privy to. 

8) Idle speculation: if Dippet had still been Headmaster, would he 
have given LV the DADA job when he returned to interview for it?

Snow:

I think that Dippet would have been scared out of his panties at the 
sight of the Tom that returned to interview again for the position. 
Tom was a bit distorted at this point. 

9) Rowling describes a "red gleam" in Voldemort's eyes when he sees 
and touches the locket. What clues does this give us? For instance, 
is he already well into his horcruxes? Is he manifesting his 
connection as the heir to Salazar Slytherin? Ideas? 

Snow:

I think it may be a combination. Doesn't greed show in the eyes? And 
we know that Tom made at least one Horcrux at this point, don't we?
If the green-eyed monster is jealousy, then maybe the red-eyed 
monster is greed. 

10) We get a glimpse of yet another House Elf, with Hokey. How does 
her story flesh out both the character of the House Elf and their 
plight?

Snow:

Interesting question really since not one of the elf's we have been 
introduced to succeed in there appointed tasks. Dobby rejects his 
family, at great physical abuse to himself, to allow Harry some 
information he should never have been aware of. Winky actually does 
something similar when she employs her master Sr. to allow Jr. to get 
some fresh air, at where
the Quidditch World Cup of all places. Hokey 
is the only elf so far that seems to have done everything the master 
said until she was cursed. Was Winky cursed to do Jr's bidding and if 
so was Dobby or is he really just the unusual elf (the one that 
doesn't like to make toys and just wants to be a dentist)?

11) This is the infamous "ten years later" scene that has caused much 
gnashing of teeth. Is there any way to reconcile this timeline with 
earlier reports, or do we just have to chalk this one up to Rowling's 
notorious maths? Is the Fawkes's presence at the interview with 
Riddle important? Does it merely set the scene, or should we look for 
deeper meaning?

Snow:

We don't know how many years there were between Tom's graduation and 
his employment or how long he had been employed to become so close 
with Hepzibah before he had her killed and left. The timeline isn't 
quite complete without a few more facts. 
As far as Fawkes, I have a whole summary related to him that I will 
be posting soon.

12) This scene encapsulated for me the whole dynamic of Voldemort's 
behavior in the past that led to his downfall during his first reign. 
Are we to presume these are the seeds of his destruction? How do you 
think Ollivander's use of the word `great' to describe Voldemort in 
PS fits in with this exchange between DD & Voldemort on the issue 
of `greatness'?"

Snow:

The word Great could very well be substituted with countless other 
words that mean the same such as the word Famous
and what Voldemort 
did was just that, Famous or infamous. I very much doubt that 
Olivander meant that Voldemort did wonderful things. 

13) Are we to presume that the twitch Harry saw in the Pensieve 
memory is Voldemort casting the DADA teacher curse? What else might 
he have been doing?

Snow:

This supposition totally flew by me when I read it
Very nice 
connection. I let it slide by as a brief thought from Tom to 
retaliate but thought better of it but thinking about it now, when 
would Voldemort have had the chance to place the curse if it wasn't 
then?