Accchhsssssaaaa!

[Sarah]

No: HPFGUIDX 172420

Sandra:

> Hello Libby! That jumped out at me when I read it, and I found the 
> whole section a surprisingly abrupt episode. I mean, Ron 
> 'copied' Harry? Parseltongue is a strange collection of 
> throat-gargly sounds which mean nothing to most wizards, so 
> how on earth could he have managed all the right hacking 
> noises after hearing Harry just once? He could have said 
> something rude or meaningless, or ended up making himself 
> cough a lot! And he and Hermione just disappeared for a few 
> pages in all the tension and prelude to chaos, and then 
> reappeared with a basilisk fang or two.


I thought that Ron temporarily gained the ability to speak Parseltongue from being possessed by the locket Horcrux when he destroyed it.
On another topic, I think Ron and Hermione had to be away somewhere so Harry could face Evil all by himself. Making Harry confront danger alone with no backup was a climactic and important part of his growth as a character.

Sarah, whose first ever HPFGU post ironically is about the last book