Deathly Hallows Reaction - Could do Better Crow /With a Side of Crow

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 172859

> Alla:

> That to me is just **bizarre**. Okay, House is evil, so be done 
with 
> it if you do not want to redeem it (and again, I am fine with likes 
> of  Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle not being redeemed, oh and can please 
> somebody strangle Pansy?), BUT to let new eleven year olds be gone 
> there as it there is no hope for them?

Magpie:
Snape, who worked consistently for years against Voldemort, was worse 
than any of those four Slytherins you mentioned at that age. Which is 
why I do have a problem with having them there to be evil--I care 
about the worst ones more than the ones who are even just getting 
screwed by association, because I think they all are. To me none of 
those Slytherins are as different from Snape or, more importantly, 
from anybody on the good side, as the narration treats them, so I was 
probably bound to ultimately find the story a bit...what's the word? 
I want to say maturbatory. 

But I put this post here just to do the biggest me-to ever to Sydney:

> Gha!  I better jump on this merry-go-round before everything starts
> coming up for the third time.  If I'm going to write something it's
> just going to have to be rambling and not immediately responding to
> the board as it is because I don't have two weeks to organize my 
thoughts.

Magpie:
Yeah. Double yeah. The weird thing is I remember loving the 
beginning, feeling that the seams were showing in the middle but 
still liking it and then...kablam. Total destruction. In surprising 
ways. And I just wanted to back away in fear--just as I did in Luna's 
room. (And now I think I'll forever consider it canon that Luna 
seriously needed rescuing from that father.)

Sydney:
> -- insufficient Draco, and payoff?  what payoff?  Magpie turned me
> into a Draco fan just in time to be disappointed.

Magpie:
Sorry! I'm feeling your pain! You know, usually I never have anything 
really perscriptive to say about the story, but the last time 
somebody mentioned that "The real master of the Elder Wand is Draco 
Malfoy!" I remembered that I totally expected, like, the equivalent 
of a spotlight on petrified Draco, where he wouldn't have to be 
heroic but might have to like , choose Harry. And that would give 
Harry a chance to be all cool about having seen him on the Tower and 
knowing he's afraid but encouraging him to do the right thing. But of 
course in the very same sentence Harry's all, "But naturally I 
conveniently pwned him back in Chapter 23 so it all comes down to 
me." I felt silly for even momentarily thinking it would be anything 
else. Luckily as a magpie, I'm fond of crows.

Ginger:
I think she acknowledges that ambitious people make decisions based 
on their own interest rather than the interest of others, and this 
can create a problem; but even within the confines of the Harry 
novels, there are ample examples of good or neutral Slytherins. 
Only our main characters are examined in enough detail for the reader 
to make conclusions about whether the person is good or bad, and the
quintessential Slytherin, Malfoy, is presented as weak rather evil.

Magpie:
I don't know whether she actually missed that. I didn't, and I still 
think it's damning with very faint praise and still doesn't judge 
those characters the way I would judge them. I don't look back on the 
thousands of pages I read in this series and ever think, "Gee, what 
ample examples I was given of good or neutral Slytherins!" If I 
misunderstood it, I think it was because that bit was more mumbled 
behind the author's hand while everything else was sung in multiple 
harmony.

-m