CHAPDISC: DH5, Fallen Warrior

[Zara]

No: HPFGUIDX 178003

> Mike:
> CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
> Chapter 5, Fallen Warrior

zgirnius:
Thanks for an entertaining summary and some good questions!
 
> 1. What did you think of Harry's greeting of Andromeda when she 
came 
> in?

zgirnius:
Understandable given the shock Harry has just received. (Her reaction 
was likewise).

> 2. The big question: This is the only time we meet Andromeda Black 
> Tonks. Was it enough along, with the other background we know of 
her, 
> to label her a "good Slytherin"?

zgirnius:
As per Sluggie, she was a Slytherin. How is she not good? She and her 
husband volunteered their home as one of the hiding places used in 
the Order's plan, that's good enough for me.

> 3. In your eyes, was this enough grieving for Hedwig?

zgirnius:
Yes, there were other oppressing concerns.
 
> 5.  What do you think of the security checks, especially Lupin's 
> check for the real Harry? Did it raise any red flags when Lupin 
> failed to check Tonks and Ron?

zgirnius:
I thought Lupin seemed suspicious here, yes. Though I suspect I 
should credit Pippin's eloquent defense of the ESE Lupin theory as 
much as Rowling's writing. I remember thinking to myself
wow, she may 
be right! <g>

> 6.  Do you buy Lupin's pronouncement that Expelliarmus has become 
> Harry's signature spell? Or is that just foreshadowing? What about 
> Sectumsempra as Snape's signature spell? 

zgirnius:
It was a logical explanation of how the DEs identified Harry, so yes, 
I bought it. The statement about Snape annoyed me (still does). How 
does Lupin know? I want to know!

I very much appreciated the irony that it was Lupin that went on 
about Snape and Sectumsempra and how he wished he could have cursed 
Snape back. Since of course, we learn in "The Prince's Tale" that he 
was the beneficiary of Snape's seeming cruelty.

> 7.  How did you like this waiting and wondering what's happened to 
> everyone? Did you feel the suspense of the situation or were you 
> annoyed it was taking so long? When George showed up all bloody, 
did 
> that make you more fearful for the missing remainder of the group?

zgirnius:
I liked the suspense, it was appropriate and effective, for me 
anyway. I did not have any particular fears about the rest of the 
group as a result of George, though of course the chapter title did 
suggest someone would die, so I was still waiting for the shoe to 
drop.

For me personally, the injury to George concerned me in a different 
way. On top of Snape's seeming betrayal of Harry, this made me wonder 
whether he might, indeed, really be a bad guy. There was a marked 
lack of violence in his characterization up to that point, IMO. 
Having him injure one of the kids seemed like something Rowling would 
only do if he was a villain. (It was, we learned later, an accident, 
but that did not cross my mind as an explanation at the time).
 
> 8.  What did you think of the way Lupin greeted Tonks? Did you find 
> something odd about their whole interaction?

zgirnius:
Yes, though I could not put a finger on it.  I'm still not suire what 
I think about this whole relationship.

> 9.  Mad-Eye, the Fallen Warrior. Did you see this coming? Did you 
> think it would be Mad-Eye? What did this portend for the Order when 
> their toughest, most skilled member gets killed in their first 
action 
> without Dumbledore? (Little did they know that, in a twisted way, 
it 
> did include Dumbledore)

zgirnius:
I had no idea it would be Mad-Eye. But I did think that the loss of 
such a skilled and tough character who had survived so much was 
definitely an indication that things were getting ugly and would stay 
that way.
 
> 10. Whimsy Question: Have you got a better joke than George's?

zgirnius:
Nope, sorry, I am hoping the more comically gifted among us take a 
crack at your whimsy questions, though. <g>

> 11.  Though Bill seems to exonerate Mundungus from being the 
> betrayer, the group still seems to blame him for Moody's death. 
Does 
> this sound reasonable?

zgirnius:
Yes, in a limited way. Dung didn't kill him, but his actions 
doubtless increased the danger.

> 12.  In OotP, Molly accuses Sirius of thinking of Harry as the 
second 
> coming of James. What about Lupin and his bringing up how Harry is 
> being like James, again? (Remember in HBP, the "furry little 
problem" 
> quip). Is Lupin guilty of seeing too much of James in Harry, or is 
it 
> just natural to see something of the father in the son?

zgirnius:
It is natural, but I don't think it was a particularly constructive 
thing to say to Harry under the circumstances. I found Lupin's help 
and advice more annoying than helpful, in this book.
 
> 13.  What did you think of Harry's pronouncement that he needed to 
> leave? Was this just another irrational Harry saving-people thing? 
> What was the purpose of having Harry come up with these musings? 
(No, 
> really, I want to know!)

zgirnius:
I found it consistent with his initial objection to the plan. He is 
not comfortable putting others at risk by his presence.

> 14.  Did you think the self-spelling wand was going to go 
somewhere? 
> Did you get that it *was* the wand, or did you think it really was 
> coming from Harry?

zgirnius:
Yes, I definitely thought the weird behavior of the wand meant 
something and would be explained later in some way that would further 
the plot. I did believe it was the wand; I saw no reason to doubt 
Harry's perception of what happened and was a trifle surprised when 
none of the characters seemed to see it my way. Harry seems quite 
aware of both his purposeful and accidental magic.

> 15.  The VoldeVision is Back! Is Hermione's fear rational? For that 
> matter, was Dumbledore's advice/plan in OotP rational, or was he 
> making excuses for his well established penchant for secrecy? That 
> is, should Harry ever have been trying to shut out theses visions, 
or 
> had just been told that they are usually real visions but that they 
> *could* be fake visions projected by LV for Harry's consumption?

zgirnius:
He was told they could be fake visions to make him `do things'. He 
just did not like the messenger.

> 16.  Whimsy Question: What was the Thestral *grazing* on?

zgirnius:
Aha! One I can answer. I wrote a pre-DH fanfic in which Thestrals 
exhibited this odd behavior. <bg> In my fic, they were licking blood 
off the  grass. So, the thestral must have been grazing on a spot 
where poor George dripped before they got him inside and bandaged up.