OOP Chapters 11-13 Post DH look

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 183013

Alla wrote:
<snip> 
> Chapter 11 introduces new Hat Song with suggestion of unity within
Hogwarts. I participated in so many debates about the meaning of it
that I am not sure that I do remember my first reaction, but I am sure
many people do remember theirs. What was it? <snip>

Carol responds:
I can't clearly remember my first reaction, either, but I think it was
a vague hope that the Gryffindors would get over their prejudice
against slytherin (and vice versa). It was similar to my (even more
unfulfilled) hope at the end of GoF that Beauxbatons and Durmstrang
would contribute something important to the fight against Voldemort.
So much for "international magical cooperation" and any good coming
out of the TWT.

Alla: 
> Well, we also have Umbridge, Umbridge and more Umbridge. Have fun
discussing her :) I just want to strangle her.

Carol responds:
I can't imagine any reader not sharing that feeling. Unlike Snape, who
triggers a range of emotions and responses, Umbridge is set up to be
loathed (or to inspire "umbrage" in the reader, along with "dolor" in
the students). I may be the only one who sees this in her, but, to me,
she symbolizes "teaching to the test" and other government-inspired
"improvements" to education. Of course, I may be wrongly applying the
inadequacies of the American educational system to those in Britain.
(Obviously, this is the wrong forum for discussing that topic.)

Alla: 
> Oh, and I think Hermione "Know it all" locator was working full
stop. She **knows** from one speech that ministry interferes in
Hogwarts? <snip>

Carol responds:
Well, she knows what Fudge is up to with the hearing and that Umbridge
works for Fudge. She knows that making a speech is not a normal
response to being introduced as a new faculty member. And she picked
up on the very same phrases that I did when I first read that speech,
"Progress for progress's sake must be discouraged" and "pruning
practices that ought to be prohibited," all overemphasized by
repetition and alliteration. Whatever it meant, it was a danger
signal, especially a new teacher with strong Ministry connections
saying what "must" be done at Hogwarts. Taken along with DD's remark
about the seech being "most illuminating" and the staff's cold
response (bringing their hands together once or twice in a faint
semblance of applause), I was pretty sure that Hermione was exactly
right, and I saw nothing particularly odd about her correct
interpretation given her powers of concentration and memory.

You didn't mention the confrontation between Seamus and Harry, which
IMO is at least partly Harry's fault. (Boys should learn not to insult
each other's mothers!)

Alla:
> We see Snape's first lesson and I wanted to strangle him too, but
that is no surprise for anybody :-)
> 
> Boy am I glad that there is no Snape anymore in Potterverse. It was
not enough to tell Harry that he made a mistake, eh Snape? You just
needed to destroy his potion. I mean god forbid maybe it will look no
worse than other students' potions?

Carol:
Well, we probably agree that the Potterverse won't be the same without
Snape, but while you're glad that he's gone, *I* think that the loss
of him is irreparable. If Harry was going to get a zero for his
"worthless" potion (and we don't really know that he did or that other
"worthless" potions didn't also receive "no marks"), it doesn't really
matter that his potion was vanished. True, he was publicly humiliated,
but at least Snape told him exactly where he went wrong. The point
was, "Read directions carefully. Make sure you've done everything on
line three before proceeding to line four." Maybe not the best way to
teach that lesson, I don't see how the point could be any clearer.

At any rate, Snape could have made all sorts of contributions to
wizarding society--if not as headmaster in normal times unifying the
school then writing and publishing books of spells and improved
potions or working as a Healer at St. Mungo's. 

I know we'll never agree, so I'm not arguing with you, but I want
Snape back and wish that he hadn't died. My only consolation is not
that the WW is better off without him--quite the contrary, IMO--but
that he's probably happier in the afterlife.

Alla: 
> And really, while I will always hate Snape, I certainly can see that
rereading OOP does not let me experience positive emotions about my
favorite adults and that I do not like.
> 
> Let's not mention Dumbledore, but when Harry comes to Mcgonagall she
tells him to keep his head down? Is that the best you can do Minerva?

Carol responds:
Funny. I understand DD and his motivations completely in OoP, more so
than in HBP, where he's always praising his own intellect, and much
more so than in DH, and I think that McGonagall is right to caution
Harry against Umbridge, who is dangerous in a bureaucratic sort of way
in addition to being a sadist. I'm not sure of the best way to deal
with her, but it's probably not to call her a liar and get yourself
scarred by a blood-drawing quill.

BTW, in these chapters, we also see Harry being given a position of
responsibility that makes up for his not being made Prefect (maybe DD
knew what McGonagall had in mind and realized that bein both Qiidditch
captain and Prefect, along with the Boy who Lived, would be just too
much?), and we see Ron giving Remus Lupin a run for his money as most
ineffectual Prefect (except in standing up for Harry against Seamus,
which is as much favoritism/friendship as authority/responsibility.
IMO, he should have tried to get them to understand each other's
position rather than taking sides. Or is that too much to expect of a
fifteen-year-old?

Carol, who thought it was amusingly ironic that the Draught of Peace
was a source of contention between Harry and Snape