[HPforGrownups] Chapter Discussion Chamber of Secrets Ch. 8 The Deathday Party

[k12listmomma]

No: HPFGUIDX 188986

>2. What was your first thought when you realized that Filch was taking 
>Kwikspell course?

At first, it was just the sort of humor that Rowlings stuck in the books. I 
found the scene very funny. Then, I feel a little guilty that Harry is 
snooping in someone's private mail- but realize that Harry is still new to 
the WW, and there is so much to learn, that I feel almost that I would have 
done the same thing, taken that same chance to learn something new about 
this world that I didn't know so much about.

About Filch himself, after a while we are made to feel for him. He has a 
job, yes, but it's a mere janitor's job that an ordinary Muggle would have, 
and in the WW, that position would be even lower-than-dirt than it would be 
in the Muggle world.


> 3. 500th anniversary of Nick's death is one of the few dates (or is an 
> only date?) that can help us place Harry Potter in time. And we debated 
> the timeline many many times in the past. Do you feel that JKR made a wise 
> decision to actually place it in time or would it have been better to let 
> the reader place the action in time as they see fit and not give any 
> definite dates in the book?

Personally, I think any author who wants to add dates to his/her work damn 
well better take the effort to make sure all those dates line up. Rowling 
failed miserably in this regard, and so I see it as a grave mistake that she 
added a date at all.


> 4. Would you like to go to Deathday party?
Eww, no. But, curousity being what it was, I probably would have went 
anyway. The ghosts do serve important roles in the castle, and a chance to 
learn information that you can't get elsewhere. I probably would have had a 
hard time deciding- saying yes if it didn't interfere with anything 
important, saying no if it conflicted with another event.


> 5. Obviously we know now that Draco was not Slytherin Heir, but what do 
> you think was the reason for him saying that?

I think this is to show the sick leanings of his father, former Death Eater. 
I think Draco knows he's not the one, but is excited at the prospect of 
watching others die or that harm might come to them. It shows his immaturity 
and slanted upbringings, this snot nosed boy who thinks he knows everything 
about life. I think it is provided to show a contrast later on when he 
starts seeing that death and harm from up close, being made to do it, and 
comes the realization of what it all means in "real life".

posting another's reaction so I can add to it:
> Potioncat: He was clearly placing himself in support of it. I think it's 
> odd the teachers didn't react more to the words on the wall and Draco's 
> cheering of it but spent so time just on the cat's injury.

I think the teacher's reacting to the cat was VERY important- it shows that 
someone can survive the attack, and makes people (Harry) think of a way that 
it can be done. It's an important clue later on that will save his life. 
It's very important that the teachers realize that the key to restoring the 
cat will be the key to restoring any student who happens to meet the same 
fate. I also sure the teachers are very aware of Draco's father and what he 
stood for, and since Mr. Malfoy is a member of the board, they pick their 
battles with him very carefully. Thus, overlooking the comments of Mr. 
Malfoy's brat of a son is to their advantage.


>6. Ginny is pale at the beginning of the chapter and Percy bullies her into 
>taking the medicine. We find out later about the diary and Tom, but at this 
>point, we don't know. Did Percy seem out of character in "bullying" her?

No, I think the Weasley kids are all forceful and outgoing- I don't think 
for a moment that any of them aren't used to speaking up and getting their 
way. Percy really believes that he's doing the best for his little sister, 
and he probably didn't see it as bullying at all. He thinks he's helping her 
as the wiser and older brother protecting the youngest, and that's all there 
is to it.


>7. Filch is a Squib as we know now and he is expected to clean up the 
>messes that magical kids make all the time. Do you think it is too much to 
>expect of him?

This can be taken two ways- torture that he has no magical talent and yet 
forced to do it all manually, or grateful that Dumbledore recognized that he 
can be trusted to work in a magical environment anyway in such an important 
role. In a world where he has "literally no use" to most Wizards and 
Witches, he has a job, a very important job, at that. Frankly, I too would 
hide the fact that I was a Squib, but I would go about my role being 
grateful that I had a job at all. I think the fact he's grouchy all the time 
shows how much abuse he takes from kids whom I am sure he sees as making his 
life harder "on purpose" because of his abnormality, rather than seeing 
those kids as just kids who would have made a mess anyway from having been 
out practicing in muddy conditions or travelling from building to building 
in the mud.

What really surprises me is that there isn't a magical canopy put over the 
walking trails if it's raining so hard and the paths are so muddy that it's 
a constant problem. 'Course, that's probably me just thinking like a Muggle, 
since most of those young Wizards and Witches would have quickly learned 
cleaning spells that would be able to siphon off all the mud and dry off the 
clothes. Handy spells, and a handy time to learn them and pass them on to 
other students. I am sure the news of how to do those spells spread like 
wildfire among the student population as they all face the ongoing rainy and 
muddy conditions. What's more surprising later on is that Harry never 
learned these spells to clean the blood off his clothes when Draco steps on 
his face to give him a bloody nose when Harry snoops on Draco on the 
Hogwarts Express.

Shelley