CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Prisoner of Azkaban Chapter 9: Grim Defeat

[AmanitaMuscaria]

No: HPFGUIDX 189683



--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "willsonteam" <willsonkmom at ...> wrote:
>
> 
> > CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
> > Chapter 9: Grim Defeat
> 
> > Questions:
> > 
> > 1. A school-wide sleep-over, mixed gender (Hermione sleeps close to Ron and
> > Harry), and with 11 to 17 year olds ? Can you imagine this happening at your
> > school – both when you were young and/or for your kids nowadays - whichever
> > applies ? Especially with little to no adult supervision – only Percy seems to
> > be on patrol.
> 
> Potioncat:
> Afterall, this is Hogwarts. No supervision in the co-ed Houses either.
 
<SNIP>
AM now - Well, Filch and Snape hunt students up on the Astronomy Tower, and in the rosebushes at the Yule Ball; I don't suppose they're all sneakily brewing Polyjuice Potion! I think Hogwarts is so large, and impossible to police entirely, that it has to be down to the students being responsible.

> > 
> > 2. And speaking of Percy – where's the Head Girl and the Prefects ? Can you
> > imagine that Harry (through whom we `see' this magical world) would pay no
> > attention to them at all ?

AM now - Would that add anything to the story? I think JKR quite reasonably didn't have a scene of all the prefects and Penelope descending on Dumbledore. I know we want to see every moment of this world, but there's a gripping story to tell! 

> > 
> > 3. Teacher Talk: When the Headmaster approaches, Harry quickly pretends to
> > be asleep. Do you think Professor Dumbledore knew he was listening in on the
> > conversation ? Was that the reason he cuts off Snape's insinuation that Lupin
> > helped Black get inside the castle or was it solely because he truly believes
> > Lupin didn't help ?

AM - It sounded odd to me at the time, and it still sounds odd to me now. I'm still not decided what JKR's implying here. I have a sneaky suspicion she left little teasers in, that no one will ever truly know about.

> > 
> > 4. Snape taking over Lupin's class: What did you make of this and did it
> > give you a clue as to what was to come out ?
 
AM - Well, there was obviously something odd about Lupin - sickly, disappearing regularly,Snape's <loathing> - now, that implied, to me, something like a cyclical infectious disease. It was the first HP book I read, though, and I didn't twig to the werewolf before the reveal.
 
> > 5. It wasn't till I was writing a version of book 6 myself that "teachers
> > taking over classes for others" became a problem to me – what do you make of the
> > class schedule for Hogwarts' students ?
> Potioncat:
> I think Snape took over Lupin's class for his own purpose, not that it was common practice. I don't think we ever see it done at any other time, or by any other teacher. But you'd think, with calendars and astronomy tools that Lupin's schedule would have been set up and substitute teachers arranged. Why oh why does the full moon always take the werewolf by surprise?

AM now - Why, indeed? The Wizarding world can construct a Lunascope, for heavens sake, not that Lupin could afford one, but surely someone kind would show him a Forget-Me-Not Charm?
Obviously there are substitute teachers, or wizarding folk Dumbledore knows who will kindly step in to take over classes when a teacher is, say, sent to Azkaban? But I agree with Potioncat - Snape was playing to his own agenda here. Wonder why Dumbledore let him? 

> > 
> > 6. Quidditch: what did you make of the fact that several of the experienced
> > and older quidditch players didn't think of protecting Harry's glasses in the
> > storm and that Hermione comes up with the solution ? Or is this a detail that I
> > notice as a bespectacled citizen ?

AM - I don't suppose Dumbledore has problems with his glasses in the rain; I think it's one of those times when no one thinks Harry might not know the charm - the disconnect between worlds. I'm not entirely sure if the wearing of glasses in the Wizarding world is not an affectation, anyways.

> > 
> > 7. Quidditch: we also have the first introduction of Cedric Diggory. What
> > – if any – was your impression of him ?

AM - He seemed a little too good to be true - I thought he might be a baddie in disguise, I seem to remember.

> > 
> > 8. Did you have an idea by this time what, exactly, Harry might be hearing
> > when dementors are near ?
> Potioncat:
> Yes, I think so. But it makes me wonder what exactly others hear. I wonder what made it so bad for Arthur.

AM now - Ah, so many stories waiting to be told. I guess I sort of suspected, but I thought it might have been a battle scene, torture, all sort of things. I think I was forgetting I was reading a purportedly childrens book by now.

> 
> Thanks for the interesting questions. I'd like to add one
> 
> Snape knows DD trusts him in spite of his dark history. What  do you think about Snape's dismissal of DD's trust of Lupin?
> >
>

AM - Sort of the crux of Snape's problem, isn't this? He's got no empathy. He can see what people do, he can understand some motivations, and then - nothing. It's the reason he's so believable as a spy, for me. If he weren't a spy, I suspect he'd study psychology or psychiatry on the side.

Thanks for the thought-provoking questions, both of you!