CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Prisoner of Azkaban Chapter 8: Flight of the Fat Lady

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 189619


> Alla:
> 
> I again blame Dumbledore for not giving Hagrid advice. What's new, right? When in doubt blame Dumbledore ;) No seriously, I do. I think his attitude that JKR was going on about at some point about letting people stew on their own, when he would not go to Hagrid (forgot the exact question), while sometimes let people make independent decisions, more often than not was extremely annoying, because he was not giving help to people who needed it IMO.
> 
Pippin:
Going to Dumbledore would mean going over McGonagall's head. Hagrid might think that was insulting. And it would definitely be insulting for Dumbledore to give advice to Hagrid if Hagrid didn't ask for it, and perhaps also insulting to McGonagall in implying that she wasn't the proper person, as Deputy Headmistress and Hagrid's former HoH, to give Hagrid advice if he needed it. 

Giving advice to people who haven't asked for it is interfering at best and manipulative at worst. Anyway, Dumbledore and, more importantly, JKR, want people to make the right choices because they believe in what they're doing, not because some old coot with a beard knows so much and  is good at making himself obeyed. As Hermione says, if you don't let people get things wrong, how will they learn? 

I think JKR wants to make it clear that the strong are not supposed to protect the weak so that the weak can have an idyllic  existence. The weak are to be protected so that they can survive their mistakes and learn to be strong in their turn.

I said "if it was me" in my answer because Hagrid wouldn't have applied for the job if he didn't think he could do it.  Hagrid himself doesn't think much of Fudge for taking his problems to Dumbledore all the time.  Harry isn't the only one who doesn't want to think his problems are so awful that they need attention from the greatest wizard the world has ever known.

The flobberworm lessons do give Hagrid a chance to practice his classroom management skills without having to worry that the subject matter is going to disembowel the students.  And if Harry finds them boring, then maybe he should remember that he saw the incident with Draco about to happen and just watched. Safety is everyone's responsibility, right?

 
> > 4) What did you make of the interactions between Lupin and Snape?
> 
> Pippin:
> I certainly didn't see romantic tension. But there's no accounting for ships. I
> thought there was obviously some history and in due course we'd find out what it
> was.
> 
> Alla:
> I am not sure if the clarification is needed, but I was joking. <snip>

Pippin:
I figured you were. To clarify my answer, at the time when I first read PoA I had not yet joined the fandom. I had never heard of slash, or shipping, I didn't know that other people besides me  wrote fan fiction, and I hadn't thought of trying to write any fan fiction set in the Potterverse. All of which is just to say that imagining extra-canonical romantic relationships between Snape and anybody was not even on my radar at that point. 

> 
> 5) Is Lupin's idea that Harry's boggart might be Lord Voldemort reasonable,
> considering Harry was just over a year old when he saw him?
> 
<snip>
> Alla:
<snip>
 I however thought that question was specifically about whether such young child could remember it, but you are right, it does not have to be.
>

Pippin:
I myself have a few memories from a trip to Florida at that age, so personally I think it's possible,  especially since Harry has the scar as a memento. As we know, Harry doesn't consciously remember how he got it, but Lupin doesn't know that. 

Pippin