OoP, of course

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

s
p
o
i
l
e
r
s
p
a
c
e

The thing I wanted most in OoP, I *knew* wasn't going to happen: the 
Sirius/Remus ship, dating back before Wormtail's betrayal. So I feel 
triumphant that she didn't *contradict* it ... altho' imagine Remus's 
heartbreak *now*.

Catherine Coleman wrote:

a lot I agree with, and

<< For missing out on talking to Sirius (the mirror), >>

I cried when Harry, packing to go 'home' for the summer, found the 
present from Sirius he hadn't even unwrapped. I didn't think for a 
moment that he'd be able to contact Sirius in it then, but I did 
think that if he (and I) had *remembered* it, he could have chatted 
with Sirius *withouy* dangerous fireplace-talk, which would have 
cheered poor lonely Sirius up, and maybe if he had mirror-chatted 
with Sirius frequently, Sirius would have carried the mirror around 
with him like a cell phone, so when Harry needed to check whether 
Sirius was at home or captured by Voldemort, he would have *reached* 
him ... when Harry realises that, his burden of guilt will go UP. But 
Sirius should have told Harry "use the mirror I gave you" when Harry 
called him about Snape/James memory. 

<< Big confession. On initial reading, I found myself liking Ron 
again. >>

I've always liked Ron, so I was very pleased with his role in this 
book. I expected Harry or Neville to be Prefect (Harry for the same 
reasons all his classmates expected it, Neville because Dumbledore 
hoped it would draw out his potential). I expected JKR to go on being 
cruel to Ron, but she was nice to him and gave him new pajamas that 
fit, Prefect, a new broomstick, a place on the Quidditch team, and 
even one moment of child-like glory. He loved his new broomstick even 
tho' it wasn't a Firebolt nor even a Nimbus. During the whole book, 
he didn't call anything he owned 'rubbish' and he didn't complain 
about poverty except in regard to the fake Galleons, and that was 
jokingly. 

I *loved* the "What are Fred and I, next-door neighbors?" line.

I was bugged about the thing of Molly getting him a reward for being 
made Prefect, tho': while Ron was mature about how much broomsticks 
cost and he knew she couldn't afford the best, it seems to me that if 
the Weasleys have enough money for Molly to offer a new owl or new 
dress robes, they aren't as poor as we've been told, and they have 
enough money that they could have replaced poor old Errol (it's 
*cruel* to make him keeping taking long trips). Maybe they HAVE 
replaced Errol (no Weasley owls were mentioned in this one), but not 
having replaced him sooner suggests that the money to do so was a 
recent windfall. 

<< As much as I have loved Hagrid, I thought he was superfluous to 
this book. >>

I enjoyed him in it, superfluous or not.

<< Horrified that Sirius and James behaved so badly, even if they 
were only 15. Harry was quite right when he compared their age with 
his. Ugh. >>

Yes, Tabouli was right about them having been crude bullies then. 
That flashback reminded me of some James/Severus/Lily flashbacks in 
Barb's fic ... not to mention the DA reminding me of Barb's Duelling 
Club ... BUT I am sure that there's a long history of James/Sirus vs. 
Severus from the first year to fifth, during which BOTH sides went 
from bad behaviour to worse. I feel we were deceived by the chapter 
title "Snape's Worst Memory" -- I believe that Snape or an objective 
observor would say that some of his Death Eater memories are worse, 
but he doesn't care if Harry sees those.

<< Neville ... I cried hard over those sweet wrappers. >>

I immediately assumed that the wrappers are going to have a Meaning, 
to be a Clue, in the next book.

<< Mundungus Fletcher was a bit too Arthur Daly for words - I could 
have done with him being a bit less wide boy, a bit more eccentric.>>

I am sure that the bit with the goblets is to let us know that 
Potterverse werewolfs are not harmed by silver, at least not while in 
human form. She'd already established what kind of person Mundungus 
is, so she didn't need it to demonstrate that he'd steal from his 
host, so she must have needed it for something else.

Bit with goblets, at dinner in the Black house (which Tim complained 
was not punned on in relation to the White House), Mundungus asked 
Sirius if the goblets were solid silver, and Sirius said yes. Later 
that very dinner, it is stated that Lupin, who was drinking wine, put 
his goblet down. As it was NOT stated that his goblet was different 
from everyone else's, it was therefore solid silver.

Aberforth's Goat wrote:

<< Yeah, Tonks, for instance, is way cool ... but one did she 
contribute to the plot to justify her existence? Luna same thing. 
She'd better have something *big* planned for Luna later on. But even 
if she *does* - couldn't she have used a Patil girl or one of the 
Hufflepuf chicks? >>

A character being way cool is enough to justify their existence.

I believe she had planned Luna Lovegood from early on, because of 
the Portkey chapter in GoF: (from memory) "This is all of us, the 
Lovegoods have been there for two weeks and the Fawcetts couldn't get 
tickets". I *like* Luna Lovegood. *agrees with Saitaina about Luna*

Barb wrote:

<< It's POSSIBLE that you don't have to have been a prefect to become 
Head Boy. But if that's so, why was it so strongly implied that this 
IS the case when Percy went from prefect to Head? >>

One of the characters in THIS books says that you have to be a 
Prefect to be Head Boy ... I'm searching for it ... but anyway, 
either the person is right who said JKR forgot that she made James 
Head Boy or she is preparing a Big Surprise about how James became 
Head Boy.

JKR contradicted herself in another matter, thus proving that 
interviews are second-rate canon: she said in that interview that 
the Bones who were killed were Susan Bones's grandparents, but in 
this book, they were her uncle, aunt, and cousins. Btw, the older 
Boneses were a wizarding family with more than two children: they 
had at least Amelia who survived, Edgar who was killed, and Susan's 
parent (probably father, because of the surname).

Btw, I was surprised by how much you "got right", altho' my response 
to the introduction to the Ministry building was "it's not in a Tube 
station."

Jenny from Ravenclaw wrote:

<< Oh, Professor Umbridge. What a bitch. She is eerily similar to 
many of the bureaucrats running around the Dept of Education here in 
NYC: >>

When she started lecturing about "age-appropriate" DADA (before we 
knew she was out and out evil), I said: "This is JKR's comment on the 
craze for standardized testing."