CoS Chapter 3: THE BURROW.
Feb. 23rd, 2007 09:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elanor_x* This chapter really delves into the ethics of proper law-breaking law-abiding wizards, ala Weasley style. Right on the first page after Harry, 'staring at the floating car', comments "You should talk" on Ron's "we're not supposed to do spells outside school", Ron explains that it doesn't count since his dad, not he or the twins, enchanted the car. He also sounds shocked at the notion of Harry "doing magic in front of those Muggles you live with", while completely ignoring the danger of numerous Muggles seeing the flying car. For example, fellow
* F&G's coming to free Harry is probably the only time when their talent for mischief is directed at a higher goal. In OotF they create fireworks imo mainly out of personal, not ideological, spite of Umbridge & the ever-present desire to cause mayhem. In HBP they clearly like money & don't sell their products only to the Ministry. [Note the difference between knowingly selling weapons to DE's and not thinking ahead & taking precautions to prevent them from falling in their hands, like selling them only to the ministry.] Otoh, I refuse to believe two 17-year-olds can produce something significantly valuable for a bunch of fully qualified, life experienced dark wizards. Sure Draco Malfoy used their powder, but he is only 16-year-old teen himself and we have never seen other, adult DE's use them. Thinking about the topic of weapons, why doesn't V produce anything creative for his troops? Bellatrix said he taught her, but we have never got any other indication of his interest in teaching or developing any special weapons for them except shouting and punishing when they once again fail him.
* We get a surprising revelation that the twins don't treat all Muggle stuff and technology with contempt, after all. So did they become enchanted with cars, submarines or airplanes? Or may be Muggle fireworks, various tricks or popular music captured their imagination? Wrong…
Instead of this, Fred defines a Muggle burger's ability to pick locks with a hairpin as "skills worth learning", even if "a lot of wizards think it's a waste of time". I remember sistermagpie wondering whether Molly's disapproval of Mundungus Fletcher in OotF didn't stern from her fear of the twins perceiving him as a sort of hero & getting the idea that it's fine if you are a crook as long as you work for Dumbledore. If it's true, Molly really has no reason to worry since her sons could give Mundungus a run for his money years ago.
* The suspense is built up with each Uncle Vernon's cough, but we first hear "the thunder of" his voice only when Hedwig loudly screeches, probably out of fright of seeing her owner leaving her behind, locked in the cage, after dashing around the room & collecting all his other possessions for quite a while.
* Uncle Vernon's roaring "Petunia! ... HE'S GETTING AWAY!", while grabbing Harry by the ankle at the same time reminds me of Aunt Marge's favorite bulldog Ripper sinking his teeth into Uncle Vernon's leg in PoA. (Did JKR plan this parallelism as a fitting punishment?) And also of the extreme annoyance I felt viewing this escape scene in the
* George once again demonstrates the good use the twins put their burglary skills to by handing Ron the hairpin to free Hedwig, just as they freed Harry several minutes earlier. Do you see now what brave fighters for liberty they are? Do you? Don't bother pondering how they got the idea in the first place, where learnt it and how they use those skills at their home and at Hogwarts. What do Molly & Arthur hide at their house? Did they burgle into Filtch's office to steal the map in the PoA? What else?
* The sentence "Malfoy made Dudley Dursley look like a kind, thoughtful, and sensitive boy" is funny. Ironically Draco's sensitivity is most evident in the HBP, the same book in which he almost killed 2 people and helped killing the third.
* George mentions his mother's wish for a house-elf. At least Molly will be able to find some consolation in Ginny having minimum one. I always imagine Dobby leaving Hogwarts to take care of Harry's numerous offspring, btw. Even if JKR doesn't follow this path, it's consistent with his character.
* Ron defines his father's department as the most boring despite currently riding the enchanted car to save Harry, which seems cool, and the twins deeming, er… certain Muggle skills as useful earlier. I also suspect the twins used their lock opening skills mainly to sneak into Arthur's shed to experiment with Muggle things he enchanted (if it's closed, which isn't likely) or even to bewitch them themselves since I can't imagine any other way they could use those abilities at home.
* Judging upon the tea set's story Arthur's job doesn't include only preventing wizards from playing mean & dangerous tricks on unsuspecting Muggles but also stepping in when things go wrong out of careless thoughtfulness. Totally forgot that.
* Weasley house seems awfully ugly in this description rich in words like 'crooked', 'pigpen', 'lopsided' and 'rusty' to name just a few.
* Fred's plan of Ron happily announcing 'Mum, look who turned up in the night!" is perfect except for this small insignificant part where Molly would want to know how Harry managed to find the way and which means of transportation he used. Knowing the address isn't enough to find a place one has never visited before, imo. Specially not at night. Probably just flew into the window on his broom in the middle of the night like an owl. Surprise!
Now I imagine Harry bravely flying into the night with snowy-white, angelic Hedwig showing the way.
* Mrs. Weasley is right to fly into a fit of rage over her sons' rescue mission. They really could be seen or killed. She seems to like Harry so much that I can't imagine her refusing Ron's request to visit his best friend, specially after his descriptions of his abusive relatives, thus making stealing the car stupid & pointless even if well-intended. May be I should reword the description of the second paragraph...
* Harry sees the one-handed clock, which tells Mrs. Weasley when it's time to do various chores and warns her if she is late, reminding me of the nine-handed clock JKR mentions in the HBP, giving information about family members with all hands pointing at mortal peril. Ron also gets 'a heavy gold watch with odd symbols around the edge and tiny moving stars instead of hands' as a coming of age present. Just pointing all Weasley-clocks connections. Coincidence?
* A nice world building detail: Mrs. Weasley is listening to Celestina Warbeck on the radio, who will drive Fleur crazy one Christmas 4 years from now.
* I am unsure how we are supposed to perceive Weasleys' poverty. Here Molly tips 8 or 9 sausages onto Harry's plate in addition to 3 fried eggs. Sure they can both be poor and eat sausages and their hens' eggs, but Weasleys are described as welcoming numerous guests to their house and having plenty of good food for everybody despite having a big family and living only on Arthur's salary. They aren't as much poor as relatively poor in comparison with Malfoys or other middle class families with less children or/and more providers.
* The mental picture of Molly beaming down at winking Lockhart made me smile.
* Ron's comment "Dad's too soft with them (gnomes)" confuses me. They seem to de-gnome the garden in a standard way. How are they too soft? That they don't kill the gnomes?
* Fred 'eagerly' asks "Find anything, Dad?", which I choose to count as an evidence to support my theory of twins' interest in their dad's bewitched Muggle Artifacts.
* Mr. Weasley: "But the things our lot have taken to enchanting, you wouldn't believe—"
This sentence is the first place winner of this chapter's most funny quote for sheer irony.
* Mrs. Weasley: "And for your information, Harry arrived this morning in the car you weren't intending to fly!"
"Harry?" said Mr. Weasley blankly. "Harry who?"
The only time I remember such sentiment coming from a not evil character, albeit by mistake.
* Ron's comics "The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle" are the only example of literature we see in the wizarding world besides Crabbe's comics in HBP. It reminded me of a theory I met on Internet that Lockhart became so famous not only because of his looks & the fighting hero image but also due to lack of entertaining books aimed at adult wizards. Of course, we don't know whether this lack exists at all, but the only books mentioned are schoolbooks, encyclopedias & the likes, books on cooking & comics for children. Except newspapers we have never heard of entertaining magazines, novels or fantasy stories for adults.
* JKR should really have chosen between Ron's ashamed "It's a bit small. Not like that room you had with the Muggles." and the anguish due to Harry having the smallest bedroom.
I have been postponing sharing my favorite HP videos for so long that unfortunately one of the best ones has already disappeared. So without further ado:
"Well...it's the Harry Potter Edition of American Idol!! Featuring Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Ginny, Dumbledore, Voldemort, and Snape"
Imo the songs are both suitable & hilarious. Enjoy. There also is the second part (duets) with D & V singing together.
Harry Potter Icons 3 [Because of that bit with Mrs. Simpson]
Liked how those 2 HBP fan trailers convey the feeling of the book:*
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Trailer
If Harry Potter Had A Million Dollars (just a nice song)
ABC's of Harry Potter
Draco HBP promo (very short)
Severus Snape Music Video (the song suits him)
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no subject
Date: 2007-02-23 10:34 pm (UTC)I get the feeling we're supposed to think they find the twins' trinkets useful. After all, DEs are all stupid, like when six underage teenagers could best Lucius, Bellatrix, and a whole lot of other DEs. OTOH, are we also supposed to believe the DEs are oh so dangerous? They were, after all, winning in 1981. The logical conclusion? The Aurors and the Order people are even more inept than the DEs. Only Harry & Co. are competent users of the Disarming Hex, the Stunning Charm, and other various elementary charms.
* Uncle Vernon's roaring "Petunia! ... HE'S GETTING AWAY!"
Remind me again why Vernon should not want Harry gone.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-24 01:30 am (UTC)Why does any Witch/Wizard need interesting, medieval literature when they have MAGIC!
I bet that comic that Ron owns is simply about a young guy who decides to have french toast instead of eggs for breakfast. That mad, mad muggle.
Re: kaskait
Date: 2007-02-25 01:16 pm (UTC)Also magic is cool, but isn't it in the end just a tool to get things done? F.e. clean a house, cure diseases, travel, kill people, etc. The department of Mysteries seems to defy this definition, implying its ability to help people understand the mysteries of life and death but very few wizards do such research or even show interest in such matters.
Re: kaskait
Date: 2007-02-25 04:57 pm (UTC)The comic has racist overtones that are peculiar to the WW world in HP.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-24 10:59 pm (UTC)The lack of wizarding fiction continues to baffle me. Why don't they at least have popular radio dramas, since they have radios? If they can send sound over distance and enchant pictures to do things, why don't they have a TV equivalent? Are F&G's Daydream Charms (apparently a kind of virtual reality) the first time someone's thought to adapt Pensieve functions for entertainment - and if so, why? And don't get me started on why they don't seem to have poetry or novels...
Just pointing all Weasley-clocks connections. Coincidence?
I don't know, but I also noticed the high number of Weasley timepiece connections. (I wrote something about it last year.) I'm hoping that Mrs. Weasley is a timepiece-magic expert. That would explain all the clocks and watches (one of which is supposedly unique), and if she's started doing clock magic for the Order, that would give Mrs. Weasley a much better reason to complain about being busy when the kids aren't home and she isn't cooking much or minding them.
Re: sunnyskywalker
Date: 2007-02-25 01:23 pm (UTC)Re: sunnyskywalker
Date: 2007-02-25 06:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-25 11:09 pm (UTC)I very much hope that this lack is more due to Harry's utter lack of imagination and disinterest in just about anything than in any real lack of fiction. Maybe he just hasn't noticed it yet.
Re: saylee
Date: 2007-02-27 06:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-25 11:01 pm (UTC)A houself would have been useful for Molly when all her children were young, but at this point, does she really need one? After all, she has a virtual army of children she can set to doing chores.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-08 08:19 am (UTC)"Harry?" said Mr. Weasley blankly. "Harry who?"
The only time I remember such sentiment coming from a not evil character, albeit by mistake.
I can imagine the paragraph that was crossed out.
"Harry? Harry who? The words echoed around Harry's mind. He felt as if the world was withdrawing around him; the wall receded to an impossible distance and his ears filled with a low-pitch buzzing. Rage consumed him.
"Harry? Harry who? How could he not ACKNOWLEDGE me? I who SAVED him. Saved ALL of them.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-08 02:23 pm (UTC)