HBP 5: An Excess of Phlegm

[seicat]

Harry and Dumbledore end their broom shed tryst with that flighty temptress, adventure (Yeah, let's see how long we can keep this gag going...) and knock on the back door of the Burrow. They are greeted by Mrs. Weasley and, oddly enough, Nymphadora Tonks (sans Atomic Pink Hair and feeling a bit on the melancholic side. Poor dear.) But Tonks

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[shocolate]

Ladies and gentlemen - we have Ron!

Repeats - we have Ron!!!

So Harry is OK. His Wheezey is here to look after him.

His Wheezey thumps him companionably on the head, and makes everything OK. His Wheezey still cannot cope with veelas very well, and this makes poor Hermione jealous - hang in there Hermione, you know he is worth it. He adores you.

You are such a lucky girl.

[jabbamacmilly]

I was once agian torn with this chapter. It brought me only part of the answers I was looking for. And opened a whole new can of worms for me too.
Tonks really caught me off guard, I wasn't expecting someone like her to be that upset about a man. She just seemed like the strong independent women to me, guess I was fooled huh?

I was excited to hear about Fleur and Bill, in one hand I guess that I could understand the girls reaction to Fleur, but I thought Molly would be estatic over it. I kinda thought that the nickname that Ginny gave her was kinda lame, and I don't get the joke really, I feel like I am missing something. (I do know what Phlegm is btw) Trying not to dislike Ginny in this chapter, but for some reason I can't help it.

When Fleur came in and Harry pulled the sheets up to his chin, was he shirtless, or just surprised?? Mmmmmmmmmmm....hehehehe

I was a bit surprised that Ron and Harry got the same amount of OWLS. And supper surprised that Hermione didn't get an O in DADAs. But I guess she couldn't get Os in

[madderbrad]

We were all fooled about Tonks. Here we have the strong auror, who appears to have lost her metamorphagus abilties because of the extreme stress and angst involved with her feeling responsible for the death of her cousin at the hands of his other cousin, one of the most vicious Death Eaters. Yeah, that makes sense, okay. No, hold on ... she was just in lurve! Oh, how sweet.

Arrrrgh!

[annearchy]

Honestly. When that was resolved at the end of the book, I wanted to scream. Chalk that up as one of the 235286 messages in this book that I do not like. Oh wait, I forgot, there are no messages in Harry Potter. Never mind.

[pilly2009]

Finally! This was one of my favourite chapters in the book, because it just gave me a really homey feeling: from Harry eating a very late supper and petting Crookshanks on his lap while Molly sat and watched him and the rest of the household was asleep (I think the quietest we have EVER seen the Burrow); to the next morning's bustle, with Hermione freaking over her OWLS and her black eye, and Molly's being a b*tch to Fleur. I don't know; Weasley dynamic doesn't always fascinate me, but it definitely did so in this chapter.

Hmmm, seems Mollywobbles holds some kind of a grudge against Slughorn and his exclusive club. I wonder if Ginny ever wrote home telling her that a Weasley had made it into the Slug Club?

I don't get the Weasley Clock. In every other book, it seems to be a semi-useful invention, but here...well, at least it explains why Molly didn't look at the clock in GoF to confirm that her family was safe at the Quidditch World Cup. It seems that if any of them are in the general vicinity or possibility of danger, the clock

[madderbrad]

This is the chapter where I officially decided to entertain the possibility that the book was inferior to some of the fan fiction I'd read. I was devastated by the total lack of dramatic use of the prophecy

[pilly2009]

I can see how its potential was destroyed in this chapter (though I, personally, was glad to see it handled with minimum angst), but I think that was what JKR intended. On her website before HBP came out, she basically said that the prophecy was just a bunch of words that made people react in crazy ways. Of course, it could be interpreted a million and one different ways, but the bottom line was that there wasn't supposed to be a lot of stock placed in said prophecy. Destiny is only what people make of it, or something like that.

[house_elf_44]

I finally found a copy of Manxmouse, one of JKR's favorite books she read as a child. This is the main idea she borrowed from that book, that the prophecy could have been ignored. And that's where Snape comes in. By telling Voldemort, he made it so they couldn't or wouldn't choose to ignore it, so he spun the whole web.

I read a transcript of authors discussing HBP, and learned that this practice of borrowing ideas from other books is called a derivative, and that it's accepted as a necessity, since there are only so many things to write about, or something like that.

[madderbrad]

Well I guess I just didn't get it. After reading 800-plus pages of OotP, we're given the prophecy as a BIG DEAL, and I was pleased to take it that way, I loved the idea. And then it's treated as a non sequitur in the sequel. Huh??? Why make that the whole punch-line of OotP if there "wasn't a lot of stock" to be placed in it anyway?

I'm pretty disgruntled over the whole "JKR said" thing. I didn't participate in that side of fandom - swapping JKR quotes, hanging onto her every interviewed word - until after HBP came out. It's a pity that one has to rely on her 'out of band' comments, outside the actual books, to discern her true authorial intent. Mainly I'm thinking of her so-subtle 'deluded H/Hr people couldn't see anvil-sized hints' kicks to the stomach, and her needing to tell us how wonderful Ginny is (since we don't see it in the book - OK, I'll wait until the appropriate chapters come around here, sorry!) but from what you say she felt she had to say something about the prophecy as well? Hmmmph.

[caudebac]

I don't remember reading Snape saying he was responsible for Emmeline Vance's death--but HP Lexicon says it's in this chapter. However, it is not. Can anyone help?

[seicat]

It was in chapter 2. Snape was talking to Narcissa and Bellatrix and said he was the one who betrayed Emmeline Vance. I can't remember the page numbers, though. I hope this helps! ^_^

[caudebac]

I've looked. TOTALLY can't see it. >.< I feel stupid.

[seicat]

They talk about the actual death in chapter one and then Snape takes credit for it in chapter 2. I can't remember if they even mention actual names, though.