Comments | hbp_chapters: HBP: Chapter One

amanuensis1 in hbp_chapters

HBP: Chapter One

Jun 24, 2005 18:58

Warning: Do not post any comments here if you have read beyond chapter 1 of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

This is the discussion post for Chapter 1 of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (and for all chapters prior to chapter 1). SPOILERS are expected to be contained in these comments for all of these chapters--though not for later ( Read more... )

Comments 86

garillama July 16 2005, 08:10:49 UTC

Wow! Poor PM! I can just imagine Hugh Grant sitting there, rubbing his temples, going "Bloody hell, not that bloody portrait again!"

And now I'm curious about that new Minister. . .I was expecting someone we knew, such as Arthur Weasley or Susan Bones, but it's a new character! I'm wondering how receptive he'll be to Dumbledore and Harry. . .that he was writing to Dumbledore is definitely a good sign. . .maybe I'll look up his name and see what it means.

*In personal news, I went to Hastings' midnight release party, but as my dad ordered my copy for Amazon, I had to borrow someone else's book to read this chapter. . .I shall have to ambush the mailman tomorrow ;) Lucky our mail comes in the morning!*

garillama July 16 2005, 08:19:59 UTC

Hmm. . ."Scrimgeour" seems to be a Scottish clan. Their clan badge depicts a lion's paw holding a sword, with the saying "Dissipate" across the top. Apparently, in latin in means "scatter" or "disperse" (presumably of your enemies). More here.

Interesting stuff. . .

moriann July 16 2005, 08:48:45 UTC

I can just imagine Hugh Grant sitting there, rubbing his temples, going "Bloody hell, not that bloody portrait again!"

Exactly! Maybe it's the lasting effects of watching "love, actually" too many times, but the first person who popped into my mind as I read the chapter wasn't Blair but Grant. Maybe that's because he was so good at being lost and without a clue as a PM.

I wonder if that was what JKR was thinking when writing that scene. After seeing 'Serious' in the canon, I have to say that everything is possible in the next chapters...

starline July 16 2005, 23:22:48 UTC

I agree! Grant was my first thought as well!

aquatryst July 16 2005, 08:32:24 UTC

I got a laugh out of: "We shall arrange for the President to forget to call." This would explain so many things.

Scrimgeour has much slash potential, what with his "rangy, loping grace", and his "shrewdness and toughness."

I looked up the name and found the following in a Scottish Clan website:

"The name was originally perhaps a nickname, Skirmisher. meaning 'hardy fighter', or more likely a version of escrimeur, French for swordsman."

moriann July 16 2005, 08:53:11 UTC

Scrimgeour has much slash potential, what with his "rangy, loping grace", and his "shrewdness and toughness."

I came to the conclusion that in this fandom, anything that's male and even remotely humanoid has slash potential.

vale_of_plenty July 16 2005, 09:02:25 UTC

You're forgetting a catagory for the Giant Squid, I think.

moriann July 16 2005, 09:08:58 UTC

Well, yes. I also omitted the Sorting Hat. It only extends this theory to both beings not even remotely humanoid and not having a gender to speak of. Although there's always at least one human in a pairing. ;)

Thread 6

leni_jess July 16 2005, 09:47:01 UTC

I'm really irritated that JKR killed off Amelia Bones - the one senior Ministry official who has both guts and sense! (I don't think of Moody as being senior - even if he's still employed, and am by no means sure he could be said to have sense. Arthur is definitely junior and is rather shy on sense too.)

But I enjoyed the chapter, sure 'nuff.

amanuensis1 July 16 2005, 13:05:20 UTC

So I wonder what that means. Is she really dead? Will Susan Bones now play a larger role, having lost someone close to her?

leni_jess July 17 2005, 00:24:37 UTC

Though I'd love to see Amelia return, JKR seems to have ruled that out pretty firmly in ocmments on her site/in interviews.

Deponent further sayeth not - I've read the lot now.

e_dork July 16 2005, 15:05:52 UTC

I was really sad that Amelia was killed off too. I've been slowly reading a fic which has brought the Hufflepuffs and particularly the Bones' closer to my heart so right from the first mention of "Bones and Vance murders" I was like OMG WHICH BONES?!!

Thread 9

amanuensis1 July 16 2005, 13:03:22 UTC

Okay:

The "Yup, Rowling's still got it, big time" moment: "...watching his teacup chewing on the corner of his next speech..."

The "Oh, my god, am I a geek, I found a TYPO" moment: "The site, therefore, of Fudge stepping out of the fire..."

The "Crane neck back and yell, 'AAAAAAAAAH!' out loud at the ceiling in horror/glee" moment: "And they're breeding."

sticckler July 16 2005, 18:25:31 UTC

ooh, what version are you reading? Cause as soon as I saw that typo bit I had to go check, and in the Canadian version it's "sight".

ariadneelda July 16 2005, 20:15:28 UTC

I had an "AAAAAAH" moment, too, at the breeding Dementors 'cause the first thing that sprang to my mind was your Lucius/Dementors fic. I could so see you reaction to that! The fic seems SO much closer to canon now. :D

ldybastet July 16 2005, 20:42:09 UTC

LOL I saw that typo too... and I thought, man, I've been beta-reading too much! ;-)

Thread 5

amanuensis1 July 16 2005, 13:08:13 UTC

My heart is glad for Sirius's exoneration. Way, way glad. Seeing it here at the very beginning of the book. And please please please let that "inquiry" mean something and not just be a throwaway, god.

pocketroxy July 17 2005, 18:34:34 UTC

My heart is glad for Sirius's exoneration.
Yes, wayyyyyy after the fact, bless Fudge's dumb-ass little soul!