The '15.

[mike_smith]

Ugh. This one about broke me, folks. I give you Fifteen, the Chapter That Wouldn't End.

Comments

[grapefruitzzz]

So maybe she's more familiar with fangirl tendencies than I had expected. "Squee! The living dead! ZOMG, maybe he'll seduce us into his soulless army of minions!"

So true :D

Hogwarts is in Scotland, which is the only place in Britain far away enough from London for an eventful train journey.

This chapter, and all the other dating chapters did make me realise that I'm not the core demographic as I couldn't care less who the brats date (and I think JKR doesn't either).

[sashimi_san]

"Anyway, since it's a Christmas party, let's just assume that Snape's wearing a bright red sweater with "HO HO HO" written on it."

You rock. ^_^

[innerslytherin]

Also, I keep hearing she's got it bad for Remus, who's supposed to be the gayest thing since gay came to Gaytown, so that may have something to do with it as well.

Mwahaha! I know I'm probably the reason you said this, but... *giggles*

Now why the hell did he invite Snape?

See above. *snickers*

I keep expecting some sort of chemistry between these two, the kind you see whenever two enemies have to be civil with one another, and I'm not getting it.
Yeah, that would’ve been nice. I agree with you there. *snerk*

That flighty temptress, Dumbledore,
*dies*

I absolutely love your commentary on this book. ^__^

[merenwen_81]

Tonks is a metamorphomagus which means she can change her appearance any time she wants to just by concentrating on it instead of using spells to do it. I think the point of the hair-colour thing was supposed to be that she suddenly had problems changing her hair colour, because she's so depressed. And the reason for her mood is really lame. Not that I blame her for having a crush, but no man is worth that! I only say this, because I see you have already been spoiled about the Tonks/Lupin thing. (He's in chapter 16 and I'm irrationally worried that you're going to hate him.)

I see your point about being popular with girls not being a very bad thing, but Romilda Vane sucks and I'd hate to be drugged into thinking I'm in love with her. It's like the wizarding version of a date rape drug or something.

Harry used to be called the Boy Who Lived (because he survived an Avada Kedavra), wich is not a Ringbearer, but still better than the Chosen One.

[jim_smith]

I see your point about being popular with girls not being a very bad thing, but Romilda Vane sucks and I'd hate to be drugged into thinking I'm in love with her. It's like the wizarding version of a date rape drug or something.

Going on my prior experience as a 16-year-old guy, all I know about Romilda Vane is that she's a girl, so I'm not seeing the downside for Harry here.

I agree the love potion and mistletoe stuff is pretty nasty, but the only reason Harry has to put up with it is that he's refusing the advances of every girl in the campus, like he's saving himself for marriage or something. The average guy would have indulged half of these girls by now, defusing the situation before it got this bad. Then again, the average guy never had this many girls beating a path to his door, which again makes Harry seem like a dick for whining about what a lucky bastard he is.

[mike_smith]

Right. He's saving himself for Ginny, I guess, which might make sense to the fans, but to you or I this is ass-backwards. It's like how Kurt Busiek wondered why he's supposed to feel sorry for Spider-Man. Oh, gee, he has to choose between Mary Jane and Gwen, oh boo-hoo-hoo.

[lisatrix]

I pretty much agree with you here, but I disagree that chapter 2 wasn't needed. It shows Snape's relationship with the other two and the circumstances under which he made the vow. I think it's important that we see his reactions, especially that he hesitated before vowing to finish the task if Draco couldn't. And the spying scene does give us new information- that Snape seems a little desperate to help, that Draco doesn't want Snape's help, that Draco's a screwup at this evil business, and so on.

[mike_smith]

You're right, you can't just remove entire chapters and expect the story to still work. But, if the book had been rewritten to meet a smaller pagecount, I think information contained in Chapters 2 and 15, for example, could have easily been combined to save space. The point I want to make when I say this is that it's possible, even if it isn't necessary. As I've said before, Rowling can pretty much write her own ticket at this point, so if she wants to make a book twice as long as it needs to be, it's not like I can say she shouldn't; it's not like the sales will suffer for it.

Still, I think the slow pacing of the book is its fundamental weakness, while the fans are fond enough of the characters that they won't mind, I don't think one negates the other.