The sad thing is that we're six chapters from the climax of the book, and the only reasons I'm on the edge of my seat are to see if the Dark Art The Bear gets out of that lunchbox and if Harry goes Super Dumbass 4.
The sad thing is that we're six chapters from the climax of the book, and the only reasons I'm on the edge of my seat are to see if the Dark Art The Bear gets out of that lunchbox and if Harry goes Super Dumbass 4.
To be honest, I didn't want to do 3, but nearly killing another student with an untested magic spell left me no other option. It's the kind of stupidity that's simply too stupid for our physical universe.
I heard that!jazzypomOctober 17 2005, 07:04:26 UTC
On the other hand, I'm a little dissatisfied with how Harry makes out here. He grievously wounds Malfoy, is forced to skip out of his big game because of it, and... his team wins anyway? And he gets the girl anyway? There's something very wrong about all this, that Harry's still being treated like a hero instead of the reckless, selfish liar that he is in this chapter. The only comeuppance he's gotten here is the detention thing, which is made to look more like Snape being a jerk than Harry being rightfully punished for maiming a fellow student.
Yep, I heard that, and thanks for the Harr/Draco/Feet in the first few paragraphs. I busted a gut laughing!
Re: I heard that!merenwen_81October 17 2005, 10:30:17 UTC
Harry is forgiven an awful alot because he's the Boy Who Lived, I'm giving Snape that. Then again, I don't think we're supposed to think Harry didn't deserve the punishment. It's just that Harry doesn't think he deserves it. *blahblahunreliablenarratorcakes*
Am I the only on who tends to scan past the bear fights and foot fetishes when re-reading? Just me then.
Yeah, Harry does seem to get a pass on just about everything, except with Snape. And Snape does it just a bit too much, making himself look petty. And, yeah, thing in his chest. I'm a female, and even I know the difference. I think JKR is going for TWU LURVVVVE on this one, not just random teenage lust.
I would think Hogwarts could simply invest in a computer,
Electrical stuff doesn't work at Hogwarts; the ambient mana degausses it or some shit. (The first clause is established by JKR Rowling; the second is my own semi-random guess.) So they technically could invest in a computer, but it'd just be an expensive paperweight (or doorstop, or thing for Filch to beat naughty students about the head and shoulders with).
or maybe just destroy such records, as they obviously have little importance twenty years after the fact
Clearly, Hogwarts puts the "permanent" in "permanent record".
I've been thinkin' about this, and I realized that it's not a computer they need. All a computer does is perform simple repetitive tasks really really fast. Magic can do that, and Hogwart's is up to its armpits in that. No, what they need is an algorithm for database administration that can be expressed through magic instead of, say, MySQL. Then, set up a simple cardboard box with "KOMPOOTUR" written on the side, wave the magic wand and say "installatus dottum executas!" and it'll start chuggin' away.
The only reason wizards can't make magic work like that, I'd wager, is because it would require the same kind of logic needed to learn how airplanes fly, or even how to find out how airplanes fly.
Failing all that, I'd set up a server twenty miles off-campus, and have printouts of relevant data delivered by owls.
Exactly. If they can install MS Word in pens, surely they can set up a spreadsheet in a toilet or something.
For that matter, it'd seem to me like the simplest solution would be to make ink that never fades, and paper that's impervious to vermin or decay. They already have candles like that for Christmastime, so why not?
Also, what you complained about at the end? That's what I actually liked about the book, the way "heros" can be stupid and cruel and "villains" can be smart and even...well, heroic. This is the first book in the series where Malfoy got any depth, so that leaves Voldemort as the only completely unambiguous character, and Rowling pretty much established he was a born sociopath. Anyway, I'm going to spend the next few minutes being highly amused by the thought of Snape being River's father.
That's what I actually liked about the book, the way "heros" can be stupid and cruel and "villains" can be smart and even...well, heroic.
So far, though, the heroes are always stupid and the villains haven't done anything heroic. (Snape only saved Draco to save himself; he only punished Harry because he gets off on it.)
This chapter has pretty much turned me off on Harry Potter in ways I never knew could be turned off. Before I was just disinterested in juvenile characters and annoyed by the fandom's antics. Now I can't stand the character. I mean, geez, he spends three or four chapters salivating for the chance to use a dangerous spell he doesn't understand, does so to end a fight he caused, and nearly kills a guy. If Harry were 19, he'd be out of school, allowed to use magic off-campus, and there'd be no teacher to come running in and bail him out. People would be dead because he's a paranoid, trigger-happy psychopath
( ... )
Except he totally didn't realise the spell would kill Draco. All he knew that it would be something nasty and then he was completely horrified when Draco was bleeding to death infront of him. I guess, that make him Super Dumbass 4. It's really not that hard to find out what the name of the spell means.
15 year old Snape was seen trying to use a spell that made a bloody gash on the other person's face on Harry's dad in a flash back scene in book 5. Gee, I wonder what this could mean.
Except he totally didn't realise the spell would kill Draco.
He had no reason to believe it wouldn't kill Draco either. All he knew was that the spell was "For Enemies" (if he can trust the Half-Blood Prince, which is a big "if"), and he's just throwing it out there without a care in the world for what it might do. This is about like stabbing a random part of Draco's anatomy with a knife, and then saying "Well how was I supposed to know the aorta was there?" Except that it's magic, so for all Harry knew the spell would destroy all his enemies, or blow up the entire school and let Merlin sort 'em out.
The kid's got more power than he knows how to handle, and the only responsibility he has is to avoid getting caught. And since he regards any authority figure who disciplines him as "the enemy," he only puts up with punishment until he can think of a way to get free and learn a spell that will annihilate them.
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To be honest, I didn't want to do 3, but nearly killing another student with an untested magic spell left me no other option. It's the kind of stupidity that's simply too stupid for our physical universe.
Reply
Yep, I heard that, and thanks for the Harr/Draco/Feet in the first few paragraphs. I busted a gut laughing!
Reply
Am I the only on who tends to scan past the bear fights and foot fetishes when re-reading? Just me then.
Reply
Reply
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Electrical stuff doesn't work at Hogwarts; the ambient mana degausses it or some shit. (The first clause is established by JKR Rowling; the second is my own semi-random guess.) So they technically could invest in a computer, but it'd just be an expensive paperweight (or doorstop, or thing for Filch to beat naughty students about the head and shoulders with).
or maybe just destroy such records, as they obviously have little importance twenty years after the fact
Clearly, Hogwarts puts the "permanent" in "permanent record".
Reply
The only reason wizards can't make magic work like that, I'd wager, is because it would require the same kind of logic needed to learn how airplanes fly, or even how to find out how airplanes fly.
Failing all that, I'd set up a server twenty miles off-campus, and have printouts of relevant data delivered by owls.
Reply
For that matter, it'd seem to me like the simplest solution would be to make ink that never fades, and paper that's impervious to vermin or decay. They already have candles like that for Christmastime, so why not?
Reply
Just sayin'.
Also, what you complained about at the end? That's what I actually liked about the book, the way "heros" can be stupid and cruel and "villains" can be smart and even...well, heroic. This is the first book in the series where Malfoy got any depth, so that leaves Voldemort as the only completely unambiguous character, and Rowling pretty much established he was a born sociopath. Anyway, I'm going to spend the next few minutes being highly amused by the thought of Snape being River's father.
-blue
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So far, though, the heroes are always stupid and the villains haven't done anything heroic. (Snape only saved Draco to save himself; he only punished Harry because he gets off on it.)
This chapter has pretty much turned me off on Harry Potter in ways I never knew could be turned off. Before I was just disinterested in juvenile characters and annoyed by the fandom's antics. Now I can't stand the character. I mean, geez, he spends three or four chapters salivating for the chance to use a dangerous spell he doesn't understand, does so to end a fight he caused, and nearly kills a guy. If Harry were 19, he'd be out of school, allowed to use magic off-campus, and there'd be no teacher to come running in and bail him out. People would be dead because he's a paranoid, trigger-happy psychopath ( ... )
Reply
15 year old Snape was seen trying to use a spell that made a bloody gash on the other person's face on Harry's dad in a flash back scene in book 5. Gee, I wonder what this could mean.
Reply
He had no reason to believe it wouldn't kill Draco either. All he knew was that the spell was "For Enemies" (if he can trust the Half-Blood Prince, which is a big "if"), and he's just throwing it out there without a care in the world for what it might do. This is about like stabbing a random part of Draco's anatomy with a knife, and then saying "Well how was I supposed to know the aorta was there?" Except that it's magic, so for all Harry knew the spell would destroy all his enemies, or blow up the entire school and let Merlin sort 'em out.
The kid's got more power than he knows how to handle, and the only responsibility he has is to avoid getting caught. And since he regards any authority figure who disciplines him as "the enemy," he only puts up with punishment until he can think of a way to get free and learn a spell that will annihilate them.
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