Chapter 11: The Potions Dungeon
I'd written up a few of these and then realized that I'd forgotten to post them! So here we are, continuing...
Chapter 11: The Potions Dungeon
1. Harry decided to stay and keep an eye on them while they worked; Malfoy gazed at her and touched her hand quite a lot for Harry’s taste while they were working, but nothing else untoward happened; they neither kissed nor hugged again.
Both in the books and in my fics Harry learns quite a lot by conveniently hanging about under his Invisibility Cloak. Ah, the limits of one PoV character...
2. "Tutoring, Miss Weasley? You're at the top of your class; in fact, I am to understand from your other teachers that you are at the top of all of your classes." Harry felt his jaw drop from shock. He could see some surprise on Malfoy’s face as well.
Mea culpa! I definitely see why some people saw this as a Ginny Sue thing. But--JKR didn't do this in the books, Ginny was much more ordinary, and people still called the canon Ginny a Sue, which I don't think holds up to scrutiny at all.
3. Snape unlocked the door and walked to his desk, leaving the door open. Harry slipped in, relieved, but then Snape waved his wand at the door and it closed and locked, panicking Harry; he was stuck in Snape’s office now until he opened the door again. He hoped Snape didn’t have some device for detecting the presence of people wearing Invisibility Cloaks.
Or a talent, rather than a device: Occlumency. Fortunately for Harry, Occlumency doesn't exist in the PS universe. :D However, getting stuck in Snape's office is a definite hazard of sneaking around under an Invisibility Cloak!
4. But who was this Slytherin boyfriend? he wondered. Then, with a shock he knew. That was the Gryffindor-Slytherin cooperation Snape had been talking about...
That "ka-chunk" noise is Harry's thought processes finally catching up...
5. "It's not the past," Snape replied briskly, annoyed. "It's very much the present. It was after Lily that I--I was recruited. Without her, I didn’t see any reason why not. And then when I learned about the prophecy, about Lily and Potter being targeted--I became a Ministry spy. But it was too late; I couldn't save her."
That this is almost exactly the explanation we got in canon SIX YEARS LATER tickles me to no end!
6. Is she under a spell?
Well, DUH.
Chapter 11: The Potions Dungeon
1. Harry decided to stay and keep an eye on them while they worked; Malfoy gazed at her and touched her hand quite a lot for Harry’s taste while they were working, but nothing else untoward happened; they neither kissed nor hugged again.
Both in the books and in my fics Harry learns quite a lot by conveniently hanging about under his Invisibility Cloak. Ah, the limits of one PoV character...
2. "Tutoring, Miss Weasley? You're at the top of your class; in fact, I am to understand from your other teachers that you are at the top of all of your classes." Harry felt his jaw drop from shock. He could see some surprise on Malfoy’s face as well.
Mea culpa! I definitely see why some people saw this as a Ginny Sue thing. But--JKR didn't do this in the books, Ginny was much more ordinary, and people still called the canon Ginny a Sue, which I don't think holds up to scrutiny at all.
3. Snape unlocked the door and walked to his desk, leaving the door open. Harry slipped in, relieved, but then Snape waved his wand at the door and it closed and locked, panicking Harry; he was stuck in Snape’s office now until he opened the door again. He hoped Snape didn’t have some device for detecting the presence of people wearing Invisibility Cloaks.
Or a talent, rather than a device: Occlumency. Fortunately for Harry, Occlumency doesn't exist in the PS universe. :D However, getting stuck in Snape's office is a definite hazard of sneaking around under an Invisibility Cloak!
4. But who was this Slytherin boyfriend? he wondered. Then, with a shock he knew. That was the Gryffindor-Slytherin cooperation Snape had been talking about...
That "ka-chunk" noise is Harry's thought processes finally catching up...
5. "It's not the past," Snape replied briskly, annoyed. "It's very much the present. It was after Lily that I--I was recruited. Without her, I didn’t see any reason why not. And then when I learned about the prophecy, about Lily and Potter being targeted--I became a Ministry spy. But it was too late; I couldn't save her."
That this is almost exactly the explanation we got in canon SIX YEARS LATER tickles me to no end!
6. Is she under a spell?
Well, DUH.