Friday, 15 February 2013

"'You think the dead we have loved ever truly leave us?"

Before we even begin, look at THIS:
Happy Valentines Day for yesterday, my fellow Harry Potter voyagers!

Now onto the good stuff.

Oh, second half of Prisoner of Azkanban, you so DRAMATIC! As I hinted at (i.e. basically outright said) last week, all of the things that were set up in the first half really just EXPLODED in this second half and oh WOW the double ending thing still gets me! I mean, I knew it was going to happen and everything, it just still always amazes me because TIME TRAVEL YESSSSSSSS!
(I'm a big fan of Back to the Future, so... I have a lot of time for time-travelling plots.)

Before I get to the bullet points (which, I'm sorry, but are inevitable at this point) there are a few things I need to discuss in detail and THAT MEANS PARAGRAPHS, people. Try not to get too excited. So firstly there's the Snape and Sirius thing. Last week I tried to convince Alice that she needed to pick a side because, you know, get involved in the spat between the kids at school who were dicks, and Snape who was clearly bullied. A lot.
At this point in the books, though, I'm kind of not down with either of them. I know that now we're meant to be like 'YAY Sirius, Harry can come and live with you!' and like 'Boo Snape, you wanted Sirius to have his soul STOLEN', and actually? I'm not down with Snape being ok with Sirius getting the Dementor's kiss, because that shit is NOT OK. (Lupin: 'Do you really think anyone deserves that?' NO LUPIN! I DON'T! I LOVE YOU!) But I'm also not ok with Sirius thinking that it's ok to nearly murder someone. This:
"'It served him right' he sneered. 'Sneaking around, trying to find out what we were up to... hoping he could get us expelled.'"
Is neither a reason to get someone killed, nor a defence against it.
So neither Snape nor Sirius comes away too well from this book, at least not in my eyes. But LUPIN! I mean, last week my love for him was definitely rekindled, but in the second half? I mean, there's the whole anti-Dementor thing that's just awesome, and then there's also the tortured soul thing with all-the-guilt of being what he is, and there's also the VERY attractive ability that he has to see that a lot of the  things they did when they were kids WERE actually wrong (did you hear that, Sirius?) So he has the ability to admit his mistakes. I find all of this pretty darn hot, if I'm honest, and maybe it's just because he has NO competition, or maybe he is just the awesomest?

If his final exam is anything to go by, then I'm willing to opt for the latter.

Bullet point time!

  • Hermione, of course, continues her excellence by firstly helping Hagrid with the Buckbeak case when she has the most schoolwork ever to also do, and THEN when she smacks Malfoy for being HORRID about it. Ugh, she's so amazing.
  • "Hermoine flung her arms round Ron's neck and broke down completely. Ron, looking quite terrified, patted her very awkwardly on the top of her head"- Awwwwwwwwww!
  • Oh NEVILLE, of course you'd write down all the passwords and then lose them. *SIGH*
  • I can't tell you how much I LOVE that Harry pictures his Patronus as Hagrid with a big club! Just yes.
  • Harry's anguish over not wanting to hear his mother's last minutes but also wanting to because it's all he has of her genuinely breaks my heart, and then, just to add to things there's THIS "'So you did see your father last night, Harry... You found him inside yourself."
  • I'd love to know if the Whomping Willow was always intended to have been Lupin's special tree, or if JK just thought of it in between books 2 and 3. SO MUCH WE DON'T KNOW.
  • If Harry HAD ended up living with Sirius (at any point) would he have turned into a much more entitled douchey wizard than he is because he was treated like crap for the first 11 years of his life? I guess we'll never know, but... I'm not sure how great Sirius would have been for him.
And that's about all I have folks (thank GOD, says everyone.) I'm pretty excited to be moving onto the Goblet of Fire, because... Well, before we started this whole thing, I would have probably said it was my absolute favourite, but there's so much I'm learning that I don't remember that... I have no idea about anything anymore. But I really really really like it LOADS because hey- I like it when there are TASKS and things to face (it's why I liked Ready Player One so much, I think.) So YAY.
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27 comments:

  1. Unknown15 February 2013 at 09:17

    HE DIDN'T LOSE THE LIST, CROOKSHANKS STOLE IT FROM HIS BEDSIDE TABLE!

    Harry's conflict re: dementors is seriously super upsetting. I know people can be "myeh Harry is kinda crap" at times, but he had a TERRIBLE life and hearing your parents die over and over is definitely the most terrible and tragic thing that could ever happen ever.

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    1. Laura15 February 2013 at 19:49

      You know what, it somehow escaped me that Crookshanks stole the list! I think that reading the entire section in one go was not necessarily the best way to do it, readalong-wise (although, in general, it's basically the only way to do it.)

      Dude, I have never and will never say that Harry is kinda crap because I don't think he is and I don't think it's fair to go 'ugh, the Harry filter' because HE IS THE MAIN CHARACTER AND THEY ARE HIS BOOKS AND YOU WANT TO GET BEHIND YOUR HERO DAMMIT! Ahem. But that really did upset me because OH the conflict in his brain :(

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    2. Unknown15 February 2013 at 23:10

      I'm glad we're bros on the whole Harry Filter = nonsense thing, because I love Harry (although he does get super angsty in book 5) and I think people are really unfair on him a lot of the time. The kid has had a tough life, and yet is super decent and balanced and normal for the most part.

      Reading these books in one go is so hard not to do, especially the short first ones. There is nothing better than spending the day curled up with Harry Potter and a block of go-away-dementor-sadness chocolate.

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    3. Laura15 February 2013 at 23:24

      I love Harry too! It's not HIS fault that Hermione is better than him! (Which she is. And we're still aware of it, even with 'the Harry Filter'). And look, he does get super angsty in book 5, BUT HE HAS GOOD REASONS! I was about to go into them, but how about I don't for any unsuspecting comment readers. But I can think of at least 5 things that he's entitled to be angsty about! (Also JK was totally depressed when she was writing OotP, I believe, so... Yeah.)

      It is SO hard not to read them in one go! There's this one tiiiny bit in GoF that I LOVE and I've discovered we're not even going to get to it til the THIRD WEEK! I don't even know how I'm going to cope!

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    4. Unknown16 February 2013 at 06:58

      I did not know that factoid about JK, but I can totally see how that'd influence OotP. I know he has reasons, but maybe it was because I had just finished my own awkward/angsty teen phase and thought it was all very childish in retrospect, anyway, it just bugged me for ages and made reading the book quite painful for awhile.

      I've got so much work to do I'm listening to them on audiobook now and it's going to be so hard not to race through them all. Damn you Stephen Fry, you narrate so well.

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    5. Laura17 February 2013 at 16:48

      I *believe* she was depressed. I'm not sure I have anything textual to back it up! But I know that she had major writer's block, so... that's got to do things to you. I think... I might have been in the middle of ANGST when I read it so yeah, it was probably fine. But I don't love OotP anyway- it's maybe my least favourite of what we've got left? Which doesn't really say much cause I LOVE THEM ALL but you know. Umbridge is SO terrible. So so so so terrible. In a not-even good way.

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  2. Ellie15 February 2013 at 12:15

    I love Lupin so very much. I mean, like, not only in the 'super-cool teacher/practically a second godfather to Harry' kind of way, but also in the 'feed me chocolate and be my baby-daddy' kind of way. SERIOUS BOOK CRUSH. Also, Dementors are probably the scariest thing ever, after the Nazgul in LOTR, which is partially because they are so similar with the whole deathly hooded creepy thing going on. Ugh. Unfortunately with the whole not reading thing, I'm STILL creeping towards the end of Chamber of Secrets, so I am WAY BEHIND and have nothing more productive to say. Oh well... :)

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    1. Laura15 February 2013 at 20:01

      Oh no, I mean, I LOVE Lupin. I would totally have his werebabies. Also I don't think I realised till now how much I love Lupin, so... I'm going to have a bit of a rough ride from here on out, I think (or, you know, just in book 7. Argh!)

      I AM SO SCARED OF DEMENTORS! EEEEEEK!

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    2. Red15 February 2013 at 23:37

      "also in the 'feed me chocolate and be my baby-daddy' kind of way." And this is hilarious.

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  3. Ellie15 February 2013 at 13:30

    Prisoner of Azkaban is my favourite. And Lupin is such a babe. I sense a Harry Potter re-read in my future...

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    1. Laura15 February 2013 at 20:06

      Do iiiiiiiit! You can just jump in and read with us if you want! (You can read 3 books and the first part of GoF in a week, right?! Of course you can!)

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  4. Red15 February 2013 at 14:55

    I alllllmost used that title quote. But then last minute I went with a different one. Almost quote twins again.

    Yeah Sirius almost getting Snape killed when they were kids: NOT COOL. Snape trying to get Sirius to make out with a Dementor: ALSO NOT COOL. That said, I think Sirius still comes out on top cos at least his (very dangerous) prank happened when they were kids, instead of adults when they should really know better. Even though Sirius doesn't quite seem remorseful for his thing. But he was wrongly locked up in a crazy torture prison for over a decade. I imagine that does things to a person.

    I know this doesn't give her enough credit, but I sorta feel like a lot of the details from the earlier books (like the tree) are things that Rowling realized later in the series fit with what she was doing. So they got retrofitted to work. How fast would a whomping willow grow? Was it a sapling when planted? Cos if so, would it actually have been big enough to keep people away from the shrieking shack, if it was planted right when Lupin got to Hogwarts?

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    1. As the Crowe Flies and Reads15 February 2013 at 20:01

      interesting point viz: whomping willow. but maybe they have special magical powers to make things grow fast! then again, magic cannot simply be a shortcut for everything...

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    2. Red15 February 2013 at 20:10

      There are cases (like the tree) that I feel like magic = plot hole spackle

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    3. Laura15 February 2013 at 20:16

      Alley, I almost used YOUR quote! This is just getting spooky (or, basically, Dumbledore says epic things and we like to quote him! Whatevs :) )

      I mean... I was a kid once and I never tried to have anyone killed sooo I don't really think that's an excuse, and actually I think Snape comes out on top because he just SUPPORTS the Dementor's kiss rather than having any control over it happening? I think it just depends on whether Snape either 1) believes Sirius IS innocent but wants him to get the kiss, or 2) still thinks he's guilty. Because if it's the former then I totally think Snape is worse, but if it's the latter? Then I don't agree with it but I understand why Snape would...

      Whomping Willow! SO I kind of always believed that they didn't so much plant it as kind of put it in there fully grown/it's not really a tree so much as a magical item because it has that weird notch that makes it stop! So it's like a giant toy or something. In my brain...

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    4. Red15 February 2013 at 23:38

      I don't think, at the time, Sirius was really thinking "If we pull this prank on Snape, he will die." YouTube is FULL of teens not understanding the true consequences to their actions. Teens are stupid.

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  5. Sarah15 February 2013 at 15:11

    I think that the whole "we almost got Snape killed thing" is a little overdone. Teenage Sirius probably thought of it as a prank and didn't realize that Snape might actually die, cause kids do stupid crap like that all the time. And yeah he doesn't seem sorry for it, but there is some REAL animosity between their group and Snape and that doesn't just go away.

    As for "What if Harry grew up with Sirius?"... I think it might have been okay. He definitely would have protected Harry well, and Harry would have known who he was growing up. And Sirius wouldn't be a crazy criminal, and would probably always be grieveing over the Potters. BUUUUT I do think that Harry's general good-naturedness and humbleness come from being treated like crap most of his childhood, so who knows!

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    1. Laura15 February 2013 at 20:26

      I just don't think that 'they were kids' is a good enough excuse for putting someone in that much danger. I really don't. And if he did just think it was a prank, then he could be at least a bit apologetic for it instead of just going 'well, good! He deserved it!' HE DID NOT DESERVE IT.

      See, yeah, I don't know! I think he would have been ok, but because of how Sirius is, I feel like he would have let Harry accept a little bit more of the praise of the wizarding community than would have really been healthy for him? But he would totally have loved him, don't get me wrong! I think it's interesting to think about though.

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  6. As the Crowe Flies and Reads15 February 2013 at 20:04

    Argh, there is so much in the second half of this book to cover. SO much. Even paragraphs can't really cover it, can they?

    I love that we're all about the What If game here. What if Sirius had raised Harry? What if Snape had just remember to grab a goblet of Wolfsbane before he raced down to rescue those kids and capture Black? What if Harry didn't always have his Harry Filter on and we could actually see more of Hogwarts and his classmates and know things beside Quidditch = awesome and Slytherins = evil? (Sorry, Kayleigh! I will always complain about the Harry Filter)

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    1. Laura15 February 2013 at 20:34

      Paragraphs are SO not enough, you're right! We all need to write our own books about the books and then we can all read each others. SO MUCH STUFF!

      Hey! What if Snape HAD grabbed some Wolfsbane! That would have been a good idea! (I'm with Kayleigh on the Harry filter as I'm sure you've realised! JK CAN'T WRITE ABOUT EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME DAMMIT!)

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    2. Unknown15 February 2013 at 23:19

      Solidarity sister!

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  7. Kayleigh vW16 February 2013 at 00:10

    Paragraphs! That's how you know it's a big deal.

    If Sirius had never been locked away and Harry had grown up with him, I'd like to think they'd both be different people. But, I don't know, I worry that Sirius would be so stuck on James that he'd get Harry thinking he's part of this infallible legacy and Harry would be even *more* like Draco.

    Also, I'm with you with the Whomping Willow being planted as a whole, fully formed thing.

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    1. Laura17 February 2013 at 16:46

      Haha, I know right? Actual THOUGHTS about STUFF!

      I think they'd definitely both be different, it just troubles me that Harry would be all like 'oh shit yeah, I must be wonderful!' rather than like 'what's all the fuss about?!' which is a thing I really like about him. I think Sirius would have allowed him to believe his own hype, like, a lot.

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  8. raych16 February 2013 at 02:35

    Ultimately Snape wins because Alan Rickman is so much hotter than Gary Oldman. BOOM. *drops mic*

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    1. Kayleigh vW16 February 2013 at 17:52

      Damn. Infallible reasoning. They should have had Viggo Mortensen play Sirius (RIGHT?) but that would have been too on the nose. (But also now I love Gary Oldman forever - I cannot lie.) (But Alan Rickman wins the awesome-off.)

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    2. Laura17 February 2013 at 16:49

      Yep, can't argue with that. But also because he's SNAPE!!

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  9. Etudesque21 February 2013 at 04:55

    I love time-travel double endings! Yummy yummy paradoxes like saving yourself, etc.

    I love this book because you don't have to pick a Sirius/Snape side quite yet. Ride on the fence a bit and admire their pettiness for a bit :)

    Hermione is the best! I can't imagine struggling with double the course load and still having the energy and compassion to devote time to studying cases for Buckbeak!

    I think that even though Harry got his heart broken since he couldn't have some semblance of a family at the end of the book, it was for the best. I think he would have turned out to be really douchey, and Sirius would be such an enabler! Dude got him a firebolt, for goodness sake!

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