"Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon, doesn't mean we all have.'"

Oh man. This section of OotP has so much going on that I have EIGHT PAGES of notes to somehow fit into this post. Because SO MUCH STUFF, and SNAPE and OMG NEVILLE, and ok, I'm going to stop shouting things and just write in sentences and things now, ok?

Much as I just want to jump in and talk about Snape's memory, I'm just going to go ahead and save that til last because I have TOO MANY EMOTIONS and I don't want to expend them all in one go and be too tired to write about other things. So, let's talk about Cho.

Because, up until this week, I've pretty much thought of her as basically harmless, and I definitely didn't hate her for, like, 'taking Ginny's man' or whatever, but... I know what the problem is now. It's that, she's such a massive GIRL. And I don't know if this is JK going 'well, girls, if you act like this then everyone's going to think you're really annoying so STOP IT' or if she genuinely wanted Cho to be a sympathetic character, but it feels like a lot of the stuff Cho does is because she feels like girls should act that way, as opposed to it being how she wants to act. LIKE her whole jealousy thing with Hermione, which I really think is RIDICULOUS (but then, I am in Harry's head, pretty much, so...) and she must know that, if they wanted to be boyfriend and girlfriend, then they would be by now, ffs.

And then also she's all like 'let's go to this twee tea room and you can tell me how pretty I am!' and I'm just like 'Just stop it. Please. BE MORE INTERESTING.' And she's not, and it's annoying, and I guess it's because JK wants to get Harry and Ginny together, and also because she wants to show how the fantasy of a person is rarely the reality of them, but still. It's kind of disappointing and makes me roll my eyes a lot.

ST MUNGOS! Firstly, I have to say that, even though I (evidently) don't like Sirius, I'm actually really happy that he didn't have to spend Christmas just with Kreacher, because that is the depressingest. But also, I didn't want ARTHUR (surely the best of the Weasleys) to be attacked by, apparently, snake Harry! Anyway- the first hospital visit is awesome because Mr W gossips about the other patients and OMG that is entirely what happens when people are in Hospital (I'm a pro, trust me.) So it's nice to know wizards aren't above that.

BUT THEN. The Christmas day visit just makes me want to cry in all the ways. I think it's the adorablest that Lupin goes and sits with the werewolf patient because that guy really needs a friend, and Lockhart! You are back and still ridiculous. But then, obviously, there's Neville. Did I get the biggest lump in my throat a person has ever had when I read this?

"Neville looked around at the others, his expression defiant as though daring them to laugh, but Harry did not think he'd ever found anything less funny in his life."

 There's a bit in GoF where Harry wonders if Neville hasn't had a worse time of it than him, having parents who are alive, but unreachable, and I feel like... Well, it's not a competition, but how terrible does that seem? Saving sweet wrappers because they're all his mum is capable of giving him... I JUST CAN'T.

Now, it's Snape time.

The memory Harry sees in the pensieve is one of the things from all of the books that I remember the most, the one that pretty solidly forms my view of Snape, and that has made me think A LOT over the past week. I have feelings, you guys, and I'm about to word vomit them out in front of you. Be ready.

SO. Firstly and very importantly, I don't think that 'we were only fifteen', has ever been a valid excuse for anything, least of all bullying, you know, 'the weird kid.' Because, like Harry says, HE'S fifteen, and he's actually never bullied anyone because he has a sense of decency and he knows what it's like to be the victim, which also means that he can put himself in Snape's shoes and look at his father and think 'well... Maybe he wasn't all that,' which is kind of sad, but at the same time, who would want to live in that shadow?

And then there's Snape himself, who, as the victim of bullying you would think would kind of be nice to people and not pick on certain students (Harry) and not let other students (Malfoy) pick on certain other students (Harry. Anyone who isn't Malfoy.) because he HAS to know that shit is going on. Here's the trouble with Snape and his attitude towards Harry- because Harry is James's son, and because he looks so much like him, Snape automatically thinks of Harry as being LIKE James, which means he wants to hurt him like he was hurt by James (which is bad. But I get it.) But what Snape forgets (or maybe never knew) is that, Harry isn't like James because Harry wasn't raised by James, and was, in fact, raised by people who didn't like him, where HE was bullied on pretty much a daily basis.

If they understood how alike some of their situations are, maybe they'd be able to find some common ground and not be assholes at each other. But, you know, DRAMA AND TENSION are always good.

Here is A Thing: Sirius pretty much tries to justify why James hated Snape so much by saying that it was because Snape was into the Dark Arts, which James always really hated. Fair enough for James- but you know what? When I was 15, I was into reading a lot of Stephen King (yep. Always) and listening to Nirvana and, like, not talking to people (I'm basically still the same, actually...) but that didn't mean that I was about to shoot up loads of heroin and, I don't know, murder children because how does that mean that? But the thing is, wanting to know about the Dark Arts, and then having kind of a good reason to use them (constant abuse) is BOUND to have an effect on someone and make them, I don't know, do something really stupid and become a Death Eater or something.

You COULD say that James and Sirius's actions, then, CREATED a dark wizard, rather than doing anything to prevent the Dark Arts. You could totally make that argument and I wouldn't disagree with you, and yet again we're learning that the things that seem like they should be good can actually be doing evil just by not doing good. (Is this a sentence that makes sense? Not really. I didn't get much sleep last night.)

In conclusion, Sirius and James suck, Lupin is a good boy for making them ashamed of themselves sometimes, and I love you, Snape, but I just wish you were better.

I am foregoing the bullet points this week because of my aforementioned tiredness, but I just have to do a shoutout for Fred and George- firstly, I love them for basically only sticking around Hogwarts because, like, Dumbledore wanted them to, and secondly, their exit was pretty cool- I can't decide if I prefer theirs or Dumbles', but since theirs annoyed Umbridge more, I think that's what I'm going to have to go with. ALSO I have to thank them for the fireworks that led to my favourite kind of humour- when Umbridge tries to Stupefy them, and then says "'Don't Stun them, Filch!' shouted Umbridge angrily, for all the world as though it had been his incantation." If in doubt, blame someone else.

This gif is not relevant, except it's TOTALLY relevant. AND I just found it so there.