A most excellent weekend

[nineveh_uk]

In which despite transport disruption, I got to London and enjoyed 8 hours of play at Lord’s yesterday in beautiful weather, a glorious picnic, and the amusingly competitive conversation of the women in the seats behind us. Oh, and a book was published.


First, to address the act in the book that is least excusable, most inspired by desire for personal gain at the expense of the feelings and rights of others, but if my younger sister had been in my room, reading my personal letters, I’d have thought death-by-Voldemort too good for her.

I rather enjoyed it, though less I think than I enjoyed Half-Blood Prince. I would have liked less charging around the countryside (though I did like the depiction of the Quest as tedious, time-consuming, and not all that effective as a strategy), and a lot more conversation and confrontation with the Bad People earlier in the book. Flying Voldemort was effectively creepy, and I was entertained in a Schadenfreude sort of way by the use the Death Eaters made of the “I’m so brave, I say his name” attitude of the heroes. I never expected a full explanation of the Werewolf Incident, so I wasn’t disappointed not to get one. I did expected Snape to be Good, though I wish he had lived, and a last year spent as Hogwarts Headmaster was probably not his life’s ambition. The business with the wands irritated me much of the way through, and though I liked Harry working out that he could defeat Voldemort with Draco’s, I didn’t find that worth the rest of it. On the Black front, Molly fighting Bellatrix was both unexpected and effective, and if Voldemort doesn't want her mooning over him, he should have thought about that earlier, Narcissa betraying Voldemort for Draco’s sake lets me say “I was right”, and Andromeda was not a cuddly werewolf-loving mother-in-law (I now need to write a fic in which she is massively annoyed that she is expected to give up everything to look after her orphaned grandchild). Neville’s Gran dashing off to join the fight requires fic. I see from a_t_rain that I am not the only one to assume that Hermione did not ask her parents’ permission before brainwashing them, and whilst I’m sure she’ll be keen on action against the Muggleborn Registration Committee, I’m not convinced that the WW’s attitude to Muggles will become any more enlightened in the near future. I anticipate much Grindelwald/Dumbledore slash (and I was glad to see that Grindelwald had been imprisoned rather than killed). As I first entered fandom the year before Goblet of Fire courtesy of loads of internet-surfing time towards the end of a summer job, google, and the Yahoo! “Harry Potter for Grown-Ups” list (which I never read much, but enjoyed the theories), I was massively entertained that Tew Eww turned out to be true, and it’s a rare children’s book that features goat fiddling.

(ETA: Much as I sniggered childishly at all the wand jokes, I felt this could have been better phrased:
"Hagrid was struggling, and Bellatrix was panting, and Harry thought inexplicably of Ginny, and her blazing look, and feel of her lips on his --")

I loathed the Epilogue, more I think for the shift in style than for the actual content. I’d much rather have had a brief paragraph on each of the major characters than Happy Families, though I was amused by Malfoy’s receding hairline, which struck me as authorial smirk on a line with the revelation that Philip Boyes was bad in bed, without the narrative justification, and am resigned at seeing Harry and Ginny carrying on the old Evans and Weasley family traditions of failing to act against sibling victimisation, thus setting up the next cycle of disaster.

And well done, Dudley.

Lastly, it has all left enormous possibilities for fic.

I’ll start with a very small one.

He had split his soul once, long ago, and later Dumbledore had trusted him because the old man had seen that Snape’s remorse was genuine, had seen the torn soul heal. Now he was asked to split it again, and he knew that however Dumbledore dressed it up as mercy for an old friend, that could not be why Snape would kill him, that he did hate the man, and that for Lily’s sake his soul would, again, be lost.

Comments

[alliekiwi.livejournal.com]

Lucky you for the cricket. I'm stuck down here with rugby, rugby and MORE rugby. Plus a little ... rugby... for light relief.

At least there is a smidgen of netball to take my mind off men who enjoy cuddling too much and are overly fond of oval balls.

I think the entire purpose of the Epilogue was more to put a stop to any rumours of a sequel than to actually really tell a bit of story. It was clichéd in the extreme. The only thing I liked aobut it was Draco's hairline. However, hello, how many fanfic authors came up with those names for Harry and Ginny's offspring and we all groaned at the time?

As I read about the Muggleborn Registration Committee I did wonder if JKR had been a fan of all those Marriage Law fics where Hermione has to marry Snape (or Draco or some other Pureblood that isn't a Weasley).

The plot inconsistencies - not to mention the punctuation errors - peeved me no end. How much are the editors paid to not do their jobs properly?

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I am not a rugby person, though my sister is Keen. In gnereal, though, I prefer not to stand outside in winter for a couple of hours.

You may be right about the Epilogue - it's very much a "this is what happened afterwards" sort of thing (and I wish we knew what happened to Luna), it doesn't really _add_ anything. We could have guessed all of it.

Re. Marriage Law fics, I wonder if anyone has ever done one when Hermione has to marry Ron and it goes horribly wrong?

[alliekiwi.livejournal.com]

I've seen one story where Hermione could see the future of different paths. She sees what it would be like being married to Harry and Ron (both miserable marriages for a variety of reasons), and then a happy marriage to someone who is more her intellectual equal, is fabulously endowed to match the size of his nose etc etc.

But then I've hardly made a study of the things. *grin*

[greenwoodside.livejournal.com]

I read the leaked epilogue before the rest, and spent a lot of my time last week telling anyone who would listen that it was too crap to be the genuine article. Much embarassment followed.

The goat jokes ruled. Best part of the book. And the dubious lines about wands.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I think had I seen the Epilogue first I'd have though ??snff?? Really I think the problem is that it is rather po-faced. Philosopher's Stone is much, much simpler in sn style compared to the later books, but is very, very funny. The Epilogue was simply square.

I would feel for your embarrassment, but that's the price you pay for entereing the spoiler pit :-)

[alliekiwi.livejournal.com]

JKR said that one character got a reprieve from dying, and two characters who weren't supposed to die, did.

Any thoughts about who she was referring to?

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

*buts in*

I'd bet anything that she'd set Hagrid up to be an Innocent Victim of War and at the last minute simply couldn't bear to go through with it - I'm pretty sure I remember her saying that she's always had a soft spot for Hagrid.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

That sounds pretty plausible (and I'm glad he lived). I suspect Tonks and Lupin as the extra canon fodder.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Lupin and Tonks, or perhaps Colin (his death did seem to come very much out of the blue).

[alliekiwi.livejournal.com]

I think possibly Hagrid as well. Or maybe Draco. Hmmm, maybe not Draco as it did have Harry et al saving his life twice and that was building up to the confrontation that involved Draco's wand. (I would have loved to see Draco's reaction to the news about the Elder Wand, by the way. Argh, plot bunny.)

As for the two she Did In having not intended to previously, I'm wondering about Remus and Tonks. The more I think about it, I think it was them.

I think Hedwig was necessary to stop Harry having a way to contact anyone whilst he and Hermione were camping, and if he'd left her safely somewhere, other people could have used her to try and contact him.

I think Dobby was necessary to get the Goblin on Harry's side.

Ted Tonks seemed to be incidental - we didn't really see much of him, so I can't see him as more than a side note to the story, so it hardly seems JKR would be in two minds aobut killing him. Same with the almost throw away comment about Colin dying.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

though I wish he had lived, and a last year spent as Hogwarts Headmaster was probably not his life’s ambition.

You can't help feeling for Snape, can you? To spend the last year of your life plotting to sacrifice it for someone you can't stand - and, as a child-hater, to be entirely surrounded by children...

As to the Epilogue, I though it was all a bit pointless and sappy, but there you go. As for the disastrous cycles thing, I wouldn't read too much into kids teasing each other. I mean, what are younger siblings for, if not that? ;)

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I hope Snape gets Valhalla - he's clearly spent the last year in Hell (liked his outrage at DD's intentions for Harry, "Yes, Severus, I am planning that the boy will die, surely you don't think this is wrong coz it could only be wrong if you Liked him".

I think my feelings about the kids in the Epilogue is that rough-and-tumble friendly teasing in families is an awful lot more fun if you're Fred and George than if you're Ron and Percy! Though I loved Draco's son being called Scorpius.

[dolabellae.livejournal.com]

She's not really interested in the Bad People, is she? Can't be bothered to keep Death Eaters' names and generations clear & straight, chucks in new names in the last couple of books and totally ignores those she introduced earlier in the series (what, me? personal grievance? no....) I was surprised that we got as much Malfoy & Bella stuff as we did, to be honest.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

::puts on suitable Susan Carter cum Duchess accent::

"It's not that I have any personal objection to Yaxley, I'm sure he's perfectly good walk-on villain, but he's hardly one of our old crowd, now, is he?"

[alliekiwi.livejournal.com]

Yaxley annoyed me in that had we even heard of him before, yet he gets first page mentions? Could we not have had some other Death Eater we actually knew. Yay for introducing lots of new characters in the Seventh and Final book.

[dolabellae.livejournal.com]

Yaxley did turn up in HBP - mentioned in the Spinner's End chapter, iirc. Which is fair enough - twelve DEs, most of whom we'd heard of before, got taken off to Azkaban at the end of OotP and Voldemort was letting them stew a bit for punishment, so JKR did need some new names. And she did go back to Dolohov and Travers, at least.

Dammit, someone's agreeing with me! I was just ready to feel all daft and pathetic for minding that she wasn't keeping proper account of her one-note villains!

[alliekiwi.livejournal.com]

I suppose we have other instances of one-line comments turning into something Important. E.g. when they found the locket at Grimmauld Place in OotP and it turns out to be of vital import later on.

(Thus, I thought that the wand in Ollivander's shop was going to turn out to be Ravenclaw's wand, or - once we knew about it - the Elder Wand. Red Herring, drat it.)

Since she has a history of doing things like, I suppose I should have expected her to do it with people as well. But Yaxley didn't turn out to be Important, dispite his earlier mention. He was just a body with a name, there to converse with Snape.

[alliekiwi.livejournal.com]

That should have been 'the wand in Ollivander's shop window, by the way. Considering the numbers of wands in the shop itself!

The fact that it was just there, sitting on a cushion, almost screamed 'look at me!'

[dbassassin.livejournal.com]

My impression is that she wrote the epilogue first of the entire series, and the books were all written to end up there. The ghastly style is not all that different from that of the first book (just without the humour, interesting plot, etc).

There were lots of wonderful little things in the book (you go, Augusta!!!), but for me none of them can compensate for the putrescence of the Snape/Lily; though I expected it was coming, I didn't expect it to be as awful as this.

[marciamarcia.livejournal.com]

I feel firmly that the the "Neville's Heroes" subplot made up for any residual squickyness I felt about Snape pining for Lily.

I now have this great mental image of Filch wandering around Hogwarts going "I see nuuuting. I hear nuuuting." And maybe Snape in a monocle.

Neville becoming a semi-dashing badass covers a multitude of sins.

[dbassassin.livejournal.com]

"Neville's Heroes"! Awesome!

Yes, Snape in a monocle would have compensated for a lot. The badassitide that is now canon Neville did make the Neville-loving corner of my heart go pitterpat. But really, ever since OotP we knew ole' Nev had it in him; all he needed was to get out from under Harry's shadow.

I guess the Snape/Lily hit me so hard because in doing it Rowling effectively emasculated/gutted the only decent Slytherin character she had. Snape's life isn't about Snape anymore; it's become nothing more than an immature obsession wrapped up in a lot of snark. She's removed all effective agency from a character who she'd always presented before as being so strong-willed; it cames across to me as cheap at best.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

just without the humour, interesting plot, etc
My feelings exactly. PS is pretty simple, really, but it is also quite a charming style, an easy read, and very, very funny. The Epilogue is just rather leaden.

I'm afraid I like Snape/Lily, so no sympathy from me there!

[dbassassin.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's the thing I've very much missed since she shifted into Tome Mode: the charm of the early books, the whimsy (*snicker*) of them. And what's presented as humour in the later books is just painful to read a lot of the time.

And yes, I know the Snape/Lily goes down well in some crowds. I don't have an issue with the shippiness so much as how she used it to emasculate and infantilise (*ponders if that's even a word*) what had been a great character.

Oh well. She's done and he's ours now!!! *cackles madly* :D

[aerama.livejournal.com]

Now that the 'little less conversation, a little more action' song is in my HEAD

And of course now that your ETA about the wand joke is ALSO in my head, with images no less -

what the hell was I going to say? Oh yes.
Still riding high on the Dudley moment. That was so cool.

And you're right, it was a shift in style for the Epilogue. Huh. I bet it was a relief to her to write like that for a change.

Count me in on the shock with the unexpectedly-rapier-like Andromeda. Guess she is a Black after all. Apples not falling too far from the tree and all that. Remus would have had to watch out else Tonks would turn into her mother...still a damn shame about Remus and Tonks. Even if I didn't like the rush-rush-rush/Remus raging aspects, it's like everything got snatched away, all promise gone. Yeah so there's a multicolored werewolf (maybe) cub. Eh.

Very very very nice fic possibility you've got there. VERY nice.


*bookmarks link*

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Sorry! It was used here a couple of years ago in an advery for repeats of "Pride and Prejudice", run over the top of the dancing to amusing effect.

I was very pleased with Andromeda. I am already working on the fic with her irritation at being expected to drop everything to raise the child becase, with it being a metamorphmagus, Ted's parents can't. As you can imagine, everything is not dropped.

[sorg-esp.livejournal.com]

Well, you don't have to get rid of Ted if you don't want. If the OoP, according to DD was capable of faking a death, why your Andromeda wouldn't be?. In fact, we don't see a body or a funeral, we only listen to Lee.

And I prefer dark haired Andromeda much more than ligh brown.

(Really really wishing that fic is on the web very sooooonnnn!)

[richenda.livejournal.com]

Are Who and Potter becoming inseparable?

We got Who using Expelliarmus, and now Voldemort has learned to Elevate.