prillalar | Good things.

Good things.

I feel like I spend a lot of time complaining about things in the HP books, but I really do love them and I think JKR is brilliant. I'm re-reading OotP right now and here are a few of my favourite things:

* Harry's departure from the Dursleys: He felt as though his heart was going to explode with pleasure; he was flying again, flying away from Privet Drive as he'd been fantasizing about all summer, he was going home... And, of course, Harry is going into a situation that's as bad or worse than what he's left behind. The wizarding world is no longer a place of escape.

* Mrs Weasley tries to get rid of the Boggart, but it keeps turning into people she loves, lying dead on the floor. This scene vividly brought home the fear and danger they were all living under.

* Detention with Umbridge. The quill that cuts your lines into your skin was chilling and wonderfully inventive.

* Sirius singing God Rest Ye, Merry Hippogriffs.

* Weasley is our King.

* Draco's death threat to Harry. That was the first time that Draco really seemed dangerous. I hope he follows through.

* And my very favourite bit: Fred and George wheeled about to tumultuous applause from the students below and sped out of the open front doors into the glorious sunset.

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You know how Draco seemed really dangerous? Well, I am hoping against hope for that, but on the train on the way home, they dedicate two lines to him. Harry just turns him into a slug. End of story. No confrontation.

So I'm thinking it's not to be.

The two things I liked best, character wise in OotP, was Harry being jealous of Ron being a prefect, and James not being perfect.

You know how Draco seemed really dangerous? Well, I am hoping against hope for that, but on the train on the way home, they dedicate two lines to him. Harry just turns him into a slug. End of story. No confrontation.

Hey, man, you're harshing my buzz. La la la, Draco is an Evil Mastermind.

You know, I don't care what the hell JKR does to Draco as long as she does *something* you know? She can't get this guy who's a constant in Harry's life to turn out to be nothing.

I don't care if he's evil or suddenly becomes all good and repents his sins or he kills Voldemort or whatever.. as long has he doesn't get ignored.

I'm so worried.

Word. Something, anything, please.

I know! I'm worried too.

If this were RL, I'd say Draco would be better off being Ron's arch-nemesis. Ron pays way more attention to Draco than Harry ever does.

Hmm, must go on another Ron/Draco badfic reading binge soon.

OotP had some wonderful moments.

I adored Fred and George, especially when they were commentating on Molly's yelling at Mundungus.

I liked the Molly/Arthur, Sirius/Remus parallels in the discussion of what Harry should be told (even if I weren't onboard with S/R as lovers, just the way they act like old best friends makes me happy), and the whole, "Lupin was a good boy, he got the badge" thing.

The revelations of Sirius's family connections, and the Pensieve scene (even though it made me horribly sympathetic with Snape), and finally seeing the inside of St. Mungos - the Longbottoms, Lockhart, that poor werewolf in the bed next to Arthur's.

Luna Lovegood and Zacharias Smith. An actual personality for Ginny. The thestrals. Umbridge as the ultimate symbol of banal evil.

I liked the Molly/Arthur, Sirius/Remus parallels in the discussion of what Harry should be told (even if I weren't onboard with S/R as lovers, just the way they act like old best friends makes me happy), and the whole, "Lupin was a good boy, he got the badge" thing.

Oooh, I hadn't thought about the parallels there. Good point.

It is so sad, isn't it? Harry's refuge becoming a place just as bad as his nightmare foster home.

And Umbridge -- I went through a teacher like that in 6th grade. To this day I hate that man. I swear to you he was like some malignant progeny of Umbridge and Snape; if I saw him on the street I might just walk up and slap his face -- if I recognized it. I have somehow completely blotted his face out of my memory.

I need to go back and reread OotP; I'm just having a difficult time going back and facing all that unhappiness.

And I agree -- it would be a pleasure to see Draco as more than a vocal menace -- but then I'm happy to regard him as a villian.

I need to go back and reread OotP; I'm just having a difficult time going back and facing all that unhappiness.

I find that it's not so bad now, probably because I know what to expect. All the shocks are over.

* Harry's departure from the Dursleys: He felt as though his heart was going to explode with pleasure; he was flying again, flying away from Privet Drive as he'd been fantasizing about all summer, he was going home... And, of course, Harry is going into a situation that's as bad or worse than what he's left behind. The wizarding world is no longer a place of escape.

Yes.

I also loved the difference in Harry. He read to me as a bit Mary Sue-ish up until this point, and a little invisible in terms of his own character. I like him so so much better now. I loved watching him yell at people for no rational reason, sulk and generally act like a jerk. And we got more insight into what matters to him personally, as opposed to what everyone else is telling him all the time.

* Mrs Weasley tries to get rid of the Boggart, but it keeps turning into people she loves, lying dead on the floor. This scene vividly brought home the fear and danger they were all living under.

I always wondered why more Boggarts didn't take this form. My husband and I slept under the Down Comforter of Doom these last few nights - this monstrous thing would let you sleep outdoors in the Arctic and is WAY too hot for a regular house - and when I'm too hot at night I have constant nightmares. And the only thing I ever have nightmares about is people I love dying. Horribly, and usually in some way or another it's all my fault. I don't have action-adventure nightmares, ever. Arrggh. Must find a Down Comforter of Not So Much Doom, or a couple of plain blankets or something.

And Fred and George! *shivers* So good, that scene. There is no clearer way of demonstrating that Harry's world is now much, much bigger than Hogwarts.

I also loved the difference in Harry. He read to me as a bit Mary Sue-ish up until this point, and a little invisible in terms of his own character. I like him so so much better now. I loved watching him yell at people for no rational reason, sulk and generally act like a jerk. And we got more insight into what matters to him personally, as opposed to what everyone else is telling him all the time.

That's a good insight. I do find myself annoyed by Harry in OotP, mostly because he allows his hurt feelings to override his common sense. (Hmm, maybe like Snape in that regard?) But you're right that at least now he's *there*. The book is very focused on him, personally.

You know, I feel sorry that Snape was picked on when he was a kid, but he's an adult now. And it's not like Harry was the one picking on him. I think it's cruel and senseless to take out his hatred of Harry's father on Harry. Not like there's anything Harry could have done about it.

Snape seems pretty twisted generally -- Harry isn't the only one he bullies. I hope we get more insight into what's made him that way.

The Fred and George departure scene made me almost stand up and cheer right there in the coffee shop. But then I thought the other patrons might get mad at me for spoiling that there was something cheer-worthy in the book.

Umbridge was so deliciously evil, but in that day-to-day evil way, not the Dark Lord evil tyrant way. She was evil in that way everyone can recognize: we've all known someone who had a little Umbridge in them. That quill of her was awful.

Sirius singing God Rest Ye, Merry Hippogriffs.

I loved that. I'm going to go out on a limb and say I loved every bit of Sirius in OotP. His flaws only made him more interesting to me, whereas before I'd seen him as just another 'good adult' in Harry's life. OotP made me think about him and his life separate from Harry.

Draco's death threat to Harry. That was the first time that Draco really seemed dangerous. I hope he follows through.

Yeah, I'm really interested to see what Draco's like without his father's influence behind him. I got the feeling JKR was telling us something about what happens when grudges are kept for too long with Snape and Sirius, and then there was the Sorting Hat's song about uniting Hogwarts.... I think either he (and/or Slytherin as a whole) is going to have to hook up with the DA for something (thus uniting the houses), or he'll go totally to Voldemort's side. I agree with

wickedcherub above: I don't care what he does, just so long as he does something!

I adored McGonagall in every scene she had--the careers day scene, the Hagrid scene, I lurve her.

I also really liked Ginny in OotP: before she was just the girl withacrushonHarry, but now she's a Weasley in the best sense.

Sirius singing God Rest Ye, Merry Hippogriffs.

I loved that. I'm going to go out on a limb and say I loved every bit of Sirius in OotP. His flaws only made him more interesting to me, whereas before I'd seen him as just another 'good adult' in Harry's life. OotP made me think about him and his life separate from Harry.

*cheers, waves Sirius banner madly*

I loved that. I'm going to go out on a limb and say I loved every bit of Sirius in OotP. His flaws only made him more interesting to me, whereas before I'd seen him as just another 'good adult' in Harry's life. OotP made me think about him and his life separate from Harry.

Yes, exactly. I loved his mood swings and his near-fight with Snape and the way he threw that bag of dead rats onto a chair.

I adored McGonagall in every scene she had--the careers day scene, the Hagrid scene, I lurve her.

I think Hermione is going to be McGonagall when she grows up. I would hate to see either of them go evil -- they wouldn't be as poisonous as Umbridge, but they'd be twice as ruthless.

And my very favourite bit: Fred and George wheeled about to tumultuous applause from the students below and sped out of the open front doors into the glorious sunset.

That, and "Give her hell, Peeves", and Peeves saluting. Just the best. Due to having two fans in the house, we pre-ordered two copies to be delivered (my poor, poor postman) and so I kept on making little happy noises when good things happened, and my mum kept glaring at me because she didn't want to go. When that happened, I cheered, and she got quite cross :D

* Sirius singing God Rest Ye, Merry Hippogriffs

Sirius in OotP was just so fantastic. I loved that JKR gave her character some flaws - Harry was angry and took it out on his friends, Sirius was reckless, James was cruel etc. It made them so much more *real*. Some people didn't like it, but I loved it. I loved all the little subtext-y bits as well - Remus telling Sirius to "sit!" (I still think he should have given him a biscuit and called him a good boy afterwards), and the way he just stared at Sirius for pages and pages.

Mrs Weasley tries to get rid of the Boggart, but it keeps turning into people she loves, lying dead on the floor.

One of the scariest scenes in the book. Poor Molly is so afraid of losing her family, and Percy is being a big jerk and making her fear reality.

I loved all the little subtext-y bits as well - Remus telling Sirius to "sit!" (I still think he should have given him a biscuit and called him a good boy afterwards), and the way he just stared at Sirius for pages and pages.

Oh, god, yes. Looks like Remus has got a bit better at controlling his friends. *g*

And my very favourite bit: Fred and George wheeled about to tumultuous applause from the students below and sped out of the open front doors into the glorious sunset.

What I said to a friend when I read it in the first place (9 hours after it arrived in my house, I set it down and observed that everyone else had had dinner and gone to bed...kids were apparently for once in their lives clear on the "leave mom alone" concept...), was that Fred and George in this book were some (or one; I think they are uncleavable) of the best characters in a kids' book ever, because of this: even though they are constantly in trouble, they are not malicious--they are spirited, they accept responsibility for their own spiritedness, and when they bail, it's for a righteous reason. I love that she (JKR) came up with a way for them to revel in being their troublemaker selves in a way that untimately is responsible, opening a business, socking it to the real bad guy, and going with style in one deft maneuver.

And I completely, loudly, cheered when they accioed their brooms.

You're so right. They should have a series of books all to themselves, traditional school stories, not this Big Evil stuff. I'm in love with them both, only George is my favourite.

Hey, SMRT?

How would you feel about beta-ing this Harry/Draco I'm working on? I could use the help. Let me know and I'll send you what I've got and we'll...something?

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Good things.

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