One for Sorrow

I was reading bookshop's post on OTPs (I took out the link because it's f'locked--oops!) including H/D, and along the way the subject came up of JKR putting jokes in the books for fans--easy to spot jokes. And one came up that I've always actually been kind of interested in, because I think it goes deeper than a joke, which is ( Myrtle as Draco's fangirl. )

I was on HP4GU today and realized there was an actual Draco-related issue in HBP that I hadn't written thousands of words about--and it relates to Snape too! Anyway, we were talking about Harry feeling remorse about Sectumsempra even though it was self-defense yadda yadda, and I realized there was something I was kind of dancing around in talking about the scene that seemed really obvious but I actually don't think I've ever read much about it from this angle. ( Draco crying in the bathroom. )

Btw, how much do I love Stephen Colbert for putting Gwyneth Paltrow's head on his shelf? It's still the best moment in her career, imo.

Happy birthday millefiori!!

I was reading a thread on HP4GU today--naturally a long-running thread that I think started with the question of Dumbledore's placing Harry with the Dursleys and it echoed Sirius' life in a weird way for me, in a Meta-way. It started as a conversation about just what business it was of Dumbledore's to decide who Harry lived with. Like, if you accept that the Dursleys are just supposed to be the best choice, it still comes down to Dumbledore alone being the one to make it, as if he's got any connection to this kid at all beyond Harry's being really important to his personal plans for the future.

But it kept getting into all these criticisms of Sirius as a guardian to Harry. Criticisms that were really beside the point. The criticisms weren't particularly radical--he's immature, he's reckless--and he was always these things, it wasn't just Azkaban, because remember the Prank. But to me, actually, it seems like what was Sirius doom as a character wasn't only his own flaws but the fact that he ( just wasn't important enough to Dumbledore. )

pauraque has started a re-read of PS/SS, which is up to chapter four. Hagrid has arrived to take Harry away. Heh. The first time I read the book I remember being incredibly impatient at this point--we know the kid is special, so why are they dragging out his return to the WW with a thousand owls and a trip to the sea? If that kid didn't just slip a letter in his pocket soon I was going to stop reading right there.

Ahem. Anyway, so the subject of Petunia came up, and I said some of this over there, but I figured she deserved a post, especially since I've discovered a very strong and disturbing way that I identify with the woman. ( Poor Petunia. )

I'm all wibbly over colin_creevy going postal over on nocturne_alley. Wah. I have decided to take my wibbliness and channel it into ( how I feel about Hagrid, particularly with regards to Draco )