One for Sorrow

I feel like I haven't posted in forever. I was away for a while for my brother's wedding, which was really fun. Although he's not too much like the character as a type, if I were to describe how my family feels about my brother, I think it's probably something like the way Neville fans feel about Neville...and his new wife's family and friends seem to feel the same way about her, so it was a pretty happy wedding.

Also, got an OUTSTANDING on the Level 3 WOMBAT--woo-hoo! I got O's on the second two and EE on the first one which was supposed to be the easiest. This is just like in high school when we'd get assigned summer reading and I'd get really into it and then get a bad grade when we were tested because they'd ask questions about ridiculous minutia in the story that I never remembered. The second two WOMBATs were about things I actually thought about. Anyway it’s pathetic how validated I feel about a pretend grade. But then, I was just as eager to find out Harry's OWL results and those were somebody else's pretend grades.

I'd wanted to post something before I left on this conversation I was reading on a list...I'm having trouble making it coherent, but figured I ought to throw it out before DH if I was going to throw it out at all. Especially after jlh posted about the anniversary of The Loving Decision, which ruled that a state (in that case, Virginia) could not nullify a marriage on the basis of race. I recommend the post. In it she also brought up the more fandom-related point of how difficult it seems it is to talk about race in fandom, and this other conversation was also about race in HP as related to real life racism. Specifically, this was about

( Snape's Worst Memory. )

Thank you to anyone who left a comment on dorrie6's love meme about me.:-D I can't overestimate how cool it is. Yay! (And every comment I left I mean double--there were so many people I had to say good things to, and I'm glad I got a chance!)
This weekend I saw Bad Day at Black Rock. It's one of those movies that I find almost more interesting to analyze than to watch—but good. I think because it contains a kind of redemption storyline that I really love. And I found a way to relate it to Harry Potter, of course. The fault also lies with black_dog, though, because we’ve been having these cool conversations about being a man.--( spoilers for BDABR )

I've been reading a few discussions about that fandom favorite, who is good or bad in HP. I think the reason I always find this kind of discussion pointless is that "good" is not a state of being, like being asleep or awake, blond or brunette. It's an on-going struggle in which your past choices influence what your next choice is but don't guarantee your next choice will be right.

( Even in HP )

Thinking about Snape and the UV and Draco's task got me thinking about Bellatrix, whom I hadn't thought about enough before...these things are therefore probably pretty obvious, but here I am putting them down anyway. ( Thoughts on Glory Up For Grabs and DE!Snape )

I've been feeling weirdly disconnected recently. I'm reading my flist, and I keep hitting reply and then winding up not replying. It must be the time of year or month or something. I'm just having trouble opening my mouth. So here I am forcing myself--for the good of the world or something.:-) Because I did find myself thinking HP thoughts today, mostly due to a conversation I was reading about whether or not there would be someone revealed as ESE! in book 7. The point was made, and I agreed, that the bigger mystery for Book 7 seemed to lie in hidden allies rather than enemies, with Harry getting to know himself by coming to a new understanding of people he hated. That made me think about ( What sort of things Harry's been set up to see in his least favorite Slytherins--besides Tom Riddle perhaps. )

Happy birthday westmoon!!

I've been following a rather long discussion about Harry's getting special treatment in the books, and have something to say about it (pause for expressions of shock). It has gotten into a good area, I think, which is the idea of people resenting special treatment regardless of the reason for it. Think, for instance, about children with serious diseases and their siblings. I believe it's generally understood that siblings can feel jealous of the attention paid to the sick child, and that these feelings should be addressed and not just dismissed by saying the child should feel lucky he doesn't have a disease. Of course the child doesn't want to feel sick; but the jealousy speaks to an anxiety about how he's felt about by his parents or whatever.

So that led me to realize the three characters in HP canon who get the most focused on Harry's special treatment are all characters with issues about themselves not being special--or worse. It's not about Harry, really--Harry could be carried to class by Veelas every day and it wouldn't bother them as much if they were happy in themselves, but as it is they just can't not let it bother them. If you look at what happens to these characters in canon their experience seem to all speak to this same issue. We're not inside their heads hearing about how this is an issue, but JKR is constantly thinking up new things to happen to them that play on it where they're not good enough or don't triumph. I think that's as close as she can come to telling us this is an issue.

( The characters I'm thinking of are Ron, Draco and Snape. )

I was reading a discussion on a list about...well, at least what I made it about...was what kids in Snape's class are supposed to "learn" from his bad behavior. Snape seems monstrous to Neville because Neville is young and insecure, but Neville conquers Snape with his Riddikulus spell, making him look silly, and that's what he has to do in his life. Scary teachers often become not so scary when you grow up, and Snape may shrink a lot. The main point being that what's wrong with Snape is often that he's never grown up, and it's more important not to be Snape than it is to get back at Snape. When Dumbledore explains to Harry that the Occlumency lessons failed because he thought Snape could conquer his own demons and he couldn't, the implication is that Harry can hear this because he is a man who can conquer his demons. Neville's third-year boggart is a kid one. Later on he seems to get different priorities as he's able to really understand what happened to his parents and feel he should fight for justice on their behalf.
Naturally, where this is really going is Draco.:-) ( Well, actually Harry and Draco and Snape. )

So that was my thought. Marigold has retired to the country because it's hard for my roommate to carry her up and down the stairs with one arm, and she doesn't want to drop her. :-(

Happy birthday jewelsong and tiranog!!

I've been thinking about how magic works, I think mostly due to recent conversations about Dumbledore's death and the duel in the bathroom in HBP. My reactions to those things got a little more complicated than I originally expected, and connected to magic in general in the Potterverse, but I think it's important for interpreting that bathroom scene, in particular.

( Magic in the Potterverse--err, long )

HBP having been out for a while now, there are two widely-held fandom theories that I feel out of synch with, so whoever cares to, what are your thoughts? One of the thing's that ultimately frustrating about HBP for me is that there's *a lot* of times where we just don't know who knows how much of what when. It's easy to miss little bits of into that way--for instance, I've heard people suggest that DD doesn't know about Snape's UV, that Snape would never tell him, when that's one thing we do know that DD knows, because Harry overhears Snape and Draco talking about it (thus Draco also knows, which he might not have) and tells it to Dumbledore. Are we supposed to believe that any scene Harry witnessed he's allowed to tell his friends about was given to them in such detail it's like they were there?

[Poll #561852]

( My own thoughts. )

I still have yet to receive my book. So this post may be filled with things that are off, or I may miss completely obvious things that have to do with the subject. It's very hard for me to write about Snape without going over stuff again, and without knowing some of the basic facts we're intentionally not told. Anyway, still, it came into my head so I'm throwing it out. I did that post about Father Figures and Draco, and I couldn't help but think about how fabulous it is from the other side for ( Papa Snape. )