~~ to start with... (HBP post 1/??!)
Jul. 19th, 2005 03:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reenkaI really wanted to type up my notes and scan my doodles before I did this, but of course I glanced at my flist and my poor brain was set off on more analytical paths.... Woe. I'll still post my reading diary thingie, if only to run through the whole book in my mind again. I'm really not the rereading sort (that is to say, I've never fully reread anything longer than a short story in my life.)
So ...Finally, my first still-barely-coherent book overview post. Snape, Dumbledore, Ginny, Draco & the Trio.
- Snape & Dumbledore -
I just felt I had to say something after seeing this Snape post, because I came to the same conclusion (Snape isn't a traitor) through different means almost entirely.... Well, that is to say, emotional rather than analytical.
Basically, I trusted Snape fully around the same time I fully trusted Dumbledore-- they seem almost synonymous in my mind for some reason. I can't necessarily go back and pinpoint when my trust in Dumbledore (never nonexistent, just not exactly enthusiastic) solidified; I think it was when he told Harry about the horcruxes and we saw him guessing and scheming and basically saw how his mind works. The less he was giving platitudes and telling Harry what he wanted to hear and the more he was pushing Harry (even giving him direct orders reassured me), the more I trusted him.
Dumbledore's treatment of Draco (complete certitude in front of Harry, and yet awareness of what was going on all along) also set the tone for me: he makes it his business to know as much as possible & say only what's useful or necessary to hear without being a lie. He withholds, yes, and he was even -honest- about that (which reassured me and kept Harry satisfied), but he doesn't say non-fully-substantiated things as fact. He admits when something is conjecture even when his conjectures are better than most people's facts. We've seen this at work with his super-detective stuff about the horcruxes (seriously, I'm pretty impressed-- don't think Dumbledore even uses the library like Hermione does, ahahah).
Dumbledore: he knows whass goin' on.
Just in a purely meta, anvilicious sense, too-- much like Hermione is like, never wrong about facts-- Harry should really figure that out, ahahah. That much, I don't think is really arguable anymore (though Harry could be forgiven for not figuring that out, 'cause Snape does, indeed, hate him and I suspect Harry will never be happy with -any- reason for Snape to have done a lot of the things he did).
The stage for Snape not being actually evil was set in the second chapter, I believe-- I felt uneasy (though shocked! and somewhat gleeful 'cause I liked evil!Snape a lot if only 'cause he's the anti-fanon!Snape and also much more feral and er, dark, which is my thing). But anyway, I still felt that niggling doubt, if nothing else because he never actually proved he knew what was going on with Voldemort; he seemed to be bullshitting, though really well. Plus he's a Legilimens and could just read the story off Narcissa's mind; plus he wouldn't let Wormtail (who should have an idea of what Snape would & wouldn't know) listen. It was... fishy.
As soon as Dumbledore said 'please, Severus', I immediately assumed he was asking for something other than his life; that option is not even there, basically. There was no way for me to read it that way; at that point Dumbledore must be talking about the sudden rock-and-a-hard-place they all found themselves in, no more time, the Death Eaters mutinous and about to turn on Draco, etc. The 'revulsion' is what tipped me off big-time; but really it was a dozen little things.
Another big thing, actually, isn't his overreaction to the 'coward' accusation but rather his telling Harry to make his spells silent and to work harder, and also basically telling him he's not going to be a Dark wizard so he should stop even pretending. That was Snape being a professor to Harry, and I pretty much melted. It was so touching, I swear!! I was like, awwwww. And at that point I forgave Snape everything & trusted him even when he basically hexed Harry or whatever he did. Well, I mean, he was pretty pissed.
Also!! Snape as the Half-blood Prince makes me all 'aww' about his never-to-be 'normal' relationship to Harry as well. See, there's all this potential for Harry to admire him, to enjoy potion-making, to enjoy his humor, even, I think. It's really Snape that's usually been going out of his way to curtail any bonding they might have, but I sort of consider Harry's admiration of the Half-blood Prince to be 'bonding', of sorts. I really do think that whether or not Harry was following Snape's modified potions, it shows innate skills that he was able to so well, because whether they're original or modified, the subject-matter of the instructions remained the same. The only difference is that book!Snape is a much better teacher than real!Snape, and actually helped Harry feel excited/interested in the subject.
In a way, I think I've come out of HBP most intensely fascinated with the Harry/Snape relationship, because the others (Harry/Draco included) seem either stable & resolved, or fully on their way to resolution. It's only Harry/Snape that's really boiling and bubbling and dark & murky with unrealized potential right now. There's all this hate & potential bonding that may never happen. I just love it the more I think about it, in a similar but less shippy manner that I loved OoTP!H/D.
I also think that his need for vengeance against Snape is holding Harry back now the way his focus on dehumanizing Malfoy used to hold him back (now I guess it's out of his system, mostly, after overdosing on obsession through the whole book), so of course I'm fascinated with it. The monster started off in OoTP (when he tried blaming Snape for Sirius) and just keeps growing and growing. Actually, Snape's irrationality towards Harry is holding -him- back, too. So yeah, I expect to see that resolved in the next book-- yes, I've learned my lesson, so I say 'expect' instead of 'hope tremulously' :D
~~
- Harry, Ron & Hermione -
It was at the end of the book that I finally realized how much the three of them-- their unit-- was essential both to Harry's identity and his well-being. I think it was hammered home throughout the book, because it seemed like though Harry -wanted- to be secretive and easily closed-off, and was with most people (including Ginny in parts), he just couldn't, absolutely -couldn't- shut Ron & Hermione out no matter what, and if he does (the way I'm also guilty of writing him along with most people in H/D fanfics), it's only a brief attempt to protect them until he realizes they all protect each other. Even Dumbledore drives this point home, with saying Harry's free to tell Ron & Hermione about the horcruxes, but no one else.
At the end, where they basically tell him he's stuck with them, he doesn't even try to question it; he accepts it the way he'd accept what Dumbledore said. He just trusts them 110%, basically.
I mean, yeah, I think it's always been clear, but never has the Trio-as-a-unit been -this- strong a theme since possibly book 1. Harry spent the whole book as a go-between with Ron & Hermione, trying equally hard to stay friends with both of them even when they weren't talking to each other. In book 4, Harry might have abandoned one and 'kept' the other, but I really got the feeling Harry's not prepared to do that anymore. Harry values them both equally; there are just -so- many scenes where he consciously tries to give each what they want but most importantly, what they need. He's not being thoughtlessly selfish in an interpersonal way almost for the first time in the books; he's constantly thinking of how they feel, trying to reassure Hermione about Ron or bolster Ron's confidence about Quidditch. I get this overwhelming sense that their happiness is more important to him than his own.
As for Ron and Hermione, they too always think of each other protectively even if they're fighting. I think it's very telling that Hermione'd never throw hexing McLaggen in Ron's face no matter what, and I think it wasn't just a sign of her thing for Ron that she did it. And then there's this feeling of solidarity and exasperated-yet-fond protectiveness when Ron's trying to avoid Lavender without displaying any of the 'romantic' demandingness that makes Ron uncomfortable with Lavender. Even though it was blindingly obvious Hermione had a crush on him at that point, she's very pointedly giving Ron his space the whole time, like only blushing & saying Lavender shouldn't overhear Ron's l-word slip-up.
I think it's meaningful and important, that even though it couldn't be more clear that Ron & Hermione have a mutual crush on one another at this point, the book ends with them all being equally dedicated friends. Because that's what they need from each other.
With Ron, he's more loyal than ever, it seems. His main serious objection to trying for Ginny is Ron. He goes out of his way to bolster Ron's confidence in Quidditch, plotting and scheming and paying more attention than he's -ever- done consciously, and I don't think it's just because he's Captain in the slightest. The last year, Ron was successful almost in spite of Harry, because Harry was lost in his own little world, but this year Harry woke up & realized that he better look out for his mates (shown even in his affection for Luna & Neville, the people most loyal to him). It's just that with Ron, it's not a question of loyalty as an attribute, because Ron-- and in a way, all the Weasleys except Percy, but even Percy has his Ministry-- just are the personification of loyalty.
But yes, it's more than loyalty at this point, of course. It's unconditional love & support, which he realized he needed after Sirius died, I think. It kind of jolted Harry into appreciating what he had, I think, awkwardly/over-rationally as I found it to be written. I think Harry took his grief and turned it into active love & concern for his friends, and I think that's what Dumbledore was talking about when he said Harry was 'unique' in ways Voldemort didn't get. Harry has friends, and in a lot of ways, that's this book's bottom line about him.
~~
- Ginny and Harry -
I really feel the 'monster' inside Harry that wakes up at the sight of her kissing Dean is probably both metaphorical (jealousy/lust = green-eyed monster) and also significant in terms of its possible connection to the Tom-bits and/or powers inside him (which I always assumed he had-- Parseltongue, anyone?-- without needing to name him the last horcrux).
Even though I find the H/G relationship kind of um, awkwardly introduced (or just-- not introduced so much as dropped on our heads), I can see many, many ways in which it's right for Harry in a meta sense. A lot of times after they got together especially, I was relieved because Ginny is something that's all Harry's, it seems-- I feel like her loyalty is to him alone, and trumps her consideration for & friendship with Ron and Hermione. Mostly, I'm thinking of the time she snarled at Hermione and told her to back off about the Half-blood Prince book, and Harry felt all warm & fuzzy because that's what he -wanted- and needed, and unconsciously felt Ginny could give to him. He wants someone to love him absolutely, in a completely pure and focused way (sort of like a mother would but not, you know what I mean), and Ginny has been that person since she met him.
She even says so herself at Dumbledore's funeral; though Harry wants and needs a girl to understand he needs space to be 'the hero alone' (and possibly even dig that like Ginny says she does) and to be independent herself, he wants her to be his. Basically, Ginny is almost tailor-made for him; she's a Weasley, she's fiery and independent, free-thinking and fearless on the one hand and loving and loyal and his on the other. I think both things are something he really needs. And yeah, both are things he's not ready to have yet, not while he hasn't quite worked out who he is and whether he can protect her in turn as he wants to or not. In other words, he somehow knows that she's his 'forever and a picket fence', it seems like, and wants to be ready for that before he takes it, as much as anything.
They can't just be 'friends', it seems like; as soon as he started noticing her seriously as a friend (rather than a non-entity, Ron's little sister), he started wanting her. Possibly displaced desire for a mother and/or a Weasley, but good thing she actually fits the bill. So to speak.
I realize I'm toeing the strict as-is canon line in this & not being very subversive or whatever, but I'm all canoncanoncanon right now, so if you'll excuse me. :P Also, I was totally kinda sold on the H/G after he kissed her-- it seemed so impulsive and joyous and Harry that it all fell into place in my head. Harry doesn't need a reason, he just feels things which he's not quite aware of until they erupt. That's just how he is. Harry's 'monster' is really his overactive Id, I believe.
...Though, yeah, it's pretty full-speed-ahead on the boys, too (look how v. v. pretty Tom is... and Draco's not half-bad... yeah, yeah Harry we know). It's just that I think he has a different conception of 'girls', 'boys', and Hermione-and-Ron. Ginny's a girl, so he categorizes his reactions to her a certain way (either blankly or hormonally), but he doesn't really pay attention to her & what she says/does unless it's what he really wanted to hear. With boys his own age (...like Draco), he pays a -lot- more attention but totally denies any hormonal aspect of things. With Ron-and-Hermione, he seems pretty balanced & not really repressing anything, I believe-- his defenses are down with them. He just takes them as they are, doesn't try to slot them. I think they complete him.
It seems pretty compartmentalized, is what I'm saying; possibly this is because it's JKR we're talking about, and also being a YA book.
~~
- ...Draco, eh. -
Well... what can I say.
I'm sure I'll write lots more posts about this, to say the least, but in an odd way I feel that canon itself said all there was to say about him pretty clearly. In that sense, I'd feel I was repeating things just to give my opinions or whatever, y'know. But it's -Draco-, so I have to give it a go.
My fave moments are still when we meet him at Madam Malkin's and on the train-- possibly because a lot of the rest of the time is spent with Harry stalking him & being paranoid & Draco being emo and stressed (adorable as that is). I was just -so- happy he got his on the train, and I admit that was when we actually -saw- Draco being emotional & intense firsthand, with build-up and a satisfying, um, crunch. I mean resolution. Because while Harry did come upon Draco in the bathroom, we didn't really have as much build-up as I'd like, or as much insight into Draco's mind as I'm used to (with H/D fics). I kind of have to fill in the blanks myself there, and I'm lazy (though it's pretty obvious, of course, that he was just being overworked and scared and lonely, etc). I don't know if I learned anything -new- about Draco so much as Harry did, but it was really important for that, and in a way as a counter-balance to the train hexing in the beginning. Harry had to get 'revenge' in some sense and feel remorse; finally feel the overkill aspect of his reactions to Draco. Yes. So that was satisfying, in a necessary-point sort of way. I almost felt like all the major points raised in regard to Draco in OoTP and earlier were being hit upon, even up to and including his early fascination with Dark objects, like that Hand of Glory. I'd almost say it was a Draco medley or something, through the whole book-- not so much new stuff as old stuff being dealt with at last.
Also, I think now Draco's relationship with Snape is important more than ever. Not that it wasn't always important, but now it's -really- important, since they're both not-quite-Death-Eaters on the run, more or less. And I thought his mutiny against and competitiveness with Snape was one of the most interesting developments, and the only real -surprise- to me, characterization-wise. I mean, everything else I already knew, though I was, of course, relieved that![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sistermagpie and the rest of us aren't delusional, and we were, in fact, seeing what was actually right there in the text, put there by JKR (MUWAHAHAHAH... yes, I'm smug, why do you ask?)
But back to Snape. I think there might be a sense of betrayal because he didn't stop what happened to Lucius, perhaps, but that is pure speculation based on my own unfinished S/D fic, mostly. I think largely, it was that Draco has gotten tired of always depending on authority to back him up and wanted an accomplishment that was all his own. I think the true insignificance of his accomplishment when it came (that is, he did fix the cabinet but it didn't matter, he couldn't kill Dumbledore & Dumbledore -knew-, anyway) is going to make him think if nothing else will. He was basically wasting his time, yeah, but he was -not- useless. I hope he realizes that, anyway.
I was very relieved (since most of the spoilers I heard were about Draco & regarding Dumbledore dying-- though I was still brought to tears by the funeral). Mostly because he never actually stopped being Draco-like (nasty, cutely & dorkily funny, pathetic, boastful, approval-hungry, emotional, poncey, inventive & clever, etcetcetc, y'know, DRACO)-- he was just pushed to the limits of his comfortable behavior patterns and then thrown off the proverbial cliff.
One of my favorite things (that I'm pretty smug has never been done in H/D fanfic), was that Dumbledore-- not Harry, not Lucius, not Snape-- was the one who did the requisite break-down of his options & choices and basically his real situation to Draco. In retrospect, of course it makes sense, since basically that's Dumbledore's role & function with Harry, and Draco deserves some mentoring juice too. So I was v. happy to see Dumbledore be all confident in Draco without the cover of an emotional connection like with Snape & his father. He was both brisk and encouraging, in a way I'm pretty sure Draco had never come across before; him telling Draco he wasn't a killer in a calm way might, in fact, be the sort of thing that'd reverberate in Draco's brain for some time to come.
I think the interesting thing here is that we the readers got to see the distance between Harry's perceptions of Draco (still pretty close to what they were) and the 'real' Draco through the use of something like negative space-- we saw Harry being obsessed and paranoid and Draco being preoccupied, alone, upset & harassed. It was almost the same pattern as always, except the 'real' pattern was so much more -obvious- (to everyone but Harry, of course, including Ron, of all people). Harry's clinging to The Scourge of Draco Malfoy idea was meant to be both comical and endearing as well as revealing, I think. He just needs Draco to be a certain way no less than Lucius did; of course Draco can't live up to either of their expectations.
The only difference is that Harry is now finally open to being proven wrong, after he's finally feeling more secure about himself and who his friends are, I believe. In the end, Dumbledore's encouraging Draco to set his own terms, to accept himself and see himself truly like Dumbledore implicitly does with people. And of course that's all the best one could wish for someone: self-love and self-knowledge, as well as friendship & other-love (and well, there's always Crabbe & Goyle, Draco's loyal girlfriends).
Harry's casual comment about telling his friends what's going on before he asks things of them really made me happy, because it's literally the first civil thing he's ever said to him. I'm all excited about the prospects for more civil conversation in book 7, where possibly they might even come to an understanding of some sort, borne of both of them arriving at a greater understanding of themselves and a discarding of their old roles without the need to go through the full 7 years of Hogwarts. Though honestly, the H/D-only-makes-sense-post-Hogwarts people might have been on to something, since Harry & Draco -have-, in fact, now both apparently left Hogwarts. I can only hope Draco can find somewhere to go and maybe (dare I hope??!) Harry could put him up at 12 Grimmauld.
One day, that had seemed a distant, near-impossible dream. Now... well, I'm pretty much counting on JKR, man.
So ...Finally, my first still-barely-coherent book overview post. Snape, Dumbledore, Ginny, Draco & the Trio.
- Snape & Dumbledore -
I just felt I had to say something after seeing this Snape post, because I came to the same conclusion (Snape isn't a traitor) through different means almost entirely.... Well, that is to say, emotional rather than analytical.
Basically, I trusted Snape fully around the same time I fully trusted Dumbledore-- they seem almost synonymous in my mind for some reason. I can't necessarily go back and pinpoint when my trust in Dumbledore (never nonexistent, just not exactly enthusiastic) solidified; I think it was when he told Harry about the horcruxes and we saw him guessing and scheming and basically saw how his mind works. The less he was giving platitudes and telling Harry what he wanted to hear and the more he was pushing Harry (even giving him direct orders reassured me), the more I trusted him.
Dumbledore's treatment of Draco (complete certitude in front of Harry, and yet awareness of what was going on all along) also set the tone for me: he makes it his business to know as much as possible & say only what's useful or necessary to hear without being a lie. He withholds, yes, and he was even -honest- about that (which reassured me and kept Harry satisfied), but he doesn't say non-fully-substantiated things as fact. He admits when something is conjecture even when his conjectures are better than most people's facts. We've seen this at work with his super-detective stuff about the horcruxes (seriously, I'm pretty impressed-- don't think Dumbledore even uses the library like Hermione does, ahahah).
Dumbledore: he knows whass goin' on.
Just in a purely meta, anvilicious sense, too-- much like Hermione is like, never wrong about facts-- Harry should really figure that out, ahahah. That much, I don't think is really arguable anymore (though Harry could be forgiven for not figuring that out, 'cause Snape does, indeed, hate him and I suspect Harry will never be happy with -any- reason for Snape to have done a lot of the things he did).
The stage for Snape not being actually evil was set in the second chapter, I believe-- I felt uneasy (though shocked! and somewhat gleeful 'cause I liked evil!Snape a lot if only 'cause he's the anti-fanon!Snape and also much more feral and er, dark, which is my thing). But anyway, I still felt that niggling doubt, if nothing else because he never actually proved he knew what was going on with Voldemort; he seemed to be bullshitting, though really well. Plus he's a Legilimens and could just read the story off Narcissa's mind; plus he wouldn't let Wormtail (who should have an idea of what Snape would & wouldn't know) listen. It was... fishy.
As soon as Dumbledore said 'please, Severus', I immediately assumed he was asking for something other than his life; that option is not even there, basically. There was no way for me to read it that way; at that point Dumbledore must be talking about the sudden rock-and-a-hard-place they all found themselves in, no more time, the Death Eaters mutinous and about to turn on Draco, etc. The 'revulsion' is what tipped me off big-time; but really it was a dozen little things.
Another big thing, actually, isn't his overreaction to the 'coward' accusation but rather his telling Harry to make his spells silent and to work harder, and also basically telling him he's not going to be a Dark wizard so he should stop even pretending. That was Snape being a professor to Harry, and I pretty much melted. It was so touching, I swear!! I was like, awwwww. And at that point I forgave Snape everything & trusted him even when he basically hexed Harry or whatever he did. Well, I mean, he was pretty pissed.
Also!! Snape as the Half-blood Prince makes me all 'aww' about his never-to-be 'normal' relationship to Harry as well. See, there's all this potential for Harry to admire him, to enjoy potion-making, to enjoy his humor, even, I think. It's really Snape that's usually been going out of his way to curtail any bonding they might have, but I sort of consider Harry's admiration of the Half-blood Prince to be 'bonding', of sorts. I really do think that whether or not Harry was following Snape's modified potions, it shows innate skills that he was able to so well, because whether they're original or modified, the subject-matter of the instructions remained the same. The only difference is that book!Snape is a much better teacher than real!Snape, and actually helped Harry feel excited/interested in the subject.
In a way, I think I've come out of HBP most intensely fascinated with the Harry/Snape relationship, because the others (Harry/Draco included) seem either stable & resolved, or fully on their way to resolution. It's only Harry/Snape that's really boiling and bubbling and dark & murky with unrealized potential right now. There's all this hate & potential bonding that may never happen. I just love it the more I think about it, in a similar but less shippy manner that I loved OoTP!H/D.
I also think that his need for vengeance against Snape is holding Harry back now the way his focus on dehumanizing Malfoy used to hold him back (now I guess it's out of his system, mostly, after overdosing on obsession through the whole book), so of course I'm fascinated with it. The monster started off in OoTP (when he tried blaming Snape for Sirius) and just keeps growing and growing. Actually, Snape's irrationality towards Harry is holding -him- back, too. So yeah, I expect to see that resolved in the next book-- yes, I've learned my lesson, so I say 'expect' instead of 'hope tremulously' :D
~~
- Harry, Ron & Hermione -
It was at the end of the book that I finally realized how much the three of them-- their unit-- was essential both to Harry's identity and his well-being. I think it was hammered home throughout the book, because it seemed like though Harry -wanted- to be secretive and easily closed-off, and was with most people (including Ginny in parts), he just couldn't, absolutely -couldn't- shut Ron & Hermione out no matter what, and if he does (the way I'm also guilty of writing him along with most people in H/D fanfics), it's only a brief attempt to protect them until he realizes they all protect each other. Even Dumbledore drives this point home, with saying Harry's free to tell Ron & Hermione about the horcruxes, but no one else.
At the end, where they basically tell him he's stuck with them, he doesn't even try to question it; he accepts it the way he'd accept what Dumbledore said. He just trusts them 110%, basically.
I mean, yeah, I think it's always been clear, but never has the Trio-as-a-unit been -this- strong a theme since possibly book 1. Harry spent the whole book as a go-between with Ron & Hermione, trying equally hard to stay friends with both of them even when they weren't talking to each other. In book 4, Harry might have abandoned one and 'kept' the other, but I really got the feeling Harry's not prepared to do that anymore. Harry values them both equally; there are just -so- many scenes where he consciously tries to give each what they want but most importantly, what they need. He's not being thoughtlessly selfish in an interpersonal way almost for the first time in the books; he's constantly thinking of how they feel, trying to reassure Hermione about Ron or bolster Ron's confidence about Quidditch. I get this overwhelming sense that their happiness is more important to him than his own.
As for Ron and Hermione, they too always think of each other protectively even if they're fighting. I think it's very telling that Hermione'd never throw hexing McLaggen in Ron's face no matter what, and I think it wasn't just a sign of her thing for Ron that she did it. And then there's this feeling of solidarity and exasperated-yet-fond protectiveness when Ron's trying to avoid Lavender without displaying any of the 'romantic' demandingness that makes Ron uncomfortable with Lavender. Even though it was blindingly obvious Hermione had a crush on him at that point, she's very pointedly giving Ron his space the whole time, like only blushing & saying Lavender shouldn't overhear Ron's l-word slip-up.
I think it's meaningful and important, that even though it couldn't be more clear that Ron & Hermione have a mutual crush on one another at this point, the book ends with them all being equally dedicated friends. Because that's what they need from each other.
With Ron, he's more loyal than ever, it seems. His main serious objection to trying for Ginny is Ron. He goes out of his way to bolster Ron's confidence in Quidditch, plotting and scheming and paying more attention than he's -ever- done consciously, and I don't think it's just because he's Captain in the slightest. The last year, Ron was successful almost in spite of Harry, because Harry was lost in his own little world, but this year Harry woke up & realized that he better look out for his mates (shown even in his affection for Luna & Neville, the people most loyal to him). It's just that with Ron, it's not a question of loyalty as an attribute, because Ron-- and in a way, all the Weasleys except Percy, but even Percy has his Ministry-- just are the personification of loyalty.
But yes, it's more than loyalty at this point, of course. It's unconditional love & support, which he realized he needed after Sirius died, I think. It kind of jolted Harry into appreciating what he had, I think, awkwardly/over-rationally as I found it to be written. I think Harry took his grief and turned it into active love & concern for his friends, and I think that's what Dumbledore was talking about when he said Harry was 'unique' in ways Voldemort didn't get. Harry has friends, and in a lot of ways, that's this book's bottom line about him.
~~
- Ginny and Harry -
I really feel the 'monster' inside Harry that wakes up at the sight of her kissing Dean is probably both metaphorical (jealousy/lust = green-eyed monster) and also significant in terms of its possible connection to the Tom-bits and/or powers inside him (which I always assumed he had-- Parseltongue, anyone?-- without needing to name him the last horcrux).
Even though I find the H/G relationship kind of um, awkwardly introduced (or just-- not introduced so much as dropped on our heads), I can see many, many ways in which it's right for Harry in a meta sense. A lot of times after they got together especially, I was relieved because Ginny is something that's all Harry's, it seems-- I feel like her loyalty is to him alone, and trumps her consideration for & friendship with Ron and Hermione. Mostly, I'm thinking of the time she snarled at Hermione and told her to back off about the Half-blood Prince book, and Harry felt all warm & fuzzy because that's what he -wanted- and needed, and unconsciously felt Ginny could give to him. He wants someone to love him absolutely, in a completely pure and focused way (sort of like a mother would but not, you know what I mean), and Ginny has been that person since she met him.
She even says so herself at Dumbledore's funeral; though Harry wants and needs a girl to understand he needs space to be 'the hero alone' (and possibly even dig that like Ginny says she does) and to be independent herself, he wants her to be his. Basically, Ginny is almost tailor-made for him; she's a Weasley, she's fiery and independent, free-thinking and fearless on the one hand and loving and loyal and his on the other. I think both things are something he really needs. And yeah, both are things he's not ready to have yet, not while he hasn't quite worked out who he is and whether he can protect her in turn as he wants to or not. In other words, he somehow knows that she's his 'forever and a picket fence', it seems like, and wants to be ready for that before he takes it, as much as anything.
They can't just be 'friends', it seems like; as soon as he started noticing her seriously as a friend (rather than a non-entity, Ron's little sister), he started wanting her. Possibly displaced desire for a mother and/or a Weasley, but good thing she actually fits the bill. So to speak.
I realize I'm toeing the strict as-is canon line in this & not being very subversive or whatever, but I'm all canoncanoncanon right now, so if you'll excuse me. :P Also, I was totally kinda sold on the H/G after he kissed her-- it seemed so impulsive and joyous and Harry that it all fell into place in my head. Harry doesn't need a reason, he just feels things which he's not quite aware of until they erupt. That's just how he is. Harry's 'monster' is really his overactive Id, I believe.
...Though, yeah, it's pretty full-speed-ahead on the boys, too (look how v. v. pretty Tom is... and Draco's not half-bad... yeah, yeah Harry we know). It's just that I think he has a different conception of 'girls', 'boys', and Hermione-and-Ron. Ginny's a girl, so he categorizes his reactions to her a certain way (either blankly or hormonally), but he doesn't really pay attention to her & what she says/does unless it's what he really wanted to hear. With boys his own age (...like Draco), he pays a -lot- more attention but totally denies any hormonal aspect of things. With Ron-and-Hermione, he seems pretty balanced & not really repressing anything, I believe-- his defenses are down with them. He just takes them as they are, doesn't try to slot them. I think they complete him.
It seems pretty compartmentalized, is what I'm saying; possibly this is because it's JKR we're talking about, and also being a YA book.
~~
- ...Draco, eh. -
Well... what can I say.
I'm sure I'll write lots more posts about this, to say the least, but in an odd way I feel that canon itself said all there was to say about him pretty clearly. In that sense, I'd feel I was repeating things just to give my opinions or whatever, y'know. But it's -Draco-, so I have to give it a go.
My fave moments are still when we meet him at Madam Malkin's and on the train-- possibly because a lot of the rest of the time is spent with Harry stalking him & being paranoid & Draco being emo and stressed (adorable as that is). I was just -so- happy he got his on the train, and I admit that was when we actually -saw- Draco being emotional & intense firsthand, with build-up and a satisfying, um, crunch. I mean resolution. Because while Harry did come upon Draco in the bathroom, we didn't really have as much build-up as I'd like, or as much insight into Draco's mind as I'm used to (with H/D fics). I kind of have to fill in the blanks myself there, and I'm lazy (though it's pretty obvious, of course, that he was just being overworked and scared and lonely, etc). I don't know if I learned anything -new- about Draco so much as Harry did, but it was really important for that, and in a way as a counter-balance to the train hexing in the beginning. Harry had to get 'revenge' in some sense and feel remorse; finally feel the overkill aspect of his reactions to Draco. Yes. So that was satisfying, in a necessary-point sort of way. I almost felt like all the major points raised in regard to Draco in OoTP and earlier were being hit upon, even up to and including his early fascination with Dark objects, like that Hand of Glory. I'd almost say it was a Draco medley or something, through the whole book-- not so much new stuff as old stuff being dealt with at last.
Also, I think now Draco's relationship with Snape is important more than ever. Not that it wasn't always important, but now it's -really- important, since they're both not-quite-Death-Eaters on the run, more or less. And I thought his mutiny against and competitiveness with Snape was one of the most interesting developments, and the only real -surprise- to me, characterization-wise. I mean, everything else I already knew, though I was, of course, relieved that
sistermagpie and the rest of us aren't delusional, and we were, in fact, seeing what was actually right there in the text, put there by JKR (MUWAHAHAHAH... yes, I'm smug, why do you ask?) But back to Snape. I think there might be a sense of betrayal because he didn't stop what happened to Lucius, perhaps, but that is pure speculation based on my own unfinished S/D fic, mostly. I think largely, it was that Draco has gotten tired of always depending on authority to back him up and wanted an accomplishment that was all his own. I think the true insignificance of his accomplishment when it came (that is, he did fix the cabinet but it didn't matter, he couldn't kill Dumbledore & Dumbledore -knew-, anyway) is going to make him think if nothing else will. He was basically wasting his time, yeah, but he was -not- useless. I hope he realizes that, anyway.
I was very relieved (since most of the spoilers I heard were about Draco & regarding Dumbledore dying-- though I was still brought to tears by the funeral). Mostly because he never actually stopped being Draco-like (nasty, cutely & dorkily funny, pathetic, boastful, approval-hungry, emotional, poncey, inventive & clever, etcetcetc, y'know, DRACO)-- he was just pushed to the limits of his comfortable behavior patterns and then thrown off the proverbial cliff.
One of my favorite things (that I'm pretty smug has never been done in H/D fanfic), was that Dumbledore-- not Harry, not Lucius, not Snape-- was the one who did the requisite break-down of his options & choices and basically his real situation to Draco. In retrospect, of course it makes sense, since basically that's Dumbledore's role & function with Harry, and Draco deserves some mentoring juice too. So I was v. happy to see Dumbledore be all confident in Draco without the cover of an emotional connection like with Snape & his father. He was both brisk and encouraging, in a way I'm pretty sure Draco had never come across before; him telling Draco he wasn't a killer in a calm way might, in fact, be the sort of thing that'd reverberate in Draco's brain for some time to come.
I think the interesting thing here is that we the readers got to see the distance between Harry's perceptions of Draco (still pretty close to what they were) and the 'real' Draco through the use of something like negative space-- we saw Harry being obsessed and paranoid and Draco being preoccupied, alone, upset & harassed. It was almost the same pattern as always, except the 'real' pattern was so much more -obvious- (to everyone but Harry, of course, including Ron, of all people). Harry's clinging to The Scourge of Draco Malfoy idea was meant to be both comical and endearing as well as revealing, I think. He just needs Draco to be a certain way no less than Lucius did; of course Draco can't live up to either of their expectations.
The only difference is that Harry is now finally open to being proven wrong, after he's finally feeling more secure about himself and who his friends are, I believe. In the end, Dumbledore's encouraging Draco to set his own terms, to accept himself and see himself truly like Dumbledore implicitly does with people. And of course that's all the best one could wish for someone: self-love and self-knowledge, as well as friendship & other-love (and well, there's always Crabbe & Goyle, Draco's loyal girlfriends).
Harry's casual comment about telling his friends what's going on before he asks things of them really made me happy, because it's literally the first civil thing he's ever said to him. I'm all excited about the prospects for more civil conversation in book 7, where possibly they might even come to an understanding of some sort, borne of both of them arriving at a greater understanding of themselves and a discarding of their old roles without the need to go through the full 7 years of Hogwarts. Though honestly, the H/D-only-makes-sense-post-Hogwarts people might have been on to something, since Harry & Draco -have-, in fact, now both apparently left Hogwarts. I can only hope Draco can find somewhere to go and maybe (dare I hope??!) Harry could put him up at 12 Grimmauld.
One day, that had seemed a distant, near-impossible dream. Now... well, I'm pretty much counting on JKR, man.
