The Order of the Phoenix Re-Read: Chapter 6

[slowfox]

I think Harry sums up the previous chapter quite nicely, really:

"Well, they didn't tell us much we couldn't have guessed, did they?"

On the one hand, I like this: I think that huge infodumps of new information courtesy of characters engaging in frankly unrealistic bouts of exposition feel like cheating (the Three Broomsticks scene in PoA springs to mind), and obviously Harry needs to be brought up to speed. But given the length of OotP, did we really need a whole chapter devoted to telling Harry what he could've already guessed?

I do like that Molly and Sirius' contretemps is still lingering on:

They were both speaking in carefully light, polite voices that told Harry quite plainly that neither had forgotten their disagreement of the night before.

The Twins' observations on Mundungus are great:

"I love hearing Mum shout at someone else," said Fred, with a satisfied smile on his face...

"The idiots are letting her get into her stride," said George, shaking his head. "You've got to head her off early otherwise she builds up a head of steam and goes on for hours..."

Then we have the introduction of Kreacher, who reads as sinister and disturbed. Obviously, Kreacher has a fairly important role to play later on, but I was wondering about this bit:

"I thought it might be that," said Sirius, casting a disdainful look at the opposite wall. "She'll have put another Permanent Sticking Charm on the back of it, I don't doubt, but if I can get rid of it, I certainly will. Now go away, Kreacher."

Was the 'go away' bit sufficient leave for Kreacher to leave Grimmauld Place? Or did the permission have to be more explicit than that? Either way, it seemed that you'd have to be awfully secure in the knowledge that Kreacher wouldn't betray the Order to have him kicking about the place.

Was anyone else frustrated that, during the great big Tapestry Conversation, Sirius mentions Harry's paternal grandparents, but Harry never really expresses much interest in them? Who were they? What did they do? Where does all his money come from?

It does make sense, I s'pose, that all the old families are interbred 'n all that. Care is taken to play up both Regulus and Bellatrix, although the importance of the former doesn't become apparent for a loooooong while. Speaking of which, they do of course find a locket that none of them could open in one of the glass-fronted cabinets.

JKR seems to associate emotions with the stomach:

He felt as though a brick had dropped into his stomach when Mrs Weasley turned to him during dinner on Wednesday evening and said quietly, "I've ironed your best clothes for tomorrow morning, Harry, and I want you to wash your hair tonight, too. A good first impression can work wonders."

And the chapter closes with Harry learning that Dumbledore had been at Grimmauld Place, but hadn't been in touch with him, making our poor Boy Who Lived feel even worse.

Again this felt like quite a slow chapter, although we did have the Tapestry of Backstory to add some depth. The dreams are mentioned again, too:

Despite the fact that he was still sleeping badly, still having dreams about corridors and locked doors that made his scar prickle...

Comments

[carolanne5]

Love the twins, woe DH.

[slowfox]

The Twins do shine, at least at Grimmauld Place, and perhaps later on when they bid farewell to academia. But there's a darker side to their wheezes that are not overly wholesome...

[aome]

Harry says that what he learned was pretty much what he "could have guessed" - and yet he was incredibly frustrated about not knowing anything just the previous day. There was no mention in all that time that he wasn't learning anything via news/newspaper that he had some guesses going on, some theories of his own. Therefore, I am surprised at his ungrateful attitude; was there anything really earth-shattering? No, but still - he wanted to know something, and he got it.

It's really amazing, sometimes, to reconcile the Kreacher we see here and HBP with the Kreacher we see in DH. You would think that an elf so clearly devoted to a Dark family wouldn't be so equally quick to serve Harry et al just because they treat him more respectfully. Man, House Elves are a strange breed, aren't they?

I do wish, myself, that we'd gotten to hear more about Harry's grandparents - about anyone else in his family. How is it that no one else in the family survived except Petunia? No third cousins somewhere? I know Petunia is the closest relative, and perhaps that made a different in the blood-based protection spell, but otherwise, given Sirius' comment about intermarriage, I would have thought half the tapestry would be related to him somehow.

I did still find it interesting to learn about the Black sisters, and how various wizards were related. Also, some of the stuff mentioned during the cleaning is kind of funny and inventive.

I do like the peeks - even though we were not aware of it at the time - of the locket which wouldn't open, and of Regulus being killed just before Harry's birth.

I've ironed your best clothes for tomorrow morning, Harry

And yet when he gets dressed the next day, what he's donning is a t-shirt and jeans. Those were his best clothes? Really?? I know he's just got Dudley's hand-me-downs, but I'm still surprised he didn't have at least one button-down shirt or even a polo somewhere in there. Showing up to a hearing in Muggle t-shirt and jeans seems ... wrong.

[slowfox]

I s'pose that confirmation of what you suspect is at least a step up from simply suspecting it.

Originally, I thought that the Potters must surely all have been wiped out as part of the whole prophecy bit, and that there was something significant to being a Potter (Heir of Slytherin, or something) that meant that he was an inherent threat to the Dark Lord (even if that would go against the whole choice vs abilities thing that the books try to spin). But instead all we learn is that yeah, Harry's dad had parents and... er, now they're dead.

Frustratingly token, Harry's family backstory...

And you'd have thought that Harry would wear wizarding robes - although they did have to blend in, he and Arthur, on the tube ride to the Ministry. On the other hand, you'd assume, wouldn't you, that since Wizards don't know how to dress like Muggles, then Ron and the rest of the Weasleys would have wizarding clothes to hand, and they'd think Harry odd for wearing jeans to the Ministry. Doesn't quite all add up, that part...

[cesy]

The "Wizards don't know how to dress like Muggles" also doesn't fit in with most of what we see in the films - the Weasleys all wear normal clothes at home, the Hogwarts pupils wear normal Muggle casual clothes when going into Hogsmeade, etc. And their school uniforms appear to be normal school uniforms with "robes" being like academic gowns, which implies that wizarding robes are also gowns, with normal clothes worn underneath. I don't know how all that can be reconciled with the strange descriptions at the Quidditch World Cup.

[cesy]

The other thing that's jumped out at me this time is how little respect Sirius has for everything they're clearing out in the house. Some of it's understandable, given his relationship with his family and the proportion of it that's dark stuff, but binning things like the family tapestry and the Order of Merlin just doesn't seem right to me. For instance, the china with the Black crest and motto on was probably rather good china, if you didn't mind the pretentiousness. Why bin it when they could have just used it as everyday china until it broke, or even given it to a charity shop or someone who was short of crockery?

[slowfox]

Oh, I can understand Sirius wanting to be completely shot of the stuff. And I wonder if wizards even have charity shops. And the whole place is suffused with the pureblood ethos, as, I assume, are most of its effects.

Yay, more twins! :-)

[cynthia_black]

Ah yes, the chapter that mentions the locket...

Was the 'go away' bit sufficient leave for Kreacher to leave Grimmauld Place? Or did the permission have to be more explicit than that?

I'm not sure that was the comment that gave Kreacher the loophole to leave Grimmauld Place - but given I haven't read this for a long time, I could be mistaken. I'll be keeping an eye out for other references to this as i read through :-)

It's always bothered me that Harry doesn't ask enough questions when he has the opportunity to do so - I've had to excuse it with his life at Privet Drive having knocked out of him most thoughts of asking awkward questions for fear of upsetting the Dursleys and being punished, and that it carried through to his school years as well. However, I do like the tapestry bit.

Re: Yay, more twins! :-)

[slowfox]

I'm not sure that was the comment that gave Kreacher the loophole to leave Grimmauld Place

I wasn't sure if it was that bit, either... But I think that the explicit command comes later on. Still, you could see how it would be possible to interpret Sirius' command with some leeway...

Philosopher's Stone makes it clear that Harry's been heavily dissauded from asking questions ever, so you can see how this might have dampened his inquisitive nature somewhat...