Harry Potter

[joelene]

Neat read, anyways. I'm in the middle of OOTP again (audio by Stephen Fry) so it was nice to read while in the middle of her story.

But my god is Harry ever annoying with his outbursts in this. I understand the frustration but it's driving me bonkers, his blow-ups toward Ron and Hermione never end. I wish one of them would smack him.

In regards to the romances I agree with above posters how bad they were and never interested me one iota. But then I'm not a shipper so couplings very rarely interest me very much unless it's dark and twisted and/or smutty. Or funny.

Ron and Hermione didn't make any sense to me and just read like, well, it's a boy and a girl who are friends so of course they have to fall for another because a boy and a girl can't be just friends. Harry didn't really fit with any of them. He could've gotten together with Katie Bell in the epilogue or something.

Edited November 3, 2014 by joelene

[GaT]

I think people are forgetting the real reason that Harry was paired off with Ginny & not Luna, or Cho, or anybody else. It had to be Ginny because once they got married, he became part of the Weasley family. Up to then he was certainly treated like family, but the marriage made it legal & gave Harry the one thing he didn't have, a loving family.

[wingster55]

^ For me at least...it's not that I forget...it's that I didn't care for that reason. 

[Beezel]

I think people are forgetting the real reason that Harry was paired off with Ginny & not Luna, or Cho, or anybody else. It had to be Ginny because once they got married, he became part of the Weasley family. Up to then he was certainly treated like family, but the marriage made it legal & gave Harry the one thing he didn't have, a loving family.

 

Uggh. I hate this because the legality of it should not be important to the story. Harry considers the Weasley family and they accept him as such. There's his loving family. The end. No need to force him with Ginny. And you know, I have no idea how Hermione and Ron were meant to work in the long run since they were clearly absolutely incapable of communicating with each other about anything important. I mean, fair enough, they were teens during the duration of the books, but I find it hard to believe that FINALLY opening up meant that their passive aggressiveness went out the window/ wouldn't be a huge issue in their marriage. Also, I think   she tried to present it that Ron became more agreeable and thus more fun to be around for Hermione, but he def. had a knack for ruining Hermione's fun. 

 

If she needed to be with a Weasley, why not stick her with Fred? He was hard working, creative and funny. Unlike Ron, he wouldn't make her feel bad for her achievements (see Slug Club).

 

I remember being sort of interested in the idea Hermione/ one of the twins. Though maybe George since he survived and always seemed like the (slightly) nicer twin. 

Edited November 14, 2014 by Beezel

[Janet Snakehole]

I always secretly wanted Hermoine to get back with Viktor Krum, I mean they met in the library and he was a very motivated character who I think would have been a good match for her. Plus it would have gotten away from the whole everyone is a Weasley now ending, which I found cheesy. They had been through enough together that it was unnecessary.

I know that Rowling eventually in an article or something after the books what they did job wise, but that was something that annoyed me about the epilogue; that it didn't go into that. I guess it may have been clunky, but I would have rather read about that than all of their marriages.

On a different note, something I thought was always intriguing was the whole Neville part of the prophecy. I thought there would be a twist at the end there that it was him. I know that Dumbledore said it was Harry because Voldemort chose him, but I always wish that something more had happened with Neville. I think the story could have gone down very interesting and different paths had that been explored more. I also wish we could have seen more of Neville, Ginny, and Luna at Hogwarts with Dumbledore's army.

Finally, I hated the "not my daughter, you bitch moment." It should have been Neville to get Bellatrix.

Edited November 14, 2014 by Janet Snakehole

[Anna Yolei]

I actually thought the best-matched Weasley for Hermione was Percy.

On the surface, maybe...both are ambitious, for once. But the biggest difference is I don't see Hermione letting status go to her head the way Percy did in book five.

[Anna Yolei]

I think people are forgetting the real reason that Harry was paired off with Ginny & not Luna, or Cho, or anybody else. It had to be Ginny because once they got married, he became part of the Weasley family. Up to then he was certainly treated like family, but the marriage made it legal & gave Harry the one thing he didn't have, a loving family.

As others have said, he would have had the family anyway. He's saved Ron, Ginny and Authur and gave his winnings from the Tri Wizard cup to the twins who never could have founded their business otherwise.

The romance with Ginny fails because Ginny as a character on her own was poorly developed for four books, got slightly better developed in book five in anticipation of book six, where she's suddenly the Hogwarts Homecoming Queen and nothing else. If this was in the cards from the beginning, the lack of development is all the more inexcusable and lazy.

[Beezel]

I actually thought the best-matched Weasley for Hermione was Percy.

 

 

On the surface, maybe...both are ambitious, for once. But the biggest difference is I don't see Hermione letting status go to her head the way Percy did in book five.

 

Yeah, but  after the events of DH, Percy realized how wrong he had been to let his ambition  for status cloud his judgement. After all, he payed a very steep price for it, having to watch his brother die right beside him just after he rejoined the family, so I'm sure he didn't make the mistake of choosing power over his family again. But it makes me wonder who did he become personality-wise after the fact? I'm sure he still would have been detail-oriented and at least a bit pompous, but I do wonder how compatible this new version of Percy would be with Hermione? Though, I think Herimone does truly like having someone with interests outside of her own, who doesn't approach the world from the same perspective as herself. Now I'm kind of wondering if she and Neville could have worked out? I always appreciated that Hermione seemed so affected when Neville was upset, like when he reacted to Moody's curse on the spider or when Snape was being particularly horrible to him. Admittedly, though, what I always liked about Hermione was that she wasn't just smart but also keenly emphatic. I think what appeals to me about them is that they both are very much Gryffindors and proved themselves to value bravery and standing up for the right thing, but both also had personality traits that could have landed them in other houses. Hermione cared about knowledge, Neville was kind-natured and cared about nature. Also, aside from Luna, I think Hermione probably would best understand the ridicule and teasing Neville went through in school. And I think she could conceivably be interested in him even if she wasn't in school, since he gained a lot of confidence by the end of the series. 

 

Can't remember, but didn't he ask her to the Yule Ball first?

 

  Krum, I mean they met in the library and he was a very motivated character who I think would have been a good match for her.

 

I actually did like her with Krum, though. She seemed to have fun with him and I can see them being pretty patient with each other. Also, I  really like that Krum was so taken with her that he came to the library every day, admittedly, with fan girls accidentally in tow, but still, sweet. ;)

 

 

Finally, I hated the "not my daughter, you bitch moment." It should have been Neville to get Bellatrix.

 

ITA. After all the misery Bellatrix caused his family, definitely!

Edited November 15, 2014 by Beezel

[Haleth]

On a different note, something I thought was always intriguing was the whole Neville part of the prophecy. I thought there would be a twist at the end there that it was him.

 

Me too!  That would have been bold but would have had fans bringing out the pitchforks.

[wingster55]

Finally, I hated the "not my daughter, you bitch moment." It should have been Neville to get Bellatrix.

 

I wouldn't have minded that but I like that he was the one who killed Nagini/the last horcrux. 

 

For R/Hr ..they were so different in ways but to me the kiss signified change..especially as it was his concern about house elves that was the impetus of the kiss. 

[Sharpie66]

Hermione would never have worked well paired up with Neville--she would have just steamrolled right over him, even the post-DH Neville.

[truthaboutluv]

^ For me at least...it's not that I forget...it's that I didn't care for that reason.

 

 

THANK YOU!!! Honestly, for the longest time, particularly at the height of the book series fame, I thought I was alone in feeling this way. Full disclosure - I LOATHE that One Big Happy Weasley Family bullshit. I found it cheesy, nauseating and annoying. I think one of the things that most annoyed me about the whole Harry had to be with Ginny because he got the family he always wanted with the Weasley is exactly because of this comment:

 

Uggh. I hate this because the legality of it should not be important to the story. Harry considers the Weasley family and they accept him as such. There's his loving family. The end.

 

 

This exactly. I hated the notion that Harry had to marry the uninteresting, personality less bore to be considered "a real Weasley". Because for me, that sentiment basically negated one of the main things JK had been pushing for the entire series - that the core to everything was love. Wasn't that the big message of the series? Wasn't that how Lily was able to save Harry? So to me, to then come later and for some to act that the only way Harry was truly family was through some marriage is ridiculous. Especially as we saw in OOTP when Molly was arguing with Sirius and she stated that Harry was "as good as her son". So I never bought that lame reasoning for JK sticking Harry with Ginny.

 

And even if that was the reason she put him with her, my issue always with that pairing was that with 7 books to work with and build this relationship, what she delivered was a contrived, poorly created mess. And she can defend it all she wants to this day, claiming that Ginny had to be as irrelevant and invisible as she was for four books because Harry didn't notice her, I will still call bullshit on that. I have always and will continue to maintain that I do think when JK initially started the series, she had plans for Ginny's character but along the way she got so enamored by Hermione (who admittedly was her self-insert in the series) that Ginny fell to the way side and when she was running out of time she threw together some lame ass rushed relationship with Harry that made no sense not to mention it necessitated Ginny's having a full personality transplant. JK's whole "Harry didn't see her all this time" excuse annoys me so much because it's like you can not see someone romantically but still see and acknowledge them. Harry didn't just not see Ginny in a romantic light for a number of books, he just plain didn't acknowledge or seem to give much of a crap about her at all. And considering he was the narrator, the longer he didn't give a crap about her, the longer the reader didn't as well. 

 

Back to the Weasley family thing, my other issue with the whole Harry had to marry Ginny to become a Weasley and Hermione married Ron as well is this - why in the hell did they have to become a part of the Weasley family? I know this is massively unpopular, even maybe sacrilegious to some fans of the books but I'm sorry, I never understood what was so special about that damn family. The twins were funny and kind of cool but readers barely ever got to know the older brothers, Percy was a brown noser, Ron was funny but insufferable at times with his raging insecurities about both Harry and Hermione, Ginny was a nonentity for most of the series and Arthur and Molly was some sitcom cliche married couple trope. They were nice enough and it was great how welcoming they were to Harry but I never understood why it seemed like it was almost some requirement that Harry and Hermione "officially" be a part of the family. 

 

And I especially hated how Hermione's parents were all but irrelevant in the series particularly because the Weasleys were the be all and end all. Yes I get that the series was about magical people, of which Hermione's parents were not. But to me, I felt JK's decision to make Hermione someone whose parents weren't magical at all, was something that could have been interesting if she'd cared to give it any attention. Instead the only family that was ever important were the Weasleys (obviously save for the Dursleys and other wizarding families who played a part in the whole big battle). That's also why I actually thought it would have been great if Hermione had ended up marrying a Muggle. Because to me, I would have thought that believable and two, I would have liked that in a way it would be like she always had one foot in the other world especially considering that's the world her parents were a part of. Instead it was like Harry and Hermione's entire identities became wrapped in marrying a Weasley and being an official Weasley. Oh joy...

Edited November 18, 2014 by truthaboutluv

[Beezel]

Harry didn't just not see Ginny in a romantic light for a number of books, he just plain didn't acknowledge or seem to give much of a crap about her at all.

 

 

Yeah, for the bulk of the series he only saw her as Ron's little sister. Keeping that in mind, I think he liked her about as well as can be expected. Still, I would agree he never thought much about her. Heck, didn't it take him years to even contemplate why Ginny could talk around him? I guess that could have been JK trying to be funny, showcasing yet again that  "boys can be  sooo obtuse" thing that Hermione gave lip-service to, but it also shows Harry had little curiosity about Ginny as a person.  Another telling thing was that he didn't even *consider* talking to Ginny when he thought Voldemort was possessing him in book 5, which is something Ginny herself pointed out, and his response basically was something in the vein of "oh yeah, that happened. sorry, I forgot." It always seemed that the Ginny-loving monster within (ugh) only awakened for Harry because he realized Ginny was hot in book 6 and she took his mind off the massive stress of being the Chosen One, which, of course, touches on what you already said in the UO thread, truthaboutlove, about her being a easy and safe choice after all the shit Harry went through. Also, she was Weasley forbidden fruit or something, which was also annoying because he spent most of the time worried about Ron's reaction and not even considering Ginny as a person.

 

Truly, it's not a crime that Harry wasn't interested in shy Ginny, but I think it would have been so cute  if JK would have taken some time to develop that character along those lines over the series, instead of going for a personality shift mid-way. Also I wish we could have seen Harry progressively become more interested in her with each installment. Admittedly, it would have been annoying if JK threw Harry right into a romantic sort of relationship  with Ginny, but they could have been friends and building bonds before we got there.  I mean she even took that sort of time of gradually creating something with Hermione/Ron, why not bother with the main character's super special soul mate? 

 

That's also why I actually thought it would have been great if Hermione had ended up marrying a Muggle. Because to me, I would have thought that believable and two, I would have liked that in a way it would be like she always had one foot in the other world especially considering that's the world her parents were a part of

 

I've actually contemplated this before and I agree. It would have been interesting for her to go this route with one of the main characters (not Cho Chang). And since Herimone didn't have a terrible experience in living in the Muggle world/ did seem to have loving (albeit, not very developed) parents, I could have seen her eventually wanting to get back to her roots, so to speak, with a  smart, open-minded sort of Muggle. Maybe a human rights activist in the Muggle world, so they could cover injustices from all sides. ;)

 

Hermione would never have worked well paired up with Neville--she would have just steamrolled right over him, even the post-DH Neville.

 

 

Yeah, you're probably right. I don't know, I just get really caught up in Hermione-related possibilities and then I feel the same about Neville-related ships, so it just struck me as worth at least considering the possibilities there. 

Edited November 18, 2014 by Beezel

[truthaboutluv]

Another telling thing was that he didn't even *consider* talking to Ginny when he thought Voldemort was possessing him in book 5, which is something Ginny herself pointed out, and his response basically was something in the vein of "oh yeah, that happened."

 

 

That scene right there is the one I always go to as proof positive that JK is full of crap with her whole "it was always there and they really are soul mates and it was developed over time" and instead proves my belief that while she may have had a plan for Ginny, her Hermione love took over to the point it forced Ginny out of the picture. It always baffled me that JK says she was planning Harry and Ginny from day one, OOTP was clearly the start of "new, confident Ginny who wasn't running and hiding from Harry and could speak to him as a person" and yet she really did nothing to establish some kind of friendship and connection between them that could have then spilled over to HBP. 

 

And that scene was one of the biggest examples of that. Harry thinks he's possessed and not only does he lock himself away from Ginny and Ron but it takes Hermione to cut her family trip short to come and force him out of the room. And then when Ginny mentions about her possession, his response was "oh I forgot..." Nevermind how dismissive that sounded but Harry was the one who rescued Ginny from that whole mess and he just completely forgot? Like how insignificant can a person be to you. I never understood why JK didn't use that opportunity to have Ginny go demand Harry open the door and bring up her possession and them talk about that and have a moment. Like that's what you do with characters you're setting up to fall for each other. Instead, you know who she had Harry have an emotional moment with - Luna, when she admitted that she could see the thestrals like him. 

 

I mean she even took that sort of time of gradually creating something with Hermione/Ron, why not bother with the main character's super special soulmate?

 

 

I have always said that JK has to be a first in this - writing a story in the first person, from the hero's perspective and yet somehow his love story took a backseat and was far less developed than that of his two best friends, the sidekicks. Like what the hell? Look at The Hunger Games. Even though that series had something of a love triangle, I've always said that half way through Catching Fire, I knew exactly who Katniss was going to end up with because of how Suzanne Collins had paced the two and how much focus and attention she'd placed on one guy versus the other. To me it was obvious she developed him as a character in his own right for a reason. I really don't know what JK was going for with Harry and Ginny. 

[Beezel]

Nevermind how dismissive that sounded but Harry was the one who rescued Ginny from that whole mess and he just completely forgot? Like how insignificant can a person be to you.

 

 

Well, I guess we know which adventure/book Harry personally liked the least. Seriously, though,  that was beyond contrived. For one thing, how would it even be possibly that Harry could forget such a major detail about his experience with Tom Riddle? Yes, he's been through a ton by this point. But, really?

Though the diary was not Voldemort in the flesh and at this point Harry wasn't aware of horcruxes, Riddle's manipulation of Ginny and Harry's interaction with Riddle in the chamber spoke volumes about Voldemort. Even without book 6-style  analysis conducted by Dumbledore into young Riddle's motivations, Harry isn't stupid or careless enough not commit at least all the facts to memory. I don't buy for a second that Harry wouldn't have turned over these interactions with Riddle and Voldemort constantly, even if in each book we tended to focus on the present Voldemort-related problems at hand.   And ha, I guess, he thought he saved someone else down there. Not sure who though? 

Edited November 18, 2014 by Beezel

[GaT]

This is just my opinion, but I think that all the people saying that there was nothing to the love story of Ginny & Harry (and it's not that I'm disagreeing about that) & are comparing it to other books are forgetting something important. Harry Potter isn't an adult series. Harry Potter isn't even a YA series. Harry Potter is a series for children. I think people forget that because it's such a good story, but this series wasn't written for us, it was written for kids & kids books have love, but passion? Not so much. You can only compare the "love story" to other children's books, comparing it to YA or adult books isn't a good comparison.

[truthaboutluv]

I am not forgetting that and I've heard that be used many times and I always say the same thing, "children's series" or not (and for the record I believe JK herself once said she wasn't really specifically thinking about HP as a children's book when she thought up the series but her publishers immediately categorized it as such because Harry was only 11 in the first book. So to most, it just seemed natural that it would be considered a children's book), throughout the series JK dealt with such heavy issues as child abuse, death, classism, racism, murder, etc. So that is why I can never buy the "well they were kid's books so that's why the relationship was as it was."

 

Especially because as noted, much as I was no fan of theirs, she was able to give Ron and Hermione something resembling a development and build. I don't think anyone is saying they wanted some passionate love affair between Harry and Ginny (and for the record, I never actually shipped Harry with anyone) but that it would have been nice, especially because of all Harry had been through, if JK could have given his love story a modicum of development and care that she seemed to give everything else.

 

She had seven books to develop that relationship and on top of that she wrote the series from Harry's perspective and she couldn't even provide a decent friendship that then developed into more. No, instead Ginny was almost wallpaper to Harry, then she was sort of around because she was talking to him more but he still didn't seem to think of her much, then he one day realized that everyone thought she was hot so he got some monster in his chest and then they were married. I get that there are many who don't feel this way and had no problem with the ending and that's fine.

 

It's just for me, as a person who was invested in Harry's story and everything he had been through, I was left feeling like the relationship with Ginny was almost a throwaway one JK threw in. The ending of the series left me unsatisfied. I didn't aww or feel so happy about Harry's end because I had no investment in Ginny as a character. Honestly, take away the Weasley name and Harry and Ginny felt to me like JK could have stuck any random female character  in the end as Harry's supposed "soulmate" because I would have the same lack of investment and caring. 

Edited November 19, 2014 by truthaboutluv

[Beezel]

What bugs me about the "it's for children" argument  is that the series is comprised of many complex love stories, albeit a lot of them are not romantic. Probably the best example is the love between Harry and Dumbledore and the way Harry has a lot of understandable doubts about Dumbledore, but in the end,  comes to terms with the fact that Dumbledore was actually a flawed person who didn't always make the best decisions. Which is really what love is about, no? Loving people, warts and all. I think there are a lot of complex love stories throughout the series really. The way Harry accepts Severus because of his love for his mother  is in a way of a love story about forgiveness (though admittedly, I still am a bit ambivalent about that one). She also did a quite beautiful job showing us how Harry's capacity to love, even after the pain of loosing loved ones,  made him the hero of the story. By her definition, love was by no means simple or easy, and I think she did a wonderful job in not sugar-coating or shying away from that. 

 

Admittedly, though,  in the romance department, things are little dicey, because most of things JK went for just didn't translate well as the other stuff, in my opinion.  I do think she tried to create complexity in some of the relationships, like Tonks and Lupin, Ron and Hermione, younger Dumbledore and Grindelwald (though that relationship is not  made explicitly romantic). Also, you have  some more sort of one-sided love stories that are kind of complex, like Voldemort's mother and her love for Tom Riddle or  Snape's love for Lily. So, yeah, I would agree that JK wasn't holding back for the sake of the kids.
 

I was left feeling like the relationship with Ginny was almost a throwaway one JK threw in.

 

 

Exactly, I think it was just really lazy writing and she felt pressure to placate the audience by giving  Harry the generic happy ending, which given the rest of the series an all the time she spent investing the reader in  Harry's overall love story was really quite a cop-out. 

Edited November 19, 2014 by Beezel

[Snow Apple]

Although I'm one of the few who didn't mind the 19 years later epilogue, she could have ended with Harry wanting his bed and a sandwich and it would have been a satisfying ending. Life goes on with the future as the next great unknown mystery.

Edited November 19, 2014 by Snow Apple

[blueray]

Maybe this is not a popular opinion but I liked Harry and Ginny together. They show to have things in common during the 4th book when she helps him and they get kicked out of the library (or was that the 5th one?), and is carried on throughout the rest of the series (obviously after they got together). And of course she had a crush on him when she was younger.

 

I think while the fact they all end up Weasley's is okay a bit cheesy but I didn't dislike it.  Hermione and Ron was something I wanted for a while, so I remember thinking it's about time :). The most cheesy thing to me was the epologe which I remember reading and being like wow she really didn't want anyone to write a spin off.  That being said it did make for a beautiful scene at the end of the final movie when the train drives off, mirroring the end of the first movie.

Edited December 22, 2014 by blueray

[blueray]

Hedwig dying broke my heart.

I am still recovering from the shock... I seriously had to reread the page to make sure I understood correctly. I guess it really set a tone on how dark the books will get.

 

As for Hermione's parents I wish we did get to know more about them. They easily could have been a place to hide in the 7th book (of course not have Hermione make them forget her :( ). As for the muggle world, to me it seemed as the series went on Hermione found herself belonging to the wizarding world more (this is probably similar to all muggle born). She seems to grow apart from her parents (not so much that they had a fight or anything) but in the later books she doesn't seem to go home as much or for that long. And she really wants to stay connected to the wizarding world. And it makes sense that at the end she ends up staying in it. Though I assume that her parents get to see their grandchildren.

Edited December 22, 2014 by blueray

[Anna Yolei]

This is just my opinion, but I think that all the people saying that there was nothing to the love story of Ginny & Harry (and it's not that I'm disagreeing about that) & are comparing it to other books are forgetting something important. Harry Potter isn't an adult series. Harry Potter isn't even a YA series. Harry Potter is a series for children. I think people forget that because it's such a good story, but this series wasn't written for us, it was written for kids & kids books have love, but passion? Not so much. You can only compare the "love story" to other children's books, comparing it to YA or adult books isn't a good comparison.

Agreed...which is part of why the epilogue doesn't bug me too much. But given the heavy subjects this series touched upon and the character development that even a late-to-the-party character such as Luna got in Book 5, it's just....odd that the main protagonist's love interest wasn't given the same treatment.

[benteen]

Anyone read Rowling's essay on Draco?  I liked it a lot.

[GaT]

Anyone read Rowling's essay on Draco?  I liked it a lot.

Is there someplace easy to read all the stories? I went to Pottermore when the first story came out, but you had to solve a riddle to read it & I'm just not interested in playing on Pottermore to get to the stories. I'm hoping that they will all be somewhere that you can just go & read them without doing anything else.

 

Kind of related rant: I was so excited when I first heard about Pottermore, but it quickly turned into a hated site. I get that it's basically for kids, & things are done to protect & guide them, but I'm an adult, & I want to look at what I want to see, not be told I have to read things in a certain order to get where I want to go, or solve some riddle to read a short story. It really aggravates me.

[GaT]

If anyone is interested, here's Draco's story 

http://sourcefed.com/jk-rowling-posts-full-draco-malfoy-biography-to-pottermore-read-it-here/

[GreekGeek]

That was a pretty good read, although there wasn't much that wasn't already in the books apart from the post-canon details. There were a couple of surprises: that Draco reached out to Harry because he thought that Harry was a budding Dark Lord; and that Draco became skilled at Occlumancy. It's been awhile since I read the books, but could someone refresh my memory on when Draco uses Occlumancy? 

 

I liked the details on the marriage to Asteria. I'd love to read a fanfic about the conflict between the young couple and Lucius and Narcissa, with Scorpius caught in the middle.

 

 

[Athena]

It's been awhile since I read the books, but could someone refresh my memory on when Draco uses Occlumancy?

 

In Half-Blood Prince, Snape uses Legilimency on him (to ascertain Draco's plans for Dumbledore's assassination) and Draco repels him. Snape notes that Bellatrix trained Draco well in that regard.

[scarynikki12]

I really like the new details on Draco, but what I really love is Rowling's refusal to let the...let's call it passion of his fans sway the realities of the character: that he can grow and be better than his horrible parents (and falling for a woman who turns her back on the same prejudices he was raised with helps demonstrate that), but he was still a bully and all around horrible person in the actual books. 

 

I always liked the detail of Draco being skilled at Occlumency while Harry struggled with it.  In part, because Harry needed to have serious obstacles when it came to certain magical practices along the way to defeating Voldemort, and also because it just made it more interesting to see the hero have a major issue where the bully did not. 

 

The only time I only ever dislike Pottermore is when I try to cast a spell.  Some of the interactive links require that and, for some reason, my browser doesn't allow the graphics to work.  Everything else works fine and I'm able to enjoy the site as long as there's no spellcasting.

[Spartan Girl]

Seriously, I don't get why the fangirls unleash all that venom at JKR just because she warns them not to romanticize Malfoy.  Personally, I think her biography was very balanced: she pities him, acknowledges that maybe he wasn't THE most horrible person in the series, but he's still not a good guy.

[blueray]

If anyone is interested, here's Draco's story 

http://sourcefed.com/jk-rowling-posts-full-draco-malfoy-biography-to-pottermore-read-it-here/

Thanks so much for posting that.

 

I too was so excited when Pottermore opened but as the years have gone on, I've gotten sick of the stupid riddles. I just want to read the special information and move on. Not spend a good half hour or so trying to figure out how to get past something (at least that is usually leaked online). This time I couldn't find it though. And while I may not be the target group, I should be, I grew up with the books and I'm now in my twenties.

Edited December 28, 2014 by blueray

[joanne3482]

As for Hermione's parents I wish we did get to know more about them. They easily could have been a place to hide in the 7th book (of course not have Hermione make them forget her :( ).

 

It's interesting. When I read about Hermione obliviating her parents' memories of her I didn't really 'get it' until I SAW her do it in the movie. 

 

I really don't like Snape. I don't like that he was allegedly this hero. I don't think he was. Everything he did for the Order was due to his love of Lily. We never get a sense that he thinks the Death Eaters are actually wrong or that Voldemort is wrong. He just has such an obsessive love for Lily it makes him be a double agent? I don't buy it. I guess doing the "right" thing for what is, in my mind the wrong reason, isn't heroic. 

[GreekGeek]

 

I really don't like Snape. I don't like that he was allegedly this hero. I don't think he was. Everything he did for the Order was due to his love of Lily. We never get a sense that he thinks the Death Eaters are actually wrong or that Voldemort is wrong. He just has such an obsessive love for Lily it makes him be a double agent? I don't buy it. I guess doing the "right" thing for what is, in my mind the wrong reason, isn't heroic. 

I "liked" him because he was the only character who fell into a really gray area morally. I thought his joining the DE's was done for the love of Lily also--he thought (misguidedly, of course) that it would make her impressed enough to want him. He was not a Pureblood himself, so he must have known his position among the DE's was precarious. Whether that meant he thought they were wrong is open to debate. 

 

As for his courage, if Harry himself--who never liked him--could call him the bravest man he ever knew, that's good enough for me.

[bybrandy]

I am the youngest of 5 much older siblings.  I watched all of them go away to school and I was still a little kid.   For that reason?  I shipped Harry and Ginny from the very first book.  Ginny had to sit back and watch her brothers go off and have fun, and I related, and she wanted Harry so I wanted her to have Harry.  So I was always looking for shipper moments for them.  To me it didn't come out of nowhere, but I would have been quite happy for Harry and Luna.   I also would have been happy for Harry and any non Hermione option.   I mean who marries people they went to high school with, really?   

 

The third book came out my junior year in college and there was a story on some program about how great they were, then that day in class somebody mentioned my Lit professor was in the paper.  Picked up a copy and he talked about how by having a book reserved he was metaphorically jumping in line and elbowing eager children out of the way to get his copy.  But he didn't mind, because the books were totally worth it.

Well that made my mind up and my roommate and I set off on a quest to find the books and it really was a bit of a quest.  Read all three the weekend after the third book came out and read the remainder of the books immediately after they came out.  

I mostly love the books.  Where I think it falls down is Harry not feeling more guilty over not thinking of trying Black via the mirror after he dies.  I mean, Harry discounted the mirror and never used it.  That's fine.  That's life. Hindsight and all that good stuff.  But I feel like he never felt any guilt over getting Serius killed.  And, yes, it would have been unhealthy guilt... but still... I thought he should have had more regrets.   

[Sharpie66]

My take on Harry and Ginny, and all of the other pairings from Hogwarts, is that the Wizarding world is very insular--I read one estimate that the total number of wizards in the UK at any one time is probably no more than 5000 people. Even if you don't hook up in school, you are more than likely going to be encountering your peers from school throughout your lifetime, so it makes sense that many of them do end up pairing off eventually.

[scarynikki12]

I hate April Fools Day

[Miss Dee]

Why? What did I miss?

[scarynikki12]

Mugglenet put out a fake article about Rowling going on tour to promote her Galbraith books.

[HoodlumSheep]

I'll admit to being someone who shipped Harry and Hermione (not intensely though), but I mostly blame the movies for that. The earlier ones seemed to be pushing them, and Dan and Emma just had a lot more chemistry than Emma and Rupert. Also, I felt like some of the Ron/Hermione movie scenes felt a bit...toxic?

At least the Ron and Hermione relationship was built up in the books, so I'm just fine with them. I could never get into Harry/Ginny though. I felt like it came out of left field a bit (I know you guys could list a dozen ways it wasn't, I could too) and it didn't help that I didn't think Dan and Bonnie had any chemistry at all in the movies.

I would have been happier if Harry ended up with Luna.

But oh well.

I wish we could have lerned more about all the mysterious things in the Department of Mysteries. They encountered so many bizarre things like the veil (which was instant death). It always makes me mad when ever I see someone saying Bellatrix killed Sirius. Like, no--the veil is what killed him.

I also get mad that they always were dropping hints about how what an amazing wizard Lupin was, an we never got to see it!!!

Prisoner of Azkaban remains my favorite.

[blueray]

I also get mad that they always were dropping hints about how what an amazing wizard Lupin was, an we never got to see it!!

 

We got to see some of it in the third book I feel like. I wish we got a death scene for him.

[chelsie]

I wonder if JKR had help with the books as the first is shockingly written. I actually hate that Neville, Harry and Ron became Aurors. They did not meet the education requirements (NEWTs); all three were abysmal at the required classes: potions (Harry was shown to be competent at times tho) and struggled with transfiguration and charms.

 

I hated and still hate the canon pairings. The only thing that I like about the OBHWF ending was that Harry and Hermione's kids are related.

 

I know I'm a minority, but I preferred Grint's Ron to JKR's.

 

I prefer fandom's portrayal of Slytherins tbh. Its a shame that JKR did not make it clear that Slytherins stayed behind to fight against Voldie. Instead, we are left with the impression that the rest of the school are residing with mini psychopaths.

Edited April 23, 2015 by chelsie

[scarynikki12]

Neville and Ron were only Aurors for a short while before they quit to work at Hogwarts and WWW respectively, so I just fanwank it as Kingsley ordering a complete overhaul of the Auror office.  After Vold War 2 ended, the British Wizarding World would want to make sure that the corruption and influence of the Death Eaters was completely removed from the Ministry and staff the offices with trusted witches and wizards.  Harry, Ron and Neville would all make sense given the roles each played against Voldemort and at the Battle of Hogwarts in particular.  I would assume the same would be true throughout the Ministry.  Once there was consistent confidence in the Ministry, from within and the general public, I would imagine Neville, Ron and other temporary Ministry workers took their cues and left for other jobs. 

 

As for their lack of NEWTS, I've always wondered about that.  We know Ron and Harry chose to not go back and complete their seventh year and Neville's was a sham thanks to Voldemort and the Carrows, but I've always assumed that taking the tests was different from completing school.  We know that Crabbe and Goyle failed their DADA OWL but Snape explicitly mentions that they had the option to take that test again, so I've always assumed that a witch or wizard who is seventeen/eighteen could take the test but was unlikely to pass without adequate preparation from class.  That would be how those who home schooled could still enter the workforce, to provide another example.  I honestly don't remember if Rowling said that they didn't take NEWTS or just didn't complete their final year.  If they still took the tests, then I could understand meeting qualifications to join the Auror office.  That, or maybe they just put Neville on Herbology duty and kept Ron far away from any Potions.

 

I've thought about the classes at Hogwarts way too much to be honest.  We know that Fred and George only go three OWLS each, yet they seemed to be taking more than three classes in their final years at school.  I counted at one point and they were both taking DADA, Herbology, Charms, and Transfiguration for sure, with Care of Magical Creatures and Potions implied.  The most logical explanation is that Rowling miscounted but I like to think that they continued to study at the pre-OWL level, retook the tests, passed, and we just weren't told because it wasn't relevant to Harry's story.  So, even though Neville didn't take Transfiguration or Potions at NEWT level, I can fanwank it that he continued to take them at pre-OWL level and that's how he earned that qualification.  That, or his year of defiance in book 7 included lots of private study of countless ways to undermine the Death Eater regime, including the previously difficult transfiguration and potions.  There are a lot of ways to imagine Neville getting the level of education needed to be an Auror for a while.  Same for Ron and Harry, though I agree the implications of the education requirements being ignored can be unsettling.

 

I know a language course wouldn't have fit in the story Rowling was telling but I've always been curious how that could be incorporated into the curriculum at Hogwarts.  Dumbledore and Barty Crouch both knew many languages, and there's an entire department at the Ministry devoted to International Magical Cooperation, yet there's nothing to indicate how the witches and wizards learn these languages.  I'm sure there's some kind of translation spell or object to make work easier, but I'd love to see those courses offered at Hogwarts post-VW2.  They could teach Mermish, Gobbledygook, and Parseltongue, to name the three prominent ones from the books.  Or, they could simply offer human languages.  It could be interesting seeing witches and wizards learning incantations in Mandarin or Swahili, as I presume only the Romance and Germanic based languages use Latin for spellcasting. 

 

I honestly have no opinion on the Slytherin perception but I do think that what Dumbledore said to Snape is true: they sort too soon.  These students come to Hogwarts and most of them already know which house they want to be in.  In most cases they fit in fine, but I think this would be true for most of them no matter which house they got.  If they had to keep the house and Sorting system, I think they could delay it by a couple of years.  Cast a few spells and create dormitories on the main level: one for the first years and one for the second.  Each one is then separated by gender, but everyone would live together and get to know one another without the pressure of their house.  Then, at the end of their second year, there is a private Sorting Ceremony, with just the student, Head, Deputy Head, and maybe the ghosts to act as witnesses.  When each student gets Sorted, they then enter the next room and where the prefects are waiting.  None of the incoming third years know what house their friends were sorted into and the fewer witnesses means less pressure.  When the Sorting is done, the new house members are brought into the Great Hall for the end of year feast, which replaces the House Cup (which I thought worked for the books but hate as a concept).  The Head does a closing speech, congratulating the houses on their new members and everyone leaves.  It wouldn't be perfect, as there would be plenty of chances for pressure to be applied in the lead up to the ceremony, but the student's choice also doesn't seem to be common knowledge either so it could still be explained away to anyone getting upset.  Conversely, they could just do away with the houses altogether, set up the Ravenclaw Tower for the girls and the Gryffindor Tower for the boys and turn the Huffelpuff and Slytherin dorms into something else.  Or vice versa. 

[HoodlumSheep]

Was Pr. Slughorn the only Slytherin JKR actually named who participated in the Battle of Hogwarts(that fought on the good side)? did she name any other Slytherins? I can't remember.

Now it makes me sad that JKR didn't explore the houses more (or at least to my liking). I was actually really excited when we finally learned more tidbits about Ravenclaw in the last book.

As for the Auror thing, it never really bothered me that unqualified people became Aurors (even if it was for a short time). Mainly, because they could have easily taken the equivalent of a GED test to qualify, and I'm sure they probably continued their studies despite not being in school, they have some pretty good experience under their belts, people could have vouched for them...the main problem is that JKR never specifically stated how Harry and co. jumped into their Auror jobs.

[Miss Dee]

I'm with Dumbledore; sorting happens too soon, and is too typecast. It's one thing to assess children's abilities and sort them into different disciplines - academic, "trades", etc., assuming you have magic that can get it accurate. But they're accessing based on personality - it's cruel. And somewhat self-fulfilling. I suppose the hat takes things like intent into account, as we saw with Harry, but still.

This is something that I felt was under explored in the Canon stories; I like the fanfics that pursue it as a theme. I always thought as a sequel to Harry that it might be interesting to follow a protagonist that got sorted into Slytherin and deal with prophecies that suggested he's or she's gonna go bad.

Edited April 25, 2015 by Miss Dee

[scarynikki12]

Or just someone like Sirius, who was expected to be in Slytherin and was unhappy due to his dislike of his family. If he hadn't met James he probably would have been sorted according to tradition rather than (I assume) ask to be in Gryffindor instead.

Or maybe even a character like Andromeda, who was in Slytherin like the rest of the family but clearly didn't agree with their pureblood supremacy. She may very well have had a difficult time in school, especially if she started her relationship with Ted before graduation.

There are so many ways to tell that story. I wonder if she could be persuaded to write some short stories about various students from the other houses to give us some different perspectives.

[GreekGeek]

I always hated that last-minute House Cup Gryffindor win at the end of SS/PS. I doubt that JKR intended it to be anything other than "the good guys won after all," but I felt bad for those Slytherin kids. Dumbledore could have told them (or Snape) in private that he intended to add some last minute points that would give the victory to Gryffindor. Instead he seemed to enjoy publicly humiliating them.

 

Re the houses: I always found the requirements for Slytherin bewildering. Cunning and ambition--straightforward enough. But there also seemed to be some expectation of a Pureblood background. I thought Purebloods would be among the least likely to cultivate cunning and ambition, since so many doors would be automatically opened for them by virtue of their birth. I would expect Slytherin to contain more Snapes and fewer Malfoys.

[anony mouse]

Between Dumbles telling the Slytherin kids to go to the dungeon where the troll was, and then the house cup shenanigans, by the end of Sorcerer's Stone, I was thinking the way they were treated was a load of crap. Sometimes it really seemed like Fumbledore was trying to alienate those kids from the get-go.

Sorry, can you tell Dumbledore isn't my favorite character?

[GaT]

Huh, I'm reading all these opinions about the Slytherins, & I never thought there was anything bad about how they were treated because I always thought that everyone in the Slytherin house was basically a bad/evil person. That's where all the bullies & all the kids whose families supported Voldemort went, & everyone believed in the superiority of purebloods. I had the impression that being in Slytherin didn't make you bad, you were already that way to begin with, & that's why you were put in that house.

[anony mouse]

But it makes absolutely no sense to have an "evil" house, particularly for kids who are eleven when they are sorted. Ambition and cunning aren't bad things, it's how you choose to go after your dreams that really matters. To me, Slughorn and his networking seemed very Slytherin. I never got the impression the house was meant to be solely for bullies and bigots, merely the political climate had just fostered it - and Dumbledore didn't help.

Plus, the Marauders were little bullying shits, and they were in Gryffindor, Luna's housemates were awful Ravenclaws, etc., so I never thought Slytherin was the only house for bullies.

[Snow Apple]

Between Dumbles telling the Slytherin kids to go to the dungeon where the troll was, and then the house cup shenanigans, by the end of Sorcerer's Stone, I was thinking the way they were treated was a load of crap. Sometimes it really seemed like Fumbledore was trying to alienate those kids from the get-go.

Sorry, can you tell Dumbledore isn't my favorite character?

These are a few reason why Dumbledore Bashing is such a popular theme in fanfiction.

[scarynikki12]

I always saw it as Slytherin being the house that was slowly corrupted over time and had become the house of pureblood supremacy and general magical prejudice by the time Harry arrived.  When Hogwarts began, I imagine all of the houses contained students from families that agreed with Salazar Slytherin's preference for purebloods over Muggleborns.  Maybe some of them even removed their kids from the school when he left.  The Gaunts certainly hadn't attended Hogwarts so it's possible that some branches of certain magical families chose to either home school their kids or just send them to Durmstrang, Beauxbatons, or one of the other schools that didn't get named.  Most of them obviously would have changed their minds and their descendents returned to Hogwarts.  Maybe it was because they didn't want to do the teaching themselves, maybe they noticed their kids were behind magically and let the value of the education override their desire to avoid non-purebloods, or maybe they just didn't like the idea of their kids being so far away.  By the time Harry was in school Slytherin was well known for its prejudices, so I always thought it was obvious that the supremacists had just taken over the house throughout the generations.  The more recent graduates becoming Death Eaters, or at least not voicing objection to Voldemort's plan, would turn off a lot of students who have the classic Slytherin traits but not the prejudices.  Like the hat told him, Harry would have done well in Slytherin and may very well have ended up there had he not been made aware that it was Voldemort's house before his Sorting.

 

This is actually why I think that most students go into the Sorting with a specific house in mind and that overrides whether their personalities actually match up to the house description.  Zacharias Smith's personality fit far better with Malfoy and the other Slytherins yet he was in Hufflepuff.  The assumption has always been that he's related to Hepzibah (Smith is a very common last name but the wizarding world is small enough that anyone with the same last name tends to be related), a known descendent of Helga, so he may very well have gone into his Sorting expecting to follow family tradition and that overruled any chance of being put in Slytherin.  To mention Sirius and Andromeda again, Sirius clearly expected to be Slytherin and Andromeda was, yet neither was a supremacist.  They just were members of the Black family and Blacks were always in Slytherin.  For every student like Slughorn or Lily, who were placed into Slytherin and Gryffindor based on personality, it seems that there were dozens who were placed based on their own preexisting expectations, even if those expectations made them unhappy.

 

So, it isn't that Slytherin is the evil house, as that wouldn't make any kind of sense for a school, but that it had recently been so corrupted by the supremacist families that anyone who could help restore its reputation chose to be in the other houses.  I like that Rowling actually gave us many examples of that corruption when she could have fallen back on letting everyone assume they were evil just because they didn't like Harry.