Chapter 9 and 10 - The Midnight Duel, and Halloween

[Serenoli]

Discussion points:

- How does your impression of Hermione change in these two chapters? How about Neville, who also figures a lot?

- What do you think of Quidditch? Does anyone else feel Beaters are more a fancy embellishment than any real use in the team? Though I do love Fred and George..

- I read somewhere, that perhaps the reason Fluffy didnt attack at once was because Peeve's annoying sing-song voice just outside the door made him feel sleepy. Or is that too subtle even for Rowling?

- Which monster is scarier, Fluffy or the troll?

- How did the troll come upstairs anyway? It says that the potrait of the Fat Lady is on the seventh floor and that they had to climb two floors to get to it from the bathroom where Hermione was attacked. That means the troll had to get up from the dungeons to the fifth floor, without anyone noticing.

- Five points! Thats all they get for defeating the troll? I bet Snape would've given more if they were Slytherins.

More later.

[jammi567]

Very well done, serenoli. Just one small thing: i think you mean chapter ten, instead of chapter eleven.

1) "How does your impression of Hermione change in these two chapters? How about Neville, who also figures a lot?"

My impression of Hermione changes, not when she lies to the teachers, but when she cries after Ron says nasy things about her. It shows that she does have emotions, and also, we get the early indications that she likes him. In contrast, my impression of Neville doesn't change much until a certain book called "Order of the Phionix"......

2) "What do you think of Quidditch? Does anyone else feel Beaters are more a fancy embellishment than any real use in the team? Though I do love Fred and George.."

It seems okay. And the beaters are there to control the bludgers, which help to liven up a pretty boring game.

3) "I read somewhere, that perhaps the reason Fluffy didnt attack at once was because Peeve's annoying sing-song voice just outside the door made him feel sleepy. Or is that too subtle even for Rowling?"

Yeah, i've heard of this before. I really do think she would put that in, it's the type of clue she likes to use

4) "Which monster is scarier, Fluffy or the troll?"

Definatly Fluffy.

5) "How did the troll come upstairs anyway? It says that the potrait of the Fat Lady is on the seventh floor and that they had to climb two floors to get to it from the bathroom where Hermione was attacked. That means the troll had to get up from the dungeons to the fifth floor, without anyone noticing."

Possibly, Quirrill lied (like he usially did) about it being in the dungons, to keep the teachers away.

6) "Five points! Thats all they get for defeating the troll? I bet Snape would've given more if they were Slytherins."

I bet MacGonagall knew Hermione was lying, and that's why she gave them so few points. But the weird thing is, is the neither Harry or Ron complain about this.

[Midge]

Originally Posted by Serenoli

Discussion points:

- How does your impression of Hermione change in these two chapters? How about Neville, who also figures a lot?

I've always seen a little bit of myself in Hermione (not to the extent of MEMORIZING texts, but still...) in that she is a know-it-all. I am a know-it-all. I've gotten better since I've gotten older of course, but I digress...

With the talking fast on the train and the whole, "No, Ron, you do it THIS way," I really liked her to begin with. I think it's funny how Ron and Harry feel guilty about making her cry when Lavender and Parvati(?) come to dinner talking about how she is still crying.

I LOVE NEVILLE. I get so happy in the later books, when he's at the head of the DA and leading all the kids who they don't even know are still at school in the Hallows. If you think about it, this is just the beginning of that Neville. In fact, I would say that this Neville is more like the fifth-year Neville than in the in-between books. Incidentally, I wonder if part of the reason the Sorting Hat put him into Gryffindor (he definitely seems more Hufflepuff material) is because what it could see of bravery was how he reacted to his parents' plight (which was very very brave!)?

Originally Posted by Serenoli

- What do you think of Quidditch? Does anyone else feel Beaters are more a fancy embellishment than any real use in the team? Though I do love Fred and George..

I'm not a big fan of sports, but I do like hearing about Quidditch. A problem with the Quidditch scenes is that it's so exciting, it takes about fifty readings to get all the details because you just can't help but skim really fast through the whole thing.

Beaters are important to the game.. you need a left-fielder for baseball, don't you? It wouldn't be Quidditch without the Bludgers, and the Beaters keep them away from the team and hit them at the other team. It would be a lot more nerve-wracking to play a game like that if you had to keep looking over your shoulder to make sure a big black ball didn't smack you into smithereens! Since Fred and George are so good (and their purpose is solely with the Bludgers), the rest of Gryffindor probably plays better because they're secure that they're safe from Bludgers.

Originally Posted by Serenoli

- I read somewhere, that perhaps the reason Fluffy didnt attack at once was because Peeve's annoying sing-song voice just outside the door made him feel sleepy. Or is that too subtle even for Rowling?

That sounds like her. It sounds a lot like the tiara thing and the locket thing she does later in the books

Originally Posted by Serenoli

- Which monster is scarier, Fluffy or the troll?

I would say Fluffy... the troll was too stupid to notice you if you didn't move, probably. I wouldn't have moved. But here's a question: What did Hagrid do with Fluffy after the Sorceror's/Philosopher's Stone was destroyed? We never hear about Fluffy again. We do Norbert(a), but not Fluffy... Hmmm

Originally Posted by Serenoli

- How did the troll come upstairs anyway? It says that the potrait of the Fat Lady is on the seventh floor and that they had to climb two floors to get to it from the bathroom where Hermione was attacked. That means the troll had to get up from the dungeons to the fifth floor, without anyone noticing.

I never even noticed this. It might even be possible that Quirrell let it in and pointed it at the dungeons, figuring that it would go whichever way it pointed, and when he turned and ran up to the Great Hall, it sort of followed him (maybe he was going too fast or too busy getting into his P-P-Professor Qu-Quirrell character to notice it) and when it reached the Entrance Hall it just sort of wandered off on its own. A troll that size could have covered ground more quickly than a normal human could have. It's a big castle. It just wasn't in the way when all the prefects were taking the students to their dorms.

Originally Posted by Serenoli

- Five points! Thats all they get for defeating the troll? I bet Snape would've given more if they were Slytherins.

I always thought that they deserved more than that, too.. I suppose McGonagall was deducting points in her head for them not obeying and going with the prefects (whether Hermione was lying or not, they definitely weren't friends before the troll and McGonagall would have been able to see that, so no matter what, Harry and Ron were out-of-bounds). Hermione may have been out-of-bounds too, but I think McGonagall is shrewd enough to figure out what really happened. It's never said, but I wouldn't be surprised if the professors used Legilimency on students often (Snape certainly did- Harry says he feels as though Snape can read minds), or at least in odd situations like this one. Snape, Dumbledore, Bellatrix and Voldemort can't be the only "accomplished Legilimenses" in the entire Wizarding World.