zebralittle52 | The book that almost ate my weekend

I've done it. Two full litters of Vanilla Coke, and time off to see Bruce Almighty with ladydouji, (The movie... eh. But Deb and I had fun at the Alamo Drafthouse, so it was worth it... AND! I got my birthday present! A cell of Yohji from Weiss Kreuz! The REAL Yohji from the real Weiss, before he was turned into Cowboy Andy's twin!), but I've finally finished the book.

Harry Potter, and the obsessive compulsive disorder

Damn.

I think it's my favorite of 'em all so far.

Spoilers...

And more spoilers...

And I just know I'll get hissed at by at least one person *looks at Ryu* by the time I'm through.

First thing I did after finishing was skim other LJ's, seeing what others thought, and I came across an interesting point. The book didn't really have a beginning, middle and end. There was no One Big Thing... it was a continuation and explanation of previous plot points, while laying the foundation for the future books.

Being a huge Babylon 5 fan, I can appreciate this immensely. I know there's going to be more adventures in store for the kids, two books worth. I know that, unless he's dead, Harry'll probably end up back with his Aunt and Uncle for the next summer, that what ever Bad Guy Of The Book shows up, they'll be little more than a stepping stool towards the ultimate fight between Harry and Lord Thingy, so I only placed as much importance on what'shername, Umbridge, as was necessary.

The books have finally turned into an arc.

Now, as for individual points about the book, first I have to say that Neville is my hero. (Right behind Snape, of course.) That boy has shown more growth, more development in the few major scenes he was in than most of the other characters combined. His charging after Draco in the dungeons, the way he kept his mothers gum wrapper... and Gods, how he handled himself with the Death Eaters. The bar has just been raised for Neville fic writers everywhere, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what they produce. Imagine what he could possibly do if he had a wand of his own.

It's been pointed out that Harry spends so very much of the book angry, and I really liked this on a couple levels. First, it's completely believable. Teenage years are nothing but a whirling mass of frustration, anger, insecurity and fear. It's that pulling, stretching, awkward time when you're not yet grown, but think you should be... and that's hard enough when that's -all- you're dealing with. Harry, being The Hero(tm), also has that whole Lord Thingy (Yes, I loved that bit, why do you ask? ^_~) to deal with. For Gods sake, he's acting normal! He's being stupid, and stubborn, and short sighted, he's sulking and brooding, and he's got more than just his "My parents were fried when I was a baby" for motivation. Frankly, I think he's being much more interesting because of it.

Do I wish they'd spent more time on the other characters? Of course. But broody, sulky, see the list above, teenagers push their friends away. And since the only things we see in the book are from Harry's POV, (something I've sulked about before,) a very huge chunk of the other's development is lost to us, until that time Harry pulls his head out of his ass and realizes just how much he's missed. (There's been grumblings about the lack of Herm/Ron, but honestly I thought I saw quite a bit of it. Harry saw them acting around each other just like Mr and Mrs Weasley do, Herm kissed Ron on the cheek (and not Harry), it was Ron's problems with homework that led Herm to helping them again, etc...)

Oh, a few random things... Ginny, you Ho! *cackles* Maybe we'll get some good fic out of you yet. (And would anyone be surprised if somewhere out there the first drafts of Centaur/Umbridge bestiality fics were already in the works? *shudder*) I'm still chewing on Luna Lovegood's character, not quite ready to pass judgment yet. She's the start of the Houses Reunification Program the Sorting Hat was going on about, I'm sure, but with a name like that... is she supposed to be Harry's love interest in a book or two, once he's gotten past the trials, who will be able to understand what he's gone through since she was by his side, (you've no idea how much I cringe at the idea... can we say bad Mary Sue fanfic, anyone?) unlike Cho who's obviously still having issues?

An interesting parallel. So much could have happened differently has Sirius treated his house elf differently... But is there really that much difference between his treatment of Kreacher and Hermoinie's of the Hogwarts elfs? By hiding the clothes, by trying to trick them into freedom, Herm is denying them the choice of free will on the basis that she knows what is best for them (and DAMN doesn't that smack of Dark thinking? It's for their own good, after all, and she knows better, and I'm sure that's how more than a few Death Eaters think about the rest of wizard-kind.) Sirius treated his elf as Dumbledore described there at the end...

You know, I never really liked Sirius in the first place, but when Harry found that mirror I got chills. So much that had happened, avoidable but for a simple mistake. (Honestly, I think that's the best kind of horror.) His loss won't affect me, though I understand the importance it will have on Harry's character. *shrug*

And then there was Snape. Do you have any idea how hard it was not to jump ahead, once I saw there was a chapter titled "Snape's Worst Memory"??? The scenes of Snape's childhood may have seemed unnecessary, but it's nearly fannon law that Snape had an unhappy childhood. In the books themselves, however, don't forget... Harry doesn't know squat. And I couldn't help squee'ing at the rose colored glasses being stripped from Harry's eyes, regarding James. The boy still needs a bad guy he can mentally handle, so it's unsurprising he clings to his hatred of Snape at the end... but that didn't stop the Harry/Snape shipper in me from bouncing all over the place like a very happy fun ball.

(This is where I digress into a drooling slash fangirl.)

It's amazing, the amount of slash potential! Maybe that's why she's against HP slash... she doesn't want the competition! Fifteen pages in, I was snerking. One hundred pages in, my twins radar went through the roof. (And it never really turned off. ^_~) But the Harry/Snape was all over the place. (Go back and look at the bit where Umbridge sits in on Snape's class. THAT is how you act when under cover!) And for all his petty, spiteful, mean spiritedness, he was the one that went searching the forest for Harry, who -tried- to teach him... and we'll never know if would have continued after the pensive incident, 'cause Harry never went back.... but special lessons? Secrets, and tension, and snapping emotions! Yes!

(And the Lupin/Snape was there! It was! Lupin's "I'll handle Snape" line really tickled my slashy bone.)

But now it's after 6am, and I should be in bed... even though I really want to read it over again.