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The Dursley's and the Twins StormCrow Send a noteboard - 21/07/2010 02:22:41 PM
Regarding the Dursleys' treatment of Harry, that surprises me a little (again, every time): If they are worried he will hurt them, they should be nicer, shouldn't they? They shout at him for mentioning magic, for example. Then again, I suppose they are being as nice as they can (limited experience etc.), and they do get worse once they realise he cannot use magic. Hmmm.

Another, related, thing that struck me was that the Dursleys' preoccupation with keeping Harry from Hogwarts seems to suggest they actually care for him, in a warped, twisted way -- if not they would just leave him to magical life, surely? It would be less of a liability for them to have him at Hogwarts 10 months out of the year, than locked up in his room in their house (where he might suddenly lose control and start magicking the neighbours?

I also love how the twins have learnt how to open doors illegally the muggle way. They take their mischief seriously. That points forward to their later development, I suppose: their mischief is not an attempt to avoid hard work; it is often a product of it.

And I noted how Mrs Weasley told the twins to take a leaf out of Percy's book. I like how that sets up the later reversal, where the twins are heroes and Percy anything but. The later reversal would not be as effective if this wasn't there to lay the ground.


The Dursleys treat Harry worse in this book (directly) than they did in the first book, IMHO. At least they HAD to let him out to eat, etc. when he was in the cupboard. Installing a flap in the bedroom door so they could lock him in and just hand food through to him? Awful. I don't think they view him as a completely viable threat just yet. They're stradling their fear of the magical world with their need to beat Harry into "normal." Once they start seeing more things happen, a la blowing up Aunt Marge, they start to connect some of other things that happened to them with Harry.

The twins are two of my favorite characters in the series. They do some amazing things in the valiant effort of underachieving! I had forgotten about the "be more like Percy" thing. I've been reading through the later books and I feel for Mr and Mrs Weasley as we see him turn into a boot-licking ministry lackey and completely turn on his family. This earlier praise makes it even worse.
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The Great Harry Potter re-read: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - 19/07/2010 09:32:22 AM 3178 Views
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Dobby - 19/07/2010 02:39:06 PM 2005 Views
Re: Dobby - 20/07/2010 06:42:21 AM 2172 Views
I hate Dobby. - 20/07/2010 11:32:58 AM 2107 Views
I'm not a huge Dobby fan either. *spoilers from end of book* - 20/07/2010 03:18:27 PM 2021 Views
Me too. - 20/07/2010 05:56:27 PM 1906 Views
Boo! - 21/07/2010 12:44:33 AM 2060 Views
I hate "movie Dobby." Book Dobby I'm neutral on. *NM* - 21/07/2010 03:42:29 AM 1258 Views
I don't like him either. - 21/07/2010 02:26:47 PM 2040 Views
It looks like all us cool kids hate Dobby - 23/07/2010 07:13:19 PM 2040 Views
Excellent. - 23/07/2010 10:17:16 PM 2100 Views
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Stuff - 20/07/2010 05:54:26 PM 2086 Views
The Dursley's and the Twins - 21/07/2010 02:22:41 PM 1986 Views
The Dursleys. - 23/07/2010 11:35:31 PM 2076 Views
Re: The Dursleys. - 26/07/2010 06:02:14 AM 1927 Views
she reminds me a bit of snape - 26/07/2010 01:01:35 PM 2021 Views
Re: The Dursleys. - 26/07/2010 02:58:31 PM 1979 Views
Chapters 4-6 - 19/07/2010 09:33:18 AM 2007 Views
Another character we love to hate! Gilderoy Lockhart. Plus Weasley vs Malfoy. - 20/07/2010 03:29:39 PM 2101 Views
Yes! - 20/07/2010 09:41:09 PM 2116 Views
Re: Yes! - 21/07/2010 07:05:13 AM 2065 Views
I can't remember how much I hated him the first read - 21/07/2010 03:44:15 AM 2146 Views
I don't think I ever truly "hated" Lockheart - 26/07/2010 06:09:20 AM 1956 Views
My problems with Dobby are very different from my problems with Lockhart - 21/07/2010 07:02:55 AM 2039 Views
I can see that and I understand completely. - 21/07/2010 02:06:27 PM 2213 Views
Exactly. - 21/07/2010 07:20:33 PM 2095 Views
More stuff - 21/07/2010 07:00:04 AM 2013 Views
I really noticed this time around - 21/07/2010 03:10:43 PM 1902 Views
Yeah. - 23/07/2010 10:15:21 PM 2013 Views
This section really brought home to me how well Rowling writes about love and relationships. - 21/07/2010 07:22:43 PM 2046 Views
That last remark made me check out the names in the French translation... - 26/07/2010 05:18:36 PM 2093 Views
Don't get me started on the Norwegian translation. - 26/07/2010 09:52:09 PM 2036 Views
Ahahahahaha! - 26/07/2010 09:55:17 PM 1854 Views
That is indeed genuinely awesome. - 27/07/2010 12:24:07 AM 2057 Views
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McSnurf? MCSNURF?? WTH? *NM* - 27/07/2010 08:47:55 PM 1187 Views
Nono. McSnurp. - 27/07/2010 08:48:58 PM 2006 Views
Read it wrong. - 27/07/2010 09:15:07 PM 1830 Views
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Deathday Party - seemed like filler to me. Not a big fan. - 21/07/2010 02:33:53 PM 2049 Views
Yeah, I didn't like that either. - 22/07/2010 06:56:39 PM 1944 Views
It is a plot device - 23/07/2010 10:11:45 PM 1953 Views
Heh. - 23/07/2010 10:16:48 PM 1915 Views
Colin Creevey. - 22/07/2010 06:55:17 PM 2033 Views
I don't know. He's always annoyed me. - 22/07/2010 09:23:36 PM 2007 Views
Re: Colin Creevey. - 23/07/2010 10:13:33 PM 2034 Views
Suspect I'm more patient with young people than you are. - 23/07/2010 10:18:24 PM 2038 Views
Infinitely more so, I think - 23/07/2010 10:21:09 PM 1983 Views
Even more stuff - 23/07/2010 10:10:39 PM 2060 Views
Mrs Norris. - 23/07/2010 10:13:51 PM 2084 Views
Re: Mrs Norris. - 23/07/2010 10:15:18 PM 2027 Views
Re: Mrs Norris. - 23/07/2010 10:17:41 PM 1946 Views
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Three good chapters - 22/07/2010 02:28:20 PM 1943 Views
Re: Three good chapters - 23/07/2010 10:34:40 PM 2061 Views
Yup. - 23/07/2010 11:32:03 PM 1999 Views
Re: Yup. - 26/07/2010 03:01:15 PM 2014 Views
And then some... - 23/07/2010 10:31:56 PM 1848 Views
Hermione - 23/07/2010 11:29:22 PM 1987 Views
Another example - 24/07/2010 12:56:26 AM 1891 Views
Re: Hermione - 24/07/2010 04:58:14 AM 1799 Views
Something I don't like: - 23/07/2010 11:24:59 PM 1866 Views
I disagree. - 24/07/2010 01:01:17 AM 1783 Views
Re: Something I don't like: - 26/07/2010 03:01:54 PM 1854 Views
Those students are 12 years old, though. - 26/07/2010 05:35:13 PM 1834 Views
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Heh. I'd forgotten how near the end of the book the spiders are. - 23/07/2010 11:26:43 PM 1830 Views
"Goodbye friends of Hagrid..." - 26/07/2010 01:58:25 PM 1810 Views
Re: "Goodbye friends of Hagrid..." - 27/07/2010 08:50:34 PM 2138 Views
Re: "Goodbye friends of Hagrid..." - 27/07/2010 09:08:24 PM 1894 Views
And... - 26/07/2010 02:54:54 PM 1959 Views
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Lockhart & Dobby get what's coming to them. - 26/07/2010 02:26:42 PM 1927 Views
Finally... - 26/07/2010 02:55:39 PM 1980 Views
He is one indeed, sort of anyway. *NM* - 26/07/2010 05:39:12 PM 1169 Views
Harry was a horcrux - 27/07/2010 02:57:42 AM 1815 Views
Yes - 27/07/2010 09:09:38 AM 1909 Views
Voldemort's (sometimes) hilarious names in translation. - 26/07/2010 06:14:58 PM 4296 Views
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Character development - 19/07/2010 09:37:01 AM 1857 Views
Re: Character development - 20/07/2010 06:45:43 AM 1833 Views
Similar to the first, but a nice step up in complexity. - 19/07/2010 07:56:45 PM 2403 Views
I found an error i the POA preview in the back of my book - 20/07/2010 10:51:42 AM 1820 Views
Yeah i have that edition too *NM* - 21/07/2010 12:43:12 AM 1090 Views
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Suggestions for the re-read? - 19/07/2010 09:37:32 AM 1863 Views
Re: Suggestions for the re-read? - 23/07/2010 10:37:37 PM 1924 Views
OK. - 23/07/2010 10:43:00 PM 1955 Views
Re: OK. - 23/07/2010 10:43:56 PM 1964 Views
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I'm indifferent 'cause I can't find my copy of POA *NM* - 26/07/2010 01:27:05 AM 1173 Views
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we need an impatient smiley that taps its foot while looking grumpy. *NM* - 27/07/2010 08:51:30 PM 1094 Views
More than anything! *NM* - 27/07/2010 09:01:33 PM 1113 Views
It's not Wednesday yet! *NM* - 27/07/2010 09:26:21 PM 1010 Views
But it was a question: - 27/07/2010 10:25:27 PM 1802 Views
Yes, but the two possibilities in Rebekah's post were either Wednesday or next Monday. - 27/07/2010 10:33:10 PM 2150 Views
Aaaah - 27/07/2010 10:34:51 PM 1882 Views

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