OotP 8

[jlh]

Buddy Hackett died today. I'm showing my age here (once again, as I had a very annoying experience last night in chat) by even knowing who he is, and his heyday was well before even MY time. I remember him as a not-very-funny comedian who was on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson all the time, because he seemed to make Johnny laugh, and if you saw that he was going to be a guest you would never watch. It was like watching your grandad with some pal of his making WWII jokes.

Once again, Dumbledore, what the hell? Swoop in, don't talk to Harry at all, swoop back out? What was that? He nearly got kicked out of school and you don't talk to him? He may be a powerful wizard, but he is still an unsure parentless 15-year-old boy! Gah!

Figg was completely great. Even though she can't see the Dementors she clearly knows what they are, how they work, and could pull everything out of context clues: I have this feeling, that means Dementors; Harry's Patronus chased them, so that must be where they were. Interesting that even though she was lying about seeing them, Bones said that her description of how they felt was the convincing bit. I just bet it was.

Also, this is the start of so many things. We meet Umbridge (hissssss!), and knowing what we know now her reactions are really very interesting indeed. One also wonders, now that Dumbledore isn't on the Wizengamot, if they would go down the lane of the show trial. And poor Harry can only vaguely appreciate what is going on around him.

Ugh, I feel the bureaucracy pressing down upon me . . .

Comments

[altricial.livejournal.com]

I've always wondered about Figg's description of the Dementers. I mean, what she said was pretty much textbook definition of Dementers, so, why would Bones say it was convincing? It's kind of like someone who can't see sharks saying, "Oh, they were huge fish with really sharp teeth." Hm.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

True, but we know from her reaction to Harry at the time that she had felt that they were there--she says to him, "Dementers! Here!" before he says anything to her. And she clearly saw his two bad attempts before he created the Patronus. If she was that close, she had to have felt the effects of the Dementers. Maybe it was less what she said, than the way she said it, with that shudder. The way she spoke certainly changed from the lies at the very start of the testimony to when she talks about how she felt. But why Bones picked that out is pretty unclear. creak, creak, plot, creak, creak.

Re:

[altricial.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I forgot about her reaction to Harry at that time, hmm. I think the whole thing was so weird to me because, shouldn't the MoM know whether Squibs can see Dementers or not? Or are there different types of Squibs? JKR needs to write a HP dictionary >:O!

[marysiak.livejournal.com]

There probably are levels of Squib just the way some wizards are more powerful than others.

[evil-erato.livejournal.com]

Don't feel bad - I know who Buddy Hackett was, and I'm younger than you! I think it's just one of those (sort of) obscure pieces of trivia - has nothing to do with age :)

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Seriously, my entire memory of him is his being unfunny on the Tonight Show, and by the time I was in college Leno had taken over.

It's really too bad that kids these days can't see Carson, because he was SO funny. I still miss Carnac the Magnificent, that was my favorite sketch.

[phoenixsong]

Carson rocked! Leno is so not funny. That was when I switched to Letterman -- he laughs at *himself* as well as everyone else. Leno takes self-righteous stabs at everyone from some sort of ivory tower mentality, and it annoys me.

Re:

[evil-erato.livejournal.com]

dude - Carson ruled! I know I was young, but I used to watch him with my grandparents whenever I was sick, and again when I was a teen (pre-teen?). He was the best :)

[sisterpandora.livejournal.com]

What Erato said. *hug*

[debellatrix.livejournal.com]

I'm showing my age here by even knowing who he is
Ah yes, we seem to be about the same age then.

the hearing

[ashirah.livejournal.com]

i wondered about dumbledore's manner too but then chalked it up to him already suspecting that voldemort might already be using harry to get to him (and the prophecy). isn't that also why he made no eye contact with harry when umbridge caught him teaching DaDA? i really need to reread the book but am avoiding it because the week-long mourning period that followed is not something i look forward to repeating!!!