This thread is a focused discussion group. Please see the first post below for the current topic and upcoming book discussions. While natter will inevitably happen, we encourage you to treat this like a virtual book club and try to keep your posts in that spirit.
By consensus, this thread is reopened specifically to discuss Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It will be closed again once that discussion has run its course.
***SPOILER ALERT***
- **Spoilers for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows lie here. Read at your own risk***
which is highly competitive and she must always be the best.
That sounds more like Slytherin than Gryffindor.
true, but Hermione only wants to be the best through her own merits. Remember when she didn't want to use the notes from the Half Blood Prince?
Remember when she didn't want to use the notes from the Half Blood Prince?
Yeah, Slytherin is more "by any means necessary".
Also, does Hermione really always need to be the best? I don't see competition as her motivating factor.
Also, does Hermione really always need to be the best?
In schoowork, I think so. I think that a lot of her identity is tied up in being the smart one, so she doesn't like it when she isn't.
I think that a lot of her identity is tied up in being the smart one, so she doesn't like it when she isn't.
But does she care if others do as well as she does? I'm not convinced.
Also, apparently Draco was the first person ever to disarm Dumbledore, even briefly. Which I wouldn't find so unlikely if it were someone other than Draco.
[thumbs through book]
"Dumbledore had wordlessly immobilized Harry, and the second he had taken to perform the spell had cost him the chance of defending himself." (p.584)
I thought I remembered it that way.
hermione wants to be the best, but I think she is pretty quick to know when she isn't good at something ( broom riding,predictions , etc) . And I really think it bothers her when someone does better than she does - in something she thinks she is good at. Or ignores how good she is.
I think that none of the houses are that different- they all just have a different emphasis on the same values. Tonks, for example, was a very talented wizard - and intelligent. I could see her in Ravenclaw. However, I think Tonks was interested in a more balanced life, therefore she ended up in Hufflepuff. (this is why I think the hat takes into account personal desires)
The fact that the Sorting is so important for me to figure out tells me that I am in the right profession.
The only part of the chain of wand possesion that I had trouble with was how Grindelwald got it. I can kind of explain it away as "Grindelwald disarmed Gregorovich, but Gregorovich somehow got back physical posession of the wand in a non-magical way, and then Grindelwald stole it," but that's a lot of convolution to not be explained, especially since it's a pretty major point later that just taking it in a non-magical-fight way isn't enough.
With all the callbacks, I really feared that the beaming blonde thief in Gregorivitch's place was going to be Lockhart. Soooo glad that we didn't have to see that prat again - insane or otherwise.
OMG, me too! On both counts.
Finally, I realized that he was catching the Elder Wand, and that made me realize that the shot of Voldemort on the back wasn't him trying to reach Potter before he completed some action, but that Voldemort was actually falling backwards dead. Really, brilliant misdirection in that cover.
Okay, that's really cool!