Oh, good...recommendations for Uncle and Vernon Lee, so I have something to read now that I've finished HP6.

I think they should start merchandising the Magical Creatures.

A world of yes! Of course, I've also been wanting them to make real-looking Hogwarts House clothes, and not just for Gryffindor.

Much better than OotP. Even with my OCR copy that called them "Death Kilters" and referred to Our Hero as "Hairy Potter" at least once.

A few things: Dumbledore Freezing Harry: "If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine." Total vibes of Ben Kenobi knowing Luke was watching and lowering his lightsaber. It's the Hero's Quest thing: witnessing the death of the mentor/father is an important step on the path to becoming the Hero. And while I think Dumbledore is dead, I think he'll be back in some form like Kenobi was, either via Pensieve or portrait or Chocolate Frog card.

Harry's scar as Horcrux: Sounds good to me, and there was mention a couple times in the book about getting rid of scars and magical healing and all that.

My own personal misdirects and the like: My first thought about Tonks' behaviour was the same as Harry's - she was pining for Sirius. But then I remembered she was patrolling Hogsmeade, so I thought maybe she was the Imperiused one who'd given Katie the necklace. Or that Malfoy was Polyjuiced into her, which was why she couldn't metamorph.

If Harry's right where Dumbledore is wrong about Snape, it's really going to annoy me. Sort of a Buffy/Giles thing: the reason you have a mentor is because they teach the powerful hero to also be wise, rather than just a blunt instrument of destruction...and while the hero does learn to be wise (around the time the mentor dies), Harry's been saying Snape's evil for too long for me to be happy if Snape is evil.

What was the point of Slughorn and The Slug Club? The only thing I can think of is the info on Horcruxes, but Dumbledore clearly already knew about them, so...

and finally,

When will Harry realize that becoming an Auror means working for the Ministry? Gonna have to square that circle.

Oh, okay, one more D&D-geeky comment: Voldemort's a lich!

(edit: And with HP on the brain, this:

recommendations for Uncle and Vernon Lee

just looks like "Uncle Vernon.")

Given that the cheapest Uncle book I have found this morning is forty quid, I'd start with Vernon Lee...

cheapest Uncle book I have found this morning is forty quid

(low whistle) Good suggestion.

More Potter-ing:

(spoilers first) The fact that Draco didn't kill Harry on the train clued me in that Harry-murder wasn't his mission. But I can't blame him for going at Harry in the lav; since early on, H's been a jerk to and about D. I mean, if Draco had seen Harry crying, I think a fight would've ensued as well.

and

The Inferi were kind of a waste, I thought. Relating to that, though, I think Chapter 1 stayed in because it's the only inkling of how much bad is going on outside Hogwarts. Otherwise the focus stays tightly on the school. I kind of wished for a little more physical destruction of the school at the end, but that's just me and my gothic sensibilities.

The fact that Umbridge is still employed at the MoM after sending dementors against Harry and Dudley moves her from Condie-analog to Rumsfeld-analog in my brain, and does even more to underscore the dark grey evil of the Ministry than Shunpike's imprisonment.

Kernel of an idea, not well-formed: it's always struck me how like D&D adventures these stories are. Beyond wondering if Rowling games or if both media pull from the same sources (and they do), I note that both have excited tremendous furor in the Christian community, with allegations that they promote witchcraft/devil-worship. Most Christians aren't overly concerned, but there's this minority that seems to get really scared of quest/heroic fantasy, and I wonder why?

The thing that I like most about these books, good or bad, is that they make me feel young again. Reading them, I can remember what it was like when friends were "best" and enemies could be defeated, when crushes were exhilirating (heck, even what it was like to *have* crushes), and problems were as finite and tackleable as homework. I don't know when I got so jaded and cynical and old, but it's nice to have the scales fall from my psyche for a bit.

Most Christians aren't overly concerned, but there's this minority that seems to get really scared of quest/heroic fantasy, and I wonder why?

J.R.R. Tolkein had an excellent comment about people who were up in arms about 'escapist' literature. Basically, it said that only one class of people tended to see escape as a bad thing--jailers.

What's funny is that the pastors of the church I went to in MD and the church I'm thinking of attending here are both rabid fantasy fans. Both love the HP series, and the pastor of the church here is a Buffy fan. The fact that the good guys are flawed and that the bad guys might be deserving of pity is considered a strength of the series.

My theory is that the people who are anti-Potter for religious reasons are either afraid of anything that could get the children's imaginations going in unsanctioned directions, or because various authority figures are telling them that the books are EEEEEVIL. In both cases, I'd suspect that the underlying motive for fearing the books is that they don't want their children to think outside a severely defined box.

HP6 spoilers and HP7 speculation. Is it totally wrong of me to want to see someone Harry knows (Sirius perhaps) brought back as an Inferi?

J.R.R. Tolkein had an excellent comment about people who were up in arms about 'escapist' literature. Basically, it said that only one class of people tended to see escape as a bad thing--jailers.

As a long-time defender of escapism, I love this!

I'm about halfway through HBP, so not a lot to say yet on a lot of subjects. But interesting that Voldemort is a half-blood who's attracted the loyalty of the faction that's so rampantly insistent on pure blood, and -- at least in the legends of the family he may not know about -- a direct descendant of Slytherin himself.

always struck me how like D&D adventures these stories are.

Yes. But it also struck me how BtVS was like a superhero RPG.

Is it totally wrong of me

Yes. But in a good way.

But it also struck me how BtVS was like a superhero RPG

Yep.

I have an unfortunate S7 vibe about the Half-Blood Prince storyarc hopes. I'm concerned it'll be another case of the fan base coming up with a more compelling and shades-of-grey story than the writer(s). OTOH, JKR has another 2 years of writing to work on the next installment, and the ME writers had about 10 minutes per episode.

tuna salad:

One final oh! And!:

I loved that Slughorn mistakenly called Ron "Rupert."

Anne, I had the thought Thank God Sirius didn't leave a body behind

I think Slughorn is the more socially-acceptable manifestation of the Slytherin impulses, which, along with the Real World point of similarities, is enough of a point for me.

I also think it's interesting that the Pure-Blood lines corrupt so easily, not morally, but mentally and power-wise. It's the infusion of muggle blood that allows the power to re-assert itself. Not only in Voldemort's case, but that's the one that comes to mind.

I also think it's interesting that the Pure-Blood lines

Another case is Tonks. Her mother was a pure-blood, her dad was muggle-born, and she has a very rare and valuable ability.