Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

[CLOSED] The Harry Potter Book Club! - Your Notes for Chapters 11, 12 & 13 Of The Chamber of Secrets! (Patreon)

Published:
2022-09-01 14:25:53
Edited:
2022-09-27 17:53:46
Imported:
2026-08
Tags:

Content

Hi guys! This part of the Book Club is now COMPLETE! Thank you all for taking part and see you next time! :)

Here is a chance to get your comment read out in the next Book review video!

If you are reading along with the reviews, we are covering chapters "The Duelling Club", "The Polyjuice Potion" And "The Very Secret Diary"! So if you have any thoughts, opinions, comparisons or questions regarding these, please leave a comment below!

I do have to ask, try to keep them fairly short, like 4 or 5 sentences.  That way I can cover more when making the video.  Also try to keep them on subject and not referencing anything that we are yet to cover. Ideally, keep it to 1 comment each if you can (if you have more to say after commenting, you can edit it and add to it! :) ).  These are just rough guidelines rather than rules, I want to be able to fit in as many of you as possible! :)

OH! And if you would like to leave a comment but would rather I didn't read it out in the video, please feel free. Be sure to say you would rather it not be used in your comment.

Thanks, guys!! :)

Files

Comments

Nix001

I feel it strange that Book two seems to be one of the least liked movies and yet I thought they did a pretty decent job overall of covering the story. All three of these chapters read today were in the movie.

Michelle Linardis

The Dueling Club - what giddy chaos! I love this chapter. And I love it even better when Snape humiliates Lockhart. He can easily see through his BS, and it's glorious. The scene where Harry learns Expelliarmus, and he learns it from Snape.

Bianca Nedelea

I really appreciate Fred and George's humor in these chapters, the whole ''Make way for the Heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming through'' shows how hilarious is this situation , let's go and drink a cup of tea with the fanged servant

Daniel Lee

Excited to hear your thoughts about your fellow Hufflepuff, Ernie Macmillan! This may not have been the most flattering introduction for him but I think he’s a really underrated character and I can't wait for you to get to know him more going forward. I also love how Hagrid defends Harry so much because he himself was accused of being the Heir of Slytherin and doesn’t want Harry to experience what he had to go through. Just a side note but who comes up with the password for the Slytherin common room since the entrance is just a wall and not a painting like Gryffindor? Very insensitive password for the time too lmao.

Jacqueline Chaiton

Hermione's statement that most wizards don't have an ounce of logic in them is proven in these chapters. The fact that people seriously thought Harry was the heir of Slytherin when his best friend and his mother are muggleborns is astounding to me. Also, I love how Harry has no idea that he is speaking in Parseltounge and by extension we don't know that he's speaking Parseltounge. I get why they had to show it in the movie, but I definitely prefer how the book does it.

Kunzite Blossom

Totally agree. That scene always makes me laugh. Leave it to Fred and George to try and take advantage of the situation by making people move out of their way.

Kattie Martin

Expelliarmus is usually used to disarm but if you put more power it will shove the opponent. We all know Snape knew how much power to put into it so he obviously wanted to either embarrass Lockhart or was so disgusted by him he wanted him far away. Picturing Snape’s reaction to potential Valentine’s Day potion requests was funny.

itsanursething

There's so many great things about these chapters that didn't make it into the movie. The first is something that has bothered me in several movies: the rules of polyjuice potion. They are very clearly explained in this chapter and then broken numerous times in the movies (Harry, Ron, and Hermione keep their own voices every time they use polyjuice, but Barty Crouch Jr. sounds like Moody for a year??) I LOVE the dueling club scene. I wish the book version had been in the movie. Seeing what all the different spells actually do instead of every spell just knocking people over. Lockhart's Valentine's Day "surprise"! I would have loved to have heard Harry's special song. Haha! And finally, Riddle's memory. VERY different from what we got in the movie, and explains a bit more of his backstory!

Sara

Lockhart is amazing in these chapters. I actually laughed out loud multiple times during the Dueling Club. Harry's "Drop my wand?" was hilarious. The Valentine's shenanigans were great too. The mandrakes wearing tiny clothes makes me feel really bad about the fact they're going to be slaughtered at the end of the book. Even if it is for a good cause. "Maybe he murdered Myrtle?" Hmmm…

Benjamin Hütz

I like the duelling club... there you learm that different offensive spells have different effects... in the movie every spell does the same: send the enemy flying... even expelliarmus, which is meant to be a spell to disarm the opponent

Hawwah

The true heir of Slytherin is Tom Riddle and his father was a muggle.

Hawwah

People claim that Professor Snape is a horrible person because his idea of punishment is *temporarily* banning a student from Quidditch. Let's put it in perspective here. Professor McGonagall punished 4 first year students by sending them to the Forbidden Forest. At night. While she knew there was something in the forest killing unicorns. We were told that killing a unicorn is 1. very difficult and 2. unspeakably vile. So she must have known that whatever the thing was, it was extremely dangerous. And she still thought it was an appropriate punishment to send 4 first years there. Snape is a strict teacher, no doubt about that. Sometimes perhaps unreasonably strict. But he's a cinnamon roll in comparison to McGonagall. Unlike her, Snape would never willingly endanger the lives of his students.

Jacqueline Chaiton

Correct, but how many people knew that? Also, given what we know about his parental situation, do you blame him for hating him?

Jacqueline Chaiton

I respect your opinions on Snape, but that's not why people think he is a horrible person. It's because he's a grown man who thinks it's okay to bully children. Was McGonagall wrong to send them into the forest, yes absolutely. But she is nowhere near as bad as Snape. I know you and Diego have had this discussion before and I will refer to all of his points since I agree with them.

Dara Jeeling

a here comes the chapter "Harry Potter learns Expelliarmus" *giggles* keep that chapter in mind whilst continuing to the other books - and never forget who taught that one to Harry! I can't wait! And do not apologize. I'd rather wait then have you loose the fun with this.

Dara Jeeling

Cinnamon role - that made my day! *spits coffee all over desk* Thanks!

Garry (Not Jerry)

The polyjuice potion plan (say that 5 times fast) seems a little farfetched really. Couldn’t Harry have just followed Draco under the invisibility cloak? Anyway - I’m reading this book in French so I thought I would give you a fun fact about the french translation of Harry Potter. The french word for “wand” is “baguette”. They also use the same word for chopsticks, drumsticks and a conductor’s baton. But it’s quite funny to imagine all the witches and wizards running around with bread sticks.

Hawwah

@Jacqueline In the comment section under the last HP video people specifically say Snape is evil because he wanted to ban Harry from Quidditch. You sincerely believe that endangering the lives of children is "nowhere near as bad" as scolding, taking house points or suggesting temporarily (!) banning a student from Quidditch? Wow. Looks like someone needs to sort out their priorities. @Dara I can't tell whether you're being sarcastic or not. Either way, you're welcome.

Giorgia M

I think you are referring to me in the previous comments. I didn’t say he was evil but I think it’s untrue to say he doesn’t get satisfaction out of punishing or mocking Harry, Neville, Hermione etc. To say it’s scolding is dishonest, he mocks them personally, he doesn’t just scold them for their actions or mistakes. You can make misguided mistakes in your punishments like McGonagall but you shouldn’t enjoy it. He does. That’s why his “eyes glittered” “his nasty smile widened” and his “triumphant smile flicked across his face” or whatever when he was catching Harry out on what he thought Harry was doing wrong, without proof, it was just his correct assumption. If Snape acted the same as McGonagall and sent them to the forest I wouldn’t say he was a bad person for it. It’s the way he enjoys degrading people. Furthermore, by the way you talk to people in the comment section, I’m not surprised you think Snape is a cinnamon roll.

Hawwah

Do you mean if I blame Tom jr. for hating Tom sr. or vice versa?

Jacqueline Chaiton

One instance of terrible decision making does not make her a horrible person or teacher. Snape may not be physically abusive but he is unquestionably verbally and emotionally abusive. You brought up the Hermione’s boggart in book three being McGonagall telling her she failed her classes in comparison to Neville’s boggart just being straight up Snape. Clearly Not comprehending that the failing all her classes part is the actual boggart, McGonagall was just delivering the news. Neville’s boggart was the man who verbally abused and constantly ridiculed him instead of offering to help, the man who had just tried to poison his toad. Like I said in my initial comment and in a different thread, Snape is a grown ass man who thinks it’s okay to bully children simply because he was bullied as a child and in Harry’s case, because he hated (with good reason) his father. Like I said I respect that you have these opinions about Snape, but you will never convince me that Snape cares one iota about Harry or any of his students not named Draco Malfoy.

Hawwah

"(...) he mocks them personally, he doesn’t just scold them for their actions or mistakes." Can you provide any examples, please? "(...) his “eyes glittered” “his nasty smile widened (...)” Are you now seriously criticising Snape for his eyes or smile? Are you suggesting he "bullies children" with his eyes? You're really grasping at straws, aren't you? McGonagall's mouth becomes "very thin" whenever she's angry. And she's described this way many times. Are you going to criticise her for that, too? "it was just his correct assumption" So Snape was correct - he wasn't being unfair to Harry - but he's somehow still the bad guy? "If Snape acted the same as McGonagall and sent them to the forest I wouldn’t say he was a bad person for it." Another person who thinks endangering the lives of children is not as bad as "a nasty smile". I sincerely hope you're not a teacher. I wonder what's your opinion on Barty Crouch jr. He was nice to Harry and Neville, didn't have a nasty smile and his eyes didn't glitter, so he must have been a good person. Yeah, he also plotted Harry's murder, but that's just a little unimportant detail. "you think Snape is a cinnamon roll" I wrote that he is a cinnamon roll in comparison to McGonagall. Not in general. I also think Professor Sprout is a cinnamon roll in comparison to Professor Snape.

Jacqueline Chaiton

Honestly I don’t know why we keep engaging you on this. Admittedly it’s my fault for starting it this time, but there’s no amount of examples that will sway you just like there is nothing you can say that will sway us. We will always see Snape as a bully and abuser because that is what he is. You won’t, and that’s fine. We will agree to disagree and move on.

Hawwah

@Jacqueline I never said McGonagall was a horrible person or a bad teacher. I just pointed out the double standards some people apply to her and Professor Snape. The truth is, if Snape is "verbally and emotionally abusive", so is McGonagall. He isn't any worse than she is. Actually, McGonagall is worse because she's also (mildly) physically abusive while Snape isn't. And no, it wasn't just "one instance of terrible decision making". McGonagall drags a student around by the ear (PS). She calls Neville “abyssmally foolish” (PoA) and later warns him in front of the class not to let the foreign students see how useless he is (GoF). She allows Draco to be dragged away by somebody she has just seen savagely beating him (GoF). She punishes students in ways which humiliate them and/or put their lives in danger (Forbidden Forest in PS, Neville in PoA). At the beginning of HBP we're told that she never complimented Neville before. That means that in his first 5 years at Hogwarts she only scolded him for his bad work. So tell me how is she any better than Snape? If you said that both McGonagall and Snape were abusive, I would disagree with your broad definition of abuse, but I would appreciate that you're being consistent. But calling Snape abusive and not McGonagall, that's just unfair. Snape never tried to poison Trevor. He said he was going to feed him the Shrinking Solution and that's exactly what he did. The Shrinking Solution is harmless. Hermione's fear isn't McGonagall but failure - yes, that's a possible interpretation. Neville's boggart can be interpreted the same way. Neville fears he's not good enough for his grandmother, who constantly compares him to his father, who, unlike Neville, was a good student. Neville's worst subject is Potions and that's why his boggart takes the form of Professor Snape. Neville's fear is failure/not being good enough. If Professor Snape really wanted to torment Neville, how come he never mocked his disabled parents in front of him? Snape knows who Barty Crouch jr. is. If Snape doesn't give a iota about his students, how come he consistently protects them throughout all seven books? (Primarily Harry but not just him.)

Hawwah

@Jacqueline If Snape is a bully and an abuser, so is McGonagall. Can we agree on that?

Jacqueline Chaiton

No, because I don’t think that she is abusive. Not in the way Snape is. I agree can she be a bully at times but she doesn’t take pleasure from it the way Snape does. That’s the biggest difference. Actually I’m gonna edit this. I think she is overly harsh with Neville. I don’t think she bullies him. In POA she punishes him because his list of passwords is the reason a mass murderer was able to get into her houses common room. It wasn’t his fault, but she didn’t know that. Also, just because she never complimented him that doesn’t mean she always insulted him. As for Snape not trying to poison Trevor, he knew that without help Neville’s potion would in fact poison him. That’s why he takes points away from Hermione for helping him. Not to mention he then goes on to belittle him in front of a fellow faculty member in Lupin. There’s also the fact that in one of the books (I can’t remember which, I think philosophers stone) potions is described as “weekly torture”. You never hear that about transfiguration. I will agree with you that she should not have let Crouch get away with what he did to punish Malfoy. That is unacceptable. I can admit when she does something I consider to be wrong, just as I can admit when Snape does something I consider right. They’re humans, which means they aren’t perfect. And I can admit that I am biased towards McGonagall even though I’m a Hufflepuff not a Gryffindor. But it seems like you can’t or just won’t do the same for Snape.

H

Did you notice the way Nearly Headless Nick was moved by Ernie (you've probably already mentioned it in this video!)? Awful comments like “He [Dumbledore] loves Muggle-borns. A decent Headmaster would never’ve let slime like that Creevey in." and "I hope it’s Granger" always made me find it weird how so many people like Draco Malfoy, but it's probably more that he's an interesting character rather than that he's likeable (or that Tom Felton is a good actor). Anyway, of course he's a product of his upbringing, but that's more an explanation than an excuse. In the polyjuice potion chapter he's behaving like an edgelord, but that makes sense for his character. It's a bit like with Snape: clearly a bully, and not a nice person (despite him being a hero!), but an interesting and well-written character.

itsanursething

Snape is thought of as a "horrible person" because he is written that way. These books are written from Harry's perspective. In Harry's mind, Snape is a bully and does malicious things because he hates Harry and Gryffindor house in general. In regards to punishment, Harry getting detention with Hagrid is the best possible outcome because Hagrid is his friend. He doesn't care if it's in the forbidden forest. He doesn't think about the danger. But getting kicked off the quidditch team, where he feels useful and talented and appreciated, as a 12 year old who's never felt that before, IS the worst possible punishment in his eyes. We all see people through different lenses. We have to remember that when reading these books and watching these movies, that we are experiencing Snape through HARRY's lens. Is Snape a good person/teacher? Yes. Is he a bad person/teacher? Yes. It all depends on how you view him. Everyone can be right in this instance. Please remember Veggie doesn't want things in these discussions to get mean. I think some people are edging a bit close to that territory. :)

itsanursething

I didn't start to like Draco until Half-Blood Prince. His conflict made him seem like more than just a product of his upbringing. He began to show that maybe he doesn't want to be the way he was when he was a child (yes I consider 12 to be a child). That maybe he was growing into his own person who could make his own choices. Granted...he was backed into a corner in HBP so his choices weren't amazing, but still. Also, who doesn't love a bad boy? ;)

Michelle Linardis

@Hawwah People just love exaggerating every morsel of Severus' character, don't they? They take one or two things they don't like about him and turn him into a child abuser, or whatever ridiculous term they come up for him. Despite the end revelations to Severus' character arc, they'll hate him for anything regardless. Double standards are atrocious in this fandom. You have my support, as always! =)

Annette Elliott

I like that in these chapters they explain how Hermione got the ingredients for the Polyjuice Potion. The fact that she had to steal some of the rarer ingredients makes Snape's remarks about stealing from his private stores more understandable in Goblet of Fire later on. I also like how it shows a more reasonable way that Harry figured out there was something strange about the diary. Showing the red ink spilling all over all of his things but later there's no red ink on the diary pages which leads Harry to try writing in it to see what happens is much better. Overall the books show Harry is much more intuitive and clever than the movies do. He doesn't ALWAYS need Hermione to figure things out for him.

Hawwah

No, I don't blame Voldemort for hating his father. Tom Riddle sr. was a wealthy man who let his only child rot in an orphanage. Young Tom probably daydreamed countless times of the day his father finally comes and rescues him. It never happened. So, Tom probably thought that his father was dead. Or that something was preventing him from coming. Otherwise he would have come, right? Then he found out that his father was alive and well, extremely wealthy and living in a huge mansion, while abandoning his only son in an orphanage. And that he never came back for him because he never cared about him. Now, we know that Tom sr. was tricked and manipulated into a marriage by Merope Gaunt, but Tom jr. didn't know any of that. From his point of view, Tom sr. was nothing more than a deadbeat dad without any redeeming qualities. So no, I don't blame Tom jr. for hating his father at all. That being said, I don't condone Tom jr. murdering his father and grandparents. Murder is never justified.

Jacqueline Chaiton

When did I say that it was? All I said is that I don’t blame him for hating his father.

sarah4hp

Harry receiving his singing valentine from Ginny is pure comedic GOLD in my opinion, and I would LOVE to see a story from Snape's POV with HIS reaction to receiving such a valentine from someone as I just know that his inner dialogue would have been AMAZING. In honor of Valentines Day in Harry Potter, who would YOU most want to see receive a valentine from a suiter, and who would be the suiter you would want to have sent it?

itsanursething

I agree with your original comment Jacqueline! The students seriously lacked common sense in thinking Harry was the heir. He's arguably the most famous person in the wizarding world, not to mention he is famously an orphan. Yes, he knows who his parents are, but how would he know any of his wizarding lineage? Let alone if he even was the heir or that that was a thing or that there was a secret chamber. I will also say though, in the student body's defense, they're all terrified. They're not thinking straight.

Dara Jeeling

it was more like a shock. I never imagined Snape being compared to a cinnnamon role (and dang every time I think about one I want one - a cinnamon roll that is). I am also not a fan of the "Snapey poo" things... But that was just - read it and spit out my coffee I understand you being protective of Snape. He is and has alaways been my facorite character - but he is still a mean bully (no matter what he sees as HIS personal reasons). but I have said it time and time again - not even in the first bokk did JKR convonce me, he as the bad guy. To many inconveniences - like how she descirbes how Quirrel is knocked over - and the jinx ended. He is a bully (especially towards Neville). He is not a nice guy, but he is still my favorite character. Not even thinking about other teachers punishments.. It's like "the forbidden forest is striktly forbidden - unless you get detention and then we send you in without a proper guardian" That's Hogwarts XD *prepares for her personal rant*

Methanoutput

Ron being aware of how the diary could be dangerous, when he tells Harry not to touch it, tells us indirectly more about what his Dad or even the ministry is doing on a daily basis. A small detail, that makes the world a little bit more alive. Hope you are doing well Veggie, cant wait for your thoughts on those chapters! :)

Hawwah

@Jacqueline "When did I say that it was?" When did *I* say that you said that it was? I never suggested such a thing. "I don’t blame him for hating his father. " I don't blame him either. Finally something we can agree on!

Hawwah

@Michelle Linardis Nice to see you again, Michelle! Thank you for the support!

Hawwah

@Dara Jeeling I'm glad I made you laugh! I apologize for the coffee, though. When I was reading HP and the Philosopher's Stone for the first time, I was only a bit older than Harry and I totally got fooled by all the red herrings. I was 100% sure Severus was the villain. And then came the last chapter and the twist and I reacted just like Harry... it couldn't be true, just couldn't... but he tried to kill Harry... *ferociously flips through pages*... oh... oooh, now I get it! Well played, JKR, well played! Severus Snape became one of my favorite characters at that very moment. And when the 4th book revealed there was so much more to him than we previously thought, he became THE favorite. And he's been ever since. It annoys me to no end when people tell me "you only like Snape because of Alan Rickman". No, sir (or ma'am), I liked Professor Snape years before I even learned who Alan Rickman was (he's not so well known in my country). I watched the movies years after they came out. I'm not going to criticize Alan Rickman, I don't think he's a bad actor or anything, but my Snape is book Snape. (Some people prefer movie Snape and that's totally fine.) Sorry, I got carried away a bit. What was the question again? Yeah, I admit I am passionate about our beloved potions master. Maybe too passionate to be honest. I didn't mean to attack anyone in my comments, I don't think I did, but if it felt like it, then I'm sincerely sorry. English isn't my native language and unfortunately I express myself a bit clumsily (probably more than just a bit). Thank you for the discussion even if we may have to agree to disagree.

Diego Zenhäusern

I always though it was bonkers that the passwort would be "pureblood"...I mean it's basically as if the password were "white supremacy"🙈😅

Diego Zenhäusern

Yeah, it's rreally sad they chose to do polyjuice potion like that in the movies...I'm sure the aduince would have been inteligent enough to understand that it was them, even if they didn't have their original voices🤦‍♂️

Diego Zenhäusern

That las line is one of the most hilarious but also saddest bits of foreshadowing!

Diego Zenhäusern

The scene is hilarious, I especially like how determined the dwarf is to deliver his message😂 But also: Comme on Ginny, I know you're only 11 but shouldn't you have know that Harry would find this embarassing and not endearing?🙈😅

Diego Zenhäusern

Harry has some serious guts, I wouldn't have touched that book with a 10 meter pole after what Ron told him about wizard books 🙈

Diego Zenhäusern

I have to say I actually prefer how they did the "Harry being sucked into the book"-thing in the movie compared to the book🤔 On the other hand I don't like that they let the chocolate cakes float in the movie instead of puting them on the banister like in the book....I mean even Crabbe and Goyle shouldn't be that dumb😂 Also: I love that Harry was looking around for a glas of water to put out Fawkes...it's just such a fun little detail😅

Kristina

For some reason my comment got deleted, maybe it was too long or considered too spoilery... If so I'm sorry, I just wanted to point out how great it is that in the memory scene Harry sees his greatest enemy as a "normal" boy very much like himself - he doesn't have a loving home, so he is more attached to Hogwarts than any other student and desperately tries to put things back in order so he doesn't have to leave this place and this world he belongs to even for a few weeks during summer. This connection is so well and kind of subtly prepared in the chapters before by Harry telling his classmates about how terrible the Dursleys are and them asking him to stay away even for the summer holidays. Think of how much Harry must have identified with the Riddle he saw in the memory. I feel like the scariest thing about Voldemort and what makes their whole conflict so powerful is not how different he is from Harry, but how many similarities they actually have.

Hawwah

@itsadancething I wrote a long reply to you but it got deleted. Possibly because of spoilers or because it was too long. I'll try to put it shorter this time. I agree that we see Severus through Harry's lens. The problem is that Harry is neither objective nor omniscient. He's often wrong about people (that's why this series has so many twists). He was wrong about Severus up until the climax of the last book.

Hawwah

I find it odd that you compare Draco to Snape. Draco has much more in common with James Potter.

Raider Max

Lots of great comments on this so ill keep mine short and sweet. "Maybe he killed Myrtle?" - Ron Weasley for the win hahahaha

Thunderbird

Here are some of my favourite things from these chapters: The different effects of spells and the chaos oft he duelling club. How do you feel about there being a tickle charm? Also it made much more sense that the snake backed down in the book. The many songs we got like the Peeves song about Harry being Slytherin’s heir and Ginny’s Valentine’s Day poem to Harry which Fred and George kept going. The teachers expressions at the Valentine’s Day dinner. And last but not least, what did you think about the little bits of background we got about Tom Riddle? Good I love these books! :D And sorry for the long post, there are just so many good and hilarious moments in these chapters and I couldn’t decide which ones to talk about.

H

My comparison was about them being interesting characters despite being unlikeable people, and for me James Potter isn't that interesting as a character. And he's a different kind of unlikeable as well, but that isn't really the point. (Not really interested in any further discussion with you about Snape, by the way, no offence!)

Yankee Veg

I think the beauty of the Potter books is that the characters are neither all good nor all bad. The "good" characters each do something rotten, and the "bad" have moments of redemption. Thanks for book club, Veggie!

itsanursething

Right?! I mean and how dumb do they think we think Draco is? How would he not notice their voices were different?

Josh Z

There’s been healthy debate for years amongst many fans wether or not Ginny actually sent the singing Valentine to Harry. Some people believe that it could have been Malfoy, who assumed that Ginny was Harry’s girlfriend when she stood up to him in Flourish and Blotts back in chapter 4, and he is trying to humiliate them both based on knowing Ginny has a crush. Fred and George also get mentioned as the real sender, just playing a prank on Harry, though I think they are less likely to humiliate their little sister openly because even they have a line and are quite protective of their family. What do you think?

Jacqueline Chaiton

It was that last bit about murder never being justified, it just felt a bit like you were implying I thought it was. Nevertheless, it is nice to finally agree on something 🤣

Diego Zenhäusern

I mean I don't think I believe it was Malfoy🤔 But I kinda love the idea of him trying to put himself in the mind of an 11 year old girl and to come up with verses for the poem that are as embarrassing as possible.😅

Hawwah

I've never heard of this theory. I still think it was Ginny. When Malfoy yelled after her "I don't think Potter liked your Valentine much", she covered her face in shame and ran into class. That implies it was indeed her valentine. Otherwise there wouldn't have been any reason for her to feel ashamed.

Kattie Martin

Considering the amount of Harry/Draco shippers I'm sure there are many who would love it to have been Malfoy who couldn't admit to his feelings and passed it off as Ginny. It would be funny.

Fiur

It's so much joy reading these chapters and again it's the mischievous characters that really shine. Like Fred and George trying to fend off Harry the 'heir of Slytherin' with garlic. Or the grumpy dwarf singing a valentine song for Harry. However my favourite is clearly Peeves' ingenious 'Oh Potter, you rotter' - Song. I would have paid money to experience this in the movies. I also like those little mentions of other teachers like Professor Sinistra (that teaches astronomy). She is helping Flitwick to get Justin in the hospital wing. It shows that there are more teachers present at Hogwarts, not only the main house teachers like Snape, McGonagall, Sprout etc. As always...keep up the great work Veggie! Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. Greetings from Germany.

Lady Beyond The Wall

Right? There are halfbloods in Slytherin, Harry himself was almost put there (not to mention Tom Riddle was in there too and a bunch of other halfbloods), so it kinda sucks for all the halfbloods to have to use "Pureblood"...lol, especially the ones who might be sensitive to it, or feel "lesser than" for not being a pureblood.

Lady Beyond The Wall

"Harry, Ron, and Hermione keep their own voices every time they use polyjuice, but Barty Crouch Jr. sounds like Moody for a year??" Oh, oh! Okay, so, a while ago, I think I figured out the Barty Jr using Moody's voice in the movies thing, and I think they showed in the movies how he was doing that but it was a very quick thing that a lot of people might have missed. I think (at least movie version) Barty Crouch Jr was VERY good at mimicking voices. At the end of Goblet of Fire (the movie), when he's running out of his Polyjuice potion and getting ready to come clean to Harry, he says something like "Magnificent creatures, dragons." in HAGRID'S VOICE. I think that was meant to show us that he either took a long time to learn or was naturally gifted at mimicking someone's voice...and that's how he was able to sound like Moody. It was a very quick throwaway line most people probably didn't notice or care about, but I'd bet anything they did that specifically to show how Barty Jr was able to pull it off. Now - people can say that maybe that's a lazy explanation, but.. I applaud them at least for showing us he could sound exactly like Hagrid too, and thus, be able to sound like Moody.. while the kids, being kids, wouldn't be able to pull it off as well. Obviously it would have just been easier if they all had the other person's voice in the movies too, so they wouldn't have had to do that, but they did give an explanation, albeit a very quick one, about how Barty Crouch Jr was able to do it, by showing him mimicking Hagrid's voice as well. Now I've watched all the movies sooo many times, but for some reason, it took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out that Barty Crouch sounding like Moody wasn't really a "polyjuice plothole" and it was just that Barty was super good at sounding like at the very least, Hagrid as well as Moody.

Lady Beyond The Wall

"Maybe he murdered Myrtle?" - Man, try saying THAT 5x fast. I almost felt like a Weasly Twin when as soon as I saw that sentence, I tried saying it 5x fast.. that "murdered Myrtle" part is a tough one 😂

Lady Beyond The Wall

@Hawwah "I wrote a long reply to you but it got deleted. Possibly because of spoilers or because it was too long." It wouldn't have been because of spoilers if you're talking in the replies. Sometimes Patreon does this with posts that are a few paragraphs or longer. After being on Patreon for like 6 years, I finally learned to make it a habit to copy any comment I'd make if it was longer than a paragraph, because every now and then, I'd post it and then it'd disappear, and it wasn't the Patron doing it but the website. So what I do is, copy my comment before I post it. Then I'll post, refresh the page and see if my comment is there. If it is, yay! If not: sometimes you just gotta copy, paste and post your comment again. Sometimes literally like 10 times until it sticks. Nooo idea why. 🤷🏻‍♀️ A weird quirk of Patreon!

Lady Beyond The Wall

@itsadancething Same about Draco, really. In the HBP movie, he mentions on the train that if he thought he had to continue Hogwarts next year he'd "pitch (himself) off the Astronomy Tower" and after we see him struggling a bit with the cabinet and right after Ron and Lavender run into Harry and Hermione after Ron and Lavender kiss.. we see them running up the towers through the windows and as the camera goes around the castle, you see Draco.. on the Astronomy Tower, by himself at night. To me, that was really, really freakin' sad. Like he was genuinely considering jumping off right there, especially since they made it a point to have to him say that in the beginning of the movie.

Lady Beyond The Wall

Sometimes long comments are deleted by Patreon itself. It's some kind of glitch that I've been dealing with for years at this point, lol. If you make a long comment, try and make a habit of copying it before you post it. Then post, refresh and see if it's there. If it is, good. If not, copy and paste your comment and refresh again. Sometimes it takes me like 10 times for my comment to actually stick.

Frederique Gillespie

I had never noticed before how Ron, trying to be funny about Riddle's award for services to the school, spoils the end. And wouldn't you have loved to have seen that Valentine's Day cheesefest in the movie?

Ziro the Hutt

Apparently Gilderoy Lockhart has two older sisters who are squibs. With him not being very good at magic, perhaps the magic in his family is dying out. Also supposedly Dolores Umbridge has a brother who is one, which is very interesting considering her behaviour as an inquisitor, towards muggle-born wizards in Deathly Hallows.

Lisette C.

I think it is interesting that Harry's first experience with wizard dueling is Snape using the Expelliarmus spell to such great effect ;)

Jacqueline Chaiton

@Hawwah just reading this now, I honestly never would have guessed English wasn't your first language! And yes we will agree to disagree on most things Snape related but it is nice to still have such passionate conversations after all this time!

Jacqueline Chaiton

@Saltire I've never heard any of this before, where did you find it?

Hawwah

@Jacqueline I'm actually very self-conscious about my English, so you've just made my day! Thank you! After all this time? Always!

Garry (Not Jerry)

It’s weird that he didn’t understand this comment because he literally mentioned it several times. I do enjoy the irony of Ron’s comment though. I Love when authors throw in little clever lines like that.

Garry (Not Jerry)

I know it’s a little late but I’d like to add to this discussion if I may. I think the true reason mcgonagall gives detention in the forbidden forest is the same reason Molly Weasley asks “which platform number was it again?”. It’s the first book and Rowling hadn’t quite fleshed out the world-building yet. Going to the dark forest as punishment for detention seems like a sort of whimsical, wizarding world thing, but in later books the punishments for detentions are much more appropriate, and it does seem in retrospect to have been totally irresponsible. It’s a totally lame reason and I completely get why people like to have their own head-canon reasons for why that happened the way it did. Because it IS quite out of character for mcgonagall to put students in danger. She is frequently described as strict, but fair. And it is clear that she is also comforting when it is appropriate to be (such as in the upcoming chapters when she allows Harry and Ron to go and visit Hermione in the Hospital wing and therefore forgiving them for sneaking off on their own)

Garry (Not Jerry)

Also - I think it’s too simplistic to say that Snape “had to act like” he hated Harry. Why did he have to act like he hated Harry? Because Voldemort hated Harry? Voldemort also hated Dumbledore but did Snape ever act like he hated Dumbledore? He would be a pretty terrible double agent if he just went around pretending like he was on Voldemort’s side all the time. I mean, if Voldemort is supposed to believe that Snape is only pretending to be on Dumbledore’s side, shouldn’t that mean that he has to keep up appearances by pretending that he likes Harry?

Hawwah

In my opinion it's highly debatable whether to consider this stuff canon.

Hawwah

@Garry We, as readers, have to judge characters' actions in-universe. Saying "Rowling just made a mistake" to excuse when our favorite character does something unpleasant is lazy and dishonest. Molly asks about the platform number to test Ginny. She obviously knows what number it is, but she wants to see if Ginny knows. It's NOT out of character for McGonagall to put her students in danger. Remember how she punished Neville in PoA? Regarding Snape - there are at least four children of Death Eaters in Harry's class. These children presumably talk with their parents about their life in Hogwarts. We know that when Voldemort returned, he considered Snape a lost cause and Snape had to use all his intellect and cunning to persuade him he was still his dedicated follower. Do you think that would have been possible if the other DEs reported to Voldemort that Snape was suspiciously friendly with muggleborn and/or Gryffindor students? And befriending Harry is the one thing Snape CAN'T do. Because then Voldemort would say "Harry Potter likes you and trusts you, Severus. Lure him out of Hogwarts and bring him to me". And then what?

Garry (Not Jerry)

It’s lazy, sure. It’s not dishonest. Quite the opposite, It’s incredibly honest. Because I genuinely believe that is the truth. You can believe that is why Molly asked about the platform, but there is no evidence I can see to support it. I think you are talking about the part in PoA where she punished Neville for leaving the passwords lying around? I had to re-read that part to understand which punishment you were talking about. “Professor McGonagall was so furious with him she had banned him from all future Hogsmeade visits, given him detention and forbidden anyone to give him the password into the Tower. Poor Neville had to wait outside the common room every night for somebody to let him in, while the security trolls leered unpleasantly at him.” Interesting point. Whether or not the punishment is appropriate is irrelevant - although I do understand why she is so angry. Does this punishment put him in any danger though? Certainly detention and banning him from Hogsneade doesn’t, so we can discount that. Perhaps you could argue that by not giving him the password he could be left outside the common room on his own, potentially when another attack happens. However, there are security trolls for that purpose, so it’s not like he would be totally on his own, and he can get into the common room at night (which is when the previous attacks have happened), or go in with another student. I suppose the purpose of this punishment is the idea that he has proven himself to be irresponsible with the password. Knowledge of the password is a privilege and he has proved himself to be untrustworthy of having it. You could say that giving the password to Neville would be a liability and it would put all the other students in danger! Your point about Snape - yes, you could argue that he cannot befriend Harry for this reason. Then again, that doesn’t mean that he has to pretend to hate him. Also, remember what Lucius says to Draco in book 2? “I would remind you that it is not prudent to appear less than fond Harry Potter - not when most of our kind regard Him as the hero who made the Dark Lord disappear.” If Lucius Malory doesn’t want to make any claim to dislike Harry, I doubt if he would find it strange at all if Snape behaved in exactly the same way. Again, “not hate” and “befriend” are not the same thing.

Hawwah

I think it's dishonest. You can't just pick and choose which parts of the book are canon and which are not at your convenience. I don't understand what evidence about Molly you need. I fully understand why McGonagall was angry. I think she was perfectly justified in giving Neville detention and banning him from Hogsmeade visits. However, I believe making Neville wait every night in front of the entrance into the tower until somebody let him in was humiliating and put him in danger in case there was another attack. Your house is something like your family while you're at Hogwarts. Imagine if parents punished a child by not allowing him into the house. I personally don't believe Severus hates Harry. I believe he strongly dislikes him and given Harry's behavior, I really don't blame him. Lucius cares about public opinion, Severus does not. That's the huge difference between them.

Garry (Not Jerry)

Hmm, I suppose I agree with you in terms of picking and choosing. We certainly can’t “assume” that something was a mistake just because it fits with our own interpretation. Then again, if the author really did make a mistake, it would also be dishonest to try to cover it up with flimsy retroactive continuity. Some evidence to suggest that Molly was Testing Ginny. I mean does that even make sense? Wouldn’t she say “do you remember what platform it was?” And Ginny isn’t even going to Hogwarts that year. Running late for a train doesn’t seem like the best time to be quizzing your youngest daughter about their Hogwarts knowledge. We’re going round in circles but I’ll say it again. Neville had proven himself to be untrustworthy with the password. Giving him the password puts the rest of the students in danger. Hmm. You’re looking at a very thin line if you’re talking about the difference between “strongly dislike” and “hate”. Does that mean that your stance is that he really does strongly dislike Harry, but he is pretending to hate him? I have another question for you though. Do you believe that snape dislikes Harry purely because of his actions, or do you think he is biased because Harry reminds him of James? I agree with you about Lucius, but I don’t think it would be suspicious at all if Snape simply treated Harry like every other student. I don’t see why he “has” to hate him.

Hawwah

Regarding Molly - I really don't understand what's the issue here. I've always thought it was obvious that she was testing Ginny (and possibly also Ron). Why do *you* think she asked her children the question? We'll have to agree to disagree about Neville. I believe Severus had preconceived notions about Harry. However, Harry very quickly confirmed them to be true (at least in Severus' eyes). I believe Severus does treat Harry like every other student.

Giorgia M

This is the last time I’ll reply to you. He calls Neville an idiot, he mocks his lack of skills to other teachers and calls him incompetent to the point that Neville’s greatest fear (bogart) is professor Snape. He even threatens to feed his toad whatever Neville makes in potions class because Neville is making the potion incorrectly. That is not the way to foster young minds. Furthermore, he continually insults Hermione, often in front of a group. He insults her by saying her teeth look no different when they get enlarged by a spell. He calls her an insufferable know-it-all. This is all intentional and on purpose. Secondly, just because you don’t understand what I’m saying, doesn’t mean I’m grasping at straws. My whole point on my original post you replied to and in my previous comment is that Snape is not a good person because he enjoys their pain, he enjoys bullying children. The examples I provided show the amusement and enjoyment of Snape’s body language when Harry gets caught and by trying to get him more seriously punished. This is the reason why people get longer in jail for premeditated murder instead of accidentally killing someone. If someone enjoys killing and thinks about how they are going to do a horrible action before they do it, you get a longer sentence over something like manslaughter which is accidental. These two things have the same effect, someone dying, but the events before affect the sentencing. McGonagall’s actions were bad and irresponsible but they were not intentionally damaging. Snape’s affect on the kids was intentional. That’s why I find it to be worse. I hope you can understand now. Third, he doesn’t know he’s correct, there is no proof. He often thinks Harry is up to something and he isn’t always right. You can’t just say oh well I think this so you are punished because I think you did something and that’s it. While Harry is not being honest, he’s not actually done anything wrong. He heard a voice and he doesn’t want to tell them about it. They don’t have the right to his thoughts and feelings, he’s not put the writing on the wall and punishment isn’t going to make him want to tell them since we know Harry is stubborn. It’s not a smart way to go about making him open up. Your points about a nasty smile and about Barry Crouch Jr are irrelevant because you are arguing against something I wasn’t even saying because you didn’t understand me. I’ve covered that above with the nasty smile etc quotes because they were relevant to my point of Snape’s enjoyment of getting children into trouble or seeing them humiliated etc, specifically Harry, and not about whether the nasty smile and glittery eyes were bad in themselves which you thought I was saying? I’m using deductive reasoning to come to the conclusion that Snape enjoys the situation by the amused body language described in the book. Hope that clears that up! Also, I reiterate the same for you. I hope you aren’t a teacher. Emotional abuse and bullying is cool as long as they protect your life? I’m not cool with that. How about treat people nicely, try to help them and protect their life? Sounds great. I don’t think Snape bullying Neville or insulting Hermione or even Harry was necessary in his double agent agenda. He’s supposed to look like he’s sort of playing both sides so why does it so obviously look like he’s only on one when he’s in a classroom or around the children? I won’t be engaging with you again but enjoy your day!

Garry (Not Jerry)

Sorry for the slow reply. Unfortunately on Patreon I don’t get any notification when you reply (because we are sub-commenting on your comment, not mine.) so I just have to keep coming back every now and then to see if you’ve replied. Anyway. You say that he treats Harry like every other student, but also that he “pretends” to hate him. I don’t understand. How can both be true? If snape is treating harry like every other student, there would be no way to tell that he specifically hates harry. If he is pretending to hate harry, he would need to treat harry differently somehow in order to show that he hates him.