Harry Potter

I suppose a case could be made that the class does teach a valuable skill to students: how to fake proficiency at a skill they don't possess through the art of bullshit.

edited 8th May '15 3:06:34 PM by TobiasDrake

Dumbledore didn't make up the class, though. When he tells Harry about the job interview with Trelawney, he implies that he himself thinks it's a useless thing to study but was obligated to find a teacher for it anyway.

Trelawney and Firenze show two very interesting opposite takes on the Divination idea.

Trelawney has The Gift, so in select situations she can make amazing predictions, but has absolutely no skill in the craft itself so she thinks she can be all dramatic and "teach" things about it even though its useless.

Meanwhile, Firenze comes from a society in which Divination is a practice that has been part of their culture for presumably a very long time. Because he knows so much about the art, he knows that the teaching of it can be informative but isn't always effective, so he teaches it as more of a general spiritualism class.

While Trelawney gives the impression that teaching Divination is stupid because in her case can be the most incompetent seer in the world and still give amazing visions because you have The Gift, Firenze gives a better sense of the concept of Divination as a whole, and under him I'd buy it being an effective elective just for its cultural value and a means of gauging affinity in general (maybe a class they take for a year, rather than their entire school experience past third year). Firenze also seems to imply that even if you don't have The Gift, you might have some affinity towards Divination in general (unless it's just centaurs who are like that), it's just not reliable. Especially if you're a human, who are never good at that sort of thing anyway.

On a random note, they never mentioned Firenze "sitting" at the staff table, did they? Was there a given reason for that (like he preferred to eat on his own or something).

edited 8th May '15 3:16:26 PM by KnownUnknown

He's a centaur, I presume he just grazes outside. Also, centaurs can't really 'sit'. And while he agreed to teach as a favour to Dumbledore, I don't get the sense that he's keen on spending a lot of his time with humans. He's less insular than other centaurs we meet, but that's not saying a great deal.

I know it's a few pages late, but am I the only person who thought that book!Crouch was faking in the Wizengamot? The guy's a consummate manipulator, and I just assumed his breakdown was acting for the benefit of his mother.

I would call it an Ambiguous Situation. I'm not sure whether I think he's more likely acting or is genuinely scared, but I kinda prefer the latter interpretation because I find it a bit more interesting.

Rereading the series for the first time since I entered my 'Enlightenment' era - I've finally stopped looking at things as either 'boring' or 'enjoyable,' and I can review things more critically.

I'm really impressed with the sheer amount of continuity and foreshadowing throughout the books (I'm halfway through Oot P). In book 2, Gilderoy's favorite color is lilac, mentioned in a one-off line; three books later, he's wearing a lilac dressing gown. I do have a bit of the problem with some of the static characters: Harry, Ginny, Dumbledore (alleviated by what I know happens in book 7) and every one of the Slytherins. But McGonagall and Sirius are probably my favorites.

I thought this was cute:

http://squeewentthefangirl.tumblr.com/post/119546559169/snapesbooty-nnnnnnyyyyyyyaaaaaatabieaaannnnn-yer

I don't know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't that.

Like the Time-Turner, the Marauder's Map is the best goddamn thing, poorly utilized.

Granted Voldie would be registered as Tom Riddle.

Everything can be chalked up to "wow there sure are a lot of fucking people on this map"

Idle thought: Riddle cursed the DADA position a long-ass time ago. Ever wonder what kind of nefarious plots were being foiled before Harry showed up at the school?

• DADA TEACHER: At last, with this poisoned gourd, I will infect the water supply and kill all the children!
• SNAPE: Aha! I have foiled your evil plan!

• DADA TEACHER: Once I release Dementors upon the entire school, they will—
• SNAPE: Two steps ahead, you're too slow.

• DADA TEACHER: I have planted mandragoras on every student's alarm clock. When they wake, the fatal cries shall—
• SNAPE: Clever, but no.
• DADA TEACHER: How did you know I would—
• SNAPE: Because it's always your class.

• SNAPE: If we're being perfectly honest, I've been monitoring you all year for signs of nefarious activity, but you seem to be on the up and up. It's rather unsettling.
• DADA TEACHER: All I want to do is help the students succeed. Their education is the only reward I need. Oh, and this sweet new water gourd I found.
• SNAPE: ...have you been drinking out of that? Oh, bollox.

I figured most of the time the teachers were perfectly decent people who just had unfortunate things happen to them to prevent them from staying more than a year. It was only coincidence that as of Harry's first year the only people willing to take the job were evil, Order members, or (in his fourth year) both.

In retrospect, Quirrel taking the DADA job must have been the most surprising thing ever. He's doing his whole jittery wreck schtick and then he takes the job that's been breaking teachers for *checks wiki* thirty-five(?) years. To an outside observer, it must have looked like Neville-tier hidden courage.

It'd actually be a really powerful story if it was true. Quirrel was always afraid, always shaken; he goes on one trip through Albania and his life is changed forever by all the darkness and injustice and cruelty he sees there (it's a dark magic hub iirc, and there's all sort of muggle wars going on when he's there) and decides that he needs to step up and teach the children, because it's clear that no one else will.

It's the kind of story where Quirrel is either the hero of the piece, overcoming his flaws to do good, or much more likely, he's up to something. Which were pretty much exactly Snape's thoughts on the matter.

And the version where Quirrel's the hero is exactly the kind of shit Dumbledore loves, and thus would be inclined to believe. It'd be brilliant if either Quirrel or Voldemort grokked his mindset enough to have done it on purpose.

Dumbledore didn't believe it, though. The flashback in Deathly Hallows showed that he's the one who instructed Snape to keep an eye on him in the first place.

• DUMBLEDORE: You're awesome! You're hired!
• SNAPE: Oh good, we're recruiting obvious traps now.
• One schoolyear later
• SNAPE: Aren't we all glad at least one of us had the foresight not to be stupid and gullible this year?
• DUMBLEDORE: Being right doesn't change the fact that you're an asshole.

Huh, so he did. Probably being more security-conscious now that he had the Stone in the castle.

DUMBLEDORE: Being right doesn't change the fact that you're an asshole.

Story of Snape's life.

Was that flashback before or after Halloween? I can't remember.

After Halloween, I imagine it couldn't have been more obvious to Dumbledore that Quirrel was up to something. If figure Quirrel spent most of the year hanging on by a thread of "you might know I'm guilty but you can't prove any of it, neener neener!"

I mean, using a troll even though Dumbledore knows they were your protection for the Mirror? Come on, now.

edited 27th May '15 3:45:07 PM by KnownUnknown

Flashback was before, probably. Before Quirrel gets mentioned Snape's talking about how Harry is awful and his father, and while that in itself wouldn't narrow things down Dumbledore doesn't indicate that he's heard it before so I'm pretty sure it's not long after school starts.

I think Dumbledore was really desperate to keep the school running, and maybe he hired Quirrell because he knew Quirrell would have plausible reasons to leave after one year of teaching? After all, telling everyone that Voldemort had cursed the school wouldn't be very good for Hogwart's reputation.

edited 15th Jun '15 3:33:17 AM by Gowan

Hiring a guy he thought might be a raider out to steal something he's protecting heist movie style, but trusting that he only wants to steal the thing and either wouldn't hurt the students or that wouldn't be able to under both his and his staff's watch seems like something Dumbledore would do. Keeps his enemy where he can see him and plan for his every action, and if the students have to deal with an incompetent teacher for a while - hey, it's DADA so they're probably used to it.

I mean it's still horribly irresponsible, but Dumbledore legitimately had no idea that Voldemort was involved (at least until it was too late). Before that, he and Snape just thought he was a crook. And given that the year after he hired Lockhart, Dumbledore might have had to deal with crooks before given the curse.

Honestly I always felt that the whole set-up was actually a trap, and perhaps designed as a wake-up call for Flamel. After all if you want something to be unreachable, you hex a door that nobody can open it, not letting the key flutter around close to it. Think about it, if Harry hadn't turned up, what would have been happened? The thief had ended up behind the firewall (presumably without any poison for the way back) but unable to retrieve the stone from the mirror. In short, the thief would have been trapped and the Flamel's might have understood that the stone will never be totally safe.