Ink and Stink: A Halloween Post-mortem

[zorb]

Whew! That was fun. I thought I'd start a new discussion post now that all the facts are available and the drama is done.

Notable events:
- Harry accidentally spilled indelible ink on the book Hermione copied for the LP, the Pretiosissimum Donum Dei, thus sending her off in tears. :-(
- Teddy showed off his Dark Mark (inked by Draco) to the Lord Protector, who was pleased to see a new generation of minions coming to life, as was Bellatrix.
- TROOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLL in the castle! MacNair was the rumored source, most likely by virtue of his announcing it. Sucks to be the messenger. (ETA: The troll belonged to him, so I guess that's more reason.)
- Even before the panic, boot realized Hermione was missing and told Neville, who also knew from Lavender that Hermione had gone off to cry. Harry put the pieces together and ran off after her with Ron, Neville, and a reluctant Draco.
- The battle with the troll seems to have played out much like it did in canon, with two extra people. Harry still ended up upended, prompting Neville to charge the troll (oh, Neville!). Ron wingardium leviosa'd the troll's club above its head, where it dropped for the KO, with a brief stop on Neville. Draco pulled Neville out of the way.
- Pansy is quoting things.

And finally, the LP left Harry a most devoted gift - welcome, Dennis Creevey! (I love him already.)

Thoughts? Theories?

Comments

[brimtoast.livejournal.com]

1. I really hope it was an accident. I don't know what purpose it would serve to do it deliberately. And it would mess with my understanding of Harry's character, which is basically that he thinks of himself as a decent and friendly guy and doesn't understand that some of the things he says and does are actually pretty horrible. In other words, I don't think he'd be mean on purpose, though he frequently seems to do mean things without noticing.

2. The doll's head thing is a bit weird, but I've certainly known normal fifth graders who had equally weird things (I am a substitute teacher in 1-6th grades, so I see a lot of 11-year-olds). My interpretation of "daddy's singing to me" is in my earlier comment in this post. I think it's a reference to her father's Muggle music that she listens to. It is a really odd way to say it, though.

And I am still not convinced that a spell was cast on Pansy at any point last night, although it wouldn't totally surprise me if one had been.

[alt-player.livejournal.com]

Harry's player here.

It was a real accident.

[lapin-agile.livejournal.com]

Thank goodness. This game can be so difficult to interpret, and this was a particularly challenging example. Hermione couldn't have said if Harry had deliberately, maliciously ruined her work (she'd have said it was an accident even if that had been the case), but it is possible to imagine that Harry or someone else would have thought it inappropriate for the Lord Protector to be given a book copied by a Mudblood, so it was plausible he might have done it with that reason -- or that he might have done it just to plague the Mudblood. I agree with brimtoast that it would have altered my understanding of Harry's character if he had done it for either of those reasons (so it was really important to know). And, of course, Harry didn't describe the incident in his post (but he wouldn't have in any of the scenarios, so that was no clue).

Anyway, I really appreciate that you took time to clarify that point for us.

And, um. You are doing a great job, Harry's player! You and everyone else -- this weekend has been such a treat! -- but I'm especially impressed with how Harry comes across in this game because your task is a really ticklish one to show how he's been influenced by his upbringing and how that has made him different than his canonical character while leaving some core that is "Harry Potter". All of which to say, "Thanks!"

[brimtoast.livejournal.com]

I agree! I think Harry must be one of the trickiest parts to play in all this, but is also one of the most important to get right. The player does a magnificent job. It seems like a lot of thought goes into the exact words that Harry says sometimes. They're always just the right thing to get to the essence of a situation or an idea. "I wouldn't do that. I'm nice. (http://alt-draco.livejournal.com/2776.html?thread=39896#t39896)" "It was kind of fun! (http://alt-harry.livejournal.com/3664.html?thread=64080#t64080)" (such a Gryffindor reaction). And I love his 'grin' icon.