Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows - Readalong Post 2

It's been a little while since I've read DH and when I came up to the Godric's Hollow chapter and Bathilda Bagshot beckons at them to follow her I suddenly remembered everything that was about to happen I shoved my hands over my ears and shrieked, shrieked I tell you! The whole thing is sooooo creeptastic, and one of the few moments in the series when my heart threatens to fling itself out of my chest Alien style.

"And in the instant that he looked away, his eyes raking the tangled mess for a sword hilt, a ruby, she moved weirdly; he saw it out the corner of his eye; panic made him turn and horror paralysed him as he saw the old body collapsing and the great snake pouring from the place where her neck had been."

The whole scene, from seeing her on the street, to venturing into her home, to her silent movements around the house, to her transformation...it's so visceral and terrifying. I also feel like it's compounded by the grief in the previous chapter. Harry is finally home and found his parent's graves and his old home and the markers of their plight and it's both sad and kind of euphoric, because there's all those recent markings of people placing their faith in him. Anyway, you're in an emotional (SO EMOTIONAL) state because of all this (and Ron's departure, more on that in a sec) and then BOOM, creepy old lady turns into a snake and everything's a blur of chaos and fear.

It's also such a phenomenal scene in the movie. Even though I knew, like 100% knew what was coming and that Harry and Hermione weren't going to die I JUMPED 10 feet into the air and clenched onto the arm of my seat at the cinema because HOLY SHIT TENSE MUCH?

Oh man, that scene with Lupin upsets me SO MUCH. I guess I get why Harry acts as he does, but I find that whole scene so extremely upsetting. I just want to jump in and be like "Guys! You are all in constant risk of losing your life, stop fighting because when/if one of you dies this whole thing is going to be so much worse. Guys? Guys? Stop ignoring me, I'M DOING THIS BECAUSE I LOVE YOU."

Also (THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD, SORRY MEG, BUT I HAVE ANOTHER KITTEN GIF FOR YOU) I hate that they have this fight and then JKR fucking kills Lupin and Tonks! I'll go on about this more later in the last section, but I feel like this was some real emotional manipulation on her part, making me feel all twisty and sad when Harry's a dick (with the right intentions) in this scene and then compounding that sadness by creating a new orphan À la Harry and the death of Harry's final father figure. Fuck you JKR, seriously. (END SPOILERS)

Strike last week's gif, this one is adorable X adorable

So Ron. Poor, poor, poor Ron. I mentioned in the comments of Emily's post last week how sad I am for Ron's character. In the PS/SS he's set out to be the strategist of the group, as well as the only one with any solid understanding of life in the magical world. But instead he becomes Harry's slightly bitter and clearly less talented friend for 6 books. I'll die defending Ron, but I think it's less because he's a great character and more because I think he could have been a great character.

The thing is, most of his characteristics are dampened by others doing it better. He's quite funny, but not as funny as the twins. He's really brave when it comes to protecting the people he loves, but Harry's braver. He's adorably dopey at times, but Neville really has the lock on that one. His lifetime in the magical community comes in handy ("Have you gone mad? Are you a witch or not?") but he's not a font of wisdom like Hermione or Dumbledore. It's like he's the youngest son all over again, constantly looked over because Harry, Hermione, Luna or Dumbledore are 100 times better, and better first. So I really feel for him, because I know people this week are probably going to be "hrmph Ron sucks or Ron's a coward or myeh Ron" about him deserting the others, but I think if he'd been given the development of everyone else it'd be less "Ron sucks" and more, "yeah, it was a shitty move, but it was a reaction and one he regretted immediately after, and let's be honest we'd probably do the same thing". He's the Sansa of the Harry Potter series, so easy to hate or mock, even though he's probably the most realistic (when done right) of the lot.

Do you know how hard it was to find a Ron gif that didn't involve him eating?

On the plus side though, I do think that single scene with the locket and the smoke versions of Harry and co does a better job of illustrating the complexities of being Ron Weasley than any other scene in the entire series. It's also a brilliant scene because it gave us that hilarious and awkward scene where naked smoke Harry and Hermione gobble at each other's face and made every single person in the cinema cringe.

Oh what's that? I have a gif of that awkward scene? Of course I do! Enjoy.