(no subject)

[heidi]

I'm never going to manage to get all my thoughts about the last third of DT on paper in a coherent form because every time I try, someone emails me a fic rec (like the one this morning by casirafics) and I get all weepy again and I have to stop and hunt down popcorn and diet coke.
But I've read so many absolutely astute perspectives from so many of you - those who loved all of it, those who loved the story but got twitchy at the Epilogue, those who liked parts but had Issues with others, and even those who are disturbed or upset by aspects of, or the whole of, the book and the series.

I'll just briefly touch on one issue that I have a specific concern with, and then go back into bullet-point mode with Things I Now Believe

So, Remus/Tonks. I want to like it and love it and be happy with them being Happy Together but I can't. Somene said they were represnetative of something alchemical, and that makes me weep - two characters I loved in OotP and before, being used as plot-points and not as characters with essences of their own? Meh.

And yes, I love my Sirius/Remus but a romance for Remus after Sirius is dead doesn't mean he never loved Sirius, so it's not *that*. And it's not the idea of both parents racing into battle that makes me just go "oh please no this is just wrong" - I mean, I understand the theory behind it.

But Tonks doesn't race into battle because she's an auror and that's what she Is Trained To Do - and as a mom who couldn't leave her 3 month old to pick up HBP at midnight 2 years ago, I can't imagine how Tonks left Teddy like that at all.

What bothers me is that she raced *after Remus*. Had she gone into the battle by asking "where do you need me?" or "where can I do most good?" She chased Remus - and he was more important to her than their child, and I just..... I can't imagine that. I'm sure there are mothers who would but..... I don't understand it, and it squicks me badly.

What I Choose to Believe
That Draco marries Eloise Midgen

That Harry spends a lot of time in Snape's memories after the end of the book.

That Harry or Hermione writes a biography of Snape

That sometime in June of 1998, Narcissa and Draco (and maybe Lucius) go to tea with Andromeda and Baby Teddy and everyone talks a lot. And by this time, at least Andromeda knows about Regulus and she tells them and it's Good for Draco to learn about what his brave cousin did to stand up against Voldemort. And yes, he eventually does babysit for Teddy.

That a special dispensation is given to everyone who fought in the Battle of Hogwarts and would have been a 7th year that year, allowing them to take NEWTs in August without attending a full year of school, and Hermione pulls fourteen.

That Kingsley enjoys a long tenure as Minister of Magic and Percy gets his old job back. And gets to keep his accrued vacation time which means he has time off to travel with Oliver to overseas Quidditch matches, la!

That Dolores Umbridge is assigned to the Commission on Toilets. And that she was also impacted by the Horcrux she wore, and would have still been a deranged bitch without it, but might not have been so effective with Crucio.

Neville/Luna. I don't care what you say, JKR! There was no reason to shoot down that ship and it really bothers me that you did, especially as you also said someone would do magic late in life and, er, I missed that.

That having three kids by the time one is 34 does not mean that one does nothing but make babies!

That James Potter II's middle name had better be Sirius, thanks.

That nothing in the books destroys my belief that Lucius Malfoy was a social climber who saw becoming a Death Eater as a way to get in good with his wife's family and relished the power trip but really was completely out of his depth.

That Colin Creevey's mum was a witch who died just after Denis was born and that's why he was still at Hogwarts that year.


Also, two things I may've missed:
Did Crookshanks go to Australia with the Grangers?
Did the Squid do anything in the Battle? I hope so!

Comments

[marag.livejournal.com]

JKR shot down Neville/Luna? Wah! I missed that. How did she do that? 'Cause I also firmly believe in Neville/Luna.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

In an interview about 2 years ago. I'm very meh about her having done that. I mean, it just feels unnecessary.

[sundancekid.livejournal.com]

I also think James Jr.'s middle name is Sirius.

Why Eloise Midgen? We know he marries a pureblood, since Ron knows his son is a pureblood.

I also think Kingsley becomes Minster of Magic, and that Percy gets his job back.

And that Neville becomes Head of Gryffindor, because, <3.

[mmichelle.livejournal.com]

James' middle name had better be Sirius. Or I will kill someone.

Re: Neville/Luna - one of the things I really dislike about JKR is her inability to accept people interpreting the books differently than she intended; this is also evident with her "delusional" comment about H/Hr people. I mean, I do think that a shitload of people on the H/Hr ship are pretty nuts, but it still wasn't a terribly nice thing to do. But yeah, shooting down Neville/Luna has always irked me, 'cause man, it would be socute.

[angelamermaid.livejournal.com]

Kingsley was named temporary Minister of Magic at the end of DH, so I choose to believe he was so outstanding that he got the job permamently.

I think you're right about Lucius and the social climbing. I wouldn't have said that before reading DH.

[ceilidh]

That having three kids by the time one is 34 does not mean that one does nothing but make babies!

GRRRR. That pisses me off to no end.

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

See, this is why interviews can't count. She also said specifically that Grindelwald died in 1945, which...clearly not. The books only say Dumbledore defeated him.

[trinity_clare]

I'm sure Hermione would pull fourteen if she were sitting more than eleven. :D

[amaterasu.livejournal.com]

She chased Remus - and he was more important to her than their child, and I just..... I can't imagine that. I'm sure there are mothers who would but..... I don't understand it, and it squicks me badly.

Thank you! What makes it worse (at least in my mind) is that just months before, he was ready to abandon her without even a backward glance. Come to think of it, I never got any love for her on his part. Tonks, where did your spine go?

[shocolate.livejournal.com]

Crookshanks was at the Burrow, wasn't he?

[seaislewitch.livejournal.com]

That Draco marries Eloise Midgen
Ouch! You know it's Pansy.


No, Tonks isn't going to leave a newborn to go into battle. Insane! Honestly, I didn't get that whole Lupin/Tonks scenario. I need to reread it, I suppose.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Wait, she can't get three extras in Defeating Evil, Horcrux Destruction and Basket Weaving Bag Making?

'Cause she should!

[bella-felis.livejournal.com]

That nothing in the books destroys my belief that Lucius Malfoy was a social climber who saw becoming a Death Eater as a way to get in good with his wife's family and relished the power trip but really was completely out of his depth.

x2. I've always, always held this, and I think Book 7 only illustrates it further.

[trinity_clare]

Agreed.

[cedarlibrarian.livejournal.com]

She chased Remus - and he was more important to her than their child, and I just..... I can't imagine that. I'm sure there are mothers who would but..... I don't understand it

To make a very long story short, I understand it perfectly. This has nothing to do with my motherhood status, but with my mom. I'll talk to you about it more in chat, and in a locked post. But understand what I think: I did not know until I was well into my twenties that mothers are supposed to put their children first. When I was growing up, my mother made it abundantly clear that my dad came first, much firster than me or either of my sisters. In this same situation, my mom would have left us with our uncle and gone into battle after my dad, no questions asked. So given what I've known and seen all my life, I understood Tonks. It's a post that requires much more space and time than I have in this comment, though.

[marag.livejournal.com]

Hmmph. Definitely unnecessary.

[belleweather.livejournal.com]

I'm glad someone else had major problems with Tonks and Lupin. I know the sense of time in that part of the book is a little wonky, but she must have been what, 6 weeks postpartum? And cavorting around in battle? Um... no. There's seriously something wrong with Tonks, AND with JKR.

[nmalfoy.livejournal.com]

Ditto. I never came first in my mother's eyes, and, like Cedar, it wasn't until I was much older and she was dead that I realized mothers were supposed to do that. I know my aunt did, and I can recall sitting there listening to them one night when my mother and I were spending the night, and crying because they were laughing and having fun and I had no idea that such a thing was even possible.

[anemonerose.livejournal.com]

And yes, I love my Sirius/Remus but a romance for Remus after Sirius is dead doesn't mean he never loved Sirius, so it's not *that*.

Thank you. That is also my opinion, summed up in one sentence.

The entire Remus/Tonks relationship just really rubbed me the wrong way. He never once showed that he even wanted to be with her until the baby was born. She spent the majority of the last two books running after him and making him come back to her. I was flabbergasted that she showed up at Hogwarts (although, like you said, if she'd wanted to fight and was asking where she should go/what she should do I would have accepted it much more easily) and the first thing out of her mouth is something along the lines of "where is Remus?" Hello? He's out there fighting and doing his job. Clearly he left her behind (again) and she once again had to find him. It got tiring very quickly and I just really hated what JKR did with two characters that were so promising until HBP.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Found it here.

[earth-magic.livejournal.com]

I'm convinced Harry and Ginny only had sex three times.

Or that he had sex with someone else and that she's just the nanny looking after the kids.

I do love the idea of the Malfoys visiting Andromeda.

[ballyharnon.livejournal.com]

Good point. Damn.

[sinisteral.livejournal.com]

That having three kids by the time one is 34 does not mean that one does nothing but make babies!

That's my mother. She had three kids by the time she was 27. And she told me all her regrets of not enjoying a single life first. I didn't think Harry was that kind of person though.

[azriona.livejournal.com]

He was - I started re-reading late last night, and one of the things I looked for was Crookshanks, because I was wondering the same thing. Haven't figured out what happens to him after the Trio leave though, I'm just now at the wedding itself. I imagine he remains at the Burrow for the remainder of the book.

[blackink.livejournal.com]

I'm going to be completely honest here, because it bothers me so much to see the way so many people are reacting to the way JKR handled Remus/Tonks in DH -

I was thrilled to see that scene in Grimmauld Place, where the thought of hurting Tonks and their child was so upsetting, so terrifying for him that he lost control in a way that we have NEVER seen him lose control before. I've long accepted that Remus isn't a public-display-of-affection character. He doesn't NEED to kiss her publicly, or run his fingers through her hair, or tell her that he loves her every two seconds (which is about as long as we seen Remus and Tonks together in DH, through Harry's eyes) in order to truly love her and be the best husband he can be. It would really be against his character, who's held everything inside for his entire life, to let that sort of emotion out.

No, how we know that he truly loves her more than life itself is that fight with Harry. He isn't spineless there; he's very much the opposite, really. He's not running away from a wife and a child he doesn't want; he's abandoning the only chance he has at happiness, the only person who has ever and will ever love him like that, unconditionally, without prejudice (as we see in the way that James, Sirius, and Lily loved him, and then decided he was the traitor because he was a werewolf), a woman who loved him so much that she has no thought of her own safety at the mere potential of Remus being in trouble--he left that in order to keep them safe. In order to make sure they remain alive and together, without him doing them any harm, either through his status as a werewolf or otherwise. It wasn't cowardly or spineless; it sure as hell was his martyr complex shining through bright and cold, but it wasn't spineless. It was probably the hardest thing he'd ever had to do, as is evident from his MAJOR reaction and losing control. It took a lot of courage to even think about walking away from what he must've seen as his only chance at happiness. It took even more for him to stay.

He looks moderately unhappy at Harry's birthday party, when they've obviously just found out that she's pregnant, since Tonks looks "radiant". But he's with her. He didn't run when he found out, but he was scared. I would be, too, if I were them, bringing a child into that sort of world. He was prepared to die for the cause, and he must've known Tonks was, too. That had to be absolutely terrifying for him just to begin with, but then, at the wedding, when they found out the Ministry had been taken?

I can understand his fear completely. It wasn't because he didn't love Tonks, or he was just with her because he was lonely or thought she was his only chance. He wouldn't have been that terrified if he didn't love her. Instead, like I said before, the way he let his fear overpower him, the way he lost control like that to show Harry that bit of wolf inside of him--that is all the evidence JKR needed to show us to let us know that yes, Remus loved her more than he could possibly put into words in front of Harry, more than an affectionate touch on the cheek could ever convey.

He loved her just as strongly as she loved him, and to him, love was sacred, something to be cherished and kept close to his heart. He had so little of it throughout so much of his life that of course, when he finally had it, he had no idea what to do with it, just as it took him ages to figure out what to do with the friendship James, Sirius, and Peter gave him. It wasn't something to boast about, or something to show off. Tonks, who was surrounded by love throughout her entire life, was eager to share it; not that she appreciated or cherished Remus any less, but it was something she was accustomed to, being loved. And it made her happy, and she's the sort of character who wanted to make others happy, and it's easy to see why she was the one to share their good news with Harry.