- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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Chapter 17 – Locating the Hypothesis
Part Twenty
quote:
"Okay," said Harry, "I'm not even sure if I should be saying this, but that is simply not the correct way to deal with our admitted ignorance of how the universe works."
"It isn't?" said the old wizard, looking surprised and disappointed.
Here it comes. I can feel it coming.
quote:
Harry had the feeling this conversation was not going to work out in his favour, but he carried on regardless. "No. I don't even know if that fallacy has an official name, but if I had to make one up myself, it would be 'privileging the hypothesis' or something like that. How can I put this formally... um... suppose you had a million boxes, and only one of the boxes contained a diamond. And you had a box full of diamond-detectors, and each diamond-detector always went off in the presence of a diamond, and went off half the time on boxes that didn't have a diamond. If you ran twenty detectors over all the boxes, you'd have, on average, one false candidate and one true candidate left. And then it would just take one or two more detectors before you were left with the one true candidate. The point being that when there are lots of possible answers, most of the evidence you need goes into just locating the true hypothesis out of millions of possibilities - bringing it to your attention in the first place. The amount of evidence you need to judge between two or three plausible candidates is much smaller by comparison. So if you just jump ahead without evidence and promote one particular possibility to the focus of your attention, you're skipping over most of the work. Like, you live in a city where there are a million people, and there's a murder, and a detective says, well, we've got no evidence at all, so have we considered the possibility that Mortimer Snodgrass did it?"
"Did he?" said Dumbledore.
"No," said Harry. "But later it turns out that the murderer had black hair, and Mortimer has black hair, so everyone's like, ah, looks like Mortimer did it after all. So it's unfair to Mortimer for the police to promote him to their attention without having good reasons already in hand to suspect him. When there are lots of possibilities, most of the work goes into just locating the true answer - starting to pay attention to it. You don't need proof, or the sort of official evidence that scientists or courts demand, but you need some sort of hint, and that hint has to discriminate that particular possibility from the millions of others. Otherwise you can't just pluck the right answer out of thin air. You can't even pluck a possibility worth thinking about out of thin air. And there's got to be a million other things I could do besides carrying around my father's rock. Just because I'm ignorant about the universe doesn't mean that I'm unsure about how I should reason in the presence of my uncertainty. The laws for thinking with probabilities are no less iron than the laws that govern old-fashioned logic, and what you just did is not allowed." Harry paused. "Unless, of course, you have some hint you're not mentioning."
Yup, there it is. “Eliezer’s mouth-piece mode  ”, go!
Also, is he seriously comparing “carrying a rock” to “potential miscarriage of justice”?
quote:
"Ah," said Dumbledore. He tapped his cheek, looking thoughtful. "An interesting argument, certainly, but doesn't it break down at the point where you make an analogy between a million potential murderers only one of whom committed the murder, and taking one out of many possible courses of action, when many possible courses of action may all be wise? I do not say that carrying your father's rock is the one best possible course of action, only that it is wiser to do than not."
Okay, at least Dumbledore did address the hyperbole of Eliezarry’s analogy.
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Jan 4, 2016 07:19
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May 21, 2024 01:11
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- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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Chapter 17 – Locating the Hypothesis
Part Twenty-One
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Dumbledore once again reached into the same desk drawer he had accessed earlier, this time seeming to root around inside - at least his arm seemed to be moving. "I will remark," Dumbledore said while Harry was still trying to sort out how to reply to this completely unexpected rejoinder, "that it is a common misconception of Ravenclaws that all the smart children are Sorted there, leaving none for other Houses. This is not so; being Sorted to Ravenclaw indicates that you are driven by your desire to know things, which is not at all the same quality as being intelligent." The wizard was smiling as he bent over the drawer. "Nonetheless, you do seem rather intelligent. Less like an ordinary young hero and more like a young mysterious ancient wizard.
This is clearly intended to be a commentary on Eliezer himself, except I’m not sure he even has that “desire to know things”, given his total dismissal of the value of formal structured education and his valorization of natural talent over effort.
quote:
I think I may have been taking the wrong approach with you, Harry, and that you may be able to understand things that few others could grasp. So I shall be daring, and offer you a certain other heirloom."
"You don't mean..." gasped Harry. "My father... owned another rock? "
"Excuse me," said Dumbledore, "I am still olde]r and more mysterious than you and if there are any revelations to be made then I will do the revealing, thank you... oh, where is that thing!" Dumbledore reached down further into the desk drawer, and still further. His head and shoulders and whole torso disappeared inside until only his hips and legs were sticking out, as though the desk drawer was eating him.
Harry couldn't help but wonder just how much stuff was in there and what the complete inventory would look like.
Finally Dumbledore rose back up out of the drawer, holding the objective of his search, which he set down on the desk alongside the rock.
It was a used, ragged-edged, worn-spined textbook: [iIntermediate Potion Making[/i] by Libatius Borage. There was a picture of a smoking vial on the cover.
"This," Dumbledore intoned, "was your mother's fifth-year Potions textbook."
"Which I am to carry with me at all times," said Harry.
"Which holds a terrible secret. A secret whose revelation could prove so disastrous that I must ask you to swear - and I do require you to swear it seriously, Harry, whatever you may think of all this - never to tell anyone or anything else."
Harry considered his mother's fifth-year Potions textbook, which, apparently, held a terrible secret.
The problem was that Harry did take that oaths like that very seriously. Any vow was an Unbreakable Vow if made by the right sort of person.
Does Eliezarry lack pattern recognition? Given Dumbledore’s actions so far, the “secret” is likely to be something trivial or banal.
quote:
And...
"I'm feeling thirsty," Harry said, "and that is not at all a good sign."
Dumbledore entirely failed to ask any questions about this cryptic statement.
It’s cryptic to me too. Has Eliezarry’s thirst being an ominous sign been mentioned or hinted at in the story before?
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Jan 6, 2016 06:43
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- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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Chapter 17 – Locating the Hypothesis
Part Twenty-Two
quote:
"Do you swear, Harry?" said Dumbledore. His eyes gazed intently into Harry's. "Otherwise I cannot tell you."
"Yes," said Harry. "I swear." That was the trouble with being a Ravenclaw. You couldn't refuse an offer like that or your curiosity would eat you alive, and everyone else knew it.
I don’t think being a Ravenclaw requires you to proritise your curiosity above all risk-benefit analysis or just plain self-preservation at all times.
quote:
"And I swear in turn," said Dumbledore, "that what I am about to tell you is the truth."
Dumbledore opened the book, seemingly at random, and Harry leaned in to see.
"Do you see these notes," Dumbledore said in a voice so low it was almost a whisper, "written in the margins of the book?"
Harry squinted slightly. The yellowing pages seemed to be describing something called a potion of eagle's splendor, many of the ingredients being items that Harry didn't recognise at all and whose names didn't appear to derive from English. Scrawled in the margin was a handwritten annotation saying, I wonder what would happen if you used Thestral blood here instead of blueberries? and immediately beneath was a reply in different handwriting, You'd get sick for weeks and maybe die.
”Potion of eagle’s splendor” sounds more like the name of a potion in Dungeons & Dragons (TM) than the name of a Harry Potter potion. It sounds like it’d give you a bonus to Charisma or something.
quote:
"I see them," said Harry. "What about them?"
Dumbledore pointed to the second scrawl. "The ones in this handwriting," he said, still in that low voice, "were written by your mother. And the ones in this handwriting," moving his finger to indicate the first scrawl, "were written by me. I would turn myself invisible and sneak into her dorm room while she was sleeping. Lily thought one of her friends was writing them and they had the most amazing fights."
Wow. Sneaking into his adolescent students’ bedrooms at night while they were sleeping? This Dumbledore just keeps getting creepier and creepier.
quote:
That was the exact point at which Harry realised that the Headmaster of Hogwarts was, in fact, crazy.
Dumbledore was looking at him with a serious expression. "Do you understand the implications of what I have just told you, Harry?"
"Ehhh..." Harry said. His voice seemed to be stuck. "Sorry... I... not really..."
"Ah well," said Dumbledore, and sighed. "I suppose your cleverness has limits after all, then. Shall we all just pretend I didn't say anything?"
Harry rose from his chair, wearing a fixed smile. "Of course," Harry said. "You know it's actually getting rather late in the day and I'm a bit hungry, so I should be going down to dinner, really" and Harry made a beeline for the door.
Good move young Eliezarry. Run! Run for your life!
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Jan 11, 2016 10:04
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- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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Chapter 17 – Locating the Hypothesis
Part Twenty-Three
quote:
The doorknob entirely failed to turn.
"You wound me, Harry," said Dumbledore's voice in quiet tones that were coming from right behind him. "Do you not at least realise that what I have told you is a sign of trust?"
Or it could just mean that he is going to kill and/or otherwise silence Eliezarry, which mean that the issue of trust is moot. Eliezarry is wise to take the most pessimistic interpretation given Dumbledore’s behavior so far.
quote:
Harry slowly turned around.
In front of him was a very powerful and very insane wizard with a long silver beard, a hat like a squashed giant mushroom, and wearing what looked to Muggle eyes like three layers of bright pink pyjamas.
Behind him was a door that didn't seem to be working at the moment.
Dumbledore was looking rather saddened and weary, like he wanted to lean on a wizard's staff he didn't have. "Really," said Dumbledore, "you try anything new instead of following the same pattern every time for a hundred and ten years, and people all start running away." The old wizard shook his head in sorrow. "I'd hoped for better from you, Harry Potter. I'd heard that your own friends also think you mad. I know they are mistaken. Will you not believe the same of me?"
"Please open the door," Harry said, his voice trembling. "If you ever want me to trust you again, open the door."
There was the sound behind him of a door opening.
"There were more things I planned to say to you," Dumbledore said, "and if you leave now, you will not know what they were."
Run, child! Run and don’t look back!
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Sometimes Harry absolutely hated being a Ravenclaw.
He's never hurt a student, said Harry's Gryffindor side. Just keep remembering that and you'll be sure not to panic. You're not going to run away just because things are getting interesting, are you?
He’s never hurt a student that you’ve heard of.
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You can't just walk out on the Headmaster! said the Hufflepuff part. What if he starts deducting House points? He could make your school life very difficult if he decides he doesn't like you!
He could also make your school life very difficult if you stay in his presence without a trusted adult guardian by your side, by making it so that you don’t have a life any more.
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Jan 12, 2016 05:45
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- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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Chapter 17 – Locating the Hypothesis
Part Twenty-Four
quote:
And a piece of himself which Harry didn't much like but couldn't quite manage to silence was pondering the potential advantages of being one of the few friends of this mad old wizard who also happened to be Headmaster, Chief Warlock, and Supreme Mugwump. And unfortunately his inner Slytherin seemed to be much better than Draco at turning people to the Dark Side, because it was saying things like poor fellow, he looks like he needs someone to talk to, doesn't he? and you wouldn't want such a powerful man to end up trusting someone less virtuous, would you? and I wonder what sort of incredible secrets Dumbledore could tell you if, you know, you became friends with him and even I bet he's got a reaallly interesting book collection.
If anything this supposedly “cynical / Slytherin” line of thinking is more naïve than the earlier-mentioned “Hufflepuff” and “Gryffindor” perspectives. Does Eliezarry really think that there’s any chance he could manipulate and coax secrets out of the centuries-old mega-powerful wizard instead of the other way around?
quote:
You're all a bunch of lunatics, Harry thought at the entire assemblage, but he'd been unanimously outvoted by every component part of himself.
Harry turned, took a step towards the open door, reached out, and deliberately closed it again. It was a costless sacrifice given that he was staying anyway, Dumbledore could control his movements regardless, but maybe it would impress Dumbledore.
When Harry turned back around he saw that the powerful insane wizard was once more smiling and looking friendly. That was good, maybe.
"Please don't do that again," Harry said. "I don't like being trapped."
"I am sorry about that, Harry," said Dumbledore in what sounded like tones of sincere apology. "But it would have been terribly unwise to let you leave without your father's rock."
"Of course," Harry said. "It wasn't reasonable of me to expect the door to open before I put the quest items in my inventory."
Dumbledore smiled and nodded.
Why does Eliezarry make so many references to gaming terminology? Didn’t he spend all his free time reading books? Was it mentioned earlier on that he was a regular CRPG player on top of being an avid reader?
quote:
Harry went over to the desk, twisted his mokeskin pouch around to the front of his belt, and, with some effort, managed to heave up the rock in his eleven-year-old arms and feed it in.
He could actually feel the weight slowly diminishing as the Widening Lip charm ate the rock, and the burp which followed was rather noisy and had a distinctly complaining sound to it.
His mother's fifth-year Potions textbook (which held a secret that was in fact pretty terrible) followed shortly after.
And then Harry's inner Slytherin made a sly suggestion for ingratiating himself with the Headmaster, which, unfortunately, had been perfectly pitched in such a way as to gain the support of the majority Ravenclaw faction.
"So," Harry said. "Um. As long as I'm hanging around, I don't suppose you would like to give me a bit of a tour of your office? I'm a bit curious as to what some of these things are," and that was his understatement for the month of September.
Such transparently blatant pandering is the best that Eliezarry can come up with?
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Jan 13, 2016 04:18
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- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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Chapter 17 – Locating the Hypothesis
Part Twenty-Five
quote:
Dumbledore gazed at him, and then nodded with a slight grin. "I'm flattered by your interest," said Dumbledore, "but I'm afraid there isn't much to say." Dumbledore took a step closer to the wall and pointed to a painting of a sleeping man. "These are portraits of past Headmasters of Hogwarts." He turned and pointed to his desk. "This is my desk." He pointed to his chair. "This is my chair -"
"Excuse me," Harry said, "actually I was wondering about those." Harry pointed to a small cube that was softly whispering "blorple... blorple... blorple".
"Oh, the little fiddly things?" said Dumbledore. "They came with the Headmaster's office and I have absolutely no idea what most of them do. Although this dial with the eight hands counts the number of, let's call them sneezes, by left-handed witches within the borders of France, you would not believe how much work it took to nail that down. And this one with the golden wibblers is my own invention and Minerva is never, ever going to figure out what it's doing."
Does “sneezes” in this context mean what I think it means? Dumbledore is looking more and more like a creepo with every appearance he makes in this story.
quote:
Dumbledore took a step over to the hatrack while Harry was still processing this. "Here of course we have the Sorting Hat, I believe the two of you have met. It told me that it was never again to be placed on your head under any circumstances. You're only the fourteenth student in history it's said that about, Baba Yaga was another one and I'll tell you about the other twelve when you're older. This is an umbrella. This is another umbrella." Dumbledore took another few steps and turned around, now smiling quite broadly. "And of course, most people who come to my office want to see Fawkes."
Dumbledore was standing next to the bird on the golden platform.
Harry came over, rather puzzled. "This is Fawkes?"
"Fawkes is a phoenix," said Dumbledore. "Very rare, very powerful magical creatures."
"Ah..." Harry said. He lowered his head and stared into the tiny, beady black eyes, which showed not the slightest sign of power or intelligence.
"Ahhh..." Harry said again.
He was pretty sure he recognised the shape of the bird. It was pretty hard to miss.
"Umm..."
Say something intelligent! Harry's mind roared at itself. Don't just stand there sounding like a gibbering moron!
Well what the heck am I supposed to say? Harry's mind fired back.
Anything!
You mean, anything besides "Fawkes is a chicken" -
Yes! Anything but that!
"So, ah, what sort of magic do phoenixes do, then?"
That’s not a bad question, in the circumstances.
quote:
"Their tears have the power to heal," Dumbledore said. "They are creatures of fire, and move between all places as easily as fire may extinguish itself in one place and be kindled in another. The tremendous strain of their innate magic ages their bodies quickly, and yet they are as close to undying as any creature that exists in this world, for whenever their bodies fail them they immolate themselves in a burst of fire and leave behind a hatchling, or sometimes an egg." Dumbledore came closer and inspected the chicken, frowning. "Hm... looking a little peaky there, I'd say."
By the time this statement registered fully in Harry's mind, the chicken was already on fire.
The chicken's beak opened, but it didn't have time for so much as a single caw before it began to wither and char. The blaze was brief, intense, and entirely self-contained; there was no smell of burning.
And then the fire died down only seconds after it had begun, leaving behind a tiny, pathetic heap of ashes on the golden platform.
"Don't look so horrified, Harry!" said Dumbledore. "Fawkes hasn't been hurt." Dumbledore's hand dipped into a pocket, and then the same hand sifted through the ashes and turned up a small yellowish egg. "Look, here's an egg!"
"Oh... wow... amazing..."
"But now we really should get on with things," Dumbledore said. Leaving the egg behind in the ashes of the chicken, he returned to his throne and seated himself. "It's almost time for dinner, after all, and we wouldn't want to have to use our Time-Turners."
There was a violent power struggle going on in the Government of Harry. Slytherin and Hufflepuff had switched sides after seeing the Headmaster of Hogwarts set fire to a chicken.
"Yes, things," said Harry's lips. "And then dinner."
You're sounding like a gibbering moron again observed Harry's Internal Critic.
I’m half-surprised Eliezarry didn’t ask what would happen if they cooked and ate the egg.
JosephWongKS fucked around with this message at 07:16 on Jan 14, 2016
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Jan 14, 2016 07:02
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- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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Chapter 17 – Locating the Hypothesis
Part Twenty-Six
quote:
"Well," Dumbledore said. "I fear I have a confession to make, Harry. A confession and an apology."
"Apologies are good" that doesn't even make sense! What am I talking about?
The old wizard sighed deeply. "You may not still think so after understanding what I have to say. I'm afraid, Harry, that I've been manipulating you your entire life. It was I who consigned you to the care of your wicked stepparents -"
"My stepparents aren't wicked!" blurted Harry. "My parents, I mean!"
"They aren't?" Dumbledore said, looking surprised and disappointed. "Not even a little wicked? That doesn't fit the pattern..."
Harry's inner Slytherin screamed at the top of its mental lungs, SHUT UP YOU IDIOT HE'LL TAKE YOU AWAY FROM THEM!
Hasn’t Eliezarry already been taken away from his adoptive parents? He’s already in Hogwarts, after all. What guarantee does he have that Dumbledore will let him leave the school grounds?
Also, it’s actually rather sweet to see that Eliezarry loves his adoptive parents so much.
quote:
"No, no," said Harry, lips frozen in a ghastly grimace, "I was just trying to spare your feelings, they're actually very wicked..."
"They are?" Dumbledore leaned forward, gazing at him intently. "What do they do?"
Talk fast "they, ah, I have to do dishes and wash problems and they don't let me read a lot of books and -"
Seems like Eliezarry didn’t buy Dumbledore’s explanation that the “chicken” was actually a phoenix that had self-combusted. The narration doesn’t give enough clues for me to tell whether Eliezarry had seen past Dumbledore’s ruse (i.e. Dumbledore had actually set fire to an actual chicken) or if Dumbledore had been telling the truth and Eliezarry’s scepticism had again led him to the wrong interpretation of the situation.
quote:
"Ah, good, that's good to hear," said Dumbledore, leaning back again. He smiled in a sad sort of way. "I apologise for that, then. Now where was I? Ah, yes. I'm sorry to say, Harry, that I am responsible for virtually everything bad that has ever happened to you. I know that this will probably make you very angry."
"Yes, I'm very angry!" said Harry. "Grrr!"
Harry's Internal Critic promptly awarded him the All-Time Award for the Worst Acting in the History of Ever.
"And I just wanted you to know," Dumbledore said, "I wanted to tell you as early as possible, in case something happens to one of us later, that I am truly, truly sorry. For everything that has already happened, and everything that will."
Moisture glistened in the old wizard's eyes.
"And I'm very angry!" said Harry. "So angry that I want to leave right now unless you've got anything else to say!"
Just GO before he sets you on fire! shrieked Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor.
"I understand," said Dumbledore. "One last thing then, Harry. You are not to attempt the forbidden door on the third-floor corridor. There's no possible way you could get through all the traps, and I wouldn't want to hear that you'd been hurt trying. Why, I doubt that you could so much as open the first door, since it's locked and you don't know the spell Alohomora -"
Harry spun around and bolted for the exit at top speed, the doorknob turned agreeably in his hand and then he was racing down the spiral stairs even as they turned, his feet almost stumbling over themselves, in just a moment he was at the bottom and the gargoyle was walking aside and Harry fired out of the stairwell like a cannonball.
Oh well, whether Dumbledore had or had not actually set fire to a chicken, it’s probably a wise idea to spend as little time around him as possible.*
* This also applies to the canon Dumbledore.
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Mar 2, 2016 06:22
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- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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Chapter 17 – Locating the Hypothesis
Part Twenty-Seven
quote:
Harry Potter.
There must have been something about Harry Potter.
It was Thursday for everyone, after all, and yet this sort of thing didn't seem to happen to anyone else.
It was 6:21pm on Thursday afternoon when Harry Potter, firing out of the stairwell like a cannonball and accelerating at top speed, ran directly into Minerva McGonagall as she was turning a corner on her way to the Headmaster's office.
Thankfully neither of them were much hurt. As had been explained to Harry a little earlier in the day - back when he was refusing to go anywhere near a broomstick again - Quidditch needed solid iron Bludgers just to stand a decent chance of injuring the players, since wizards tended to be a lot more resistant than Muggles to impacts.
Shouldn’t Eliezarry be interested in finding out why wizards have increased resistance to impact / bludgeoning damage e.g. whether it is an inherent property of magic or if it is due to evolutionary selection? Or has the “scientific approach to / experimentation on magic” theme been forgotten about already?
quote:
Harry and Professor McGonagall did both end up on the floor, and the parchments she had been carrying went all over the corridor.
There was a terrible, terrible pause.
"Harry Potter," breathed Professor McGonagall from where she was lying on the floor right next to Harry. Her voice rose to nearly a shriek. "What were you doing in the Headmaster's office?"
"Nothing!" squeaked Harry.
"Were you talking about the Defence Professor?"
"No! Dumbledore called me up there and he gave me this big rock and said it was my father's and I should carry it everywhere!"
There was another terrible pause.
"I see," said Professor McGonagall, her voice a little calmer. She stood up, brushed herself off, and glared at the scattered parchments, which jumped into a neat stack and scurried back against the corridor wall as though to hide from her gaze. "My sympathies, Mr. Potter, and I apologise for doubting you."
"Professor McGonagall," Harry said. His voice was wavering. He pushed himself off the floor, stood, and looked up at her trustworthy, sane face. "Professor McGonagall..."
Another interesting course of research would be to examine whether or not wizards in general are more mentally unstable than muggles.
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"Yes, Mr. Potter?"
"Do you think I should?" Harry said in a small voice. "Carry my father's rock everywhere?"
Professor McGonagall sighed. "That is between you and the Headmaster, I'm afraid." She hesitated. "I will say that ignoring the Headmaster completely is almost never wise. I am sorry to hear of your dilemma, Mr. Potter, and if there's any way I can help you with whatever you decide to do -"
"Um," Harry said. "Actually I was thinking that once I know how, I could Transfigure the rock into a ring and wear it on my finger. If you could teach me how to sustain a Transfiguration -"
"It is good that you asked me first," Professor McGonagall said, her face growing a bit stern. "If you lost control of the Transfiguration the reversal would cut off your finger and probably rip your hand in half. And at your age, even a ring is too large a target for you to sustain indefinitely without it being a serious drain on your magic. But I can have a ring forged for you with a setting for a jewel, a small jewel, in contact with your skin, and you can practice sustaining a safe subject, like a marshmallow. When you have kept it up successfully, even in your sleep, for a full month, I will allow you to Transfigure, ah, your father's rock..." Professor McGonagall's voice trailed off. "Did the Headmaster really -"
"Yes. Ah... um..."
Professor McGonagall sighed. "That's a bit strange even for him." She stooped and picked up the stack of parchments. "I'm sorry about this, Mr. Potter. I apologise again for mistrusting you. But now it's my own turn to see the Headmaster."
"Ah... good luck, I guess. Er..."
"Thank you, Mr. Potter."
"Um..."
Professor McGonagall walked over to the gargoyle, inaudibly spoke the password, and stepped through into the revolving spiral stairs. She began to rise out of sight, and the gargoyle started back -
"Professor McGonagall the Headmaster set fire to a chicken!"
"He wha -"
Still not clear on whether Dumbledore had actually set fire to an actual chicken or if Dumbledore had been telling the truth and Eliezarry’s scepticism / understandable fear of Dumbledore had led him to the wrong interpretation of the situation.
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Mar 7, 2016 06:03
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- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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Chapter 18: Dominance Hierarchies
Part One
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Any sufficiently advanced J. K. Rowling is indistinguishable from magic.
__________________________________________________
"That does sound like the sort of thing I would do, doesn't it?"
__________________________________________________
It was breakfast time on Friday morning. Harry took another huge bite out of his toast and then tried to remind his brain that scarfing his breakfast wouldn't actually get him into the dungeons any faster. Anyway they had a full hour of study time between breakfast and the start of Potions.
But dungeons! In Hogwarts! Harry's imagination was already sketching the chasms, narrow bridges, torchlit sconces, and patches of glowing moss. Would there be rats? Would there be dragons?
Isn’t Eliezarry supposed to be an avid reader of fantasy stories? Shouldn’t he know that dragons turn up in mountains and caves but never in dungeons? Dungeons and Dragons, yes. Dragons in Dungeons, no.
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"Harry Potter," said a quiet voice from behind him.
Harry looked over his shoulder and found himself beholding Ernie Macmillan, smartly dressed in yellow-trimmed robes and looking a little worried.
"Neville thought I should warn you," Ernie said in a low voice. "I think he's right. Be careful of the Potions Master in our session today. The older Hufflepuffs told us that Professor Snape can be really nasty to people he doesn't like, and he doesn't like most people who aren't Slytherins. If you say anything smart to him it... it could be really bad for you, from what I've heard. Just keep your head down and don't give him any reason to notice you."
There was a pause as Harry processed this, and then he lifted his eyebrows. (Harry wished he could raise just one eyebrow, like Spock, but he'd never been able to manage.) "Thanks," Harry said. "You might've just saved me a lot of trouble."
“Raise just one eyebrow” reminded me of The Rock, which in turn reminded me of the far superior Harry Potter and the Most Electrifying Man.
quote:
Ernie nodded, and turned to go back to the Hufflepuff table.
Harry resumed eating his toast.
It was around four bites afterward that someone said "Pardon me," and Harry turned around to see an older Ravenclaw, looking a little worried -
Some time later, Harry was finishing up his third plate of rashers. (He'd learned to eat heavily at breakfast. He could always eat lightly at lunch if he didn't end up using the Time-Turner.)
I wonder if you could use Time-Turners as a way to indulge in gluttonous or other sybaritic excess without gaining weight e.g. eat as much as you want at a certain time, then go back in time to the same time and not eat, and continue your voyage in space-time from that point. Eliezarry could make a fortune from this if he were, you know, minded to conduct scientific experiments on this usage of a magic tool.
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And there was yet another voice from behind him saying "Harry?"
"Yes," Harry said wearily, "I'll try not to draw Professor Snape's attention -"
"Oh, that's hopeless," said Fred.
"Completely hopeless," said George.
"So we had the house elves bake you a cake," said Fred.
"We're going to put one candle on it for every point you lose for Ravenclaw," said George.
"And have a party for you at the Gryffindor table during lunch," said Fred.
"We hope that'll cheer you up afterward," finished George.
Harry swallowed his last bite of rasher and turned around. "All right," said Harry. "I wasn't going to ask this after Professor Binns, I really wasn't, but if Professor Snape is that awful why hasn't he been fired?"
"Fired?" said Fred.
"You mean, let go?" said George.
"Yes," Harry said. "It's what you do to bad teachers. You fire them. Then you hire a better teacher instead. You don't have unions or tenure here, right?"
Dumbledore sits at the head of the hierarchy at Hogwarts and has been there for decades, and Eliezarry has had recent personal experience of how bad a person Dumbledore is. Why then does Eliezarry still think that “bad teachers” will be fired or even recognised as “bad” teachers in the first place? Shouldn’t he be too smart and/or too cynical to hold such idealistic notions?
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Mar 9, 2016 08:08
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- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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Chapter 18: Dominance Hierarchies
Part Two
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Fred and George were frowning in much the same way that hunter-gatherer tribal elders might frown if you tried to tell them about calculus.
Or in much the same way, presumably, that an AI researcher a fanfiction writer might frown if you tried to tell him about wilderness survival techniques and the hunting and dressing of wild game. Stuck-up classist / racist / imperialist prig.
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"I don't know," said Fred after a while. "I never thought about that."
"Me neither," said George.
"Yeah," said Harry, "I get that a lot. See you at lunch, guys, and don't blame me if there aren't any candles on that cake."
Fred and George both laughed, as if Harry had said something funny, and bowed to him and headed back toward Gryffindor.
Harry turned back to the breakfast table and grabbed a cupcake. His stomach already felt full, but he had a feeling this morning might use a lot of calories.
As he ate his cupcake, Harry thought of the worst teacher he'd met so far, Professor Binns of History. Professor Binns was a ghost. From what Hermione had said about ghosts, it didn't seem likely that they were fully self-aware. There were no famous discoveries made by ghosts, or much of any original work, no matter who they'd been in life. Ghosts tended to have trouble remembering the current century. Hermione had said they were like accidental portraits, impressed into the surrounding matter by a burst of psychic energy accompanying a wizard's sudden death.
Harry had run into some stupid teachers during his abortive forays into standard Muggle education - his father had been a lot pickier when it came to selecting grad students as tutors, of course - but History class was the first time he'd encountered a teacher who literally wasn't sentient.
And it showed, too. Harry had given up after five minutes and started reading a textbook. When it became clear that "Professor Binns" wasn't going to object, Harry had also reached into his pouch and gotten earplugs.
Did ghosts not require a salary? Was that it? Or was it literally impossible to fire anyone in Hogwarts even if they died?
Why doesn’t Eliezarry simply attribute it to Dumbledore being a negligent and/or downright malicious headmaster? Eliezarry’s just had a horrifying encounter with Dumbledore a few days ago, after all.
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Now it seemed that Professor Snape was going about being absolutely awful to everyone who wasn't a Slytherin and it hadn't even occurred to anyone to terminate his contract.
Again, Dumbledore is the clearest and simplest answer for all things wrong in the school, and Eliezarry should be well aware of it.
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And the Headmaster had set fire to a chicken.
"Excuse me," came a worried voice from behind him.
"I swear," Harry said without turning around, "this place is almost eight and a half percent as bad as what Dad says about Oxford."
Yup, that soul-scarring experience is still fresh in his mind. So why doesn’t Eliezarry attribute the blame for all the other grievances to Dumbledore, the head of the school?
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Mar 11, 2016 08:28
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- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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Chapter 18: Dominance Hierarchies
Part Three
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Harry stamped down the stone corridors, looking affronted, annoyed, and infuriated all at once.
"Dungeons!" Harry hissed. "Dungeons! These are not dungeons! This is a basement! A basement! "
Some of the Ravenclaw girls gave him odd looks. The boys were all used to him by now.
It seemed that the level in which the Potions classroom was located was called the "dungeons" for no better reason than that it was below ground and slightly colder than the main castle.
In Hogwarts! In Hogwarts! Harry had been waiting his whole life and now he was still waiting and if there was anywhere on the face of the Earth that had decent dungeons it ought to be Hogwarts! Was Harry going to have to build his own castle if he wanted to see one little bottomless abyss?
Maybe there are deeper dungeon levels that contain more overtly magical features which just aren’t available to him yet because he’s just a first-year student, has he considered that, that entitled little brat?
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A short time later they got to the actual Potions classroom and Harry cheered up considerably.
The Potions classroom had strange preserved creatures floating in huge jars on shelves that covered every centimeter of wall space between the closets. Harry had gotten far enough along in his reading now that he could actually identify some of the creatures, like the Zabriskan Fontema. Albeit the fifty-centimeter spider looked like an Acromantula but it was too small to be one. He'd tried asking Hermione, but she hadn't seemed very interested in looking anywhere near where he was pointing.
“Zabriskan Fontema” is a reference to a creature of the same name in E. E. Smith’s “Lensman” series, if I recall correctly.
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Harry was looking at a large dust ball with eyes and feet when the assassin swept into the room.
That was the first thought that crossed Harry's mind when he saw Professor Severus Snape. There was something quiet and deadly about the way the man stalked between the children's desks. His robes were unkempt, his hair spotted and greasy. There was something about him that seemed reminiscent of Lucius, although the two of them looked nothing remotely alike, and you got the impression that where Lucius would kill you with flawless elegance, this man would simply kill you.
As a former Death Eater, Snape was kind of like an assassin for Voldemort, so the epithet is accurate.
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"Sit down," said Professor Severus Snape. "Now."
Harry and a few other children who had been standing around talking to each other scrambled for desks. Harry had planned on ending up next to Hermione but somehow he found himself sitting down in the nearest empty desk next to Justin Finch-Fletchley (it was a Doubles session, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff) which put him two desks to the left of Hermione.
Severus seated himself behind the teacher's desk, and without the slightest transition or introduction, said, "Hannah Abbott."
"Here," said Hannah in a somewhat trembling voice.
"Susan Bones."
"Present."
And so it went, no one daring to say a word in edgewise, until:
"Ah, yes. Harry Potter. Our new... celebrity."
"The celebrity is present, sir."
Wasn’t Eliezarry warned (multiple times) at the beginning of this chapter that Snape is a nasty fellow and to “keep [his] head down and don’t give [Snape] any reason to notice [him]”? Didn’t Eliezarry promise to “try not to draw Professor Snape’s attention”? How did Eliezarry forget all of this so quickly?
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Mar 17, 2016 09:34
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- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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Chapter 18: Dominance Hierarchies
Part Four
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Half the class flinched, and some of the smarter ones suddenly looked like they wanted to run out the door while the classroom was still there.
Severus smiled in an anticipatory sort of way and called the next name on his list.
Harry gave a mental sigh. That had happened way too fast for him to do anything about it. Oh well.
Eliezarry didn’t have to “do anything” about it. All he had to do was keep his head down and his mouth shut, liked he’d said he would.
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Clearly this man already didn't like him, for whatever reason. And when Harry thought about it, better by far that this Potions professor should pick on him rather than, say, Neville or Hermione. Harry was a lot better able to defend himself. Yep, probably all for the best.
Isn’t this “post facto rationalisation”, one of the more obvious logical fallacies which Eliezarry, prodigal child rationalist that he is, should have been able to recognise and reject?
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When full attendance had been taken, Severus swept his gaze over the full class. His eyes were as empty as a night sky without stars.
A “night sky without stars” might still have a bright full moon and therefore wouldn’t necessarily appear to be empty.
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"You are here," Severus said in a quiet voice which the students at back strained to hear, "to learn the subtle science and exact art of potionmaking. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins," this in a rather caressing, gloating tone, "bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses," this was just getting creepier and creepier. "I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as great a pack of fools as I usually have to teach."
Severus somehow seemed to notice the look of skepticism on Harry's face, or at least his eyes suddenly jumped to where Harry was sitting.
"Potter!" snapped the Potions professor. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Harry blinked. "Was that in Magical Drafts and Potions?" he said. "I just finished reading it, and I don't remember anything which used wormwood -"
Hermione's hand went up and Harry shot her a glare which caused her to raise her hand even higher.
"Tut, tut," Severus said silkily. "Fame clearly isn't everything."
"Really?" Harry said. "But you just told us you'd teach us how to bottle fame. Say, how does that work, exactly? You drink it and turn into a celebrity?"
This isn’t even within the bounds of “justifiable self-defence”, this is going out of one’s way to provoke an angry venomous bear.
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Mar 21, 2016 09:58
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- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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Chapter 18: Dominance Hierarchies
Part Five
quote:
Three-quarters of the class flinched.
Hermione's hand was dropping slowly back down. Well, that wasn't surprising. She might be his rival, but she wasn't the sort of girl who would play along after it became clear that the professor was deliberately trying to humiliate him.
Harry was trying hard to keep control of his temper. The first rejoinder that had crossed his mind was 'Abracadabra'.
"Let's try again," said Severus. "Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
"That's not in the textbook either," Harry said, "but in one Muggle book I read that a trichinobezoar is a mass of solidified hair found in a human stomach, and Muggles used to believe it would cure any poison -"
Severus asked for a “bezoar”, not a “trichnobezoar”. And why is he citing a “Muggle” textbook in response to a “wizarding” question?
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"Wrong," Severus said. "A bezoar is found in the stomach of a goat, it is not made of hair, and it will cure most poisons but not all."
"I didn't say it would, I said that was what I read in one Muggle book -"
"No one here is interested in your pathetic Muggle books. Final try. What is the difference, Potter, between monksblood and wolfsbane?"
That did it.
"You know," Harry said icily, "in one of my quite fascinating Muggle books, they describe a study in which people managed to make themselves look very smart by asking questions about random facts that only they knew. Apparently the onlookers only noticed that the askers knew and the answerers didn't, and failed to adjust for the unfairness of the underlying game. So, Professor, can you tell me how many electrons are in the outermost orbital of a carbon atom?"
Isn’t that Eliezer’s shtick in his own “non-fiction” writings?
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Severus's smile widened. "Four," he said. "It is a useless fact which no one should bother writing down, however. And for your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite, as you would know if you had read One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. Thought you didn't need to open the book before coming, eh, Potter? All the rest of you should be copying that down so that you will not be as ignorant as him." Severus paused, looking quite pleased with himself. "And that will be... five points? No, let us make it an even ten points from Ravenclaw for backchat."
Hermione gasped, along with a number of others.
"Professor Severus Snape," Harry bit out. "I know of nothing which I have done to earn your enmity. If there is some problem you have with me which I do not know about, I suggest we -"
Perhaps Eliezarry should just try following his seniors’ and friends’ advice to “keep his head down”, as he promised them he would.
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Mar 22, 2016 08:12
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- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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Chapter 18: Dominance Hierarchies
Part Six
quote:
"Shut up, Potter. Ten more points from Ravenclaw. The rest of you, open your books to page 3."
There was only a slight, only a very faint burning sensation in the back of Harry's throat, and no moisture at all in his eyes. If crying was not an effective strategy for destroying this Potions professor then there was no point in crying.
Slowly, Harry sat up very straight. All his blood seemed to have been drained away and replaced with liquid nitrogen. He knew he'd been trying to keep his temper but he couldn't seem to remember why.
"Harry," whispered Hermione frantically from two desks over, "stop, please, it's all right, we won't count it -"
"Talking in class, Granger? Three -"
"So," said a voice colder than zero Kelvin, "how does one go about filing a formal complaint against an abusive professor? Does one talk to the Deputy Headmistress, write a letter to the Board of Governors... would you care to explain how it works?"
The class was utterly frozen.
"Detention for one month, Potter," Severus said, smiling even more broadly.
"I decline to recognize your authority as a teacher and I will not serve any detention you give."
People stopped breathing.
Severus's smile vanished. "Then you will be -" his voice stopped short.
"Expelled, were you about to say?" Harry, on the other hand, was now smiling thinly. "But then you seemed to doubt your ability to carry out the threat, or fear the consequences if you did. I, on the other hand, neither doubt nor fear the prospect of finding a school with less abusive professors. Or perhaps I should hire private tutors, as is my accustomed practice, and be taught at my full learning speed. I have enough money in my vault. Something about bounties on a Dark Lord I defeated. But there are teachers at Hogwarts who I rather like, so I think it will be easier if I find some way to get rid of you instead."
What’s the value of all this speechifying? If Eliezarry is so confident that he can remove Severus from Hogwarts, why not just do it instead of telling Severus his plans in advance and allowing Severus to take counter-actions?
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"Get rid of me?" Severus said, now also smiling thinly. "What an amusing conceit. How do you suppose you will do that, Potter?"
"I understand there have been a number of complaints about you from students and their parents," a guess but a safe one, "which leaves only the question of why you're not already gone. Is Hogwarts too financially strapped to afford a real Potions professor? I could chip in, if so. I'm sure they could find a better class of teacher if they offered double your current salary."
Two poles of ice radiated freezing winter across the classroom.
"You will find," Severus said softly, "that the Board of Governers is not the slightest bit sympathetic to your offer."
"Lucius..." Harry said. "That's why you're still here. Perhaps I should chat with Lucius about that. I believe he desires to meet with me. I wonder if I have anything he wants?"
Hermione frantically shook her head. Harry noticed out of the corner of his eye, but his attention was all on Severus.
Eliezarry claims to have read a lot, but clearly he hasn’t read The Art of War or any book on strategy. Strike without warning – that’s the key to success in every offensive action.
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Apr 5, 2016 03:58
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- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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Chapter 18: Dominance Hierarchies
Part Seven
quote:
"You are a very foolish boy," Severus said. He wasn't smiling at all, now. "You have nothing that Lucius values more than my friendship. And if you did, I have other allies." His voice grew hard. "And I find it increasingly unlikely that you were not Sorted into Slytherin. How was it that you managed to stay out of my House? Ah, yes, because the Sorting Hat claimed it was joking. For the first time in recorded history. What were you really chatting about with the Sorting Hat, Potter? Did you have something that it wanted?"
Why is it so surprising that Eliezarry didn’t get Sorted into Slytherin House? Slytherins are supposed to be “cunning” (according to the Sorting Hat’s song); impulse-driven open confrontation with a far older, far more experienced, far more connected authority figure hardly seems to be “cunning”.
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Harry stared into Severus's cold gaze and remembered that the Sorting Hat had warned him not to meet anyone's eyes while thinking about - Harry dropped his gaze to Severus's desk.
"You seem oddly reluctant to look me in the eyes, Potter!"
A shock of sudden understanding - "So it was you the Sorting Hat was warning me about!"
"What?" said Severus's voice, sounding genuinely surprised, though of course Harry didn't look at his face.
Harry got up out of his desk.
"Sit down, Potter," said an angry voice from somewhere he wasn't looking.
Harry ignored it, and looked around the classroom. "I have no intention of letting one unprofessional teacher ruin my time at Hogwarts," Harry said with deadly calm. "I think I'll take my leave of this class, and either hire a tutor to teach me Potions while I'm here, or if the Board is really that locked up, learn over the summer. If any of you decide that you don't care to be bullied by this man, my sessions will be open to you."
Again, escalating the confrontation so far and so fast, without having done any research on your opponent’s capabilities or allies, is really not clever at all. Eliezarry may have read a lot of books but he hasn’t absorbed all that much, it seems.
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"Sit down, Potter! "
Harry strode across the room and grasped the doorknob.
It didn't turn.
Harry slowly turned around, and caught a glimpse of Severus smiling nastily before he remembered to look away.
"Open this door."
"No," said Severus.
"You are making me feel threatened," said a voice so icy it didn't sound like Harry's at all, "and that is a mistake."
I guess this is a hint / foreshadowing that part of Voldemort’s soul / personality got mixed up with Eliezarry when Voldemort’s Killing Curse on Eliezarry backfired on him? Does this also explain why Eliezarry is acting so impulsively and rashly?
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Apr 12, 2016 09:17
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- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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Chapter 18: Dominance Hierarchies
Part Eight
quote:
Severus's voice laughed. "What do you intend to do about it, little boy?"
Harry took six long strides forward away from the door, until he was standing near the back row of desks.
Then Harry drew himself upright and raised his right hand in one terrible motion, fingers poised to snap.
Neville screamed and dived under his desk. Other children shrank back or instinctively raised their arms to shield themselves.
"Harry don't! " shrieked Hermione. "Whatever you were going to do to him, don't do it!"
"Have you all gone mad? " barked Severus's voice.
Slowly, Harry lowered his hand. "I wasn't going to hurt him, Hermione," Harry said, his voice a little lower. "I was just going to blow up the door."
Sure you were just going to blow up the door.
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Though now that Harry remembered it, you weren't supposed to Transfigure things that were to be burned, which meant that going back in time afterward and getting Fred or George to Transfigure some carefully measured amount of explosives might not actually have been such a good idea...
"Silencio," said Severus's voice.
Harry tried to say "What?" and found that no sound was coming out.
"This has become ridiculous. I think you've been allowed to get yourself in enough trouble for one day, Potter. You are the most disruptive and unruly student I have ever seen, and I don't recall how many points Ravenclaw has right now, but I'm sure I can manage to wipe them all out. Ten points from Ravenclaw. Ten points from Ravenclaw. Ten points from Ravenclaw! Fifty points from Ravenclaw! Now sit down and watch the rest of the class take their lesson!"
It’s uncharacteristic of Snape to allow Eliezarry to physically remain in the class after the latter essentially threatened to cause physical / magical harm to a teacher.
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Harry put his hand into his pouch and tried to say 'marker' but of course no words came out. For one brief moment that stopped him; and then it occurred to Harry to spell out M-A-R-K-E-R using finger motions, which worked. P-A-D and he had a pad of paper. Harry strode over to an empty desk, not the one he'd originally sat down in, and scrawled a brief message. He tore off that sheet of paper, put away the marker and pad in a pocket of his robes for quicker access, and held up his message, not to Snape, but to the rest of the class.
I'M LEAVING
DOES ANYONE ELSE
NEED TO GET OUT?
"You're insane, Potter," Severus said with cold contempt.
Aside from that, no one spoke.
Harry swept an ironic bow to the teacher's desk, walked over to the wall, and with one smooth motion yanked open a closet door, stepped in, and slammed the door shut behind him.
There was the muffled sound of someone snapping his fingers, and then nothing.
In the classroom, students looked at each other in puzzlement and fear.
The Potions Master's face was now completely enraged. He crossed the room in terrible strides and yanked open the closet door.
The closet was empty.
What’s the point of all this conflict, or any conflict, if Eliezarry’s just going to resolve it with the Time-Turner Ex Machina? Rowling took the Time-Turner from Hermione by the end of Book 2; is Eliezarry going to keep his for the rest of the series?
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Apr 28, 2016 09:45
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- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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Chapter 18: Dominance Hierarchies
Part Nine
quote:
One hour earlier, Harry listened from inside the closed closet. There was no sound from outside, and no point in taking risks either.
C-L-O-A-K, his fingers spelled out.
Once he was invisible, he very carefully and slowly cracked open the closet door and peeked out. No one seemed to be in the classroom.
The door wasn't locked.
It was when Harry was outside the dangerous place and inside the hallway, safely invisible, that some of the anger drained away and he realized what he'd just done.
What he'd just done.
Harry's invisible face was frozen in absolute horror.
He'd antagonized a teacher three orders of magnitude beyond anything he'd ever managed before. He'd threatened to walk out of Hogwarts and might have to follow through on it. He'd lost all the points Ravenclaw had and then he'd used the Time-Turner...
At least Eliezarry does recognise that Snape is far more powerful, in both personal and social power, than Eliezarry is at this point. An Eliezarry that is subject to bouts of uncontrollable rage that cause him to act “irrationally” might actually be an interesting protagonist to follow.
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His imagination showed him his parents yelling at him after he was expelled, Professor McGonagall disappointed in him, and it was just too painful and he couldn't bear it and he couldn't think of any way to save himself –
The thought that Harry allowed himself to think was that if getting angry had gotten him into all this trouble, then maybe when he was angry he'd think of a way out, things seemed clearer somehow when he was angry.
And the thought that Harry didn't let himself think was that he just couldn't face this future if he wasn't angry.
So he cast his thoughts back and remembered the burning humiliation -
Tut, tut. Fame clearly isn't everything.
Ten points from Ravenclaw for backchat.
The calming cold washed back through his veins like a wave reflected and returning from some breaker, and Harry let out his breath.
Okay. Back to being sane now.
He was actually feeling a bit disappointed in his non-angry self for collapsing like that and wanting only to get out of trouble. Professor Severus Snape was everyone's problem. Normal-Harry had forgotten that and wished for a way to protect himself. And let all the other victims go hang? The question wasn't how to protect himself, the question was how to destroy this Potions professor.
Eliezarry kind of went out of his way to provoke and anger Snape, though. He hasn’t actually seen what Snape would be like under “normal” circumstances i.e. without a student who was outright declaring that he would seek to have him (Snape) fired, in the middle of class and in front of Snape’s other students. And also, deduction of Eliezarry’s House points and making Eliezarry be silent for the rest of the class is frankly an enormously lenient response to Eliezarry’s provocations, which actually suggests that Snape isn’t as monstrous as he’s been made out to be by Eliezarry.
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Jun 7, 2016 09:43
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- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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Chapter 18: Dominance Hierarchies
Part Ten
quote:
So this is my dark side, is it? Bit of a prejudiced term that, my light side seems more selfish and cowardly, not to mention confused and panicky.
And now that he was thinking clearly, it was equally clear what to do next. He'd already given himself an extra hour to prepare, and could get up to five hours more if required...
____________________________________________
Minerva McGonagall waited in the Headmaster's office.
Dumbledore sat in his padded throne behind his desk, dressed in four layers of formal lavender robes. Minerva sat in a chair before him, opposite Severus in another chair. Facing the three of them was an empty wooden stool.
They were waiting for Harry Potter.
Harry, Minerva thought despairingly, you promised you wouldn't bite any teachers!
And in her mind she could see very clearly the reply, Harry's angry face and his outraged response: I said I wouldn't bite anyone who didn't bite me first!
No better way of being right than being technically right.
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There was a knock at the door.
"Come in!" Dumbledore called.
The door swept open, and Harry Potter entered. Minerva almost gasped out loud. The boy looked cool, collected, and utterly in control of himself.
"Good mor-" Harry's voice suddenly cut off. His jaw dropped.
Minerva tracked Harry's gaze, and she saw that Harry was staring at Fawkes where the phoenix sat on its golden perch. Fawkes fluttered his bright red-golden wings like the flickering of a flame, and dipped his head in a measured nod to the boy.
Why is Eliezarry surprised by the appearance of Fawkes? He’s already aware that the “immolating bird” he saw the last time he was in Dumbledore’s office, was actually a chicken that Dumbledore set on fire.
quote:
Harry turned to stare at Dumbledore.
Dumbledore winked at him.
Minerva felt she was missing something.
Sudden uncertainty crossed Harry's face. His coolness wavered. Fear showed in his eyes, then anger, and then the boy was calm again.
A chill went down Minerva's spine. Something was not right here.
"Please sit down," said Dumbledore. His face was now serious once more.
Harry sat.
"So, Harry," said Dumbledore. "I've heard one report of this day from Professor Snape. Would you care to tell me what happened in your own words?"
Harry's gaze flicked dismissively to Severus. "It's not complicated," said the boy, smiling thinly. "He tried bullying me the way he's been bullying every non-Slytherin in the school since the day Lucius foisted him off on you. As for the other details, I request a private conversation with you concerning them. A student who is reporting abusive behavior from a professor can hardly be expected to speak frankly in front of that same professor, after all."
This time Minerva couldn't stop herself from gasping out loud.
Severus simply laughed.
Wasn’t Eliezarry “frozen in absolute horror” at having openly “antagonized a teacher three orders of magnitude beyond anything he'd ever managed before”, just a few paragraphs ago? He never learns, does he?
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Jun 9, 2016 09:51
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- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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The play is somehow worse than this. How the gently caress, Jo
Yeah, the play sounds batshit nuts. What happened to the main Harry Potter thread, by the way?
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Jun 13, 2016 05:57
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- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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Chapter 18: Dominance Hierarchies
Part Eleven
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And the Headmaster's face grew grave. "Mr. Potter," the Headmaster said, "one does not speak of a Hogwarts professor in such terms. I fear that you labor under a terrible misapprehension. Professor Severus Snape has my fullest confidence, and serves Hogwarts at my own behest, not Lucius Malfoy's."
There was silence for a few moments.
When the boy spoke again his voice was icy. "Am I missing something here?"
"Quite a number of things, Mr. Potter," said the Headmaster. "You should understand, to start with, that the purpose of this meeting is to discuss how to discipline you for the events of this morning."
"This man has terrorized your school for years. I spoke to students and collected stories to make sure there would be enough for a newspaper campaign to rally the parents against him. Some of the younger students cried while they told me. I almost cried when I heard them! You allowed this abuser to run free? You did this to your students? Why? "
Minerva swallowed a lump in her throat. She'd - thought that, sometimes, but somehow she'd never quite –
Why is Professor McGonagall being referred to as “Minerva” in the narrative? Why is she “[swallowing] a lump in her throat”? Is this the beginning of the reduction of Professor McGonagall from a hardass able to stand up to Eliezzary’s shenanigans to a helpless damsel? I am not pleased about this turn of events.
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"Mr. Potter," said the Headmaster, his voice now stern, "this meeting is not about Professor Snape. It is about you and your disregard for school discipline. Professor Snape has suggested, and I have agreed, that three full months of detention will be appropriate -"
"Declined," Harry said icily.
Minerva was speechless.
"This is not a request, Mr. Potter," the Headmaster said. The full, entire force of the wizard's gaze was turned on the boy. "This is your punishme-"
"You will explain to me why you allowed this man to hurt the children placed in your care, and if your explanation is not sufficient then I will begin my newspaper campaign with you as the target."
Minerva's body swayed with the force of that blow, with the sheer raw lese majeste.
Even Severus looked shocked.
And then all the Professors stood up and clapped.
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"That, Harry, would be most extremely unwise," Dumbledore said slowly. "I am the primary piece opposing Lucius on the gameboard. For you to do such a thing would strengthen him greatly, and I did not think that was your chosen side."
The boy was still for a long moment.
"This conversation grows private," Harry said. His hand flicked in Severus's direction. "Send him away."
Dumbledore shook his head. "Harry, did I not tell you that Severus Snape has my fullest confidence?"
The boy's face showed the shock of it. "This man's bullying makes you vulnerable! I am not the only one who could start a newspaper campaign against you! This is insane! Why are you doing this?"
Dumbledore sighed. "I'm sorry, Harry. It has to do with things that you are not, at this time, ready to hear."
The boy stared at Dumbledore. Then he turned to look at Severus. Then back to Dumbledore again.
"It is insanity," the boy said slowly. "You haven't reined him in because you think he's part of the pattern. That Hogwarts needs an evil Potions Master to be a proper magical school, just as it needs a ghost to teach History."
"That does sound like the sort of thing I would do, doesn't it?" said Dumbledore, smiling.
That would actually be an interesting reason for Dumbledore’s negligent and/or actively malignant management of the school, and an underdog protagonist who fights against the Man in such a context would actually be someone I’d root for. Too bad Eliezarry’s such an insufferable rear end in any event.
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Jun 14, 2016 08:03
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May 21, 2024 01:11
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- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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Chapter 18: Dominance Hierarchies
Part Twelve
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"Unacceptable," Harry said flatly. His gaze was now cold and dark. "I will not tolerate bullying or abuse. I had considered many possible ways of dealing with this problem, but I will make it simple. Either this man goes, or I do."
Minerva gasped again. Something strange flickered in Severus's eyes.
And thus the damselization of Professor McGonagall continues.
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Now Dumbledore's gaze was also growing cold. "Expulsion, Mr. Potter, is the final threat which may be used against a student. It is not customarily used as a threat by students against the Headmaster. This is the best magical school in the entire world, and an education here is not an opportunity given to everyone. Are you under the impression that Hogwarts cannot get along without you?"
And Harry sat there, smiling thinly.
Sudden horror dawned on Minerva. Surely Harry wouldn't –
The narrative can call her “Minerva” as much as it likes, but she’s still Professor McGonagall to me.
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"You forget," Harry said, "that you're not the only one who can see patterns. This grows private. Now send him -" Harry flicked a hand at Severus again, and then stopped in mid-sentence and mid-gesture.
Minerva could see it on Harry's face, the moment when he remembered.
She'd told him, after all.
"Mr. Potter," said the Headmaster, "once again, Severus Snape has my fullest confidence."
"You told him," whispered the boy. "You utter fool."
Dumbledore didn't react to the insult. "Told him what?"
"That the Dark Lord is alive."
"What in Merlin's name are you on about, Potter? " cried Severus in tones of sheer astonishment and outrage.
Harry glanced briefly at him, smiling grimly. "Oh, so we are a Slytherin, then," Harry said. "I was starting to wonder."
And then there was silence.
Finally Dumbledore spoke. His voice was mild. "Harry, what are you talking about?"
"I'm sorry, Albus," Minerva whispered.
Severus and Dumbledore turned to look at her.
"Professor McGonagall didn't tell me," said Harry's voice, swiftly and less calm than it had been. "I guessed. I told you, I can see the patterns too. I guessed, and she controlled her reaction just as Severus did. But her control fell a shade short of perfection, and I could tell it was control, not genuine."
"And I told him," said Minerva, her voice trembling a little, "that you, and I, and Severus were the only ones who knew."
"Which she did as a concession to prevent me from simply going around asking questions, as I threatened to do if she didn't talk," Harry said. The boy chuckled briefly. "I really should have gotten one of you alone and told you that she told me everything, to see if you let anything slip. Probably wouldn't have worked, but would have been worth a shot." The boy smiled again. "Threat's still on the table and I do expect to be briefed fully at some point."
Heelish behaviour by a protagonist can still be entertaining and likable if the antagonists have been built up as even bigger assholes. However, Dumbledore and Snape just haven’t had enough build-up and Eliezarry just seems like a rude rear end in a top hat instead of the cool badass that Eliezer clearly intends him to be viewed as.
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Jun 16, 2016 08:45
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Jan 4, 2016 07:19
