Mudbloods and Murmurs
In which the Quidditch practice season begins, a curse is uttered, and someone eats slugs.
Now that school is in full session, Oliver Wood is cracking down on Quidditch practices. Most of the people on the Gryffindor Quidditch team have other talents. Harry is a seeker and great at Defense Against the Dark Arts, Fred and George are beaters and great at joke-related magic, Charlie was a seeker and is now a dragon whisperer (whatever you call it). Alicia, Katie, and Angelina don't just chase all day (maybe). But Oliver Wood is one of those guys who eats, sleeps, and breathes his sport. He's really lucky that Puddlemore United wanted him.
The Gryffindor Quidditch team is about to have their first practice of the season early one Saturday morning, when the Slytherin team arrives at the pitch. Apparently Draco Malfoy is on the team now, and thanks to his dad, the Slytherin team all have fancy new Nimbus 2001s. It's a little bit pathetic that when Draco is around his dad all he does is whine about Harry, and when he's around Harry all he does is flaunt the things his dad bought him and whine about how he's going to go whine to his dad about the things Harry's doing. "You wait till my father hears about this!"
Then Draco calls Hermione a mudblood. I had forgotten how big of a deal bloodlines and blood purity were in this book, and really the entire series. For the bad guys, death eaters, purebloods, family history and money are everything. For old wizarding families like the Dracos, the Blacks, and the Gaunts keeping their bloodlines free of nonmagical blood is essential. Mudblood is a terrible insult to Hermione. And the Weasleys, who are blood traitors and very poor, are just as bad as mudbloods, in a bad guy's opinion. Just as important as blood status is creature status (ahem, for example, if maybe you were a half-giant), but more on that in two books or so.
To defend Hermione—awwwww—Ron tries to curse Draco, but his broken wand backfires, and he ends up eating slugs himself. Harry, Ron, and Hermione run off to Hagrid's. At this point, we know that Hagrid's been expelled, but we don't know how.
To fulfill the detentions Harry and Ron received for flying the car to school, Ron has to polish the trophies, while still puking up slugs, and Harry has to help Lockhart answer his fanmail. I personally don't even know why McGonagall let Harry do that. Talk about your cruel and unusual punishments.
That's when Harry first hears the voice. The one that threatens to rip, tear, and kill him. You've heard it, right?
No comments:
Post a Comment