I also like your dialogue better than Rowling's! And even if several people had the idea, you were still right. Most of my ideas seem to have been killed by book 7 - although I did write a short piece about Severus and the Sorting Hat which had him sitting down next to Lucius Malfoy at the Slytherin table, and I was amused to see that that did appear in the book (and that Lucius was a prefect, although I think that almost anyone could have guessed that)!
And yes, I agree with you about Severus being the last of Harry's father-figures - the one he didn't know he had. JKR's attitude to fathers does seem a bit odd - and a striking contrast to her depiction of mothers! Harry's obvious adoration of Lily in chapter 34 seemed especially OTT to me. (But then I didn't like that whole business with the resurrection stone - it seemed very mechanical, and I would have preferred Harry simply to feel (or think he felt - I would have liked the ambiguity) the dead around him as he went to join them.)
I do miss the warm, fatherly Dumbledore. He features in a couple of stories I was writing just before DH came out (featuring Severus and Sirius respectively, set just after the werewolf incident) and they will now have to be jettisoned. I do wonder if JKR realises what she made him into? Reading the interviews I now wonder if his youthful association with Grindelwald is meant to be his only fault, whereas it seemed obvious to me from the book that he was cold and manipulative, that he was deceiving himself if he thought that he had abandoned the pursuit of power, that 'the greater good' was still his watchword, and that he didn't so much want his family back as wish that he did. And while I absolutely applaud Harry's willingness to die, if necessary, I'm not at all sure about Dumbledore's willingness to send him to his death - Albus bin Laden, if you ask me. (It was pointed out by a woman called Alena Hu in answer to my Snape essay that this extends to Severus too - Dumbledore means him to end up with the elder wand, but seems to have anticipated Voldemort killing him for it.)
Sorry, this is rambling, and I need to get home. I'm glad you liked Leonatus and Mary Prince - they certainly seemed very real to me - but I'm not sure if they have a future. JKR certainly seems to have intended the love of Lily Evans to be the only bright spot in Severus's bleak existence - although I would rather like to subvert that, if only to spite that condescending Gryffindor princess! But I'm not sure how, and at the moment am pursuing other avenues. The essay should be appearing in the next issue of Scribbulus - probably around the beginning of October (they have a new website design, and are having teething troubles).
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Date: 2007-09-20 04:37 pm (UTC)And yes, I agree with you about Severus being the last of Harry's father-figures - the one he didn't know he had. JKR's attitude to fathers does seem a bit odd - and a striking contrast to her depiction of mothers! Harry's obvious adoration of Lily in chapter 34 seemed especially OTT to me. (But then I didn't like that whole business with the resurrection stone - it seemed very mechanical, and I would have preferred Harry simply to feel (or think he felt - I would have liked the ambiguity) the dead around him as he went to join them.)
I do miss the warm, fatherly Dumbledore. He features in a couple of stories I was writing just before DH came out (featuring Severus and Sirius respectively, set just after the werewolf incident) and they will now have to be jettisoned. I do wonder if JKR realises what she made him into? Reading the interviews I now wonder if his youthful association with Grindelwald is meant to be his only fault, whereas it seemed obvious to me from the book that he was cold and manipulative, that he was deceiving himself if he thought that he had abandoned the pursuit of power, that 'the greater good' was still his watchword, and that he didn't so much want his family back as wish that he did. And while I absolutely applaud Harry's willingness to die, if necessary, I'm not at all sure about Dumbledore's willingness to send him to his death - Albus bin Laden, if you ask me. (It was pointed out by a woman called Alena Hu in answer to my Snape essay that this extends to Severus too - Dumbledore means him to end up with the elder wand, but seems to have anticipated Voldemort killing him for it.)
Sorry, this is rambling, and I need to get home. I'm glad you liked Leonatus and Mary Prince - they certainly seemed very real to me - but I'm not sure if they have a future. JKR certainly seems to have intended the love of Lily Evans to be the only bright spot in Severus's bleak existence - although I would rather like to subvert that, if only to spite that condescending Gryffindor princess! But I'm not sure how, and at the moment am pursuing other avenues. The essay should be appearing in the next issue of Scribbulus - probably around the beginning of October (they have a new website design, and are having teething troubles).