{"id":339,"date":"2011-05-20T07:00:33","date_gmt":"2011-05-20T14:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=339"},"modified":"2011-05-14T20:11:11","modified_gmt":"2011-05-15T03:11:11","slug":"mark-re-reads-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone-chapter-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2011\/05\/mark-re-reads-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone-chapter-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Re-Reads ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’: Chapter 10"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the tenth chapter of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Stone<\/em>, Harry learns Quidditch, Ron is an asshole to Hermione (SURPRISE), and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a troll in the dungeon. Where Slytherin stay, apparently? WHO KNEW. If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re intrigued, then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to re-read Harry Potter<\/em>.<\/p>\n

CH. 10: HALLOWEEN<\/strong><\/p>\n

I completely missed all of the hints that Ron and Hermione were totally destined to be together. I just re-read my initial review of this chapter and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like…800 words long? What the hell? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ever recall doing that. I skipped over a lot and I have no idea why. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll assume it was entirely out of naive ignorance: I had no idea how much information about the series was in this one chapter. It even starts off subtly teasing the fact that Ron, Harry, and Hermione were going to sort of become obsessed with ADVENTURES.<\/p>\n

Indeed, by the next morning Harry and Ron thought that meeting the three-headed dog had been an excellent adventure, and they were quite keen to have another one.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

WELL, DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T WORRY, GUYS. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have like a thousand of them<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Quidditch and Harry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gift (from…McGonagall? Dumbledore? Who bought this broom?)\u00c2\u00a0 provide Harry and Ron with a unique chance to have an advantage, even just briefly, over Draco Malfoy.<\/p>\n

I laugh at the fact that Draco, immediately upon recognizing that Harry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s package contains a broomstick, tries to say he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll tattle<\/em> on him. I mean\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6it was rare, but I distinctly recall bullies doing the same thing. So much of what my bullies did and said to me were all with the unspoken acknowledgment that the rules were totally bogus and they were not meant for them. Yet, given the opportunity, they would take those rules and apply them to me. Anything to make me suffer, right? But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so hilarious that Flitwick catches this bit of arguing and outright confirms that the broom is not only allowed, but that the staff at Hogwarts specifically<\/em> made the exception.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, this joy is short-lived for me because of the way that Ron and Harry initially treat Hermione. Well, I suppose Ron deserves more of that and I also suppose that Hermione is seriously way more annoying in Sorcerer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Stone<\/em> than she probably ever will be throughout the rest of the series. She is incredibly nosy and brute in her exact moral standing, though chapter ten does give us the first chance to see that standing start to break. But it all got me wondering about Hermione and how exactly she turned out this way.<\/p>\n

I was a know-it-all in junior high, but I was surprisingly quiet and meek for one. Still, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what people knew me as: the kid with all the answers. They also knew me as The Boy We Can Threaten With Bodily Harm And He Will Do Our Homework. (That is a stereotypical narrative for a reason<\/em>, and I lived out that experience. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M A BETTER WRITER AND THINKER BECAUSE OF IT, so MEH.) But whereas I grow to identify with Hermione the most out of the trio by the end of Deathly Hallows<\/em>, here, at the very beginning, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m far more drawn to Harry.<\/p>\n

I am not sure why<\/em> Hermione necessarily acts the way she does and I suppose it all has to be speculation anyway. She comes from a full-on Muggle family and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure that before she ever got her first letter for Hogwarts, she probably displayed the same tendencies to flaunt her smartness and to correct others. But here at Hogwarts, she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really seem to be making many attempts to fit in or to be liked. (Yet. Those will come.)<\/p>\n

Why does she do that? I thought that maybe she realized that coming from a family of all Muggles might be putting her at a disadvantage in the magical world. Before she realizes that her minority status in that sense can actually empower her to change things, I think that perhaps she comes on so strong in Sorcerer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Stone<\/em> is that, like Harry, she knows she is not at the same level as people who have lived with magic all their lives. Unfortunately for Harry, he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have supportive parents like Hermione, so he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the same system that she does that allows her to obsess about the technical and theoretic details of magic.<\/p>\n

But surely this is all just me guessing<\/em> what her personality is motivated by. I mean, there are any number of reasons, but, knowing the future, it is pretty fun to try and speculate what it is that makes her so very Hermione. If anything, though, chapter ten is a way for Harry to re-evaluate the way that he treats Hermione and for Hermione to rethink the way that she conducts herself with Ron and Harry.<\/p>\n

I swear that I am not a Quidditch bigot, but I honestly don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have much to say about Harry learning the sport aside from a few things:<\/p>\n