Minor Grouch

[rj_anderson]

I forgot to mention this, but it made me go "Gah!" the moment I first saw it in HBP --

In the first four books, the process of Apparating from one place to another is called "Apparition". In OotP, however, and consistently throughout that book, it is called "ApparAtion". I know, because I was grumbling in my virtual beard about it the whole time I was revising D&L to be OotP-compliant -- I had to change about a zillion instances of "apparition" to "apparation".

Now, in HBP, JKR goes back to "apparItion" again, with nary a hint that it was ever spelled any other way.

As a reader, this doesn't really matter. As a fic writer, however -- *beats head on desk*

Speaking of fic, "If We Survive" has been Jo'd in so many ways that it's easier to declare it AU and have done with it than to try to revise it, so don't expect to see an HBP-compliant IWS any time soon. However, "The Potions Master's Apprentice" and "Personal Risks" are still reasonably undisturbed, I think, so I could just go back to that point and work from there, and I do think I may give that a try. Don't expect epic results, however. I have a short genfic involving Snape and Aberforth Dumbledore, and another (which could be a sequel to, or even part of, the first) with Snape and Maud meeting for the first time after Albus's death, but I think that's all I'm likely to get out of the can before the new baby comes...

Comments

[tundraeternal.livejournal.com]

No way, i had no idea! I totally thought it was apparation all through. I'll have to check my books when i get home!

[penwiper26.livejournal.com]

I did notice all that. In fact, when I saw "Apparition" for the first time, I broke off to think, "Oh, hell, now RJA's going to have to edit all her fic again!" Hee. *pets you*

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

In fact, when I saw "Apparition" for the first time, I broke off to think, "Oh, hell, now RJA's going to have to edit all her fic again!"

:)

"Well, I can tell you, I'm not going to do it! I'm still a young [wo]man, you know -- I've got prospects!"

(House points to anyone who recognizes that quote.)

[wahlee-98.livejournal.com]

At least you can just find and replace on that one :P

Hand shoots up in the air Hermione style

[stmarysalice.livejournal.com]

"He wants something from me. I can see it in his eyes..."

Phillipe in Ladyhawke. I love that movie.

Re: Hand shoots up in the air Hermione style

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Got it in one!

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

So I take it you don't regard the first bit of the TLC interview as a sinker? ;)

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Nope. I regard it as no more damning than any of the other coy things JKR has said about Snape over the years. If I were in her position, and wanting to keep the twist(s) in the final book a surprise for the fans, I'd be doing exactly the same.

In all honesty, my confidence in this matter is far beyond the point of "I don't want Snape to be evil so I'm sticking my fingers in my ears la la la." I really am 100% certain that while Snape will never be a pleasant person and may never have anything like a full reconciliation with Harry, he is still nevertheless firmly on Dumbledore's side and will be proven to be so (much to Harry's horror and chagrin) in Book Seven.

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

I didn't figure you were sticking your fingers in your ears, no. I think the text does indicate that this is another twist. With no interviews... well, actually with no interviews I'd have been convinced for most of the book that the potions text being fifty years old meant the half-blood prince was Tom Riddle, but it still would have been revealed in the end. They shouldn't be necessary to figure out what's going on; they're extra.

It's just somewhat unnerving to be compared to H/Hr shippers. :P (Plus, I'm trying to figure out what else she's likely to be talking about in terms of Dumbledore being recklessly trusting.)

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

I think the comparison some people are making to H/Hr shippers is pretty lame, seeing as the "evidence" for H/Hr was always of an extremely fanciful nature (the Hippogryff flight as proof of love? With Hermione muttering the whole time "I don't like this... oh, I really don't like this..."? Please.). In Snape's case, however, there's a good deal of hard evidence and logic to support the idea that in spite of all appearances (for which the defense would like to call one Sirius Black -- after all, how many people were convinced he was evil, and that the evidence against him was iron-clad? Certainly Harry thought so, and even Dumbledore), he is not going to turn out to be on Voldemort's side in the end.

After all, not only has Snape done any number of things to protect Harry when he could have harmed him (especially at the end of HBP, when Dumbledore is dead and unable to protect Harry himself, and there is no reason to suppose Voldemort would not be well pleased if Snape had succeeded in crippling or otherwise severely hindering Harry on his way out), but he has Dumbledore's very firm and clear trust and support from beginning to end. If Dumbledore has spent six books in a row insisting adamantly that he trusts Snape beyond any possible question whatsoever and that he has excellent reason to do so, so I find it difficult to see any good reason why we shouldn't believe him -- or at least, no good reason why we should prefer Harry's viewpoint after Harry has so many times been shown to be completely wrong in his interpretations of people and events (for which see: Books 1-5, but especially SS and PoA).

Of course, Dumbledore might have had the wool pulled over his eyes by Snape's pretense of sincerity, but I'd really like to know how Snape managed it. After all, as of HBP we've been given solid proof that Dumbledore does not just trust anybody, even people he feels genuinely sorry for and believes have the power to change for better (to wit, the young Tom Riddle). Tom made every appearance of reforming once he came to Hogwarts, behaving politely and winning over many teachers and students in the process with his combination of good looks and charm -- but even at that, Dumbledore never trusted him, never took his eye off of him, and was not taken by surprise when Tom went bad. To imagine that Dumbledore would see through the charming and urbane Tom yet somehow be deceived by the misanthropic, unapologetically nasty Snape makes no sense to me.

Dumbledore is recklessly trusting in some ways -- entrusting wackjobs like Trelawney and Binns and Hagrid and, well, pretty much all the DADA teachers so far except Remus (and Remus had his own problems) with the magical education of his students. Like many wizards he seems to be awfully cavalier about the possibility of students being injured in the process of learning magic, and he seems to treat student misdemeanors with a rather shockingly light hand sometimes (i.e., the Prank), trusting people to learn from their mistakes. But when it comes to the fight against Voldemort, Dumbledore has been far more likely to withhold information from the people around him than give it out (much to Harry's frustration). I really can't see him confiding in Snape or allowing Snape to play such a significant role in the Order -- or indeed any role at all -- if he had even the tiniest doubt that Snape was legit. Especially after what happened with Peter Pettigrew.

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

The comparison to H/Hr shippers is what the interview looks like it's doing, not something I'm getting from somewhere else -- although to be fair this may have been a case of getting a little tangential. :P

Now that I look at the interview again, it does look rather as if Emerson is assuming Dumbledore was blind about Snape and JKR is just saying we'll get more information in the next book, and then moves on to examples of Dumbledore's emotional mistakes, whereas I had been thinking I remembered her saying that we'd see more about the results of Dumbledore's mistakes... which he did say tended to be doozies. (Although really, I suppose there's only so disastrous a set of consequences JKR could show without making it very difficult to end the story on a victory.)

(Which is a relief, actually. I'm toying with the madness of trying to write a next-year fic, and I neither buy nor like villain!Snape enough to write it, and don't want to have to try to come up with something new for Dumbledore to have made an emotion/trust-based mistake about.

...Although I suddenly really want to see his portrait and Phineas's have a chat.)

[(Anonymous)]

Honestly, the whole concept of ApparAting being called by another word for 'phantom' or 'ghost' (especially considering the ghost-inhabited world with which we're dealing), really bugs me. I was, unfortuntately, laboring under the impression that it was *always* called Apparation, so when I read it in HBP as Apparition I got very annoyed and kept mispronouncing it as I read it to my mother and sister. But now I hear that it is, actually, supposed to be Apparition?? Grrrr...

ISJ

[tybalt-quin.livejournal.com]

Meh. That's why I called my fic The Apparating Instructor. Less confusion that way.

[pharnabazus.livejournal.com]

I wonder when we'll hear more of Aberforth.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

I expect very soon. I believe that he's not only the "rather uncouth barman" of the Hog's Head who caught Snape eavesdropping on Trelawney's prophecy, but also the little-known member of the Order that JKR tells us we haven't seen much of yet but who will play a significant role in Book Seven.

I expect Aberforth knows a great deal more about what's been going on, and is in a better position to impart that knowledge to Harry, than anyone else right now.

[infiniteviking]

Maybe it's another of those pesky things that changes from the British version to the American version? When they mess with a book like that, you can't expect them to be entirely consistent.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

I've never owned or read any versions other than the British ones... or rather, the Canadian ones, which are exactly the same as the British aside from being printed in Canada on "rain-forest friendly" paper.

[kagiri.livejournal.com]

As a reader, I'd prefer that you left the Darkness and Light trilogy as it is. I like AU fics just as much as anything canon-compliant. It's up to you, of couse, being the author and all--but I'd like if you offered the OotP-compliant versions as well. Those were the ones I read first and I have a particular attachment to them!

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Well, like I said, I'm not going to rewrite IWS -- just mark it as AU and go on. But I may also write some HBP-compliant D&L stories set post-PR, and people can take them or leave them, as they like...

[cantatrix05.livejournal.com]

I love your Icon. Are you a gratuitous het artist as well?

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

I do have an art gallery at DeviantArt (http://synaesthete.deviantart.com/), but I don't really do that much with it... the icon was actually drawn by Anneth Lagamo (http://www.edgeworlds.com/), who is a great deal more talented than I am!

[sabrinanymph.livejournal.com]

This makes me extremely happy. I'm all for you doing as much as you can before the baby issues forth!

[kizmet-42.livejournal.com]

Obviously, somebody's charmed quill wasn't functioning properly and Hermione wasn't around to deal with it.

[mara-3333.livejournal.com]

Oh , a new Snape / Maud story set after death of Albus - I'm jumping up and down with excitement.

Something to fill that gap until we get HP boo 7, wonderful.

Yep, I reckon Aberforth knows more about what is happening than anyone. And he will be in book 7 for certain.

I bet he knows a bit about the DD / Snape trust relationship.

Anyway, Snape will be redeemed at the end - if only by killing Bellatrix. Bit I hope Snape is involved in the eventual defeat of LV.

As for DD being too trusting, that comment could have related to anything that has happened within the six HP books, and not to Snape. As you say, he trusted Sirius, trusted fake Moody, trusted Quirrell, trusted Pettigrew during 1st way - the list is endless.