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edenfallingSummary: "Chamber of Secrets" from Ginny's point of view. In this chapter, we follow Ginny through her first week of classes, during which much goes right but more goes wrong.
The chapter title is a stealth pun. The obvious reference is the start of Ginny's year-long fight with Daphne. The other reference is that the aforementioned clash occurs in a Potions lesson, and Ginny's ruined potion explodes. (Hey, I never claimed I had a good sense of humor.)
Anyway, this is the intro-to-classes chapter. That stuff I said about Ginny working hard at lessons comes into play a little here. Note that she has read every one of the free set of Lockhart's books that Harry gave her after the mess in Flourish and Blotts -- mostly because Mrs. Weasley likes him, but Ginny could easily have skimmed them and simply said she'd read them. Instead, she actually paid attention. And because she's read them, she thinks Lockhart is a fraud. That is a combination of pre-existing dislike (both because he embarrassed her and Harry, and because of her mother's crush) and basic logic. That ability to put two and two together, and find the holes in somebody's self-serving lies, will come back later in a more significant moment.
This is also when Ginny's love of gardening and Herbology first takes center stage, and when we properly meet Xanthe, since she was too scared to act herself on the night of the Sorting. Ginny and Xanthe start out as a friendship of convenience -- Ginny helps Xanthe in Herbology, and Xanthe helps Ginny in Astronomy -- but I quite like them together. Xanthe has a haphazard charm that I guess reminds Ginny of her brothers (the way Daphne did at first), and Xanthe's fairly socially awkward herself, just more willing to screw up and embarrass herself publicly, which may explain why she's so patient with Ginny and keeps trying to dig her out of herself. Well, and she also sees a side of Ginny nobody else does, since Ginny really relaxes around plants and they're Herbology partners.
Let's see, let's see... We have Ginny meeting Hagrid and chatting about pumpkins -- I already resolved that thread, so that's all right -- and Ginny watching the trio and wondering how their friendship works, mostly in the sense of wondering how Hermione fits in with the boys. Ginny wants friends like that but has no idea how to get to know people.
Also she extolls Harry's virtues a bit -- doesn't come out and say he's a fairy tale prince who'll save her, but that's the underlying implication. (Again, I didn't realize I was writing that at the time.)
Then loneliness leads her to talk to Tom again. *headdesk* Oh, Ginny, I know exactly why you want a friend who's always there when you want to talk, who won't get distracted by other people or events, and who can be neatly put aside just by closing a book, but that is such a bad idea.
Mmm. And here's a piece of clue-thread: Tom tells Ginny a pack of lies (woven out of mangled truth, for verisimilitude) about his days at Hogwarts, and mentions the family name of the girl who supposedly led him on and broke his heart. Which is of course the family name Xanthe mentioned back in chapter 2, in relation to her mother. And Ginny has just complained to Tom that she thought she was getting to know Xanthe, but then the other girl ran off with a bunch of fellow Hufflepuffs. So Tom doesn't feel threatened enough to work very hard at turning Ginny against her. Narrative coincidence for the win!
(Hopefully all those little coincidences feel natural as you read.)
Tom does give Ginny some advice about sliding into social interactions, but it's geared specifically toward superficial friendships that don't give Ginny any chances to share her deeper feelings.
Then we reach the Potions lesson. Ah, the Potions lesson. If the rest of the chapter has been the calm before the storm, when Ginny could still make flesh-and-blood friends, stop relying on Tom, and derail the plot of CoS, this is when things tilt irrevocably the wrong way. And it is Ginny's doing. Yes, she's been primed to react badly, both by her family's prejudices and by Tom's prompting, but she's the one who throws Daphne's good-faith attempt at friendship back in her face, and in the nastiest way possible.
Daphne has a temper as bad as Ginny's, so it's not surprising she overreacts in her turn. And Apple and Daphne are very, very close, so it's not surprising Apple also turns against Ginny. (It is actually more surprising that Apple is able to have second thoughts as the year continues and notice that something is very wrong with Ginny.)
Side note: I'd forgotten Electra Summers, Ginny's Slytherin Potions partner. She's not as important as the Rumlucks and Xanthe, or Sir Vladislav and Susan, but she's not irrelevant either and she gets some character development later on. Also, I had way too much fun coming up with Potions and Herbology lessons all through this story. Yes, they're the subjects that put Ginny in the same room as Daphne and Xanthe, respectively, but they're also just really interesting to write.
The bit where Ginny decides not to tell the twins about Potions because she doesn't want to be cheered up is another missed chance to delay or derail the plot of CoS. They are no saints and certainly share her anti-Slytherin prejudice, but I think they would have realized she'd gone too far for no reason -- if nothing else, they know how to laugh at themselves, which is an ability Ginny either never had in great supply, or is rapidly losing.
Note that in her description of the event to Tom, she makes it seem that Daphne was the one at fault, when in reality Ginny was the instigator. And Tom plays right into that. He wants her isolated, and self-righteous anger will do fine in the regard. (It may also prevent her from listening to people who try to help later on; if she's always right, then anyone who says she has a problem must be lying.)
And we start the recurring trope of italicized dreams, to represent Ginny sleepwalking through Hogwarts. Her sleeping self is a princess, of course. She is looking for a dragon.
We finish the chapter with Ginny cementing the enmity between her and Daphne by dumping a pitcher of pumpkin juice on her at breakfast. I'd forgotten about that! After this chapter Daphne's the one who takes initiative in most of their clashes -- Ginny gets distracted by other, more worrying things -- but I need to edit their scenes in ch. 15 to account for that incident.
Bechdel Test = PASS, multiple times
...
Okay, that's enough for tonight.
The chapter title is a stealth pun. The obvious reference is the start of Ginny's year-long fight with Daphne. The other reference is that the aforementioned clash occurs in a Potions lesson, and Ginny's ruined potion explodes. (Hey, I never claimed I had a good sense of humor.)
Anyway, this is the intro-to-classes chapter. That stuff I said about Ginny working hard at lessons comes into play a little here. Note that she has read every one of the free set of Lockhart's books that Harry gave her after the mess in Flourish and Blotts -- mostly because Mrs. Weasley likes him, but Ginny could easily have skimmed them and simply said she'd read them. Instead, she actually paid attention. And because she's read them, she thinks Lockhart is a fraud. That is a combination of pre-existing dislike (both because he embarrassed her and Harry, and because of her mother's crush) and basic logic. That ability to put two and two together, and find the holes in somebody's self-serving lies, will come back later in a more significant moment.
This is also when Ginny's love of gardening and Herbology first takes center stage, and when we properly meet Xanthe, since she was too scared to act herself on the night of the Sorting. Ginny and Xanthe start out as a friendship of convenience -- Ginny helps Xanthe in Herbology, and Xanthe helps Ginny in Astronomy -- but I quite like them together. Xanthe has a haphazard charm that I guess reminds Ginny of her brothers (the way Daphne did at first), and Xanthe's fairly socially awkward herself, just more willing to screw up and embarrass herself publicly, which may explain why she's so patient with Ginny and keeps trying to dig her out of herself. Well, and she also sees a side of Ginny nobody else does, since Ginny really relaxes around plants and they're Herbology partners.
Let's see, let's see... We have Ginny meeting Hagrid and chatting about pumpkins -- I already resolved that thread, so that's all right -- and Ginny watching the trio and wondering how their friendship works, mostly in the sense of wondering how Hermione fits in with the boys. Ginny wants friends like that but has no idea how to get to know people.
Also she extolls Harry's virtues a bit -- doesn't come out and say he's a fairy tale prince who'll save her, but that's the underlying implication. (Again, I didn't realize I was writing that at the time.)
Then loneliness leads her to talk to Tom again. *headdesk* Oh, Ginny, I know exactly why you want a friend who's always there when you want to talk, who won't get distracted by other people or events, and who can be neatly put aside just by closing a book, but that is such a bad idea.
Mmm. And here's a piece of clue-thread: Tom tells Ginny a pack of lies (woven out of mangled truth, for verisimilitude) about his days at Hogwarts, and mentions the family name of the girl who supposedly led him on and broke his heart. Which is of course the family name Xanthe mentioned back in chapter 2, in relation to her mother. And Ginny has just complained to Tom that she thought she was getting to know Xanthe, but then the other girl ran off with a bunch of fellow Hufflepuffs. So Tom doesn't feel threatened enough to work very hard at turning Ginny against her. Narrative coincidence for the win!
(Hopefully all those little coincidences feel natural as you read.)
Tom does give Ginny some advice about sliding into social interactions, but it's geared specifically toward superficial friendships that don't give Ginny any chances to share her deeper feelings.
Then we reach the Potions lesson. Ah, the Potions lesson. If the rest of the chapter has been the calm before the storm, when Ginny could still make flesh-and-blood friends, stop relying on Tom, and derail the plot of CoS, this is when things tilt irrevocably the wrong way. And it is Ginny's doing. Yes, she's been primed to react badly, both by her family's prejudices and by Tom's prompting, but she's the one who throws Daphne's good-faith attempt at friendship back in her face, and in the nastiest way possible.
Daphne has a temper as bad as Ginny's, so it's not surprising she overreacts in her turn. And Apple and Daphne are very, very close, so it's not surprising Apple also turns against Ginny. (It is actually more surprising that Apple is able to have second thoughts as the year continues and notice that something is very wrong with Ginny.)
Side note: I'd forgotten Electra Summers, Ginny's Slytherin Potions partner. She's not as important as the Rumlucks and Xanthe, or Sir Vladislav and Susan, but she's not irrelevant either and she gets some character development later on. Also, I had way too much fun coming up with Potions and Herbology lessons all through this story. Yes, they're the subjects that put Ginny in the same room as Daphne and Xanthe, respectively, but they're also just really interesting to write.
The bit where Ginny decides not to tell the twins about Potions because she doesn't want to be cheered up is another missed chance to delay or derail the plot of CoS. They are no saints and certainly share her anti-Slytherin prejudice, but I think they would have realized she'd gone too far for no reason -- if nothing else, they know how to laugh at themselves, which is an ability Ginny either never had in great supply, or is rapidly losing.
Note that in her description of the event to Tom, she makes it seem that Daphne was the one at fault, when in reality Ginny was the instigator. And Tom plays right into that. He wants her isolated, and self-righteous anger will do fine in the regard. (It may also prevent her from listening to people who try to help later on; if she's always right, then anyone who says she has a problem must be lying.)
And we start the recurring trope of italicized dreams, to represent Ginny sleepwalking through Hogwarts. Her sleeping self is a princess, of course. She is looking for a dragon.
We finish the chapter with Ginny cementing the enmity between her and Daphne by dumping a pitcher of pumpkin juice on her at breakfast. I'd forgotten about that! After this chapter Daphne's the one who takes initiative in most of their clashes -- Ginny gets distracted by other, more worrying things -- but I need to edit their scenes in ch. 15 to account for that incident.
Bechdel Test = PASS, multiple times
...
Okay, that's enough for tonight.
