Yeah, the I’ve enjoyed the arc well enough, and there were some great bits in this chapter, but it’s been a bit small-potatoes compared to some of what’s come before, and there’s definitely a sense of “just how many bullies are there at Hogwarts, anyway?”. It’s almost like SPHEW is literally grinding bullies for XP.
How about, SPHEW is inspiring bullies to declare themselves, or non-bullies to become bullies, for the challenge of battling SPHEW? (I’d like this hypothesis better if the bullies weren’t older, since even acknowledging first-years as a challenge is quite a status hit.)
From the sounds of this I might have to start reading MoR again. So Hermione doesn’t start knitting for house elves, instead she goes around beating the crap through bullies? That’s awesome.
Yeah, the I’ve enjoyed the arc well enough, and there were some great bits in this chapter, but it’s been a bit small-potatoes compared to some of what’s come before, and there’s definitely a sense of “just how many bullies are there at Hogwarts, anyway?”. It’s almost like SPHEW is literally grinding bullies for XP.
How about, SPHEW is inspiring bullies to declare themselves, or non-bullies to become bullies, for the challenge of battling SPHEW? (I’d like this hypothesis better if the bullies weren’t older, since even acknowledging first-years as a challenge is quite a status hit.)
From the sounds of this I might have to start reading MoR again. So Hermione doesn’t start knitting for house elves, instead she goes around beating the crap through bullies? That’s awesome.
This seems like what is currently happening in the latest chapter.
Neatly sidestepped in Quirell’s explanation.