The Harry Potter Reread feels so grown up and accomplished right now. It’s very first rite of passage has been reached, and after today’s reread, it will be taken out for a sundae. What sort of sundae will be rightly up to all of you. (Reread is partial to butterscotch, but it can be flexible in the interest of scientific discovery.)
We’ve made it through a whole book! This is me hugging all of you through the internet. (If hugs are not your thing, I’m doing a funny dance—my coworkers will attest to my mastery of goofy office chair dances.) This reread is already so much fun, and we happily have six more tomes left to tackle. But first we will wrap up with the final chapter of The Philosopher’s Stone—The Man With Two Faces.
Index to the reread can be located here! Other Harry Potter and Potter-related pieces can be found under their appropriate tag. And of course, since we know this is a reread, all posts might contain spoilers for the entire series. If you haven’t read all the Potter books, be warned.
Chapter 17—The Man With Two Faces
Summary
Harry finds himself face to face with Professor Quirrell. As he’d been expecting Snape, Harry is understandably confused by this turn of events. Quirrell takes it upon himself to clear up the matter, and spills his guts—he’s been trying to kill Harry since Halloween. It would seem that he met Voldemort on his travels abroad and had his perspective shifted considerably under the Dark Lord’s influence. He wants the stone for Voldemort, and had been trying to get Harry out of the way all this time. Snape was actually trying to save Harry all year, muttering a countercurse at first Quidditch match, and offering to referee the second so Quirrell couldn’t interfere.
A strange voice tells Quirrell to put Harry in front of the Mirror of Erised (the final barrier to the Stone), since Quirrell only sees himself handing it to his master. Harry simply wants to get the Stone before Quirrell, and that seems to be all it takes; he sees a mirror imagine of himself slip the Stone into his own pocket, and suddenly there it is.
Turns out, Voldemort has been punishing Quirrell for his inability to get the Stone. To keep an eye on him he has latched onto Quirrell’s body, his face appearing at the back of Quirrell’s head, kept hidden under the purple turban. Harry comes face to face with the Voldemort for the first time since his infancy. The Dark Lord tells Harry that his mother died to save his life, and insists Harry give over the Stone or she will have died in vain. When Harry refuses, he tells Quirrell to grab him, but on touching Harry’s skin, the professor begins to break out in blisters. Harry uses this to his advantage, touching Quirrell anywhere he can, but his scar is searing and he passes out…
…and wakes up in the Hospital Wing to find Professor Dumbledore at his bedside.
Dumbledore fills Harry in on everything that he missed. If he hadn’t found them, Harry might have died from the contact with Quirrell and Voldemort. The reason why Quirrell couldn’t touch him is wrapped up in Lily Potter’s sacrifice. Her love for her son left a mark on Harry, one that offered a certain amount of protection. Such terrible foes could not bear being touched by something so good. But Dumbledore has no doubt that Voldemort will try to return again. At least the Philosopher’s Stone has been destroyed.
Ron and Hermione come in later to hear Harry’s side of the story. Harry ruminates that this may have been what Dumbledore intended, letting Harry figure out how to find the Stone, testing the three of them. Ron seems enthused at that idea. Hermione is not.
The final feast is upon them, and the House Cup is to be awarded to Slytherin for the seventh year running. Dumbledore shows up at the end and offers Harry, Ron, and Hermione enough points for their little adventure to tie Gryffindor with Slytherin. Then he tacks on ten points for Neville, who had enough bravery to stand up to his friends. Gryffindor wins the House Cup and the kids head home. Though Harry’s friends are concerned for Harry heading back home with the Dursleys, he’s not too troubled—his relatives don’t know Harry can’t use magic outside of school, after all.
Commentary
It’s sort of a whirl, that last chapter.
Quirrell turns into one heck of a monologuing villain once given the chance. It bothers me less than it might because it makes sense; after spending the year pretending to be a cowardly idiot, it’s hardly surprising that he’s been hoping for a chance to cackle and gloat.
Some background on Quirrell, since this is the place where we see most of him: His full name is Quirinus Quirrell. That first name is associated with two gods, Mars and Janus, one the god of war and the other the two-faced good who looks forward to the future and backward to the past. Of course, that resembles Quirrell’s actual appearance once the turban is off. Quirrell was a Ravenclaw at school, and often teased for being timid and nervous. He taught Muggle Studies at Hogwarts (it is unknown when he started) before taking a year-long sabbatical to tour the world. He was intending to find out what might have happened to Voldemort, hoping that solving some of the mystery would get him the recognition he’d always craved. When he came upon Voldemort himself, he instead decided to let the Dark Lord bring him power.
It’s sad to think that the guy was so easily taken in, but he’d been in a perfect position for that kind of lure. I had forgotten that we sort of ghost over his death in the book—it isn’t attacked with the same sort of finality given to later characters.
Voldemort is particularly intriguing on his first run because he spends practically all of his “face time” changing tactics. He tries to tell Harry that his parents were cowards, when Harry doesn’t believe him he immediately admits that they had both been very brave and insists Harry honor their sacrifice by handing over the Stone to stay alive. When that goes nowhere, he moves straight to the order to kill. But the fact that he tries to go the easy route first is a pretty interesting move.
So here’s a question: What had Dumbledore exactly intended here? I think Harry is right, that Albus was deliberately giving him clues to help him obtain the Stone, giving him the cloak and then giving it back again, but I have a hard time believing that his plan was “let the kid go face down Voldemort and hope he survives.” If anything, his reactions according to others (Ron and Hermione state that when they encounter him, Dumbledore basically realizes that Harry has gone head to head with Voldemort and rushes off to rescue him) indicate the opposite. My assumption here is that he was sort of intending Harry as a last line of defense, meaning that if Harry knew the Stone was going to be taken, he’d rush down to take it ahead of Quirrell, not get there immediately after him and have a showdown. Of course, I’m sure he was curious to know what would happen if Harry and Voldemort came into direct contact, and probably had his suspicions as such, but it’s safe to say he didn’t want Harry in quite so much danger.
Another interesting tidbit I’d forgotten—when Harry asks Dumbledore about Snape’s hatred for him, Dumbledore talks only of the rivalry Snape and James had going. He then tells Harry that the reason why Snape could never forgive his father was for saving his life. Obviously, Dumbledore was never going to betray Severus by coming right out and telling Harry that Snape was in love with his mother, but this specific divulgence is an interesting choice. It suggests that Dumbledore himself finds that particular incident to be one of the most important between James and Severus, which I think gets lost on the side of the road once everyone finds out about Snape’s feelings for Lily.
It contains the suggestion that as much as Snape hated James and loved Lily, one of the worst possible things James Potter could have done was to remind Snape that he was a decent man at his core. That above all, in Albus Dumbledore’s eyes, could not be forgiven. Though it seems the least that anyone could have done in that situation, I don’t think Snape would have pulled James out of a line of fire. And it makes me curious if somewhere in there, that was the moment that made Snape wonder—however secretly—whether James could somehow be worthy of Lily. No wonder it makes him so furious.
That photo album of Harry’s parents. Gets you every time. Ugh, best present ever, Hagrid. All the hugs for you, Hagrid.
Since we were all talking about grades in the last reread, I do feel the need to point out that Harry and Ron both pass with “good marks” in their first year. Not the best, like Hermione, but not middle-of-the-road either.
And then we have the awarding of the House Cup. I’ve noticed that this rubs some fans the wrong way, Dumbledore simply awarding all the points at the last minute and pulling the rug out from under Slytherin. I’d be more inclined to agree if Slytherin hadn’t won the Cup the past six years. What’s the big deal? McGonagall pulled most of those points off them in the first place (in what I still maintain was a gross overreaction to the situation at hand), and Dumbledore’s not allowed to tack them back on for those kids keeping evil from returning to the world for another year? It’s kind of the least he could do, seeing as they’re not likely to ask for a reward on their own.
And I maintain that making it Neville’s personal victory by giving out his points last it such an important moment in building the kid’s character. So whatever. Dumbledore wins this round.
The book does end pretty abruptly, and on a funny note. Which is so sweet until you recall that Harry’s summer does not end up going so great, at least to start.
Final Thoughts
This book goes by so quickly! And though it is entirely enjoyable, I have to say—it’s so fortunate that Rowling changed the style. If they’d all been these cute little mystery books, they’d have been too thin on the ground to demand the adoration they ended up garnering. We needed more world building, more intrigue. I’d take the most massive, messy Potter book over the short and sweet ones any day. That’s why we come back to it.
We’ll get to more of that as we get further along in the series. But for now, it was exciting to remember what grabbed me on this first outing, what made me think that I needed that next book immediately.
Before we get to Chamber of Secrets, I will be spending a post on the first movie! So we’ve got that to look forward too, and then it’s all Gilderoy all the time. (THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE TITLE OF THE BOOK.)
Emmet Asher-Perrin just thinks it’s really important that Draco gets smacked down his first year by not winning the Cup. You can bug her on Twitter and read more of her work here and elsewhere.
Amazing reread! Good luck with book 2 Emily, I have seen a lot of posts of you recently around Tor, all good, principally the Amazing Spiderman ones and this read I catched from the first day! You are interesting to read!
Woohoo!!!
I am one of those that it rubbed the wrong way a bit (although not enough to make me a hater) – and in fact, part of what irritates me is that I can’t help but think of all the graduating Slytherins who were excited that they won the Cup every year they were at Hogwarts and then BAM, nope, they didn’t. Even though I also agree with you that McGonagall probably shouldn’t have taken that many points away in the first place…
Oh, James. I am willing to admit that James is a good guy deep down, and would have matured given the time (if he hadn’t already). Sirius though…ugh (we also get a twist on ‘James saving Snape’s life’ later on when we realize WHY Snape’s life was in danger).
I have to admit, the more I think about it, the less sense I can make of Dumbledore’s plan – but I like your theory that the idea was for Harry to get their first. Otherwise, it’s a huge liability – the Stone would have been inaccessible if not for Harry showing up. I still think if you think about it too hard it falls apart a bit though – I know JK Rowling had a lot of things meticulously plotted out (as seen by many of the foreshadowings in this book) so I wonder what her take on the guarding of the Stone was, and how much of Dumbledore’s characterization/history was already decided…or if at this point she was just writing a fun mystery with age appropriate tasks. Maybe Dumbledore was just trying to lure Voldemore out.
I’m fine with hugs, but I’ll take a good funny dance over a hug any day. Preferably involving a cane and top hat.
Thanks for bringing me back to this series, Emily, it is such a pleasure!
I did feel that the ending may have been a bit abrupt, but I still enjoyed it. VOLDEMORT WAS IN QUIRREL’S SKULL OMG. Then Harry faints and wakes up in the hospital (again). I think it works that Voldy just appears in his weakened form but we don’t get too much time with him. Let him remain an enigma for a while longer.
I actually really enjoyed the Philosopher’s Stone. Yes, the series gets more complex as the books progress, but then again Harry is older then. I think the reading level for the books is loosely related to the ages of the characters. So even though there is a death in this book, it’s glossed over and dead Quirrel was basically just a cartoonish villain. By Harry’s fourth and fifth years, he’s older and his readers are older, and the death and danger is more palpable. Not to mention the intergender relations…
I had never thought too much about Quirrell’s name, and never made the connection the Roman gods. The Janus connection is especially apropos, since Janus not only has 2 faces, but is the god of doorways (Fluffy’s locked door, the trap door past him, the flaming potions door), beginnings (first book, firt year at Hogwarts, first failed DADA teacher) and endings (end of the first year and the book).
It’s been great, can’t wait till next week!
Only 11 years old and already Harry’s out there killing grown men. In self-defense, sure, but that’s gotta leave a mark.
Yeah, the plotting in this book doesn’t lend itself to deep investigation. Still a fun read.
I have no problem with Gryffindor getting a last minute win over Slytherin, its an old story and frankly for defeating a Voldemort (again) Harry pretty much deserves infinity+1 points in perpeutity. Just, the way Dumbles did it is just as bad as the way Snape treats Gryffindors. I suppose that could be Dumbledore’s way of balancing Snape out (I think Rowling said that Dumbledore let Snape be a terror and law unto himself was to teach Gryffindors that life could be capricious — I don’t really buy that, but…–) and his acting that way is just teaching Slytherins the same lesson, but I still think that just makes Dumbledore at least as bad as Snape at teaching and the Big Good ought to be better.
As to what Dumbledore’s plan for Harry was, my theory is that Dumbledore did not think Quirrel-mort was a threat at all. Not in the slightest, not one itsy-bitsy bit. He thought he’d got his number, and had him boxed in, so he’d make a good “training exercise” for Harry. Dumbledore could watch over Harry and get Harry’s measure, and if Harry came up short, he probably planned to swoop in. And of course, Quirrel-mort wrongfooted him with that call out to the Ministry. It does fit with later revelations of Dumbledore’s character, especially since it is pretty much how he got himself killed with that cursed ring (yes, Snape killed Dumbledore — spoilers– or at least gave the final blow, but Albus was a dead man walking as soon as he put the ring on). Dumbledore gives himself too much credit and his enemies too little, it got him killed in the end and this time -my theory- he almost got Harry killed right outt he gate.
I’ve always liked how it turns out Voldemort was (mostly) telling the truth with the “They died begging me for mercy” line. Which Harry, of course, refuses to accept.
I’ve (sort of) re-read this three times in the last month (read aloud to son, then he listened to the audiobook twice, mostly while I was in the next room and could hear), and I don’t recall any mention that Dumbledore has a clue that Voldemort is riding around in Quirrel’s body. Combine that with the fact Dumbledore does know Harry is well-protected against dark magic, and the whole thing seems much more reasonable, IMO.
The only thing that’s ever bothered me about Dumbledore’s meting out of last minute points is that he claims Neville’s actions were just as brave as those of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but awards him a fraction of the points he gave them–which pretty clearly indicates he doesn’t actually believe what he just said. If he’d merely said “it takes bravery” rather than “it takes just as much bravery,” I wouldn’t have had a problem with it, but praising Neville that highly in front of the school and then immediately undercutting his own words is both patronizing to Neville and a clear public statement that Dumbledore’s words are just excuses to make the points come out to favor Gryffindor.
Dumbledore may be a great wizard, but I really question his judgment as an educator…
Lovely re-read, thank you!
If I might make a suggestion….including the 3 companion books (Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them, Quidditch Through the Ages, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard) would be wonderful :) I was going to suggest you include the movies too, but you’re way ahead of me there.
Looking forward to the rest of the journey!
Great beginning EAP.
The more I read of these recaps, the more I came to realise just what a clever writer JKR was, functionally. Of course the level of writing in the first step of this journey cannot be said to reflect Sound Total Internal Logic Levels, but still…
… I think it did something better. It opened kids’ eyes to wonder, while removing the film of life experience from adults’ eyes, so they can remember what wonder felt like.
I don’t have kids myself, so I can’t claim to have seen the wonder spark to life in realtime. But I do appreciate, through nieces & nephews and friends’ kids all, as well as my own refreshed memories, just how exciting a feeling it is to encounter when reading & sharing those reflections with others after the fact.
Lastly, I don’t know about y’all, but I was a big fan of ‘secret quests’ growing up. More specifically, those that involved an objectively illogical situation of ‘the young hero’ being put in a position of real danger, by someone nominally better suited to doing it themselves.
To me, such a setup, instead of seeming unrealistic, fired emulatory synapses within, making the read all the more enjoyable. A figure of probity and respect trusting one’s ‘young hero’ surrogate enough to rely on them to complete said secret quest.
To be given rope, that wasn’t a noose, but a security harness, and by an authority figure you trusted, who in turn trusted you. Adventurous kids’ dreams are made of this … Who am I to disagree?
JKR certainly didn’t and thus harvested such potential with effective emotion, without allowing the wonder she was cultivating to fall prey to more mundane concerns of logic and consistency.
The ride is only just beginning. I look forward to watching everyone involved in the story and with the book, continue to grow.
grl
Initially, I wasn’t at all bothered by Dumbledore pulling the rug out from under Slytherin with all those last minute points. It felt like a bit of just comeuppance and a righting of all those points that had been taken away from the house unfairly. Plus the big boost to Neville, of course. Coming at it from a mor outside perspective, it does feel rather like cheating and seems unfair. I can’t really decide one way or the other.
I don’t really have a guess as to what Dumbledore’s endgame was supposed to be here. The mirror seems to have been pretty darn secure. Quirrel couldn’t get past his dream of handing the stone to Voldemort. Voldemort might have gotten it if he’d looked, but then again he might have been sidetracked by seeing himself as living forever. If he could stand to look in the mirror at all in his present state. If the stone had been in Harry’s possession before V&Q arrived, one could hope that Harry’s protections would extend to the stone, but that seems like taking a chance on Dumbledore’s part.
Love this book so much…even if JKR had stopped here I think it would have been a classic…. definitely a children’s classic but still a classic. Love the world she created, fun, whimsical, yet dark at the same time. It is a book I can read in a day and it just takes you to a whole other world. I love the last puzzle. someone last week wondered what would have happened if Harry hadnt shown up, would Quirrell/Voldemort just be trapped there until Dumbldore collected them?? that is a very interesting thought.
now that the series is long over, I wonder about the end of this first book. Did Quirrell/Voldemort ever reveal himself to Snape? Does Voldemort remember Snape not helping Quirell when he comes back in book 4 and are there any reprecussions that we never really find out about. It is a little sad that Quirrell could just die/dissapear at the end of the book and no one really misses him (someone must have offscreen I hope). Also, I had never heard that he was the muggle studies teacher prior to DADA posting… Dumbledore must have been suspicious of him from the very start… so I am surprised Dumbledore never detects the presense of Voldemort in Hogwarts…. you would think he would have been looking out for that somehow.
I love one of the last lines of the book about Nicholas Flamel who has now chosen to die instead of live forever… Dumbledore says that Death is but the next adventure… great sentiment I thought
Yes, this book was lighter than the others and that’s part of JKR”s genius. The outrageous view of the Dursleys, the whacky funride at Gringotts, the emphasis on the delucious foid, the Big Bad that turns out to be a Scary Face on the Back of Someone’s Head—all part of a story seen through the eyes of an 11 year old.
In later books we see through Harry’s more mature eyes and see the Dursleys as real people, yhe food as product of hard work, abd a bad guy who’s much worse than someone who’s scary because of what he looks like.
If the earlier books were as dark and heavy as the later ones, they would a) lose their charm b) detract from the building tension across the seven books and c) remive the “drawing in” that brought in kids from the beginning whose understanding and prrspective matured along with the book’s viewpoint.
And here’s the chapter, all the way back in the first book, that hints at the Deluminator’s true powers.
Dumbledore says, that when he arrived at the Ministry, he knew he was needed back at Hogwarts. Why? Because last chapter, Harry said his name to Hermione, “Go to the Owlery, send a letter to Dumbledore at the Ministry”
When Dumbldore hears his name, said in Harry’s voice, he knows he must go back.
@7, That’s addressed in DH, in Snape’s memory, Dumbledore told him to keep an eye on Quirrell. So they knew he was up to something, whether that something was Voldemort, IDK.
@12, When Bellatrix confronts Snape in HBP, he says Voldemort did not reveal himself, so he only saw unworthy Quirrell trying to reach the stone. Whether he was lying, and he and Dumbledore knew for sure, we don’t know.
Regarding the House Cup: I think the awarding of points itself was fair, but the big last minute reveal at the Leaving Feast was, while suitably dramatic from a narrative perspective, a cruel thing to do to the Slytherins from a real world context. Sure, the House Cup might not be a “big deal” outside of the world of Hogwarts, but it matters to those kids. Losing the Cup is one thing; thinking that you’ve won until suddenly your victory feast isn’t and half the school body is cheering not because they won but specifically because you lost would be tremendously disheartening.
@14 Good catch! I’d assumed that Dumbledore realized the message was a dupe when he arrived at the Ministry and no one was expecting him, but that works even better.
@8, You could look at it that way, or you could look at it that while Harry, Ron and Hermione’s actions gave them enough points to tie slytherin they wouldn’t have won the house cup if it wasn’t for Neville. Sure he didn’t get as many points, but considering that the points are totalled to win the House Cup, does it really matter how many he got once he secured the win?
As I understood it, Dumbeldore didn’t expect Harry to go anywhere near the Stone. Quirrell was never intended to be able to get it out of the mirror, and Harry’s interference very nearly resulted in disaster. He left for the ministry to bait the trap, Quirrell was supposed to end up trapped in the room with the mirror, but Harry screwed everything up by interfering, and got out okay by sheer luck.
@17, It does if the point is that what he did was equally worthy, which is what Dumbledore claimed. I’m sure Neville didn’t care, but there’s no way the Slytherins didn’t notice the discrepancy in word and deed. It’s bad enough to play favorites to reach a predetermined conclusion, it’s even worse to be blatant about it. But as always, YMMV. *shrugs*
@18 – It’s odd though that so many of the guarding enchantments seemed to be so specifically tailored to Harry and his friends (chess, flying, logic, etc).
Then again, one has to wonder how far in advance all these little tests were set up.
Remember that the first shorter books are what gained JKR her initial readership and reputation. The publishing world was agog at this story that actually got young people to (gasp) READ.
I sometimes think of them as training wheel books, growing (at first) with the initial readers. I don’t know if it still works, with the movies out and completed.
They would be tailored to lots of people. Chess and flying are very widespread wizard pastimes. The common thread is that they’re all time consuming, to slow an intruder down. You need to think through the puzzle, spend time with the chess match, and chase the key down. Fluffy is the scary first line of defence, so if someone stumbles across the first defence, they will think better of going further.Devil’s snare is to take advanatge of the disorientation of the fall. The Big Troll isn’t tailored to the crew, they only got lucky with the first one.
I agree with Random22 @5. Dumbledore is too arrogant and he accidentally almost got Harry killed.
Thanks for the re-read Emily. I’m looking forward to the movie post
That’s “rite of passage” and “could not bear“.
I’ve been enjoying these, thanks.
I have to say in defense of monologuing: I was once the only person in on a big secret (my now-brother-in-law’s planned proposal to my sister), and after the proposal was all over, my brother-and-law and I legitimately couldn’t shut up about how clever we had been about this whole thing. It made me sympathize with monologuing villains in a way I never have before: Telling people how smart you are is THE BEST — and it’s not like Quirrell would have seen Harry as much of a threat. Kid’s eleven.
Excellent end to the first book. I feel that the series (like Narnia) starts young and ends with them getting older and dealing with the true horror of what Voldemart really wanted to spring on the world of both witches and muggles.
I have been lurking along this reread since day 1 but this is my first post. I just had to say Emily, you’ve done a wonderful job recapping this book and I can’t wait to get into the later tomes (as well as your thoughts on the movies).
I still very much enjoy reading this book even now in my late twenties despite the youthful feel to it. It is full of whimsy and nostalgia for me and rereading HP always brings back dozens of my favorite memories. I started reading HP when I was twelve so I was in that sweet spot of having Harry and company grow up with me. Rereading the series feels like catching up with old friends and I look foward to the rest of the series on TOR.
“… I don’t recall any mention that Dumbledore has a clue that Voldemort is riding around in Quirrel’s body. Combine that with the fact Dumbledore does know Harry is well-protected against dark magic, and the whole thing seems much more reasonable, IMO.”
Agreed. My impression (corroborated by #15 above re: Snape talking to Bellatrix) has always been that Dumbledore was suspicious that Quirrel was doing something Evil and quite likely connected with trying to help Voldemort to return. But he didn’t know Voldemort was actually THERE inside Quirrel. At this point, he had no evidence that Voldie had even survived at all — only suspicions. Certainly nobody else in the wizarding world believed that any remnants of Voldemort existed anywhere.
So I do think it’s likely that Dumbledore set this up as ‘training’ for Harry. We know from later on that he believed all along that Harry was destined to do battle with a resurrected Voldemort and likely would not survive, because of the prophecy. Dumbles knew about the magical protection that Harry had too And since he was suspicious of Quirrel all along, he probably planned to return quickly (after ‘baiting the trap’ by leaving) all along.
Rather than being surprised that Harry had interfered and almost ruined everything and only barely managed to survive — I suspect DD was pleased and proud that Harry had followed the clues and got that far. So his own beliefs about Harry’s destiny were strengthened.
DD’s only surprise was that it was indeed real Voldy. So his long-term plans for dealing with a potential return had to be accelerated. I think that at this point, he still wasn’t fully aware of how imminent the return was – he thought Voldy still too weak to be any real threat. Only after the events of the 2nd book does he start to realize he’s got to get a move on, and starts to investigate the idea of the horcruxes etc etc.
Harry was destined to do battle with a resurrected Voldemort and likely would not survive,
Hence, the look of triumph, when Voldemort took Harry’s blood, thus creating the means for Harry to survive.
The unfairness or otherwise of Dumbledore’s awarding points to Griffindor depends on how much of what happened had already been revealed to the school as a whole. Just saying Harry & co had been brave would not be enough without details which I doubt were known.
Regrding the awarding of house points at the leaving feast, I think there are several justifications for this. First, its a suitably dramatic follow up to the events in front of the Mirror of Erised. Second, it would be a shame to award those points while Harry was in the hospital wing, unconcious. Third, it not only counters McGonagalls rather excessive deductions over the “dragon” affair, but also serves to counteract Snapes blatant favoratism of his own house, and constant point taking from everyone else. Finally, with regards to the poor disappointed Slytherines, in much of the series their house to shown to be made up of cheats, biggots and bullies, so I find it hard to have much sympathy for them. ;-)
I also agree that the awarding of the final, winning points to Neville was a great contribution to his character growth. I just wish JKR had spent as much time developing Neville in books 2-6 as she did in this and (eventually) the last books.
I disagree that Neville isn’t developed. It’s subtle, but it’s there. From asking Ginny Weasely to the Yule Ball, to his dedication to his training, Neville’s steadfast spirit is shown through all the books.
I love the series more than I love the good stuff… Harry and Ginny getting married in the end of Deathly Hallows.. just perfect. I love it!
I know I am late to this party, but I have two comment/ questions about this book: First question: has anyone considered that the boa that Harry frees from the zoo in chapter 2 gets turned into Nagini? We are never told if it is amale snake or a female snake (if I recall correctly) – and it is a little creey to think that Harry’s gift of freedom is then corrupted by Voldemort.
Second question: What would have happened if Harry had not shown up at the Mirror of Erised just then? Quirell wasn’t able to get the Stone out of the Mirror and was considering breaking it – which probably would have caused the Stone to be lost forever. Harry’s appearance was actually a terrible thing because *he* was able to get the Stone out of the Mirror – and, really, could Dumbledore have anticipated that Voldemort could have been foiled by an eleven year-old? If Dumbledore had planned for Harry to be able to acquire the Stone he was being totally reckless.
Just my two cents, but I’d be curious to see what anyone else thinks. (Boy, I wish I had found this site earlier!)
Your first question is a bit creepy, but if I recall, Nagini is a venomous snake, and boas are not. So, unless Voldemort also transformed the other snake in some way, the boa is safe (or, most likely, back at the zoo. Or hey, maybe he made it, some how. Snakes on a plane?)
As for your second question, I have no answer, as it is one of those plot holes one can’t think too hard about, and even if you want to take the view that Dumbledor set all this up on purpose as some kind of test/training/preparation for Harry..it’s a little bit of a stretch. Or maybe he just didn’t think it would be Voldemort himself that would be down there…I can’t recall if he knows that.
(LOL – I just scrolled up to read the comments to see if anybody else had insight, and one of the first comments is from me basically raising the same question/objection).
Anyway, hope you catch up quickly and can join in real time!
This reread is fantastic, it echoes so many of my own thoughts while I’m rereading. I have to say though, I don’t think Dumbledore expected any of what happened. It’s been a while but I feel like he might have known Harry was sneaking out, he might have known Harry was up to something, but I just don’t think he thought for a moment Harry was going to get himself in that much danger. Actually the stone was perfectly well-protected as it was. Harry put the stone at greater risk. I don’t really see the line of thinking that this was some kind of test. Also I believe Dumbledore was well aware that Voldemort was still alive at this point. Dumbledore already knew Voldemort had expressed interest in horcruxes and by the end of the next book he already knew one was destroyed.
Thanks for these!
” I’d take the most massive, messy Potter book over the short and sweet ones ” – my take as well.
And about Neville’s points being less despite Dumbledore’s statement that it was just as much courage, well the points might be not only for courage but surely also for results, as they saved the day, and Neville had good intentions but was actually standing in their way saving that day, so maybe that might make it clear?
Beardmonger @@@@@ 6 – While it may be construed that Lily died begging for mercy, make no mistake. The mercy she was begging was intended for Harry, not herself (Not Harry, take me! – in fact, Voldemort had intended to let Lily live as a favor to Snape, and her making herself into a human shield is the reason she died). James on the other hand, did no such thing. He stood up to Voldemort (Lily, he’s here. Take Harry and run. I’ll hold him off.). (Granted, these are paraphrased, but the general sentiment is the same. We’re in the middle of reading Prisoner of Azkaban to our kids, and we’re dealing with the dementor-induced flashbacks). I think it’s far more accurate to concur with Voldemort’s second statement, that they both died bravely.
Indeed, that each one was brave but in subtly different mental/emotional places at the moment of death—James in a more generic hold-the-line mode, cut down before he could think about his actions any more deeply; Lilly more deliberate, intentionally giving up her life to benefit Harry—is likely something to note, as it can help make sense of what happens during the final three chapters of DH. Some ways of dying enable more powerful magic than others.