Friday, June 24, 2011

The Deathly Hallows Discussion: Chapters 16-20

The chapters from Godric's Hollow open at the shock, of Ron leaving, still lingering in the atmosphere. Did he really leave? Or is he coming back? They had to accept that he's gone and go on in their quest without him. Heromine was devastated, she often cried. She and Harry barely spoke and avoided each other. Harry didn't know how to console her when he was so mad at Ron.

Both Harry and Hermione agree to go to Godric's Hollow; a village where Bathilda Bagshot lives and where both Harry's parents' graves lay. It seemed the right thing to do, they need to do something, and even though this plan was very risky they couldn't leave it and had to pursue it. They went there thinking that Dumbledore might have entrusted Bathilda with the sword of Gryffindor. They arrive at the village, take off their invisibilty cloak and go to the graveyard. They find the graves of Dumbledore's mother and sister. Then, the eye sign pops up again at one of the graves. Harry isn't interested, he wants to see his parents' graves. Heromine finds them, and uses magic to place a planet on their graves.

They then go walking in the village, find the Potter residence at a wretched state. They then realize that it was a sort of monument, and people had written things for Harry magically there. They gave Harry a surge of hope. Then they saw an old lady looking their way. They realize it must be Bathilda, she gestures that they follow her and they do. They get into their house, try talking to her but she doesn't respond. She points at him meaning she wants a word with him upstairs. Harry doesn't let Heromine come.



She points at something while they're upstairs and then all hell breaks loose. Harry feels Voldemort's joy at finding Harry, the snake comes out of Bathilda's neck and attacks him. Heromine comes to his aid, and after some trouble they both disapparate. Harry remains unconcious for a few hours, wakes up to find out that his wand was broken into two pieces and would never be the same again. Heromine got a copy of Rita Skeeter's book, they learn more about Grinelwald and his relationship with Dumbledore. This angers Harry as he learns more about Dumbledore's wishes of ruling over the muggles. Heromine tries to explain that he was young and that people changed. Harry says they're 17 and they're trying to stand again the death eaters.

He's angry, yet doesn't blame Heromine as it wasn't her fault and they got out safe. One day he's keeping watch when a silver light appears in front of Harry, it was moving silently in the trees. He held Hermione's wand and raised it in preparation of what happened. The bright silver light shaped into a doe. The creature moved in front of Harry, and he stood there watching it and gazing at it, then after a few moments, the creature walked away from him. Harry called for him to come back and then he started following it. It stopped for a moment and then vanished. This made Harry afraid, he thought of the creature's presence as a sign of safety.

Harry had the lumos potion to lighten up the place, suddenly something gleamed in the wand's light, he turned to find the lake with its ice gleaming in the dark, he looked closer, then he noticed that at the bottom of the lake lay the sword of Gryffindor.

He tried to summon the sword with Hermione's wand, but it didn't move. So he knew there was only one way to get the sword, he started taking off his clothes. The water was freezing but he forced himself to dive, the water kept pulling him downwards, he felt suffocating and drowning. Suddenly someone pulled him out. It was Ron!

Ron has just saved Harry's life, with all the confusion Harry was in, he still felt grateful to Ron. Ron started explaining how he's been trying to find them for some time, and only managed to find them now. He went back home but he couldn't stay there knowing Harry and Hermione were on their own.

Harry is happy Ron is back, and realizes Ron must be the one who destroys the locket because he was the one who got the sword out. This was something he learned from Dumbledore. Harry opens the locket, and Ron is facing a Riddle-Harry and a Riddle-Heromine trying to make him lose confidence in everything. Ron remains standing for quite sometime, baffled. However, he reacts and stabs the locket. Harry and Ron go back to the tent. They wake up Heromine, who would have attacked Ron if Harry hadn't intervened. She blames him, and is very angry. They explain to her what happened, how they destroyed the locket. They wonder whose patronus was it.

Heromine doesn't forgive Ron, even though he tells them he hasn't gone home, was attacked, and has been trying to get back to them ever since he left. He explains how the deluminator helped him, how he heard Heromine say his name then a light got into him and he knew where he had to go. Harry is ecstatic that Ron is back, they talk to each other both explaining what they went through.

Heromine tells them they need to visit Lovegood to get to the bottom of the eye sign. Ron agrees with Heromine because he wants to be in her good graces again, but Harry isn't so sure. Yet he is overruled and they leave. They easily find the Lovegood residence. Mr. lovegood opens, he's surprised they're there asking for help. The trio think him a hypocrite since the Quibbler supports Harry openly and he's not so willing to help them. They ask about Luna and he goes to find her, and when he comes back he tells them he's ready to help.

1- At Godric's Hollow, Heromine takes a copy of Skeeter's book about Dumbledore revealing the relationship he had with Grindelwald. Did this change your thoughts about him? Do you agree with Harry who thinks Dumbledore's young age at that time doesn't justify his ideas? Or do you agree with Heromine, that people change?

2- Harry lost his wand at Godric's Hollow. He felt upset, his wand was special. How do you think this will affect where the story is going? Was Harry's wand special, or was it as powerful as its master?

3- Whose patronus was it, the doe? Do you think Dumbledore was behind it?

4- Why was Lovegood hesistant in helping Harry Potter though he was supporting him in his magazine?


Review and questions by Huda.

18 comments:

  1. 1- At Godric's Hollow, Heromine takes a copy of Skeeter's book about Dumbledore revealing the relationship he had with Grindelwald. Did this change your thoughts about him? Do you agree with Harry who thinks Dumbledore's young age at that time doesn't justify his ideas? Or do you agree with Heromine, that people change?
    I would really love to have a righteous image of Dumbledore, but this definitely makes you rethink this. I sort of agree with Harry, I think perhaps there's a lot to know more about Dumbledore but this is just suspicious. The letter he wrote to Grindelwald, it just speaks of a totally different Dumbledore. It's confusing.

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  2. nice lengthy review, its when got all mixed up and interesting,

    answering the first q , it didnt change my thoughts about dumbledore , at the end he couldnt be perfect xD and i agree with Hermione, people change , esp Dumbledore wasnt in the same situation as harry that makes him grow up faster and face death eaters as harry claimed

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  3. Good review Huda! You did a great job :)

    #1 I can't get Harry. He's just still too mad about everything that he's missing the large picture. Dumbledore changed, whatever he did of great accomplishment in the magical world ought to be enough, his past didn't matter. Hermione's right.

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  4. How happy were you that Ron came back?! I felt so happy, I mean I forgave him immediately after hearing all he's gone through and when Heromine was angry, it's like yeah he needs that but he feels guilty enough.
    So yay Ron!!! :D

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  5. Question: These words were engraved on Harry's parents headstone "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" What do you think this means?

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  6. Oh yeah these struck a cord with me, I think it means as Heromine explained it, but it's a bit gloomy and scary like why would that line be on their graves?

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  7. ^ Really haunting right? I think it means what Hermione said, that only love lives beyond death. That it doesn't matter if death tore a family apart, the love they had for each other will live in the hearts of their beloved still.

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  8. Yeah it has a nice meaning but still :P

    The bathilda scene was so scary, she's creepy and she didn't talk. And her house! The smell and its state, god Rowling knows how to make you creeped out!

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  9. Noor: I couldn't believe it when Ron went so his coming back was a shock as well.

    #2 Harry's wand is special, there's no doubt about that seeing as how it helped him a lot in his previous encounters with Voldemort as it also has the twin core power.

    Question: What did you think of Harry's old house? Did it deserve to be such a monument that others visit to write on the memorial wooden-sign? And why wasn't it rebuilt?

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  10. Sorry for late entry, i'll read up and post... We had cat issues at home, they kinda pooped all over the kitchen!

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  11. 1- At Godric's Hollow, Heromine takes a copy of Skeeter's book about Dumbledore revealing the relationship he had with Grindelwald. Did this change your thoughts about him? Do you agree with Harry who thinks Dumbledore's young age at that time doesn't justify his ideas? Or do you agree with Heromine, that people change?

    I agree with Hermione that people change in the course of their lives.. Dumbledore as we know did a lot of things since he was 17 years old that benefit the muggle and wizarding world.

    2- Harry lost his wand at Godric's Hollow. He felt upset, his wand was special. How do you think this will affect where the story is going? Was Harry's wand special, or was it as powerful as its master?

    It is a big event because now the bond that Harry's wand and Voldemort's wand shares is no longer there. Harry's wand was special but I think that it's the beholder that is what makes the wand special.

    3- Whose patronus was it, the doe? Do you think Dumbledore was behind it?

    No i do not believe Dumbledore is behind it.

    4- Why was Lovegood hesistant in helping Harry Potter though he was supporting him in his magazine?

    Because at this time no matter how brave a person wants to be it is hard; they know that their families will pay the price...

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  12. 1- We all know how Dumbledore is before we read all these new facts about him, Harry and Heromine also had different thoughts about him, but with this new information obviously they start to think otherwise. I think that they should appreciate how far Dumbledore has led them and try not to dwell too much on what they read...

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  13. Redirection: Take your time.

    Here are my questions:

    (a) How did the fake Bathilda know that Harry and Hermione were visiting Godric's Hollow? And where do you think is the real Bathilda? Or more accurately, what happened to her?

    (b) Why Did Harry trust her so much that he blindly followed her? Was it a wise decision or did he just do it for the sake of getting more clues?

    (c)How hard was it for Harry to relive the moment his parents died and more intensely this time for he was inside the mind of the murderer.

    (d)What could have "For The Greater Good" meant? And do you think Dumbeldore was actually behind Grindelwald's actions?

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  14. 2- Him losing the wand could be problematic, we all know how long it took him to find that specific wand and we also know how his and Voldemort's wands are the same... So this could give him a slight disadvantage in the fights to come!

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  15. 2- yeah I think Harry's wand was special or else it wudnt have made a connection with Voldemort's and got him trying to figure out the secret. I don't know how will Harry be able to protect himself as he should with this new wand!

    I think it was actually a good thing that they turned the Potter house into a monument, reminding people of what happened and what Voldemort is capable of. Plus the messages were really nice.

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  16. 3- This really has me intrigued on who actually sent it! I don't really know how this got here but the world is full of magic!

    Answering Kittens questions:

    a) Well we know how smart Voldemort is, he's been planning things really well and he's got the Ministry under him... He must have anticipated this somehow and set the trap! As far as where the real one is... I don't have any clues.

    b) I mean at this point, Harry's judgement isn't going to be that great, he wants answers and he wants all the information he could get... So maybe that led him to following her.

    c) Harry has been through a lot, witnessed the deaths of very close friends as well, seeing his parents murder again must have been very horrible after all he's been through so I feel bad for him.

    d) I'm not sure how to answer this...

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  17. Very good questions kitten!
    (A) How did the fake Bathilda know that Harry and Hermione were visiting Godric's Hollow? And where do you think is the real Bathilda? Or more accurately, what happened to her?
    I have no idea how she knew they were there. It was defo weird and unsettling. I think Voldemort killed her, what do you think?

    (b) Why Did Harry trust her so much that he blindly followed her? Was it a wise decision or did he just do it for the sake of getting more clues?
    I thought Harry should have been less trusting I mean I know she's an old crazy woman but still a lota weird vibes came from her but I think they were desparate for something.

    (c)How hard was it for Harry to relive the moment his parents died and more intensely this time for he was inside the mind of the murderer.
    God it must have been so hard, how lightly Voldemort thought of the matter but seeing his parents die so easily at his hands!

    (d)What could have "For The Greater Good" meant? And do you think Dumbeldore was actually behind Grindelwald's actions?
    I think we should wait and see what other parts of Dumbledore's history Rowling is willing to share to find out.

    Question: What did u think when Ron told them that the name Voldemort is now enchanted and shudnt be used? I was shocked, I thought Ron a chicken not wanting to use the name but there was sense in him!

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  18. 3- Whose patronus was it, the doe? Do you think Dumbledore was behind it?
    I think as redirection said, it's a magical world but I defo think Dumbledore had a hand in it.

    4- Why was Lovegood hesistant in helping Harry Potter though he was supporting him in his magazine?
    He's probably scared seeing how death eaters are gaining power and what would happen to him and Luna but he should stick to what he writes in the Quibbler! I mean they need every kind of support they can get. The trio I mean.

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