Fifth book notes, chapters thirty-one to the END
Sigh. I have been so lazy about this, like a lot of other things in my life.
Harry, in the middle of his last exam, on History, has his last fateful vision. Alas, Harry. Woe and angst.
Harry ran first to find McGonagall, but she had been moved to St. Mungo's after the attacks from defending Hagrid, then to Ron and Hermione. As the good people at a_chapter_a_day said, his next step was to "override any attempts at rational thought or common sense on their parts, and start planning."
Hermione is quite frightened by Harry's fervor and anger in this scene. He begins to climb into caps-lock mode, but is interrupted, to his further frustration, by Ginny and Luna. Not Neville yet.
'You're being rather rude, you know,' said Luna serenely.
Harry swore and turned away. The very last thing he wanted now was a conversation with Luna Lovegood.
Yes, but still, Harry...
Even in her alarmed and nervous state, Hermione rises to the occasion and suggests plans to reassure Harry.
The forthcoming scene between Severus and Umbridge is one of my favorites of Severus.
'Ah, Professor Snape,' said Umbridge, smiling widely and standing up again. 'Yes, I would like another bottle of Veritaserum, as quick as you can, please.'
'You took my last bottle to interrogate Potter,' he said, surveying her coolly through his greasy curtains of black hair. 'Surely you did not use it all? I told you that three drops would be sufficient.'
Umbridge flushed.
'You can make some more, can't you?' she said, her voice becoming more sweetly girlish as it always did when she was furious.
'Certainly,' said Snape, his lip curling. 'It takes a full moon-cycle to mature, so I should have it ready for you in around a month.'
...
'You are on probation!' shrieked Professor Umbridge, and Snape looked back at her, his eyebrows slightly raised. 'You are being deliberately unhelpful! I expected better, Lucius Malfoy always speaks most highly of you! Now get out of my office!'
Snape gave her an ironic bow and turned to leave.
Bwahahaha.
I am always so exasperated with Harry when, after Severus leaves, Harry is "in a state of worse turmoil than before: Snape had been his very last hope." HARRY. What did you WANT him to say?
She seemed to be talking herself into something. She was shifting her weight nervously from foot to foot, staring at Harry, beating her wand against her empty palm and breathing heavily.
...
'What Cornelius doesn't know won't hurt him,' said Umbridge, who was now panting slightly as she pointed her wand at different parts of Harry's body in turn, apparently trying to decide where it would hurt most.
Ms. Rowling is awesome with images, isn't she?
Harry felt a strong urge to swing round and seize [Umbridge] by the throat, but resisted.
You know, it's always a possiblity (or at least wishful thinking) that some (most) of Harry's murderous feelings are part of what rubbed off from Voldemort of late.
You know, centaurs may be very intelligent and possibly sexy and things, but they can also be quite arrogant. Or maybe they are simply driven mad by rage upon being provoked.
Haha, I love Ron vs. the thestrals.
'Is it those mad horse things?' said Ron uncertainly, staring at a point slightly to the left of the Thestral Harry was patting. "Those ones you can't see unless you've watched someone snuff it?'
...
'Never again,' he said, struggling to his feet. He made as though to stride away from his Thestral, but, unable to see it, collided with its hindquarters and almost fell over again. 'Never, ever again… that was the worst -'
I'm v. interested by their first encounter with the veil. Harry's attracted to it - thinks there's an odd kind of beauty to it; Luna can hear the voices in it like Harry; both Ginny and Neville stare at it too, apparently entranced; Hermione's unnerved, scared and angry; Ron is apparently unaffected by it too, at least in the sense of not being fascinated - he and Hermione pull Ginny and Neville away.
So, we all know Harry, Luna, Neville, and Ginny have had unpleasant experiences, but what's the exact connection? What do they have in common? Ginny stands out because she hasn't seen death, unlike the other three.
I find the initial encounter with the Death Eaters interesting - always before, Harry's been alone at the crisis. It was Ron and Hermione's first time to be there with him, facing the Death Eaters, and of course Ginny, Neville, and Luna's too. Luna - I wonder in particular about her. Did she still look dreamy with a dozen masked Death Eaters pointing their wands at them, with Malfoy's threats and Bellatrix's mimicry? Harry, unfortunately for this question, stood at the head of all of them.
“The little baby woke up jwightened and fort what it dweamed was twoo,' said the woman in a horrible, mock baby voice. Harry felt Ron stir beside him.
Yes. More about that line later.
'Go on, then,' said Harry, raising his own wand to chest height. As he did so, the five wands of Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny and Luna rose on either side of him.
Wow. That caused a knot of guilt to start in Harry's stomach, about how he was leading his friends to his death, but I had a different reaction. Whatever they were thinking and feeling, this first time encountering evil and danger, all were true Gryffindors - or, in Luna's case, and Gryffindor enough in her. However afraid each of them were, they were ready to stand by Harry. And I wonder what they thought, as Harry bantered and laughed in Lucius Malfoy's face.
'You need more persuasion?' she said, her chest rising and falling rapidly. 'Very well - take the smallest one,' she ordered the Death Eaters beside her. 'Let him watch while we torture the little girl. I'll do it.'
Harry felt the others close in around Ginny; he stepped sideways so that he was right in front of her, the prophecy held up to his chest.
Moment of yay for Ginny!
Hermione gave a little moan in his ear.
Lol. Take that out of context, and what fun you get... There's actually a LOT of Harry/Hermione moments in these last chapters, but I'll talk more about that when we get to the biggest one of all.
Finally got some idea of what the hell a bell jar is.
I wonder if that Death Eater who fell into it, was ever healed.
For some reason, Dolohov - the one who cursed Hermione with the slashing movement and what looked like a purple flame - really impresses me, almost as much as Bellatrix.
Interesting - Ginny's ankle was broken, Ron was hit by that odd spell that apparently cut his IQ by three-fourths, and Luna managed to rescue them both and bring them to safety.
This furthers Maya's theory of how she is, in fact, a female version of Dumbledore.
'Honest, Harry, they're brains - look - Accio brain!'
The scene seemed momentarily frozen. Harry, Ginny and Neville and each of the Death Eaters turned in spite of themselves to watch the top of the tank as a brain burst from the green liquid like a leaping fish: for a moment it seemed suspended in midair, then it soared towards Ron, spinning as it came, and what looked like ribbons of moving images flew from it, unravelling like rolls of film-
Ha, that's interesting - even the Death Eaters stopped to watch.
For some reason I like this line of Ron's:
'Harry, look what's happen- no - no - I don't like it - no, stop - stop -'
It's awfully sad, but you know, not a single one of Neville's spells have their intended effect in the Department of Mysteries. He did it back in Umbridge's office, against Crabbe, but not when it really matters. Sigh.
'He's dot alone!' shouted a voice from above them. 'He's still god be!'
Harry's heart sank: Neville was scrambling down the stone benches towards them, Hermiones wand held fast in his trembling hand.
'Neville - no - go back to Ron -'
'STUBEFY!' Neville shouted again, pointing his wand at each Death Eater in turn. 'STUBEFY! STUBE-'
One of the largest Death Eaters seized Neville from behind, pinioning his arms to his sides. He struggled and kicked; several of the Death Eaters laughed.
...I'm sorry, but that was so pathetic.
The next bit where Bellatrix taunts and gives Neville a taste of Crucio, however - that's more touching. I wonder what'll be the repercussions of that.
Only one pair was still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light: he was laughing at her.
'Come on, you can do better than that!' he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.
The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest.
The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock.
Harry released Neville, though he was unaware of doing so. He was jumping down the steps again, pulling out his wand, as Dumbledore, too, turned towards the dais.
It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall: his body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backwards through the ragged veil hanging from the arch.
Harry saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his godfather's wasted, once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind, then fell back into place.
That whole scene right there...
No words. Just an icon.
Harry's attempt at Crucio shocked me more than anything else in the book, including Sirius's death. I wasn't expecting Sirius to die, but character death was something I knew was going to happen, something I knew Ms. Rowling was capable of and would deal with - Harry, attempting to do something that can in no way be used for good, stunned me. Ms. Rowling stunned me, in that scene.
`And he knows!' said Harry, with a mad laugh to match Bellatrix's own.
That too.
The statue of the witch ran at Bellatrix, who screamed and sent spells streaming uselessly off its chest, before it dived at her, pinning her to the floor.
Lol, that's a funny line. I can't help but imagine a football player.
`By which time I shall be gone, and you will be dead!' spat Voldemort. He sent another killing curse at Dumbledore but missed, instead hitting the security guard's desk, which burst into flame.
Interesting. The killing curse kills a human silently and (I believe) painlessly, but the effect on other objects...
I wonder what Dumbledore would like to have done to Voldemort. "Other ways of destroying a man...merely taking your life would not satisy me, I admit...."
Fawkes swooped down in front of Dumbledore, opened his beak wide and swallowed the jet of green light whole: he burst into flame and fell to the floor, small, wrinkled and flightless.
Fawkes died - as much as any phoenix can die. Interesting - I guess it was the way she did it, having him swallow the spell, that made it look different, and I didn't understand it in my first readings.
Sure it was over, sure Voldemort had decided to flee, Harry made to run out from behind his statue guard, but Dumbledore bellowed: `Stay where you are, Harry!'
For the first time, Dumbledore sounded frightened.
Hm. I guess it was because that before, Voldemort always reappeared instantly, in different places, but for the first time Dumbledore couldn't see him, but knew Voldemort hadn't retreated.
And, as it proved, he hadn't. In the next moment, he possessed Harry.
Then Harry's scar burst open and he knew he was dead: it was pain beyond imagining, pain past endurance
He was gone from the hall, he was locked in the coils of a creature with red eyes, so tightly bound that Harry did not know where his body ended and the creature's began: they were fused together, bound by pain, and there was no escape -
And when the creature spoke, it used Harry's mouth, so that in his agony he felt his jaw move….
Interesting. You know, studying this part, and remembering Ginny's experience, I have concurred that, to possess someone, there are certain steps you take so it's a smooth process, and for the one being possessed, something like Imperio. But in this scene with Harry, Voldemort skipped some of the middle steps - went directly from A to D, and therefore, the pain.
Dumbledore is about to tell how much he cares for Harry - I'd really, really like to see the scene of Harry being possessed from Dumbledore's point of view. I wonder how it happened. When Harry comes out of it, he sees the headless statue that was pinning him down had fallen, cracked - did Voldemort's force inside Harry crack it? I'm more inclined to think that than that Harry did something violent while possessed. I rather imagine it that he fell, suddenly, shuddering and twitching, his eyes rolled back, and Dumbledore ran to him, horrified...that his voice came out hoarse, unlike his own.
All right. Dumbledore vs. Fudge, once more. Let me put this Maya-style.
FUDGE: I...mimble...
DUMBLEDORE: I AM TIRED OF YOUR SHENANIGANS. SHUT UP AND COOPERATE.
Everything seemed to have repaired itself during the Headmaster's absence. The delicate silver instruments stood once more on the spindle-legged tables, puffing and whirring serenely.
As someone else in a_chapter_a_day said, "Which was good since Harry was about to break them all again."
`THEN - I - DON'T - WANT - TO - BE - HUMAN!' Harry roared, and he seized the delicate silver instrument from the spindlelegged table beside him and flung it across the room; it shattered into a hundred tiny pieces against the wall. Several of the pictures let out yells of anger and fright, and the portrait of Armando Dippet said, `Really!'
`I DON'T CARE!' Harry yelled at them, snatching up a lunascope and throwing it into the fireplace. `I'VE HAD ENOUGH, I'VE SEEN ENOUGH, I WANT OUT, I WANT IT TO END, I DON'T CARE ANY MORE -“
He seized the table on which the silver instrument had stood and threw that, too. It broke apart on the floor and the legs rolled in different directions.
That was the most tragic. My heart wrenched for him.
`Am I to understand,' said Phineas Nigellus slowly from Harry's left, `that my great-great-grandson - the last of the Blacks - is dead?'
`Yes, Phineas,' said Dumbledore.
`I don't believe it,' said Phineas brusquely.
Harry turned his head in time to see Phineas marching out of his portrait and knew that he had gone to visit his other painting in Grimmauld Place. He would walk, perhaps, from portrait to portrait, calling for Sirius through the house …
That's really sad. Sad like great civilizations crumbling and old castles falling into rubble and old, great blood lines extinguishing.
"...Professor Snape requested that Sirius remain behind..."
HA. I wonder how he really phrased it. And I wonder if that haunts Severus at all. Hm.
'He did not wish to tell me,' said Dumbledore. `But I am a sufficiently accomplished Legilimens myself to know when I am being lied to and I - persuaded him - to tell me the full story, before I left for the Department of Mysteries.'
*deep silence*
I've decided I don't want to know how Dumbledore persuaded Kreacher. I love Dumbledore too much.
Even in my very first reading, the prophecy didn't surprise me much. Fandom had already surmised as much.
`All righ', Harry!' he said, beaming, when Harry approached the fence. `Come in, come in, we'll have a cup o' dandelion juice…”
Now that sounds disgusting.
Sigh. The next bit, his false hopes about the mirror and ghosts, confused me too. What was the point of it? Well, probably some piece that's necessary for the next books.
I love the scene with Luna, though.
`Yes,' said Luna simply, `my mother. She was a quite extraordinary witch, you know, but she did like to experiment and one of her spells went rather badly wrong one day. I was nine.'
`I'm sorry,' Harry mumbled.
'Yes, it was rather horrible,' said Luna conversationally. `I still feel very sad about it sometimes. But I've still got Dad. And anyway, it's not as though I'll never see Mum again, is it?”
Luna...is a fascinating character. "I still feel very sad about it sometimes." What a profound line for her. I like how she makes Harry feel a little bit better - and something outside himself, even if it is pity for her.
`Well, I always thought he was a bit of an idiot,' he said, prodding his queen forwards towards Harry's quivering castle. `Good for you. Just choose someone - better - next time.'
He cast Harry an oddly furtive look as he said it.
`Well, I've chosen Dean Thomas, would you say he's better?' asked Ginny vaguely.
"WHAT?' shouted Ron, upending the chessboard: Crookshanks went plunging after the pieces and Hedwig and Pigwidgeon twittered and hooted angrily from overhead.
Oh, Ron. But I wonder how you'll be affected from those brains - as Madam Pomfrey said, "thoughts scar deeper than anything."
I love the ending scene too, where Moody, Tonks, Remus, and Mr. Weasley threaten the Durleys with a smile. Love.
Notable Harry/Hermione moments:
Harry, in the middle of his last exam, on History, has his last fateful vision. Alas, Harry. Woe and angst.
Harry ran first to find McGonagall, but she had been moved to St. Mungo's after the attacks from defending Hagrid, then to Ron and Hermione. As the good people at a_chapter_a_day said, his next step was to "override any attempts at rational thought or common sense on their parts, and start planning."
Hermione is quite frightened by Harry's fervor and anger in this scene. He begins to climb into caps-lock mode, but is interrupted, to his further frustration, by Ginny and Luna. Not Neville yet.
'You're being rather rude, you know,' said Luna serenely.
Harry swore and turned away. The very last thing he wanted now was a conversation with Luna Lovegood.
Yes, but still, Harry...
Even in her alarmed and nervous state, Hermione rises to the occasion and suggests plans to reassure Harry.
The forthcoming scene between Severus and Umbridge is one of my favorites of Severus.
'Ah, Professor Snape,' said Umbridge, smiling widely and standing up again. 'Yes, I would like another bottle of Veritaserum, as quick as you can, please.'
'You took my last bottle to interrogate Potter,' he said, surveying her coolly through his greasy curtains of black hair. 'Surely you did not use it all? I told you that three drops would be sufficient.'
Umbridge flushed.
'You can make some more, can't you?' she said, her voice becoming more sweetly girlish as it always did when she was furious.
'Certainly,' said Snape, his lip curling. 'It takes a full moon-cycle to mature, so I should have it ready for you in around a month.'
...
'You are on probation!' shrieked Professor Umbridge, and Snape looked back at her, his eyebrows slightly raised. 'You are being deliberately unhelpful! I expected better, Lucius Malfoy always speaks most highly of you! Now get out of my office!'
Snape gave her an ironic bow and turned to leave.
Bwahahaha.
I am always so exasperated with Harry when, after Severus leaves, Harry is "in a state of worse turmoil than before: Snape had been his very last hope." HARRY. What did you WANT him to say?
She seemed to be talking herself into something. She was shifting her weight nervously from foot to foot, staring at Harry, beating her wand against her empty palm and breathing heavily.
...
'What Cornelius doesn't know won't hurt him,' said Umbridge, who was now panting slightly as she pointed her wand at different parts of Harry's body in turn, apparently trying to decide where it would hurt most.
Ms. Rowling is awesome with images, isn't she?
Harry felt a strong urge to swing round and seize [Umbridge] by the throat, but resisted.
You know, it's always a possiblity (or at least wishful thinking) that some (most) of Harry's murderous feelings are part of what rubbed off from Voldemort of late.
You know, centaurs may be very intelligent and possibly sexy and things, but they can also be quite arrogant. Or maybe they are simply driven mad by rage upon being provoked.
Haha, I love Ron vs. the thestrals.
'Is it those mad horse things?' said Ron uncertainly, staring at a point slightly to the left of the Thestral Harry was patting. "Those ones you can't see unless you've watched someone snuff it?'
...
'Never again,' he said, struggling to his feet. He made as though to stride away from his Thestral, but, unable to see it, collided with its hindquarters and almost fell over again. 'Never, ever again… that was the worst -'
I'm v. interested by their first encounter with the veil. Harry's attracted to it - thinks there's an odd kind of beauty to it; Luna can hear the voices in it like Harry; both Ginny and Neville stare at it too, apparently entranced; Hermione's unnerved, scared and angry; Ron is apparently unaffected by it too, at least in the sense of not being fascinated - he and Hermione pull Ginny and Neville away.
So, we all know Harry, Luna, Neville, and Ginny have had unpleasant experiences, but what's the exact connection? What do they have in common? Ginny stands out because she hasn't seen death, unlike the other three.
I find the initial encounter with the Death Eaters interesting - always before, Harry's been alone at the crisis. It was Ron and Hermione's first time to be there with him, facing the Death Eaters, and of course Ginny, Neville, and Luna's too. Luna - I wonder in particular about her. Did she still look dreamy with a dozen masked Death Eaters pointing their wands at them, with Malfoy's threats and Bellatrix's mimicry? Harry, unfortunately for this question, stood at the head of all of them.
“The little baby woke up jwightened and fort what it dweamed was twoo,' said the woman in a horrible, mock baby voice. Harry felt Ron stir beside him.
Yes. More about that line later.
'Go on, then,' said Harry, raising his own wand to chest height. As he did so, the five wands of Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny and Luna rose on either side of him.
Wow. That caused a knot of guilt to start in Harry's stomach, about how he was leading his friends to his death, but I had a different reaction. Whatever they were thinking and feeling, this first time encountering evil and danger, all were true Gryffindors - or, in Luna's case, and Gryffindor enough in her. However afraid each of them were, they were ready to stand by Harry. And I wonder what they thought, as Harry bantered and laughed in Lucius Malfoy's face.
'You need more persuasion?' she said, her chest rising and falling rapidly. 'Very well - take the smallest one,' she ordered the Death Eaters beside her. 'Let him watch while we torture the little girl. I'll do it.'
Harry felt the others close in around Ginny; he stepped sideways so that he was right in front of her, the prophecy held up to his chest.
Moment of yay for Ginny!
Hermione gave a little moan in his ear.
Lol. Take that out of context, and what fun you get... There's actually a LOT of Harry/Hermione moments in these last chapters, but I'll talk more about that when we get to the biggest one of all.
Finally got some idea of what the hell a bell jar is.
I wonder if that Death Eater who fell into it, was ever healed.
For some reason, Dolohov - the one who cursed Hermione with the slashing movement and what looked like a purple flame - really impresses me, almost as much as Bellatrix.
Interesting - Ginny's ankle was broken, Ron was hit by that odd spell that apparently cut his IQ by three-fourths, and Luna managed to rescue them both and bring them to safety.
This furthers Maya's theory of how she is, in fact, a female version of Dumbledore.
'Honest, Harry, they're brains - look - Accio brain!'
The scene seemed momentarily frozen. Harry, Ginny and Neville and each of the Death Eaters turned in spite of themselves to watch the top of the tank as a brain burst from the green liquid like a leaping fish: for a moment it seemed suspended in midair, then it soared towards Ron, spinning as it came, and what looked like ribbons of moving images flew from it, unravelling like rolls of film-
Ha, that's interesting - even the Death Eaters stopped to watch.
For some reason I like this line of Ron's:
'Harry, look what's happen- no - no - I don't like it - no, stop - stop -'
It's awfully sad, but you know, not a single one of Neville's spells have their intended effect in the Department of Mysteries. He did it back in Umbridge's office, against Crabbe, but not when it really matters. Sigh.
'He's dot alone!' shouted a voice from above them. 'He's still god be!'
Harry's heart sank: Neville was scrambling down the stone benches towards them, Hermiones wand held fast in his trembling hand.
'Neville - no - go back to Ron -'
'STUBEFY!' Neville shouted again, pointing his wand at each Death Eater in turn. 'STUBEFY! STUBE-'
One of the largest Death Eaters seized Neville from behind, pinioning his arms to his sides. He struggled and kicked; several of the Death Eaters laughed.
...I'm sorry, but that was so pathetic.
The next bit where Bellatrix taunts and gives Neville a taste of Crucio, however - that's more touching. I wonder what'll be the repercussions of that.
Only one pair was still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light: he was laughing at her.
'Come on, you can do better than that!' he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.
The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest.
The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock.
Harry released Neville, though he was unaware of doing so. He was jumping down the steps again, pulling out his wand, as Dumbledore, too, turned towards the dais.
It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall: his body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backwards through the ragged veil hanging from the arch.
Harry saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his godfather's wasted, once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind, then fell back into place.
That whole scene right there...
No words. Just an icon.
Harry's attempt at Crucio shocked me more than anything else in the book, including Sirius's death. I wasn't expecting Sirius to die, but character death was something I knew was going to happen, something I knew Ms. Rowling was capable of and would deal with - Harry, attempting to do something that can in no way be used for good, stunned me. Ms. Rowling stunned me, in that scene.
`And he knows!' said Harry, with a mad laugh to match Bellatrix's own.
That too.
The statue of the witch ran at Bellatrix, who screamed and sent spells streaming uselessly off its chest, before it dived at her, pinning her to the floor.
Lol, that's a funny line. I can't help but imagine a football player.
`By which time I shall be gone, and you will be dead!' spat Voldemort. He sent another killing curse at Dumbledore but missed, instead hitting the security guard's desk, which burst into flame.
Interesting. The killing curse kills a human silently and (I believe) painlessly, but the effect on other objects...
I wonder what Dumbledore would like to have done to Voldemort. "Other ways of destroying a man...merely taking your life would not satisy me, I admit...."
Fawkes swooped down in front of Dumbledore, opened his beak wide and swallowed the jet of green light whole: he burst into flame and fell to the floor, small, wrinkled and flightless.
Fawkes died - as much as any phoenix can die. Interesting - I guess it was the way she did it, having him swallow the spell, that made it look different, and I didn't understand it in my first readings.
Sure it was over, sure Voldemort had decided to flee, Harry made to run out from behind his statue guard, but Dumbledore bellowed: `Stay where you are, Harry!'
For the first time, Dumbledore sounded frightened.
Hm. I guess it was because that before, Voldemort always reappeared instantly, in different places, but for the first time Dumbledore couldn't see him, but knew Voldemort hadn't retreated.
And, as it proved, he hadn't. In the next moment, he possessed Harry.
Then Harry's scar burst open and he knew he was dead: it was pain beyond imagining, pain past endurance
He was gone from the hall, he was locked in the coils of a creature with red eyes, so tightly bound that Harry did not know where his body ended and the creature's began: they were fused together, bound by pain, and there was no escape -
And when the creature spoke, it used Harry's mouth, so that in his agony he felt his jaw move….
Interesting. You know, studying this part, and remembering Ginny's experience, I have concurred that, to possess someone, there are certain steps you take so it's a smooth process, and for the one being possessed, something like Imperio. But in this scene with Harry, Voldemort skipped some of the middle steps - went directly from A to D, and therefore, the pain.
Dumbledore is about to tell how much he cares for Harry - I'd really, really like to see the scene of Harry being possessed from Dumbledore's point of view. I wonder how it happened. When Harry comes out of it, he sees the headless statue that was pinning him down had fallen, cracked - did Voldemort's force inside Harry crack it? I'm more inclined to think that than that Harry did something violent while possessed. I rather imagine it that he fell, suddenly, shuddering and twitching, his eyes rolled back, and Dumbledore ran to him, horrified...that his voice came out hoarse, unlike his own.
All right. Dumbledore vs. Fudge, once more. Let me put this Maya-style.
FUDGE: I...mimble...
DUMBLEDORE: I AM TIRED OF YOUR SHENANIGANS. SHUT UP AND COOPERATE.
Everything seemed to have repaired itself during the Headmaster's absence. The delicate silver instruments stood once more on the spindle-legged tables, puffing and whirring serenely.
As someone else in a_chapter_a_day said, "Which was good since Harry was about to break them all again."
`THEN - I - DON'T - WANT - TO - BE - HUMAN!' Harry roared, and he seized the delicate silver instrument from the spindlelegged table beside him and flung it across the room; it shattered into a hundred tiny pieces against the wall. Several of the pictures let out yells of anger and fright, and the portrait of Armando Dippet said, `Really!'
`I DON'T CARE!' Harry yelled at them, snatching up a lunascope and throwing it into the fireplace. `I'VE HAD ENOUGH, I'VE SEEN ENOUGH, I WANT OUT, I WANT IT TO END, I DON'T CARE ANY MORE -“
He seized the table on which the silver instrument had stood and threw that, too. It broke apart on the floor and the legs rolled in different directions.
That was the most tragic. My heart wrenched for him.
`Am I to understand,' said Phineas Nigellus slowly from Harry's left, `that my great-great-grandson - the last of the Blacks - is dead?'
`Yes, Phineas,' said Dumbledore.
`I don't believe it,' said Phineas brusquely.
Harry turned his head in time to see Phineas marching out of his portrait and knew that he had gone to visit his other painting in Grimmauld Place. He would walk, perhaps, from portrait to portrait, calling for Sirius through the house …
That's really sad. Sad like great civilizations crumbling and old castles falling into rubble and old, great blood lines extinguishing.
"...Professor Snape requested that Sirius remain behind..."
HA. I wonder how he really phrased it. And I wonder if that haunts Severus at all. Hm.
'He did not wish to tell me,' said Dumbledore. `But I am a sufficiently accomplished Legilimens myself to know when I am being lied to and I - persuaded him - to tell me the full story, before I left for the Department of Mysteries.'
*deep silence*
I've decided I don't want to know how Dumbledore persuaded Kreacher. I love Dumbledore too much.
Even in my very first reading, the prophecy didn't surprise me much. Fandom had already surmised as much.
`All righ', Harry!' he said, beaming, when Harry approached the fence. `Come in, come in, we'll have a cup o' dandelion juice…”
Now that sounds disgusting.
Sigh. The next bit, his false hopes about the mirror and ghosts, confused me too. What was the point of it? Well, probably some piece that's necessary for the next books.
I love the scene with Luna, though.
`Yes,' said Luna simply, `my mother. She was a quite extraordinary witch, you know, but she did like to experiment and one of her spells went rather badly wrong one day. I was nine.'
`I'm sorry,' Harry mumbled.
'Yes, it was rather horrible,' said Luna conversationally. `I still feel very sad about it sometimes. But I've still got Dad. And anyway, it's not as though I'll never see Mum again, is it?”
Luna...is a fascinating character. "I still feel very sad about it sometimes." What a profound line for her. I like how she makes Harry feel a little bit better - and something outside himself, even if it is pity for her.
`Well, I always thought he was a bit of an idiot,' he said, prodding his queen forwards towards Harry's quivering castle. `Good for you. Just choose someone - better - next time.'
He cast Harry an oddly furtive look as he said it.
`Well, I've chosen Dean Thomas, would you say he's better?' asked Ginny vaguely.
"WHAT?' shouted Ron, upending the chessboard: Crookshanks went plunging after the pieces and Hedwig and Pigwidgeon twittered and hooted angrily from overhead.
Oh, Ron. But I wonder how you'll be affected from those brains - as Madam Pomfrey said, "thoughts scar deeper than anything."
I love the ending scene too, where Moody, Tonks, Remus, and Mr. Weasley threaten the Durleys with a smile. Love.
Notable Harry/Hermione moments:
- The bit where she grabs his robes and whimpers at the initial introduction to Grawp.
- The same protection!bit again with the centaurs and Grawp, when they lead Umbridge into the forest.
- When they run from the Death Eaters, he grabs her and goes.
- His reaction when Hermione was badly cursed, and then that she was still alive - "Such a powerful wave of relief swept through Harry that for a moment he felt light-headed."