Chapter 27: Unmasked
I had a lot of sitting-around-and-waiting-for-things-to-happen time this weekend, so I'm a lot closer to finishing now! Here we go:
Chapter 27: Unmasked
1. "Hey--sorry about all that. Just me being stupid."
No, thought Harry. Just you being spot on.
Well, Ron usually is, isn't he? Even when he doesn't know it. (Or when others know it but don't admit it.)
2. "Say, Ron," Hagrid interrupted. "Ain't yer birthday comin' up soon?"
"On the fifteenth."
Of course, ten years ago we didn't know about March 1 (or at least I didn't). I did like that when JKR eventually worked it into the story something pretty significant happened on Ron's actual birthday.
3. "Say--you three haven't seen something flying round the school groun's lookin’ a lot like a golden griffin, have ye? Mum insists one was flyin’ over the giants' camp a couple of times, but I don’t see how. I mean, they don' like this part of the world; Dumbledore had that one brought in special..."
Harry seems to think everyone else has a convenient form of blindness that means no one would see him doing this. Of course, other students would just assume it was the golden griffin from COMC. Only Hagrid would spot that it couldn't be an animal he'd only borrowed and had shipped back already.
4. Harry frowned at her; this was getting worse and worse, he thought. Ron's going to feel like a complete idiot when he eventually finds out.
Ron feeling like an idiot becomes the least of Harry's problems when all is known...
5. "You can't judge a wizard just by his house these days, Harry. Evidently he was quite a good Quidditch player, got a job as a reserve player with Pride of Portree, the team over on the Isle of Skye. The Prides are very good, have a very loyal following." He bowed his head. "All the poor kid wanted to do was play Quidditch, you know? His own dad is a Death Eater, turns out. He went to Skye, where the team was having practice, and tried to bring his son to Malfoy. Wound up killing him instead..."
I went much more hardcore on a lot of this than JKR, more Mafia-like, taken to the nth degree.
6. "The Ministry is being very pigheaded about wanting to find benign, non-Voldemort-related explanations for everything that’s been happening."
So I called that kind of thing, but not the out-and-out campaign against Harry, the truly concerted effort to discredit him.
7. "Shouldn't you be worrying about Percy and the Weasleys?"
Is this the name of a Wrock group yet? Or am I thinking of Ginny and the Weasleys?
8. "So! Weasley! I saw that you got a real good look at that photo. Commit it to memory? Because I know that I can conjure it up in my brain--" he tapped his temple "--any time I want. And Potter, well...of course he can picture even more any time he wants..."
Draco, naturally, is assuming a lot and going out on a limb. But he's not wrong.
9. Unable to verify identity due to whispering. You must use a normal voice. Change your location if necessary.
This was evidently hilarious to a lot of readers. I meant it more as "droll", but it did work to lighten the mood a bit. ;)
10. Harry looked down at the parchment, then back up at Snape. "It looks blank to you?"
Oddly enough, I'm now getting a vibe that's rather similar to when Harrry (in OotP) was asking Ron about the Thestrals and Ron obviously wasn't able to see them. So I guess I also had Harry able to see something (in his fifth year) that someone else couldn't.
11. Harry touched the letter with his wand and said his name again. Immediately, black flames arose from the letter and envelope, consuming them both. Not even ashes remained to show that they had ever existed. Even the wax seal was gone. The parchments that had been sitting nearby on Snape's blotter were unharmed; the blotter itself was not scorched either.
I liked coming up with something that was sort of Mission Impossible-esque, but even better. :D
12. One of the most feared dark wizards of the sixteenth century was well known in the Muggle world as well, but not as a wizard. Pere Juillet De Pems Marvolo was a direct descendent of Salazar Slytherin and commanded great respect in the Loire Valley, where he was the abbe of St. Jean Batiste, a Benedictine monastery. Marvolo began his reign of terror with scourges to clear Jews out of the local countryside in 1537, exactly twenty years after Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses at Wittenberg, progressing to a minor inquisition that targeted any remotely heretical sect, including many of Luther’s followers, and evolved into witch burnings (although all of the accused were known by the magical community to be Muggles)
For some reason, it seemed to me that if a lot of Muggles were going to be unfairly accused of witchcraft and killed that it wouldn't be inappropriate (in the HP world) for this injustice to be fomented by dark wizards.
13. Rearranging the letters of his name, along with his clerical title, he was able to turn "Pere Juillet De Pems Marvolo" into the statement, "Je m'appelle Sieur Voldemort," or, in English, "I am Lord Voldemort."
The French is actually, literally, "I am called Lord Voldemort." It took me SO LONG to work out the name of Pere Juillet, etc. I wonder how long JKR labored over the name Tom Marvolo Riddle?
14. Hermione was in fact very interested in the book Harry had borrowed from the library. "Why doesn’t Binns teach us this? All we ever seem to cover is goblin rebellions in England..."
Which stops being true in OotP, when Binns spends a lot of time covering giant wars. While Grawp was living int he forest. A coincidence? I think not.
15. Harry tucked Ron’s wand into his robes.
This is key for later. I didn't just have Ron throw down his wand in order to pummel Malfoy.
16. He took a few running steps and then leapt into the air, building height as he moved the strong gossamer wings, flying straight toward the Forbidden Forest.
Ah, yes, we're approaching the meaty stuff! To be continued...
Chapter 27: Unmasked
1. "Hey--sorry about all that. Just me being stupid."
No, thought Harry. Just you being spot on.
Well, Ron usually is, isn't he? Even when he doesn't know it. (Or when others know it but don't admit it.)
2. "Say, Ron," Hagrid interrupted. "Ain't yer birthday comin' up soon?"
"On the fifteenth."
Of course, ten years ago we didn't know about March 1 (or at least I didn't). I did like that when JKR eventually worked it into the story something pretty significant happened on Ron's actual birthday.
3. "Say--you three haven't seen something flying round the school groun's lookin’ a lot like a golden griffin, have ye? Mum insists one was flyin’ over the giants' camp a couple of times, but I don’t see how. I mean, they don' like this part of the world; Dumbledore had that one brought in special..."
Harry seems to think everyone else has a convenient form of blindness that means no one would see him doing this. Of course, other students would just assume it was the golden griffin from COMC. Only Hagrid would spot that it couldn't be an animal he'd only borrowed and had shipped back already.
4. Harry frowned at her; this was getting worse and worse, he thought. Ron's going to feel like a complete idiot when he eventually finds out.
Ron feeling like an idiot becomes the least of Harry's problems when all is known...
5. "You can't judge a wizard just by his house these days, Harry. Evidently he was quite a good Quidditch player, got a job as a reserve player with Pride of Portree, the team over on the Isle of Skye. The Prides are very good, have a very loyal following." He bowed his head. "All the poor kid wanted to do was play Quidditch, you know? His own dad is a Death Eater, turns out. He went to Skye, where the team was having practice, and tried to bring his son to Malfoy. Wound up killing him instead..."
I went much more hardcore on a lot of this than JKR, more Mafia-like, taken to the nth degree.
6. "The Ministry is being very pigheaded about wanting to find benign, non-Voldemort-related explanations for everything that’s been happening."
So I called that kind of thing, but not the out-and-out campaign against Harry, the truly concerted effort to discredit him.
7. "Shouldn't you be worrying about Percy and the Weasleys?"
Is this the name of a Wrock group yet? Or am I thinking of Ginny and the Weasleys?
8. "So! Weasley! I saw that you got a real good look at that photo. Commit it to memory? Because I know that I can conjure it up in my brain--" he tapped his temple "--any time I want. And Potter, well...of course he can picture even more any time he wants..."
Draco, naturally, is assuming a lot and going out on a limb. But he's not wrong.
9. Unable to verify identity due to whispering. You must use a normal voice. Change your location if necessary.
This was evidently hilarious to a lot of readers. I meant it more as "droll", but it did work to lighten the mood a bit. ;)
10. Harry looked down at the parchment, then back up at Snape. "It looks blank to you?"
Oddly enough, I'm now getting a vibe that's rather similar to when Harrry (in OotP) was asking Ron about the Thestrals and Ron obviously wasn't able to see them. So I guess I also had Harry able to see something (in his fifth year) that someone else couldn't.
11. Harry touched the letter with his wand and said his name again. Immediately, black flames arose from the letter and envelope, consuming them both. Not even ashes remained to show that they had ever existed. Even the wax seal was gone. The parchments that had been sitting nearby on Snape's blotter were unharmed; the blotter itself was not scorched either.
I liked coming up with something that was sort of Mission Impossible-esque, but even better. :D
12. One of the most feared dark wizards of the sixteenth century was well known in the Muggle world as well, but not as a wizard. Pere Juillet De Pems Marvolo was a direct descendent of Salazar Slytherin and commanded great respect in the Loire Valley, where he was the abbe of St. Jean Batiste, a Benedictine monastery. Marvolo began his reign of terror with scourges to clear Jews out of the local countryside in 1537, exactly twenty years after Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses at Wittenberg, progressing to a minor inquisition that targeted any remotely heretical sect, including many of Luther’s followers, and evolved into witch burnings (although all of the accused were known by the magical community to be Muggles)
For some reason, it seemed to me that if a lot of Muggles were going to be unfairly accused of witchcraft and killed that it wouldn't be inappropriate (in the HP world) for this injustice to be fomented by dark wizards.
13. Rearranging the letters of his name, along with his clerical title, he was able to turn "Pere Juillet De Pems Marvolo" into the statement, "Je m'appelle Sieur Voldemort," or, in English, "I am Lord Voldemort."
The French is actually, literally, "I am called Lord Voldemort." It took me SO LONG to work out the name of Pere Juillet, etc. I wonder how long JKR labored over the name Tom Marvolo Riddle?
14. Hermione was in fact very interested in the book Harry had borrowed from the library. "Why doesn’t Binns teach us this? All we ever seem to cover is goblin rebellions in England..."
Which stops being true in OotP, when Binns spends a lot of time covering giant wars. While Grawp was living int he forest. A coincidence? I think not.
15. Harry tucked Ron’s wand into his robes.
This is key for later. I didn't just have Ron throw down his wand in order to pummel Malfoy.
16. He took a few running steps and then leapt into the air, building height as he moved the strong gossamer wings, flying straight toward the Forbidden Forest.
Ah, yes, we're approaching the meaty stuff! To be continued...