Read-along Harry Potter (part 1)
I spent the whole entire weekend reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and making copious notes as i went. I didn't want to rush myself; i savoured every moment of reading, and loved the thrill of having a new Harry Potter book where i didn't know what was coming. I wanted to make a record of what i was thinking as i went along, because i knew when i got to the end i would quite likely forget all the theories that popped into my mind as i was reading.
I'm very glad that i did this, and i am pleased that i wrote a little summary of my thoughts on the book before reading anyone else's. This is the honest account of how i felt during and just after reading the book without being influenced by any other opinions. To summarise very broadly: i loved the book! It is without a doubt my favourite of the whole series!
Spoiler warning: obviously i wrote this as i went along so revelations will only be up to the chapter indicated. However, there is plenty of speculation, some of which proved to be correct. I promise this is exactly what i wrote it; no afterthoughts will be added or alterations made. If you haven't read the whole book you might not want to read any of this. Chapters will be clearly marked as i type it up.
My Preamble
Saturday 21/07/2007 09:40. My copy of Deathly Hallows has just arrived, and i am too scared to even open it! All the answers lie inside these covers, and i have been waiting for so long to find out, i can't believe that the long wait could be over so soon now.
There's that symbol on the spine. What does it mean, i wonder? How soon will we find out? Right away, or not until the end? Maybe it will be an ongoing puzzle right through the book. Where will the book start? With the wedding? Privet Drive? Somewhere we've never been before? Azkaban?
Will Harry find the Horcruxes? Is Harry really the only person charged with this quest? Surely Dumbledore confided in some other people, no? How soon will we see Snape again? Will McGonagall continue to become more suspicious than ever? What kind of shocks and surprises lie in store for us?
Arrrgghh! I'm so excited, so nervous! This is it, this is what we've all been waiting for! I feel this will be a very different kind of Harry Potter book! Okay, deep breaths, i'm ready. Let's go!
Dedications and Introductions
Saturday 21/07/2007 09:55. Dedication split seven ways! That's cute!
Ugh poetry. What does THAT mean?! I suppose that's full of clues, but unfortunately i can't take in a word of it! But i like the death quote. Crossing into another world, living on, immortal. I really like this! It resonates very strongly with my spirituality. I hope Jo instills a sense of this with the book - that death is not to be feared, and that we are all in a sense immortal. Lord Voldemort will die alone and friendless, with no love and no sorrow, and will have missed the chance at immortality by striving to get it.
Chapter 1
Saturday 21/07/2007 10:00. Oooh! We're at the Malfoy Manor! Who is this Yaxley, though? Obviously a Death Eater, sounds frightened of Voldemort.
10:05. That pale young man must be Draco. Who is suspended from the ceiling? Someone dear to Draco - Narcissa??
Snape - i am reminded of, "Where do you think i would be if i didn't know how to act". Please, please let Snape be good! Voldemort's right-hand man, apparently. The current place of safety would be ... Privet Drive? Saturday could be when Harry turns 17? "The source we discussed" - oooh, cryptic! Suddenly i'm wondering whether that is Petunia! Oh okay, i'll just read on.
10:10. "That Potter lives is due more to my errors, than to his triumphs" - haha, you admit it then? You made errors! *resists the urge to taunt Voldemort*
10:15. Oh. There is a prisoner. Someone who wailed when Voldemort mentioned personally killing Harry Potter. Couldn't be Dumbledore, could it? No!
Aha! Voldemort needs to borrow a wand in case Priori Incantatem happens again. Smart move, that. But the wand chooses the wizard, remember? You can't just take Lucius's wand because you feel like punishing Lucius! Anyway, isn't Lucius supposed to be in Azkaban?!
10:20. I'd love for Lucius to be secretly on the good side. I don't think it'll happen, though. The Malfoys are all just cowards, terribly afraid of Voldemort. I hope Draco realises how much there is to lose, standing on the Dark side.
Okay, so the suspended body is not Narcissa. I wonder who it is, and why Draco keeps looking at it? Maybe that's Dumbledore's body. Oooh, that would be sick!
10:25. ARRRGGGHHH!!! Tonks has married Lupin!!! That was ridiculously quick! What is going on?! Oh, and Bellatrix is blatantly in love with Voldemort! Gosh, Voldemort has a sense of humour: "Will you babysit the cubs?" Did Voldemort just tell Bellatrix to kill Tonks? I guess there goes my "secretly evil Tonks" theory. There's gotta be something more than this simple pathetic love tale, though.
10:30. Yuck, that was a horrible chapter. I'd never heard of Charity Burbage before, or maybe just in passing from Hermione. I suppose Professor Burbage was the Muggle Studies teacher. It shows how cruel and twisted Voldemort is, getting a death in the first chapter, whilst not being personal to us. But Draco knew the professor. Come on, Draco, find a way to escape! Please! You could do so much better! Remember what Dumbledore said. The Order will protect you. Please believe it!
Chapter 2
Saturday 21/07/2007 10:40. Awww! Harry still has that Cedric Diggory badge! And Sirius's mirror has returned, giving Harry a cut finger. All of this is bringing back bitter memories for Harry. Wow, this is a trip down Memory Lane. That old photograph album, so precious to Harry. A symbol of Harry's ability to love. Even when going out travelling, Harry will take the album everywhere.
Oh! Hedwig's back! After being noticeably absent for the entirety of last year! I thought Hedwig had run away!
10:45. Gulp! Charity Burbage mention. The Prophet thinks Charity resigned.
10:50. Oh my. Chapter 2, and i am blubbing already. 11-year-old Albus Dumbledore, what a sweetheart. Son of a murderer, eh? Kept that one quiet.
10:55. Oh, so many links to Book 1, already. I was hoping for this. Nicholas Flamel, and two references to alchemy. The defeat of Grindelwald - clearly very important. Oh, but poor, poor Dumbledore and Aberforth. So many tragedies. As it says, Harry had barely known Dumbledore at all. This really is going to be a book of surprising revelations, isn't it? And JKR has kept all this knowledge for so long!
11:00. Oooh yay! There's an Erised reference!
11:05. Rita Skeeter, you cow. What are you doing?! "I've had access to a source most journalists would swap their wands for" - a literary reminder of Voldemort swapping for Lucius's wand. I suspect this source will be Aberforth.
11:10. Very suspicious. I'm glad we've already been shown what a scheming, twisting little liar Rita Skeeter is, otherwise i might have some concerns here. I do have some concerns, but not from what Rita says. I do wonder whether Dumbledore has kept a lot from Harry. It doesn't make sense for Dumbledore to send Harry alone on a quest for the Horcruxes, without any backup from the Order or the Ministry. I also wonder about this supposed dabbling in the Dark Arts. I have wondered if the reason Dumbledore was so fierce about the subject of Horcruxes at Hogwarts was because Dumbledore had once attempted to make one. And there is that quote from Book 1 where Dumbledore apparently has the same powers as Voldemort but is too noble to use them. It gives a suggestion that Dumbledore could have used them at one time. Anyway, we'll find out. Funny how JKR is significantly deepening the mysteries before solving any of them!
11:20. Oooh! Could it be that Harry could still talk to Dumbledore through this fragment of mirror? Coming back to the death quote at the beginning, Dumbledore may not be far away, just a friend across the sea.
Alright, that'll do for tonight. I have plenty of chores to catch up on, not having done any all weekend!
I'm very glad that i did this, and i am pleased that i wrote a little summary of my thoughts on the book before reading anyone else's. This is the honest account of how i felt during and just after reading the book without being influenced by any other opinions. To summarise very broadly: i loved the book! It is without a doubt my favourite of the whole series!
Spoiler warning: obviously i wrote this as i went along so revelations will only be up to the chapter indicated. However, there is plenty of speculation, some of which proved to be correct. I promise this is exactly what i wrote it; no afterthoughts will be added or alterations made. If you haven't read the whole book you might not want to read any of this. Chapters will be clearly marked as i type it up.
My Preamble
Saturday 21/07/2007 09:40. My copy of Deathly Hallows has just arrived, and i am too scared to even open it! All the answers lie inside these covers, and i have been waiting for so long to find out, i can't believe that the long wait could be over so soon now.
There's that symbol on the spine. What does it mean, i wonder? How soon will we find out? Right away, or not until the end? Maybe it will be an ongoing puzzle right through the book. Where will the book start? With the wedding? Privet Drive? Somewhere we've never been before? Azkaban?
Will Harry find the Horcruxes? Is Harry really the only person charged with this quest? Surely Dumbledore confided in some other people, no? How soon will we see Snape again? Will McGonagall continue to become more suspicious than ever? What kind of shocks and surprises lie in store for us?
Arrrgghh! I'm so excited, so nervous! This is it, this is what we've all been waiting for! I feel this will be a very different kind of Harry Potter book! Okay, deep breaths, i'm ready. Let's go!
Dedications and Introductions
Saturday 21/07/2007 09:55. Dedication split seven ways! That's cute!
Ugh poetry. What does THAT mean?! I suppose that's full of clues, but unfortunately i can't take in a word of it! But i like the death quote. Crossing into another world, living on, immortal. I really like this! It resonates very strongly with my spirituality. I hope Jo instills a sense of this with the book - that death is not to be feared, and that we are all in a sense immortal. Lord Voldemort will die alone and friendless, with no love and no sorrow, and will have missed the chance at immortality by striving to get it.
Chapter 1
Saturday 21/07/2007 10:00. Oooh! We're at the Malfoy Manor! Who is this Yaxley, though? Obviously a Death Eater, sounds frightened of Voldemort.
10:05. That pale young man must be Draco. Who is suspended from the ceiling? Someone dear to Draco - Narcissa??
Snape - i am reminded of, "Where do you think i would be if i didn't know how to act". Please, please let Snape be good! Voldemort's right-hand man, apparently. The current place of safety would be ... Privet Drive? Saturday could be when Harry turns 17? "The source we discussed" - oooh, cryptic! Suddenly i'm wondering whether that is Petunia! Oh okay, i'll just read on.
10:10. "That Potter lives is due more to my errors, than to his triumphs" - haha, you admit it then? You made errors! *resists the urge to taunt Voldemort*
10:15. Oh. There is a prisoner. Someone who wailed when Voldemort mentioned personally killing Harry Potter. Couldn't be Dumbledore, could it? No!
Aha! Voldemort needs to borrow a wand in case Priori Incantatem happens again. Smart move, that. But the wand chooses the wizard, remember? You can't just take Lucius's wand because you feel like punishing Lucius! Anyway, isn't Lucius supposed to be in Azkaban?!
10:20. I'd love for Lucius to be secretly on the good side. I don't think it'll happen, though. The Malfoys are all just cowards, terribly afraid of Voldemort. I hope Draco realises how much there is to lose, standing on the Dark side.
Okay, so the suspended body is not Narcissa. I wonder who it is, and why Draco keeps looking at it? Maybe that's Dumbledore's body. Oooh, that would be sick!
10:25. ARRRGGGHHH!!! Tonks has married Lupin!!! That was ridiculously quick! What is going on?! Oh, and Bellatrix is blatantly in love with Voldemort! Gosh, Voldemort has a sense of humour: "Will you babysit the cubs?" Did Voldemort just tell Bellatrix to kill Tonks? I guess there goes my "secretly evil Tonks" theory. There's gotta be something more than this simple pathetic love tale, though.
10:30. Yuck, that was a horrible chapter. I'd never heard of Charity Burbage before, or maybe just in passing from Hermione. I suppose Professor Burbage was the Muggle Studies teacher. It shows how cruel and twisted Voldemort is, getting a death in the first chapter, whilst not being personal to us. But Draco knew the professor. Come on, Draco, find a way to escape! Please! You could do so much better! Remember what Dumbledore said. The Order will protect you. Please believe it!
Chapter 2
Saturday 21/07/2007 10:40. Awww! Harry still has that Cedric Diggory badge! And Sirius's mirror has returned, giving Harry a cut finger. All of this is bringing back bitter memories for Harry. Wow, this is a trip down Memory Lane. That old photograph album, so precious to Harry. A symbol of Harry's ability to love. Even when going out travelling, Harry will take the album everywhere.
Oh! Hedwig's back! After being noticeably absent for the entirety of last year! I thought Hedwig had run away!
10:45. Gulp! Charity Burbage mention. The Prophet thinks Charity resigned.
10:50. Oh my. Chapter 2, and i am blubbing already. 11-year-old Albus Dumbledore, what a sweetheart. Son of a murderer, eh? Kept that one quiet.
10:55. Oh, so many links to Book 1, already. I was hoping for this. Nicholas Flamel, and two references to alchemy. The defeat of Grindelwald - clearly very important. Oh, but poor, poor Dumbledore and Aberforth. So many tragedies. As it says, Harry had barely known Dumbledore at all. This really is going to be a book of surprising revelations, isn't it? And JKR has kept all this knowledge for so long!
11:00. Oooh yay! There's an Erised reference!
11:05. Rita Skeeter, you cow. What are you doing?! "I've had access to a source most journalists would swap their wands for" - a literary reminder of Voldemort swapping for Lucius's wand. I suspect this source will be Aberforth.
11:10. Very suspicious. I'm glad we've already been shown what a scheming, twisting little liar Rita Skeeter is, otherwise i might have some concerns here. I do have some concerns, but not from what Rita says. I do wonder whether Dumbledore has kept a lot from Harry. It doesn't make sense for Dumbledore to send Harry alone on a quest for the Horcruxes, without any backup from the Order or the Ministry. I also wonder about this supposed dabbling in the Dark Arts. I have wondered if the reason Dumbledore was so fierce about the subject of Horcruxes at Hogwarts was because Dumbledore had once attempted to make one. And there is that quote from Book 1 where Dumbledore apparently has the same powers as Voldemort but is too noble to use them. It gives a suggestion that Dumbledore could have used them at one time. Anyway, we'll find out. Funny how JKR is significantly deepening the mysteries before solving any of them!
11:20. Oooh! Could it be that Harry could still talk to Dumbledore through this fragment of mirror? Coming back to the death quote at the beginning, Dumbledore may not be far away, just a friend across the sea.
Alright, that'll do for tonight. I have plenty of chores to catch up on, not having done any all weekend!