Chapter 27 :: The Lightning-Struck Tower

[monkeyshine4616]

Sorry about the timing. Too much on my plate at the moment. I completely forgot that I had a summary to do until I saw Chapter 26 on my f-list. So so sorry. *begs for forgiveness*Harry apparates himself and Dumbledore back to Hogsmeade after the adventure in the cave. Harry notices Dumbledore isn't feeling so hot, so he tells Dumbledore that they'

Comments

oh, yay, exposition

[cadesama]

So, even with the Dark Mark hanging over Hogwarts, there might be teachers inside who don't realize what's up? Hogwarts security really, really sucks.

Dumbledore muttering in a "strange language" -- hint that Harry will have to learn foreign magic to win? Possible implication of global travel?

So, the way that Dumbledore saw through Harry's invisibility cloak in PS/SS apparently wasn't Legilimency, since Draco can't detect Harry's presence there.

Dumbledore's argument here is pretty feeble. Draco is only anything less than a murderer by accident. The necklace and the poison in the mead were meant to be fatal. If neither Ron nor Kattie had gotten medical attention immediately would they have survived? Probably not. Putting a land mine in front of the wrong house doesn't make it any less deadly. No matter what rationalizations Draco may have chanted to himself, his actions were deadly and his reprieve in each instance is an accident at best

Re: oh, yay, exposition

[cyber_fay]

Dumbledore's argument here is pretty feeble. Draco is only anything less than a murderer by accident. The necklace and the poison in the mead were meant to be fatal. If neither Ron nor Kattie had gotten medical attention immediately would they have survived? Probably not. Putting a land mine in front of the wrong house doesn't make it any less deadly. No matter what rationalizations Draco may have chanted to himself, his actions were deadly and his reprieve in each instance is an accident at best

Re: oh, yay, exposition

[cadesama]

Oh, agree, and I think Dumbledore was probably right to assume he was fairly safe in the situation as long as he kept the ball in Draco's court. But I don't like the whole "Draco, you aren't a killer" thing. It's really misleading, and it could just be more of Dumbledore's patter while he tries to talk Draco down, but I think the fact that he never moved against the attempted murderer in their midst sort of belies that.

Re: oh, yay, exposition

[cyber_fay]

but I think the fact that he never moved against the attempted murderer in their midst sort of belies that.

Yeah, I wondered about that, too.
If he knew that Draco was the one spreading havoc in Hogwarts, why didn't DD do something about him sooner? I may be stretching the argument here, but maybe Dumbledore chose to keep Draco around in order to learn (by Legilimency or whatever) more about Voldemort's plans, methods of hiring, current preoccupations, etc - after all, Harry is being blocked out and cannot help him any longer. I know that at this point he has Snape for that, but the more information the better and Snape is also an expert Occlumens. So Dumbledore probably thought that he could manage everything Draco could pull out, and so he kept him around for the sake of information. And then hubris was the cause of his fault. Yeah, I know that now I'm just being mean :)

[rainfletcher]

My first reaction, in all honesty, was something along the lines of: "Hmm, I don't think we'll see any seventh-year fanfics that use the Astronomy Tower for a snogging spot..."

Many of Dumble's actions leading up to this merely confused me, but his immobilization of Harry just made me mad. It seemed like a cheap way to play out the whole melodrama "on-camera" and little else. I guess I'm getting sick and tired of the times Harry is forced to play the role of bystander as the plot unfolds around him. Right up until the end, we're left to believe that Dumbledore knows exactly what's "best" for Harry and acts on this knowledge.

Maybe I was just feeling pissy by this time, but I came away feeling as though Harry had been emasculated yet again. Here more than ever I could hear the grinding of the plot mechanisms: we had to get Dumbledore killed, and we had to have Harry unable to act. Meh.

[cadesama]

Yeah, that made me twitchy too, especially when you think of just how dangerous that was for Harry. Being immobilized in the company of DEs? Not a good thing for the Chosen One. I'm sure Dumbledore was convinced that none of the DEs would bump into Harry and notice that he was there, or that a spell would gust by and make the cloak slip . . . oh, and of course if that happened Dumbledore would have the time to unfreeze Harry, or be able to protect him adequately. Ugh. It's just such an awful things to do.

[madderbrad]

I read the first chapter of a fanfic just now which had (an alive Dumbledore!!!) stating "yes, I was worried about that bit, I was afraid that Fenrir would *smell* Harry's scent with his keen werewolf senses"! Bloody big gamble, wasn't it?

Lucky things turned out the way JKR had planned ...

[madderbrad]

we had to get Dumbledore killed, and we had to have Harry unable to act.

I guess this is a real limitation of JKR's writing the book from Harry's perspective; since the readers can only see what Harry sees then he had to be present for Dumbledore's death; yet in such a way that "Dumbledore's man" wouldn't affect the outcome. Poor ineffectual Harry!

[house_elf_44]

Up until this re-read, I only suspected that Dumbledore's death was faked to create a twist. Now I see a parallel to it at the beginning of the chapter, reinforcing my hope. And there's also the possibility of irony in that Sirius was really dead, and Harry was sure he wasn't, contrasted with Dumbledore not really being dead, and Harry being sure he was. This would be self-deception to go with Jo's target of perfection that is Emma

[house_elf_44]

I forgot to mention the Fawkes factor. In the Chamber of Secrets, Harry's loyalty unknowingly called Fawkes to help him. I find it hard to believe that Fawkes wouldn't have come to Dumbledore's assistance on the tower, unless Dumbledore didn't want him to.

[shocolate]

And look how quickly Fawkes flashed to London to take the AK for Dumbledore in the Ministry!!!

[muggle_prof]

When Draco enters, Harry hears one spell, but sees the effects of another spell. I think it's the same thing at the end of the chapter. Snape said "Avada Kedavra" without meaning it, and cast another spell non-verbally to send Dumbledore flying up and over the rampart. Avada Kedavra doesn't do that. Draco's Expelliarmus made Dumbledore's wand fly up and over the rampart. So the best suspect for the NV spell seems to be Expelliarmus, but I haven't found canon saying it's light is green. It's been stressed that Snape is excellent at mind control, so he is capable of doing this.Actually I agree with all your points, but we should point out that when Draco enters, he utters one spell while Dumbledore does the other silently; whereas at the end, Snape would have to do both simultaenously

[pilly2009]

I was a little spoiled for this chapter, so I can't exactly claim shock, but wow

[house_elf_44]

Malfoy seeing Harry there would have prevented him from softening and taking the deal. Also, Dumbledore didn't know yet who was coming up the stairs, so there was a the risk Harry would be killed or captured by Death Eaters.

[woman_ironing]

Yes, and that Harry and Malfoy would kill each other!

[vorrothiel]

When Dumbledore died, I laughed.

And laughed. And laughed.

And then realized I was in the car with my family and they were staring at me strangely.

And Dumblegod should've been teaching Harry some better spells, if Severus can deflect them so easily. And the Aurors were casting silly jinxes? The Jelly=Leg Lock? Oh my. And the Death Eaters were casting the freaking Killing Curse.