Deathly Hallows, Chapter 4: The Seven Potters

[oneandthetruth.livejournal.com]

Because no one can eat just one. :D

I like the way Harry tries to get Hedwig to take a last look around and remember all the good times they had at 4 Privet Drive. I’m sure Hedwig’s had about as much fun as you did, Harry, what with being stuck in a cage most of the time, ignored by you, and mainly let out to serve your communication needs.

Harry is startled out of his nostalgic musings by a deafening roar. It’s Hagrid on a giant motorcycle, which is no doubt supposed to be parallelism with his arrival in the first chapter of PS/SS. He brought Harry into the muggle world by motorbike, and now he’s taking Harry out of the muggle world the same way.

He is accompanied by several other people on brooms and thestrals. As soon as they land, they drop their Disillusionment charms, yet apparently none of the neighbors, not even the man who heard Harry yelling earlier, notices this tidal wave of noisy strangers suddenly appearing in the Dursleys’ yard. I think a more likely explanation is that the neighbors take the same attitude toward 4PD that people adopt who live near a crack house: Pay no attention to the goings-on there. Pretend everything’s normal. It’s safer that way, for your body and mind.

One of the visitors is Kingsley Shacklebolt. Now wait just a darn minute! In just the previous chapter, Vernon was told Kingsley couldn’t escort him and his family because he was busy guarding “the Muggle Prime Minister.” Yet now he suddenly has all this free time to escort Harry Potter on a dangerous mission?

Oh, I see. This is like that old social dodge where somebody visits somebody else who doesn’t want to see them, and the butler says, “So-and-so is not at home.” What that really means is “So-and-so is not at home to you.” Kingsley is too valuable to waste his time on Harry’s lowly “Muggle” relatives, but Harry himself is important enough to bother with. Kingsley himself confirms this, saying the PM can do without him for one night because “You’re more important.” Yeah, some teenager trapped in the middle of a tiny community’s gang rumble matters more than the political head of a major country’s government.

This is an interesting passage: “Harry’s heart seemed to expand and glow at the sight [of this group.] He felt incredibly fond of all of them, even Mundungus, whom he had tried to strangle the last time they had met.” Like mother, like son. Apparently Harry is like Lily, somebody who cares more about people in the aggregate than specific individuals who might make inconvenient demands on him or her. If anybody wants to object to this, I say, “Look at the evidence.” Lily destroyed her relationship with the last surviving member of her family of origin by bullying Petunia with magic. Even though they’d only been married a short time, her marriage to James was already crumbling when they died, or he wouldn’t have been leaving his wife and kid at home while he sneaked out under his invisibility cloak to have fun.

Look also at Petunia’s treatment of Dudley and Harry: excessively indulgent to one and callously neglectful to the other. Parenting is learned behavior. I think it’s probable that Petunia was reenacting her and Lily’s childhoods with the boys, only in this case, it was the child without magic who got petted and fawned over, and the magical one who was treated with coldness and contempt. Given the one glimpse we have of Harry’s relationship with his parents (the letter and photo to Sirius), it looks like Lily was indulging Harry just as much as Petunia indulged Dudley, and that Severus was right to assume Harry would have been a pampered little princeling under normal circumstances.

“Easy to Be Hard” (written by Galt MacDermot, James Rado, and Gerome Ragni) iis my favorite song from Hair, although the Three Dog Night version is the best. Part of it says:

How can people be so heartless?

How can people be so cruel?

Easy to be hard.

Easy to be cold.

How can people have no feelings?

How can they ignore their friends?

Easy to be proud.

Easy to say no.

Especially people who care about strangers,

Who care about evil and social injustice.

Do you only care about the bleeding crowd?

How about a needing friend?

I need a friend.

It’s no wonder Harry thinks and Lily thought Dumbledore was so great. Albus is another one who has no problem sacrificing individuals, even without their knowledge or consent, for “the greater good.” Lemony Snicket had some choice remarks about this in The Slippery Slope. The youngest Beaudelaire orphan, Sunny, had been captured by Count Olaf and his henchpeople, and her siblings, Violet and Klaus, were trying to get her back. They came up with a plot to capture Olaf’s girlfriend, Esme, by tricking her into falling into a pit and trading her for their sister.

“We wanted to trap you,” Violet said, “so we could trade you for the safe return of Sunny Beaudelaire. But--”

“But you didn’t have the courage to go through with it,” Esme said with a mocking smile.  “You volunteers are never brave enough to do something for the greater good.”

“Throwing people into pits isn’t the greater good!” [their friend] Quigley cried. “It’s villainous treachery!”

“If you weren’t such an idiot,” Esme said, “you’d realize that those things are more or less the same.”

It’s really too bad Rita Skeeter didn’t wait until after the gang rumble war was over to write her biography of Dumbledore. The perfect title would have been Villainous Treachery and “the Greater Good”: Albus Dumbledore’s Life of Lies.

Back to the story:

Moody tells Harry about their silly plan to Polyjuice six people to create Harry decoys. If they’re going that route, why not just Polyjuice everybody? That would be even more confusing. Moody assures Harry, “Even [Voldy] can’t split himself into seven.” I know that’s supposed to be a reference to the Horcruces, but why can’t he? Imagine how confusing it would be if all the DEs were also Polyjuiced to look like Voldemort, although with his apparent alopecia, that might be problematic. Instead of the Battle of the Seven Potters we’d have the Battle of the Fourteen Potters vs. the [How many?] Voldemorts. How cool would that be? A lot cooler than what we got.

Moody also says the DEs know the “the rough position” of 4PD. Since they’ve taken over Hogwarts and have access to student records, why don’t they know the exact address? For that matter, how crummy are their spies, if they don’t even know the home location of the one target it’s essential for them to destroy?

Harry yanks some hair out of his head for the Polyjuice, proving Hermione’s observation that magicals lack logic. I would have gone for my hairbrush. Oh, wait. That assumes Harry actually grooms himself, and we have ample evidence that’s not the case. How silly of me to assume normal standards of cleanliness for the major character in a best-selling book series.

Once Harry’s hair is added, the potion turns gold, which means he really is the Golden Boy. Lame! Moody gives the extra HPs clothes to change into once they’ve transformed. Why can’t they just use size-changing charms on the clothes? Or is that only in fanfic? Moody also has eyeglasses. Where did they get six pairs, all in Harry’s prescription? Duplicating charms? If so, why didn’t they use the same charms on the clothes? This would have been the perfect time to use some of those Transfiguration charms they’ve been studying for six years, and that were never otherwise used in the entire series. I have to agree with Harry that this whole situation is extremely bizarre.

Apparently everybody is as dumb as Harry, since part of their accoutrements is a cage for each containing a stuffed owl (fake, I hope). So nobody thought to say, “Harry, why don’t you let Hedwig fly free? It’ll be a lot safer for her.” Because there would only be one owl then, and she’s so loyal she’d insist on flying near her beloved master? I don’t think so. All Harry would have to do is tell her he was heading for the Burrow. She could fly ahead and wait for him there.

Fleur-as-Harry insists on going with Bill and gives him “a soppy, slavish look that Harry hoped with all his heart would never appear on his face again.” Because a look of hatred and rage directed at Snape, Draco, or whoever, is so much more becoming to the face of a young hero. Besides, I’d gotten the impression Harry already directed “a soppy, slavish look” at Dumbledore every time they were together. At least Fleur’s looking at her future husband that way, not some manipulative, neglectful old geezer. Yet we’re supposed to believe it’s just Rita Skeeter’s dirty mind that led her to suggest there was something, um, inappropriate about the relationship between Harry and Albus.

Harry is assigned to ride in the sidecar of the motorcycle that Hagrid’s driving/flying. Those expansion and contraction charms must exist because we’re assured the bike used to be Sirius’s, and there’s no way he and Hagrid could ride the same size bike. More logical inconsistencies.

Tonks and Lupin have gotten married, so Polyjuiced Ron looks guiltily at Lupin when he puts his hands around Tonks’s waist. Don’t worry, Ron. Remus won’t be jealous. He doesn’t really love her. He was railroaded into this marriage. His true love’s been dead for over a year.

In another piece of idiocy, Moody bellows their ultimate destination, the Burrow, to everybody as he leaves. It’s true Harry is going somewhere else first, but there’s no reason the DEs can’t just go to the Burrow, Disillusion themselves, and wait for Harry to arrive. That’s what I would do, if I were listening.

Even more sensible would be to obtain a couple of black market rocket launchers and just stand on the ground waiting for Harry to fly by. Not sure which Harry is which? Just shoot all of them to be sure. That has the added benefit of taking out several enemy soldiers no matter whom you hit. Good thing I’m not in this book. It would have been over before page 60.

As soon as they get airborne, Harry and company find themselves in the midst of at least 30 DEs, who shoot first and ask questions later. They start shooting AKs right and left, which proves the villains are as dumb as the good guys. Their orders are to capture Harry, not kill him, and in the chaos of a dogfight, there’s no way they could be sure their spells weren’t hitting their quarry, particularly since there were seven of them.

In one of the most gratuitous deaths in the entire series, Hedwig gets killed. I did and do find this really offensive. She was an innocent animal, not a combatant. She had no choice about being in this battle, and thanks to Harry’s stupidity and selfishness, no way to save herself. Her death does nothing to advance the story; it only provides cheap sentiment.

It also provides another logical contradiction: Harry has been neglectful of Hedwig for most of the series, but now we’re supposed to believe he’s so devastated by her death that he can’t even comprehend it. Considering she was a sitting duck--er, owl--trapped in the cage, what did Harry think might happen? I’m tempted to say nobody could be too stupid to anticipate this, but this is Harry Potter I’m talking about, so maybe I’m wrong.

When the DEs attack, Hagrid causes several cartoonish “defenses” to sprout out of the motorcycle, including a brick wall and a giant net. A burst of rocket-like acceleration--dragon fire, because genuine “muggle” rocket boosters would be beneath them, or maybe beyond them--causes them to accelerate so suddenly the sidecar breaks off the bike and starts falling, which gives Harry the chance to finally make himself useful by saving himself with a levitating charm, after which Hagrid snatches him out of the air.

Harry supposedly displays his informed attribute of affection for Hedwig when he explodes the sidecar to keep it from hitting the ground and feels “a dreadful, gut-wrenching pang for Hedwig.” Is that her you’re mourning, or yourself, Harry? She’s already dead. Destroying her body won’t matter to her.

This battle proves the truth of something Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert said years ago on their movie review program: In bad movies, the bad guys shoot dozens of times but never hit the good guys, while the good guys shoot only a few times but always hit their targets.

Voldemort comes after Harry, and for once Harry acts like a normal teenage boy when his wand acts on its own and starts spurting golden fire at Voldemort. Surely I’m not the only one who sees something really gay in this. Harry + Voldy OTP!

The chapter ends with a bang as the motorcycle goes into a nosedive. Harry and Hagrid both crash, Harry into a lake and Hagrid onto the ground.

Comments

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/Kingsley himself confirms this, saying the PM can do without him for one night because “You’re more important.” Yeah, some teenager trapped in the middle of a tiny community’s gang rumble matters more than the political head of a major country’s government./

I think that this may be why so many people scoff at Chosen Ones in fiction nowadays. Even when there are people who are, realistically speaking, more important than the heroes in their given world, the heroes are still always the first priority, even when it doesn’t make sense.

Although it would be an interesting AU idea if Voldemort *did* kidnap and/or murder the Muggle Prime Minister. There could have been so many consequences and ramifications for the wizarding world and its status with the mundane world from that one action alone.

/I think it’s probable that Petunia was reenacting her and Lily’s childhoods with the boys, only in this case, it was the child without magic who got petted and fawned over, and the magical one who was treated with coldness and contempt./

Yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case.

/Because a look of hatred and rage directed at Snape, Draco, or whoever, is so much more becoming to the face of a young hero./

No, Fleur should have given Bill a “hard, blazing look” à la Ginny instead. Maybe Harry would have found that less embarrassing.

/He was railroaded into this marriage./

I did think that Molly and the others were wrong to basically peer-pressure Remus into giving in and marrying her, but why didn’t he just say no? If he truly didn’t think that he was ready to marry Tonks or thought that the consequences would be too much for her, why didn’t he just settle for dating her instead, rather than marrying her and then having a child with her? All of his concerns about getting into a relationship with Tonks were valid, so why didn’t he turn away from a marriage when he could? On the one hand, I don’t want to put the blame on the marriage solely on Tonks and make it seem as if Remus was a powerless puppet because it’s not like she physically dragged him to the altar (as far as we know). Lupin did have a choice. But on the other hand, he just seems so apathetic to the idea that I don’t know what JKR was thinking. If he and Tonks were supposed to be a great couple, why is Remus never enthusiastic or happy whenever he’s in the same scene with Tonks?

/Voldemort comes after Harry, and for once Harry acts like a normal teenage boy when his wand acts on its own and starts spurting golden fire at Voldemort./

But once again, this is something that Harry’s *wand* does, not Harry himself. Harry doesn’t even have to think or react; his wand just beats Voldemort for him. Now, this did happen before in GoF during the graveyard scene, but that was three books ago. Why can’t Harry try to defend himself from Voldemort on *purpose,* with his own skills and his own initiative? This is the last book. We should see some sign of Harry trying to hold his own against Voldemort.

/In another piece of idiocy, Moody bellows their ultimate destination, the Burrow, to everybody as he leaves./

Thus ruining their whole plan to fool the Death Eaters.

[hwyla.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't say that a plan against the Prime Minister was AU. I feel very sure that an assassination attempt was alluded to in the beginning of the previous book. Kingsley's stint as undercover secretary begins right after one of the muggle junior ministers was taken to St Mungos for treatment (quacking like a duck and trying to strangle everyone). However, presumably Voldy has given up on this after a year of Kingsley's watch - which only makes it even more outrageous that he would leave his post to help with this plot.

And that bit about Moody telling everyone where to meet up? Why in the world didn't Remus & Kingsley (who both made it a priority to check that someone was who they said they were AFTER the chase) insist that Moody prove it was really him? Makes so little sense to check someone's identity after the whole episode is over instead of when someone is actually acting strange BEFORE the risky plan.

[wolf-willow31.livejournal.com]

I did think that Molly and the others were wrong to basically peer-pressure Remus into giving in and marrying her, but why didn’t he just say no?

Remus was a total wimp. He knuckled under to social pressure when he was a Prefect and he chose to ignore Sirius and James attacking young Snape in SWM, so it's no surprise that he wasn't going to stand up to anyone about Tonks, either.

A powerless puppet? No, just unwilling to make a difficult choice. It's so much easier to go along with the crowd. Apathetic? Yes. Pathetic, too.

[oryx_leucoryx]

The purpose of Hedwig's death was to serve as yet another reason the trio was isolated during the camping trip - no mail service. But then, Pigwidgeon was at the Burrow all year, wasn't he? Why didn't anybody use him to contact the trio?

The self-firing wand - it is worse than in GOF. There the wand acted after Harry did something (Expeliarmus), and Harry was an active participant in the battle between the two wands. Here once the wand starts firing Harry is completely passive.

Thanks for pointing out the flaws in the plan and execution, as well as the stupid character moments.

You didn't mention all the DEs Harry killed that night, but Terri already picked those apart in an essay.

[night-axe.livejournal.com]

From a Doylist perspective Remus/Tonks is hilarious. It's like the author made a bunch of her characters draw straws for the job of marrying and producing a war orphan. Lupin got the short straw and he's digging in his heels and shaking his head at JKR like a dog that doesn't want to go walkies. Marry a hot young woman? Hasn't he suffered enough?

[night-axe.livejournal.com]

Tonks and Lupin have gotten married, so Polyjuiced Ron looks guiltily at Lupin when he puts his hands around Tonks’s waist.

Not Ron's finest moment. If he's concerned about treating Tonks respectfully while his arms are wrapped around her his first thought shouldn't be whether it looks like sexual harassment to her husband. Frankly, that's how skeevers think (Does she have an owner? Is he watching right now?)

Speaking of Tonks. Wouldn't it be pretty cool if there was someone who could transform into Harry without using Polyjuice? Someone with combat training? No? Okay then. Clearly the main thing with a Metamorphmagus is to keep her from ever using her powers so the other side won't suspect you've got this awesome resource.

In one of the most gratuitous deaths in the entire series, Hedwig gets killed. I did and do find this really offensive. She was an innocent animal, not a combatant. She had no choice about being in this battle, and thanks to Harry’s stupidity and selfishness, no way to save herself.

Agreed. Hedwig wasn't exactly the greatest magical pet character ever, but I hate that the people who were supposed to look after her got her killed through sheer brainlessness.

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/Wouldn't it be pretty cool if there was someone who could transform into Harry without using Polyjuice? Someone with combat training? No? Okay then. Clearly the main thing with a Metamorphmagus is to keep her from ever using her powers so the other side won't suspect you've got this awesome resource./

Do you think that JKR forgot that Tonks could change her appearance? Or that she just didn’t realize how useful a Metamorphagus could be in the war effort? Seriously, *why* wasn’t there a scene of Tonks pretending to be Harry or Voldemort or Dumbledore or *somebody* in order to fool the Death Eaters or infiltrate the Ministry? What’s the point of having such a useful power if it’s never going to be used in the moments when it would count the most?

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

Moody also says the DEs know the “the rough position” of 4PD. Since they’ve taken over Hogwarts and have access to student records, why don’t they know the exact address? For that matter, how crummy are their spies, if they don’t even know the home location of the one target it’s essential for them to destroy?

Another don't-think-about-it wave-your-hands plot hole by Rowling.

Fleur-as-Harry insists on going with Bill and gives him “a soppy, slavish look that Harry hoped with all his heart would never appear on his face again.” Because a look of hatred and rage directed at Snape, Draco, or whoever, is so much more becoming to the face of a young hero.

Aww, come on, that was actually *funny*! Well, amusing.

In one of the most gratuitous deaths in the entire series, Hedwig gets killed. I did and do find this really offensive. She was an innocent animal, not a combatant. She had no choice about being in this battle, and thanks to Harry’s stupidity and selfishness, no way to save herself. Her death does nothing to advance the story; it only provides cheap sentiment.

I never felt *that* bad about Hedwig. Not at the beat-one's-chest / 'offended' level. Maybe because, even at this stage of the book, I was already starting to disengage, the stupidity was just too much. Innocents *do* get killed in battles, you know. Even stupid battles.

Sure, Harry should have let Hedwig loose. But there are heaps of things Harry should have been doing, had he been a real hero or in any way proactive, rather than just waiting for his author to give him more 'get out of jail free' cards.

This is one of those things which the movie really highlighted and helped to prove nonsensical, isn't it? They way they rewrote Rowling's handling of Hedwig's death made for much better drama.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

But then, Pigwidgeon was at the Burrow all year, wasn't he? Why didn't anybody use him to contact the trio?

Presumably one of the wards that Hermione cast was something that blocked post owls. Otherwise one could grab any magical owl and address a letter to 'Harry Potter'.

That self-firing wand was just a horrible horrible deus ex machina device. Rowling must be ashamed. Well, I can't conceive of any intelligent author not being so.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Then her spell must have been more selective than a Fidelius Charm, because School owls arrive at 12GP when it is under FC.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

... because School owls arrive at 12GP when it is under FC.

Really. Oh, I love it.

Well, maybe that isn't an error. I know I've read fan fiction stories where the bad guys addressed a letter to HP and then just tracked the owl to the victim. Maybe a Fidelius would stop them - somehow - from performing that tracking. The protection of the secret trumping the 'knowledge' of what they're doing. Why are we tracking this owl, again? The Fidelius wouldn't allow them to recall that it was to find Harry's hiding place ... once they had, in fact, found it.

But since Hermione probably *didn't* cast a Fidelius over the tent then she'd need to cast something to stop those post owls.

It does make some sort of sense, I think. If the Fidelius trumps all else then post owls might be allowed to deliver mail. But if you're NOT using a Fidelius then you're forced to counter specific angles of attack (that the Fidelius would have covered).

So yes, I dare so most or all warding spells are 'more selective' than a Fidelius. The Fidelius protects the secret, it doesn't matter how you might try and discern it - tracking postal owls included.

Take away the Fidelius and you've got to cast specific counters against specific attacks.

Of course Rowling never thought of any of this.

[night-axe.livejournal.com]

Well, at a guess I'd say JKR gave her cool, hip new character a random cool power without thinking the implications through. Coming up with a plan to use Tonks' powers to trick DEs might seem like an obvious tactic, but evidently it's more proactive than the author is comfortable with. If she wanted the good guys to take the war to Voldemort the series finale would be something other than Harry Potter Sits On His Ass, Vol. I-II.

[dracasadiablo.livejournal.com]

Ah, this chapter.
When I was reading DH for the first time this was The Chapter That Killed All Hope for me.

Up until this I shuddered and rolled my eyes at things but was still hopefully that the book might improve.
And then came this kink (seven Harry Potters, getting naked and paired off with everybody in sight) and crack (Looney Tunes like bike) fic hybrid. With a added bonus of horrible "I'm being noble and nonviolent by making people fall to their death" morality.

After that all hope was gone and I was sure things won't get better.

[dracasadiablo.livejournal.com]

From a Doylist perspective Remus/Tonks is hilarious. It's like the author made a bunch of her characters draw straws for the job of marrying and producing a war orphan.

That and "take that!" to Remus/Sirius shippers.

[oryx_leucoryx]

So who else was in the drawing? Kingsley? Dedalus and Hestia?

[sunnyskywalker]

The obvious candidates would be Bill and Fleur, but she probably couldn't bear to kill of another Weasley. I suppose to conserve Weasley deaths that Fred and Angelina could have done the wizarding equivalent of going to the courthouse over the summer (or the day after Bill and Fleur's wedding - zomg the Ministry has fallen! let's elope immediately!) and had a little joke shop heir right away. They were what, 19 or 20 years old by then?

Um... Oliver Wood?

[oryx_leucoryx]

Why conserve Weasley deaths? I was expecting to see half of that family gone by the end of the book, but all Rowling could do was take one twin and a bit of another.

[oryx_leucoryx]

The whole purpose of Tonks' power was to have something that would be obvious when she loses it. A quick indicator of her mental state.

[hwyla.livejournal.com]

You know - personally - I would MUCH rather die by an AK and THEN fall to the ground, than to feel the fear all the way down and then die by hitting the ground. Then again I have a fear of falling from a height.

But I think that JKR meant us to think that IF Harry knocked a DE off his broom with an Expelliramus, it didn't necessarily mean he had killed him. After all, Harry & Hagrid live through their crash. So - Harry is supposedly being compassionate, even though I think he's actually being MORE cruel.

[dracasadiablo.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's still noble because DE are stunned and unaware of the fall? They still get splattered but they aren't afraid during the the way down?
That probably makes it all o.k.

Oh, well that's possible too.
I'd like to think JKR have some respect for out intelligence and wouldn't expect us to imagine a bunch of ponds (btw, a stunned person could easily drown) perfectly placed to save all of them.
But after reading all of the DH doubt it.

[sunnyskywalker]

Well, I'd have been all for killing off half the Weasleys, but given that JKR chickened out of killing Arthur two books ago, I'm surprised that she even could bring herself to kill Fred, frankly. And that was probably only because she never distinguished him much from George, so it was like killing a spare. (Draw any parallels you like there...) So if she wanted some young couple other than Remus and Tonks to have a baby and die, and didn't want to kill both Bill and another Weasley because it would make her too sad to write, the logical solution would be to push one of the Weasley twins into a quickie marriage and then kill him.

I think killing Bill and Fred would have worked better, mind. But hey, options for wimpy writers!

[sunnyskywalker]

Not to mention, even if you do get lucky and hit a convenient pond, hitting water at high speed isn't exactly a soft landing...

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

Volumes I through what?

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

Fortunately, he was offered a plane ride.

Unfortunately, the plane's engine failed.....

...

Fortunately, there was a haystack..

Unfortunately, there was a fork sticking out.

Fortunately, he missed the fork.

Unfortunately, he missed the stack.


Anyone but me remember that children's joke book?

[hwyla.livejournal.com]

Maybe I've forgotten, but was Harry actually stunning anyone? I thought he was using Expeliramus? which should just disarm them if there isn't a great deal of force put into it. IF I remember correctly, Harry even complained that stunning them was as good as killing them because of the fall.

But considering the way Harry pretty much yells every spell he has ever learned, it is most likely that expeliramus will knock a conscious wizard right off their broomstick and they would therefore be quite aware of their fall all the way down.

[night-axe.livejournal.com]

Oh, sorry, that was misleading. The decline from Book 5 is so steep that I tend to think of the last two books as a unit: Volume I and II of the new, totally plotless HP.

[oryx_leucoryx]

He only disarmed Stan Shunpike. Before that he sent 'stunner after stunner' at some of the black-robed attackers, as well as Impedimenta. And we are told that some of the attackers fell. He must have killed at least 3 people in this battle, IIRC. Hagrid also killed one or two, Ron stunned Rodolphus Lestrange in midair (so must have killed him too), and Kingsley may have killed one of the five that attacked him and Hermione.

[oryx_leucoryx]

If you look at Terri's essay - “The Seven Potters” Fight: Remorseless Killers Versus Conscience-Hampered Heroes - from June 8th 2011 (on Death to Capslock) you can find the breakdown of the spells and other magic employed by Harry and Hagrid in the battle, and their likely effects.