Deathly Hallows, Chapter 14: The Thief

[oneandthetruth.livejournal.com]

When Harry comes to, he’s in some strange woods with Ron and Hermione. All three are changing back into themselves. Hermione is okay--of course, because the boys couldn’t survive without her--but Ron has Splinched. (I have to say, Rowling is very good at coming up with these silly sounding words.) With typical thoughtlessness, Harry has always considered Splinching a joke--until he sees his friend lying on the ground, gushing blood from a big chunk that’s been taken out of his arm.

Hermione puts Dittany on the wound to close it and explains how they got there: Yaxley grabbed onto her when they left, so when they landed, he was taken inside the Fidelius on 12GP. When she realized that, she Apparated them elsewhere to get away. She blames herself, but Harry both honorably and honestly says it’s his fault. See, Harry? I knew you should have Stunned Yaxley again before you took off.

Hermione explains she’s taken them to where the Quidditch World Cup took place. She casts safety charms around the clearing they’re in while Harry gets a tent out of her bag. Of course, she’s the one who has to actually set it up with a spell. Remind me why Harry’s the star and hero of these books again? It’s one thing for the hero to need help from his friends. It’s another thing entirely when he can’t even function successfully without them.

Ron urges Harry not to use the “V” word because “it just feels like a--a jinx or something.” We’re almost 300 pages into the seventh book, and this is the first time the idea of Voldemort’s name being, not just scary, but actually dangerous, has come up. I know people have always avoided using it, but that always came across to me more as wimpiness than legitimate fearfulness. That's particularly true since Rowling harps on how this gang rumble is just like World War II, and the Allies didn't just speak Hitler's name; they ridiculed everything about him every chance they got. We see nothing like that kind of courage in Rowling's wimpy wizards and witches--not even among the "brave of heart" Gryffindors.

This is where I’m really getting the feeling Rowling is making it up as she goes along: “Let’s see, I have to get them out of 12GP, or there won’t be enough action and adventure, so I’ll have that screwup with Yaxley. Then I’ll have to get them captured by the DEs, so I’ll--I’ll--what’ll I do? I know! I’ll put a trace on Voldemort’s name! Then I’ll have Harry say it at some point. That’ll do it! He’ll get to show his proud, defiant spirit, and get them captured at the same time! Of course, that also makes him look really stupid, but we already know Hermione’s the brains of this outfit. Besides, if people wanted intellectual stimulation, they’d be reading Lemony Snicket.” Either that’s what happened, or JKR wrote the scenes where the Trio is captured and tortured, then had to retcon a reason for it. Either way, it’s very clumsy writing.

Ron is too weak to walk into the tent, so Harry and Hermione half-carry and half-drag him. Why don’t they use a levitation charm? If they’re just going to haul him around, they might as well be useless “muggles.”

The two Hs belatedly tell Ron they’ve gotten the locket, and the three discuss whether it’s still a Horcrux. Hermione fixes some tea, which she of course has on hand, being British. There’s no other food, however, since they weren’t expecting to have to go on the run. She also collects and cooks some mushrooms, but they don’t go over well. She and Harry takes turns keeping watch all night.

As Harry sits outside, he understandably has a lot of gloomy thoughts. To his credit, he worries about Kreacher and hopes the DEs don’t torture him. He even has doubts about Dumbledore and wonders again why he didn’t give Harry more useful information. Harry is hungry, tired, and scared, but of course we find out later his feelings are caused by the Evil Locket, not for any normal reason such as, oh, not eating since morning, being up all day, and barely escaping attacking Death Eaters.

Suddenly, he has another Voldie-vision of Gregorovitch being questioned. The wand maker says the Elder Wand was stolen from him years ago, but Voldy doesn’t believe him. He says, “Do not lie to Lord Voldemort, Gregorovitch. He knows...He always knows.”

When I read that, I thought, Oh, no. Rowling didn’t really do that. Compare that line with a scene in one of my favorite movies, A Christmas Story. Ralphie has just seen Santa in the local department store.

Father: Did you see Santa Claus?

Ralphie: Yeah.

Father: Did you tell him what you wanted for Christmas?

Ralphie: Yeah.

Father: Did he ask you if you’d been a good boy all year?

Ralphie: No.

Father: Don’t worry. He knows. He always knows. (Emphasis in original.)

So now Voldemort is Santa Claus? You know, I just realized this, but--Voldemort looks almost like the Grinch. The flat, almost noseless face, the red eyes, the slit of a mouth--he’s just white instead of green, like the Grinch. And he’s really mean and enjoys ruining other people’s fun, like the Grinch does.

I know his problem! He wasn’t born an evil psychopath--he was born with a heart two sizes too small. He just needs a heart transplant, and he’ll be fine. Either that, or to have a bunch of Whos sing Christmas carols to him.

Think what a fanfic that would be: How Voldemort Stole Britain. I never liked Dr. Seuss much, but I might have to write that. Somebody else would have to illustrate it, though.

Oh, no. I just thought of something else. Both Voldy and the Grinch have animals they make dress up as other species to help them carry out their nefarious plans on Christmas Eve. Voldy has a snake he orders to disguise herself as a dead woman to lure Harry and Hermione into the dead woman’s home so Voldy can capture (steal) Harry. The Grinch has a dog he dresses up as a reindeer so the Grinch can enter the Whos’ homes and steal their Christmas presents, decorations, and food.

So now Rowling is ripping off Dr. Seuss? That’s sad. That’s really sad. It’s possible the similarity of plot is a coincidence, but if it is, it’s a remarkable one. It’s also possible Rowling heard/read/saw the story years ago and forgot about it, then wrote her own version of it without realizing she was using the same plot devices. Other authors have done the same thing.

Anyway, the Dull Lord Legilimizes Gregorovitch and sees the theft of the Elder Wand. Harry recognizes but can’t place the hot blond young male thief. Interestingly enough, Harry likens the young man--whose identity we know because we’ve finished the book--to Fred and George because of his air of “triumphant trickery.” So there you have it, folks. It’s canon that the twins strongly resemble a genocidal maniac and would-be totalitarian dictator. Tell me again how “harmless” and “fun” they are.

Harry yells, which wakes Hermione. He tries to lie and say he was only dreaming, but she calls him on it and lectures him again about Occlumency. In a display of sarcasm that would become that other wizard she’s often paired with in fanfic, she says that if he’s falling asleep at his post, she’d better take over the watch. Harry goes in the tent and tells Ron what he saw. They discuss it, and both go to sleep.

Comments

[oryx_leucoryx]

Did Hermione pack a book about identifying edible mushrooms? Did she go mushrooming with her parents on a regular basis? Because misidentifying mushrooms is not the kind of mistake one wants to make. (Or maybe she was trying to destroy the Harrycrux on the sly.)

Why can't Harry identify young Gellert when he saw his picture in Umbridge's office that day? (Thanks for the reminder of the Gellert/twins similarity. Maybe the only reason the twins haven't become overlords is the lack of Elder Wand?)

[guardians-song.livejournal.com]

Heh. No, I think they just haven't gotten far enough. Remember, Gellert had Albus coaching him for two months on how to properly present himself in society. If Rowling ever reveals in an interview that Hermione has collaborated with George on any projects, prepare to hail the Lord Weasley.

A topic of interesting speculation for the Snapefans around here may be the similarity between Gellert and Sirius... Cruciating a meddlesome peer, attempting to feed him to a werewolf, what's the difference?
Come to think of it, they would both have been sixteen when they pulled off their respective felonies, wouldn't they?

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/With typical thoughtlessness, Harry has always considered Splinching a joke--until he sees his friend lying on the ground, gushing blood from a big chunk that’s been taken out of his arm./

I thought that this was supposed to represent how things were darker now and how innocuous-sounding features of the wizarding world would prove to be much worse than they seemed. But this is the book where Harry, Ron, and Hermione get to the Ministry through toilets, so there goes that idea.

/Hermione puts Dittany on the wound to close it/

So, why couldn’t she do that for Snape? Did she run out of Dittany by the time that she and Ron and Harry ran to the Shrieking Shack?

/We’re almost 300 pages into the seventh book, and this is the first time the idea of Voldemort’s name being, not just scary, but actually dangerous, has come up./

It’s a shame that JKR didn’t use this idea earlier in the books since then everyone’s avoidance of Voldemort’s name would make sense. But as others have pointed out in earlier posts, why does the name Voldemort have negative consequences if you say it and not Tom Riddle? After all, it was the identity of Tom Riddle that Voldemort was trying to make everyone forget, not his assumed persona.

/The flat, almost noseless face, the red eyes, the slit of a mouth--he’s just white instead of green, like the Grinch./

Actually, the Grinch was originally gray and white in the book, so your comparison is more apt than you realize. :)

/It’s canon that the twins strongly resemble a genocidal maniac and would-be totalitarian dictator. Tell me again how “harmless” and “fun” they are./

Yeah, I’m not really sure where JKR was going with the hero/enemy comparisons in this book. First, she compares Fred and George to Gellert Grindelwald and then later she writes that Bellatrix reminded Harry of Ginny during the scene where Voldemort kills him.

[guardians-song.livejournal.com]

/But this is the book where Harry, Ron, and Hermione get to the Ministry through toilets, so there goes that idea. /
Yes, JKR can't quite get her story straight in this book about whether it's supposed to be Darker and Edgier or cutesy and idealistic. This reaches outright disgusting levels in The Missing Mirror, The Prince's Tale, and King's Cross in particular. I suppose I could shorten it by saying it's worst whenever genuine helplessness and suffering is brushed off without a second thought...

/So, why couldn’t she do that for Snape? Did she run out of Dittany by the time that she and Ron and Harry ran to the Shrieking Shack? /
I took it as being because the wounds went too deep and too close to major arteries in Snape's case. ...Admittedly, I have a tendency to try to patch over plot holes without realizing it.

/After all, it was the identity of Tom Riddle that Voldemort was trying to make everyone forget, not his assumed persona./
Um... maybe "Tom Riddle" being Tabooed would make it an open secret, with nobody saying the name and everyone writing it? I'm not sure. Even Hagrid thought he could have written down "Voldemort" if he could have spelled it, so it apparently doesn't affect writing.

Hard to say. The BIGGEST issue is DUMBLEDORE never making the Riddle identity public, but that's going off-topic. :\

/Actually, the Grinch was originally gray and white in the book, so your comparison is more apt than you realize. :)/
I personally see Voldemort as the snake-like creature on the DH cover... as opposed to the advanced Michael Jackson of the movies. It makes him slightly scarier.

/First, she compares Fred and George to Gellert Grindelwald and then later she writes that Bellatrix reminded Harry of Ginny during the scene where Voldemort kills him. /
*sporfle* Yes, that's a classic. The deadlyhollow sporkings also commented that Harry acted like Voldemort in a few scenes where he wasn't supposed to do so (his "You owe me, Pettigrew!" being one of them).

Jokes aside, Harry's most unfortunate comparison in this book is to Ariana... because it does fit. And, if not for some bizarre wandlore, he would have ended up equally dead...

[t0ra-chan.livejournal.com]

With typical thoughtlessness, Harry has always considered Splinching a joke--until he sees his friend lying on the ground, gushing blood from a big chunk that’s been taken out of his arm.

Well, that's because it's mostly treated as such. When Susan Bones splinches herself in HBP it leaves her shaken, but there is no mention of blood, despite the fact that she loses a whole leg. But suddenly it's this horrible thing that could kill you.

As for for Voldemort's name suddenly being jinxed, if wizards where actually smart they would use it to their advantage. Have a bunch of people hide and one in the open, who says the name and then over-power the snatchers that will appear together. I mean, there aren't that many, it's only three guys who appear and capture the trio. That way you get rid of Voldemort's followers and you could question them about his whereabouts. But that would require the magical folks to a) be smart and b) work together.

[hwyla.livejournal.com]

To add another 'gun' to Chekov's armory, we have the Weasley Twins and the scene towards the end of bk4, where Harry gives them his prize money as start-up cash for their joke shop. Harry very specifically says that with Voldie back people are going to need something to laugh about. There was a great deal of speculation that they would invent weapons for the war, yet we never see the twins come up with anything except practical jokes. And in fact, one of their products is used by Draco to let the DEs into Hogwarts on bk6

[dracasadiablo.livejournal.com]

In "The Dresden Files" books another wizard named Harry have a tendency to call evil wizards in evil black robes : "Dark masters of evil bathrobes".
And using humor and ridicule every time he's outclassed by his opponents. In hopes of confusing them and stoping himself for getting too scared.

But I suppose JKR wanted Voldemort to be super dark, evil and scary and couldn't allow people making fun of him.

[dracasadiablo.livejournal.com]

Ron urges Harry not to use the “V” word because “it just feels like a--a jinx or something.”

It's weak. She could have done that much better.
Ron is from a wizarding family and if would be perfectly understandable if he knew things Harry and Hermione didn't.
He could have told them that his dad used to talk about never saying that name because it's unlucky or even told them a fairy tale about a long ago dark wizard who cursed his name or something like that. It could have even tied in with the Beedle the Bard subplot.

Not just left it at " I'm having a feeling" thing.

[maidofkent.livejournal.com]

Perhaps she learned the info from the book they have to read for Potions in first year, 'One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi' - assuming there's a cross-over with plain old Muggle fungi.

Hermione fixes some tea, which she of course has on hand, being British. There’s no other food, however, since they weren’t expecting to have to go on the run.

I know it's a minor point, but this also makes no sense. We're not so fixated on tea that we carry a kettle and teabags with us as a matter of course. If it was a day trip and she wanted tea, she would have packed a thermos flask, though it doesn't seem likely that they'd take a tea break in the middle of infiltrating the Ministry. Packing tea bags and kettle is long term absence planning - and If they've got tea, she would also think of milk (I can't see Ron being an Earl Grey sort of guy), and milk leads to thoughts of biscuits and to food in general.

[night-axe.livejournal.com]

Hermione puts Dittany on the wound to close it

Does she ever cast the spells she mentions that would "put him completely right"? New skin or not I'd expect Ron to have trouble using his arm while it's missing a large slice of muscle and nerve tissue.

Of course, she’s the one who has to actually set it up with a spell. Remind me why Harry’s the star and hero of these books again? It’s one thing for the hero to need help from his friends. It’s another thing entirely when he can’t even function successfully without them.

Harry hardly ever learns a spell unless it's going to be a plot point. He's always treated magic like any other school subject. Why strain himself? He's not even embarrassed how little useful magic he knows compared to Hermione. They're still stuck in the old roles of slacker vs. overachiever and he hasn't noticed it's not about homework anymore. Harry is legally adult. To be a functional member of his society he needs to learn some damn magic. But he's acting like a spoiled manchild who doesn't know how to operate the washer because his mama did all that stuff for him until his girlfriend took over.

The Voldegrinch is brilliant, btw. You're absolutely right about the parallels, though Voldemort only wishes he was as cool or as deep as the Grinch.

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

The Camping Trip from Heck. Choreographed by Phil, the Prince of Insufficient Light. Tour guide to torment of those whose imaginations are too limited to come up with the biggest sins and concommitant rewards for wrongdoing.

[wolf-willow31.livejournal.com]

'One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi'

They may be flavorful and packed with interesting phytochemicals, but fungi (including "magic" mushrooms) don't contain much in the way of carbohydrates or protein, so they wouldn't be very useful for staving off hunger.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Yaxley grabbed onto her when they left, so when they landed, he was taken inside the Fidelius on 12GP.

You know what, this makes no sense. In chapter 11 (or was it 12?) the kids were making great effort to Apparate directly onto the porch in front of the door of 12GP, despite the fact that they were risking being glimpsed by the DEs if the invisibility cloak slipped a bit. So I thought they did this because it wasn't possible to Apparate directly into the Fidelius-protected area, But in that case there shouldn't have been a problem with Yaxley, as long as they didn't actually open the door and drag him in. Just wait a while and Apparate to the front porch again, and if the coast is clear enter the house. But if bringing him to the front porch already reveals the Secret to him then it is possible to Apparate into the Fidelius-protected area - so why were the kids bothering with the porch for an entire month? Why not designate one of the rooms for entering by Apparition (so as to avoid landing on top of their friends), thus avoiding the risk of being seen by the DEs in the street?

[hwyla.livejournal.com]

Since Harry couldn't see #12 at all until he read the note from Dumbledore (including the front porch), then the porch is part of the building under Fidelius. It never made sense to me that they even bothered with the cloak, unless it was because since the secret was the location of Order Headquarters and they never were actually members of the Order then they would be visible to the DEs even though the actual porch they were standing on wasn't visible.

But why is bringing someone into the Fideliused area considered the equivalent of telling them the secret? IF he had been blindfolded would it have still revealed the secret to him? And even tho' they had each become a secret keeper with Albus' death, they would have only revealed the secret to Yaxley, not to any other DEs because he wouldn't be able to tell them the secret.

They would have been in much more danger just staying in the house at all, if Snape had actually told Voldy and a few DEs the secret - and yet they lived there for a month, only worrying about DEs seeing them apparate in front of a house the DEs couldn't see.

In other words - since they are not part of the Fideliused secret - THEY are visible on the front porch even tho' the actual porch is not. I'm guessing the apparition borders are not actually part of the secret, but are instead a separate set of wards. But I agree that this doesn't make sense. IF someone knew the existence of the house (like a Black family member), but wasn't let in on the secret Order Headquarters location, could they then apparate to a previously known location of the front steps, but still be unable to see the building and so cannot enter? Because presumably that's the case with Bella.

[nx74defiant.livejournal.com]

The trio never think its odd that Snape hadn't revealed the location to Voldemort.

Does the Fidelius make the people who knew about the place before forget? Or does it work like the Muggle repelling charms? Bella starts to think about visiting the Black home, then gets distracted by remembering other things she needs to do?