Deathly Hallows Chapter 20

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

Xenophilius Lovegood

Morning arrives. Hermione is still angry, but Ron is cheery because they have finally made a little bit of progress. This might be a good time to sum where they are in terms of their quest—especially because they are about to take a Detour.

A Detour, as Amazing Race Host Phil Keoghan would tell us, is a challenge in which the contestants must choose between two tasks, both equally daunting. Oh, wait. We aren’t on Amazing Race? My mistake. It was all that random changing of location and pointless tasks when you get there.

Anyway, it’s five months into the quest and they have finally managed to destroy the Horcrux that was supposed to be taken care of last June. The diary is dead, the ring is dead, and the locket is dead. As far as Harry knows, there is the Hufflepuff cup, Nagini, and an object to be announced later.

And Ron is jazzed because someone is helping them! They aren’t completely alone!

Of course they aren’t. There is an entire Order of people dedicated to helping them, only Harry is too obsessed with Dumbledore to even consider that as a possibility. They only reason they’ve been alone for that last four months is because Harry decided that’s what Dumbledore would want.

In the morning, Harry and Ron escape Hermione by looking for mushrooms. In the afternoon, they pretend to look for “nonexistent” blackberries in the hedges near the tent. Exactly how dumb do they think Hermione is? I can sort of buy the mushrooms, because those are fungi, which have strange (and short) periods when the mushrooms appear. But the blackberry season only lasts through September.

Harry almost says the name “Voldemort” and Ron yells at him to stop and then tells him about the Taboo. This is a special piece of magic that allows the Death Eaters to track the use of Voldemort’s name. As an added bonus, it instantly breaks any protective enchantments—such as the ones warding their tent.

Speaking of which, Hermione is described as scowling at them from the tent entrance, where she is reading a book. So…. is the tent invisible or not? It’s not like Hermione told the tent to be invisible to everyone but the Trio. And it’s not like Ron could find it when he was following Harry and Hermione. So how does that work?

Getting back to Ron and the Taboo. Ron is very curious about who sent that doe Patronus. Good for Ron, I say. As far as the mysteries in the story go, this is one of the better ones. And it has a real answer, too.

Harry reminds Ron that it couldn’t have been Shacklebolt, since his Patronus is a lynx, and it couldn’t be Dumbledore because he’s dead. No one even considers Lupin at this point. That’s a little strange. Why not Lupin? We’ve never seen his Patronus. It could be a doe. A very clumsy, manic-depressive doe.

And while I’m at it, would it have killed the Order to do two small things: Teach Harry how to make his Patronus talk, and give them a list of them own Patroni, so that he’ll know if they need to send him a message? Actually, since each Patronus is unique to the caster, casting one would be a much better test of one’s identity than the silly questions they’ve been asking each other.

Back to the mystery, Ron thinks that it might be Dumbledore because he was the last one to have the real sword. Oh, Ron. You are so close! Plus, you are asking the sensible questions. Harry wasn’t the only one who missed you. I missed you terribly.

Unfortunately, Ron then goes on to suggest that Dumbledore set this all up as a mystery for Harry to solve because he knows Harry so well that… well, he must have a reason. Sigh. Okay, Ron is actually right about this, but it doesn’t make me any happier.

Because, if Dumbledore is setting up the Hallows mystery because he knows Harry through and through (like he knew that Ron would run out of the quest and then want to be let in), the reason Dumbledore knows this about Harry is because he trained Harry to be like this.

For example, instead of just telling the students that the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s stone was what he was hiding in the third-floor corridor, he made it into a big mystery and dropped all sort of hints—like having Hagrid pick up the stone on the same day he took Harry to the bank. Dumbledore’s been dangling mysteries in front of Harry since the first year.

Harry asks if Ron has heard about Skeeter’s book on Dumbledore and Ron presents the normal wizard’s viewpoint by saying it wasn’t any big deal that Dumbledore was friends with Grindelwald. As I suspected!

When Harry retorts that Dumbledore was their age when he was a Nazi sympathizer, Ron wisely drops the subject. That doesn’t prevent Harry from passive-aggressively punishing Ron by enlarging a spider to “test out his new wand.”

Hermione approaches and tries to give some reassurance to Harry, which Harry interprets as guilt over breaking his old wand. Trying not to piss her off, Harry bites back a retort, but when Ron smiles at her, she gets angry again.

God, these people are tiresome. Ron, let’s run away again. This time I’ll go with you. We can go dancing.

Ron must have heard me, because he takes out a wooden wireless and tries to tune it by tapping it with his wand. I know that a “wireless” is what the English call a radio. But I have trouble visualizing a small wooden one. When I think small, I think of a transistor radio (wow, I’m showing my age here….), when I think of a wooden radio, I think of those old-fashioned ones that were big and sat on a table.

When I think of a wooden wizard’s wireless, I think of a block of wood about the size of a walkman. Literally, a block. Like a children’s building block. Does it have a dial on it? A scanner? Is there an antenna? Am I thinking about this way too much?

Anyway, the wizard wireless seems to work with passwords, rather than broadcast frequencies. So, Ron fiddles with the block of wood and Harry fiddles with his stick of wood, for about ten minutes.

At this point, Hermione comes up to drag Harry into the most major distraction yet. She points to the capital A in Albus Dumbledore’s name in the letter to Grindelwald.

We must find out what this symbol means! Hermione shrills. Why? Because it’s mysterious and it’s connected to Dumbledore (who is dead), Grindelwald (who has no significance to Britain, Voldemort, or Horcruxes), and Godric’s Hollows (which has no connection to anything)! Therefore, it must be important. More important than finding that cup, that’s for sure!

Damn you, Dumbledore. Damn you and your stupid maze obstacle courses you set for your followers that created this Pavlovian response.

For a moment—one brief, shining moment—Harry looks out into the darkness and pronounces this plan stupid. If only he could have stood strong and resisted! I would almost believe him to be a man.

Unfortunately, he’s outvoted, and we’re off for another two chapters of pointless wandering.

The Trio Apparate to Ottery St. Catchpole the next morning. At least this time, they don’t feel the need to spend a month planning this escapade. However, it might have been smarter to have Ron do a little reconnaissance first (or get a map from the local souvenir shop), because they end up having to walk for hours looking for the Lovegood home.

Gad. Is there some dramatic point to having them walk for hours? To have to Disapparate “a few miles North” afterwards before they find this place? You know what? If someone lives far enough away so that you have to walk hours to reach them, then they aren’t neighbors.

Anyway, they finally find a house that looks like a big, black rook. Ron immediately decides that this must be Luna’s house. Because she’s sooooo wacky. And it lets him use the word “rook,” which sets up a pun when Hermione thinks he’s talking about a bird, rather than a chess piece.

This must be to remind us of Ron’s mad chess skillz! Which will come in very handy when… oh, wait. They will never come in handy. Still, anyone who is still playing the lonely drinking game of taking a gulp when Ron talks about chess finally gets to do that!

Is there some symbolism in this giant rook? It’s another tower. If the Astronomy tower is the white tower, and the Burrow is the red tower, then this is the black tower. But… what the heck that means, I have no idea.

They enter the yard, which is overgrown and full of the most ridiculous of the magical plants. They even have a Snargaluff tree. Incidentally, we learn that the radishes Luna wore as earrings are not radishes, but dirigible plums. Which is such a relief, really. It makes her so much less of a weirdo if she’s wearing plums in her ears instead of radishes.

Xenophilius opens the door, looking crazy and old and wearing a stained nightshirt. All the old guys seem to wear nightshirts. All the kids wear pajamas. I wonder when it is that a person switches from one to the other. Probably when you start using a chamber pot. So, he’s crazy and old looking, just like Bathilda Bagshot. However, he doesn’t smell, he does talk, and he’s not concealing a snake inside his skin. So to speak.

We go into the house and Harry notices that it’s over-decorated and tacky. But, since it’s Luna’s style and he likes her, he merely notes that the effect is “slightly overwhelming.”

As far as I can tell, each room is stacked on the others like a pile of checkers. They climb up a spiral staircase in the middle of the kitchen to reach a workroom, which is stuffed with random objects. (It reminds Harry of the cluttered Room of Requirement, foreshadowing our later trip to that room.)

Lovegood asks why they’ve come. Instead of telling him, Hermione shrieks and points to a large horn, which starts an argument between her and Lovegood about whether it comes from a Crumple-Horned Snorkack or an Erumpent. This is an argument that could be settled quite easily. Erumpent horns explode if touched, and Snorkack horns don’t. If I were Ron, I would be sorely tempted to demonstrate, rather than listen to Hermione and Lovegood shriek at each other about it.

But, since I’m forced to witness this without interfering, I’ll simply wonder how, if it is explosive, Lovegood managed to get it into the house and set on the wall without touching it.

He claims he received it two weeks ago from a young wizard who knew of his interest in the animal. So, I wonder… who was this young wizard? Was it… (dun, dun, DUN) Stan Shunpike?! How did he manage to deliver it without exploding?

I’m so distracted by these questions, that I almost don’t notice how incredibly suspiciously Lovegood is acting right now. He might as well be wearing a big sign that reads, “I’m totally conflicted about whether or not to turn you in!”

If I were Harry, I would start running immediately. We just did this a couple days ago, right? And we spent four months in a tent to avoid this type of situation, right? So, we couldn’t possibly be dumb enough to step into yet another trap—oh, I guess we can. Never mind.

Finally, Lovegood makes up his mind and lies to them that Luna is off fishing. The first time I read this, I knew he was lying. However, I didn’t really guess that he was going to alert anyone. I simply thought that he had killed Luna and was hiding her body under the printing press.

Lovegood uses the excuse of telling Luna that they are here to exit. Left alone, Ron and Hermione complain about how cowardly and hypocritical Lovegood is. He told his readers to support Harry, but hesitates to let Harry into his house. It’s obvious that he wasn’t in Gryffindor!

Meanwhile, Harry notices the bust of a witch wearing a bizarre headdress. As they laugh at it, Lovegood comes back, dressed in Wellington boots and carrying tea. He explains that the headdress is modeled on Rowena Ravenclaw’s famous tiara. He then explains that Luna is almost done fishing, offers them an infusion of Gurdyroots, sits back, and asks them how he can help.

So, to sum up: Lovegood is a dirty rotten coward because it took him a minute to decide whether or not to let the most wanted wizard in Britain into his house, although he is now giving them a tea-like drink, and lunch, and offering to answer whatever questions they have.

Hermione asks about the symbol he wore to the wedding and he calls it the “sign of the Deathly Hallows.”

And, on that note, the chapter is finally over.

Fan Service:
Hey! Remember when Ron was a chess wiz? Well, he proves it again by knowing the name of one of the pieces!
Wow, we get to see Luna’s house! And remember how in Goblet of Fire, Arthur said that Lovegoods lived nearby? Well, they totally…

Fan Slappage:
Live ten miles away. Over so many hills that you can’t see either house from the other.
Also, remember when we thought Ron got over his fear of spiders? He never did.


DVD Extras:
INT: DAY – SLYTHERIN COMPARTMENT ON THE HOGWART'S EXPRESS

Draco Malfoy sits quietly, as VINCENT CRABBE and GREGORY GOYLE show off their marks on the D.A.D.A. midyear exam. On his other side, Pansy Parkinson chats with Blaise Zabini, who is lounging beautifully on the opposite bench.

PANSY
I hear they're rounding up so many Muggle-born that they're running out of room in Azkaban!

GOYLE
What're they gonna do with them all?

ZABINI
Probably what they did in Grindelwald's war.

Draco twitches slightly.

PANSY
What was that?

ZABINI
(shrugs)
No one knows exactly. Drowned them. Fed them to dragons.

PANSY
(pale)
Don't be an ass, Zabini.

DRACO
(looking out the window)
We're here.

CUT TO:

EXT. KING'S CROSS STATION

The students disembark from their compartments. At the Ravenclaw car, two Aurors stand waiting. Luna steps off the train.

AUROR #1
Luna Lovegood?

LUNA
Oh! That's my name!

SLYTHERIN CAR

Pansy turns her head to watch Luna as Draco helps her off the steps.

PANSY
Isn't that Loony Lovegood? What do you think they want with her?

DRACO
It must be a mistake. She's pureblood.

PANSY
(biting her lip)
Somebody ought to tell them.

But Draco is already on his way. As he reaches them, Luna is peering at a copy of the Quibbler held by one of the Aurors.

LUNA
Yes. That's my father's newspaper. He's a big Harry Potter supporter.

The first Auror takes her by the arm.

AUROR #1
Come with us.

LUNA
Are we getting ice cream?

DRACO
(stepping in front of them)
Hold on.

AUROR #2
Who are you?

DRACO
I'm the Head Boy. Draco Malfoy.

The Aurors glance uneasily between themselves. Nobody is quite sure what the status of Lucius Malfoy is these days.

AUROR #1
This is none of your business.

DRACO
I think it is.

He quietly rolls up his left sleeve just enough to show his Dark Mark. The Aurors step back a little.

DRACO
(cont'd)
This girl has information important to a certain somebody. He'd be very unhappy if she…. got lost. So, I don't think she'll be going to Azkaban.

LUNA
Actually, I'm on my way home. My father is waiting for me.

DRACO
I think you need to take her directly to Malfoy Manor.

LUNA
(gently)
But I need to get home.

The Aurors exchange glances again. Auror #1 nods to Draco.

AUROR #1
Very well. We'll follow you.

LUNA
But—

The second Auror grabs her other arm as Draco turns away.

Draco swallows. A look of panic plays over his face as he realizes what he's doing.

The camera pulls away overhead as Draco leads the Aurors, who are practically lifting Luna off her feet, through a crowd of frightened Hogwarts students and toward a waiting Ministry car.

FADE OUT

Comments

[tdotm.livejournal.com]

--- “And Ron is jazzed because someone is helping them! They aren’t completely alone!”

No, Ron is jazzed because he’s been elsewhere for weeks and is relaxed and refreshed. Unlike the reader who is probably already at the end of their tether.

--- “ ...the Taboo. This is a special piece of magic that allows the Death Eaters to track the use of Voldemort’s name. As an added bonus, it instantly breaks any protective enchantments—such as the ones warding their tent.”

I *really * liked the idea behind the Taboo. It tied in so well with all that ‘You Know Who’ and ‘Lord Thingy’ stuff sprinkled throughout the series. What if Dumbles had *meant* for Harry to meet his end by breaking it? He must have realised that it was highly possible that it would be re-introduced if Voldemort wasn’t stopped in time (and how likely was that with Harry in charge?). How very *Machiavellian* of him– and we all thought Snape was the enigmatic one! But no, JKR’s attempts to make Dumbles seem deep were limited to endless pages of non-essential and even more non-interesting back story. He *was* very manipulative, but surely ‘Il Principe’ was about trying to achieve political ends as well as maintaining power? Dumbles actually seemed to be trying to *sabotage* the success of his *own* side. Yet he was no double agent. I have no idea what JKR was trying to achieve - his behaviour MADE NO SENSE. He didn’t come across as a master strategist at all, he came across as a complete git.

She wasted this chance of pulling together endless references to what could have been a long lost but very dark spell that she’d apparently been hinting at for 10 years by executing it exceptionally badly. I can’t remember her ever trying to seriously link it to the Wizarding World’s reluctance to say Voldemort’s name previously. WHY? Why not expand on this and dump ‘The Trace’ which was a big fat fail and could easily have been written out?

--- “So…. is the tent invisible or not? It’s not like Hermione told the tent to be invisible to everyone but the Trio. And it’s not like Ron could find it when he was following Harry and Hermione. So how does that work?”

It’s magic! Unlike JKR’s consistency. Great to have Ron back though – it’s really helps when reading this sort of story if you’re actually care about at least one of the protagonists.

--- “Still, anyone who is still playing the lonely drinking game of taking a gulp when Ron talks about chess finally gets to do that!”

That’s like waiting for the times when Harry acts like a true hero. The sort of drinking game that’s suitable for people operating heavy machinery, or babysitting small children.

--- “I’m so distracted by these questions, that I almost don’t notice how incredibly suspiciously Lovegood is acting right now....If I were Harry, I would start running immediately.”

Ha Ha Ha!! No seriously, Harry has been dead from the neck up since GoF, (Ginny’s the one to comment on his condition going in the opposite direction) but why is Hermione letting this argument get in the way of noticing? Yes, it’s a dangerous item, but she *still* hasn’t realised that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar? It’s like trampling over Lavender’s feelings over her dead bunny all over again; just to make sure everyone accepts that *she’s* right. Hasn’t she grown up yet? What sort of lawyer shouts people down instead of negotiates? SPEW has no chance. Ho hum - at least she has a distraction this time, unlike at Godric’s Hollow where she had no excuse.

I loved the DVD Extras again. At least you’re here to enlighten us about what was going on elsewhere, while Harry was littering up centre stage!

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

She wasted this chance of pulling together endless references to what could have been a long lost but very dark spell that she’d apparently been hinting at for 10 years by executing it exceptionally badly.

My feeling is that the Taboo was a later addition. The references were just what Dumbledore said in the first place. People being scared of a name. But then it seemed like a fun way to get Harry caught by having a real Taboo.

The only problem is that it made nonsense of Dumbledore's stand. Which was already on shaky grounds because he was being so very brave in using Voldemort's stupid made-up name and not the real name, which would have actually helped undemonize Riddle.

The sort of drinking game that’s suitable for people operating heavy machinery, or babysitting small children.
LOL!

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

I've decided that she couldn't think of any way in which to get her lump of a hero to go and investigate the Malfoys when she needed him to, and decided to pull a deus ex machina out of her hat to pick him up and deposit him there long enough to collect that chapter's plot tokens. (And then came up with another one to get him away so he didn't have to think of a clever way to escape.)

I agree. The Taboo was a last minute retrofit. Particularly since the trio was Tabooing Voldy's title all over the place at #12, and the summoned DEs out in the square *still* couldn't see the house. Even though the Secret Keeper was dead. Breaks all protective magics. Right.

Actually, if you squint, and twist it all to one side a bit, you can *about* come up with a reading that Tom himself was the one to start the rumor that if you talked about him he would know it. And the wizarding public bought it because they knew that the Ministry *was* able to do something like that. Even though Tom couldn't, and never could until he had the Ministry's resources at his command.

[tdotm.livejournal.com]

Both you and Montavilla are 1,000% right that she pulled 'The Taboo' out of her *rse at the last minute. The sad thing is it *could* have been tied to earlier books. It *could* have been seen as something dark and old and mysterious - quite feasibly. The Wizarding Community's well established fear of saying his name is such an obvious reaction to 'A Taboo' - why didn't she make something of it?

Your idea that Voldemort himself used the idea to try and build himself up would have been good, because she could also have explained Dumbles earlier behaviour away by saying that he never suspected Voldemort would be able to do it. That'd get that old idiot off the hook as well. Instead, she spent the first 6 books saying '2+2'. Then she announced '4' in DH, apparently at random and never bothered to say 'equals'. She really didn't care did she?

I'm ignoring your salient point about how instead of trying to convince us that 'The Taboo' was in fact something she'd planned all along, despite the fact that she had the evidence to do just that, she sloppily broke her *own rules* about it only chapters before this one. It's really better for the sake of my health. Her changing rules from book to book is poor enough, but her lazy arrogance in not bothering to stay consistent *within the same book* is perhaps the most infuriating, blood pressure rising thing about HP. Though I'm sure that Montavilla will remind me of other contenders as these recaps continue.

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Well, I suppose you could say that she filed Chapter 11 by, um... Chapter 11.

[eir-de-scania.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what JKR was trying to achieve - his behaviour MADE NO SENSE. He didn’t come across as a master strategist at all, he came across as a complete git

***Summing up a lot of DH here. We expected explanations, and had thought up several theories based on the various characters and their personalities. Using logic. Instead, JKR goes all OOC on us.

It’s like trampling over Lavender’s feelings over her dead bunny all over again; just to make sure everyone accepts that *she’s* right. Hasn’t she grown up yet?

***Of course not. None of the characters do. They started out as eleven-year-olds and went downwards from there.