Deathly Hallows Chapter 23

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

Malfoy Manor

As this chapter opens, the Trio are surrounded by Snatchers. Rather, they are inside their darkened tent, while the Snatchers are outside, pointing their wands at them.

Now, as I see it, the Trio have three options. They can give themselves up and try to bluff their way out of it. They can fight back. Or they can run away.

Hermione makes an executive decision and decides to go for option #1, hexing Harry with a spell that makes his head swell up so that he becomes unrecognizable. My guess is that it’s the spell that James used back in the day on Bertram Aubrey. Which is probably why Snape gave that detention to Harry and never to Hermione. For Harry, it was all about humiliation and payback. For Hermione, it would simply be a way for her increase her arsenal of spells.

Anyway, Hermione effectively takes out their best fighter rather than grab and run, which has been their strategy in the past. Since Harry is nearly blind and in considerable pain, we can forgive him for not being able to fight his way out of the situation.

There’s not much excuse for the other two.

As he’s dragged out of the tent, Harry hears Ron demanding that the Snatchers let go of Hermione and “the unmistakable sound of knuckles hitting flesh.” Hmm. Is that sound unmistakable? I’d rather not test that out, so I’ll take JKR’s word for it.

Then Harry hears a horribly familiar rasping voice. This is Fenrir Greyback and he’s cooing over how delicious Hermione’s skin looks. And what a treat it would be to… bite her. Or rape her. Depending on how graphic you want to be.

Okay, not that it isn’t fun to threaten Hermione with rape and lycanthropy, but it bugs me a little that Fenrir is so focused on the woman when it was established in HBP that what Fenrir really likes is kids. Hermione isn’t a kid. She’s the oldest of the Trio and the most mature in every way.

Logically, Fenrir ought to be drooling over Harry. Especially since, at the moment, Harry has the largest head relative to his body—as very young children do.

I’m sure this is because audiences are more comfortable in general with putting the girl in jeopardy. Ninety-nine point nine-nine percent of all stories will choose to go that route. But, is it asking too much to ask for a little consistency from the biggest pervert in the series?

While the Snatchers search the tent, Harry and Ron are thrown facedown on the ground. They aren’t being restrained in anyway, but they don’t have their wands, which accounts for their not fighting or struggling, I guess. Hermione isn’t thrown to the ground, so I’ll assume she’s just standing there looking terrified.

When Harry is asked for his name, he comes up with Dudley, Vernon Dudley. Aww. That’s sweet. The first people he thinks of are his cousin and his uncle.

Ron goes with Stan Shunpike again. However, these Snatchers know Stan Shunpike personally. “’E’s put a bit of work our way.”

Oh… how these words are parsed in the HP newsgroups! Does this mean that Stan really is a Death Eater? Let’s see. He was broken out of prison by Death Eaters. He was chasing Harry Potter on his broom, along with a couple dozen Death Eaters. And now we find out he’s “put a bit of work” in the way of Snatchers.

But he couldn’t be one! After all, Harry wanted him released!

Okay, seriously, I’m going to give JKR a gold star for never resolving this issue. It would have been a lot easier to make Stan an innocent victim. This way, we’ll never know if Stan was a Death Eater to begin with (and Harry and Dumbledore were plain idiots), or if his experiences with the Ministry pushed him into Death Eating, or if he’s just getting by any way that he can. Well done!

Getting back to Ron, his next claim is that he’s “Bardy” Weasley, which is a bit more believable, but not very smart, since that makes him part of the notorious blood traitor Weasley family.

Hermione claims to be Penelope Clearwater (Percy’s old girlfriend), and to be a half-blood, although Penelope was established as Muggleborn back in CoS.

Since the Trio seem young enough to still be in Hogwarts, the Snatchers are excited. Truancy has apparently become a big deal in the wizarding world. (Incidentally, having Fenrir Greyback as a truant officer is a stroke of genius. If I were a kid, I wouldn’t leave school for anything!)

The Snatchers are even more excited because one of the Trio said the name Voldemort, which means that they might be Order of the Phoenix members.

So, the Trio are bound back-to-back with two other captives (Dean Thomas and Griphook). They are all sitting on the ground and would probably look a lot like a starfish or a rat king if viewed from above.

Scabior, checking some list of names, tells Fenrir that Vernon Dudley is not listed. It’s apparently a list of “wanted” people (shouldn’t Penelope Clearwater be on it?) Instead of assuming that, since Vernon Dudley is not listed, Harry is innocent, Fenrir asks him what Hogwarts House he was in.

I guess which House you are in determines all sorts of things, including whether or not you go to jail. Scumblecrumb students are automatically sent to Azkaban as soon as they (inevitably) fail their O.W.L.s.

Harry claims to be in Slytherin, and, when pressed for its location, gives such details as “It’s full of skulls and stuff and it’s under the lake, so the light’s all green.” Which sounds to me like exactly what someone would say if they weren’t really in Slytherin, but happened to get into the common room one night by impersonating another student.

The Snatchers are impressed enough by this knowledge that they almost decide to take Harry to the Ministry, since Harry is claiming that his father works there.

But before they do that, one of the Snatchers discovers the Sword of Gryffindor and a copy of the Daily Prophet with a picture of Hermione. Since Fenrir can read, he realizes that Hermione is known to be traveling with the famous Harry Potter and that it’s possible that the kid with the swollen head might actually be the most wanted wizard in Britain.

Swollen head. I’ll bet if Snape could see Harry now, he’d laugh his own head off.

Adding to Harry’s troubles, his scar is hurting and he’s drifting in and out of a Voldie-vision: Voldemort flying towards a dark fortress. This is to ramp up the suspense in a situation where you wouldn’t think you’d need more suspense. I mean, they are tied-up and wandless and there’s a werewolf slavering over Hermione and threatening every thirty seconds to rape, er, bite her. We don’t really need the sophisticated storytelling tricks.

Anyway, the Snatchers discuss their options and decide to go to Malfoy Manor rather than the Ministry. Which shows you how irrelevant the Ministry is.

And rather than to summon Voldemort directly, which Harry deduces must be because Fenrir Greyback is only allowed to wear Death Eater robes, but not to wear the Dark Mark. I’m not sure why this is important for us to know. I really don’t care whether Fenrir is a Death Eater or a Death Eater once removed.

So, the Snatches Disapparate the prisoners to Malfoy Manor, which establishes two interesting points. One: You don’t need a wand to side-along Apparate, since none of the prisoners have wands on them. Two: That whole turning, twisting thing doesn’t apply to side-along Apparition, since all the prisoners are still tied up in the starfish formation and couldn’t possibly pirouette.

I can’t wait to see how that happens in the movie. My sneaking suspicion is, though, that the filmmakers will either come up with something that makes more sense visually (like not tying them into a rat king in the first place), or simply use a cut-to to avoid the whole issue.

As they land, Harry feels a bit of relief because they aren’t at a big black fortress, and he knows that Voldemort is. So, they have a few minutes before he arrives.

The Snatchers don’t get to pass through the Malfoy gate, which transforms into a face and asks them to state their purpose. When they do go through the gates, Harry sees an albino peacock. Shout out to Chapter One!

It’s all very awkward, as Harry is still tied to the others and they have to move like a big starfish up the stairs. While this is effective prisoner management, in that all the prisoners are too busy just trying not to fall over each other to plan an escape, it’s incredibly awkward and must take forever.

Which gives Harry plenty of time to watch Voldemort interrogate the elderly Grindelwald, who is jailed in the highest tower of the black fortress. Grindelwald smiles toothlessly at Voldemort and says he was sure that Voldemort would come looking for the wand someday. (Did Dumbledore also think that Voldemort would seek the wand? Of course he did. Snape murderer!)

The Snatchers are met by Narcissa at the door and, when they tell her that they think they have Harry Potter, she orders them to bring him into the house. Draco is home for the Easter holiday (see? Late March or early April. Three months of obsessing) and can identify Harry for certain.

The prisoners are pushed and kicked up the stairs to the manor and into an ornate room, where Draco and Lucius are sitting.

Lucius gets very excited, since handing over Harry Potter to Voldemort could bring him back into favor. Draco, on the other hand, refuses to say either way. When Harry sees Draco’s face, it shows reluctance, even fear.

Wow. Okay, intellectually I do understand that Draco doesn’t have much choice about any of this. Even if he says that’s its not Harry under all that botoxed flesh, the Snatchers aren’t going to let the kids go. But this non-denial denial is sooooo stretched out. Why does Draco have to keep waffling like this? He does it twice. If he did it three times, I might have thought it was an allusion to St. Peter—although completely twisted around.

Anyway, Draco denies knowing Harry twice, then very reluctantly agrees that the girl might be Hermione Granger and the ginger-haired boy might be Ron Weasley. Before we can get to the exciting moment when Draco decides that Griphook might possibly be a goblin, the door opens and Bellatrix comes in to spread a little crazy around the room.

Bellatrix screams like that annoying judge on So You Think You Can Dance when she’s told that they have Potter and tries to summon Voldemort. Naturally, Lucius stops her, so that he can do it. This starts a three-way argument between Bellatrix, Lucius, and Greyback over who actually deserves credit for the find.

The argument stops when Bellatrix sees the Sword of Gryffindor. She panics, because she thinks this means that the Trio have stolen it from her vault. (In case you forgot, a copy of the sword was placed in her vault, and the real one was placed into the frozen pond.)

It’s a small point, but I’m wondering how Bellatrix recognizes the sword. There is no place in the books where she might see it. Did someone in her generation pull it out of the hat while she was at school? Or is it so famous that everyone knows it by its description?

Funny how the artifacts reflect their Houses. The Hufflepuff Cup was faithfully kept by its family for hundreds of years. The Ravenclaw Tiara was hidden in some obscure place, while the Slytherin Locket got sold in a dark alley. But the Gryffindor Sword decides it’s going to hang out in the Headmaster’s office and show up whenever there’s some heroic action it can get credit for. Show off.

So, Bellatrix sees the Sword, goes even more nuts than usual and ends up stunning all the Snatchers except Greyback, who gets petrified in a kneeling crucifix position. Draco gets the fun job of dragging all the bodies out of the room. If he doesn’t have the guts to kill them, Bellatrix promises to do it herself.

Here we see that, given the slightest opportunity, the Death Eaters will fall all themselves for the chance to screw up and kill each other. Any half-way decent Resistance movement would have taken advantage of that. Polyjuice yourself 50 Harries, have them show up in different parts of the country at the same time, and the Death Eaters would be paralyzed for weeks in 50 different Mexican stand-offs.

Which reminds me: I know the Trio are teenagers and therefore deficient in the troubleshooting skills, but was there any good reason for not transfiguring themselves to look different all the time? If they had done that and called themselves Herman, Hannah, and Reginald, the Snatchers probably would have just let them go.

Nevermind. They are where they are. Bellatrix orders Greyback to take the boys (including Dean and Griphook) down to the super-secret Malfoy cellar, while she keeps Hermione up in the drawing room for torturing purposes. Her reasoning is that Hermione is a Mudblood and therefore least deserving of basic rights. The real reason, though, is that it gives Ron motive for shouting and struggling and desperation, as Greyback taunts him with the idea that he’ll get his bites in when Bellatrix is done with Hermione.

So, Ron and Harry are pushed into the cellar… and I just realized something. I’ve been assuming all this time that this cellar is the secret room we heard about in The Chamber of Secrets. And, all this time, I’ve been thinking, wow, that’s a pretty lame secret room. But maybe it isn’t. JKR doesn’t specifically say that it is. Sometimes a cellar is just a cellar.

If it were the secret room beneath the Malfoy’s dining room, then it really is dumb. After all, they can hear everything being said in the room above, and the people up there can hear everything down below. So, either they must have kept Ollivander gagged (or asleep) during HBP, or the Ministry was really lax about searching for him. Heh. Well, I guess we know the answer to that one.

As the cellar door slams, Hermione starts screaming and Ron begins panicking. I’m going to hell for this one…. But I really wish we were still up in the drawing room, because the screams just aren’t doing it for me in terms of emotional involvement. It’s not like I want Hermione tortured, but I don’t feel that badly about it, either. My main feeling at this point (which I’m probably picking up from Harry) is irritation at Ron for freaking out, because it’s just making the situation worse.

Thankfully, Luna turns up to do the practical things and start getting the boys untied. She manages to get Ron’s attention long enough to find out about the Deluminator which she, like everyone else in these books, seems to know about already. Maybe it wasn’t such a special object after all, maybe Dumbledore just had the patent and they were mass-produced for Zonko’s. (The Deluminator! Annoy your roommates by turning out the lights while they are studying!)

This is why we can’t lose Luna to that one crazy detail of the stalker paintings. She comes in breathing common sense just when we’re about to give up on Harry and Ron as completely useless and she turns everything around. As she frees them, Ron begins running around like a headless chicken, Dean stands still and shivers, Griphook sinks to the floor, and Harry turns into the sensible one, rubbing the numbness out of his wrists.

Then Harry loses it by deciding his hopes for escape lie in his neckpouch. He dumps everything out and tries waving the two halves of his broken wand around. That accomplishes nothing, but by sheer luck, he sees one blue eye staring at him through the mirror shard and yells at it for help.

Upstairs, Hermione is maintaining that they don’t have the real sword, but just a copy. At this point, Bellatrix decides to ask the goblin for confirmation—since a goblin would be able to spot a fake. You know, Bellatrix could have just started with the goblin in the first place, but that would have been sensible and much less violent, so it wouldn’t have been in character I suppose. As it is, it gives Harry the opportunity to beg Griphook to lie about the sword.

Draco comes down to fetch Griphook, telling the prisoners (who are presumably still tied up?) in a “shaking” voice to stand back and not try anything. So, still a coward. On the other hand, he could hear Ron running around and banging on the walls, so maybe he’s not so much a coward as prudent. He doesn’t look surprised when he comes in and finds them all untied, anyway. I’ll bet he did drop that nail for Luna to pick up.

After Draco leaves, Dobby arrives with a loud CRACK noise. Harry tells Dobby to Apparate Dean, Luna, and Mr. Olllivander to Shell Cottage. Both Luna and Dean protest, saying they want to help, but Harry is adamant and they leave.

Why does Harry insist that Luna and Dean leave? Ollivander is in bad shape, so yes, he ought to go. Dean seems weak, but he wants to stay and he could probably still fight now that he isn’t tied up. Luna is young, strong, and sensible. What is Harry thinking? Why reduce their odds from four-against-five to two-against-five? In what universe does that kind of math make sense? Oh, wait. Maths. Not JKR’s strong suit.

Oh, and by the way, that two is now one and a half, because Harry is struck senseless with another Voldemort vision, as Grindelwald taunts Voldemort about the wand.

Although none of the Death Eaters noticed the CRACK of Dobby arriving, Lucius notices the CRACK when he leaves with Dean and Luna and sends Wormtail down to investigate. As he enters, Ron and Harry jump him. Ron grabs his wand arm and Harry clamps his hand over Wormtail’s mouth.

And, I have to say, that for once, the heroes are actually working well together. It’s a desperate situation, but Ron isn’t messing it up by doing anything tremendously stupid, and Harry isn’t being too much of an asshole, and Hermione is only being clever enough instead far too much as usual. Thank you, Malfoys, for finally forcing the Trio to get their act together.

At this moment comes one of the greatest anti-climaxes in the entire series. Ever since Prisoner of Azkaban, we’ve been waiting to find out how Wormtail’s “life-debt” to Harry played out. We were told, baldly told that when a wizard saves the life of another wizard then it creates a mysterious bond between them. That was a promise that, at a vital moment, Peter was going to end up helping Harry out—maybe like Gollum finishing Frodo’s task.

But the way it plays out, Peter’s big moment is a momentary hesitation in strangling Harry—just the briefest possible, most fleeting instant of regret. And only because Voldemort gave him a magical hand that can read minds and decide to kill someone for an instant of traitorous thought, Peter is disposed of in a horrible fashion.

Knowing Wormtail, I find it hard to believe that he never had a traitorous thought prior to this moment. After all, Wormtail naturally sought the most powerful bullies on the block. Did he never once, after the graveyard, consider going to Dumbledore for protection? Dumbledore did whup Voldemort’s butt in the Ministry, after all. You’d think that would give him a few seconds’ pause.

Or, Crack Theory #278, maybe the Life Debt paid out when Wormtail used Harry’s blood to reconstitute Voldemort. Sure, it brought the Dark Lord back, but it also ended up extending Harry’s protection. So, this moment isn’t the actual pay off.

Yeah, I don’t think so. What I think is that JKR really, really doesn’t want to allow her bad boys to do any more could than they are forced to do. I suppose that’s part of the message that everyone, regardless of their virtues or vices, except for a certain sociopath, is worthy of life. It would dilute that message if more than one of them actually chose to do good things. Ergo, they don’t do more than the bare minimum, because having them turn around and do something good would be a big old cliché and she’s not going to do that.

Only the good guys get to have big old cliché dramatic moments.

As Peter dies, Hermione screams again, and Ron and Harry rush (very quietly) up the stairs and creep down the passage toward the drawing room to find Bellatrix questioning Griphook about the sword. When he confirms that it’s a fake, she slashes him by across the face.

I know she’s insane, but was that called for? By the way, why is Bellatrix forever panting? Is she just so turned on by torture, or is she asthmatic? Perhaps her life might have been different if she had only had access to an inhaler when she was young….

Bellatrix decides it’s safe to summon Voldemort and touches her Dark Mark. In Voldie-vision, Harry sees that Grindelwald is still taunting Voldemort and feels Voldemort’s fury at being summoned. Look, Voldemort, if you don’t want to be summoned, then tell your followers not to do that. Just have them restrain Potter until you get back. It’s not rocket science.

Otherwise, don’t automatically assume that they are summoning you on false pretences. This is the first time they’ve called you in three months. Just chill out.

Back at Malfoy Manor, Ron hears Bellatrix giving Greyback permission to, er, bite Hermione and rushes in like the big sweet dumb hero he is. He does disarm Bellatrix, and Harry catches the wand as he runs in after Ron. Then, Harry stuns Lucius (who has no wand), and ducks behind a sofa to avoid the spells cast by Narcissa, Draco, and Greyback.

You know, I’ll bet Dean and Luna would have come in handy at this point, if only to provide a couple more targets. And Luna would have come up with some very imaginative weapon, I’m sure of it.

Bellatrix then demands that Harry and Ron drop their wands before she stabs Hermione with her silver knife. Harry and Ron comply. I think that if they could cast silent spells, they could have taken Bellatrix out before she could react. Too bad they never learned that—or rather, never practiced it.

Draco picks up their discarded wands and Bellatrix starts to arrange their imminent deaths when a creaking sound comes from above and the crystal chandalier suddenly falls from the ceiling. Bellatrix narrowly escapes being hit. Hermione and Griphook do not, and Draco is hit in the face by the shards of shattered crystal.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Harry pulls the three wands (Bellatrix’s, Wormtail’s, and Draco’s) out of Draco’s hand, and stuns Greyback.

Dobby appears to tell his former Mistress that she must not hurt Harry Potter. He disarms Narcisssa, causing Bellatrix to shriek, I mean bawl. I’ll bet JKR had to hit the Thesaurus for that one.

Harry throws a wand to Ron. Then he grabs the goblin and Dobby and Disapparates to Shell Cottage. Apparently, it’s possible to Apparate to a place even if you have never been there, seen it, or have any idea where it is.

In the split second of Apparition, Harry feels Dobby’s hand twitching in his. When they land, he turns to Dobby and sees that Dobby has been hit by the silver knife that Bellatrix threw at him as they Disapparated.

With the last words of “Harry… Potter…,” Dobby’s bulging tennis-ball eyes become “nothing more than great glassy orbs, sprinkled with light from the stars they could not see.”

I know that many people were very moved by this death scene. I wasn’t. I think it was partially because of all the chaos of the action scenes preceding it, which were terribly confusing and a bit overwhelming. And it’s partially because of all the starlight bouncing off Dobby’s great glass orbs. It makes them sound like Christmas ornaments or something, and the image evokes more of an “ew” reaction than anything else.

Anyway, I’m not going to sneer at anyone who was moved by Dobby’s death. But I’m not one of them.

Fan Service:
Hey? Remember that secret room underneath the Malfoy’s Dining Room? Here it is in all its glory!
Dobby returns once again to die the most significant death in all of children’s literature. Take that, Old Yeller!

Fan Slappage:
Malfoy’s super secret hiding room? Kinda lame.
Life debt? What life debt? Dumbledore was just talking out of his ass about that.

DVD Extras:
INT: DAY—HOGWARTS GREENHOUSE #2

GINNY WEASLEY and NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM are in conference, as Neville digs out weeds from the planters with a spade.

GINNY
It’s too hard to smuggle things in by owl any more. But Fred and George said they’d bring me some supplies when I go home this weekend. We can stash them—

She breaks off abruptly as the door opens and Draco Malfoy, looking completely out of his element, walks in. He’s carrying a book bag. He looks as surprised to see them as they are to see him.

For a moment, the three students simply stare at each other. Then, Ginny, with a hostile glare, brushes past Draco and out the door.

Draco turns to watch her leave, then turns back—right into Neville’s fist.

DRACO
Ow! What the hell!

He drops to the ground, clutching both hands to his nose. Neville stands over him, the spade in one hand.

NEVILLE
What did you get for turning Luna Lovegood in to the Ministry, Malfoy? Or did you do it for free?

DRACO
What are you talking about? I didn’t turn her in.

NEVILLE
The whole school saw it.

DRACO
Are you insane? The Ministry sent my Dad to Azkaban. Do you know what he was like when he got back? He can’t eat. He can’t sleep. When the windows rattle, his eyes go dead. Why in the name of Merlin would I ever help the Ministry with anything?

NEVILLE
We saw you.

DRACO
(giving up)
Think what you like. Gryffindor.

Neville tightens his grip on the spade.

NEVILLE
You should know better than to come here by yourself. This is my territory.

DRACO
You don’t own the greenhouses. Sprout said I could have a couple gurdy roots.

NEVILLE
She what? You what?

DRACO
She said I could have some gurdy roots. She didn’t tell me I’d be assaulted along the way.

Neville steps back and sits down heavily on a bench. He stares at Draco for a moment, several disconnected thoughts suddenly clicking into place in his head.

Then he stands up and holds out his hand to Draco.

After a moment, Draco takes it. Neville pulls him back up to his feet.

NEVILLE
Come on. I’ll show you where they are.

FADE OUT

Comments

[violaswamp.livejournal.com]

She's not, of course, but Fenrir is presumably using crude profiling/stereotyping of potential victims. He's not doing any in-depth biographical analysis.

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

Well, you know, with Gryffindor boys, all that chivalry, it's a no-brainer to target the female.

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

This is true, but that makes it all a ploy on Fenrir's part to piss off Ron.