Deathly Hallows Chapter 32

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

The Elder Wand

This chapter starts with Harry still in shock because Fred is dead. How could people go on fighting? The world has ended… yadda yadda yadda.

I’m not going to cheer because the twins never pissed me off as badly as they’ve pissed off other readers, but I didn’t feel much of anything when Fred died, and, two years later, I still don’t.

You know what happened? I think I outgrew Fred. Weird because I’m in my forties, so you’d think I’d have started these books having outgrown him. But I sort of liked the twins back in PS/SS, when they carried Harry’s trunk onto the train. I liked them working on inventions (even if I didn’t like them testing them on firsties), and I liked them giving Harry the Marauders’ Map, and I liked them gambling all their money on an absurd bet.

So, I did like them. Until they started throwing parsnips at people and stuffing people into unstable magical cupboards. And being war profiteers. And pretty much doing nothing else during the Resistance. I really expected more from them.

Besides. George was always my favorite.

Percy refuses to let go of Fred’s body until giant spiders start crawling through the hole in the wall. Then he helps Harry place the body in a niche. It’s the best they can do for the moment, even though it isn’t a hand-shoveled grave.

Then they run around for a bit and Percy takes off to kill Rookwood, who is chasing after some students. Hermione pulls Ron behind a tapestry and Harry thinks for a moment that they are going to make out again, but she’s just trying to keep Ron from running after Percy.

Because they need to go kill Nagini now.

Harry understands how Ron feels though. He desperately wants to go kill Death Eaters, too. More than that, he wants to find Ginny and make sure that she’s not dead, either.

This is why you don’t keep pushing your girlfriend away during the big battle, Harry. If you’d told her to stay with you, you wouldn’t have to wonder. She’d be right here.

Hermione sobs out that they have to keep fighting by killing the snake. Then she turns to Harry and begs him to use his Voldie-mind powers to look inside Voldemort and see where the snake is.

Is this a deliberate contradiction to Hermione’s earlier stance on Harry’s connection to Voldemort? What the hell. It’s not like Hermione hasn’t reversed herself on elves and unauthorized spells.

So, Harry opens the connection and finds himself… in a familiar room. Which is the Shrieking Shack, but heaven forbid we should allow familiarity to give away information to the reader. Make ‘em guess.

Anyway, Voldemort is quietly gloating over how clever he was to find that room so many years ago and how his diadem must be safe, because no one—not even Dumbledore’s little meat puppet could have ever found it….

Then Voldemort is interrupted by Lucius, who is sitting in ragged clothing in the darkest corner of the room, sporting a black eye he got when Voldemort killed all other Death Eaters earlier in the day. Heh. So, did Lucius run into the door on his way out? That would be pretty funny.

And, let’s be sure to notice—without a wand, Lucius is incapable of dressing himself.

Lucius begs for Draco, but Voldemort tells him he’s SOL if Draco’s dead. Draco was supposed to join up like the “rest of the Slytherins.” If he didn’t, Voldemort suspects he may have befriended Harry. Because Voldemort ships Draco/Harry just like everyone else.

“No—never,” whispers Malfoy, since he’s strictly a Snarry shipper.

So…. that ambiguous phrase “rest of the Slytherins.” Some reader interpret this to mean that all the overage Slytherin students went out to join the Death Eaters. Some interpret it to mean that at least some of the students did. Others have interpreted it to mean that none of them did, and that Voldemort is just a big fat liar.

Lucius tries to suggest that Voldemort call off the battle and look for Potter personally, but Voldemort is confident that Harry will come to him. He’s more troubled about his wand.

He tells Lucius to fetch Snape. Lucius stumbles off on the errand and Voldemort whispers, “It is the only way, Nagini” to the snake, which is now suspended in a glittering transparent cage.

Harry snaps out of the connection and tells Ron and Hermione that Voldemort is in the Shrieking Shack. Hermione gets all pissed off that Voldemort isn’t even fighting.

The Trio starts arguing about who should go kill the snake, and then they get attacked by Death Eaters and Hermione naturally saves them with creative wand work. She turns their staircase into a slide, and, once they’ve slid down through a tapestry, she turns the tapestry into a wall, which the two Death Eaters fly into. So, Hermione gets a couple kills.

The Trio are almost trampled under a herd of stampeding desks. McGonagall is running behind them, crying out “CHARGE!” Very funny image. I notice that McGonagall, like any good Gryffindor, is now sporting a cut on her cheek.

That reminds me. When the wall expoded and killed Fred, Harry was “bleeding copiously” from some wound (probably a gash on his cheek). What happened? When did he stop bleeding? Or has that been going on all this while? Head wounds—even minor ones--tend to keep bleeding if not treated.

Anyway, they all get under the Cloak and they pass by dueling Death Eaters and students. Dean has gotten a wand and is dueling Dolohov. (This time Harry recognizes him.) Before the Trio can curse the Death Eaters, Peeves appears, dropping Snargaluff pods down onto the Death Eaters’ heads.

Naturally, one of the pods lands on Ron, providing some comic relief and yet also alerting the Death Eaters to the presence of invisible people in the room.

The Trio bravely run away and come upon Draco pleading with a Death Eater by claiming to be on his side. Harry stuns the Death Eater, and Ron punches Draco. Once again, Draco straddles that fine line between someone who deserves to be saved and someone who deserves to be punched in the mouth.

More running. More chaos. They pass the hourglass and this time (in contrast to the end of HBP), it’s the Slytherin emeralds spilled over the ground.

Two bodies fall from a balcony, and a grey streak flies across the hall to “sink its teeth into one of the fallen.” The blur is Fenrir Greyback and the fallen is Lavender Brown. Hermione blasts a curse and Greyback is thrown back. As he rises, a crystal ball hits him on the head and he crumples to the ground.

Hmm. Okay, so that sounds to me like Lavender was bitten by Fenrir. Was he human or was he werewolf? I’d guess that he was human, since Harry recognized him.

Professor Trelawney (who bonked Fenrir on the head), starts lobbying crystal balls over the bannisters. Then spiders start coming in again, causing everyone to scream and scatter.

Hagrid pushes past the Trio, trying to save his precious spiders. The precious spiders swarm him and carry him off into the forest.

Harry forgets about the whole Nagini thing and starts running after Hagrid. Maybe Harry suffers from A.D.D.? Or S.P.T. (Saving People Thing)

Harry’s new quest to rescue Hagrid from the spiders is interrupted by a giant Monty Python foot that nearly stomps him. Fortunately, Grawp appears and starts fighting with the giant attached to the foot. Which totally justifies the whole Grawp storyline. I no longer resent having to read through several tedious chapters of inter-tribal giant politics and watching Hagrid tie his little brother to trees.

The Trio runs off towards the forest again, and this time they are stopped by clouds of Dementors. Harry starts giving in to depressing thoughts: Fred is dead, Hagrid is being eaten by spiders, and what’s the use of anything? Ron and Hermione manage feeble Patroni, which soon fade, but Harry can’t get his wand up at all.

Here comes the cavalry! A silver hare, a fox, and a boar soar in to chase away the Dementors. Luna, Seamus, and Ernie come to stand beside them. Luna urges Harry to think of something happy and reminds him that they are still fighting. With that happy thought, Harry casts his stag and vanquishes the Dementors.

Then the giant returns and the Trio are separated from the other lowercase trio and run toward the Whomping Willlow. Harry tries to ignore all the dying and angst around him and focus on what Hermione said about killing the snake. If you don’t have Dumbledore around to tell you what to do, Hermione is the next best thing.

They arrive at the Whomping Willow out of breath, and Ron frets that Crookshanks isn’t around to push the stop button on the tree. “Crookshanks?” Hermione gasps out, “Are you a wizard or what?”

Sigh. See, that sort of shoutout to PS/SS is a lot better in a film than in a book. When you’re watching a film, half the time you don’t really care about logic or continuity or anything. It’s cute and funny--that’s all you need. But in a book, that line is beyond stupid. Why does Hermione have to remind Ron that he’s a wizard? She’s got a wand. Why doesn’t she use her remaining breath to say, “Buttonus Pushus!” and be done with it?

We get a second shout out when Ron uses Wingardium Leviosa to levitate a twig to push the button and OMG I can’t stand the lame right now as I picture an itty-bitty twiggy thingy having enough force to push a bump of bark. Oh, and isn’t it a miracle Ron finally mastered that first year spell?

Harry has a momentary qualm as he wonders if Voldemort is leading him into a trap, but Ron pushes him into the tunnel. The tunnel is now relatively smaller and they must actually crawl through it. How did they manage to float Snape’s upright body through it, four years earlier? This tunnel never really made much sense.

As they approach the end of the tunnel, Harry sees a sliver of light and Hermione reminds him to put on the Cloak. He does this with difficulty and proceeds, half-expecting to hear Voldemort’s voice casting an AK on him. Voldemort seemed a bit preoccupied last time you saw him, Harry. I don’t know why you’re so worried. Maybe to distract us readers from what is obviously going to happen in a few minutes?

Now Harry reaches the end of the tunnel to find the opening into the shack blocked by an old crate. This allows him to see into the room without being detected by the people inside—who wouldn’t see him anyway, since he’s currently under an Invisibility Cloak.

Harry sees the snake floating around in her little air bubble cage and Voldemort’s hand at the edge of a table. Then he hears Snape and realizes the man is only inches from him.

Snape tells Voldemort that the Resistance is crumbling and pleads with him to go looking for Harry. He promises to bring “the boy” back for Voldemort.

But Voldemort isn’t interested in Harry right now. He explains to Snape that he has a problem with his wand. Snape seems confused. He’s probably wondering if this is about magic or if it’s just another dick joke.

Harry can’t see Snape and wonders if Snape realizes the danger he’s in. When he does finally manage to catch Snape in profile, he sees that the man is staring at Nagini.

Once again, Snape asks to go find Potter.

Voldemort dismisses the request. Snape and Lucius, he says, do not understand Harry Potter. Voldemort knows that Harry’s flaw is that he won’t like people dying for him. Because of that, he will come seek Voldemort.

Hmm. I would have agreed with that a few years ago. But I’ve spent thirty-one chapters following Harry as he obsessed about Dumbledore and wasted time staring at ceilings while other people were suffering and dying, so I’m not sure Voldemort is all that keyed into Harry’s psyche.

Snape, having studied Harry’s dueling, argues that Harry might well be killed accidentally by one of the Death Eaters. Or, he might step on a teacup and bleed to death because he lacks basic first aid skills. You never know with Harry.

Voldemort again deflects Snape’s request and starts meandering toward his reason for summoning Snape. It takes a long time. Time in which Snape can only stammer that he doesn’t know why Voldemort is having such a hard time with his wands or stare fixedly at the floating snake.

I really wonder how much Snape might possibly know at this point. Canonically speaking, he doesn’t know anything. He doesn’t know about the Elder Wand and he doesn’t know that Nagini is a Horcrux. But it seems like Snape would have enough knowledge in Dark Arts, Voldemort, and Dumbledore method’s to put a few things together. That ring in Dumbledore’s office, and the diary—wouldn’t he be able to tell that they were former Horcruxes? I can’t help wanking that he’s considering casting Sectumsempra on Nagini at this moment in time. I think that spell’s Dark enough and permanent enough to destroy the Horcrux.

Although, I never could figure out why Voldemort would ever voluntarily put a Horcrux into a living being. She could always get hit by a car, you know. Or die of old age. I just checked. Boa constrictors normally live only about 25-30 years.

Finally, Voldemort starts getting to the point when he says that he took the Elder Wand from Dumbledore’s cold, dead hands.

As this point, Snape turns to look at Voldemort. Harry, looking through Voldemort’s eyes, see Snape’s face as a death mask, still and marble-white. It’s a nice, strong image, and once again, I wonder what’s going through Snape’s head at this point.

Does the name “Elder Wand” mean anything to him? Is he appalled to realize that Voldemort desecrated Dumbledore’s tomb? (I always wonder if Voldemort tidied up afterward.)

Three or four paragraphs later, Voldemort explains that Snape, having killed Dumbledore, is the master of the Elder Wand. Voldemort will not truly own it while Snape is alive. Of course, Voldemort encountered not one, but two living people who had lost the mastery of the Elder Wand—but somehow he still thinks it’s necessary to kill his most trusted Death Eater in order to gain it? I guess that’s just Voldemort’s solution to every thing. Idiot.

At this point Snape raises his wand, protesting, “My Lord!”

Voldemort must not feel very threatened because he keeps monologuing another few seconds before slashing his wand through the air. This starts the cage rolling toward Snape and encasing his head and shoulders before he can react. Voldemort orders Nagini in parseltongue to “kill” and she bites Snape in the neck.

Voldemort coldly levitates the cage away from Snape, who falls to the floor, bleeding from his wounds. He leaves the room with the snake floating after him.

Harry, breaking the connection, can see only Snape’s boot trembling on the floor. I do like that image. I like it a lot more than Snape with his head in the cage. I don’t know. Maybe that’ll look better on film.

Hermione whispers Harry’s name, and Harry moves the crate out of the way. He crawls into the room and approaches Snape, not knowing why—not knowing how to feel. Snape doesn’t seem to have that problem, since he’s desperately trying to keep from bleeding to death. He seems know what he’s feeling—a strong desire to live.

Harry takes off the Invisibility Cloak and Snape’s eyes widen at the sight of him. He grabs Harry’s robes and pulls him down, saying, “Take… it... Take… it.” Then he somehow manages to make his memories flow out of his head and into the air.

Harry, as usual, is clueless about how to handle this situation. Hermione is not and conjures a flask to catch the memories in. She does this instead of other things she might have done—like stop the bleeding or treat his snake bites. Things we know she did at other times in the story.

Then, when Snape is drained of his memories and most of his blood, he says, “Look… at… me…” and dies staring at Harry’s green eyes.

I know that many people found this death unworthy of Snape, but I don’t mind it. It’s a strong scene, even if Voldemort does take a long time getting to the point—and Snape can’t really say anything interesting because it would give away the reveal in the next chapter. True, the cage thing sounds pretty stupid, and yes, Hermione should have at least tried to do something. But I still don’t mind it.

Snape in this scene is the best of what I imagine him to be. He’s focused on the one task he’s been given to do to help save the world, and against all odds, he manages to do it. It’s an undignified way to die, yet Snape does die with dignity. He faces death bravely and quietly, and all he ever asks for is a tiny bit of recognition. Not praise. Just recognition.

That’s my Snape.

Fan Service:
Snape’s death is grisly enough to satisfy even the most rabid Snape hater.
We get all kinds of Patroni! Ernie the boar and Seamus the fox!

Fan Slappage:
It’s not enough to kill Snape off. He must be made to look ridiculous in the process.


DVD Extras:
(Because I am just this self-indulgent….)

EXT. NIGHT – OUTSIDE THE SHRIEKING SHACK

Voldemort glides out of the shack’s door, followed by Nagini in her floating sphere. He clambers up onto a nearby boulder and places the Elder Wand to his throat.

VOLDEMORT
You have fought valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery….

In the shadows by the door, Lucius Malfoy slips inside.

CUT TO:

INT. SHRIEKING SHACK

Lucius presses against the wall of the entrance as he watches Harry step backwards away from Snape’s body and then turn to go into the tunnel.

As soon as Harry is gone, Lucius rushes to Snape’s side. He picks up Snape’s wand and murmurs a healing spelling. Then he presses his ear to Snape’s chest.

As if by magic, Narcissa appears behind him.

NARCISSA
(whispering) What are you doing?

LUCIUS
His heart is still beating. What did you do with those potions?

NARCISSA
They’re at home. In the curio cupboard.

Lucius pulls Snape up over one shoulder. Staggering, he rises to his feet.

NARCISSA (cont’d)
Are you mad? What if he notices you missing?

LUCIUS
I’ll be back soon.

He Apparates.

CUT TO:

INT. MALFOY MANOR, FRONT PARLOR.

The impact of landing brings Lucius to his kneels. He lowers Snape down tol the carpet and places the wand on Snape’s chest.

LUCIUS
Suspirus.

Snape draws a single painful breath.

LUCIUS (cont’d)
Drabble! Bring me the bottles from the cupboard.

He places one arm under Snape’s neck and pulls him up a little. An elf presses a blue bottle into his hand and he pours the contents into Snape’s mouth.

LUCIUS (cont’d)
Drinkdrinkdrinkdrinkdrinkdrink….

Snape swallows and draws in another breath.

LUCIUS
That’s it. Now the red one.

He pours a red bottle into Snape’s mouth. Snape coughs, his eyes fluttering open.

SNAPE
(hoarsely) What… is that?

LUCIUS
Blood replenishing. You were right when you said they’d come in handy.

SNAPE
(muttering) Bitter. I’ll try… licorice root... next batch…

He closes his eyes, but there’s color in his face and he’s breathing steadily now. Lucius sighs in relief.

LUCIUS
That you will. (soothingly) Now, Drabble is going to make you a nice bed in our secret room and you’re going to go rest there until you’re better.

He smooths a lock of Snape’s hair back.

LUCIUS (cont’d)
(a lullaby:) Because that sweet little wand of his isn’t going to work, is it? Not as long as you stay alive.

He smiles as we

FADE OUT

Comments

Re: Comment 1 of 2

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

You know, I never found Ron all that immature compared to Harry and Hermione. JKR's quotes about how he needed to mature to be on their level left me scratching my head.

*gak*

Since I can't let this stand with you thinking that Rowling and I are in agreement on anything ... :-)

Maybe 'immature' is the wrong word. Or is it your word? I said that Ron had to 'grow up', which maybe isn't the same thing.

Ron was always the one who was saying "she'll be right, mate, just take it easy". The one satisfied with the status quo. As I see it - and this is just my impression over 6 years of being in the fandom, I might have been corrupted by fanon - it was always Harry, certainly Hermione, who would push forwards to do "what was right, not what was easy" (if I'm paraphrasing the quote correctly). It's only in DH where Ron suddenly starts showing concern for Cattermoles, and proactively thinking of house elves, and mimicking parseltongue, and having brilliant ideas about basilisk fangs, and ...

But my point was more along the lines that Rowling had only this last book to focus on a new, deeper, friendlier, and yes, *mature*, R/Hr relationship. They'd always been bickering friends up until book 6, at which point they went to DEFCON 1 and war was declared. Only right at the very end of HBP was an armistice arranged. So Rowling only had her final novel in which the true magnificence of one half of her cosy OBHWF pairings could be shown. Therefore DH was the book in which Ron suddenly, overnight, grew up.

At least Rowling gave us the "Twelve fail-safe ways to Charm Witches" book as one reason for this sudden maturity.

Re: Comment 1 of 2

[mmmarcusz.livejournal.com]

Ron was always the one who was saying "she'll be right, mate, just take it easy". The one satisfied with the status quo.

I suppose that came with being a part of the WW from birth -- and having two bullying older brothers who'd crush any original idea he'd have.

Re: Comment 1 of 2

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

I reckon so; the first point in particular. Ron was Harry's, and our, best window into the wizarding world. Which is one reason - but not the main one, I don't think - why he and Hermione were so often at loggerheads, since she wanted to bring her 'modern' views in and change his world.

I guess Ron was particularly happy with the epilogue - dark lord vanquished, everything else unaltered and back to normal. All was the same.

Re: Comment 1 of 2

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I can't think of a single moment in any book where anybody was doing "what was right over what was easy." It's just a line on the poster.

It's not that the characters don't do right--they do. But there's rarely if ever a real choice set up of right, but unattractive and very difficult, vs. wrong, but unattractive and very easy. There's plenty of times where both Harry and Hermione, especially, bring trouble on themselves by getting involved in something because they think it's right, but that doesn't make it a case of right vs. easy. They do it because their personalities both find it *impossible* to just shut up and do nothing.

Except for once, in HBP, where Harry is cheating in Potions. It's the one time I remember in the whole series where a hero was clearly faced with a choice of right vs. easy and he chose...easy. He chose it with no regrets whatsoever. And his choice is pretty much forgiven or defended as good because he had a lot to worry about or whatever. It's just, imo, a very specific choice to set up and it has nothing to do with what goes on in the Potterverse.

Re: Comment 1 of 2

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

I remember reading the discussion about whether or not Harry 'cheated' in HBP. Was his using the Prince's notes any worse than Hermione, say, using a book from the library as an extra resource?

On the other hand he let Slughorn believe that he was using only the straight text, and deliberately hid the Prince's notes from him, so I guess certainly all of Harry's accolades were won under false pretences.

I think the decision on what to do about Griphook's demand for the Sword is one of the clearest choices of 'right versus easy', maybe. Certainly it's the one which has Ron and Hermione taking extreme and opposite positions - Ron happily saying they should slip Griphook a substitute sword and scarper before he realises - and Harry ends up deciding to do something in the middle. It's a good example of how even DH!Ron is still Hermione's opposite.

Re: Comment 1 of 2

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Using extra notes isn't cheating at all, I agree. What's cheating is giving himself an unfair advantage over other students and accepting praise for things he hasn't done, while keeping other students at a clear disadvantage, since their recipes are all wrong. The "right" thing to do in that situation, imo, is to be honest about his own abilities and share the notes with everyone so they can all actually learn Potions and have an equal chance at all of Slughorn's competitions. Harry isn't particularly bothered by what he's doing, but he seems to know he's doing wrong when he's doing. It just seems like a glowing example of right vs. easy.

But you're right, Griphook's situation could probably count too, at least as Hermione and Ron lay it out (you're right, they are being opposites there), except Harry's choice in the middle isn't right because he tries to lie to him instead of telling the truth and saying he will give him back the sword, but he wants to do something with it first. So again, given the choice of right vs. easy, Harry goes with easier!

Re: Comment 1 of 2

[merrymelody.livejournal.com]

it was always Harry, certainly Hermione, who would push forwards to do "what was right, not what was easy"

Gotta go with Magpie on this one, I don't think any of the trio really ever demonstrate truly choosing right over easiness.
Hermione has more of a social conscience than the boys, although she doesn't particularly warm to people so much as causes, and that can lead to her forcing her ideals onto others (which I suppose is as bad as apathy, depending on the individual) but then one could argue that that makes it worse when she goes along with the easy route.

I think one of the decisions where this stands out is in OotP, when Montague (iirc he was on the Inquisitorial Squad) is pushed into the cabinet by the twins.
The trio see his parents approaching the school, since he's been injured for a long while, and Hermione suggests that maybe they should tell someone, in case it helps Pomfrey cure him.
Ron is 'indifferent' and believes he'll recover, Harry is 'satisfied' because it means more trouble for Umbridge. Hermione suggest Montague could be permanently injured, to which Ron says something along the lines of who cares, it serves him right for taking points from Gryffindor (pretty much the ethos of the entire series.)
IMHO, Hermione pretty clearly presents the idea of what's right here - the guy could be permanently harmed, not to mention, there's no risk from telling Pomfrey (even if they didn't want to anonymously, Fred and George have left the school, so they won't get into trouble.)
Nobody does it, it's easier for them both because they're apathetic about the victim and because his injury actively benefits them.
Hermione backs down (even though she's stuck to her guns over more trivial issues), Harry's glorying in Umbridge being affected by this (pretty much Malfoy's attitude towards Hagrid, although whether JKR realises this or not is beyond me), and Ron couldn't care less. Montague is still injured three months later (and is being spoonfed, creepily), and the only resolution is that his story assists Malfoy in HBP, although whether JKR means this to be a moral lesson for the Trio is up in the air - it's a bit subtle for her usual style.

Re: Comment 1 of 2

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

Montague is an excellent example of where none of the Trio - even our Hermione! - does 'what is right'. Wah!

My original intent, though, was in putting Ron down :-) rather than raising the others; I was imprecise in what I said. I should have said something like this perhaps:

Ron was more often the one who took the easy way out, although immoral or wrong, whereas Harry, certainly Hermione, would more often do the right thing.

And then gone on to make my point that Rowling only had the last book to quickly boost Ron into a higher level to make his match with Hermione more believable/worthy.

Certainly what I said is, strictly speaking, incorrect; your counter-example knocks my 'always' for six, that's for sure! Poor Hermione, corrupted by her friendship with her two boys. :-(

Re: Comment 1 of 2

[merrymelody.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Ron's definitely the one on the lower level to the other two, and both he and Hermione seem to get a raw deal out of their match.