The Harry Potter Chronicles 13

Shouldn't it have been Harry Potter and the Seven (Eight?) Horcruxes? Why Deathly Hallows? Maybe this is Rowling's way of highlighting something that is not so obvious.

In the chapter King's Cross, there is a significant part of the conversation, where Dumbledore tells Harry about his trying to unite the Hallows to conquer death.

Dumbledore turned his whole body to face Harry, and tears still sparkled in the brilliantly blue eyes.
'Master of death, Harry, master of Death! Was I better, ultimately, than Voldemort?'
'Of course you were,' said Harry. 'Of course - how can you ask that? You never killed if you could avoid it!'
'True, true,' said Dumbledore, and he was like a child seeking reassurance. 'Yet, I, too, sought a way to conquer death, Harry.'
'Not the way he did,' said Harry. 'Hallows, not Horcruxes.'
'Hallows,' murmured Dumbledore, 'not Horcruxes. Precisely.'

This fits in well with their conversation about choices at the end of HP 2.

So we have here a triangle with Harry, Dumbledore and Voldemort at the three vertices. Both Dumbledore and Voldemort sought to conquer death. The paths they took, were, however, significantly different.

Voldemort chose to immortalize himself by making Horcruxes, living or non-living beings into which was incorporated a piece of his soul. He had to kill to be able to split his soul every time. Reminds me of an old fairy tale where a rakshasa (demon) could not be killed because he had lodged his soul in a bird, which was then kept under layers of security, and the protagonist had to breach each level of the protection to get to the bird, kill it, and so kill the rakshasa. The megalomania of the demon comes across in such a story, where there is complete disregard for the safety of or any pain suffered by anyone else. The deaths are deliberate.

Dumbledore, too, dreamt of conquering death. It was initially a nebulous wish, together with his teen-hood friend, Gellert Grindelwald. It begins with a common dream of conquering the world, of being the top-dog, so to say. Events that follow lead to a separating of ways for the two friends.

When Dumbledore defeats Grindelwald (now a feared dark wizard) much later, he wins the Elder wand, the first Hallow, from him. When he finds that James had the Invisibility Cloak, the third Hallow, he realizes that the legend of the Hallows is true. Consequently, he is tempted by the ring containing the second Hallow, the Resurrection Stone, and attempts to put it on. The ring is cursed by Voldemort, and it almost kills Dumbledore.

Note, here, that Voldemort had held in his hand a Hallow, and had turned it into a Horcrux. We realize that he had no knowledge of the Hallows, as he had been raised by muggles, and was later likely to be disdainful of 'mere children's stories' and anything to do with emotion.

Dumbledore, though, had never united the Hallows, though he possessed one or two of them at all times since obtaining the Elder wand. He had given the Invisibility Cloak away to Harry before he got the Resurrection Stone.

Harry, the third corner of the triangle, had never considered the possibility of doing either and conquering death. He, however, did possess all three Hallows after defeating Draco while escaping from Malfoy Manor. As Draco had overpowered Dumbledore on top of the Astronomy tower, he had won the allegiance of the Elder wand, and Harry won it on overpowering Draco.

So although Voldemort tried to kill him using the wand that he had forcibly removed from Dumbledore's grave, the wand gets snatched from his hand by Harry's signature Expelliarmus, and flies to its true owner, turning in an arc to hit Voldemort instead with his own killing curse.

The Invisibility Cloak belonged to him by rightful inheritance, and the Resurrection Stone had been bequeathed to him by Dumbledore. So, at the point where he walks into the Forbidden Forest, he has united all three, making him Master of Death.

The most important point to note here is that, he has not got any of these by killing or destruction. Even his overpowering of Draco had been an Expelliarmus in defence. He did not aspire to conquer death, and so he did, when he had all three Hallows.

Conquering death here could be looked at in two ways:
1) He had been frightened for his life until then, even until he finally walked into the forest. "He felt his heart pounding fiercely in his chest...Terror washed over him as he lay on the floor, with that funeral drum pounding inside him. Would it hurt to die?"

When he opened the Snitch and turned the Stone over, his dead loved ones appear and reassure him. This part is reminiscent of the end of Dickens' A Tale Of Two Cities where the poor seamstress requests Sydney Carton to hold her hand till the end.
"You'll stay with me?"
"Until the very end," said James.
Harry was no longer frightened of death and walked to face his death with a sense of detachment.

2) Now that he had the three Hallows together, he no longer could be killed. Voldemort's Avada Kedavra in the forest selectively destroys the Horcrux bit in Harry. That was the fussing mass of humanity in the bundle behind the bench at King's Cross. The killing curse sends Harry, too, to the place in transit, but he has the option of coming back, and lives.

Dumbledore had the right idea in HP 1 when he hid the Philosopher's Stone in the Mirror of Erised. "Only a person who wanted to find the Stone -- find it, but not use it -- would be able to get it. That is one of my more brilliant ideas. And between you and me, that is saying something."

Choosing the Hallows over the Horcruxes is the fork in the road taken. And that has made all the difference, to quote Robert Frost.

The Harry Potter Chronicles 12

Time to speak of the Pensieve. A wordplay on
pen:- the instrument used normally for putting down one's thoughts
sieve:- a pan like vessel with holes through which things can fall --one literally 'falls' into the memories and can 'see' them happening
pensive:- contemplative, reflective, thoughtful. When a person's mind is brimming over with thoughts and memories, and it all becomes too much for them, one can literally 'siphon off' the troublesome thoughts, calm down, and examine them at leisure.

The Pensieve, which has featured in HP 4 & 5, is put to maximum use here, and is significant even in the last book. A way of giving a flashback, or avoiding having a direct narrative in the story.

All the Voldemort related memories are shown by Dumbledore to Harry, building up a comprehensive, more three-dimensional picture of Voldemort's persona, rather than the linear persona of a terrifying monster that we have till now. We see the lonesome, strange child that he had been, the quick-witted and manipulative teen and the sinister, ambitious, smooth-talking adult with his quest for immortality.

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The Horcruxes.

The Ring, the Diary, the Cup, the Locket, the Diadem, Nagini, Voldemort himself and Harry. That's 8, isn't it? So what was all that about 7 Horcruxes?

The first 5 were objects of consequence that Voldemort knowingly made into Horcruxes. Harry was made into a Horcrux by accident when Voldemort killed his parents, and Voldemort was completely unaware of that fact. The bit that remained in Voldemort was the 7th.

Since he was unaware of Harry becoming a Horcrux, and he had wanted to make 7, which is believed to be a magical number, Voldemort makes Nagini into one, after his resurrection. By that time, however, Harry had destroyed the diary unbeknownst of the existence of any such thing. So, at any one time till the beginning of HP 6, there had been 7 Horcruxes.

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Dumbledore's death was a shock to me. I was quite upset, and somehow worried for the trio, as he is the one person who seems omnipotent. It is as if Harry had been orphaned once more after Sirius' death.

Snape's actions are the ultimate betrayal, and half-blood prince or not, he has never seemed blacker to us than at the end of HP 6.  

The Harry Potter Chronicles 11

A's bookshelves that I had included in this virtual tour on my collection of books have featured today on Papertigers under their Around the World in 100 Bookshelves feature. Please take a look.

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Today is the day for HP 6. Check out this review by A over at Zealot Readers.

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A new school year. Prefect badges. Harry is Quidditch captain. Having done well in their OWL, the trio is all set to take subjects of their choice. A new Potions teacher who accepts 'Exceeds Expectations' in Potions leads Harry and Ron to return to Potions. Books? Well, they just pick up old books from the cupboards.

A master stroke by Rowling, which puts an unusual book into Harry's hands. Now Harry is not only 'the boy who lived', he is also a potions whiz! Making him the top candidate for Professor Slughorn's page 3 ...err... gallery of collectible stars.

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All seems well, though it apparently is not. What about the strange actions of Draco Malfoy? Has he really been inducted among the Death Eaters? The recruits certainly seem to be getting younger- a comment on terrorism and the way very young children get pushed into it. Pawns in a war not of their choice. Certainly it is cause for worry for Draco's mother, who ropes in Snape to protect and assist him.

What makes Snape take on this responsibility? Is he a double agent? Pretending to be loyal to Dumbledore and acting for Voldemort? There is also the fact of his having overheard the prophecy, that Harry comes to know of purely by chance. Doesn't that make him blacker than he is, since it would undoubtedly be he who went to Voldemort with that information?

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Romance. How can we have a story involving 16-17 year olds without it? It blossoms in every heart. Dark theme or not. There is love, longing, infatuation, kissing, jealousy, hatred- the full range. There is also love potion and the brewing of it-
Amortentia: It smells differently to different persons, based upon their individual likes. Quoting from the Harry Potter wikipedia:


"It has a different aroma for everyone who smells it, reminding each person of the things that they find most attractive, even if the person themselves don't acknowledge or are unaware of their fondness for the object of their affection e.g. Hermione Granger smells fresh cut grass, new parchment and spearmint toothpaste. Harry Potter smelled treacle tart, a broomstick, and 'something flowery that he thought he might have smelled at the Burrow' (which he later realized as the smell of Ginny Weasley's hair). Ron Weasley smelled his mother's cooking, bacon and the perfume he gave Hermione in their 5th year for Christmas."

A question to my readers- what would it smell of to you?

For me- New books, jasmine and the first rains on parched earth.

The Harry Potter Chronicles 10

Sirius Black.

Came from a long line of dark wizards, and was the first to be sorted into Gryffindor. His family disowned him after he broke away to stay with the Potters.

The animosity between him and Snape is an example of childhood resentments carried over into adulthood. Both strong personalities, both hot headed, sworn enemies. It was probably only their loyalty towards Dumbledore and his instructions, and a bit of Remus Lupin's levelheadedness that kept them at bay against each other.

Even after his death, some of his bequests to Harry were instrumental in keeping him safe. His London house, Kreacher, the 2-way mirror are some of those things.

Sirius is named after the brightest star seen from earth- the main star in the Canis Major constellation. It is also called the dog-star, and is characterised as sparkling and scorching. Fits well with our character who is brave, hot tempered but loyal to his friends, with a ferocious dog as his animagous.

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There are many old magical artefacts in the House of Black. Molly Weasley's efforts to clean and de-clutter the house, to make it more habitable after years of disuse throws up a lot of curious things. Among a long list that is recounted somewhere in the middle of page 108 is 'a heavy locket that none of them could open'. I had to open this chapter to re-read and locate it after reading the chapter in HP 7 where the trio are interrogating Kreacher about the locket Horcrux.

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Luna Lovegood. We encounter her for the first time in HP 5. The complete antithesis of the pragmatic, competant, logical, scientific tempered Hermione.

"She had straggly, waist-length, dirty blonde hair, very pale eyebrows, and protuberant eyes that gave her a permanently surprised look. Harry knew at once why Neville had chosen to pass this compartment by. The girl gave off an aura of distinct dottiness. Perhaps it was the fact that she had stuck her wand behind her left ear for safekeeping, or that she had chosen to wear a necklace of Butterbeer caps, or that she was reading a magazine upside down."

Named after the moon goddess, Luna is airy, slightly incomprehensible with a tendency to go off on a tangent, Luna nevertheless had the uncanny ability to cut straight to the heart of the matter, and an eerie sixth sense about other people's perceptions. Considered uncool, she is often picked upon by people, but remains unfazed by it all.

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Harry's connection to Voldemort's mind gets stronger now, and even worse, Voldemort is now aware of it, and tries to use it to Harry's detriment. If only he had persisted at Occlumency, Voldemort would not have been able to lure him to the Department of Mysteries and Sirius would have been alive. If only Sirius had been kinder to Kreacher, he would not have acted against Sirius' interests, and Sirius would have been alive.

So many if onlys...

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Dumbledore's Army- In  the earlier war against Voldemort, the Order of the Phoenix had been formed. DA was the junior, students' version of it. Both are forms of underground resistance. It is finally the unfair sanctions put in place by Umbridge that spawn the DA.

Umbridge, her saccharine sweet unpleasantness, and the increasing sanctions are reminiscent, again, of the Holocaust, with its increasingly intolerable laws against the Jews, denying them their basic humanity. The connection Rowling has tried to make to the Holocaust is underlined by Hermione's comment in HP 7 on the statue in the ministry- the powerful witch and wizard sit on a throne which seem to have carvings on it. Only they are not a design. They are bodies, dead, dying, emaciated bodies of Muggles piled together.

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The battle at the ministry has one positive effect. Cornelius Fudge can no longer deny the existence of a resurrected Voldemort!

 

The Harry Potter Chronicles 9

Today is day 5 of Harry Potter week over at Zealot Readers. Check out this review of HP 5 by A.

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At 766 pages(first edition, 2003, Bloomsbury), this is the longest book in the series, followed by the next two books, both having 607 pages in their first editions. It is also a very complex and detail intensive book.
We see Rowling, too, growing as a writer as the language, plot and characters become more complex, and more suited to an older readership. A lot of people began reading the series as 6 to 10 year olds. Sometimes older. Themes from HP 4 onward are darker, and sometimes incomprehensible by younger children. A case can be made here about too much, too soon. With A, I let her acclimatize to the changes in tone and did not let her rush into the later books. In fact, we began at the age of 8, that too, read aloud by me. That way, we enjoyed savouring the experience together: I was re-reading. We took a necessary break after HP 4, and took it a bit easy from there, taking the time to let some things sink in and understood. The series are too wonderful to just 'finish reading for the sake of it'. There is so much to learn and appreciate.

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Right at the beginning, we encounter the vagaries of politics.

In HP 1, Harry had not yet made a mark beyond his history, so he was largely left alone by the powers that be.

In HP 2, he had been noticed as a possible adversary to the dark wizards, hence the 'plot'. After having proved his mettle at the end of that book, and restored Hogwarts' reputation as a safe place he had become 'someone to contend with'.

Hence, in HP 3, he got the full protection of the ministry to keep him safe from 'mass murderer Sirius Black'.

In HP 4, there is still a lingering protection from politicos and bureaucrats, camaraderie, even. Unfortunately, he appears at the end of the Triwizard tournament sobbing and injured, with the dead body of another student, and with an unlikely story of Voldemort having returned.

So, in HP 5, we see that those who know him well believe him. Hence the protection arranged for by Dumbledore. The ministry, however, goes into denial and makes things difficult for him. Political will also hoists someone from the ministry onto the school, Dolores Umbridge, the person more hated than even Voldemort.     

The Harry Potter Chronicles 8

The logical mind of Hermione Granger. A scientific temperament that works on a deduction based on observation and knowledge, and requiring proof. She cannot thus abide by Trelawney's star-gazing techniques.

In HP 1, it was the poisons puzzle. "This isn't magic, this is logic."

In HP 2, it was the solving of the mystery of the attacker's identity. "that faraway look in her eyes"

In HP 3, it was the decoding of the mystery of Lupin's condition, based on observation and the study of werewolves set by a malicious Snape.

In HP 4, it was her getting to the bottom of the bugging Rita Skeeter mystery. On an aside, this is another example of an interesting use of words by Rowling. A Skeeter is a mosquito. Rita Skeeter is as irritating as a buzzing mosquito, and the animagus form used by her is the beetle. And Hermione gets to the bottom of the mystery on the use of the word 'bug' by Harry in the context of an electronic eavesdropping device, which obviously does not work in Hogwarts.

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Harry's scar, and the role played by it in the connection with Voldemort's mind, becomes a big thing in this book. We had a brief taste of it in HP 1 itself, when it would burn whenever Voldemort/Quirell were near. It plays a significant role in the subsequent books, and shapes much of the narrative. We shall look at it again later.

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The Hermione-Ron relationship. A time when feelings are still not crystallized or expressed. There is the classic 'taking for granted' scenario. And Hermione standing up for herself- 

"Just because it's taken you three years to notice, Ron, doesn't mean that no one else has spotted I'm a girl."

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Three more things that are significant. 

Voldemort takes in a bit of Harry's blood to cut across the protection his mother's sacrifice has provided. This has another, unexpected (by Voldemort) consequence, which would be significant in the last chapters of the last book.

The Death Eaters. The masks are off. Or, in the Death Eaters' case, the masks are on. We, and Harry, face Voldemort and the possibility of mortality.

Priori Incantatum and the phenomenon of the twin cores. These will play a larger role later.   

The Harry Potter Chronicles 7

Day 4 of the Harry Potter week at Zealot Readers. Check out a review of the book by A.

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We've begun the story. Established the area of conflict. Established the major characters. The story is going ahead full steam.

In HP 4, Rowling takes a bit of a detour in the first few chapters, and treats us to a normal event in the wizarding world. A full scale, international sports meet: the Quidditch World Cup. Complete with a look behind the organizing scenes with the good, the bad and the ugly of bureaucracy, and an acid tongued (acid quilled) reporter.

Which leads us up to a sudden shock when things turn hostile unexpectedly. In a way, this mirrors the sudden turn of events in the last few chapters, when Harry is transported to Little Hangleton bang in the middle of a tournament.

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After going the detective fiction and thriller way in books 2 & 3, HP 4 becomes a school story again, sandwiched between the aforementioned dark parts. We have classes, Harry and Ron breaking a few rules, comic relief by the Weasley twins, one-upman-ships between different students, various classes, arguments, triumphs and trials.

A few things to mention:
Ron has to confront his monsters of jealousy as far as Harry is concerned, something that he never masters completely, and which plays a large role in the last book. There are also the yet unspoken feelings between him and Hermione that give rise to many misunderstandings.

The thread about discrimination and exploitation is picked up again. Hermione's championing for the rights of house elves leads her to start S.P.E.W., which has only 3 members- the trio. This disregard for the house-elves' feelings, wants, likes and dislikes; the generally held belief (even by the better people among the magical brethren) that 'they are happy with their lot' is somehow reminiscent of discrimination on the basis of gender. This is also somehow linked to the 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned' attitude of Kreacher in the next book towards Sirius.

Being honourable: a British behaviour code where there is always fair play is highlighted in HP 4. It was expected, of course, as this is a book mostly about sports and tournaments. Cricket is supposed to be gentleman's game, and a real gentleman would rather give up an advantage than behave in an unfair manner. So also in the book. Harry is always given an advantage over the other contestants for whatever reasons, but he refuses to use it to his sole advantage. As Ron puts it- "You weren't being thick at after all- you were showing moral fibre!"

This characteristic, however, leads to the completely avoidable tragedy of Cedric Diggory's death. If Harry hadn't tried to be fair and encouraged Cedric to get hold of the Triwizard Cup along with him, he wouldn't have been killed senselessly. 

The Harry Potter Chronicles 6

Friendship in its various forms is the mainstay of the HP books. Here, we are confronted with what happens when there is betrayal in friendship. The tentacles of a betrayal can reach out far and ensnare the innocent bystanders along with the guilty. These things can destroy lives. It is brought to us keenly in the destinies of the four erstwhile friends: James, Sirius, Remus and Peter.

Here is a prequel J K Rowling wrote, for a short story competition, and she chose to highlight the camaraderie between the teenage James and Sirius. Click on the link to read it in Rowling's own handwriting, followed by a typewritten copy.

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In my opinion, HP 3 is the second best book in the series, the first being HP 7. The last few chapters, after Professor Trelawney's prediction, are a masterpiece. I am speaking of the whole Time-turner sequence, beginning with the trio going down to Hagrid's hut.It is wonderful how Rowling has crafted the whole sequence, where two separate time zones intersect, and she has to follow the rule of not being noticed by anyone.

"Don't you understand? We're breaking one of the most important wizarding laws! Nobody's supposed to change time, nobody! You heard Dumbledore, if we're seen...Professor McGonagall told me what awful things have happened when wizards have meddled with time- loads of them ended up killing their past or future selves by mistake."

We are entering here into the realm of science fiction. We claim that time is immutable. There have been studies, though, on alternate universes, that incorporate the idea of the fourth dimension, time, the bending of time and the concept of wormholes, kind of portals through which we can travel across time. Sci-fi books like The Time Machine and L'engle's Wrinkle in Time Series have tried to explore this concept.

This is also one of those portions of the series that have been filmed so wonderfully.

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Sirius Black. One of the main characters, but very under-explored. Black's character comes forth more because of all that is unsaid about him, than what is said. Something like the negative of a photograph. He is also that tragic figure- a promising life gone wrong. We shall speak more about him in HP 5.

Cross-posted at Zealot Readers.

The Harry Potter Chronicles 5

Today is the third day of our Harry Potter week over at Zealot Readers. Do take a look at A's review of HP 3.

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Owl post. We have encountered only Harry's owl, Hedwig, till now. The various other owls that populated books 1 & 2 were anonymous. Here, in HP 3, we suddenly realize that they are just as dis-similar as human beings. Hedwig with her maternal, proprietary air. Errol, the old owl near retirement who just goes about his work because he has to. And at the end of the book, Pidgewigeon, or Pig for short, the highly excitable, obviously just into teenage owl who adopts Ron. Fittingly, the book begins with a chapter titled Owl Post. And ends with one titled Owl Post Again.

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Dementors. They provide a step up in dark themes in the HP series. Dementors 'suck out one's soul and leave an empty shell.'  Rowling, here, is alluding to and has derived the word from actual dementia. A person suffering from it becomes a shell of the person they were. All feelings, emotions and memories are lost when kissed by a Dementor. Rowling could also be alluding to depression, the severe, clinical kind, that destroys the person one is. She should know, as her mother was a victim of Multiple Sclerosis, and had passed away before Rowling became the literary phenomenon that she is.

So Rowling's counter-action or antidote to the Dementors? A powerful spell originating in a happy memory. Happy memories can keep depression at bay. The spell used, 'Expecto Patronum' is Latin for 'I await a patron'. A patron in ancient Rome was someone rich and influential who protected and mentored you.

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We take another journey to the past in this book, and learn more about Harry's parents and their student days. We learn about the 'cool gang' of students comprising James(Harry's father), Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, their escapades through Transfiguration and their biggest invention, the Marauder's  Map. We are reminded of what Ollivander had said about James' wand: "Your father, on the other hand, favoured a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration."     

The Harry Potter Chronicles 4

Just as HP 1 was more of a school adventure, HP 2 is a whodunit. What's a whodunit? A detective story.

Most of what I write now will sound like a lot of gobbledygook to those who haven't read the book. Then again, it might compel them to pick it up!

It has all the ingredients of detective fiction. There is a plot. The protagonist is in danger. Someone in the know warns the protagonist, but to no avail. There are strange, unexplained sinister things that happen. The culprit is unknown, but there is a theory about them. As always, the culprit cannot resist leaving a cryptic message. There are several bodies left at the scene of the crime. Not dead bodies here, but petrified. That, of course, is even more inexplicable, though one smart detective gets to the explanation. Hot on the trail, the detective too becomes a victim. More red herrings, as the suspicion falls on the most obvious person, who, of course turns out in the end to be innocent. Lots more action and drama, before the mystery is solved.

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In HP 2, Rowling introduces a few things that will be significant later.

One- Tom Riddle as a 16 year old preserved in the diary. He disappears when Harry stabs the diary with the Basilisk fang. "There was a long, dreadful, piercing scream." Obviously, there was something alive in the diary, which had just been destroyed. Moreover, a Basilisk fang could destroy it.

Two- Harry drew the sword of Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat just as the Basilisk was attacking him and he had to do something to kill it! Only under conditions of need and valour could the sword be drawn from it.

Three- A wand that is broken may be repaired, but it does not gain back its power, and may not work as earlier. Sometimes, in fact, spells may even rebound! Also, another's wand may not really work for someone, though spells could be cast.

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There is are distinct similarities between Harry and Voldemort. "There are strange likenesses between us, Harry Potter. Even you must have noticed. Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by Muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himself." (Wonder what that says of Slytherin's bloodline until Tom Riddle. They clearly were Parselmouths, but equally clearly weren't tutored at Hogwarts!) "We even look something alike-" 

Other than their wands sharing the same core, surprisingly from Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes' tail, they were poles apart! "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."  

Crossposted at

The Harry Potter Chronicles 3

Today is day 2 of Harry Potter week over at Zealot Readers. Check out A's review of HP 2 at the site.

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The cover pictures on the first and second Harry Potter books are a tribute to the ubiquitousness of technology. Never mind the magic.

Witches and wizards have unique means of transport. Magical creatures that fly, broomsticks, portkeys, floo powder, magic carpets (Arabian Nights?) and of course, Disapparition. Why, then, should they require cars, trains, buses and such? And if there is a reason for that, what did they use before these technological advances came to be?

In the world of Hogwarts, too, there is such a thing as being underage. There is also the concept of having to learn how to disapparate-apparate. So those who haven't yet mastered the art have to use other means.

All the other means listed above have the disadvantage of getting noticd by muggles, thus breaching the Statute of Secrecy. So, to be able to travel without standing out, as well as having means of mass transport, the said vehicles must have been adopted. How, then, could a car accomodate more than its capacity? Undetectable Extension Charm!

And before these came along? Why, I suppose the magical people simply used what the muggles did- carriages and stagecoaches!

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In HP 2, we are introduced to one of the most loved characters of the whole series. Dobby. Children love him. My daughter does, so do I. He is the underdog, the enslaved house-elf of the Malfoys, who is serendipitously freed by Harry.

The book begins with Dobby getting Harry into trouble. Ostentatiously for his own good. For Dobby knows something due to his position in the Malfoys' household. The servant who is taken for granted, and who we never take into consideration when we openly speak about things. We take their loyalty for granted, and consider them less than human with no feelings of their own at the same time. This is a recurring refrain throughout the series. The house-elves Dobby, Winky, Kreacher, all with their different personalities, reacting differently to similar situations. A point to be discussed again later.

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HP 1 was all about introducing us to the world of Hogwarts, a child's view of it. Things become more serious from HP 2. Here, JK Rowling plunges headlong into her message about discrimination on the basis of birth. The whole refrain of pure-bloods and mudbloods that continues to the end of the series comes forth here. We had just a glimpse into it in HP 1, through Draco Malfoy's comments and behaviour, but that was just a child parroting his elder's beliefs. Here, it comes into its own.

JK Rowling has very obviously alluded to the Holocaust. The idea is woven very intricately in the books. The ganging together, the name-calling, the hatred that further breeds hatred and distrust, the muggle hating, the degeneratin of the whole thing into segregating of magical folk into death-eaters and those who are not. The sheer force of destruction that such hatred can engender.

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We have some interestingly named characters that come to our notice in this book.

Peeves: A peeve is something that irritates or causes vexation. Peeves, here, is a poltergeist who loves to play practical jokes, and is uncaring of people's feelings in the matter. He is the one character who is bold enough to be rude even to Dumbledore.

Argus Filch:  Argus, in Greek mythology, is a giant with one hundred eyes who was the watchman for the goddess Hera. Filch means 'to steal', usually in a sneaky manner.
So we have Argus Filch, who snoops around, steals around Hogwarts, patrolling its corridors, and trying to catch anyone breaking the rules. He is a squib, a non-magical person born into a wizarding family, and he is consequentially a disgruntled person. A passive-aggressive sort of personality, who comes fully into his own when assisting someone who is respectably evil, like Umbridge, in HP 5.

Gilderoy Lockhart: To gild means 'give a specious or false brilliance to'. Gilderoy is all words and no substance, the proverbial empty vessel. A show-off with no achievement of his own. The dandy who talks glibly, and takes complete advantage of the effect of his looks on gullible women!

The Harry Potter Chronicles 2

Hagrid. What do you think of him?

Hagrid was clearly on Harry's and Dumbledore's side. But does that make him good?

Both Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall are aware of his failings. We realize that in the first chapter, even though we don't know exactly what they mean at the first reading of the series. As with most things in the books, this comes home to us as we move ahead in the series or even on a re-reading.

"'Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?'
'Yes', said Professor McGonagall."

And later-
"'But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?' 
'Hagrid's bringing him.'
'You think it- wise - to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?'
'I would trust Hagrid with my life,' said Dumbledore.
'I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place,' said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, 'but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to- what was that?'"

Hagrid is careless, divulging secrets to all and sundry without regard for the consequences. Especially if he is drunk and tempted with his one passion- monstrous magical creatures. He gives away the secret of the 3-headed dog to a stranger in a pub who offers him a dragon's egg.

He is thoughtless- towards humans and his beloved monsters alike. Hatching a dragon egg and keeping it hidden in a wooden hut which could easily catch fire.

In later books, we see how he hatches the man-eating acromantula inside Hogwarts. How he gets his half-brother, Grawp, and hides him in the Forbidden Forest, putting all creatures in there at danger. Even when Grawp clearly did not want to come there from the mountains. How he is more concerned about the spiders in the last book than about the people they may kill.

One can say that this is all because of his ancestry- being a half-giant. He comes across as just a little better than those other problematic Gryffindors, Mundungus Fletcher and Peter Pettigrew. One of the few things we can say in his favour is that he was unflinchingly loyal to those he considered his friends. Dumbledore, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville, etc.

As we read the whole story mainly from Harry's point of view, we learn to have a positive take on Hagrid, who is Harry's first friend in the wizarding world. Half-giant, yes, but as flawed as any human being.

Cross-posted at Zealot Readers.

The Harry Potter Chronicles 1

It is the long awaited Harry Potter week over at one of the other blogs I write for, Zealot Readers. We shall be tackling the 7 HP books over the next 7 days, from 11th August- 18th August. We have thoughts by the adult contributors, as well as by children who contribute. Check out this review of HP 1 by my daughter A.

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The first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, begins with the sentence: "Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much." The ordinariness of the Dursleys is the perfect foil, the main counter-point to the magical world of Harry and Hogwarts. Making the wizarding world larger than life. The 'other' to our Muggle lives. The perfect adventure for children who are wont to believe in magic.

Harry carries the echos of the muggle world with him into the wizarding world. When he is unaware of things (like Quidditch, the gateway to platform 3/4, etc.) that a wizard would take for granted. When he gets startled by the moving pictures on the Chocolate Frog Cards. When he receives the 50 pence that the Dursleys send him for Christmas 'sellotaped' to the note.

When he is not intimidated by Voldemort's name, as it is just another name to him. Even if he is told that Voldemort is the one who killed his parents, he is not weighed down by the collective memory of terror that everyone in the wizarding world is.

"'...and until Hagrid told me, I didn't know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort-'
Ron gasped.
'What?' said Harry.
'You said You-Know-Who's name!' said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed. 'I'd have thought you, of all people-'
'I'm not trying to be brave or anything, saying the name,' said Harry. 'I just never knew you shouldn't'"

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The protagonists of this book are at just the right age. Not only does the age match with that at which children in the UK start grade school, but it is ideal for the premise of the book. 11 is an age when children are able to be without their parents. It is also the age when they are able to handle the strangeness of a new circumstances on their own. As it certainly would be for children which came from muggle backgrounds. It is also the age when children haven't yet come out of their childhood, and there is yet a belief in the possibility of magic. Again ideal for those from muggle households.

HP1 is very much in the mold of the school stories like Tom Brown's Schooldays, What Katy Did At School or the various school books by Enid Blyton. This appeals a great deal to children who find it familiar ground.  With a difference, of course!

Cross-posted at Zealot Readers..