Harry Potter and the First Time Readers

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Ch 35-36

Episode Summary

Get him, save him, heʹs only just gone through!ʹ ʹ‐ itʹs too late, Harry.ʹ ʹWe can still reach him ‐ʹ Harry struggled hard and viciously, but Lupin would not let go… Thereʹs nothing you can do, Harry… nothing… heʹs gone.ʹ Devastating...and the first time readers didn't care all that much! So join Jon, Jenn, Danny, and Kristen as they talk over chapters 35-36 of Order of the Phoenix. They talk over some theories about what will happen, their impressions of the characters, and why they don't love Sirius that much.

Episode Notes

Chapter 35 - Beyond the Veil

• ʹItʹs time you learned the difference between life and dreams, Potter,ʹ said Malfoy. ʹNow give me the prophecy, or we start using wands.ʹ 

Q1 - Thoughts on this being a prophecy?

• ʹSo,ʹ said Harry, ʹwhat kind of prophecy are we talking about, anyway?ʹ  He could not think what to do but to keep talking. Nevilleʹs arm was pressed against his, and he could feel him shaking; he could feel one of the othersʹ  quickened breath on the back of his head. He was hoping they were all thinking hard about ways to get out of this, because his mind was blank. ʹWhat kind of prophecy?ʹ repeated Bellatrix, the grin fading from her face. ʹYou jest, Harry Potter.ʹ  ʹNope, not jesting,ʹ said Harry, his eyes flicking from Death Eater to Death Eater,.looking for a weak link, a space through which they could escape. ʹHow come Voldemort wants it?ʹ Several of the Death Eaters let out low hisses. ʹYou dare speak his name?ʹ whispered Bellatrix. ʹYeah,ʹ said Harry, maintaining his tight grip on the glass ball, expecting another attempt to bewitch it from him. ʹYeah, Iʹve got no problem with saying Vol—ʹ  ʹShut your mouth!ʹ Bellatrix shrieked. ʹYou dare speak his name with your unworthy lips, you dare besmirch it with your half‐bloodʹs tongue, you dare ‐ʹ ʹDid you know heʹs a half‐blood too?ʹ said Harry recklessly. Hermione gave a little moan in his ear. ʹVoldemort? Yeah, his mother was a witch but his dad was a Muggle ‐ or has he been telling you lot heʹs pure‐blood?ʹ 

Q2 - Is Harry right to instigate here?

• ʹDumbledore never told you the reason you bear that scar was hidden in the bowels of the Department of Mysteries?ʹ Malfoy sneered.

Q3 - Why didn’t Dumbledore tell Harry?

• Harry stared into the slitted eye‐holes through which Malfoyʹs grey eyes were gleaming. Was this prophecy the reason Harryʹs parents had died, the reason he carried his lightning‐bolt scar? Was the answer to all of this clutched in his hand?
• The jet of red light flew right over the Death Eaterʹs shoulder and hit a glass‐ fronted cabinet on the wall full of variously shaped hour‐glasses; the cabinet fell to the floor and burst apart, glass flying everywhere, sprang back up on to the wall, fully mended, then fell down again, and shattered ‐ 

Q4 - What happened here?

• The Death Eater had pulled his head out of the bell jar. His appearance was utterly bizarre, his tiny babyʹs head bawling loudly while his thick arms flailed dangerously in all directions, narrowly missing Harry, who had ducked. Harry raised his wand but to his amazement Hermione seized his arm. ʹYou canʹt hurt a baby!ʹ 

Q5 - Thoughts on Hermione saying this?

• But the Death Eater Hermione had just struck dumb made a sudden slashing movement with his wand; a streak of what looked like purple flame passed right across Hermioneʹs chest. She gave a tiny ʹOh!ʹ as though of surprise and crumpled on to the floor, where she lay motionless.

Q6 - What is this magic and is Hermione dead?

• Neville kicked aside the broken fragments of his own wand as they walked slowly towards the door. ʹMy granʹs going do kill be,ʹ said Neville thickly, blood spattering from his nose as he spoke, ʹdat was by dadʹs old wand.ʹ 

Q7 - Thoughts on this?

• ʹPotter, your race is run,ʹ drawled Lucius Malfoy, pulling off his mask, ʹnow hand me the prophecy like a good boy.ʹ  ʹLet ‐ let the others go, and Iʹll give it to you!ʹ said Harry desperately. A few of the Death Eaters laughed. ʹYou are not in a position to bargain, Potter,ʹ said Lucius Malfoy, his pale face flushed with pleasure. ʹYou see, there are ten of us and only one of you… or hasnʹt Dumbledore ever taught you how to count?ʹ  ʹHeʹs dot alone!ʹ shouted a voice from above them. ʹHeʹs still god be!ʹ 

Q8 - Do you see why I love Neville so much now?

• Harry did not have to think; there was no choice. The prophecy was hot with the heat of his clutching hand as he held it out. Malfoy jumped forwards to take it. Then, high above them, two more doors burst open and five more people sprinted into the room: Sirius, Lupin, Moody, Tonks and Kingsley.
• ʹHarry, take the prophecy, grab Neville and run!ʹ Sirius yelled, dashing to meet Bellatrix. Harry did not see what happened next: Kingsley swayed across his field of vision, battling with the pockmarked and no longer masked Rookwood; another jet of green light flew over Harryʹs head as he launched himself towards Neville ‐ 

Q9 - thoughts on everything happening here?

• He gave another stupendous heave and Nevilles robes tore all along the left seam ‐ the small spun‐glass ball dropped from his pocket and, before either of them could catch it, one of Nevilleʹs floundering feet kicked it: it flew some ten feet to their right and smashed on the step beneath them. As both of them stared at the place where it had broken, appalled at what had happened, a pearly‐white figure with hugely magnified eyes rose into the air, unnoticed by any but them..Harry could see its mouth moving, but in all the crashes and screams and yells surrounding them, not one word of the prophecy could he hear. The figure stopped speaking and dissolved into nothingness.
• Harry turned to look where Neville was staring. Directly above them, framed in the doorway from the Brain Room, stood Albus Dumbledore, his wand aloft, his face white and furious. Harry felt a kind of electric charge surge through every particle of his body ‐ they were saved.

Q10 - How good do you feel that Dumbledore is here?

• Only one pair was still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrixʹs jet of red light: he was laughing at her. ʹCome on, you can do better than that!ʹ he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room. The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest. The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock. Harry released Neville, though he was unaware of doing so. He was jumping down the steps again, pulling out his wand, as Dumbledore, too, turned towards the dais. It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall: his body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backwards through the ragged veil hanging from the arch. Harry saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his godfatherʹs wasted, once‐ handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind, then fell back into place. Harry heard Bellatrix Lestrangeʹs triumphant scream, but knew it meant nothing ‐ Sirius had only just fallen through the archway, he would reappear from the other side any second… But Sirius did not reappear. ʹSIRIUS!ʹ Harry yelled. ʹSIRIUS!ʹ  He had reached the floor, his breath coming in searing gasps. Sirius must be just behind the curtain, he, Harry, would pull him back out… But as he reached the ground and sprinted towards the dais, Lupin grabbed Harry around the chest, holding him back. Thereʹs nothing you can do, Harry ‐ʹ  ʹGet him, save him, heʹs only just gone through!ʹ  ʹ‐ itʹs too late, Harry.ʹ  ʹWe can still reach him ‐ʹ Harry struggled hard and viciously, but Lupin would not let go… Thereʹs nothing you can do, Harry… nothing… heʹs gone.ʹ 

Q11 - Thoughts on Sirius death here?

Chapter 36 - The Only One He Ever Feared

• Lupin dragged Harry away from the dais. Harry, still staring at the archway, was angry at Sirius now for keeping him waiting But some part of him realised, even as he fought to break free from Lupin, that Sirius had never kept him waiting before… Sirius had risked everything, always, to see Harry, to help him… if Sirius was not reappearing out of that archway when Harry was yelling for him as though his life depended on it, the only possible explanation was that he could not come back… that he really was

Q1 - How will Sirius’s death affect Harry?

• `Aaaaaah … did you love him, little baby Potter?ʹ  Hatred rose in Harry such as he had never known before; he flung himself out from behind the fountain and bellowed, `Crucio!ʹ  Bellatrix screamed: the spell had knocked her off her feet, but she did not writhe and shriek with pain as Neville had ‐ she was already back on her feet, breathless, no longer laughing. Harry dodged behind the golden fountain again. Her counter‐spell hit the head of the handsome wizard, which was blown off and landed twenty feet away, gouging long scratches into the wooden floor. `Never used an Unforgivable Curse before, have you, boy?ʹ she yelled. She had abandoned her baby voice now. `You need to mean them, Potter! You need to really want to cause pain ‐ to enjoy it ‐ righteous anger wonʹt hurt me for long ‐  Iʹll show you how it is done, shall I? Iʹll give you a lesson ‐ʹ

Q2 - Harry just used an unforgivable curse…thoughts?

• `Potter, Iʹm going to give you one chance!ʹ shouted Bellatrix. `Give me the prophecy ‐ roll it out towards me now ‐ and I may spare your life!ʹ  `Well, youʹre going to have to kill me, because itʹs gone!ʹ Harry roared and, as he shouted it, pain seared across his forehead; his scar was on fire again, and he felt a surge of fury that was quite unconnected with his own rage. `And he knows!ʹ said Harry, with a mad laugh to match Bellatrixʹs own. `Your dear old mate Voldemort knows itʹs gone! Heʹs not going to be happy with you, is he?ʹ  ʹWhat? What do you mean?ʹ she cried, and for the first time there was fear in her voice.
• `Donʹt waste your breath!ʹ yelled Harry, his eyes screwed up against the pain in his scar, now more terrible than ever. `He canʹt hear you from here!ʹ  `Canʹt I, Potter?ʹ said a high, cold voice.

Q3 - How intense is this? Did you expect Voldemort to be there?

• `It was foolish to come here tonight, Tom,ʹ said Dumbledore calmly. `The Aurors are on their way’ `By which time I shall be gone, and you will be dead!ʹ spat Voldemort.

Q4 - How good is this comeback?

• Dumbledore flicked his own wand: the force of the spell that emanated from it was such that Harry, though shielded by his golden guard, felt his hair stand on end as it passed and this time Voldemort was forced to conjure a shining silver shield out of thin air to deflect it. The spell, whatever it was, caused no visible damage to the shield, though a deep, gong‐like note reverberated from it ‐ an oddly chilling sound. `You do not seek to kill me, Dumbledore?ʹ called Voldemort, his scarlet eyes narrowed over the top of the shield. `Above such brutality, are you?ʹ  ʹWe both know that there are other ways of destroying a man, Tom,ʹ Dumbledore said calmly, continuing to walk towards Voldemort as though he had not a fear in the world, as though nothing had happened to interrupt his stroll up the hall. `Merely taking your life would not satisfy me, I admit’ ‘`There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!ʹ snarled Voldemort. `You are quite wrong,ʹ said Dumbledore, still closing in upon Voldemort and speaking as lightly as though they were discussing the matter over drinks. Harry felt scared to see him walking along, undefended, shieldless; he wanted to cry out a warning, but his headless guard kept shunting him backwards towards the wall, blocking his every attempt to get out from behind it. `Indeed, your failure to understand that there are things much worse than death has always been your greatest weakness’

Q5 - Why would Dumbledore not be satisfied to take Voldy’s life?

Q6 - What is this magic Dumbledore is using?

• He was gone from the hall, he was locked in the coils of a creature with red eyes, so tightly bound that Harry did not know where his body ended and the creatureʹs began: they were fused together, bound by pain, and there was no escape.

Q7 - What is happening here?

• Let the pain stop, thought Harry… let him kill us… end it, Dumbledore… death is nothing compared to this… And Iʹll see Sirius again…

Q8 - How much do you hate Fudge?

Q9 - What is the plan of action next?