After the lesson, Harry decides to use the Marauder’s Map to
track Malfoy’s movements. However, he can’t figure out why or how
Malfoy goes missing off the Map every so often.
Because of the attack on Katie, all further trips to Hogsmeade
are cancelled which disappoints Ron since the next one would have
fallen on his birthday. What’s even more alarming is that more
and more disappearances were being report in the Daily Prophet,
including some relatives of Hogwarts students.
Ron’s birthday is 1 March and he gets a stack of presents. Harry
is so distracted studying the Map, he doesn’t notice Ron pick up
a Chocolate Cauldrons. Suddenly, Ron starts talking crazy about
Romilda Vane and Harry thinks he’s joking at first.
“I can’t stop thinking about her!” said Ron hoarsely.
Harry gaped at him. He had not expected this and was not sure
he wanted to hear it. Friends they might be, but if Ron started
calling Lavender “Lav-Lav,” he would have to put his foot down.
“Why does that stop you having breakfast?” Harry asked,
trying to inject a note of common sense into the proceedings.
“I don’t think she knows I exist,” said Ron with a desperate
gesture.
“She definitely knows you exist,” said Harry, bewildered.
“She keeps snogging you, doesn’t she?”
Ron blinked. “Who are you talking about?”
“Who are you talking about?” said Harry, with an increasing
sense that all reason had dropped out of the conversation.
“Romilda Vane,” said Ron softly, and his whole face seemed to
illuminate as he said it, as though hit by a ray of purest
sunlight.
They stared at each other for almost a whole minute, before
Harry said, “This is a joke, right? You’re joking.”
Page 392, U.S. Hardcover Edition
Dense Harry doesn’t get why Ron’s pining for Romilda and even
starts to get annoyed with Ron. Ron actually hits Harry before he
realizes Ron’s eaten the Chocolate Cauldrons spiked with Love
Potion Vane gave Harry before Christmas.
He drags Ron to Slug’s office for the antidote, but not before
Ron disses Lav-Lav saying he’s off to meet Romilda.
Lavender was waiting beside the portrait hole, a complication
Harry had not foreseen.
“You’re late, Won-Won!” she pouted. “I’ve got you a birthday–”
“Leave me alone,” said Ron impatiently. “Harry’s going to
introduce me to Romilda Vane.”
And without another word to her, he pushed his way out of the
portrait hole. Harry tried to make an apologetic face to
Lavender, but it might have turned out simply amused, because she
looked more offended than ever as the Fat Lady swung shut behind
them.
Page 395, U.S. Hardcover Edition
My guess is Lavender is starting to feel a little insecure in the
relationship, perhaps she’s noticed that it’s not much beyond the
physical as well. And if she didn’t feel insecure before, now she
certainly does. (More on Lav-Lav later.)
Slug is surprised Harry can’t manage the antidote what with Harry
being the Potions SuperGenius that he is, but mixes one up for
Ron anyway. He then opens a bottle of mead originally intended
for Dumbledore.
Ron chugs it before they finish the toast and immediately gets
ill.
Ron had dropped his glass; he half-rose from his chair and then
crumpled, his extremities jerking uncontrollably. Foam was
dribbling from his mouth, and his eyes were bulging from their
sockets.
Page 397, U.S. Hardcover Edition
In the moment, Slug freezes, but all Harry’s cheating pays off.
He grabs a bezoar and shoves it down Ron’s throat.
Harry has to tell Ron and Hermione the news separately because
Hermione refuses to be anywhere near Ron for longer than is
absolutely necessary.
Ron thinks it’ll be a piece of cake for Harry to get the memory
from Slug. Harry is clearly Slug’s favorite.
“He loves you,” he said over breakfast, waving an airy
forkful of fried egg. “Won’t refuse you anything, will he? Not
his little Potions Prince. Just hang back after class this
afternoon and ask him.”
Page 373, U.S. Hardcover Edition
It could just be me, but I detect a bit of resentment in Ron’s
response...even, dare I say it, jealousy.
Hermione is much more practical. She believes that if it’s
something Slug is trying to keep from Dumbledore himself, Harry
might have a spot of trouble wheedling it out of him;
he’ll best need a plan.
She confesses that she’s never even heard of Horcruxes before,
which disappoints Harry. He was hoping Hermione could shed some
light on this mysterious topic. She guesses that it must mean
that Horcruxes are very advanced Dark Magic and that Slug won’t
just blurt it out for him.
Harry makes the mistake of mentioning that Ron said it would be
simple. She reacts badly.
“Ron reckons I should just hang back after Potions this
afternoon...”
“Oh, well, if Won-Won thinks that, you’d better do it,” she
said, flaring up at once. “After all, when has Won-Won’s judgment
ever been faulty?”
“Hermione, can’t you –?”
“No!” she said angrily, and stormed away, leaving Harry alone
and ankle-deep in snow.
Page 374, U.S. Hardcover Edition
It does sound like Harry’s taking Ron’s side over Hermione’s...
choosing him over her, yet again, just like in Third Year. I
believe that’s the main reason for Hermione flaring up so quickly
more so than at the mere mention of Ron. It’s the idea that he,
Ron, is smarter or a better, more reliable source of advice than
her, when she’s gone out of her way for years to watch out for
Harry.
However, I don’t believe that’s how Harry meant it. He was just
stating what Ron said. This is basically the first time we see
Harry go out of his way to spend time with Hermione, actually
choosing to hang out with her in the Library. So unlike Fourth
Year when he thought she wasn’t as much fun as Ron.
Here in this book we see a shift. Harry enjoys her company, is
almost always in her company alone...they joke around and have
fun together as well as get schoolwork done.
When Harry asks her, now for the second time, to try speaking to
Ron, I believe it’s just his exasperation and desperation for
things to be the same between them all again. And maybe his
awareness that someone is going to have to be mature and if you
need maturity and intelligence you go to Hermione.
During their next Potions lesson, they learn about Golpalott’s
Third Law (about the sum of the antidote of a blended poison
being greater than the sum of the separate components). Only
Hermione understands this, and receives 10 House Points, too!
Slug sets them the task of figuring out the ingredients of their
individual poisons. Hermione immediately jumps at this chance to
prove she’s better than Harry, there’s no help from the Prince
this time! She begins waving her wand over her cauldron
impressively, but Harry laments that he can’t copy her spellwork
because she was now so good at nonverbal incantations she wasn’t
speaking the words aloud.
Everyone basically fails abysmally. Harry takes the cake though
because he full out cheated by whipping out the bezoar. All the
hard work poor Hermione did is lost because Slug only has eyes
for Harry.
After class, both Ron and Hermione leave Harry behind seeming
annoyed with him. He hangs back to ask Slug about the memory.
Basically quoting Tom, and even reminding himself of Voldemort,
Harry just flat out asks Slug what he knows about Horcruxes.
Slug balks and makes a mad dash out of the room. He goes out of
his way afterwards to completely avoid being alone with Harry.
Hermione can’t find any information about Horcruxes in the
Library...Harry has scared Slug so much all Slug Club parties
have been cancelled...things are not looking very rosy at the
moment. But the bright spot is their new lessons will soon be
starting.
Apparition lessons are taught by Wilkie Twycross from the
Ministry, they are being held in the Great Hall because the
weather is miserable outside. Dumbledore has lifted the
restrictions only on the Great Hall and only for 1 hour.
Hermione and Harry go to the lesson together as do Won-Won and
Lav-Lav.
Harry was next to Hermione but he notices Malfoy and Crabbe
arguing and transforms into SuperSpy Harry! He slithers his way
through the mob of eager apparaters and eavesdrops on them. He
finds out that Crabbe and Goyle have been keeping watch for
Malfoy but he won’t tell them what he is doing. Harry stupidly
interjects a snarky comment alerting Malfoy to his presence.
Wilkie teaches the kids that the key to Apparition is remembering
and following the “3 Ds.”
- Destination
- Determination
- Deliberation
It is very important to do ALL 3 Ds as Susan Bones learned the
hard way...she missed a step and left her leg behind. This,
class, is called splinching and it’s not very fun...or cool.
The Weasleys get the hook up...the Floo Network hook up, that is,
to Professor McGonagall's office to transport the kiddies back to
school.
Once there, they encounter a hung-over Fat Lady and she refuses
to let them into the Common Room. However, Hermione arrives to
save the day. She's been back for a few hours already and was
just down visiting Hagrid and "Witherwings". The password is, by
the way, Abstinence...let that be a lesson to you, kids.
Hermione seems to have risen above the petty retardedness that
marred her perfection prior to the holidays. She simply ignores
Ron and gives Harry a note from Dumbledore.
Harry starts to tell Hermione about the Snape/Malfoy
confrontation, but Lavender arrives just in time to cause a scene.
But at that moment there was a loud squeal of "Won-Won!" and
Lavender Brown came hurtling out of nowhere and flung herself
into Ron's arms. Several onlookers sniggered; Hermione gave a
tinkling laugh and said, "There's a table over here..."
Page 351-352, U.S. Hardcover Edition
Harry interrupts himself before he starts to tell the story to
ask if Hermione would just go talk to Ron, hoping she will once
again be the bigger person. But she refuses, she's done nothing
wrong for which to apologize...it's up to Ron to approach her and
make up for his stupidity.
Hermione then gets treated to the intriguing tale of Malfoy
defying Snape and what it could possibly mean. It's almost as if
Harry is a small child who's just figured out that white and red
make pink and has to tell everyone about it to see if they agree
with him so he knows he's right and so they can praise him for
his mastery of logical deduction.
But then again perhaps he knows he won't get blind agreement from
Hermione, that she'll actually challenge him and make him think
about things.
"Hmm...did either of them actually mention Voldemort's name?"
Harry frowned, trying to remember. "I'm not sure...Snape
definitely said 'your master,' and who else would that be?"
"I don't know," said Hermione, biting her lip. "Maybe his
father?"
She stared across the room, apparently lost in thought, not
even noticing Lavender tickling Ron. "How's Lupin?"
Page 353, U.S. Hardcover Edition
Hermione remembers that they've heard of Fenrir Greyback. He was
what Malfoy used to threaten Borgin when they followed him into
Knockturn Alley.
Hermione is still skeptical and Harry tells her she'll eat her
words in the end. He then launches into the story about his
disagreement with the Minister.
They spend the rest of the evening together joking and abusing
old Scrim. They are greeted the next morning by the notice of
Apparition lessons.
All three sign up and, as Lav-Lav throws herself at Ron yet
again, both Harry and Hermione make their escape. Harry catches
up to Hermione having no desire to be left behind, Ron catches up
to both of them chasing Hermione away.
Ron is worried he won’t pass the first time he tests, but Harry
reminds him that Charlie failed the first time. Ron
can’t wait until March when he can take the test. Harry points
out that it won’t matter because you can’t apparate inside
Hogwarts (at least someone’s been listening to Hermione all these
years), but Ron doesn’t care. He just wants everyone to know he
can apparate. He cares much more about the idea that others will
be impressed, that he’ll have some sort of cool status.
Harry says he didn’t like the feeling when he apparated with
Dumbledore over the summer. Ron is forcibly reminded that Harry’s
been there and done that. He then shows off to the other kids
using Harry’s skillz because he, himself, has none. He tells
Seamus about Harry’s experience apparating and soon the whole
school knows and is asking Harry for detailed reports.
(It’s also in this Charms lesson that Flitwick sets Seamus the
punishment of writing: “I am a wizard, not a baboon brandishing a
stick.” Arguably one of the funniest lines in the entire series.)
Harry’s forced to make up an excuse to those wanting details of
apparition to get to his appointment with Dumbledore. They speak
of Harry’s chat with Scrim and both bemoan the fact that they
have lost favor with the new minister. Harry tells Dumbledore
that Scrim called him “Dumbledore’s man” and how
he’d agreed with him.
This admission brings tears to the great Headmaster’s eyes.
Dumbledore mentions that it was Fudge’s idea to use Harry as
mascot. Harry is astounded that Fudge would think he’d agree to
that.
Scrim is also very curious about where Dumbledore gets off to
when he leaves Hogwarts and has tried to have him tailed.
Dumbledore just wound up jinxing Dawlish for the second time.
The Ministry doesn’t know where Dumbledore goes and he’s still
not ready to tell Harry about what he’s been doing.
Harry tells Dumbledore about Snape and Malfoy. Dumbledore is
unconcerned and overconfident, even patronizing.
“Yes, Harry, blessed as I am with extraordinary brainpower, I
understood everything you told me,” said Dumbledore, a little
sharply. “I think you might even consider the possibility that I
understood more than you did. Again, I am glad that you have
confided in me, but let me assure you that you have not told me
anything that causes me disquiet.”
Harry sat in silence, glaring at Dumbledore.
Page 359, U.S. Hardcover Edition
This disagreement is the closest Harry and Dumbledore come to a
fight; it’s the closest Dumbledore gets to raising his voice to
Harry. However, they put it aside in favor of the next two
memories.
Once more into the Pensieve they dive...
The next memory is of Tom finding his Uncle Morfin. Since we
last left Tom he’s been sorted in Slyterin, charmed many of the
professors, and established a group of followers and hangers-on
who will later become the first Death Eaters. He is obsessed with
his parentage: he searched for his father among the Hogwarts
records.
In the summer of his sixteenth year he finds his Uncle Morfin,
the brother of the mother who was so weak “she had succumbed to
the shameful human weakness of death.”
He visits the Gaunt house to find Marvolo dead and Morfin ranting
about Slytherin’s locket and the filthy Muggle his sister ran
away with.
Tom attacks Morfin, steals his wand, makes a stop at the Riddle
house to kill all three of them and returns to implant memories
of the crime into dear Uncle Morfin’s head. He does all this at
the age of 16! With Morfin believing he’s committed the crime and
willingly confessing and taking the blame, Tom absconds with
Marvolo’s ring...the ring of the Perevell family.
The next memory is the severely and badly doctored version Slug
gave Dumbledore about his conversation with the teenaged Tom
about Horcruxes.
Coming out of the Pensieve, Dumbledore gives Harry homework: get
Slug’s real memory about the Horcrux conversation. Clearly Slug
is hiding something and Dumbledore knows Harry is Slug’s
weakness...or rather his weakness is Lily.
Chapter 18: Birthday Surprises
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Chapter 17: A Sluggish Memory
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The Ultimate Harry Potter Analysis Source
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Choosing what is Right over what is Easy
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