Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Deathly Hallows/Chapter 2
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Chapter 2 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: In Memoriam
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[edit] Synopsis
For the first time in six years, Harry is fully emptying his school trunk, deciding what to take with him and what should be left behind when he leaves the Dursley house for the last time. While unpacking, he cuts his hand. Harry, who is four days away from his seventeenth birthday, the age he can perform unrestricted magic, has yet to learn how to heal wounds. He plans to ask Hermione to show him. Hunting carefully through his trunk, he finds a shard from the broken two-way mirror, given to him by Sirius. When he heads to the bathroom to tend the cut, he stumbles over a cup of tea left outside his bedroom door, which he assumes to be a booby trap planted by Dudley. After cleaning up the broken tea cup and emptying his trunk, he looks through a pile of newspapers and picks up the copy containing Dumbledore's obituary.
The obituary reveals that Dumbledore's father was sentenced to Azkaban for attacking three Muggle children. Albus quickly overcame his father's notoriety through his exceptional performance at Hogwarts, winning many honors there and corresponding with many learned witches and wizards.
Three years later, Albus' brother, Aberforth, joined him at Hogwarts. The two brothers were unalike, Aberforth being more reserved and likely to settle differences by dueling, where Albus would debate the issues, but they were friends. After finishing school, Albus planned to travel the world with his friend, Elphias Doge, the obituary's author, when his mother, Kendra, died suddenly, leaving Albus the sole provider for the family. While Elphias traveled the world, another tragedy struck the Dumbledores: the sudden death of Albus's younger sister, Ariana. Albus and Aberforth became estranged after, and Albus never talked about his family. Putting this sad chapter behind him, Albus went on to achieve many notable successes, including discovering twelve uses of dragon's blood and defeating Grindelwald in an epic duel.
Looking at Dumbledore's picture, Harry realizes that he barely knew the man; their conversations were always about him. Tearing out the obituary, he puts it in a book and then retrieves that day's Daily Prophet. Harry reads about an upcoming series of exposés on Dumbledore, excerpted from hack journalist Rita Skeeter's biography about him. Harry flips to the interview with Skeeter, who spins her usual stylized lies about him and Dumbledore. She suggests that Dumbledore dabbled in Dark magic, his sister, Ariana, was a Squib, Aberforth broke Albus' nose at Ariana's funeral, claiming Albus killed her, and that the epic duel between Albus and Grindelwald may have been something other than it seemed. About Harry, she hints that the relationship between him and Dumbledore was odd, even inappropriate, and that Harry was seen running from where Dumbledore fell. And even though Harry testified against Snape, the long-standing grudge between them is public knowledge.
Harry is outraged, but there is little he can do. Distractedly turning over the mirror shard, he glimpses a sky-blue flash, the same color as Dumbledore's eyes. Studying the mirror closely, he only sees his reflection, and there is nothing blue nearby that could have been reflected in it. Dumbledore's eyes will never gaze upon him again, but all the same, he tucks the shard safely away in a front pocket.
[edit] Analysis
This chapter reveals glimpses into Dumbledore's previously unknown history, something that the author has kept concealed. Doge's comments and Rita's interview imply that there is some significant mystery about Dumbledore's history, although anything written by Skeeter should be considered with skepticism. Regardless, Dumbledore's past appears to be darker and more secretive than most knew. And while Dumbledore's death has left a significant hole in Harry's life, much of that emptiness is now caused by what Harry never knew about his mentor. While Harry is still grief-stricken by the loss, he is also left confused, adrift, and doubting as to what Dumbledore's intentions actually were; he also wonders whether Dumbledore ever loved him or was merely using him as a weapon to defeat Voldemort. Even allowing for Skeeter's poisoned pen, there are many mysteries about this mysterious wizard that will need significant explanation before Albus Dumbledore can finally be laid to rest.
The blue flash in the broken two-way mirror will also be significant. Is this Dumbledore somehow watching from beyond the grave? Harry apparently hopes so, considering his sudden care with the mirror shard.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
- Could some of what the Daily Prophet states about Dumbledore be correct?
- Why would Rita Skeeter write a biography about Dumbledore? How accurate is it likely to be?
- Why did Harry know so little about Dumbledore's past? Had Harry ever made an effort to learn about him? How much did Harry, or anyone, have the right to know?
[edit] Extra Study
- Why would Dumbledore's father have attacked three Muggle children?
- What might the blue flash in the mirror be?
- Who might have left the cup of tea outside Harry's bedroom door? Why would they leave it there?
[edit] Greater Picture
It will be learned that Rita Skeeter's source was the elderly and senile Bathilda Bagshot, a Dumbledore family friend, and who was also known by Lily Potter. Rita apparently slipped Bathilda some Veritaserum to retrieve her memories. However, the only story that Bathilda can share, and thus the only one that Rita can report, is an outsider's point-of-view; that, coloured by Rita's highly acidic quill, will result in an extremely slanted, highly inaccurate, and damaging story. Harry will labor under these skewed beliefs until he learns the truth from Aberforth Dumbledore, Albus' brother, much later in the book.
The cup of tea left outside Harry's bedroom is significant. It was Dudley who left the tea, a rather feeble attempt to make amends for mistreating Harry during their childhood and also to express his gratitude for Harry having saved him from the Dementors the previous year. However, the teacup may foreshadow Harry's search for Helga Hufflepuff's Cup, one of Voldemort's Horcruxes that Harry needs to destroy.
It will be learned that the young Dumbledore was obsessively driven to pursue the Deathly Hallows in the title. Like Harry, he desired to be reunited with his dead loved ones, and he believed that one Hallow possessed that power.
