Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Deathly Hallows/Chapter 27
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Chapter 27 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: The Final Hiding Place
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[edit] Synopsis
Harry has no way to steer the dragon, and he, Hermione, and Ron can merely hang on for dear life. Fortunately, it seems unaware that they are aboard. They clutch the dragon's scales tightly, but if it banks or rolls over, they will fall off. The dragon continues flying north, seeming to know where it is headed, despite being half-blind. Harry wonders if Voldemort has been informed yet that the Lestrange vault was breached. When he is, Voldemort will know his Horcruxes are being hunted and that the hunters may have found others.
After some hours, the dragon descends. When it glides over a small lake for a drink, the Trio jumps into the cold water, making it safely ashore through the reeds. Harry immediately casts protective charms, and they change into dry clothes and tend their burn wounds with Dittany. Although they have successfully retrieved Hufflepuff's Cup, Gryffindor's Sword is lost, rendering them powerless to destroy the remaining Horcruxes; Ron grumbles over Griphook "double crossing" them. Pain suddenly streaks across Harry's forehead, and he sees a Goblin cowering on his knees before Voldemort; wizards in a semi-circle look on. Voldemort screams in rage when the Goblin tells him the Potter boy and his two accomplices took the Cup. Slashing the air with the Elder Wand, the Dark Lord slays him. Bellatrix, Lucius Malfoy, and the other wizards dash from the room in terror; anyone left behind is fatally felled. Voldemort wonders if the other Horcruxes are known to Harry, and is uncertain if he can actually feel when the Horcruxes are being destroyed. Voldemort knows the diary was lost, but he still lacked a body then and believes that was why he was unable to detect it. He suspects Dumbledore was involved; Dumbledore never trusted him. Voldemort is confident, however, that the ring Horcrux remains intact—no one ever connected him to the Gaunts, after all. And the sea cave is too well protected for anyone to penetrate its security, therefore the Locket must still be safe. He will go to Hogwarts to check on the one there; but Nagini must stay with him, must stay safe. But Dumbledore might have known his middle name, might have made that connection, he will check that one first. Then to the lake; that one is surely safe, still it must be checked. And then the one at Hogwarts, though that is certainly safe, nobody else knows about that place.
Harry opens his eyes to Ron and Hermione peering down at him. Harry says Voldemort knows they are hunting his Horcruxes and that the last one is hidden somewhere at Hogwarts. Harry, still unaware what it is, knows Voldemort is heading there to check on it and believes it is the safest one because Snape is there. Harry decides they will go to Hogsmeade; they can figure out later how to slip into Hogwarts. Covering themselves with the Invisibility Cloak, they Apparate to the small village.
[edit] Analysis
As the plot heads towards its conclusion, the Trio races to Hogwarts to find the last Horcrux, although they do not know what it is and, having lost Gryffindor's Sword, cannot destroy it and the others. As a reminder, Dumbledore told Harry that he believed there were six Horcruxes: the diary, the ring, and the locket, all now destroyed; the cup, probably Nagini, and one other. Harry now has evidence that the unknown one is hidden somewhere in Hogwarts, in a place that Voldemort believes nobody else knows about.
Meanwhile, Voldemort's supreme confidence in himself has begun to crumble after Harry and company successfully steal Hufflepuff's Cup from Gringotts Bank. Despite his elaborate planning and extensive security measures, clearly his Horcruxes are at risk of being identified or destroyed, although Voldemort is still unaware that any other than the Diary have been destroyed. Although Dumbledore was the only one he ever feared, Voldemort's rationalization that he is the superior wizard has deluded him into a false sense of invincibility. However, underlying fears and insecurities now appear to be eroding what little sanity remains, causing Voldemort to frequently fly into uncontrollable rages and randomly lash out, often fatally, at any follower unfortunate enough to be within striking distance. Voldemort not only underestimated Dumbledore's ability to uncover and foil his plans, but also Harry's resourcefulness in identifying and locating the remaining Horcruxes.
To cope, Voldemort lulls himself into believing that he can "feel" when his Horcruxes are slain and takes comfort with the false notion that he was unable to detect the Riddle Diary Horcrux being destroyed only because he still lacked a body then. However, he remains ignorant that the Horcruxes within Gaunt's Ring and Slytherin's Locket no longer exist, or that Harry now knows what, or at least where, the remaining Horcruxes are. However, when Voldemort finally does realize this, it will place him on a deadly and irreversible collision course with Harry.
As a sidenote: While the Trio are riding the dragon, they are in danger of falling off and must wait until the beast descends before being able to dismount. However, unless there is some magical reason preventing it, it seems that they could have Disapparated to safety while astride it, although this apparently never occurred to them. It may be the case that Apparation, requiring that the practitioner turn in place, may not be something that can be done easily in such a situation; or it may be that the necessary "deliberation" step is impossible for the Trio while they are holding on for dear life. Also, it does appear in an earlier chapter that Mundungus Fletcher is able to Disapparate while similarly beset, however, his criminal life has no doubt enabled him to make speedy escapes from difficult corners something he had to learn.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
- Why did Griphook take Gryffindor's Sword?
- Why is Voldemort convinced he will "feel" if his other Horcruxes are destroyed? What proves or disproves this belief?
- What precautions did Voldemort take to protect his Horcruxes? Did they fail? If so, why? What else could he have done?
- Why does Voldemort believe that the Horcrux hidden at Hogwarts is the safest? Is he correct?
- What is the place in Hogwarts that no one knows about? Why is Voldemort convinced that no one else knows about it? Who does know?
[edit] Extra Study
- Is Ron correct that Griphook "double crossed" the Trio by taking Gryffindor's Sword? Explain.
- Even if the Trio can find the last Horcrux, how can they destroy it and the other Horcruxes now that they no longer have Gryffindor's Sword?
- Why and how did Voldemort underestimate Dumbledore's abilities to uncover his plan? Why does he now underestimate Harry?
- Why does Voldemort believe he can never be connected to the Gaunt family? How was this tie uncovered?
- Is it safe for the Trio to go to Hogsmeade and Hogwarts without first devising a plan? Are Death Eaters expecting the Trio?
- How well did the Trio's previous break-ins at the Ministry of Magic and Gringott's Bank work, and what did they learn from each incident that they can apply to sneaking into Hogwarts?
[edit] Greater Picture
Harry has identified nearly all the Horcruxes, but he is still unaware that he carries a Horcrux within him, as indicated by his scar. Voldemort also fails to realize this, the Horcrux having been accidentally created during his attempt to kill baby Harry with the Killing curse that rebounded and struck Voldemort instead, leaving behind a soul shard. Voldemort's snake, Nagini, is also a Horcrux, as Dumbledore suspected.
The place at Hogwarts that Voldemort believes only he has discovered is the Room of Requirement, which, of course, is known to Harry and the many Dumbledore's Army members. This is yet another example of Voldemort's over-confidence; having found the Room of Requirement, likely by accident, and possibly while pacing the halls looking for a place to hide some Dark experiment, Voldemort assumes he is the only wizard smart enough to discover it. This, despite the overwhelming evidence of a millennium's accumulated junk in the room when he first entered it, although perhaps he assumed the room had lain forgotten for centuries. Also, after being instructed by Voldemort on how to locate and enter this room, it would seem that Draco should have realized that it was the Room of Requirement, and that he would have mentioned something to Voldemort about Dumbledore's Army meeting there, and that Dolores Umbridge's Inquisition Squad, of which Draco was a member, raided it. It is possible that Draco fully realized this, but, fearing for his and his family's lives, silently listened to Voldemort's instructions, or he may have been unaware that Voldemort believed he was the only person who knew about the room's existence. Draco may also have been hoping that his secret activities in the room would be discovered, thus exposing Voldemort's plan to murder Dumbledore through no fault of Draco's.
