Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Deathly Hallows/Chapter 32
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Chapter 32 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: The Elder Wand
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[edit] Synopsis
Harry cannot permit himself to grieve Fred's death; the castle is under serious attack. As curses fly overhead, Harry, Ron, and Hermione dive to the floor while Percy covers Fred’s body with his own to protect it. Ron tries pulling Percy away, but he refuses to budge. Hermione screams, and turning, Harry sees a giant spider, one of Aragog's descendants, crawling through the hole blown through the castle's outer wall. Harry and Ron simultaneously blast the spider. Looking through the hole, Harry sees more spiders climbing up the wall and fires stunning spells at them. As more curses soar overhead, Harry shouts, "Let's move, NOW!" Pushing Hermione and Ron on ahead, Harry stoops to lift Fred's body. Percy releases his protective grip and helps him hide it in a wall niche. Harry takes off after Ron and Hermione down the corridor. People are running everywhere, and rounding the corner, Percy suddenly roars, "ROOKWOOD!" and takes off after a tall man chasing students. Hermione calls Harry behind a tapestry where she is trying to restrain a hysterical Ron, who wants to follow Percy and kill Death Eaters. Hermione pleads with Ron that they are the only ones who can end it; they must find and kill the snake.
Hermione says they need to know where Voldemort and Nagini are. Harry also wants to fight but allows himself to slip inside Voldemort’s mind where he sees a shabby, but familiar room. Voldemort is thinking about the Diadem and the place only he knows exists. A battered Lucius Malfoy is present, asking about Draco, but Voldemort tells him if his son is dead, it is Draco's own fault for failing to join him like the other Slytherins. Lucius urges him to cease the battle so the Dark Lord can be certain to kill Potter himself, but Voldemort ignores him, knowing it is only an attempt to protect Draco. Voldemort orders Lucius to fetch Snape, and as he waits, he speaks to Nagini, who is suspended in a protective floating sphere. Harry snaps back into his own thoughts and tells the others that Voldemort is in the Shrieking Shack. Hermione is astounded that Voldemort is not fighting, but Harry says Voldemort knows he is hunting his Horcruxes, and he is waiting for Harry to come to him.
After some disagreement over who should go to the Shrieking Shack and dodging Death Eater curses, the Trio throw on the Invisibility Cloak and weave their way through the battle. On the upper landing, they run past Draco Malfoy, who is pleading with a Death Eater that he is on their side; Harry stuns the Death Eater as Ron punches Draco in the face. Below, Fenrir Greyback, appearing to Harry as a blurry, four-legged gray animal as he rushes past, is about to bite Lavender Brown. Hermione's curse hurls him against the staircase. A crystal ball crashing onto his head knocks him out, and Professor Trelawney, leaning over the railing, threatens to lob more. The entryway doors burst open and the spiders force their way in. As all the fighters shoot curses at them, Hagrid charges down the stairs yelling, "Don't hurt 'em, don't hurt 'em!" As Hagrid runs outside and disappears into the spider throng, Harry dashes out from under the Cloak chasing after him. His path is blocked by a massive, hairy leg belonging to a twenty-foot Giant. When Grawp appears calling for Hagrid, the bigger giant launches itself at him, and the two furiously wrestle. Fighting is everywhere now and flashing curses streak through the air. The trio head to the forest, but at its edge, a hundred Dementors glide towards them. Hermione calls out to cast Patronuses. Harry is too overcome by hopelessness to cast one, while Ron and Hermione's Patronuses quickly flicker out. Suddenly, three other Patronuses soar past as Luna, Ernie, and Seamus come running from the darkness. Luna encourages Harry to think of something happy, and with enormous effort, Harry casts his Patronus. The silver stag bursts from his wand, scattering the Dementors. As another giant lurches towards them, Harry shouts to Ron and Hermione to head for the Shrieking Shack.
At the Whomping Willow, they crawl through the tunnel leading to the Shack. Inside, Snape is talking with Voldemort, offering to find the boy so Voldemort can kill him himself. Voldemort declines, saying he ordered his Death Eaters to capture him alive; but, he goes on, the Elder Wand fails to perform the extraordinary magic he thought was possible. Snape, nervous, again offers to find Harry Potter, but Voldemort says that he expects the boy to come to him. Continuing, Voldemort tells Snape that he has been a valuable servant and regrets what he must do. He believes that when Snape killed Dumbledore, Snape won the wand's allegiance. Unfortunately, Snape must die so he can become the Elder Wand's true master. With no remorse, Voldemort sets Nagini on Snape, ordering her to kill. When Voldemort and Nagini leave, Harry and the others rush to Snape's side. Silvery-blue wisps stream from his mouth, ears, and eyes. Snape, barely alive, tells Harry, "Take . . . it . . . Take . . . it." A crystal flask appears in mid air, and Hermione thrusts it into Harry's hands. Harry gathers the drifting strands with his wand, putting them into the container. Snape asks Harry to look at him, and staring into Harry's green eyes, Snape's life ebbs away.
[edit] Analysis
Two significant deaths have occurred: Fred Weasley and Severus Snape. While Fred's death is a tragic loss, Snape's demise is a crucial element leading to the book's climax. Snape, and also readers, may have expected that Voldemort would eventually kill him. It is still unknown, however, whether Snape was serving Voldemort or Dumbledore, or even neither. Just as Dumbledore had, Voldemort appears to believe that Snape was always loyal to him, and even still useful, but Voldemort's quest to become the Elder Wand's master takes precedence over everything else, and he willingly sacrifices Snape to obtain that mastery. Whether Snape was a hero or a villain, his final act is to hand over to Harry what appears to be his memories. These memories could be the key that unlocks the secrets to Dumbledore's cryptic plan. It may also be significant that Snape's final request is to look into Harry's eyes, a physical feature of his that others have continually commented about throughout the series.
Lucius Malfoy, who Voldemort severely punished for failing to capture Harry Potter, is deathly afraid for his son, Draco's life. This is probably one of the few times Lucius has ever demonstrated any real emotion for another person, and it shows that, unlike Voldemort, Lucius is capable of love and desperately wants to save his only child. However, although Voldemort shows no concern for Draco and previously endangered his life only as a means to punish Lucius for his failure at the Ministry of Magic, Lucius continues to serve the Dark Lord. At this point, while Lucius may still be hoping to win favor and reward, and will likely retain his evil ways should Voldemort win, he probably remains with the Dark Lord mostly out of fear for his own and his family's safety.
It is also of interest to note Hermione's changing views regarding the connection between Harry's mind and Voldemort's. At this book's beginning, Hermione was deeply dismayed by Harry occasionally viewing Voldemort's thoughts and action, as it was via that channel that Harry had been deluded into taking himself and five students into a trap at the Department of Mysteries earlier. Harry continually resisted attempts to shut down this channel, feeling that any information about Voldemort is valuable. Over the course of this book, we have seen Hermione gradually accepting the same point of view, but this is the first time she has actively asked Harry to visit Voldemort's mind. This would seem to indicate her accepting Harry's ability to control and filter what he sees inside Voldemort's mind.
An interesting side note here. The book describes Fenrir Greyback as a gray blur on four legs that Harry took to be an animal. This suggests that he could have been transformed into his werewolf form as he attempts to bite Lavender Brown. In that event, there would be a full moon, but there is no mention as to whether Remus Lupin, also a werewolf, has been similarly transformed. Lupin is seen as a human when he arrives at Hogwarts to help fight the battle, but it is possible it is still too early for the moon to rise. It may be that Greyback is simply acting wolf-like; as we have heard and seen, he does attack like a wolf even when in human form, as when he savaged Bill Weasley. However, being able to survive such a severe blow to the head from Trelawney's heavy crystal ball with almost no injuries could indicate that he was a werewolf at the time. While it is never made absolutely clear what form he is in, it is true that Harry, who has never seen Fenrir transformed, recognizes him. As the author is careful about having every character properly named before Harry recognizes him or her, this does lend some weight that Fenrir is in human form, although it is curious as to why she would describe him in a manner suggesting his gray werewolf form.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
- Does Voldemort know that the Diadem Horcrux has been destroyed? If not, why?
- Why does Voldemort believe Snape is the Elder Wand's master? Is he? If not, who might be?
[edit] Further Study
- Why does Hagrid try to protect the attacking giant spiders? Whose side are they on?
- Why didn't Draco leave with the other Slytherin students who joined Voldemort? What, if any, might his true allegiance be?
- Why is Voldemort so certain that Harry will come to him?
- Why does Voldemort kill Snape, a valuable servant, to win the Elder Wand's allegiance, rather than disarm him for it? Did Voldemort always intend to kill Snape?
- Why does Voldemort have Nagini kill Snape, rather than doing it himself with a killing curse?
- Why does Lucius Malfoy continue serving Voldemort, despite the Dark Lord having endangered his and his son's life?
- Why was Harry too overwhelmed with hopelessness to cast a Patronus at the Dementors? How did he overcome that?
- What are the silvery strands that Snape gave to Harry? Where have they been seen before? Why would he want Harry to have them?
- Why would Snape want to look into Harry's eyes just before he dies?
[edit] Greater Picture
In the next chapter, we discover why Snape asked Harry to look into his eyes as he died. Snape knows he is dying; he has already handed over to Harry the memories that will give Harry the explanation that Dumbledore charged Snape with providing. They also provide Snape's own justification for his actions. From those memories, we will learn that Lily Potter was the only love of Snape's life, and perhaps it is for her that Snape had been doing all he did for Harry, little as it may have seemed at the time. We have been told repeatedly that Harry has Lily's eyes, and, as he dies, Snape desires to look into those eyes one last time.
