Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Half-Blood Prince/Chapter 20
From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection
Chapter 20 of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Lord Voldemort's Request
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Harry and Ron are discharged from the Hospital Wing together. Meeting up with Hermione, they head to breakfast, passing a small girl studying a tapestry. Startled, the girl drops the scales she had been holding; Hermione repairs them for her, and then reveals that Ginny and Dean had an argument. When Dean laughed about McLaggen hitting Harry in the head with a bludger, Ginny defended Harry. Hermione agreed with Ginny that it was not funny, that Harry was nearly seriously hurt. Harry tries to react calmly and curiosly to this news, but Hermione remains suspicious that he is harboring feelings for Ginny.
Luna delivers Dumbledore's message regarding Harry's next lesson. The Trio continue on, running into Lavender, who is miffed she was not told that Ron was being discharged, and that Hermione is with him. Harry and Hermione walk off, and Ron arrives at breakfast a half hour later; he is upset and not talking to Lavender. Hermione seems secretly pleased by this development.
Later that evening, Harry arrives for his appointment with Professor Dumbledore, who is embroiled in a discussion with Professor Trelawney. She is upset that Firenze is still teaching Divination. As Professor Trelawney leaves, Dumbledore comments that, never having taken Divination himself, he could not have predicted the troubles that subject would cause. Dumbledore gently chastises Harry for failing to retrieve Professor Slughorn's memory. There is little point in continuing their lessons without it.
Dumbledore then asks Harry to recap the previous lessons. Harry recounts that Voldemort killed his own father, framed his uncle, Morfin, and left with the Peverell ring; he then returned to Hogwarts and asked Slughorn about Horcruxes. Dumbledore says they are now entering the realm of deep speculation. At this meeting, there are only two memories. The first belongs to Hokey, a House elf who worked for an elderly rich woman. At that time, Tom Riddle was working as a buyer for Borgin & Burkes. Tom's career choice surprised nearly everyone at Hogwarts, as it had been assumed he was aiming for a political career resulting as the Minister for Magic. But Tom had first approached Armando Dippet, the Headmaster then, for a teaching post at Hogwarts. Dippet turned him down, saying he lacked experience.
In Hokey's memory, Tom Riddle visits Hepzibah Smith, who claims to be Helga Hufflepuff's descendant. Hepzibah shows Riddle two coveted family treasures. One, a cup once belonging to Helga Hufflepuff, she bought from Borgin & Burke's. The other is a locket, seen earlier in Merope Gaunt's possession, and which, of course, was once owned by Salazar Slytherin. The locket was sold to Smith by Borgin & Burke's, who bought it off some poor woman.
Two days later, Hepzibah died and her treasures went missing. Hokey admitted blame for her mistress' death, as she remembered mistakenly poisoning her. Dumbledore states that Riddle considered the locket was rightfully his, and suggests that Riddle also stole the cup because of his deep attachment to Hogwarts; why, exactly, he had wanted it will have to wait for another lesson.
The second memory is Dumbledore's as Hogwarts Headmaster meeting with Riddle. Ten years after Hepzibah Smith's death, Riddle has again applied to be the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. His facial features have changed somewhat; while unlike the snake-like mask that Harry remembers from Voldemort's reappearance in the graveyard, this is certainly not the handsome Tom Riddle seen in the previous memory. Dumbledore confronts him about his true motives for wanting the position and his rumored behavior. He turns down Riddle for the job, saying that he is aware that Riddle has a new name (Voldemort) and that his Death Eaters are in Hogsmeade.
Back in his office, Dumbledore tells Harry that ever since he refused Voldemort's request, there has never been a Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher who lasted more than one year.
[edit] Analysis
In the previous chapter, Draco was seen accompanied by two small girls, both looking sulky and rebellious. Now there is a small girl standing in the seventh-floor corridor studying a tapestry with trolls in tutus; we previously saw small girls standing in seventh-floor corridors earlier. In the previous book, we might remember that the entrance to the Room of Requirement is on the seventh floor, opposite the troll tapestry. In a previous chapter, it is also discovered that Crabbe and Goyle were upset at having to spend so much time guarding Malfoy without knowing what he is doing, and they seem to be spending much time standing around in corridors. Is a pattern developing here?
It is now known why no Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher has lasted for more than one year - Dumbledore believes that Voldemort cursed the position when he was rejected. Dumbledore must either have been hoping that the curse would be broken when he appointed Snape as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, or he never intended for him to last any longer than his predecessors.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
- Why did Ginny argue with Dean? What is Harry's reaction to the news? Why is Hermione suspicious of this?
- What do the two memories reveal about Voldemort?
- Why does Dumbledore tell Harry there will be no more lessons? What does Harry need to do?
- What is significant about the seventh floor?
- Why would Tom Riddle have taken such a lowly job at Borgin & Burke's?
[edit] Extra Study
- What reasons might Dumbledore have had to refuse Tom Riddle the Defense Against the Dark Arts position? What's the long-term result of this decision?
- Why does Harry continually see one or two young girls loitering in the halls?
[edit] Greater Picture
Aberforth is Dumbledore's brother, and according to an interview with the author and information in the seventh book, the bartender of the Hog's Head. That is most likely the reason Dumbledore knows there are Death Eaters in Hogsmeade.
There is some speculation, both within the book and by fans, about Voldemort's true purpose in visiting Hogwarts to apply for the Defense against the Dark Arts position. Dumbledore states that Voldemort probably wanted a teaching position there so he could investigate Hogwarts and all its secrets with impunity. There would also be many impressionable young minds to recruit to his peculiar beliefs. Dumbledore also apparently suspected that Voldemort was attempting to make a Horcrux – possibly using Godric Gryffindor's sword. Some fans suggest that he was planting a Horcrux there (which proves to be true in book seven). That would fit his "style" — hiding a Horcrux under Dumbledore's nose, basically saying that he knew Dumbledore's school better than Dumbledore himself did. Voldemort may have partially used the interview as a ruse so he could hide Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem, one of his Horcruxes, inside Hogwarts. His intent here was actually to keep the diadem safe, convinced he was the only living person who knew about the Room of Requirement.
Voldemort probably told Draco how to summon the Room of Requirement. Putting the clues together, as Harry does in the next chapter, we will see that Draco is working on his project in this room. Crabbe and Goyle, disguised as little girls by stolen Polyjuice Potion, stand guard outside, dropping objects when it is unsafe to exit the room. Although Draco would already have known about the Room of Requirement after Dumbledore's Army was discovered there the previous year (in Order of the Phoenix), it seems Voldemort will continue to be under the assumption throughout the next book that he and Draco are the only ones who knows its existence, although it is curious why Draco would withhold this (and possibly other information) from the Dark Lord; presumably, Draco knows nothing about the Diadem Horcrux.
While it is never stated, we learn in the next book that within the first fortnight of the summer preceding this school year, Dumbledore discovered that he had aproximately one year to live. He specifically requests that by the end of the year, Snape should kill him, thus protecting Draco Malfoy from executing Voldemort's assasination plot. Realizing that he himself will only last out the year, and that Snape will be accused of murdering him, Dumbledore knows that Snape's tenure as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher would be limited in any case. It is likely that this is why Dumbledore repeatedly refused Snape the post: Snape is too talented a teacher, too valuable an ally, to risk losing. After this year, it will no longer matter, so placing him in the cursed post will do no harm.
