Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Order of the Phoenix/Chapter 10
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Chapter 10 of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Luna Lovegood
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[edit] Synopsis
After a restless night, Harry awakens to chaos: everyone is racing around, trying to pack as quickly as possible. The Advance Guard has reassembled to accompany Harry to King’s Cross Station, and Sirius insists upon coming along in his dog form, much to Mrs. Weasley's dismay. They wait for Sturgis Podmore, who is late, but eventually move on without him. Sirius, who has been confined until now, scampers around and snaps at pigeons.
The group says their goodbyes on the platform, and Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Ginny board the train. Fred and George depart to talk business with Lee Jordan. When Harry suggests finding a compartment, Hermione and Ron exchange awkward looks and explain that they have to join the other prefects for instructions. They leave, promising to return soon. Harry and Ginny, trying to find an empty compartment, struggle the length of the train; Harry notices that everyone is looking at him, and then remembers that the Daily Prophet has been saying all summer that he is a lying madman. As they near the rear car, they meet Neville. Ginny leads them into a compartment with a strange looking girl inside who emanates "an aura of distinct dottiness." She is reading a magazine called The Quibbler upside down. Ginny introduces her as Luna Lovegood, a Ravenclaw student in her year. After attempting to converse with her, the discussion turns to Neville’s birthday present, a rare Mimbulus Mimbletonia plant. He pokes it with his wand, trying to show them its defense mechanism, and the entire compartment is sprayed with horrid-smelling green pus just as Cho Chang walks in to greet Harry.
An awkward moment passes. Cho leaves and Ginny cleans the stinksap off them. Ron and Hermione return to announce that Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson are the Slytherin Prefects; Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott are Hufflepuff Prefects; and Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil are the Ravenclaw Prefects. Ron tells a bad joke, at which Luna laughs inappropriately loudly. Harry notices Sirius Black's name on Luna's magazine cover. He asks to borrow it and reads an article claiming Sirius’ alter-ego is a singer before realizing the story is bogus. Hermione disdainfully states that the Quibbler is "rubbish," to which Luna replies, "My father’s the editor."
Draco Malfoy, with his sidekicks Crabbe and Goyle, drop in on them. Draco asks how Harry feels to be second to Ron; Hermione tells him to get out. Draco makes a comment hinting that he recognized Sirius. After he departs, Harry and Hermione exchange troubled looks, but with the others there cannot say anything, while Ron is oblivious to this exchange.
At last, they reach Hogwarts. However, instead of Hagrid’s familiar voice calling the first-years, they hear Professor Grubbly-Plank. They hardly have time to ponder this before Ginny and Harry have to carry their belongings to the carriages. Harry is stunned that the carriages are no longer horseless; rather, they are drawn by black, skeletal horse-like creatures with leathery skin and wings. Ron sees nothing, leaving Harry wondering if he has gone mad. Luna approaches, saying she also sees them, leaving Harry confused: is confirmation from someone believing in Crumple Horned Snorkacks truly reassuring?
[edit] Analysis
There are several interesting developments in this chapter. Sirius unexpectedly seeing Harry off at the Hogwarts Express was not only reckless and risked him being captured, but it endangers Harry, and his friends, and risks exposing the Order of the Phoenix. His dog animagus form may have been recognized by the Malfoys, which could lead to Harry, and possibly Dumbledore, being accused as his accomplices. His impulsive act shows that Sirius' judgment may be deteriorating.
It is not immediately apparent how Draco and Lucius would have recognized Sirius. However, we must recall that Peter Pettigrew (Wormtail) has returned to Voldemort, and had been a close friend of Sirius' some fifteen years before. Wormtail will have been able to describe Sirius' Animagus shape to Voldemort, and Voldemort, knowing that Sirius would likely be in the Order of the Phoenix, would have passed that information to his returned Death Eaters, including Lucius Malfoy.
On the train, Harry, who is usually accompanied by Ron and Hermione, must fend for himself for a while as they tend to their prefect duties. Still smarting over Ron's new status, Harry is embarrassed to find himself seated with some less popular students who others consider "misfits". Luna Lovegood, in particular, is an oddity Harry would rather avoid, although Ginny seems on friendly terms with her. However, Harry does have his first inkling that Cho Chang, who he has had a crush on for some time, seems to show an interest in him, although she catches him at a rather awkward and embarrassing moment. However, Harry, like Cho, is still deeply affected by Cedric Diggory's death, and pursuing a relationship may be an unwise course for either at this time.
It is noted that Harry recognizes this issue of the Quibbler as the same one that Kingsley Shacklebolt had earlier surreptitiously slipped to Mr. Weasley, saying it would amuse Sirius. We now know exactly why Sirius would be amused.
That Hagrid is gone is not entirely unexpected; Harry knows he is on a secret mission for Dumbledore. However, his absence is still unsettling for Harry, who considers Hagrid like family and feels that he represents comfort and security; Harry is also worried for his friend's safety.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
- Who meets the first-years students at the platform? Who should be there?
- Why does Sirius insist on seeing Harry and the others off at the train station when it is so dangerous for him to be out?
- Why would Harry rather not sit with Neville and Luna on the train?
[edit] Further Study
- What are the black horse-like creatures pulling the "horseless" carriages? Why can Harry and Luna see them, but not the others? Could they be Dark creatures?
- Where is Hagrid?
[edit] Greater Picture
The horse-like creatures pulling the carriages are Thestrals, and they can only be seen by someone who has witnessed death. Until now, Harry, like many other students, believed the carriages magically pulled themselves. They are visible to him now because he witnessed Cedric Diggory being killed by Wormtail (Peter Pettigrew). Luna Lovegood, a most unusual girl anyway, sees them because she was present when her mother accidentally killed herself while experimenting with a spell that went wrong. It will be learned later that Neville Longbottom is also able to see them, although the reason is unknown. Why Neville does not comment on them here is uncertain. We learn later that he had seen a relative die, and so should have been able to see them all along. His first encounter with them, therefore, would have been in Harry's second year; as Harry and Ron arrived in the flying car that year, they would not have been present when Neville encountered the Thestrals for the first time, and by now he may consider then commonplace. Curiously, most students seem unaware that Thestrals even exist, indicating that the people who can see them rarely mention them to others. Despite being gentle creatures, they are painful reminders of death that those they are visible to probably prefer to avoid. More is learned about these unusual creatures in Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class, and they will have a role to play later in the book and in the series.
It could be argued that although Harry is unable to see the Thestrals until after Cedric Diggory was killed, he, technically, had witnessed other deaths prior to Cedric's tragic murder. In Chapter 1 of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry "sees" the Muggle, Frank Bryce, being killed by Voldemort. However, Harry was not physically present when Frank was slain, which would likely explain why the Thestrals remained invisible to him. Harry instead watched the death through a mental connection he has to Voldemort. Though what he was viewing was apparently real and from his own perspective, he was unaware it was actually happening at the time.
It is also true, as we find out later, that Professor Quirrell had died when Voldemort left him in the first book; Harry was there, but he was unconscious at the time and did not see Quirrell die.
Finally, Harry was present when Voldemort killed his mother, and when Voldemort's killing curse rebounded on him. The author has said that the sides of Harry's cot prevented him from actually seeing the death of his mother. Additionally, Voldemort, as we now see, wasn't really quite dead.
We are never positive that the Malfoys recognized Sirius in his dog form, but on the train, Draco hints to Harry that they did, and a story in the Daily Prophet placing Sirius in London will appear shortly.
Although Harry is embarrassed to be seated with unpopular students like Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood, these two "misfits" will prove to be among Harry's strongest and most capable allies. Neville will also be closely associated to a prophecy regarding Voldemort and Harry.
Sturgis Podmore's absence, we will find shortly, is due to his having been arrested the night before while attempting to enter a locked door at the Ministry. We will later find evidence that will suggest that the door in question leads to the Department of Mysteries, in which lies an artifact that Voldemort greatly desires. We will learn that Lucius Malfoy, at Voldemort's orders, had been trying to compel other wizards to enter the Department of Mysteries and recover that item; while we hear directly of Broderick Bode being forced to do so, we can only guess that the same has happened to Podmore.
Luna's father being publisher of the Quibbler will also prove important, as it will provide a channel for information about Harry to be disseminated without being filtered through the established media, namely The Daily Prophet. We have been told that the Prophet is echoing the Ministry position, and we will see the effect that has on Harry through the course of this book. It will become vital for Harry to have some other way of telling his story shortly. The contrarian nature of the Quibbler will also be important in the final book of the series.
