Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Order of the Phoenix/Chapter 35
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Chapter 35 of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Beyond the Veil
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Lucius Malfoy and eleven other Death Eaters, including the sadistic Bellatrix Lestrange, emerge from the shadows. Malfoy again demands that Harry hand over the orb, but he refuses. Harry demands to know where Sirius is, but the answers merely hint that Harry's visions were just a dream. Threatening to destroy the prophecy, Harry stalls by asking questions about it. When Bellatrix reviles Harry for being half-blood, Harry reminds her that her precious Voldemort is half-blood also – his father is a Muggle. Before he can finish the word, though, Bellatrix attempts to Stun him; Malfoy deflects the spell to the side and knocking a few orbs off the shelves, giving Harry an idea. Malfoy explains that the sphere contains a prophecy about the Dark Lord and Harry. They needed Harry to retrieve it because only those whom a prophecy concerns can safely pick up the orb, any others go insane. And Voldemort could not risk being seen at the Ministry, and so instead he lured Harry there to retrieve it for him.
On Harry's signal, the D.A. members blast the rows of spheres with their wands. Harry, along with the others, runs from the Chamber clutching the orb, chased by the Death Eaters. He re-enters the bell jar room, where Hermione seals the door behind them; but only Neville is still with them, Ron, Ginny, and Luna have become separated. Two Death Eaters enter the hall; Hermione Stuns one, and Neville, attempting to Disarm the other, instead disarms both him and Harry. Attempting to Stun the Death Eater, he hits a rack with time-turners. Hermione Stuns the remaining Death Eater.
As they head for the circular room, two more Death Eaters appear; Harry, Hermione and Neville veer into a side office. Before they can seal the door, the Death Eaters burst in and trip the three students. Hermione, regaining her wand, silences the Death Eater who is calling his accomplices, and Harry Petrifies another. The silenced attacker, Dolohov, curses Hermione with a purple flame; she falls. He kicks Neville, breaking his wand and his nose, before wordlessly demanding that Harry give him the prophecy. A partially-incapacitated Death Eater distracts him, and Harry Petrifies him as well. Neville confirms that Hermione is alive, and they make their way to the circular room, where they find Luna, Ginny, whose ankle is injured, and Ron, who was hit by a spell causing drunkeness. As they search for an exit, several Death Eaters enter, including Bellatrix, and start attacking. Harry, Neville, and Luna quickly exit, finding themselves again in the Brain Room; they try sealing the doors, Neville using Hermione's wand, but five Death Eaters burst in, throwing Luna through the air. She falls and is motionless. Ron, still under the spell's effects, summons a brain, and it wraps its tentacles around him. Ginny is Stunned. Neville apparently cannot produce a Stun spell with his nose broken, so Harry runs for the door that the Death Eaters came through, tumbling down stone steps and landing near the Veiled Arch.
Surrounded by Death Eaters, Harry backs onto the dais where the veil ripples in the ancient archway. Neville bursts in but is quickly immobilized. Bellatrix, recalling torturing Neville's parents, tortures Neville similarly, to force Harry to surrender the prophecy. Harry is about to relinquish it when Sirius, Tonks, Shacklebolt, Lupin, and Moody arrive. Macnair grabs Harry around the neck and demands the prophecy; Neville pokes his eye with Hermione's wand, and he releases Harry. Harry Stuns Macnair, but Neville is jinxed by Dolohov, who then makes two attempts at Harry before Sirius distracts him. Harry Petrifies him, and hands off the prophecy orb to Neville to free his hands. Harry grabs Neville's robe to pull him up the steps; the robe rips, and the orb falls from Neville's pocket and is smashed. The wispy vapors inside turn into a ghost-like figure speaking the prophecy, which vanishes unheard amid the battle sounds. Dumbledore enters from the Brain Room, and quickly apprehends all the combatants except two: Sirius is dueling Bellatrix. As Sirius taunts her that she could fight better, Bellatrix blasts a stunning spell squarely at his chest. His rigid body falls through the veiled arch. Harry rushes after him, but Lupin restrains him before he reaches the portal, telling him it is too late. Sirius is gone.
[edit] Analysis
Although Harry and the others were outnumbered and outmatched by Voldemort's Death Eaters, all fought ably, mostly thanks to Harry's superb defensive training. It is conceivable that had a few more D.A. members been present, the Death Eaters could have been defeated without help from the Order of the Phoenix. Even though Harry considers them the weakest members, Neville, Ginny, and Luna performed admirably while under attack. And though they may not yet be the most technically proficient D.A. students, they are arguably the bravest, willingly risking their own lives to help Harry and fight Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Ginny and Neville prove they are true Gryffindors, while Luna could easily have fit into that House, as well as Ravenclaw. Harry will never forget what they have done for him.
When Harry contacted Grimmauld Place, Kreacher told Harry that Sirius had been taken to the Ministry of Magic. Kreacher, who remains loyal to the Black family, and, by extension, Voldemort, lied to Harry; Sirius was safely at Grimmauld Place with Lupin, unaware Harry was attempting to reach them.
Order of the Phoenix reinforcements arrived at the Ministry of Magic because Severus Snape alerted them that Harry and the other students were missing from Hogwarts. However, Harry later accuses Snape of deliberately waiting too long to sound the alarm, resulting in Sirius' death.
Malfoy names the twelve Death Eaters involved in this battle shortly after Harry, Hermione, and Neville re-enter the bell jar room. They are: Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange, Nott, Rodolphus, Crabbe, Rabastan, Jugson, Dolohov, Macnair, Avery, Rookwood, and Mulciber. Of the two that initially attack Harry, Hermione, and Neville, one is Stunned, and the other falls into the bell jar and stumbles through the rest of the battle with a baby's head. The second pair that attack Harry are Dolohov and Jugson, and they both get Petrified. Nott is injured by falling shelves and may not play a further part in the battle. Lucius counts ten Death Eaters standing against Harry alone in the amphitheatre, so we can assume that the Stunned and Petrified Death Eaters have all been resuscitated at that point.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
- Who can safely pick up a Prophecy Orb? What happens to those who are unable to?
- How was Bellatrix able to kill Sirius?
- Why does Lupin restrain Harry from going after Sirius?
- Which D.A. members were left standing at the end of the battle?
- Who alerted the Order of the Phoenix that the students were in trouble?
[edit] Extra Study
- What is the veiled archway? Why can only Harry and Luna hear the voices behind the veil?
- Based on what is learned in this chapter, what might have happened if Harry had gone through the veiled archway? Could he have returned?
[edit] Greater Picture
Neville, Luna, and Ginny will again show their bravery in the next book, Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince, being among the first to answer Harry's distress call during the battle inside Hogwarts.
