Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Philosopher's Stone/Chapter 16
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Chapter 16 of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: Through the Trapdoor
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[edit] Synopsis
End of term exam time comes, with both written and practical tests. Harry can't figure out how he was able to take exams while worrying that Voldemort was about to burst through the door and kill him. With the end of exams, Ron and Hermione are relaxed, but Harry is not; his scar is hurting more than ever, which indicates danger is coming.
It suddenly dawns on Harry that he has to check something with Hagrid - he needs more detail about where the dragon's egg had come from. They're not exactly the sort of thing one carries around idly after all. Hagrid, confronted, says he doesn't know what the man he won the egg from looked like, because he kept his cloak on. Hagrid also mentions that he had told this stranger that Fluffy the three-headed dog would calm right down if he was played a bit of music.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione now know that someone knows how to get past the three-headed dog, and they run off to tell Professor Dumbledore, but Professor McGonagall informs them that he is not at Hogwarts, he has been called away to London. They try to trail Professor Snape, but fail in doing so. Harry resolves to go down the trap door as soon as the Gryffindor common room clears; Hermione and Ron immediately elect to go with him.
As they prepare to leave, Neville notices them and attempts to stop them from leaving, he can't stand to let them lose any more House points for Gryffindor. Hermione is forced to put him in a full body bind so they can leave the common room. Under the Invisibility Cloak, they make their way to the third-floor corridor, finding the door already open. Using the flute that Hagrid had given Harry for Christmas, Harry plays Fluffy to sleep and then they jump down through the trap door, right into a crop of Devil's Snare. Hermione recognizes it, and manages to neutralize it. From there, they end up in a chamber that they can escape only by catching a flying key with the aid of a broomstick. Naturally, Harry manages this. The next trap is a Wizard chess set. Ron navigates them across this by winning the game, but in the process is incapacitated. After checking that he is still alive, Harry and Hermione pass through a chamber in which there is a troll, luckily already knocked out, and move on to the next challenge, a logic puzzle, which Hermione solves. However, only one can proceed forward. Harry chooses to go on, sending Hermione back to help Ron, and to send an owl to summon Dumbledore. Harry then proceeds into the last chamber. And there is someone there, but it isn't Snape, and it isn't Voldemort.
[edit] Analysis
In this chapter we start to see the Trio working together, and the strength they have as a group. Each of the three has a vital role to play in helping Harry reach the Philosopher's Stone. No one of them, nor even two of them, could have succeeded in reaching the Stone. Hermione's knowledge was required to free them from the Devil's Snare and to defeat the logic puzzle; Harry's flying ability was required to catch the key; and Ron's chess-playing ability was required on the Wizard Chess board. Notably, however, they were not simply taking turns. Ron had to remind Hermione about making a light to evade the Devil's Snare, and Harry needed Ron's and Hermione's help on brooms to corner the key.
It was mentioned earlier that a number of teachers had provided protection for the Stone. In order, that would be Hagrid (Fluffy), Professor Sprout (Devil's Snare), Professor Flitwick (charmed keys), Professor McGonagall (wizard chess set), Professor Quirrell (troll), and Professor Snape (potions for the logic puzzle). While we have been told that Professor Dumbledore has also provided protection, we have not yet seen the form his magic will take.
The logic puzzle Hermione solves is interesting, in that we see the question, and the solution, but not the initial setup. The solution, as determined by Hermione, is that the smallest bottle will take you forwards, and the one at the right end of the line will take you back. Clearly, from the arrangement of the bottles and the associated clues, it is possible for Hermione to determine which potion is which. Is it possible, from the clues and Hermione's solution, to work backwards and determine what the arrangement must have been? In fact, it does not, as the third clue is based on the sizes of the bottles, which we are not told; however, it does refine it to one of two possible setups, either of which is uniquely solvable from the clues provided. A discussion of this puzzle, and the possible solutions, appears on the Discussion page for this chapter.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
[edit] Further Study
- If someone had previously passed through the room, why then were all the potions in the logic puzzle still present? Would that person not have had to drink the "onwards" potion at least? And if it was some form of magically refilling bottle, why would only Harry to be able to proceed?
[edit] Greater Picture
This chapter is almost pure action; there is very little here that is carried forwards to further books. However, the following points should be mentioned.
Neville standing up to the Trio is the first occasion where we have seen him evince any sort of bravery. Until now, he has seemed to be ineffectual, very weak magically, and at the mercy of the passing scene. Here, for the first time, we see him standing up against opposition; futilely, to be sure, but he is standing up for what he believes. This marks the start of a trend of maturation and increasing strength that will result, by the seventh book, in Neville being leader of an underground resistance to a Dark organization.
Hermione here shows some concern for Ron; it is impossible to judge, at this early stage, whether this is the start of the relationship that develops in books six and seven, but one could say that a seed has been sown here.
It is perhaps interesting that Ron's words here to Hermione, "Are you a witch, or what?" are echoed precisely by Hermione, speaking to Ron near the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. While this was certainly a conscious choice by the author, one must wonder whether it was meant to be a conscious choice by Hermione.
