Chapter 25 -- The Seer Overheard
In which Ginny compares and contrasts tattoos, Trelawney talks about the circumstances surrounding the Prophecy, Harry gets capslocky, and Dumbledore is displeased that, for once, his beliefs aren't being accepted as facts.
The fact that Harry Potter was going out with Ginny Weasley seemed to interest a great number of people, most of them girls,
All of them shippers.
yet Harry found himself newly and happily impervious to gossip over the next few weeks.
*snort* Being impervious to this kind of gossip is like delivering a karate chop to a bowl of tapioca.
After all, it made a very nice change to be talked about because of something that was making him happier than he could remember being for a very long time,
Some…THING? Not someONE? Geez, Harry, if you're going to think of Ginny as a thing, why don't you just get an inflatable doll?
rather than because he had been involved in horrific scenes of Dark magic.
Not to mention because people suspected him of being a liar (OotP), insane (OotP), a show-off (GoF), a target for murder (PoA), or a Dark wizard who hated Muggleborns and who might be the Heir of Slytherin (CoS).
'You'd think people had better things to gossip about,' said Ginny, as she sat on the common-room floor, leaning against Harry's legs and reading the Daily Prophet.
"You'd think THAT people WOULD HAVE better things to gossip about." Ginny's phraseology makes my ears hurt.
'Three Dementor attacks in a week, and all Romilda Vane does is ask me if it's true you've got a Hippogriff tattooed across your chest.'
I expected the next sentence to be about the Dementor attacks. Silly, silly me. How could I possibly have imagined that anything could be of greater relevance to the series overall than Harry's hypothetical tattoo?
For no reason I can figure out, this makes Ron and Hermione laugh. Harry just wants to know what Ginny said to Romilda.
'I told her it's a Hungarian Horntail,' said Ginny, turning a page of the newspaper idly. 'Much more macho.'
And besides, a Hungarian Horntail is scaly and dangerous. Hmmm. Sounds like Ginny knows about Harry's Chest Monster o' Lust.
Harry thanks her and then asks her what she said Ron has.
'A Pygmy Puff, but I didn't say where.'
A Pygmy Puff is a miniature puffskein. A puffskein, according to the Lexicon, is "a long-tongued, custard-colored little furball that makes a calming, purring noise." So basically, a Pygmy Puff is a tiny tribble.
And is it just me, or does it sound as if Ginny's talking about Ron having a penis the size of a Pygmy Puff, rather than a tattoo?
Hey, Ginny! How do you know what your brother's penis looks like? Inquiring minds want to know!
Hermione thinks that the Pygmy Puff remark is utterly hysterical, and starts rolling around on the floor. Ron is not pleased by Ginny's words, though. Surprise, surprise. He warns Harry and Ginny to "watch it":
'Just because I've given my permission doesn't mean I can't withdraw it -'
My first thought was, "Why is Ron saying this?" He didn't give his permission to Michael or Dean, as far as we know.
'"Your permission",' scoffed Ginny. 'Since when did you give me permission to do anything?
Proving that Ron's line was, in fact, completely pointless.
Anyway, you said yourself you'd rather it was Harry than Michael or Dean.'
Apparently Ron thinks that, unlike Michael and Dean, Harry isn't interested in kissing, snogging or having sex with his little sister. Poor deluded boy.
Ron then says that Harry/Ginny is fine with him, as long as they don't snog in public (and scare the thestrals, presumably). Ginny gets highly indignant, and compares Ron/Lavender to a pair of thrashing eels. Which, I confess, is not the first image that sprang to my mind.
We then get an explanation of why Harry and Ginny are not spending much time together, despite the fact that Harry is very happy with Ginny. The reason? It's June. It's a measure of the books that my first thought on reading that was, "Oh, yeah, and Harry has to prepare for the attack that Voldemort makes every year in June. That makes sense."
But no. The problem is not Voldemort, but the fact that Ginny is going to have to take her O.W.L.s soon, and she has to spend a lot of time "revising." (Even though I know that "revising" is Britglish for "studying," the first thing I thought of was Ginny rewriting an essay to eliminate errors.)
One evening when Ginny's off studying for her exams and Harry's daydreaming over his Herbology homework, Hermione plonks herself down between Harry and Ron, intent on discussing the Half-Blood Prince.
Harry doesn't want to discuss the matter, mainly because he is now minus the Prince's Potions book, and he can't get it out of the Room of Requirement, because Snape is still sniffing around for the book. As a result, Harry's not doing nearly as well in Potions. We're told that Slughorn is taking this well, as he thinks Harry is merely lovesick. I guess Slughorn doesn't expect lovesick students to be able to use their brains. How nice for Harry.
Hermione has been trying to figure out who would invent Dark spells on a regular basis. Harry says that he [the Prince] wouldn't make a hobby of that. Hermione points out again that "the Prince" could be a girl, and pulls out a photograph:
The picture showed a skinny girl of around fifteen. She was not pretty; she looked simultaneously cross and sullen, with heavy brows and a long, pallid face.
Apparently Snape inherited his mother's complexion and his father's nose.
Underneath the photograph was the caption: Eileen Prince, Captain of the Hogwarts Gobstones Team.
According to the Lexicon, "Gobstones is a game…played rather like marbles, in which the stones spit disgusting liquid at the opposing player when he or she loses a point."
Blecch.
There doesn't seem to be a Gobstones Team at Hogwarts in Harry's time, though, according to OotP, there are Gobstones clubs.
Harry, being Harry, naturally doesn't get it. Hermione has to point out the name yet again--Eileen PRINCE.
Harry bursts out laughing. Hermione then points out something that I wish Suethors would grasp:
Harry, there aren't any real princes in the wizarding world!
That sentence made me practically dance with joy. deleterius and sporkers, please take note!
No, listen! If, say, her father was a wizard whose surname was "Prince", and her mother was a Muggle, then that would make her a "half-blood Prince"!'
Hermione's got the right idea. She just has the sexes of the people involved mixed up.
Harry insists that the Prince was male. Hermione claims that Harry doesn't think that a girl could be smart enough to be the Prince. Harry gets miffed at this.
'It's the way he writes.
"Levicorpus (nvbl)." Yep, that's a dead giveaway as to gender. I don't know how I missed it.
I just know the Prince was a bloke, I can tell.
If I were Hermione, I'd be standing in front of Harry with my arms crossed, saying, "Oh? How, Harry?"
Sadly, the question is never answered. Hermione goes off to the library to do some research on Eileen Prince--starting with old Potions awards. Harry and Ron discuss the Prince and the Potions book.
... without his bezoar tip ...' [Ron] drew his finger significantly across his own throat, 'I wouldn't be here to discuss it, would I?
Both boys seem to have forgotten that in their first Potions class in first year, Snape stated that a bezoar can cure all poisons.
They then discuss the Sectumsempra spell. Ron says that it's not a good spell, considering what it did to Draco, but Draco did heal, and he's fine now.
'Yeah,' said Harry; this was perfectly true, although his conscience squirmed slightly all the same. 'Thanks to Snape ...'
Neither boy wonders, then or ever, how Snape knew a method for treating wounds caused by a spell that only Harry and the Prince knew existed.
There is then some discussion about Harry having detention with Snape for the next three Saturdays, which Harry resents because it cuts into serious Ginny-time. At this point one of the new Gryffindor Beaters, Jimmy Peakes, pops up with a scroll from Dumbledore saying he wants to see Harry right away.
Harry tears out of the common room and up to the seventh floor. When he hears a scream and a crash, he heads toward it, and finds
Professor Trelawney sprawled upon the floor, her head covered in one of her many shawls, several sherry bottles lying beside her, one broken.
Sherry bottles. Booze and drinking seem to be primary motifs of this book, don't they?
Trelawney says that she was brooding on certain Dark portents she's glimpsed. At this point, Harry realizes that they're just outside the Room of Requirement. After some questioning by Harry, Trelawney admits that she was trying to get in there, and why:
'I wished to - ah - deposit certain - um - personal items in the Room ...' And she muttered something about 'nasty accusations'.
Somehow I never thought of the Room of Requirement as a recycling bin. And what's wrong with magic anyway? Can't she make them vanish or transfigure them? For that matter, why doesn't she cast the Refilling Charm on them? You'd think that someone who drinks a lot would just love that spell.
Trelawney adds that when she walked in, she heard a male voice "whooping gleefully," as if in celebration. However, when she called out, "Who's there?":
'Everything went pitch black and the next thing I knew, I was being hurled headfirst out of the Room!'
Okay, I get that the Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder made everything go pitch black, but what spell hurled her headfirst out of the room?
Harry advises her to tell Dumbledore:
'He ought to know Malfoy's celebrating - I mean, that someone threw you out of the Room.'
What good would it do to know that Malfoy's celebrating without knowing why? He could be celebrating getting an Outstanding on a test or something.
Trelawney says that Dumbledore has hinted that he'd rather see less of her, despite the fact that she's been seeing ominous things in her Tarot cards.
'- the lightning-struck tower,' she whispered. 'Calamity. Disaster. Coming nearer all the time ...'
This is what the Tower looks like in the Rider-Waite Tarot, one of the most popular portrayals:
Paranormality defines the Tower's meaning this way:
Upright - Disruption. Conflict. Change. Sudden violent loss. Overthrow of an existing way of life. Major changes. Disruption of well worn routines. Ruin and disturbance. Dramatic upheaval. Change of residence or job sometimes both at once. Widespread repercussions of actions. In the end, enlightenment and freedom.
As Trelawney is predicting, there is going to be:
1. conflict (a battle with Death Eaters);
2. a sudden and violent loss (Dumbledore's death);
3. disruption and the overthrow of an existing way of life (Dumbledore's death will impact both Hogwarts and the wizarding world);
4. major changes (for everyone, but particularly for Harry, Snape and Draco);
5. dramatic upheaval (quite a lot of Harry's expectations and beliefs will be disrupted);
6. change of residence and/or job (Harry's job will go from being a student at Hogwarts to a wandering seeker of Horcruxes, while Snape's job and place at Hogwarts will quite definitely be at an end);
7. widespread repercussions of actions (obviously, Snape killing Dumbledore will have a huge impact on himself, Harry, Hogwarts, the Death Eaters, Voldemort and the wizarding world);
8. enlightenment and freedom (Dumbledore's death will force Harry to seek knowledge of the Horcruxes, which may lead to greater understanding of them and how to destroy them, and thus to freedom for the magical world).
And of course Dumbledore is attacked atop a tower, and, like the figures in the Tower card, falls from it to certain doom.
Trelawney is rather good at telling fortunes with cards. People should pay more attention to her.
Harry tells her again that she should tell Double-D about her adventure. When he says he's going to see Dumbles now, she agrees to go with him.
'I am afraid,' she went on, 'that the nag - I'm sorry, the centaur - knows nothing of cartomancy.
This threw me a bit, as "cartography" is the study of maps, but when I looked it up, I discovered that "cartomancy" is indeed divination by use of cards.
I asked him - one Seer to another - had he not, too, sensed the distant vibrations of coming catastrophe? But he seemed to find me almost comical. Yes, comical!'
The problem Trelawney is having with Firenze is that centaur divination doesn't focus on the problems of a single person, but rather the entire magical world. Trelawney's styles of divination--reading tea leaves, crystal balls, fortunetelling by means of cards, even her style of astrology--are all very much focused on foretelling the future for a single individual…in this case, Dumbledore. Unfortunately, centaurs consider focusing on a single person's future to be trivial nonsense.
Poor Trelawney. She's not taken seriously by anyone. No wonder she drinks.
Trelawney then speaks of her first interview with Dumbledore:
I was staying at the Hog's Head, which I do not advise, incidentally - bed bugs, dear boy - but funds were low.
I wonder why Aberforth doesn't use magic to eliminate the infestation? Or get his brother to do so?
Dumbledore did me the courtesy of calling upon me in my room at the inn.
Calling on a woman in a bedbug-ridden room doesn't seem much like courtesy. It seems like another version of giving the interviewee the short uncomfortable chair. And maybe it's me, but I don't think it's very professional to interview a woman in her bedroom. Unless her profession involves working in a bedroom, if you know what I mean.
Trelawney then says that she was feeling a bit odd…when Snape interrupted them.
'Yes, there was a commotion outside the door and it flew open, and there was that rather uncouth barman standing with Snape, who was waffling about having come the wrong way up the stairs, although I'm afraid that I myself rather thought he had been apprehended eavesdropping on my interview with Dumbledore - you see, he himself was seeking a job at the time, and no doubt hoped to pick up tips!
"Uncouth barman." I suppose that would be Aberforth again. Isn't it odd how no one seems to know Aberforth Dumbledore is related to Albus Dumbledore? You'd think that what with one living in Hogwarts and the other nearby in Hogsmeade, someone would be aware of the relationship. Though I think that I'm simply annoyed that, having released the information that Aberforth was the Hog's Head bartender in the Edinburgh Book Festival interview on 15 August 2004, Rowling hasn't seen fit to confirm that in the books.
And how do you go the wrong way up the stairs? Stairs go up. Stairs go down. There's not much variety. (Unless you're in the Winchester Mystery House, where stairs also go sideways.)
Well, after that, you know, Dumbledore seemed much more disposed to give me a job, and I could not help thinking, Harry, that it was because he appreciated the stark contrast between my own unassuming manners and quiet talent, compared to the pushing, thrusting young man who was prepared to listen at keyholes - Harry, dear?'
As so often with Trelawney, the problem isn't with her perception but her interpretation. I wonder how she rationalized the fact that Dumbles hired that "pushing, thrusting young man who was prepared to listen at keyholes"?
And why is he "pushing and thrusting"? Just to appease the slashers?
Harry goes into shock at the news that Snape was the one who told the prophecy to Voldemort. As for me, I was just glad that for once, Peter wasn't responsible.
Harry orders Trelawney to stay where she is and zooms down the hall to the Dumb One's office. Dumb and Dumber, of course, doesn't realize that Harry is upset about Snape and the prophecy (it's not as if he were a Legilimens, after all) and asks Harry if he wants to come along on a Horcrux hunt.
Harry asks which Horcrux it is. Dumbles is rather vague:
'I am not sure which it is
Wouldn't you think that if you were searching for Horcruxes, you'd find out which Horcrux was hidden where?
-- though I think we can rule out the snake -
Given that Nagini rarely leaves Voldie's side, that's probably a good guess. Unless the cave is Voldemort's new summer cottage or something.
but I believe it to be hidden in a cave on the coast many miles from here, a cave I have been trying to locate for a very long time: the cave in which Tom Riddle once terrorised two children from his orphanage on their annual trip; you remember?'
What is that semi-colon doing after "trip"? And Dumb One, I'd want more to rely on than your mere belief.
Harry asks a very sensible question: how is it protected? This answer is even worse than the last one:
'I do not know; I have suspicions that may be entirely wrong.'
Uh-HUH. So you don't know, and you're not going to tell Harry what you suspect? Wow. I just LOVE how you're sharing information with the boy, Dumbles.
Dumbles then notices that Harry is angry--even JKR says that it seems to show on Harry's face--and wants to know why. Harry lies till Double-D says something about Harry not being a good Occlumens. That triggers Harry's rage.
'Snape's what's happened! He told Voldemort about the prophecy, it was him, he listened outside the door, Trelawney told me!'
The Dumb One doesn't even try to deny it. He just asks Harry when he found out. Just now, Harry says.
'AND YOU LET HIM TEACH HERE AND HE TOLD VOLDEMORT TO GO AFTER MY MUM AND DAD!'
Capslock!Harry! I never thought I'd say this, but it's good to see you! You're a vast improvement over the jerkwad you've been for most of this year.
As Harry struggles for control--he wants very much to chew Dumbles out, but he's afraid that if he does, he won't be allowed on the Horcrux hunt--Dumbledore offers a truly lousy explanation:
'Professor Snape made a terrible mistake.
"Mistake"? Not the word I would have chosen.
He was still in Lord Voldemort's employ on the night he heard the first half of Professor Trelawney's prophecy.
Meaning that Snape was working for Voldemort up till June 1980, at least.
Naturally, he hastened to tell his master what he had heard, for it concerned his master most deeply.
So Snape deliberately went to Voldemort and told him the prophecy. The information wasn't forced from him by a spell, by torture, or by Legilimancy. And Snape's never shown any fear of Voldemort. This was a deliberate, conscious act.
Or so we're supposed to believe, anyway. Of course, we've heard similar "statements" about Peter (whose default setting is "terrified minion," not "enthusiastic follower") and Sirius (who was never a traitor at all).
But he did not know - he had no possible way of knowing - which boy Voldemort would hunt from then onwards, or that the parents he would destroy in his murderous quest were people that Professor Snape knew, that they were your mother and father -'
I don't care that Snape didn't know that telling Voldemort the prophecy would lead to the deaths of James and Lily. First of all, he hated James. He still does hate James. So I'm not seeing vast regret at James's death. Second...I highly doubt Snape thought Voldemort would go to the Longbottoms and the Potters, congratulate them on the births of their healthy sons, present the babies with toy snakes of Slytherin green, and remind their parents that kind hearts are more than coronets.
So--assuming that Snape was acting of his own free will, and that the information wasn't ripped from his mind by Voldie's Legilimency--he's still culpable for telling Voldemort something that would get people murdered, whether he knew who the targets would be or not.
Harry doesn't buy DD's excuses. Not for one second. I mention this because, for once in this book, I actually agreed with Harry.
The Dumb One continues:
'You have no idea of the remorse Professor Snape felt when he realised how Lord Voldemort had interpreted the prophecy, Harry.
How did he THINK Voldie would interpret it? "The boy destined to be my downfall is soon to be born. Oh, dash it all. How awkward. Would you care for another cup of tea, Severus? One lump or two?"
I believe it to be the greatest regret of his life and the reason that he returned -'
What you believe, Dumbledore, is not proof.
Harry points out that Snape's an excellent Occlumens, and that Voldie is certain that Snape is 100% Death Eater even now, so how can DD be sure? Dumbles pauses for a moment, then speaks:
At last he said, 'I am sure. I trust Severus Snape completely.'
Belief. Trust. SHOW ME SOME EVIDENCE I COULD TAKE TO COURT!
Harry says that Snape and Draco are up to something right now, "right under your [Dumbledore's] nose."
Dumbledore isn't interested in hearing that. He's told Harry his point of view, and he feels that should be enough. He doesn't grasp why it's not.
You know, JKR chooses her names very carefully. It seems that DUMBledore is very well named.
Harry tells DD what just happened to Trelawney, and that he thinks that Draco has just fixed the object that he asked Mr. Borgin how to mend. He doesn't think that Dumbledore should leave the school.
Dumbledore gets quietly mad. I have the feeling that he's not used to people not taking his word as gospel. He informs Harry rather stiffly that he hasn't left the school unprotected whenever he left this year, and he's not going to do so tonight. He further tells Harry that he does NOT want to talk about it any longer.
Aww. Poor baby. Did Harry puncture your widdle over-infwated ego?
The Dumb One then asks Harry if he wants to go on the Horcrux hunt. Harry says yes. DD then lays down the condition:
'I take you with me on one condition: that you obey any command I might give you at once, and without question.'
The obvious thing to do in this case is to make the promise and mentally resolve to make up your own mind when a crisis arises. Harry, who is not very bright, doesn't think of that. So when Dumb and Dumber asks him if he'll follow every order, even orders Harry doesn't like, if he'll hide when told to hide, if he'll flee if commanded, if he'll abandon DD and save himself if ordered to do so, Harry agrees without any mental reservations.
The Dumb One tells Harry to go get his Invisibility Cloak and meet him in the Entrance Hall five minutes from now. I wondered why he didn't have it with him, particularly as DD had told him to keep it on him at all times, so this is An Obvious Plot Device to allow Harry to chat to his chums before going off. Given that Harry has to run from DD's office to the Gryffindor boys' dorm to the main floor, I think it would take more than five minutes, though. Perhaps the Dumb One forgot that only house-elves can Apparate at Hogwarts.
Harry hurries back to his dorm and grabs the Marauder's Map and a pair of socks containing the vial of Felix Felicis. JKR still hasn't explained in the books how Harry got that map back, by the way.
Harry gives the map to Hermione and tells her to watch Draco and Snape, using anyone from Dumbledore's Army she can find. Considering that Harry didn't think that extra training in Defense Against the Dark Arts was necessary this year since Umbridge was gone--never MIND the attacks that are affecting students and their families--I think he has a lot of chutzpah asking for the DA to help him now. Selfish little prick.
He then gives the Felix Felicis to Ron, telling him to split it between himself, Hermione and Ginny. Hermione thinks that Harry should take it, but Harry says that he'll be with Double-D, so he'll be fine. The heavy-handed irony is just about killing me.
Not much else happens. Harry puts on his Invisibility Cloak, and Dumbles and Harry walk to Hogsmeade, because the swollen-headed Headmaster wants to convince anyone watching that he's just going to the Three Broomsticks or the Hog's Head for a friendly drink. I don't know why the Hog's Head is considered a safe destination, since it's owned by DD's brother who has been a member of the Order since the First War. I also wonder why the "unsavoury" people go there too, seeing as how DD's brother runs it. But then, wizards don't use anything even vaguely approaching logic.
Madam Rosmerta spots DD, commenting that he's out late. Double-D tells her that he wants a quieter pub tonight, so he's going to the Hog's Head--never mind that the Hog's Head is closed and empty, and that anyone checking on his whereabouts could find that out.
Dumbles Apparates to the cave, taking Harry along with him via Side-Along Apparition. I mention the description of Apparating because it sounds so much like badfic sex:
At once, there was that horrible sensation that he was being squeezed through a thick rubber tube; he could not draw breath, every part of him was being compressed almost past endurance and then, just when he thought he must suffocate, the invisible bands seemed to burst open, and he was standing in cool darkness, breathing in lungfuls of fresh, salty air.
***
I will return with Chapter 26 -- The Cave.
The fact that Harry Potter was going out with Ginny Weasley seemed to interest a great number of people, most of them girls,
All of them shippers.
yet Harry found himself newly and happily impervious to gossip over the next few weeks.
*snort* Being impervious to this kind of gossip is like delivering a karate chop to a bowl of tapioca.
After all, it made a very nice change to be talked about because of something that was making him happier than he could remember being for a very long time,
Some…THING? Not someONE? Geez, Harry, if you're going to think of Ginny as a thing, why don't you just get an inflatable doll?
rather than because he had been involved in horrific scenes of Dark magic.
Not to mention because people suspected him of being a liar (OotP), insane (OotP), a show-off (GoF), a target for murder (PoA), or a Dark wizard who hated Muggleborns and who might be the Heir of Slytherin (CoS).
'You'd think people had better things to gossip about,' said Ginny, as she sat on the common-room floor, leaning against Harry's legs and reading the Daily Prophet.
"You'd think THAT people WOULD HAVE better things to gossip about." Ginny's phraseology makes my ears hurt.
'Three Dementor attacks in a week, and all Romilda Vane does is ask me if it's true you've got a Hippogriff tattooed across your chest.'
I expected the next sentence to be about the Dementor attacks. Silly, silly me. How could I possibly have imagined that anything could be of greater relevance to the series overall than Harry's hypothetical tattoo?
For no reason I can figure out, this makes Ron and Hermione laugh. Harry just wants to know what Ginny said to Romilda.
'I told her it's a Hungarian Horntail,' said Ginny, turning a page of the newspaper idly. 'Much more macho.'
And besides, a Hungarian Horntail is scaly and dangerous. Hmmm. Sounds like Ginny knows about Harry's Chest Monster o' Lust.
Harry thanks her and then asks her what she said Ron has.
'A Pygmy Puff, but I didn't say where.'
A Pygmy Puff is a miniature puffskein. A puffskein, according to the Lexicon, is "a long-tongued, custard-colored little furball that makes a calming, purring noise." So basically, a Pygmy Puff is a tiny tribble.
And is it just me, or does it sound as if Ginny's talking about Ron having a penis the size of a Pygmy Puff, rather than a tattoo?
Hey, Ginny! How do you know what your brother's penis looks like? Inquiring minds want to know!
Hermione thinks that the Pygmy Puff remark is utterly hysterical, and starts rolling around on the floor. Ron is not pleased by Ginny's words, though. Surprise, surprise. He warns Harry and Ginny to "watch it":
'Just because I've given my permission doesn't mean I can't withdraw it -'
My first thought was, "Why is Ron saying this?" He didn't give his permission to Michael or Dean, as far as we know.
'"Your permission",' scoffed Ginny. 'Since when did you give me permission to do anything?
Proving that Ron's line was, in fact, completely pointless.
Anyway, you said yourself you'd rather it was Harry than Michael or Dean.'
Apparently Ron thinks that, unlike Michael and Dean, Harry isn't interested in kissing, snogging or having sex with his little sister. Poor deluded boy.
Ron then says that Harry/Ginny is fine with him, as long as they don't snog in public (and scare the thestrals, presumably). Ginny gets highly indignant, and compares Ron/Lavender to a pair of thrashing eels. Which, I confess, is not the first image that sprang to my mind.
We then get an explanation of why Harry and Ginny are not spending much time together, despite the fact that Harry is very happy with Ginny. The reason? It's June. It's a measure of the books that my first thought on reading that was, "Oh, yeah, and Harry has to prepare for the attack that Voldemort makes every year in June. That makes sense."
But no. The problem is not Voldemort, but the fact that Ginny is going to have to take her O.W.L.s soon, and she has to spend a lot of time "revising." (Even though I know that "revising" is Britglish for "studying," the first thing I thought of was Ginny rewriting an essay to eliminate errors.)
One evening when Ginny's off studying for her exams and Harry's daydreaming over his Herbology homework, Hermione plonks herself down between Harry and Ron, intent on discussing the Half-Blood Prince.
Harry doesn't want to discuss the matter, mainly because he is now minus the Prince's Potions book, and he can't get it out of the Room of Requirement, because Snape is still sniffing around for the book. As a result, Harry's not doing nearly as well in Potions. We're told that Slughorn is taking this well, as he thinks Harry is merely lovesick. I guess Slughorn doesn't expect lovesick students to be able to use their brains. How nice for Harry.
Hermione has been trying to figure out who would invent Dark spells on a regular basis. Harry says that he [the Prince] wouldn't make a hobby of that. Hermione points out again that "the Prince" could be a girl, and pulls out a photograph:
The picture showed a skinny girl of around fifteen. She was not pretty; she looked simultaneously cross and sullen, with heavy brows and a long, pallid face.
Apparently Snape inherited his mother's complexion and his father's nose.
Underneath the photograph was the caption: Eileen Prince, Captain of the Hogwarts Gobstones Team.
According to the Lexicon, "Gobstones is a game…played rather like marbles, in which the stones spit disgusting liquid at the opposing player when he or she loses a point."
Blecch.
There doesn't seem to be a Gobstones Team at Hogwarts in Harry's time, though, according to OotP, there are Gobstones clubs.
Harry, being Harry, naturally doesn't get it. Hermione has to point out the name yet again--Eileen PRINCE.
Harry bursts out laughing. Hermione then points out something that I wish Suethors would grasp:
Harry, there aren't any real princes in the wizarding world!
That sentence made me practically dance with joy. deleterius and sporkers, please take note!
No, listen! If, say, her father was a wizard whose surname was "Prince", and her mother was a Muggle, then that would make her a "half-blood Prince"!'
Hermione's got the right idea. She just has the sexes of the people involved mixed up.
Harry insists that the Prince was male. Hermione claims that Harry doesn't think that a girl could be smart enough to be the Prince. Harry gets miffed at this.
'It's the way he writes.
"Levicorpus (nvbl)." Yep, that's a dead giveaway as to gender. I don't know how I missed it.
I just know the Prince was a bloke, I can tell.
If I were Hermione, I'd be standing in front of Harry with my arms crossed, saying, "Oh? How, Harry?"
Sadly, the question is never answered. Hermione goes off to the library to do some research on Eileen Prince--starting with old Potions awards. Harry and Ron discuss the Prince and the Potions book.
... without his bezoar tip ...' [Ron] drew his finger significantly across his own throat, 'I wouldn't be here to discuss it, would I?
Both boys seem to have forgotten that in their first Potions class in first year, Snape stated that a bezoar can cure all poisons.
They then discuss the Sectumsempra spell. Ron says that it's not a good spell, considering what it did to Draco, but Draco did heal, and he's fine now.
'Yeah,' said Harry; this was perfectly true, although his conscience squirmed slightly all the same. 'Thanks to Snape ...'
Neither boy wonders, then or ever, how Snape knew a method for treating wounds caused by a spell that only Harry and the Prince knew existed.
There is then some discussion about Harry having detention with Snape for the next three Saturdays, which Harry resents because it cuts into serious Ginny-time. At this point one of the new Gryffindor Beaters, Jimmy Peakes, pops up with a scroll from Dumbledore saying he wants to see Harry right away.
Harry tears out of the common room and up to the seventh floor. When he hears a scream and a crash, he heads toward it, and finds
Professor Trelawney sprawled upon the floor, her head covered in one of her many shawls, several sherry bottles lying beside her, one broken.
Sherry bottles. Booze and drinking seem to be primary motifs of this book, don't they?
Trelawney says that she was brooding on certain Dark portents she's glimpsed. At this point, Harry realizes that they're just outside the Room of Requirement. After some questioning by Harry, Trelawney admits that she was trying to get in there, and why:
'I wished to - ah - deposit certain - um - personal items in the Room ...' And she muttered something about 'nasty accusations'.
Somehow I never thought of the Room of Requirement as a recycling bin. And what's wrong with magic anyway? Can't she make them vanish or transfigure them? For that matter, why doesn't she cast the Refilling Charm on them? You'd think that someone who drinks a lot would just love that spell.
Trelawney adds that when she walked in, she heard a male voice "whooping gleefully," as if in celebration. However, when she called out, "Who's there?":
'Everything went pitch black and the next thing I knew, I was being hurled headfirst out of the Room!'
Okay, I get that the Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder made everything go pitch black, but what spell hurled her headfirst out of the room?
Harry advises her to tell Dumbledore:
'He ought to know Malfoy's celebrating - I mean, that someone threw you out of the Room.'
What good would it do to know that Malfoy's celebrating without knowing why? He could be celebrating getting an Outstanding on a test or something.
Trelawney says that Dumbledore has hinted that he'd rather see less of her, despite the fact that she's been seeing ominous things in her Tarot cards.
'- the lightning-struck tower,' she whispered. 'Calamity. Disaster. Coming nearer all the time ...'
This is what the Tower looks like in the Rider-Waite Tarot, one of the most popular portrayals:
Paranormality defines the Tower's meaning this way:
Upright - Disruption. Conflict. Change. Sudden violent loss. Overthrow of an existing way of life. Major changes. Disruption of well worn routines. Ruin and disturbance. Dramatic upheaval. Change of residence or job sometimes both at once. Widespread repercussions of actions. In the end, enlightenment and freedom.
As Trelawney is predicting, there is going to be:
1. conflict (a battle with Death Eaters);
2. a sudden and violent loss (Dumbledore's death);
3. disruption and the overthrow of an existing way of life (Dumbledore's death will impact both Hogwarts and the wizarding world);
4. major changes (for everyone, but particularly for Harry, Snape and Draco);
5. dramatic upheaval (quite a lot of Harry's expectations and beliefs will be disrupted);
6. change of residence and/or job (Harry's job will go from being a student at Hogwarts to a wandering seeker of Horcruxes, while Snape's job and place at Hogwarts will quite definitely be at an end);
7. widespread repercussions of actions (obviously, Snape killing Dumbledore will have a huge impact on himself, Harry, Hogwarts, the Death Eaters, Voldemort and the wizarding world);
8. enlightenment and freedom (Dumbledore's death will force Harry to seek knowledge of the Horcruxes, which may lead to greater understanding of them and how to destroy them, and thus to freedom for the magical world).
And of course Dumbledore is attacked atop a tower, and, like the figures in the Tower card, falls from it to certain doom.
Trelawney is rather good at telling fortunes with cards. People should pay more attention to her.
Harry tells her again that she should tell Double-D about her adventure. When he says he's going to see Dumbles now, she agrees to go with him.
'I am afraid,' she went on, 'that the nag - I'm sorry, the centaur - knows nothing of cartomancy.
This threw me a bit, as "cartography" is the study of maps, but when I looked it up, I discovered that "cartomancy" is indeed divination by use of cards.
I asked him - one Seer to another - had he not, too, sensed the distant vibrations of coming catastrophe? But he seemed to find me almost comical. Yes, comical!'
The problem Trelawney is having with Firenze is that centaur divination doesn't focus on the problems of a single person, but rather the entire magical world. Trelawney's styles of divination--reading tea leaves, crystal balls, fortunetelling by means of cards, even her style of astrology--are all very much focused on foretelling the future for a single individual…in this case, Dumbledore. Unfortunately, centaurs consider focusing on a single person's future to be trivial nonsense.
Poor Trelawney. She's not taken seriously by anyone. No wonder she drinks.
Trelawney then speaks of her first interview with Dumbledore:
I was staying at the Hog's Head, which I do not advise, incidentally - bed bugs, dear boy - but funds were low.
I wonder why Aberforth doesn't use magic to eliminate the infestation? Or get his brother to do so?
Dumbledore did me the courtesy of calling upon me in my room at the inn.
Calling on a woman in a bedbug-ridden room doesn't seem much like courtesy. It seems like another version of giving the interviewee the short uncomfortable chair. And maybe it's me, but I don't think it's very professional to interview a woman in her bedroom. Unless her profession involves working in a bedroom, if you know what I mean.
Trelawney then says that she was feeling a bit odd…when Snape interrupted them.
'Yes, there was a commotion outside the door and it flew open, and there was that rather uncouth barman standing with Snape, who was waffling about having come the wrong way up the stairs, although I'm afraid that I myself rather thought he had been apprehended eavesdropping on my interview with Dumbledore - you see, he himself was seeking a job at the time, and no doubt hoped to pick up tips!
"Uncouth barman." I suppose that would be Aberforth again. Isn't it odd how no one seems to know Aberforth Dumbledore is related to Albus Dumbledore? You'd think that what with one living in Hogwarts and the other nearby in Hogsmeade, someone would be aware of the relationship. Though I think that I'm simply annoyed that, having released the information that Aberforth was the Hog's Head bartender in the Edinburgh Book Festival interview on 15 August 2004, Rowling hasn't seen fit to confirm that in the books.
And how do you go the wrong way up the stairs? Stairs go up. Stairs go down. There's not much variety. (Unless you're in the Winchester Mystery House, where stairs also go sideways.)
Well, after that, you know, Dumbledore seemed much more disposed to give me a job, and I could not help thinking, Harry, that it was because he appreciated the stark contrast between my own unassuming manners and quiet talent, compared to the pushing, thrusting young man who was prepared to listen at keyholes - Harry, dear?'
As so often with Trelawney, the problem isn't with her perception but her interpretation. I wonder how she rationalized the fact that Dumbles hired that "pushing, thrusting young man who was prepared to listen at keyholes"?
And why is he "pushing and thrusting"? Just to appease the slashers?
Harry goes into shock at the news that Snape was the one who told the prophecy to Voldemort. As for me, I was just glad that for once, Peter wasn't responsible.
Harry orders Trelawney to stay where she is and zooms down the hall to the Dumb One's office. Dumb and Dumber, of course, doesn't realize that Harry is upset about Snape and the prophecy (it's not as if he were a Legilimens, after all) and asks Harry if he wants to come along on a Horcrux hunt.
Harry asks which Horcrux it is. Dumbles is rather vague:
'I am not sure which it is
Wouldn't you think that if you were searching for Horcruxes, you'd find out which Horcrux was hidden where?
-- though I think we can rule out the snake -
Given that Nagini rarely leaves Voldie's side, that's probably a good guess. Unless the cave is Voldemort's new summer cottage or something.
but I believe it to be hidden in a cave on the coast many miles from here, a cave I have been trying to locate for a very long time: the cave in which Tom Riddle once terrorised two children from his orphanage on their annual trip; you remember?'
What is that semi-colon doing after "trip"? And Dumb One, I'd want more to rely on than your mere belief.
Harry asks a very sensible question: how is it protected? This answer is even worse than the last one:
'I do not know; I have suspicions that may be entirely wrong.'
Uh-HUH. So you don't know, and you're not going to tell Harry what you suspect? Wow. I just LOVE how you're sharing information with the boy, Dumbles.
Dumbles then notices that Harry is angry--even JKR says that it seems to show on Harry's face--and wants to know why. Harry lies till Double-D says something about Harry not being a good Occlumens. That triggers Harry's rage.
'Snape's what's happened! He told Voldemort about the prophecy, it was him, he listened outside the door, Trelawney told me!'
The Dumb One doesn't even try to deny it. He just asks Harry when he found out. Just now, Harry says.
'AND YOU LET HIM TEACH HERE AND HE TOLD VOLDEMORT TO GO AFTER MY MUM AND DAD!'
Capslock!Harry! I never thought I'd say this, but it's good to see you! You're a vast improvement over the jerkwad you've been for most of this year.
As Harry struggles for control--he wants very much to chew Dumbles out, but he's afraid that if he does, he won't be allowed on the Horcrux hunt--Dumbledore offers a truly lousy explanation:
'Professor Snape made a terrible mistake.
"Mistake"? Not the word I would have chosen.
He was still in Lord Voldemort's employ on the night he heard the first half of Professor Trelawney's prophecy.
Meaning that Snape was working for Voldemort up till June 1980, at least.
Naturally, he hastened to tell his master what he had heard, for it concerned his master most deeply.
So Snape deliberately went to Voldemort and told him the prophecy. The information wasn't forced from him by a spell, by torture, or by Legilimancy. And Snape's never shown any fear of Voldemort. This was a deliberate, conscious act.
Or so we're supposed to believe, anyway. Of course, we've heard similar "statements" about Peter (whose default setting is "terrified minion," not "enthusiastic follower") and Sirius (who was never a traitor at all).
But he did not know - he had no possible way of knowing - which boy Voldemort would hunt from then onwards, or that the parents he would destroy in his murderous quest were people that Professor Snape knew, that they were your mother and father -'
I don't care that Snape didn't know that telling Voldemort the prophecy would lead to the deaths of James and Lily. First of all, he hated James. He still does hate James. So I'm not seeing vast regret at James's death. Second...I highly doubt Snape thought Voldemort would go to the Longbottoms and the Potters, congratulate them on the births of their healthy sons, present the babies with toy snakes of Slytherin green, and remind their parents that kind hearts are more than coronets.
So--assuming that Snape was acting of his own free will, and that the information wasn't ripped from his mind by Voldie's Legilimency--he's still culpable for telling Voldemort something that would get people murdered, whether he knew who the targets would be or not.
Harry doesn't buy DD's excuses. Not for one second. I mention this because, for once in this book, I actually agreed with Harry.
The Dumb One continues:
'You have no idea of the remorse Professor Snape felt when he realised how Lord Voldemort had interpreted the prophecy, Harry.
How did he THINK Voldie would interpret it? "The boy destined to be my downfall is soon to be born. Oh, dash it all. How awkward. Would you care for another cup of tea, Severus? One lump or two?"
I believe it to be the greatest regret of his life and the reason that he returned -'
What you believe, Dumbledore, is not proof.
Harry points out that Snape's an excellent Occlumens, and that Voldie is certain that Snape is 100% Death Eater even now, so how can DD be sure? Dumbles pauses for a moment, then speaks:
At last he said, 'I am sure. I trust Severus Snape completely.'
Belief. Trust. SHOW ME SOME EVIDENCE I COULD TAKE TO COURT!
Harry says that Snape and Draco are up to something right now, "right under your [Dumbledore's] nose."
Dumbledore isn't interested in hearing that. He's told Harry his point of view, and he feels that should be enough. He doesn't grasp why it's not.
You know, JKR chooses her names very carefully. It seems that DUMBledore is very well named.
Harry tells DD what just happened to Trelawney, and that he thinks that Draco has just fixed the object that he asked Mr. Borgin how to mend. He doesn't think that Dumbledore should leave the school.
Dumbledore gets quietly mad. I have the feeling that he's not used to people not taking his word as gospel. He informs Harry rather stiffly that he hasn't left the school unprotected whenever he left this year, and he's not going to do so tonight. He further tells Harry that he does NOT want to talk about it any longer.
Aww. Poor baby. Did Harry puncture your widdle over-infwated ego?
The Dumb One then asks Harry if he wants to go on the Horcrux hunt. Harry says yes. DD then lays down the condition:
'I take you with me on one condition: that you obey any command I might give you at once, and without question.'
The obvious thing to do in this case is to make the promise and mentally resolve to make up your own mind when a crisis arises. Harry, who is not very bright, doesn't think of that. So when Dumb and Dumber asks him if he'll follow every order, even orders Harry doesn't like, if he'll hide when told to hide, if he'll flee if commanded, if he'll abandon DD and save himself if ordered to do so, Harry agrees without any mental reservations.
The Dumb One tells Harry to go get his Invisibility Cloak and meet him in the Entrance Hall five minutes from now. I wondered why he didn't have it with him, particularly as DD had told him to keep it on him at all times, so this is An Obvious Plot Device to allow Harry to chat to his chums before going off. Given that Harry has to run from DD's office to the Gryffindor boys' dorm to the main floor, I think it would take more than five minutes, though. Perhaps the Dumb One forgot that only house-elves can Apparate at Hogwarts.
Harry hurries back to his dorm and grabs the Marauder's Map and a pair of socks containing the vial of Felix Felicis. JKR still hasn't explained in the books how Harry got that map back, by the way.
Harry gives the map to Hermione and tells her to watch Draco and Snape, using anyone from Dumbledore's Army she can find. Considering that Harry didn't think that extra training in Defense Against the Dark Arts was necessary this year since Umbridge was gone--never MIND the attacks that are affecting students and their families--I think he has a lot of chutzpah asking for the DA to help him now. Selfish little prick.
He then gives the Felix Felicis to Ron, telling him to split it between himself, Hermione and Ginny. Hermione thinks that Harry should take it, but Harry says that he'll be with Double-D, so he'll be fine. The heavy-handed irony is just about killing me.
Not much else happens. Harry puts on his Invisibility Cloak, and Dumbles and Harry walk to Hogsmeade, because the swollen-headed Headmaster wants to convince anyone watching that he's just going to the Three Broomsticks or the Hog's Head for a friendly drink. I don't know why the Hog's Head is considered a safe destination, since it's owned by DD's brother who has been a member of the Order since the First War. I also wonder why the "unsavoury" people go there too, seeing as how DD's brother runs it. But then, wizards don't use anything even vaguely approaching logic.
Madam Rosmerta spots DD, commenting that he's out late. Double-D tells her that he wants a quieter pub tonight, so he's going to the Hog's Head--never mind that the Hog's Head is closed and empty, and that anyone checking on his whereabouts could find that out.
Dumbles Apparates to the cave, taking Harry along with him via Side-Along Apparition. I mention the description of Apparating because it sounds so much like badfic sex:
At once, there was that horrible sensation that he was being squeezed through a thick rubber tube; he could not draw breath, every part of him was being compressed almost past endurance and then, just when he thought he must suffocate, the invisible bands seemed to burst open, and he was standing in cool darkness, breathing in lungfuls of fresh, salty air.
***
I will return with Chapter 26 -- The Cave.