MuggleNet | The Underground Lake #28d - Half-Blood, Full Hero

Leave it to JK Rowling to put a new trick on an old pony. A quote from Book Five that I always thought was enigmatic and, to me, never fully answered, was delivered by Sirius:

I hope I wasn't the only one who said "WHAT DIDN'T HE HAVE THE LAST TIME?!" He had an army of the most vile Death Eaters. We can now add Inferi to the list as well. Giants. Warmongers. Republicans... well, maybe not that last one, but you get my point. Not to mention he was pretty much the baddest dude on the block. What didn't he have?

All while reading Book Six, I contemplated this notion. Then it hit me. What was the APPARENT ultimate goal for Voldemort during Harry's fifth year? To get the prophecy. What does the prophecy represent? INFORMATION!

The greatest weapon of all is INFORMATION! This notion is the very essence behind my mantra "the wheels are in motion." There is more time spent doing research and gathering information in the HP series than anything else. Let's take a look back through the books and see how information has been used and misused.

In Book One, most of the school year was spent where? The Quidditch pitch? No. Dueling? No. It was spent in the LIBRARY! Why were they in the library? They were looking stuff up, that's why. They were trying to find out what the Sorcerer's Stone was and who Nicholas Flamel was. This quest for information took from pages 143-220 in the novel, or from September to January. That's a semester, folks. A semester spent hunting down clues and exhaustive amounts of hours in the library. They are probably the only eleven-year-olds I know who would sneak out after curfew to go to a LIBRARY!

In Book Two, information was a deadly and malevolent tool. WHAT was the bad guy in Book Two? A book. A beaten, tattered, old book. Book Two sends Harry into a memory, shown from a skewed point of view, resulting in misinformation on Harry's part leading him to suspect Hagrid. The month - MONTH - it took to find and create the Polyjuice Potion is a classic example. Not only was it an important skill to learn, but it also led them to more information from Draco. I believe we attend more classes in that book than most of the others. And in what class do we spend the longest single amount of time? HISTORY! History then emerges as a crucial topic that will thread throughout all the books as we first discover information about the founders of Hogwarts.

Book Three is 'classic information near overload.' Harry gets his Marauder's Map, which leads him to a secret conversation where he learns all about Sirius. And what is the great climax in Book Three? A CONVERSATION!! There is no duel. No duke-out. Sure, Lupin wolves out and the dementors come... but compared to the other five books, the climax of three was no CLIMAX at all. It was an emotional climax. Harry is, for the most part, standing still, listening to three people talk for fifty-six pages during the "climax" of three. What are they doing? Relaying information.

Book Four - my favorite still - is truly 'information overload.' From the time Voldemort returns to the ride home on the train station is just a really long conversation broken up by sudden, brief bursts of high action. As I said, I love Book Four, so it will be very interesting to see how the fourth movie pans out when they get to that 100 pages of conversation!!!

Book Five is the only book that breaks the mold. JKR spreads the gathering of information throughout the book so that the climax is the most action-packed ending to a Harry Potter book we have ever seen. After we are reeling for three chapters of relentless action, as well as Sirius' death, we are calmed down and taken to Dumbledore's office for debriefing. That chapter is one of the single most important chapters in HP because it is there we learn of the prophecy. That one chapter truly points the way to Books Six and Seven in a way that nothing else before has.

Book Six returns us to form. When we are told that Harry is going to take lessons from Dumbledore, Ron posits that Harry is probably going to learn really advanced magic. Hermione guesses that it'll be something very useful. Ten points to Gryffindor for Hermione. What does Dumbledore teach Harry? ABOUT VOLDEMORT'S PAST! INFORMATION! And do not think for a moment that all of the information we have learned is spent. I fear that more of what we have been told about Voldemort will come into play quite soon. Even in his death, Dumbledore is giving information to Harry (if you believe my theories).

In Book Six, we learn something very interesting about magic being tied to the emotions. A witch or wizard can block their own power through their emotions. This happened to Merope Gaunt under the cruel "care" of Marvolo. She was barely able to handle the simplest spells until Morfin and Marvolo were taken. Then she got all her powers back. But after Tom Riddle, Sr. left her, she lost all her will to do magic.

Now I hate to beat a dead horse, but... PETUNIA!!! I believe we are all aware of my "Muggle, but..." theory which states that Petunia is a closet broomstick and is in possession of some skill of magic that will manifest itself in Book Seven. JKR said that, "there is one person in the books who will manage to accomplish magic very late in life." I do not believe we have met anyone as yet who adequately meets that condition. I still feel that Petunia is more ensconced in the Wizarding World than she would care to admit.

There were several things happening in this novel that had my wheels moving triple-time yet seem even more enigmatic on the second read than the first. First and foremost was the potion that Dumbledore had to drink in the Underground Cave. My first notion was that the potion was some type of liquid Cruciatus Curse, as many of the symptoms Dumbledore was feeling were reminiscent of someone under Cruciatus. But then I looked again at what Dumbledore was saying:

One can see how that progression would lead to the Cruciatus Curse. What jumped out at me, though, was the line, "he spoke in a voice Harry did not recognize," though hastily added is, "...for he had never heard Dumbledore frightened like this." This can be taken two ways: 1) he had never heard Dumbledore SO frightened before, or 2) Dumbledore is speaking in a voice that is not his own. Addressing the first notion, one can argue that this potion personifies and manifests the guilt a human being has. Recall the line, "Dumbledore cowered as though invisible torturers surrounded him." It is conceivable that the potion forces one's guilt to manifest itself into creatures that torture you into madness.

My initial thought was that it was his grief over what happened to the Potters and the other families of people close to him that could not be saved because of a higher purpose. The Potters HAVE to die so that Harry can fulfill his destiny, but they are made to suffer and this causes Dumbledore guilt. I think that guilt is personified as the "torturers" that are blaming Dumbledore for not helping them.

That is one way to look at it. But the way I like goes back to two of our favorite Slytherins: Draco and Regulus. Does what Dumbledore says sound like something Draco might say to Voldemort? Draco is doing this whole plan because he is trying to protect his mummy and daddy. Then the notion struck me: What if what Regulus was "asked to do" but backed out of had an ultimatum attached to it? What if the whole reason Regulus went after the Horcrux had to do with a desperate effort to try to save his parents, the Blacks, from Voldemort? What if, and this is tricky, Dumbledore, upon drinking the potion, is reliving the last moments, or perhaps feeling the emotions, of Regulus?

I like this notion because it helps to explain WHY Regulus would need to destroy the Horcrux. Imagine if Regulus was put in the same situation Draco is in now. The Black parents were not actually Death Eaters, according to Sirius. Remember he said that they supported Voldemort AT FIRST until "they got cold feet after they saw what [Voldemort] was prepared to do..." Is it possible that Regulus joined up to make mummy happy but was then asked to do something he wasn't prepared to do? And then Voldemort told him 'if you refuse to do this, then Mommy and daddy will die.' And it is also true, I THINK, that we don't know how soon after Reggie was killed that the Black mum and dad followed suit. Could it be after Regulus returned home with the locket and hid it that Voldemort knocked on the door, Avada Kedavras blazing? He kills mum and dad first and then kills Regulus? Don't ask how that notion zooms back the cave and into the green glowing pillar - I think that potion is psychically linked to Voldemort's malice, greed, and evil.

When you really look at the HP series from Lupin's point of view, almost everything that happens of importance goes back to Fenrir Greyback. Greyback is the werewolf (and a sick bastard of a werewolf, while we're at it) that "converted" Lupin. But let's take our Time-Turners back to that fateful day when Fenrir bit Lupin. One well placed Avada Kedavra and Fenrir NEVER bites Lupin. Let's see how the future changes. Because Lupin never becomes a werewolf, the Marauders NEVER become Animagi. One can argue that they would have anyway, but the main goal of becoming Animagi was so they could keep Lupin company during his werewolf nights. If the Marauders had never become Animagi, Pettigrew would never have become a rat and thus IF he even would have betrayed the Potters (which may not have been possible, but we'll assume he still would), he never could have turned into a rat after framing Sirius. We don't know that Pettigrew can Apparate (we have never seen him do it), and it would have been a much more convenient way to escape. So Pettigrew could have been caught since Fudge likes to brag about how he got there so fast. Sirius would never have gone to Azkaban and would, no doubt, have looked in on Harry during his formative years.

On the flipside, if Peter COULD Apparate, Sirius also would never have become a dog, meaning that he wouldn't have been able to escape from Azkaban in the manner that he did. And since he doesn't have Barty Crouch, Jr.'s mom to die for him, he would have rotted away. On that note, Peter Pettigrew would never have become Ron's pet, so who is to say what he would have done. He might have still gone in search of Voldemort, perhaps sooner, perhaps never, as there would have been no real need to find him so long as no one was ever aware that he was still alive.

I mention this notion of Greyback because, as far as Lupin is concerned, everything started to go to crap because of Greyback. I believe that in the final confrontation, there's gonna be a full moon, and it'll be WEREWOLF VS. WEREWOLF! I think Lupin will kill Fenrir, because it is justice... and then he will turn on Pettigrew, and Pettigrew will stab him with his silver hand. Poor Lupin. And poor Tonks, for that matter. Come to think of it, the more I think about Book Seven, the more I feel like it'll end like Hamlet (EVERYBODY DIES!).

Posted by: Nicole

If you would like to contact Brandon, you may do so at Greatbman at aol dot com.

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Half-Blood, Full Hero: Part 4
The Wheels Are In Motion III: 20/20 Hindsight

Posted by: Nicole

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Half-Blood, Full Hero: Part 4 The Wheels Are In Motion III: 20/20 Hindsight

Posted by: Nicole

Discuss this editorial.

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Half-Blood, Full Hero: Part 4
The Wheels Are In Motion III: 20/20 Hindsight