The smoke serpent

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 79231

I don't think this has been raised in a thread previously but I am 
puzzled as to its importance having just reached it on my fifth 
reading. Anyone got a view?

OOTP Chapter 22 pp.415-6 UK Bloomsbury edition.

"Dumbledore now swooped down on one of the fragile silver instruments 
whose function Harry had never known,carried it over to his desk, sat 
down facing them again and tapped it gently with the tip of his wand.
The instrument tinkled into life at once with rhythmic clinking 
noises. Tiny puffs of pale green smoke issued from the miniscule 
silver tube at the top. Dumbledore watched the smoke closely, his 
brow furrowed. After a few seconds, the tiny puffs became a steady 
stream of smoke that thickened and coiled in the air... a serpent's 
head grew out of the end of it, opening its mouth wide. Harry 
wondered whether the instrument was confirming his story: he looked 
eagerly at Dumbledore for a sign that he was right, but Dumbledore 
did not look up.

"Naturally, naturally", murmured Dumbledore, apparently to himself, 
still observing the stream of smoke without the slightest sign of 
surprise. "But in essence divided?"

Harry could make neither head nor tail of this question. The smoke 
serpent, however, split instantly into two snakes, both coiling and 
undulating in the dark air. With a look of grim satisfaction, 
Dumbledore gave the instrument another gentle tap with his wand: the 
clinking noise slowed and died and the smoke serpents grew faint, 
became a formless haze and vanished."

OK, so what's all this about? Something to do with Harry 
being "inside" the snake yet separate from it? Answers on a postcard 
please!

Geoff