A strange silver instrument

Berit Jakobsen belijako at online.no
Wed Dec 3 16:36:52 UTC 2003


No: HPFGUIDX 86403

Adi wrote:

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "spang_b" <spang_b at y...> wrote:
> Hi,
>   In Order of Phoenix, the Eye of the Snake chapter, when Harry 
> reveals his 'dream', Dumbledore uses a strange silver instrument. 
> What was that? And there is something about 'in essence divided'. 
> What was the thing whose essence was divided? And why did 
Dumbledore 
> have to look up that thing before calling headmasters?

Berit replies:

Harry also wanted very much to know what the silver instrument was 
for, but before he could ask Dumbledore, there was conveniently a 
diversion, so he never got to ask, preventing not just Harry, but the 
readers from knowing. I'm positive Rowling didn't want us to know as 
of yet, and that's why I think there's more to it than what meets the 
eye :-)

I believe what we are supposed to think, is that Dumbledore just 
wanted to know if Voldemort was possessing Harry inside the snake's 
body; if he controlled Harry in any way. That the snake that rose out 
of the smoke in the silver instrument represented Nagini, dividing 
into two snakes to signify that Voldie and Harry were "in essence 
divided" inside her, not "one" in the scene were Arthur was injured. 
Meaning Harry was not to blame for the attempted murder of Arthur.

But I think there is canon evidence to support that Dumbledore wanted 
to know something more substantial than that. Here are the arguments:

1. Already mentioned: Rowling conveniently never lets Harry ask what 
the silver instrument is for.

2. Note the instruments colour: Silver

3. Note the colour of the smoke that the instrument issues: Green

4. What rises out of the greens smoke? A serpent's head.

Silver, green, serpent/snake? All details that naturally make us 
think of the Slytherin house. What if the snake uncoiling from the 
instrument is not symbolic of Nagini, but of the Slytherin house; 
possibly the house's founder, Salazar himself (who was a parselmouth; 
remember, the snake's head in the instrument opened its mouth 
wide...)?

5. Dumbledore's strange comment when seeing the snake undulating from 
the green smoke: "Naturally, naturally" (OoP p. 416 UK Edition). And 
he was not at all surprised at what he saw, meaning he expected to 
see a snake... Then he asked "but in essence divided?" (same as 
above).

6. The silver instrument immediately answered DD's question by 
splitting the snake into two snakes. And this gives DD a "look of 
grim satisfaction". This sentence at once makes it ring a bell; 
making us think of another incident were the meaning of the wording 
is quite similar; when Harry tells DD Voldie's now SHARING his blood: 
Harry thought he saw " a gleam of something like triumph" in DD's 
eyes (GoF p. 604 UK Edition).

7. Then, in the same scene, just a few sentences later, Rowling 
repeats the "Slytherin clues": When DD walks over to the portrait of 
Phineas Nigellus. She describes Phineas as "having been painted in 
the Slytherin colours of green and silver. Dumbledore and the other 
portraits have to say/shout his name five times to arouse 
him: "Phineas, PHINEAS [large lettering is in italics in the book]" 
(OoP p. 419 UK EDition). Rowling really wanted us to notice Phineas's 
name, didn't she... According to popular beliefs the name "Phineas" 
means "serpent's mouth". So the words green, silver and snake/serpent 
is repeated in the same passage/scene.

8. As we already know, Harry is a parselmouth (a truly rare gift; as 
far as Tom Riddle knows he and Harry are the ONLY ones attending 
Hogwarts since Salazar himself to have this ability)), and the 
sorting hat nearly put him in the Slytherin house (confirming it in 
CoS, saying it was terribly hard to sort Harry and decide where he 
belonged, and that the hat still thinks he would have done really 
well in Slytherin).

9. CoS also emphasise how much Harry and Voldemort, the Heir of 
Slytherin himself, has in common: Background, physical looks, the 
ability to speak parseltongue... What if Dumbledore didn't just want 
to know whether Voldie possessed Harry that particular night, but 
wanted to know the nature and the extent of the connection between 
Harry and Voldie? According to the prophecy, Voldie accidentally  
marked Harry as his EQUAL when he tried to kill him. And we still 
don't know WHY one of them has to die at the hand of the other; why 
there can't be two of them. -Why there can't be two snakes 
(representing the Slytherin house?)...

I won't speculate what this means, but from these clues I'm sure the 
silver instrument told Dumbledore more than we think it did. And I 
think it has something to do with Harry's connection to the Slytherin 
house and its heir, Voldemort. And in what way exactly Voldemort made 
him his EQUAL, making the prophecy state there can only be one of 
them... They're the same, but in essence divided... We'll know 
eventually :-)

By the way; Dumbledore didn't wait to call for the help of the 
headmasters in the portraits till he had consulted the silver 
intrument: It says he sent Everard and Dilys out to look for Arthur 
before he checked on the instrument. He also sent Fawkes out as a 
scout first. So DD took care of all the urgent things first :-)

Berit





More information about the HPforGrownups archive