Chapter Discussions: Chapter 4, Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place

[eloiseherisson at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 83659

Chapter summary.

At the end of the last chapter, Harry and his guard have just landed in 
Grimmauld place. Harry has been instructed to memorise the writing on a piece of 
parchment:

"The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, 
Grimmauld Place, London."

Moody prevents Harry asking about the Order in public, before magically 
igniting the parchment.

Number 12 is invisible to Harry until he follows Lupin's instructions to 
think about what he just memorised. Lupin magically opens the door and the group 
enter.

Once inside, Moody restores the lights to the street lamps with the 
Put-Outer, before reversing the Disillusionment Charm which Harry has been under.

Molly appears, hastily greets Harry and directs him to his room, telling the 
others that a meeting has just started.

Entering his room, Harry is greeted by Hermione and Ron, who explain their 
silence about what has been happening as having been ordered by Dumbledore, who 
did not want Harry to know anything. Harry expresses all the anger and 
frustration that have been building up in him since the start of the holidays.

The twins and then Ginny appear. We learn that they have been trying to 
listen in to the Order's meetings by the use of the twins latest invention, 
extendable ears. They have been found out and Ginny explains that the kitchen door 
has been made Imperturbable to prevent their spying.

We learn that Snape is part of the Order, as are all the Weasleys except for 
Percy.

Mention of Percy leads to the revelation of a family rift and elaboration on 
the Ministry of Magic's and the Daily Prophet's attitudes towards Harry.

When the meeting ends and Molly appears to tell the trio that they can come 
down to dinner, we learn of the existence of Kreacher, the house elf, a little 
of his character and Hermione's continued interest in House Elf rights. The 
group attempt to spy on the Order in the hallway as most of them leave. These 
include Snape, who, we learn, never eats at the house.

Despite instructions to be quiet in the hallway, Tonks accidentally falls 
over the troll's leg umbrella stand. The noise awakens a family portrait who 
screams uncontrollably at the group. An unidentified wizard runs up, yells at her 
to shut up, is abominated by the portrait as a blood traitor, before (with 
Lupin) wrenching the curtains shut and being revealed as Sirius Black.

'Hello, Harry,' he said grimly, 'I see you've met my mother.'


Discussion.

There are several elements in this chapter.

Factual information: 
What the Order is; an indication of its members; why Ron and Hermione have 
been so uninformative; the attitude of the MoM, Fudge and the Daily Prophet 
towards Harry; more information about the Decree for Reasonable Restriction of 
Underage Sorcery, etc.

Atmosphere building:
Chiefly in the detailed description of no 12.

Characterisation:
Chiefly revealed through interaction between the trio, but also more on the 
Weasleys.

Plot:
Build up to the revelation that Sirius comes from a family of Dark wizards.
Emphasis on the theme of secrecy: Dumbledore wants to keep Harry in 
ignorance, but the reason why is at this stage not revealed.


Questions:

1)  How effective is the atmosphere-building in this chapter? What is the 
reader's initial reaction to Grimmauld place? Are there any features which lift 
it beyond being a stock gothic horror setting? How effective is it when we 
realise that this is Sirius' family home?

2)  How convincing are the characterisations of Harry, Ron and Hermione? Does 
Harry's anger ring true? Is it reasonable? Are Hermione's and Ron's reactions 
those we would expect? Do they respond in a united way or does the character 
of each show through in their reactions?

3)  What do we learn about the Weasleys, individually and in relation to each 
other in this chapter? Was Percy's falling out with his family to be 
predicted from what has gone before? Do we see signs of Ginny's character developing? 

4)  *Is* Harry the object of the guard duty which Ron mentions? Or is it the 
prophecy?

5)  Is any light thrown on the workings of the Fidelius Charm, by which 
Number Twelve seems to be protected?

6)  Hermione says, of the MoM's threat to expel Harry, 'You really shouldn't 
be, not if    they abide by their own laws, there's no case against you.'

What more can we infer about the MoM and Cornelius Fudge? Do we have any 
reason to expect the Ministry to abide by its own laws? Do we assume that the 
suppression of the news of the Dementor attack is done with the collusion of 
Fudge?

7)  The Black family home is adorned with shrunken house-elf heads and a 
troll's leg umbrella stand. What does this say about the relationship of wizards 
(or at least Dark wizards) to other magical beings?

8)  We learn that there is a house elf in residence, yet the house has been 
uncared for. Should Kreacher's family loyalty not ensure that he keeps the 
house in order for whenever the rightful owner returns?

9)  We learn that Harry has been kept in ignorance on Dumbledore's strict 
orders.
We learn later in the book of the reason for this. Is there justification for 
Dumbledore not telling Harry *why* he cannot know things? Is this simply a 
plot device to delay telling *us* about the mind connection between Harry and 
Voldemort (a connection already implied in GoF)?

10)  Why did Dumbledore think Harry was safer in Privet Drive than at 
Grimmauld Place? 

11)  The younger Weasleys are obviously at Grimmauld Place because their 
parents are. But why is Hermione there? She seems to be spending an increasing 
amount of time in the school holidays with her friends in the wizarding world. Is 
she becoming distanced from her Muggle family?

12)  Why does JKR make the point that Snape never eats at the house?

13)  Why do the members of the Order apparently leave en masse via the front 
door, given the secrecy which surrounded Harry's arrival? Do we assume that 
the house is protected by anti-apparition charms and the like? How will they 
have left without attracting attention (we can assume that Dumbledore is back in 
possession of his Put-outer)?


~Eloise





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