The chess game in SS/PS, quidditch, and Snape's potion puzzle...

[koinonia02]

No: HPFGUIDX 109541

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "vmonte" <vmonte at y...> wrote:
 
> The Chess Game:
 
> The chess game represents the second war against Voldemort. 

*very big snip*
 
> "That's chess!" snapped Ron. "You've got to make some sacrifices! 
>I take one step forward and she'll take me—that leaves you to 
>checkmate the king, Harry!"
 
> "But—"
 
> "Do you want to stop Snape or not?"
 
> "Ron—"
 
> "Look, if you don't hurry up, he'll already have the stone!"


"K":
I'm sorry to say I can only reply to one thing. I loved your post. 

First off, I'm a huge Snape fan but I must admit I've been putting 
together a list of reasons why I believe my favorite character is 
nothing more than a pawn.  :-( 

Pawn: A person used by another to gain an end.

Wouldn't you know one of my reasons involves a chess game between 
Harry and Ron in OoP.

Ron and Harry are playing chess when Mrs. Weasley walks in the room 
and tells Harry that Professor Snape is there to see him. Harry at 
first doesn't pay attention to what Molly has said. Harry and Ron 
continue with their chess game. So let's look at that scene once 
again:

"Harry dear, said Mrs. Weasley, poking her head into his and Ron's 
bedroom..."

snip  

"Professor Snape would like a word with you."

Harry did not immediately register what she had said. One of his 
castles was engaged in a violent tussle with a pawn of Ron's, and 
he was egging it on enthusiastically.

snip

"Squash him --- **squash him**, he's only a pawn, you idiot. Sorry, 
Mrs. Weasley, what did you say?"

"Professor Snape, dear."
oop/ch 24/pg 517/us

This is what happens next:

Harry's mouth fell open in horror. He looked around at Ron, 
Hermione, and Ginny, all of whom were gaping back at him. 
Crookshanks, whom Hermione had been restraining with difficulty for 
the past quarter of an hour, leapt gleefully upon the board and set 
the pieces running for cover, squealing at the top of their voices.

"Snape?" said Harry blankly.

"Professor Snape, dear..."

Yes, the most exciting character in the book is nothing more than a 
pawn.  ::sigh::

Here are just a couple more chess games I remember.

~Ron also started teaching Harry wizard chess.

snip

Harry played with chessmen Seamus Finnigan had lent him, and they 
didn't trust him at all. He wasn't a very good player yet and they 
kept shouting different bits of advice at him, which was 
confusing. "Don't send me there, can't you see his knight? Send 
*him*, we can afford to lose *him*." ~
ss/ch 12/pg 199/us

~Harry fretted about this next to the fire in the Gryffindor common 
room, while Ron and Hermione used their time off to play a game of 
wizard chess.

"For heaven's sake, Harry," said Hermione, exasperated, as one of 
Ron's bishops wrestled her knight off his horse and dragged him off 
the board. "Go and *find* Justin if it's so important to you."
cos/ch 11/pg 197-198

Let me also say I do believe the time turner will play a big role 
but I still don't buy into the Ron=Dumbledore bit. 

"A Very Sad K"

~"Oh, I dunno..." said Harry desperately, who could not remember 
dreaming anything at all over the last few days. "Let's say I 
dreamed I was...drowning Snape in my cauldron. Yeah, that'll do..."

Ron chortled as he opened his Dream Oracle.

"Okay, we've got to add your age to the date you had the dream, the 
number of letters in the subject...would that be 'drowning? 
or 'cauldron' or 'Snape'?