CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chapter 35, Beyond the Veil

[meriaugust]

No: HPFGUIDX 121041


Here it is, the tragic Chapter 35. With thanks to Penapart Elf for 
some edits. 
Meri 

Chapter Discussion: Chapter 35, Beyond the Veil 

The Death Eaters converge on Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville 
and Luna. Harry recognizes the voice of Lucius Malfoy, who demands 
the dusty orb that Harry has picked up from the shelf, but Harry 
demands to know where Sirius is. Harry quickly realizes that he's 
been tricked and that the DEs want the orb he's holding (Malfoy 
calls it a `prophecy' but Harry really doesn't know what that 
means). Bellatrix Lestrange tries to Accio the prophecy, but Harry 
stops her from taking it with another spell. Bellatrix suggests they 
torture Ginny to persuade Harry to give up the prophecy but Harry 
steps in front of Ginny with his wand up. 

Harry, trying to buy time, asks what the prophecy is about and the 
DEs laugh at him and taunt him because he doesn't know. Harry in 
turn taunts them, by both saying Voldemort's proper name and 
revealing to the Death Eaters that their leader is a half-blood - 
something Bellatrix reacts badly to, to say the least. She tries to 
curse Harry, Malfoy deflects it and in the process two prophecies 
are broken (one referring to something that will happen at the 
Solstice and one referring to the last of something). 

Harry gets the idea to smash the prophecy shelves to cover the kids' 
escape and tries to pass that on to the others while still buying 
time from the DEs, until Malfoy tells him that the prophecy is why 
he has his scar, which throws Harry off guard. Here Malfoy reveals 
that the only people who can "retrieve a prophecy from the 
Department of Mysteries" are the people they refer to (and also 
reveals that this is why Sturgis and Bode could not steal it for 
Voldemort), while Hermione and the others get ready to smash the 
shelves.  

Unable to wait any longer, Harry signals the others to fire their 
curses and several large bookshelves of prophecies come smashing 
down. The trio and friends run for their collective lives with the 
DEs in hot pursuit. Ron, Ginny and Luna overtake the others and the 
group gets separated after Harry, Hermione and Neville seal 
themselves into what we will later learn is the Time Room. They 
listen through the door as Malfoy organizes the DEs (and tells us 
the names of the ones with him: Nott [already injured and out of 
commission], Bellatrix, Rodolphus, Crabbe, Rabastan, Jugson, 
Dolohov, Macnair, Avery, Rookwood, and Mulciber). 

Harry, Hermione and Neville have barely concealed themselves under 
desks when a pair of DEs burst through the door, and the Battle of 
the Department of Mysteries, the opening skirmish of the Second War, 
begins in earnest. Harry takes out the first Death Eater and then 
Hermione, with Neville's help, manages to incapacitate the second 
(the one who gets his head stuck in the bell jar). 

The kids try to barricade themselves in an office, but another pair 
of DEs take them down with well placed Impedimenta spells. Harry 
stuns one of them with the Full Body Bind, but the other, silenced 
by one of Hermione's spells, casts one at her and knocks her 
unconscious. Harry fears that she may be dead, and as Neville crawls 
over to help the silent DE kicks him, breaking his wand and his 
nose. (This DE is recognized by Harry to be Antonin Dolohov - the 
one responsible for killing the Prewetts, Molly's brothers.) Harry 
knocks him out with a Full Body Bind and then he and Neville bend 
over Hermione. They are relieved to discover that she is still 
alive. Harry tries to get Neville to take Hermione and run for the 
lift, but Neville refuses; he wants to stay with Harry. He also 
tells Harry that Gran is going to kill him: the broken wand was once 
his father's. 

They end up back in the Door Room where they are reunited with Ginny 
(who has broken an ankle), Luna (who is unharmed), and Ron (who is 
bleeding from the mouth and has gone a bit giggly). The others have 
been fighting off DEs in a Planet Room. Ginny tries to walk herself, 
but ends up accepting help from Luna. Harry carries Ron and Neville 
carries Hermione as they try and figure out which door will take 
them to the lifts. But they wait too long - Bellatrix bursts in and 
the kids take refuge in the Brain Room. Harry, Neville and Luna try 
to seal off the doors but are not fast enough. Luna is knocked out 
by a spell from one of the entering DEs and Ron Accios a couple 
brains at him, which proceed to try and choke him. Harry and Ginny 
try to free Ron from the brains, but Ginny is taken out by a spell 
from the DEs, leaving Harry and Neville alone against the remaining 
DEs. 

Harry leads the DEs away from the Brain Room and accidentally ends 
up in the room with the archway and the veil, where he is promptly 
surrounded by DEs. Neville tries to come to Harry's rescue, but he 
is captured and recognized by Bellatrix, who taunts him about his 
parents. She tortures Neville with the Cruciatus Curse, but Neville, 
fighting mightily, begs Harry not to give up the prophecy. Harry is 
just about to give the orb to Malfoy when a real rescue arrives: 
Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mad-Eye Moody, Tonks, Professor Lupin and 
Sirius. 

Harry reaches Neville but is grabbed by a DE, who turns out to be 
Macnair. Neville stabs him in the eye with Hermione's wand and Harry 
Stupefies him. The battle goes up another notch; Mad-Eye and Tonks 
are both down for the count and Dolohov tries to relieve Harry of 
the prophecy. Sirius stops him, but not before Neville is hit with a 
spell that makes his legs dance. Sirius urges Harry to take Neville 
and run, but Malfoy grabs Harry and demands the prophecy. Harry 
throws it to Neville. Malfoy is knocked away by one of Harry's 
spells. As Harry tries to drag Neville away from the fray, the still 
dancing Neville drops the prophecy and it gets smashed on the stone 
floor. A very familiar figure bursts out of it, though neither boy 
can hear what she is saying.  

Dumbledore enters the scene now and relief floods through Harry. 
Dumbledore easily cleans up the still active DEs, but one pair is 
still battling: Sirius and his cousin Bellatrix. He taunts her and 
she hits him square in the chest with a curse. He falls, slowly to 
Harry, through the veil on the dais in the center of the room. Harry 
rushes to his aid but Lupin catches him. As Harry struggles to reach 
his fallen godfather Lupin tells him it is useless: "He's gone." 

Discussion Questions: 

1) Before the release of the book, JKR told us that someone close to 
Harry would die, and in this chapter we are presented with several 
red herrings about who it might be (Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville). 
Might the injuries they sustained during this battle foreshadow 
later events? Did you think, before reading the book, that is, that 
Sirius would be the one to die? What kind of repercussions do you 
think his death will have on future plot lines? Christian allegories 
aside, what exactly is behind the veil? 

2) Where was Mr. Goyle? Almost every other Death Eater from the 
resurrection scene from GOF was present during the battle, so where 
was he? Was he simply too incompetent to take on a mission of this 
importance? Or did Mr. Goyle displease Voldemort in some way? How 
will this affect Gregory Goyle's relationship with Draco Malfoy, 
whose father has just been outed as a Death Eater? Does this mean 
that Theodore Nott will be rising to new prominence in Malfoy's 
circle? 

3) For that matter, where the heck was Peter Pettigrew? Did 
Voldemort worry that Peter's life-debt to Harry would be a hindrance 
to him on this mission? 

4) What was Bellatrix so mad about? Was it because Harry said the 
name? Or because she didn't know about LV's real parantage? Do the 
Death Eaters really not know that Voldemort is a half-blood? How can 
he keep that concealed from them if Malfoy at least knows his true 
identity, Tom Riddle? How will this revelation affect the Death 
Eaters and their reverence and fear for Voldemort? 

5) Azkaban clearly drove Bellatrix over the edge, but she is also 
quite clearly a powerful witch. What kind of spell do you think she 
used to take out Sirius?  It wasn't Avada Kedavra, so maybe it was 
something that the Death Eaters only know? The spells they used 
during the battle were mostly nonlethal and Harry and the others 
seemed a good match for them. Does this bode well for the training 
Harry gave them in the DA? 

6) This has been discussed before, but what significance, if any, do 
those other prophecies have? What kind of valuable information was 
lost when the kids broke the shelves? How foolproof are the 
recording procedures at the Department of Mysteries? Malfoy very 
specifically says that only the people to whom the prophecies 
pertain can remove them from the Department, not the shelves. Is 
this why Neville could handle the prophecy? Does he still have a 
part to play in this? 

7) Neville showed some impressive skills and more bravery in this 
scene than in anything else he has done before. Is Timid!Neville 
gone for good? How do you think his experience of the Cruciatus 
Curse will affect him? If he gets a new wand what will it be made 
of? What part will he play in future events? If Harry is the heir, 
is Neville the spare?

8) Is the Time Room the place where McGonagall got Hermione's Time 
Turner? Is her Time Turner one of the ones that smashed in the 
cabinet? Do Time Turners have the ability to remember where they've 
been turned to? For example, can Hermione's Time Turner remember her 
classes and the night at the Shreiking Shack? What was being studied 
the Planet Room? How will the Battle in the DoM affect the work that 
goes on there? 

9) When Ron got attacked by the brains I thought his number was up. 
Whose brain was it that tried to strangle him? What is the 
Department of Mysteries doing with the brains? Do you think Ron or 
Ginny know about Dolohov being the one who murdered their uncles 
Gideon and Fabian? How do you think they will react if they ever see 
Dolohov face to face? And how about that Ginny? Did you really 
expect her to have such guts? 

10) Many people have used Harry's protectiveness to Hermione in this 
chapter as an indication that he likes her as more than a friend. 
How do you think this chapter presents the various SHIPS? Harry also 
stands in front of Ginny when she is threatened. Does this indicate 
that he has feelings for her? Or is there simply too much vague 
evidence? (I have no agenda with this one, just curious!)

Questions, comments, thoughts? 
Meri

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