The 24 hours and Harry's first Hogwarts dream (Was Re: First chapter of Book 7)

[Deb]

No: HPFGUIDX 139836

Allie wrote:
> I think it would be really, really interesting (and satisfying!!) 
if 
> the first chapter of book 7 was an excerpt from the past.  What 
I'd 
> like to see, specifically, is the night of the attack at Godric's 
> Hollow (and possibly the following day, the "missing 24 hours.")  
> 
> JKR could explain right up front what exactly happened that night, 
the 
> role of Severus Snape, if any (insert highly melodramatic "Lily, 
oh 
> Lily, what have I done," for those of you who like that ship, I'm 
still 
> on the fence about it), when did Hagrid show up, where was 
Dumbledore, 
> where was Harry during the missing 24 hours, etc.  I think it 
would be 
> a VERY nice lead-in to the book that has to tie up so many loose 
ends!  
> It doesn't necessarily have to be the first chapter - I guess it 
could 
> be done flashback style in a Pensieve mid-book.
> 
> And I wonder - does anyone think that the "missing 24 hours" might 
be 
> another oversight on JKR's part, like the number of students at 
> Hogwarts and fans at the Quidditch World Cup?  Or would she have 
> plotted those early details meticulously?
> 
> Allie

 Allie, either it was an oversight on JKR's part, or Hagrid did what 
just about any adult in RL would do if they found an infant in the 
midst of a destroyed house.... take him to a doctor for a check up. 
My guess would be that Harry was taken to St Mungo's for a good 
going over to make sure that he did not have any life threatening 
effects from what ever happened at Godric's Hollow. Plus getting 
bathed, fed, changed into clean and dry clothes. We do not know how 
long after LV became VaporMort that Harry was found, but even if he 
were found very quickly he'd still be all smudged and grimy from the 
house being blown up(and maybe had blood streaming down his face 
from the gash on his forehead) ... and being a young toddler and 
probably still in the WW equivalent of diapers.... very much in need 
of a change of clothing as well as TLC.  

 As for what really happened at Godric's Hollow.... I keep coming 
back to the first dream Harry had at Hogwarts... That first night 
after the welcome feast (where he has encountered Snape for the 
first time, he'd had a run in with Draco on the train plus he met 
Ron, Hermione, Neville, Seamus, Dean, Fred, George, Percy and all 
the others) (oh yeah and been sorted into Griffindore... does anyone 
else think the opening lines of the Sorting Hat's song that year 
might refer to more than just the hat -- "Oh, you might not think 
I'm pretty, But don't judge on what you see.....")
  Anyway the dream he has that night is this: (from SS paperback US 
edition): 

"He was wearing Professor Quirrell's turban, which kept talking to 
him, telling him he must transfer to Slytherin at once, because it 
was his destiny. Harry told the turban he didn't want to be in 
Slytherin; it got heavier and heavier; he tried to pull it off but 
it tightened painfully -- and there was Malfoy, laughing at him as 
he struggled with it -- and then Malfoy turned into the hook-nosed 
teacher, Snape, whose laugh became high and cold -- there was a 
burst of green light and Harry woke, sweating and shaking.   
 He rolled over and fell asleep again, and when he woke the next 
day, he didn't remember the dream at all".   

 The first part of the dream seems to be LV attempting to 
communicate with Harry ... or is it someone else trying to 
communicate because LV at that point was residing at the back of 
Quirrell's head bound up in the turban with no power to perform 
magic on his own. The turban getting heavy and tightening might be a 
foreshadowing of Nagini, parseltongue, and/or the Basilisk for the 
dream action suggests the actions of a large snake that crushes it's 
prey. And Malfoy laughing... well that does sound like him doesn't 
it and Harry already knows he does not like Malfoy.    

 For the last part of the dream, it is interesting to me that he 
associates Snape(and most particularly his hooked nose-a 
distinguishing facial feature), a high and cold laugh (sounds more 
like LV to me than Snape), and the burst of green light. Harry, in 
subsequent books, sees that green light when he remembers his 
parents and when he remembers fragments of what happened the night 
they died. He also had had dreams and vague memories of that light 
long before he learned he was a wizard. That particular burst of 
green light also seems to be associated with the AK curse. So why 
would Harry's unconscious mind associate these elements? IMO this 
last part of this dream represents a partial memory of that night at 
Godric's Hollow.. triggered by seeing that hooked nose again, by 
experiencing pain in his scar that might have reminded him on a 
physical level of the night he received it, and these shards of 
memory triggered the memory of the "high and cold laugh". And Harry 
wakens from the dream "sweating and shaking" - afraid. 
 Very young children (before the age of 5 or so)do remember what 
they experience but it is very difficult, even as they get older, 
for them to describe these memories because they did not have the 
vocabulary at the time of the event to conceptualize the experience 
verbally. The memories of that age are all experiential... what they 
saw, what they felt(physically and emotionally), what they heard... 
without any internal commentary or explaination. 
 So was Snape there that night? It seems that might indeed be the 
case.... But what his role was, what his motives were, and what he 
did after that remain to be learned. 

 Deb (djklaugh)