Re: [HPforGrownups] CHAPDISC: HBP20, Lord Voldemort’s Request

[Kathryn Jones]

No: HPFGUIDX 158152

AnitaKH wrote:
> CHAPTER DISCUSSIONS: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 20, Lord Voldemorts Request

snip of a great summary

>   akh, who thinks either KJ or Shorty Elf (or both) is a genius for adding the question numbers into 

the synopsis of the Chapter 19 discussion.

   KJ writes:

  3.	I find Luna entertaining most of the time. Like Trelawney, she is 
apt to come up with uncomfortable truths sometimes.  Her words have to 
be carefully watched. What I found more interesting is that she was 
carrying the invitation for Harry to attend DD's office.  We have seen 
this before. In previous books, teachers would be used to send Harry to 
Dumbledore's office. In this book, various students are used. Is 
Dumbledore hiding these meetings from the other teachers as well? Is he 
suspicious of someone at the school? I don't think Malfoy has enough 
time on his hands to care where Harry might be.

  4. 	I think that Trelawney's presence is important to the plot.  She 
has just threatened to leave the school, and she has no idea that she 
would be in danger if she did. If this follows the plot of most movies, 
she may well have left the school, or been kidnapped later in the book. 
It could well be foreshadowing of something she is planning rather than 
an empty threat.

  5.	I think that Dumbledore was being a bit punitive, rather than 
manipulative. He is short of time, and seems to be losing patience with 
the social niceties. All through the other books Harry had his nose 
stuck everywhere it did not belong, and now Dumbledore can't seem to 
count on him being involved where he needs him. He is definitely 
pressuring Harry, and he is definitely more kindly to him after he 
promises to get back to the task.

  6.	In my opinion Dumbledore doesn't really care about Harry's 
opinions. He wants him to look more closely at the memories, look at the 
indications presented by those memories, and figure some things out for 
himself. He needs Harry to truly understand what kind of person 
Voldemort is and what he is capable of doing.

  8.	I think that even Dippet would have had some concerns about hiring 
Voldemorte by the time of Dumbledore's memory but he might not have had 
the courage or ability to refuse.

  9.	JKR has given us Voldemort's appearance and the redness of his eyes 
as a ruler to enable us to judge where in the process he is. At school, 
he shows no signs of horcrux making. Two years and two murders later, he 
does show signs, but he is still handsome. Ten years later, he is 
showing redness in the whites of his eyes, and blurred features. I'm not 
sure how this timeline affects the plot.

  13.	I'm not sure if I believe that Voldemort cast the curse on the 
DADA job in that moment or not.  He did something, and I think that we 
are expected to believe that this was the beginning of it. What I find 
intriguing, is why Dumbledore left the curse on the position. Did he 
leave it that way in case one or more of Voldemort's supporters were 
hired for the job. At least Dumbledore would have some idea of what 
Voldie was after if he left his spy in place. I have no doubt that 
Dumbledore protected Snape from the position, and that Snape was well 
aware of why he was not hired for that position. After fourteen or 
fifteen years as a teacher, he would have caught on. When he knew he was 
dying, he placed Snape into the position, knowing he would have to leave 
at the end of the year anyway, either because of the vow, or because it 
was time he took his place with Voldemort.

KJ, who credits Shorty Elf as the genius