CHAPDISC: DH10, Kreacher's Tale

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 180097

CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Chapter Ten: Kreacher's Tale

 
Potioncat:
What a great summary and discussion! And what a wonderful response! 
I'm responding to all the posts in this one, but I'd like to address 
this bit of summary first:

>Harry feels the letter is a treasure, proof that his mother actually
>lived. He rereads the letter several times,
.

I think it was a nice piece of storytelling for Harry to treasure 
what someone had discarded as trash, and for us to discover later 
that Snape was also treasuring the same letter and photo. We see 
Harry searching for the other pieces, just as Snape must have. 

The fact that even Regulus's room was searched, makes me think that 
Mundungus is the one who scattered stuff about.  I think Snape found 
the house in the same situation as Harry did, and like Harry, found 
the treasure that was Lily's letter.

>Harry moves on to the next line of "Wormy was here" and wonders if 
Peter was
aware this was the last time he was seeing James and Lily alive?

Potioncat:
Isn't this a flint? Or at least an odd guess? At the time of the 
letter Harry should be 12 months old. His parents won't die for 
another 6 months.
 
Questions:

1. Sirius' room is described as dusty and there is a spider's web and
mice inhabiting it. The decorations are also from his teen years as
well. Do you think that Sirius actually stayed in his old room in
"The Order of the Phoenix" or that he stayed in another bedroom?

Potioncat: 
I have bowed to the overwhelming viewpoint that this was Teen!
Sirius's bedroom, and that certain of his belongings were brought 
here after he went to Azkaban. Cough*Lily'sletter*cough.  I find it a 
little creepy that adult?Sirius would have slept in this room with no 
changes to it; so no, I don't he used this room. 

The house has been in bad shape for many years, and it's been at 
least a year since anyone has "lived" here. It's unclear how often 
the Order used it after Sirius's death. So it's not surprising that 
there are spiders and mice. But, just how big is this house? At one 
time it held Sirius, Remus, 7 Weasleys, Hermione, Harry and Buckbeak. 
Yet neither Sirius's or Regulus's rooms appear to have been used.


3. Why is Lily's letter addressed to "Padfoot" instead of Sirius? Is
this just a term of affection or was Sirius underground at the time of
the letter? If a term of affection, why doesn't she call James
"Prongs" in the letter? She calls Peter "Wormy", so it seems she
does know about the nicknames.

Potioncat:
Since the Potters were in hiding, it would be wise to refer to 
friends or compatriots by their code names. But it wouldn't make 
sense to refer to her own husband in the same way.  Sending it to 
Padfoot was like Harry sending letters to Snuffles.

4. Kreacher mentions that Sirius' leaving home broke his mother's
heart. Does this new bit of information seem to contradict Sirius'
story about his relationship with his family?

Potioncat:
Kreacher's story contradicts a lot of previous canon but I think in 
one sense, it gives the other point of view.  If you look closely, 
you'll see that very little of Sirius's information has stood the 
test of time. So it isn't surprising that this falters too. Kreacher 
also describes young Sirius and young Regulus very differently than 
Sirius did in previous books.

The part that intrigues me is that Kreacher says of Sirius, "Master 
Sirius ran away, good riddance, for he was a bad boy and broke my 
Mistress's heart with his lawless ways." Which "lawless" ways? 
Attempted murder at 16 on an innocent Slytherin youth?  Frequent 
episodes of being out of bounds at Hogwarts?  Owning a magically 
enhanced Muggle motorcycle? Would the Black family have viewed Sirius 
as many of us do--rash, unthinking, self-centered? (Young Black, that 
is)

Kreacher describes Regulus as "had proper pride" "dignity of pure 
blood."  He said that Regulus talked of LV who "was going to bring 
the wizards out of hiding to rule
" 

As has been suggested before, Regulus sounds like a young man, bred 
to responsibility and leadership. His ideals sound very similar to 
young DD's. I don't think he expected the DEs to delight in torturing 
and killing.

5. Regulus joined the DEs when he was 16, which means that Voldemort
really had no age limit for his recruits. 

Potioncat: 
I think LV used whomever he could with no regard for their best 
interest.


6. After Kreacher returns from the cave and tells his tale to Regulus,
where do you think Regulus went? Regulus' return to Kreacher shows a
Regulus with a disturbed state of mind, strange, according to
Kreacher. Do you think Regulus talked to anyone or just did book
research?

Potioncat:
Research. No one seems to have any information about the cave, the 
locket or about Regulus. I wonder why he didn't go to DD? Do you 
think the Slytherins so distrusted DD?

He must have said something, or done something to give the idea of 
having cold feet. And maybe LV had ordered him to be killed. Regulus 
then went to the Lake knowing he would die. LV "felt" his death  (can 
he do that?) and thought orders had been carried out.


8. How did you feel when Regulus' death was revealed? I found this to
be the most tragic death of all of the deaths in the series. Do you
feel that Regulus redeemed himself?

Potioncat:
Once everyone guessed that RAB was Regulus, everyone seemed to think 
he was a right hero. So, I'd say he was redeemed. We'll never know 
the full reason for his turning. I don't think it was just because of 
LV's treatment of Kreacher.

9. Do you think Regulus should have done more to let others know what
Voldemort was up to?

Potioncat:
I've given up on the WW. They do so like their little secrets.