The BEANS Theory

[Goddlefrood]

No: HPFGUIDX 170401

Goddlefrood:

This theory was in incubation about the time of the 
book cover releases on both sides of the Atlantic. 
For that reason distractions occurred which led to 
its being placed on the backburner. Bits of it have 
appeared in posts of mine before, so forgive me if 
this seems somewhat familiar. BEANS = Beginning - 
End And No Snape. Strictly it is slightly 
inappropriate as Mr. Multiplicity makes the 
odd guest appearance.

My starting point was, not atypically, a little snippet 
from JKR's website, this:

"So much of what happens in book six relates to book 
seven that I feel almost as though they are two halves 
of the same novel."

Plain text link available here:

http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/news_view.cfm?id=62

Having read, over some years, various theories about the 
books reflecting each other, many of which exclude GoF as 
it does not fit with the usual proposition, I gave some 
credence to the thought that in a general way certain of 
the books reflect. The above quote made me realise that 
*if* books 6 and 7 are considered as two parts of one 
long novel then the formula would be this:

Book 1 = Books 6 + 7

Book 2 = Book 5

Book 3 = Book 4.

As I say this is in a general way. That it led me to the 
conclusion that there is a strong likelihood that all routes 
lead not to Rome, but to Godric's Hollow, is something I 
hope will become clear in the course of this post.

How, then, could this all work? The reflection in the books 
that is. To start with the existing books first before getting 
onto the more speculative, and some may feel tenuous, ground 
that will be covered when book 1 is to be compared to books 
6 and 7, let's take book 2 and book 5.

In both CoS and OotP the climaxes in terms of the last 
confrontation in each book take place far underground. 
The Chamber of Secrets is likely to be the deepest darkest 
place at Hogwarts and the Department of Mysteries is on 
the lowest level of the underground Ministry of Magic. 
In each book a potentially useful ally of Harry's in the 
conflicts to come is introduced. In CoS it is the House 
Elves, who I divine will play a role in winning the day 
for Harry and Co., and in OotP it is the Order itself, 
whose surviving members obviously will assist Harry where 
able in DH. I include Severus Snape in this latter despite 
the fact that the other surviving members, apart from 
perhaps Aberforth, would give little credence, from their 
point of view, that Snape is still with them. That's not 
to say that Severus is DDM, but he will be an asset in my 
reading of him, for which, as Gilderoy might say, see my 
published works.

There are many other examples, which I could go into but 
for my purpose the above suffice.

Book 3 and book 4 also, IMO, reflect each other in a general 
way. In book 3 Sirius, who we initially are led to believe 
belongs to Voldemort, is found to be on Harry's side whereas 
in book 4 the opposite is the case with Mad-Eye being revealed 
as actually Barty Junior. In both there is considerable 
exposition on events from the past that reflect on the 
present. In PoA this is the prank and in GoF it is Voldemort's 
first downfall. We have learned far from everything about 
these two matters but we learned a good deal about them, so 
again this is a general reflection of the theme. 

Naturally too there is the comparitor of Scabbers being Peter 
and Mad-Eye being Barty Junior.

The main deceit in each of PoA and GoF involves getting an 
enemy to a point where he could be killed, the former being 
Peter Pettigrew and the latter being Harry himself. That 
both escaped is not a coincidence either in terms of the 
reverberations, IMO.

Again I see other reflections in books 3 and 4, but do not 
propose to get too much into that. I appreciate that one of 
my recent posts was rather long and it is by no means my 
intention to try to equal that feat, in fact this post is 
rather short.

On then to books 1, 6 and 7. Despite PS / SS being the 
shortest of the books and despite the seeming difficulty 
of comparing a shade over 200 pages (Bloomsbury) to what 
will be close to 1300 for books 6 + 7, I'm prepared to try 
it and see where it might lead us.

In general what I do discern about a possible reflection 
between PS / SS and HBP + DH is that of a recurring theme 
in the number of obstacles that must be overcome to achieve 
the goal. In PS / SS there are seven tasks to perform, one 
of which admittedly was unnecessary in PS / SS and this is 
one instance of a plausible contention for what is to come 
in DH. That being that it will come about that there is one 
less task for Harry to perform than he currently thinks, 
meaning there will be one Horcrux less to destroy than he 
is now expecting. The final scene, barring wind down, will 
be Harry coming face to face with Lord Voldemort.

The chase around the country avoiding Owls in book 1, using 
a wide interpretation, will equate to the chasing around of 
LV and his Horcruxes (although I'd concede that there are 
fewer than 192 Horcruxes left).

The most interesting aspect, from my viewpoint, will be the 
link between books 1, 6 + 7 in terms of where the action will 
take place. Harry's story in respect of his interaction with 
Lord Voldemort began at Godric's Hollow and so it shall end 
there. Both will not need to be told the location of the house 
itself, whatever parlous state it may be in, as they already 
both know the secret, IMO. Voldemort certainly does and Harry 
really should, being one of those under the protection. It is 
possible, and I believe it will be the case, that if Godric's 
Hollow is the venue for the showdown to come then neither Ron 
nor Hermione will be able to enter whatever is left of the 
Potters' House. Bear in mind, though, that Godric's Hollow 
is a village and to get to it will be the task of a moment, 
to enter the shell or ruins will not be so easy unless Peter 
reveals the secret to whoever wants to get access.

Peter may actually do this as his repayment of his debt to 
Harry when Harry is noted by Peter, who finally realises his 
folly and repents of his conversion to Voldemort's side, to 
be on the verge of defeat.

That's all I have for this post except to say that the 
ultimate end, barring the postscript, will be the WW 
celebrating the downfall of Lord Voldemort as they were 
at the beginning of PS / SS.

Criticisms or further expansive thoughts would be gratefully 
received.

Goddlefrood