CHAPDISC: DH2, In Memoriam

[AnitaKH]

No: HPFGUIDX 176649

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CHAPTER DISCUSSIONS: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 2, 
In Memoriam

The chapter opens with Harry in his bedroom at Privet Drive.  He is 
bleeding from a cut he received while cleaning out his school trunk.  
As he heads for the bathroom to stanch the bleeding, he breaks a 
teacup and saucer, apparently left outside his door.  He suspects 
Dudley is playing a prank, but has more urgent needs.  As he cleans 
his cut, he regrets not knowing more about healing and considers that 
this may be a deficiency in his Hogwarts education.  He makes a 
mental note to ask Hermione how to heal cuts.

As Harry sorts through the layers of accumulation in his trunk 
including his old Sneakoscope, a Support Cedric Diggory button and 
the RAB locket, he finds the shard of glass that cut his finger.  He 
immediately recognizes it as a piece of the mirror Sirius had given 
him.  The sight of the fragment brings back the bitter memories of 
that time, causing a surge of emotion.  He stems the tide of these 
emotions by redoubling his efforts with the trunk.

Harry takes another hour to finish sorting his trunk, leaving behind 
many of his Hogwarts books and his School and Quidditch robes, while 
taking his wand, potion-making kit, Invisibility Cloak, letters, a 
few books, the Marauders Map and some keepsakes, including Hagrid's 
photo album, the enchanted mirror shard and the RAB locket.  

Harry then turns to the stack of newspapers on his desk, tossing many 
of them and looking for a particular issue he read early in the 
summer.  As he finds it and notes the small article that Charity 
Burbage had resigned from Hogwarts, he sits down to read Elphias 
Doge's memorial to Albus Dumbledore.

Harry discovers that Elphias and Albus met on the Hogwarts train and 
both were likely to be outcasts at Hogwarts; Elphias due to a case of 
dragon pox and Albus due to his father's arrest and conviction for 
attacking Muggle children.  Albus confirms that his father was guilty 
when Elphias finally asks him, but Doge asserts that Dumbledore was 
never anti-Muggle, citing his later "determined" efforts to support 
Muggle rights. 

Doge continues that Albus soon achieves acclaim of his own, 
overshadowing his father's crime by demonstrating his considerable 
abilities and powerful intellect.  Doge reports that Dumbledore not 
only won every award available but was already in correspondence with 
some of the most notable wizards and witches of the day, including 
Nicolas Flamel, Bathilda Bagshot and Aldabert Waffling.  The general 
presumption is that he is destined for a meteoric rise in the 
Ministry of Magic, although he declines the offer in later years.

Three years after Dumbledore's arrival, his younger brother, 
Aberforth, joins him at Hogwarts'.  Doge admits that they were never 
close, but he claims they got along as well as two such different 
boys could, offering an explanation for Aberforth's behavior.

He then relates the death of Dumbledore's mother Kendra, depriving 
him of the world tour he and Elphias had planned following their 
graduation from Hogwarts.  Doge takes his tour, which means that he 
had little contact with Dumbledore in the year following his mother's 
death.  While still on his travels he learns of Ariana's death.  He 
mentions Dumbledore's assumption of guilt in her death, but dismisses 
it.  He notes that Dumbledore has become even more reserved and less 
merry than when Doge left.

Doge then refers briefly to Dumbledore's long career of achievement, 
mentioning his discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood and his 
triumphant duel with Grindelwald.  He speaks of Dumbledore's humanity 
and sympathy, willing to find value in anyone, and he describes him 
as neither proud nor vain.  He notes that Dumbledore was working for 
the greater good right up until his death.

Harry realizes he knew almost nothing about the personal Albus 
Dumbledore.  He ponders the lost opportunities to ask Dumbledore 
about his past and feels something like regret that they focused 
solely on Harry's past, future and immediate plans.  He asked 
Dumbledore only one personal question and Harry suspects he did not 
get an honest answer then: he saw himself in the Mirror of Erised 
with a pair of woolen socks. 

Harry then finishes cleaning and turns to the most recent Daily 
Prophet, which contains Betty Braithwaite's interview with Rita 
Skeeter, discussing her upcoming biography, "The Life and Lies of 
Albus Dumbledore".  He turns to the article to read.

The article begins with a description of Rita and her inviting home, 
followed by a gossip-filled conversation.  Braithwaite notes that 
Rita has produced a 900-page biography just four weeks after 
Dumbledore's death and asks how Rita managed it. Rita replies that 
she is used to working against a deadline.  She laughs off the 
Elphias Doge's criticism, referring to him as "completely gaga."    

Rita continues, revealing a tantalizing hint that she has a 
sensational source for much of the dirt she has dug up about 
Dumbledore and his family.  She goes on to "reveal" that Dumbledore 
dabbled in the Dark Arts and that there were massive skeletons in his 
family closet involving both his mother and his sister, Ariana.

When asked to concede that Dumbledore was brilliant, Rita tempers her 
answer by repeating rumors that Dumbledore didn't actually deserve 
credit for his achievements, including a claim by Ivor Dillonsby that 
Dumbledore "borrowed" his papers regarding the uses of dragon's 
blood.  Rita also mentions that the famous "duel" with Grindelwald 
may not be the fabulous triumph of legend, but perhaps "he conjured a 
handkerchief from his wand and went quietly."  

She then discusses Dumbledore's relationship with Harry, calling it 
unhealthy, even sinister.  She reminds readers that Harry had a 
troubled adolescence, according to her earlier reports.  She assured 
Braithwaite that she and Harry have a very close bond, which is 
fortunate for Harry, since he has so few friends.  She finishes by 
repeating the accounts that Harry was seen running from the scene of 
Dumbledore's death and that Harry blames Snape for Dumbledore's 
death, a man it is well known Harry hates.

Harry reacts with fury at the article, striding around the room, 
remembering particularly galling fragments of the article.  When he 
startles a neighbor by shouting, "Lies!" he sits on his bed and picks 
up the mirror shard.  As he looks at it, he suddenly sees a flash of 
blue.  He checks the room and, sure enough, nothing blue could be 
reflecting in the mirror.  Looking again, he sees only the reflection 
of his own green eye.

Harry believes he imagined the blue because he is thinking of 
Dumbledore, whose blue eyes will never pierce him again.

Questions:
   
1. Harry believes the teacup in the hall is a prank.  What was your 
reaction the first time you read this?

2. Harry ruminates on Hogwarts' inattention to teaching healing 
charms.  Is this a flaw in the curriculum?  Do you suspect that it 
might be taught at NEWT level?  Is this a post-Hogwarts curriculum as 
Auror training is?  

3. On a related note, why does Harry think Hermione will know healing 
charms?  Is he right?

4. When Harry discovers the mirror shard, it brings back the old 
memories and feelings, but he suppresses them quickly.  How does this 
demonstrate the progress has Harry made in controlling his feelings?  
Has he made much progress?

5. Apart from the books, JKR is quite specific about what Harry 
packs.  Why do you think she wanted to name each item?  Several 
reappear, but not all.

6. Already as a child, Dumbledore seems to be inclined to withhold 
information, as we find in Doge's tribute. He is referred to as "more 
reserved" when Doge returns from his travels.   Do we attribute this 
to personality or to "family secrets?"  In other words, is he trained 
to be secretive or would he have been anyway?  (All speculation 
welcome!)

7. We see Dumbledore writing as a Hogwarts student to luminaries such 
as Flamel, Bathilda Bagshot and Waffling.  We know Bathilda has a 
role later in Rita Skeeter's expose; any speculation on how much of 
early Dumbledore's correspondence she shared?

8. Doge just happens to be gone when Dumbledore and Grindelwald 
become friends.  How much did/didn't Doge know about their friendship?

9. Doge mentions the Grindelwald/Dumbledore duel, but clearly is 
reporting from second-hand (at best) sources.  Are we looking at a 
duel that grew in legend?  Is Rita Skeeter right?

10. Following his perusal of Doge's tribute, Harry realizes he was 
very bad at asking questions.  Is this a JKR sop to readers' 
frustration with his lack of curiosity, or do you think she had 
always planned for Harry to have this realization?

11. Harry suspects that Dumbledore didn't answer frankly the one 
personal question he asked.  What's the likelihood Dumbledore would 
have answered any of Harry's personal questions frankly?

12. Rita Skeeter clearly lies in her interview, calling her 
relationship with Harry Potter "close."  Did this mislead you on the 
first read, or did you suspect some of what she found was true?

13. The uses of dragon's blood is mentioned more than once in this 
chapter and has been known since book 1, yet it never figures into 
the denouement. Any speculation?  

14. Rita refers to Dumbledore's relationship with Harry 
as "unhealthy."  While she is mining for sensation, how much of this 
do you think has a ring of truth?

15. Doge's tribute is glowing, and Rita Skeeter's report insinuates 
sensational scandal.  Which one is more honest?  Do both withhold 
certain truths?  

16. What was your reaction to the flash of blue in the mirror the 
first time you read the book?

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Next chapdisc, chapter 3, The Dursleys Departing: Sept. 17