CHAPDISC: DH28, THE MISSING MIRROR

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 184247

Alla:

> CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Chapter 28,
The Missing Mirror

Carol:
Fine job, Alla. Very clear and objective. I'd never know it was an
emergency substitution if you hadn't told us. :-)
> 
> 1. How did the DEs know that the Trio would apparate into Hogsmeade 
> and not to any other place? What obvious moment am I missing?

Carol:
Voldemort knows that Harry has found at least one of his Horcruxes
(not counting the diary) and he knows or suspects that Harry will go
to Hogwarts, possibly soon. The easiest way, if not the only way, into
Hogwarts, other than by carriage or boat from the train platform, is
through Hogsmeade. Voldemort has clearly told his DEs to expect Harry
and that he will probably be wearing the Invisibility Cloak. (He's
also told Snape and the Carrows that Harry is coming to Hogwarts and
that he'll try to get into the Ravenclaw Common Room.)
> 
> 2. Was Aberforth really sincere in his urging of Harry to abandon
his quest? That is, did Aberforth really think Harry should just stop?

Carol responds:
My impression, though I can't know for certain, is yes. He apparently
thinks (as Snape and LV also do) that Harry is just Albus's puppet. He
also seems to think that Albus didn't care who he sacrificed for the
Greater Good (Grindelwald casts a long shadow) and that the cause is
lost. All they can do is make the best of a bad situation, in his own
case, tricking and being disrespectful to the DEs but providing them a
place to trade poisons and Dark artifacts (IIRC); in HRH's case,
escaping, like Hagrid and other fugitives, with their lives. He
certainly doesn't seem to believe (unlike Albus) that Harry is the
Chosen One or that he has either the ability or the moral obligation
to save or sacrifice himself for the WW. He's still in his way
fighting a lost cause out of sheer stubbornness, possibly because he's
old and feisty and has nothing to lose, but he doesn't want Harry to
follow his example or worse, face Voldemort himself. 
> 
> 3. "he had made his choice when he dug Dobby's grave; he had decided
to continue along the winding, dangerous path indicated to him by
Albus Dumbledore, to accept that he had not been told everything that
he wanted to know, but simply to trust" What  significance if any do
you see in this quote?

Carol:
I think he has no choice but to do exactly that, and I also think that
his view of the greater good (essentially, sometimes you have to
sacrifice yourself so that others will benefit) is a central theme of
all the books, symbolized by Lily and her blood protection. But this
line also sets us up for DD's "betrayal" of Harry, who loses faith and
trust in Dumbledore and yet continues on that path because he knows he
must. And, in the end, trust wins out. His self-sacrifice makes the
defeat of Voldemort (who is now mortal and could theoretically have
been killed by someone else) possible; it provides temporary
protection for others, weakening Voldemort's spells, and Harry himself
survives. If he hadn't trusted Dumbledore even after learning that he
was no paragon, I doubt that he could have defeated Voldemort. (Now
DD's ability to trust is another matter, but that's part of the irony
here.)
> 
> 4. Can you reconcile Elphias Doge's statement that Albus and
Aberforth were friends and that they reestablished cordial
relationship some time after Ariana's death with the way Aberforth
talks to Harry about his brother? Why or why not?

Carol:
Did Elphias actually say "cordial"? I'm too tired to look it up. If he
did, he's mistaken. They came to terms of some sort, and Aberforth was
certainly part of the Order and also (IMO) one of Albus's many spies
(he provided info on Voldemort and his traveling companions before the
DADA interview, for example). He also attended Albus's funeral, which
indicates a kind of reconciliation or vestigial affection even though
he hadn't forgotten the past or fully forgiven it. Maybe Harry's
victory restored Aberforth's faith in his dead brother. Impossible to say.
> 
> 5. Which happy memory Aberforth uses for his patronus?

Carol:
Probably a happy moment from his childhood involving Ariana and goats,
the only two things he ever cared about. I'm thinking of something
simple and wholesome, like Ariana feeding, petting, or milking a goat. 
> 
> 6. We hear the words "greater good" from both Aberforth and Harry in
this chapter. Are they talking about the same thing? Why or why not?

Carol:
I don't think so. Aberforth is thinking of Albus as sacrificing the
individual for the good of the majority or the state, almost a
faceless totalianarianism. Whatever the greater good is in his view,
it's not what *he* believes in or is willing to fight for. But Harry
has a more idealistic view, and, IMO, a truer one. Some causes are
worth dying for. Sirius Black said the same thing back in OoP and
explained why not even the Weasley Twins, who were of age, could be in
the Order because they didn't understand that principle. But every
just war, every just cause for which people have fought and willingly
died, has exactly that basis. So, of course, does Christianity.
> 
> 7. Why was the tunnel undiscovered by Marauders?

Carol:
Good question. Maybe because it led out of the RoR, which they never
discovered, either. Or, possibly, it didn't exist yet, but I like my
other answer better.
> 
> 8. If Albus' plea in the cave means what Harry tells Aberforth it
meant, does it mean that Albus knew after all who killed Ariana?

Carol:
I think that Albus *fears* that he killed Ariana, but he doesn't know.
Surely, Grindelwald, unscrupulous as he was, would have blamed one of
the Dumbledore brothers if he could. Instead, he ran away, fearing
(perhaps with good reason) that he would be blamed.
> 
> 9. Would you want Aberforth to be Harry's mentor? Why or why not?

Carol:
Definitely not. He's not a planner (though his on-the-spot subterfuge
with the goat Patronus was clever) and he has no concern for the
greater good in any form. What could he, an unwashed, half-educated,
and embittered old innkeeper, have told Harry about defeating
Voldemort or finding Horcruxes? Albus made mistakes, sometimes big
ones, but he was the right man for the job (with help from Snape and
Lupin and others).
> 
> 10. By the end of this chapter, we and Harry have heard three
accounts of the Dumbledores, from Doge, Skeeter, and Aberforth. Which
account did you find most credible, and why?

Carol:
Well, certainly not Doge's, which is idealized, generalized, and
incomplete. Skeeter's is biased and full of innuendoes, not to mention
absurd speculations like Grindelwald holding up a white flag and
giving in without a fight. She's closer to the truth than Doge, but it
lies somewhere in between the two, as, I think, most readers guessed
from the beginning of the book. Aberforth's falls into that in-between
area, and he knew Albus personally, at least when they were both boys,
but I doubt that either ever understood the other. In the end, we have
to figure out the truth for ourselves, bringing in Dead!Dumbledore's
contributions as well. Even with all four accounts, we don't have a
full picture or an unbiased source. (Autobiography has its own
built-in biases and cover-ups.) The one voice we don't hear with
regard to Ariana's death is Grindelwald's. Would he be honest after
death, with nothing more to lose? We'll probably never know.
> 
> 11. Were you surprised by any of Aberforth's revelations? Did they
affect your view of Albus?

Carol:
I think I was more surprised by Aberforth's attitude toward Albus, the
continuing resentment and bitterness, than by the revelations
themselves (though he did clear up the Ariana-as-Squib controversy). I
don't think they changed my view of Albus all that much. "The Prince's
Tale" is another matter. Thank goodness for "King's Cross," which
brought back the familiar Dumbledore, flawed and dead but himself again!

Thanks, Alla! Fine job and great questions!

Carol, who thinks that the best young minds in the WW were all in need
of guidance (Where was Albus Dumbledore's mentor? Or Grindelwald's? Or
Snape's? Or MWPP's? Or even Hermione's?)