CHAPTER DISCUSSION PS/SS 10, THE HALLOWEEN

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 188340


> CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone/Philosopher's Stone
> Chapter Nine, The Halloween.
><snip summary>
> 1.	Which sports rules did you find easier to understand: Quidditch or Baseball?

Carol responds:
Baseball is the only sport, aside from volleyball, that I can understand and the only one that I enjoy watching. Go, Yankees! Quidditch would bore me to tears even though the rules are extremely simple. I'd feel as it the Chasers and other players were just filling in time till a Seeker caught the Snitch, ending and in most cases winning the game. I'm sure someone will remind me that the points determining the House Quidditch champion team are cumulative, so the Chasers' points do matter, but that wouldn't make me any more interested in a sport that's simultaneously dangerous and, IMO, boring.
> 
> 2.	What special circumstances about her getting Harry a broom did McGonagall share with Flitwick in your opinion?

Carol responds:
Since he knows that McG gave Harry a (very expensive) broom, she must have told him the whole "exciting" story of Harry's being rewarded rather than punished for disobeying Madam Hooch (making Flitwick complicit in McG's rule "bending"). (I guess that makes clear how I feel about the whole incident.(
> 
> 3.	We are shown Trevor zooming around the class in Charms, does that mean that kids' pets are allowed in the classrooms if kids so desire?

Carol responds:
I'm sure that the teachers wouldn't allow cats or owls in their classrooms. Maybe toads are an exception because they can be carried in a pocket or a hat. Trevor, in any case, doesn't seem to have a cage. Neville carries him everywhere. If I were Snape, I'd have banned Trevor from Potions considering how easily he could hop into a cauldron and drown or worse. As for sending him zooming around the classroom, I suppose that's better than turning hedgehogs into pincushions or Vanishing mice and kittens. The whole WW seems remarkably unconcerned about the welfare of animals.
> 
> 4.	We are told that Ron and Harry do not want to go fight the troll, but feel that they have no other choice. What does this say about their characters or any characters when thought like this flashes in their minds?

Carol:
I think they're reacting exactly as we would expect them to act--doing the right thing even though they're scared, especially since it's their fault that Hermione is locked in with the Troll. They're the good guys, after all. (BTW, I think this is the first instance of Harry's "saving people thing.")

Rhetorical question: What were the teachers thinking when they left a key in the door of a girls' restroom? Imagine a few rowdy boys thinking that it would be funny to lock some little first-year girls in there! (In the U.S., most doors lock from the *inside*. Apparently it's still possible in Britain to lock a kid in his room, as Vernon does to Harry. Can't do that here, and, anyway, you'd get in trouble with Child Protective Services if you did.)
> 
> 
> 5.	Do you believe that fighting a troll could be a good start for great friendship?

Carol:
Hm. That's outside my experience. :-) But, yes; the boys saved Hermione and she lied to a teacher in return, taking the blame for the whole incident to save them from detention. I'd say they're off to a good start as friends. OTOH, Harry saves Draco's life later with no such consequences. I think the fact that they're all so young has something to do with it, and the worst thing the boys can say of Hermione is that she's a know-it-all--not sufficient reason to dislike her under the circumstances. As for Hermione, she's lonely and not good at making friends, so I think she welcomed the opportunity to form a close friendship. Besides, she probably already liked Ron.
> 
> 6.	When Ron hears Hermione scream after she is locked in with the Troll, he is described turning "pale as the Bloody Baron". What if anything does it mean to you?

Carol:
I've never even thought about it, but I suppose the ghosts are a whitish silver. They're not so much transparent (like clear glass) as translucent (like lightly frosted glass). You can see through them, but you can see them. And after all, "pale as a ghost" already exists as a description/simile in English. Why the narrator chose the Bloody Baron in particular, I don't know. But, then, I've never known how people could tell that the silvery drops spattered on him are blood. 

BTW, NHN describes the Baron as "groaning and clanking on the Astronomy Tower" (HBP) and the Grey Lady mentions the Baron's chains, but how can ghostly chains clank, how can he fly if he wears them, and how did he get put in chains in the first place if he killed himself immediately after killing her?
> 
> Zara's question:
> 7.	We now know Snape agreed to help Dumbledore protect *Harry*. What, in your opinion, explains his extra efforts to protect the Philosopher's Stone, as in  this chapter, when he sees through Quirrell's ruse and checks on the third-floor corridor rather than going into the dungeons with the other teachers?

Carol:
Well, we know that he's suspicious of Quirrell even before DD tells him to keep an eye on him. He must suspect that Quirrell used the Troll as a diversion so that he could try to get through the door. So instead of going after the diversion, he goes after the man he suspects to be out to steal the Stone--and most likely, working for Voldemort. Snape's loyalties lie with Dumbledore against LV, he's sworn to protect Harry (and LV's getting the Stone would be bad for Harry, and he may well want to thwart Quirrell for personal reasons as well. If you want to catch a criminal, it helps to be an ex-criminal (ex-DE) yourself.

At any rate, I think his chief motivation at this point is simply thwarting Voldemort and his henchman. Certainly, it has nothing to do with saving Harry to get even with James. Harry at this point is not in danger as far as Snape knows. Of course, once he's caught Quirrell, he apparently makes Quirrell come with him to help subdue the Troll, at which point he finds out about HRH.

Carol, now wondering at what point Snape tries (for whatever reason) to get past Fluffy since his leg appear to be injured on Halloween night