Sunday 26 April 2020

Snape gets gnawed by Fluffy, Broomstick trouble and Harry finds a Mirror


First - sorry for the delay in posting this update to my journey through the novels of Harry Potter.  I've had a busy week, and work, life, and the need to get rid of the moss in my lawn before the grass mowing season, got in the way.

I'll try and post more regularly again now - I'm still in Book One - but I'm up to page 230.

Spring has sprung - nothing whatsoever to do with Harry Potter - but nice flowers in the garden :-)

With his first Quidditch match looming, Harry is thrown a curve ball by Hermione - who kindly 'lends' him what turns out to be a library book! - Quidditch Through the Ages - which, while it was an interesting read, costs Gryffindor another 5 points when Snape confiscates it from Harry, on the grounds that 'Library books are not to be taken out of school' - which seemed a bit harsh.  

Later when Harry went to try and get the book back - Professor Snape was overheard complaining about his leg wounds - revealing that the Three Headed Dog in the forbidden corridor caused his limp.  

The Quidditch match didn't quite go as planned - with Harry's new Nimbus Two Thousand developing  a  mind of its own - bucking wildly - and nearly un-seating Harry, refusing to go where Harry wanted, Hagrid comments to Hermione that the only thing that can interfere with a broomstick is 'Dark Magic' - and scanning the crowd, Hermione spots Professor Snape jinxing the broomstick from the other stand.  Racing round behind him, she casts a spell, setting his robe on fire - which distracts Professor Snape from meddling with Harry's broom for long enough for Harry to regain control of the broomstick, and reveal that he had the golden snitch in his mouth from when he 'nearly swallowed it' in the dive!  The opposing team complain - but Harry hadn't broken any rules and it was good enough to win the match by One Hundred and Seventy points to Sixty.  

After the game - while discussing the 'broomstick cursing' episode with Hagrid - (who can't believe that Professor Snape would do such a thing), Hagrid lets slip that the three headed dog's name is Fluffy - and that whatever Fluffy's guarding, has something to do with a Nicolas Flamel - Ooops!  More clues for Harry . . 

Christmas decorations are up at Hogwarts, and in the post Harry gets a gift, a cloak of invisibility, which the unidentified sender says Harry's father left with him for safekeeping - and he has sent it on to Harry as he believes it is time it was returned to him.

After a splendid Christmas lunch, Harry uses his new cloak to gain access to the restricted section of the library but is heard by Filch who reports the noise to Professor Snape - and while nipping into a side room to evade the search - Harry comes across a magnificent ornate tall mirror with an inscription carved around the top - Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi which as every fan of Bletchley Park and Simon Singh's book The Code Book: - The Secret History of Codes and Code Breaking will easily be able to translate, when regrouped  and reversed, as I show not your face but your hearts desire.

Harry looks into the mirror, and sees his Mum and Dad, Ron sees himself, older as the head boy, and Quidditch captain.

Pushing his luck, going back to the mirror for a third night, just about to settle down for another look at his family, he is surprised by Albus Dumbledore - who comments that it's "strange how short-sighted being invisible can make you", and then in a kindly way explains that like many before him, what he has discovered is known as the Mirror of Erised, Albus Dumbledore lets on that he has been watching Harry and Ron on previous nights - saying "I don't need a cloak to become invisible".

Dumbledore asks what Harry thinks the mirror is - Harry replies that he thinks the Mirror shows whatever we want, and is corrected, with the explanation that the mirror simply reveals the deepest most desperate desire in the viewer's heart - Harry - sees the family he has never known, while Ron - always overshadowed by his brothers sees himself as top dog.

It's also pointed out that the mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth.

Saying that the mirror will be moved that night, and that Harry should not search for it - Dumbledore reveals what he sees in the mirror - 'a pair of thick woollen socks' complaining that he didn't get any socks for Christmas, - people insisted on buying him books.  Oddly enough I generally have exactly the opposite problem - I get socks when I would prefer books!

 

2 comments:

  1. Welcome back! I love reading about HP through a dad's point of view. Im 38 and I'm still very much in love with HP, my aunt is 65 and she loves the books and movies too... but my mom (65) says it's boring. I hope you keep reading them. Att. Mila - Puerto Rico

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  2. I like to get socks.....and editions of HP I dont already have. Last year I got a full set of U.S. first editions with three that are first printing! I also got a couple pairs of socks!

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