Hi everybody,

First of all – Thanks a lot Sean for your thoughts on chapter 7 –
Harry's birthday.
We go from one celebration to another – from Harry's birthday to
bill and Fleur's wedding – and just like Harry's birthday wasb't a
very happy celebration, and more of another difficult challenge, so
is this wedding going to be one. Scrimgeour plays his role also in
this chapter – but s opposed to his fighting Harry in chapter 7, he
will die, defending Harry in a way. A tragic character.

I have been thinking about chapter 8. I felt it was quite a
difficult chapter – it marks the point when the trio begins their
independent path – in a way perhaps like weddings do…it was
difficult for various reasons – which I tried to write about - and
I'll be happy to know your thoughts about it.

Chapter 8 – The Wedding

Chapter 8 brings us to Bill and Fleur's wedding. HBP ends with a
promise for at least one golden day – this wedding – and here we
are. IMO it turns out that this golden day is like some nightmarish
version of a golden day. In HBP it seemed like a secure and happy
day in the middle of the task, but now it looks as if this very day
isn't a very happy one – for most of the heroes in the chapter.

It starts with Harry, Ron, Fred and George awaiting the wedding
guests, escorting them to their place. The nightmare (IMO) starts
with Harry not being able to be himself – he is pollijuicely
disguised as a red-haired Muggle boy.

There is still a lot of Gold there – golden chairs, white and gold
flowers, golden balloons. But Harry isn't even comfortable in his
robes (couldn't they have done something about it?).

The Veela cousins arrive – and George and Fred get going – Fred
succeeding to be the one.

Tonks and Lupin arrive – talking to Harry. Lupin seems unhappy. They
apologize for leaving Harry's birthday party - and this makes two
celebrations overshadowed heavily by the ministries politic.


We meet Xenophilius Lovegood. Luna arrives and with her lunatic
intuition identifies Harry. It seems the disguise doesn't effect her
at all – she recognizes his expression – and goes for it –
naturally. Actually it is one of the moments I liked most in this
chapter- where the truth is obvious, naturally, disguises don't
count, don't affect the ways things are perceived. When Xenophilius
tells her not to suppress any talent she might be feeling (because
she has been bitten by a Gnome), I thought that perhaps her greatest
talent is to see the truth, when it might be obscured. It
foreshadows her action in the fight of Hogwarts, when she is able to
conjure a Patronus and raise Harry's hope, when he isn't able to see
any more the optimistic side of the situation. By the way, it seems
Luna has a lot of internal strength – which comes naturally, and is
disguised under a lot of queer believes she adopts from her father.

Then Harry meets Aunt Muriel, which reminded me of a wizard version
of Aunt Marge – rude, preoccupied with breeding. And later in the
chapter she is going to enjoy disillusioning Harry about Dumbledore –
just like Aunt Marge tried to do with Harry's Father – James. At
this point she mentions the goblin-made tiara – two subjects which
will be of value later on.

Krum arrives – and again the disagreeable atmosphere is intensified –
Ron isn't happy about it, later Harry gets unhappy about him
noticing Ginny, Krum is unhappy about Hermione and Ginny
being "taken", and on top of it gets really angry about Xenophilius'
sign – which will later turn out to be he sign of the Hallows, At
this point we are told that it was the sign of Grindelwald – and it
is one of the places where good and bad get confused – Xenophilius
doesn't look to Harry as a DE, still Krum is very confident.

Bill and Fleur are wedded – it happens as it seems – outside the
main focus of Harry's attention.

Hermione tells they should congratulate them, they postpone it to
later – and it seems they never get there. Why? The next time they
meet is much later when they are rescued from Malfoys residence, and
Ron finds shelter, while he runs away from Harry. What is Bill and
Fleur's role? In this chapter – they are in the background of the
events. The wedding the dances are happening, but something else is
troubling Harry – and as we know – something else is happening right
at this time in the ministry – Scrimgeour is murdered, Voldemort
takes over.

While Harry is talking to Krum he suddenly remembers who
Gregorovitch is – he made Krum's wand. It helps Harry to know that
Voldemort is still troubled about the function of his wand, and
seeking something about it. He still doesn't know about the elder
wand, but it underlines the importance of wands, their power to act
as autonomous agents, in a way. I can't suppress some psychological
association to this preoccupation with wands, their power, and how
to get the strongest one. It turns out that Harry's and Voldemort's
duel will turn out to be a very male fight – on one hand. On the
other – since Harry is going completely to surrender – it is also a
very female thing – as if Harry symbolizes total femaleness and
maleness, in a way. Last chapter, as Sean mentioned, he received the
resurrection stone – which is in a way female – it is in the snitch,
and the power for life – seems female. Now we get to the male part –
the wand.

The wedding continues, and Harry spots Elphias Doge, and talks with
him. He introduces himself – and Doge is very excited. I asked
myself – why Harry does it – after all Doge is the only one Harry
tells that he is himself. Why? I thought that perhaps Harry is very
troubled about Dumbledore, so he is ready to drop his disguise. It
is quite clear that Harry isn't celebrating – Hermione does – she
dances with Ron, she is beautiful, she thinks about congratulations,
Harry is actually under disguise- he is at a wedding, but works on
his task – getting and receiving information all the time.

Now he talks to Doge, who tries to convince him not to believe a
word of what Rita Skeeter wrote about Dumbledore. But Harry's doubts
can't be calmed just with belief – he needs facts. It is
interesting, because until now- his belief was enough for him. In
the CS it rescued him from Riddle. Even though he was alone, with
Dumbledore out of school and only Faulkes and the sorting hat – he
did believe. Now he needs more. How come? Especially since he should
know that Rita Skeeter has a way of distorting characters- she did
it to him. So, how come his belief is shattered, or unsure? I mean
he might be curious, wanting to understand, but where does this
insecurity come from now?

Aunt Muriel plays the role of Aunt Marge in POA: she heartily enjoys
raising those doubts, and Harry gets more and more shocked: she
tells Dumbledore killed his squib sister, that Dumbledore's mother ,
Kendra, was muggleborn and locked his sister in the cellar. Doge
tries to contradict her (like Harry tried with Aunt Marge about
James), but it only raises her satisfaction to show pour more
shocking information. Ariane was never treated in St Mungo's, a lot
of suspicions. Harry is actually "just" listening. She enjoys
telling that Kendra would be capable of killing her daughter, and
all in all we get the picture of a very crazy and violent family.
Doge regains a bit of courage, and tells her scornfully that Ariana
must have killed Kendra (which turns out much later to be true….).

Then we hear that her informant is Bathilda Bagshot – Dumbledore's
neighbour, - a reliable source – Harry knows from the history of
magic.

Another question - how come Harry was able to resist Aunt Marge's
denigration of James, ( he didn't loose faith in James) and can't do
it with Aunt Muriel? He seems more mature, but also more vulnerable-
he should know by now that there is sure a lot of dirt and
exaggeration, when someone like Muriel talks.

Perhaps it has to do with the next step:
The last stroke – we hear that Bathilda lived in Godric's Hollow –
which means Dumbledore did too. It looks that at this point Harry's
belief in Dumbledore is totally shattered. The fact that he had
lived in the very place where he was born, where his parents lived
and not told him once, not shared with him anything about his
birthplace – devastates him. Perhaps it is at this place where deep
down he gets a hint that Dumbledore's interest in him had nothing
personal `or even human - and was just some mission he had with him.
It just isn't conceivable, that you know an orphan's birthplace,
talk with him for hours, seem to care about him – and conceal from
him information like this. Harry feels it like a lie – and he is
right. It exposes the fact we come to learn later- that Dumbledore's
interest in Harry was in a way using him, not really caring about
how to save his life, his human way of living. He is "a person" to
be used as a tool, a symbol. Hermione arrives and immediately sees
that something has happened to Harry.

At this very moment, when it seems that Harry's belief in Dumbledore
is deeply shaken, at this moment arrives Shaklebolt's Patronus and
announces that the Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They
(the DE) are coming.

I thought that perhaps symbolically the ministry could fall –
"because" Harry had for a moment lost his confidence and belief in
Dumbledore – that's the moment where the forces of death could take
over. The protective spells – won't hold ant more. Really a most
chilling ending to what was promised as one golden day…

I'll be happy to have your thoughts – and hope you enjoyed mine.


Best,
Orna