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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows (Book VII) the Final and the End

2010-12-08T01:18:00.000-08:00

Chapter 1: The Dark Lord Ascending

As our story opens Severus Snape and fellow Death Eater Yaxley are on their way to a meeting at Lucuis Malfoy’s palatial mansion. When they get there they are seated at a long table with their fellow Death Eaters. Voldemort sits at the head, and anxiously awaits Snape’s report on when Harry Potter is to be moved from his safehouse. He is planning to attack Harry on his way to a secret location, where he will be constantly guarded by members of the Order of the Phoenix.

There is a woman dangling upside down over the table, but no one pays any attention to her. She is a professor of Muggle Studies at Hogwarts and is doomed to die by Voldemort’s hand. Draco Malfoy, however, can’t bring himself to look at her. When Voldemort finally does kill the poor woman, Draco falls out of his chair. It’s obvious that he, as well as his father, Lucius, and his mother, Narcissa, are not happy that Voldemort is back in power and staying at their home.

Chapter 2: In Memoriam

As Harry cleans out his school trunk completely for the first time since he started at Hogwarts, the process is like going back in time. He comes across items left abandoned in there from each year, and going through them all is like taking a walk down memory lane. He’s sorting items by the things he’ll need on his journey. Everything else, he’s sure, the Dursleys will burn in the middle of the night after he’s gone.

As he’s sorting through the newspapers, he comes across a memorial article for Albus Dumbledore that was published just recently. The story goes into great detail about Dumbledore’s life, and Harry is very surprised to realize he knew almost nothing about his past. The man was a mystery, and Harry wishes strongly he’d taken more time to get to know who he truly was.

Harry also comes across another article written by Rita Skeeter, who will soon be publishing a scandalous new book about Dumbledore’s life. It addresses questions like why Dumbledore’s sister died so young, and what really happened to his brother Aberforth. To Harry, the book seems filled with nothing but nasty rumors, but it does get him wondering again about Dumbledore’s life and what really happened while he was alive.

Chapter 3: The Dursleys Departing

For the past few weeks, the Dursleys have been preparing to go into hiding. His uncle has been changing his mind every day, alternating between going and refusing to go. Now, he has convinced himself that Harry is just after the house, and will do some 'hocus-pocus' to get the deeds in his name the moment they leave. Harry manages to convince him of the danger that they're in, and that Voldemort's supporters will torture them for information on Harry if they're caught.

When two members of the Order arrive to take the Dursleys into hiding, their goodbye is an awkward one. Harry is surprised when Dudley expresses concern that they are leaving Harry behind. He is further shocked when Dudley thanks him for saving his life the summer before last. It appears that the Dementor attack brought on a change in Dudley, and Harry realises the cup of tea was probably supposed to be a present. Dudley shakes Harry's hand, something that Uncle Vernon could not face, and follows his father outside. Aunt Petunia appears to momentarily stop before she leaves, as if to say something, but instead follows her husband and son.

Chapter 4: The Seven Potters

As Harry is left alone in the Dursleys' house he’s filled with something almost like sadness. He knows he will probably never set foot in here again, and as he waits for his guard he remembers all the times growing up in this house. He revisits his cupboard under the stairs and remembers what it was like waking up there every morning.

Suddenly, figures begin appearing in the Dursleys' yard, and Harry wrenches open the door to greet them. Hermione, Ron, Hagrid, Mad Eye Moody, Lupin, Bill, Mr. Weasley, Tonks, Fred, George, and a few others have all come to escort Harry to his safehouse.

Harry is surprised to learn that their original plan for getting him out had to be abandoned, and they’ve got a new one. There will be seven Harry Potters as decoys for the Death Eaters. Harry is absolutely opposed to his friends putting their lives on the line for him, but they all insist that they want to do this for him. It is the only way to get Harry out safely.

Once the decoys have all turned into Harry, the real Harry goes on the flying moterbike with Hagrid. They are up in the air scant minutes before they are attacked by Death Eaters. Harry and Hagrid barely miss being killed, but Hedwig doesn’t make it.

Suddenly, Voldemort is there in the sky with them and is trying to kill Harry. Harry barely has time to think the spells are coming so fast, and just as Voldemort shouts Avada Kedavra at Harry, Harry’s wand acts on its own accord and shoots a spell at Voldemort.

Chapter 5: Fallen Warrior

Harry can’t think straight. All he knows is that Hagrid is lying on the ground and won’t get up, and he has no idea where they are. He finds out he is at Tonks’s parents' house, and a few minutes later he finds out that Hagrid is all right. Harry tells Ted Tonks that somehow the Death Eaters knew he was being moved tonight, because they were waiting for all of them. Ted tells Harry that their house is completely protected, so at least the Death Eaters will not be able to attack them there. Harry is terrified for the rest of his friends and hopes that they made it through the attack.

They take a Portkey to the Burrow where they are met by Mrs. Weasley, who is anxiously awaiting their return. Harry is horrified to learn that he’s the first one back; no one else has managed to catch their Portkey yet.

Lupin and George make it back next. George has been injured and is rushed into the house. Hermione and Kingsley make it back next, and they all start wondering who in the Order could have betrayed them because that is the only way the Death Eaters would have known about the plan. Mr. Weasley and Fred are the next ones back, and then Ron and Tonks make it back. They all have horrifying tales of how they almost died in the attempt. Bill and Fleur finally make it back, but they bring with them the news that Mad-Eye Moody died.

Harry feels terrible. The guilt weighs on him like an anchor, and he’s terrified that he has now put all the Weasleys in danger by staying there as well. The house is completely protected, but he still worries that he shouldn’t be there.

Chapter 6: The Ghoul in Pajamas

As Harry, Ron, and Hermione start planning for their journey to find Voldemort’s Horcruxes, they have to be very tight-lipped about what they are doing. Mrs. Weasley knows they are planning something, and she does her best to keep them separated so they have no time to discuss what they are about to do. The entire household is planning for Bill and Fleur’s upcoming wedding, so they are kept really busy cleaning and decluttering the Burrow.

Finally they get an afternoon to talk together and Harry tries to talk the two of them out of coming with him. He is shocked, however, when they explain to him how far they have already gone preparing for their journey with Harry. Hermione has modified her parents' memory so they don’t even think they have a daughter (she doesn’t want them caught and tortured by Death Eaters) and she’s sent them to live in

Australia

. Ron has turned the family ghoul into himself, only it looks like a Ron who is extremely sick with spattergroit. That way Voldemort and the Death Eaters would not know if Ron was going with Harry since they would think Ron is sick.

Chapter 7: The Will of Albus Dumbledore

On Harry’s seventeenth birthday he’s touched and amused to be given a book from Ron, of all people, on how to charm witches, and a watch by Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

After breakfast, Ginny pulls him into her room and gives him her present, which is the longest, most passionate kiss Harry has ever had. They are interrupted much too soon by Ron and Hermione, and Ron is mad because Harry was supposed to have stopped seeing Ginny at the end of the school year, for her protection.

During his birthday dinner Harry is shocked when Rufus Scrimgeour shows up and wants to talk with him, Ron, and Hermione. When he talks with them privately he tells them that Dumbledore left them some things in his will and he is here to deliver them.

Dumbledore leaves Harry Godric Gryffindor's legendary sword, which Scrimegour has left back in Hogwarts insisting that it wasn't Dumbledore's to give away in the first place. He also left Harry a Golden Snitch, which, when touched to his lips, reveals the line "I open at the close", of which Harry can’t make heads or tails of. Ron is left a Deluminator (which was shown in the beginning of the first HP movie), which steals light from any nearby source. Lastly, he leaves Hermione a book of children’s stories entitled "The Tales of Beedle the Bard." None of them can figure out why Dumbledore would have left them these things, but they certainly don’t tell the Minister that. Scrimgeour is already highly suspicious of the three of them and is convinced they are up to something.

Chapter 8: The Wedding

Bill and Fleur’s wedding turns out to be a glorious affair. Harry, disguised as a Weasley cousin named Barny, gets to meet all of Ron’s family and he gets to see many people he hasn’t seen in a while.

During the wedding Harry is talking to Krum, who is very angry at Luna Lovegood’s father, Xenophilius Lovegood, because he’s supposedly wearing a very Dark symbol on his dress robes. Krum tells Harry that the sign is that of Grindelwald, a Dark wizard that Dumbledore dueled with and defeated many years ago.

Later, Harry gets the chance to talk with the man who wrote Dumbledore’s obituary in the Daily Prophet. The man, Elphias Doge, was good friends with Dumbledore and Harry is excited to talk with him. Ron’s Auntie Muriel, however, is sitting with them and continues to spread the same rumors that Rita Skeeter is spreading, that Dumbledore was very cruel to his Squib sister and kept her locked in the house all the time. Harry is also shocked to find out that Dumbledore grew up in Godric’s Hollow, the same village as Harry’s parents. He is amazed that Dumbledore never thought to tell him this.

Before he can really register this fact, Kingsley Shacklebolt’s Patronus, a lynx, arrives at the wedding bearing a horrifying message "The Ministry has fallen. Scrimegour is dead. They are coming."

Chapter 9: A Place To Hide

Pandemonium breaks loose. Harry and Hermione sprint through the crowd, looking frantically for Ron. Masked figures are starting to appear out of nowhere, and then suddenly they find Ron. Without a word, Hermione grabs them and Apparates them both out of there.

Hermione has Apparated them into an area of London called Tottenham Court Road. Harry and Ron are shocked to learn that she is completely prepared for their escape. She’s magically packed every thing they would need in her bag. She used an Undetectable Extension Charm on her bag so everything can fit. They are both amazed at her ingenuity.

They dart into a cafe to figure out what they are going to do. They are not in there long before two workmen show up, and somehow Harry just knows they are Death Eaters. He doesn’t know how they found him, but they barely make it out of the diner after their minor duel. They decide to go to Grimmauld Place to hide until they can figure out what to do.

When they get to Grimmauld Place they are accosted by a few spells Mad-Eye Moody set up in case Snape came back. A few minutes later they receive a Patronus from Ron’s father, telling them "Family safe, do not reply, we are being watched". They are all ecstatic that no one is hurt. Harry can only feel happy for a moment, however, as the pain in his scar shoots into his head. Harry rushes to the bathroom and succumbs to the pain from the scar. He catches (the first of many)glimpses from Voldemort's point of view, of Voldemort torturing the Death Eater Rowle, of whom Harry, Ron and Hermione had just stunned in the cafe.

Chapter 10: Kreacher’s Tale

Hermione has fortunately packed them sleeping bags and when Harry wakes up the next morning he sees that Ron and Hermione fell asleep holding hands. The sight of them makes him feel a little bit lonely.

While they’re still sleeping, Harry creeps upstairs to Sirius’s room and goes inside. He’s amazed to find a letter to Sirius from his mother, Lily. It describes the baby Harry and his love for the broomstick Sirius gave him for his first birthday, also how Dumbledore still has James' Cloak, but part of the letter is missing and the text ends just as Lily's going to write something shocking about Dumbledore, and so Harry searches frantically around the room for the rest of the letter, but he couldn't find it anywhere.

On the way back downstairs Harry finds a sign on another door from Sirius’s brother, Regulus Black. His initials are R.A.B, the same ones that were on the fake locket Horcrux that Harry and Dumbledore retrieved last year. The three search the room for over an hour looking for the real locket but don’t find it. Hermione, however, remembers they threw away a locket last summer when they were cleaning out the house. Harry is horrified, because he now realizes that the locket is Voldemort’s true Horcrux.

Harry summons Kreacher to ask him if he stole the locket back and the elf tells him that he did. He tells Harry that Mundungus Fletcher stole it from him, and now Kreacher doesn’t know where it is.

Kreacher then tells Harry an amazing story of how he came to know where the original locket was, and how Regulus gave his own life to try and destroy the Horcrux with Kreacher’s help. Harry then asks Kreacher very nicely if he would go find Mundungus so they could continue Regulus’s work and ensure he didn’t die in vain.

Chapter 11: The Bribe

While they wait for Kreacher’s return, Death Eaters have started taking up watch outside Grimmauld Place. Lupin shows up to give them news of what happened after the wedding, and they’re all really glad to see someone from the Order. Lupin doesn’t bring much good news, however. The Death Eaters now have the full might of the Ministry behind them now that the Minister is dead, and rumors are being spread that Harry is wanted for questioning in Dumbledore’s death.

He also tells them that the Ministry, which is now really headed by Voldemort, is rounding up Muggle-borns and making them register. If they can’t prove they have at least one close wizard relative, they’re being punished for “stealing” magic.

Lupin also asks them if he can go with them on their mission. Harry wants to know why he’d volunteer to go away when he and Tonks just got married, and Lupin tells them that she’s also expecting a baby. When Harry finds this out, he’s outraged that Lupin would ditch his wife and kid to go off with them. They get into a huge argument about it, and Lupin tells them that he regrets marrying Tonks and regrets having a kid because now they’re all going to be outcasts because he’s a werewolf.

Lupin leaves suddenly when Harry calls him a coward, and then Harry feels really guilty for laying into him like that. Still, he reasons, if it makes Lupin go back to Tonks, it will be worth it.

As if the night couldn’t get any more exciting, Kreacher returns with Mundungus. Harry is amused to find that now Kreacher is entirely on their side, and wastes no time trying to beat up Mundungus. Harry finds out from Mundungus that he sold the locket to none other than Dolores Umbridge.

Chapter 12: Magic is Might

As August passes slowly on, more and more Death Eaters are hanging out in the square outside Grimmauld Place. The change in Kreacher is nothing short of amazing. He now cooks every meal, Grimmauld Place is shining clean, and he treats Harry, Ron, and Hermione with utmost respect. Grimmauld Place has become like a cozy home to the three of them.

They have spent all their time trying to figure out how they are going to get the locket back from Umbridge. They have been staking out the Ministry under Harry’s Invisibility Cloak, and they finally have a plan for getting inside. They find out from one of their scouting missions that Snape has been promoted to Headmaster at Hogwarts.

That evening Harry has another vision from Voldemort, who is looking for a man named Gregorovitch, but he doesn’t know why. All he knows is that Voldemort wants him, and badly.

The day they break into the Ministry is a hectic one. They take Polyjuice Potion and disguise themselves as Ministry workers to get in. Their plan goes to pot, however, when they are forced to split up. Ron is asked by a Death Eater(since the Death Eaters already control the Ministry) to clean up an office since it is flooding in there. After that, Hermione and Harry enter the elevator to go to the next floors. In one floor, they see, to their shock, Dolores Umbridge.

Chapter 13: The Muggle-Born Registration Committee

They have a much harder time than they thought they would posing as Ministry workers. They’re asked questions they don’t know the answers to, asked to do things they don’t know how to do, and now that they’ve been forced to split up, have no idea how the others are doing in their quest to find Umbridge’s office.

Finally, Harry finds her office but is dismayed to find that the locket is not there. He manages to find Ron and they both head down to the dungeons, where they know Hermione was forced to go with Umbridge.

Harry is shocked to see that Umbridge is actually wearing the locket as she’s trying poor Muggle-borns in court. Finally, Harry can’t listen to her abuse any longer and he Stupefies Umbridge and her team. He rescues the poor Muggle-borns that almost surely would have been sent to Azkaban or even worse, gets the locket, and helps them all escape.

Chapter 14: The Thief

When Harry comes to he’s surprised to find them in a forest, and Ron is soaked with blood; he's been splinched so a big chunk of his shoulder was missing, and Hermione healed the wound with some dittany. Hermione explains that one of the Death Eaters, Yaxley, grabbed hold of her just as she was Apparating them back to Grimmauld Place. He was taken along and she unwittingly let him into Grimmauld Place, which means they couldn’t go there. In a split second she Apparated them out of the house and into the place where they had camped during the Quidditch World Cup(Harry's fourth year in Hogwarts).

They have to stay in the forest now, since they can’t ever go back to Grimmauld Place, so Harry gets out their tent while Hermione casts protective spells around where they are.

While they’re in the tent they get out the locket and examine it. It feels immensely strange to them to be holding a piece of Voldemort’s soul, and the locket pulses slightly, as if it contains his heartbeat as well. Harry puts the Horcrux around his own neck to keep it safe and Harry can feel the metal heart pulsing on his chest, and irregular beat with his own heart.

That night, Harry is starving and dispirited. He’s not as elated as he thought he’d be after stealing the Horcrux. He has no idea how to destroy this one, or where the other Horcruxes might be. Suddenly, his scar sears with pain and he gets another vision from Voldemort. Voldemort has found the foreign wand-maker, Gregorovitch, and is torturing him for information about a thief that stole something from Gregorovitch many years ago. Harry is very surprised to see this, because he was sure that Voldemort had gone to Ollivander to find out why using a different wand (to avoid the pretection of Harry with the twin cores) didn't work because Lucius' wand was obliterated by Harry's, when Harry's acted of it's own accord. And so Harry thought Voldemort wanted to go to Gregorovitch for advice because maybe he was the better wandmaker, however Voldemort hadn't mentioned anything about the wands to Gregorovitch, and so Harry was puzzled.

Chapter 15: The Goblin’s Revenge

Tempers are flaring high the next day, and Harry can’t manage to produce a Patronus, which has him highly unnerved until Hermione figures out what’s wrong. The locket, which they’ve started taking in turns wearing to keep safe, is making them all feel horrible. When Hermione makes Harry take off the Horcrux he feels so elated, like he can produce a thousand Patronuses, unlike when he was wearing it.

As time passes they get no closer to figuring out the Horcrux riddle. Food is often scarce, and Ron especially does not hold up well from being hungry all the time. He’s often argumentative with Harry and often presents problem after problem without even trying to think of a solution.

They search many of Voldemort’s old haunts looking for more Horcruxes, but they never find any clues. One night, in the middle of a fierce argument stemming from the lack of food between Ron and Hermione, Harry hears a disturbance outside the tent. They go out to investigate and discover some goblins, Ted Tonks, and Dean Thomas, their fellow Gryffindor. All, it seems, are on the run. They hear a good bit of news about what’s going on at Hogwarts and they find out from one of the goblins that the sword of Gryffindor that’s hanging in the Headmaster’s office is a fake, and because it was almost stolen, it's now hidden in the Lestrange's vault at Gringotts. Where the real one is, no one knows, and also the goblin says that the real sword is goblin-made. That night they pull out of the handbag, the portrait of Phineas Nigellus taken from Harry's room in Grimmauld Place. He tells him that goblin-made products absorb only what strengthens them, and also the last time the sword was removed from it's case was when Dumbledore had used it to smash a ring. So the sword absorbed the Basilisk venom and Dumbledore knew that so he used the sword to destroy the Horcrux. The Gryffindor sword is what they need to destroy the Horcruxes.

Later, however, Harry and Ron get into another huge row, because Ron thought that they were getting no-where and he thought that Harry actually knew what he was doing, and so Ron leaves the quest to go back home.

Chapter 16: Godric’s Hollow

The next morning Harry can’t believe that Ron has really left them for good. Hermione is devastated and she cried for weeks after begging Ron not to leave, and so Harry and Hermione pack up and leave their campsite with heavy hearts. Ron does not show up.

As the days pass, Harry becomes hopeless as the weight of what he still has left to do engulfs him. They still don’t know where the sword is, or where the other Horcruxes are. Harry and Hermione make no mention of Ron, and their nights are silent and grim.

One night, weeks later, as Christmas is approaching, they decide to check out Godric’s Hollow and see if they can find any information and clues there. Harry is anxious to visit his home and his parents' graves, and he’s hoping they’ll get to talk with Bathilda Bagshot, the magical historian who was a great friend of Dumbledore’s. Harry and Hermione talked themselves into beleiving Dumbledore wanted them to go to Godric's Hollow, so they went.

When they get to Godric’s Hollow a few days later, they discover it’s Christmas Eve. On his parents' graves are the words: the last enemy to be destroyed is death, and Hermione explains to Harry, means living after death. But realization hits Harry, that his parents weren't living, they're gone, they left Harry, and so he can’t hold back his tears, and Hermione holds his hand and magics some Christmas roses to put on their graves.

Chapter 17: Bathilda’s Secret

When Harry finds his old home, which is still standing, he’s surprised that the ruins are even still there. There is a plaque on the site telling about the death of Lily and James, and how he, Harry, survived the Killing Curse of Lord Voldemort.

They also are found by Bathilda Bagshot and they follow her into her home, which is very dirty and smelly. She is very old, and they figure there is no one to take care of her so that’s why she never cleans.

Bathilda takes Harry upstairs alone. He’s convinced that she has the sword to give him, but before he knows what’s happening Bathilda has turned into Voldemort’s snake, Nagini! The snake coils itself around Harry, to keep him there for Voldemort. Hermione comes just in time to save Harry. Harry knows Voldemort is coming and that the snake was in Bathilda the whole time, waiting for Harry to come, as Voldemort had known he would, to kill him. He narrowly escapes the snake, grabs Hermione, and they Apparate moments before Voldemort gets to them. Harry's scar explodes with pain over Voldemort’s rage, and Harry doesn’t know what’s happening, or where he is, but somehow he’s reliving the night of his parents' murders. He’s seeing that night as Voldemort saw it, through his eyes.

When he comes to, Hermione tells him the worst news of all. His wand got destroyed back at Godric’s Hollow.

Chapter 18: The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore

Harry is devastated by the loss of his wand, and has no idea how he’s supposed to defeat Voldemort now that his special wand is destroyed.

He finds out from Hermione, however, that the thief that Voldemort keeps seeing, the man who stole something from him so many years ago, is none other than a very young Gellert Grindelwald. He also finds out that Dumbledore was very good friends with the wizard, Grindewald. Grindewald, Harry knows, was the most famous Dark Wizard of all time until Voldemort emerged on the scene. Grindewald was all in favor of wizards dominating over Muggles, and Harry is shocked to find out that, at least when he was younger, Dumbledore agreed with him; Dumbledore had said everything they were doing was "for the greater good", and that later became Grindelwald's slogan. They did duel famously later in life, but Harry can’t stop thinking about how little he truly knew Albus Dumbledore. This new information leaves him feeling hollow and spent, and he wonders if Dumbledore ever truly cared about him at all.

Chapter 19: The Silver Doe

They’re in the thick of winter, and snow is falling hard and fast in the forests where Harry and Hermione are hiding. As Harry is on watch one night outside the tent, he sees a silver light in the forest. He looks closer and sees a silver white doe. It is beautiful, and strangely familiar to Harry although he can’t say why. The Patronus begins to pick her way back into the forest, and Harry starts to follow her. She leads him to a small frozen pond and disappears. When Harry looks into the pond, he sees Gryffindor’s sword deep in the water.

The only way to get it, Harry knows, is to go in physically and pull it out, after all, only a true Gryffindor could obtain and use the sword. The water is ice cold, and snow is falling. As his hands close around the hilt, the Horcrux tightens itself on Harry's neck, trying to choke him. Harry is sure he is going to drown, and is saved by Ron of all people. Ron has come back to the quest and he’s the one, Harry knows, who is to take possession of the sword and break open the locket. The locket puts up a fight, however, and when Harry opens it a voice begins speaking to Ron’s deepest fears.

Instead of stabbing it straight away, Ron listens, horrified, to his worst fears, that Hermione really loves Harry and not him, that Ron will always be overshadowed by everyone he knows, that his mother doesn’t really love him. Everything he always secretly thought is voiced aloud through the locket. Finally, Ron stabs the locket, in fury, with the real sword and it’s destroyed.

Hermione is alternately overjoyed and furious to see Ron again. She rages at Ron for abandoning them, and Ron finally tells the story of how he managed to find them again using Dumbledore’s Deluminator.

Chapter 20: Xenophilius Lovegood

Hermione does not forgive Ron overnight for leaving them, but Harry is thrilled to have him back. He’s also excited that they managed to destroy another Horcrux, and he’s feeling much better about their progress.

Ron also fills him in that there’s been a Taboo placed on Voldemort’s name. Whoever says his name instantly gets marked by Death Eaters, which is why they’ve been able to find Harry so easily in the past.

One night Hermione announces that she wants to go see Xeno Lovegood, Luna’s father and editor of The Quibbler. He was wearing Grindewald’s sign at Bill and Fleur’s wedding, and Hermione is becoming convinced that the symbol is important somehow. She wants to ask him about it.

When they get to the Lovegoods' house, they talk Mr. Lovegood into helping them out. He leaves for a moment to go fetch Luna, and comes back, offering them a drink. He tells them that the symbol he wore to the wedding is really the sign of the Deathly Hallows.

Chapter 21: The Tale of the Three Brothers

The Deathly Hallows is a children’s tale, but Harry has never heard it. Hermione takes out the book that Dumbledore left her in his will and reads the entire tale to them. The story is about three brothers who meet Death on their road late one night. They are each awarded a prize from Death since they escaped him earlier by not drowning in a dangerous river. The first brother asks for a wand that will always win duels and allow the owner to escape death. Without question, Death gives it to him. The second brother asks for something that will be able to recall others from death. Death picks up a stone and tells the second brother that it now has the power to bring back the dead. The third brother asks for something that will enable him to hide from death. Death gives the third brother his Invisibility Cloak.

Xeno tells the three of them that the three objects, the wand, the stone, and the cloak, make up the Deathly Hallows. Whomever possesses all three will be a master of death. Xeno also tells them that the Invisibility Cloak is not a common one, but one that will hide the wearer eternally and not fade with time like most other cloaks. The wand, called the Elder Wand, is also very special but no one knows where it could possibly be.

The three wander upstairs when Xeno leaves the room and they manage to find Luna’s room. Something is wrong, however. The room hasn’t been touched in months, and it doesn’t look like Luna is home at all. When they confront Xeno about it, he tells them that the Ministry has taken Luna and Xeno has already sent an owl to warn the Ministry that Harry is at his house. All he wants, he says, is to have his daughter back.

They barely escape the Death Eaters that show up, and Hermione saves them again by Apparating them out of there.

Chapter 22: The Deathly Hallows

They’re extremely worried that Luna has been taken by the Ministry, but don’t know what they can do to help her. Hermione insists that their visit to the Lovegoods' was a waste of time. She doesn’t believe the story of the three brothers at all, but Harry is drawn to the fairy tale. The idea that he could conquer death and not be killed by Voldemort pulls on his imagination and gives him hope. He also figures out, however, that this is what Voldemort is searching for. Voldemort wants the Elder Wand to fight Harry with.

The next week Harry becomes obsessed with the Deathly Hallows. He’s sure that the stone is somehow hidden in the Snitch that Dumbledore left him, but he still can’t figure out how to open it, and he still doesn’t know what the message “I open at the close” that’s written on it means. Ron and Hermione both feel that Harry needs to be concentrating on the Horcruxes and to forget about the Deathly Hallows.

One night Ron manages to tune their radio onto “Potterwatch”, a radio show operated by Fred and George and Lee and a few others about the anti-Voldemort movement. They’re thrilled to hear their voices again, and catch up on the news of what’s happening.

After the show, Harry makes the mistake of using Voldemort’s name, and suddenly they’re surrounded by a bunch of wizards.

Chapter 23: Malfoy Manor

Hermione quickly does a spell on Harry to make his face swell up so it looks like he’s been stung by bees. The Snatchers don’t recognize him at first, but they quickly realize that he is Harry Potter. They decide to take him to Voldemort personally, and they bring them all to Malfoy Mansion.

Once inside, Narcissa Malfoy makes Draco look closely at Harry to verify that it’s really him. Draco doesn’t want to look at Harry, and mumbles that it could be him, but he’s not sure.

Bellatrix Lestrange sends them all downstairs to the cellar prison while she keeps Hermione up with her. After the rest of them are locked up, they can hear Hermione being tortured for information. It is gut wrenching to hear her screams, and they can’t figure out a way to help her. They discover that they are in the dungeon with Luna and Ollivander, the wand-maker, as well as Dean Thomas and a goblin named Griphook.

In desperation Harry grabs his pouch and out falls a tiny shard of mirror, from which he thinks he can see Dumbledore’s eye looking at him. He screams for help and suddenly the eye is gone. Suddenly, Dobby is in the dungeon with them and Harry can’t believe it. Dobby takes all the prisoners to Bill and Fleur’s seaside cottage, and while he’s gone, Harry and Ron are left in the dungeon alone. Suddenly, Wormtail opens the door and they manage to escape. Wormtail is strangled to death by his own silver hand when he fails to kill Harry. They rescue Hermione and Dobby shows up just in time to take them to Bill and Fleur’s cottage.

When they get there they are all heartbroken to see that Dobby was stabbed by Bellatrix's knife just as he was helping them Apparate out. He dies in Harry’s arms.

Chapter 24: The Wandmaker

Harry is devastated by Dobby’s death, and when he buries him he does so by hand, without using magic. When they all come out to lay Dobby to rest, they thank him for saving their lives.

After the funeral, Harry questions Griphook the goblin about the sword, which he managed to escape with. Harry needs Griphook to help him break into Gringotts bank, because he now thinks that another Horcrux is hidden in Bellatrix Lestrange’s vault. Griphook tells them he’ll think about helping them and let them know when he decides.

Harry also questions the wandmaker, Ollivander, asking him if it’s possible to fix his broken wand. Ollivander cannot fix it. Ollivander does tell him, however, that Voldemort really is seeking the Elder Wand so he can evade death.

Soon after questioning Ollivander, Harry begins to truly understand what he’s meant to do. He’s supposed to destroy the Horcruxes and not go after the Elder Wand. He then has a vision of what Voldemort’s doing. Voldemort is at Hogwarts and has figured out that Dumbledore was the possessor of the Elder Wand. He breaks open Dumbledore’s tomb and takes the wand for himself.

Chapter 25: Shell Cottage

Griphook has finally agreed to help them break into Gringotts. The only hitch is that he wants Gryffindor’s sword in return. Harry agrees, but inwardly squirms at the thought of his white lie. He will give the sword to Griphook, but he doesn’t tell him when.

One night Lupin shows up suddenly and announces that he and Tonks have had a boy. They’ve named him Ted, and the group gets to celebrate for one night. Lupin asks Harry if he’ll be a godfather to the baby, and Harry agrees.

Chapter 26: Gringotts

Their plan is simple: Go with Griphook with Hermione disguised as Bellatrix Lestrange and get into her vault that way. They’ve got her wand (Harry stole it during the tussle at Malfoy Mansion) and even got some of her hair for the Polyjuice Potion.

When they Apparate into the Leaky Cauldron they’re surprised to see how bad Diagon Alley looks. There are many more shops dealing in the Dark Arts, and most of the nice ones have closed down. Altogether, it’s not a friendly place to be anymore.

Their plan goes reasonably well; Hermione makes a very convincing Bellatrix and with only a few snags, Griphook manages to get them down to her vault. It’s guarded by a half-blind dragon, but they get past that obstacle fairly easily thanks to Griphook.

Suddenly things start to fall apart. They’re discovered to be imposters and the treasure in the vault starts multiplying every time it’s touched. Harry manages to spot what they came for -- Hufflepuff’s cup, which he is sure is a Horcrux, and he just manages to get it before they’re all crushed to death. Griphook escapes with the sword, and Harry, Hermione, and Ron manage to get back out of the bank on the back of the half-blind dragon.

Chapter 27: The Final Hiding Place

When the dragon finally gets them down low enough they jump into a lake, somewhere far, far away from London. Once they’ve treated their many injuries they discuss the fact that they lost the sword they so desperately needed to destroy the Horcrux.

Suddenly Harry has a vision of Voldemort, who just found out that they took the golden cup from the vault. His rage is apoplectic. He kills just about everyone around him, and he can’t believe Harry knows so much about his past and his Horcruxes. Voldemort now is no longer sure the rest of his Horcruxes are safe and realizes he must go check on all of them, immediately, to make sure.

When Harry comes to he realizes that the last physical Horcrux, other than the snake Nagini, is at Hogwarts. That is where they have to go next, and soon, because Voldemort will be checking to make sure it’s safe.

Chapter 28: The Missing Mirror

As soon as they Apparate into Hogsmeade Village a scream rents the air, alerting the Death Eaters to their presence. They’re taken in by the barkeep of the Hogs Head, who hides them from the Death Eaters and makes up an excuse for the alarm going off. Once he’s thrown them off the trail he closes the door and looks Harry, Ron, and Hermione up and down. Harry suddenly recognizes him as Dumbledore’s brother. He finds out that Aberforth is the one who sent Dobby to rescue them when Harry shouted into the mirror.

Aberforth also tells them the truth about Dumbledore’s past, and agrees to help them get into Hogwarts. He speaks to the portrait of his dead sister, Ariana. She leaves and brings back none other than Neville Longbottom.

Chapter 29: The Lost Diadem

Neville is overjoyed to see them but Harry is horrified at Neville, who looks like he recently got beat almost to death. Neville leads them through the portrait down a long, dark hallway. It’s the last secret passageway into Hogwarts. As they walk Neville fills them in on what’s been happening at Hogwarts. It’s been horrible, and the three can’t believe at how different things are at the school.

When they get there they are surprised to come out in the Room of Requirement. There is a cheering crowd waiting for them, and they’re all happy to see their old friends again.

There’s an argument, however. Harry knows that they don’t have much time, but everyone wants to help him. He insists they stay behind, and he gets even more panicked when more and more people start pouring in from the Hogs Head. Luna, Dean, Fred, George, Ginny, Lee Jordan, Cho Chang all come climbing through. Harry, with some urging from Ron and Hermione, agrees to let them help. He figures out that they’re looking for Ravenclaw’s diadem, a type of crown she wore.

When Luna takes Harry to the Ravenclaw common room to look at a picture of the lost diadem, they’re met by one of the Death Eater professors, who instantly touches the Dark Mark to alert Voldemort that they found Harry.

Chapter 30: The Sacking of Severus Snape

They stun the Carrows and begin to tell Professor McGonagall what they’re up to. They tell her that they must find the lost diadem before Voldemort gets into the castle. McGonagall tells Harry that she and the others will secure the castle against Voldemort as long as they can so that Harry can search for the diadem.

As they’re walking through the hall they run into Snape. He and Professor McGonagall duel fiercely, magic so quick that Harry has never seen the like of it. When the other professors show up to help McGonagall, Snape jumps out one of the windows to join Voldemort, who is now just outside the grounds.

The professors immediately begin putting charms and spells all around the castle to hold off Voldemort.

When Harry gets back to the Room of Requirement he’s shocked to see that even more people have shown up, including Lupin, Kingsley, and Ron’s whole family. Finally, even Percy shows up and apologizes to his family, saying that he was a deluded idiot and that he’s sorry he’s been such a big prat for so long. His family forgives him instantly, and they all leave to join the battle together.

Chapter 31: The Battle of Hogwarts

In the Great Hall teachers and prefects are sneaking the younger students out of the school before the battle begins.

The Order and the professors have agreed upon a battle plan and start splitting up. Many students who are overage have stayed to fight, and they’re all preparing for the battle that will come soon. The air is tense with expectation and still Harry, who is starting to panic, does not even know where to begin looking for the diadem.

As he races through the hallways he has a brainwave. Everyone keeps saying the diadem hasn’t been seen by anyone in living memory. That does not, however, include ghosts. He hunts down Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, and asks him about it. Nick points him towards the Gray Lady, who is Ravenclaw’s ghost, and Harry asks her about the diadem. She tells him that she was Ravenclaw’s own daughter, and that she was the one who stole the diadem from her mother.

He runs into Hagrid after talking with the Gray Lady, and suddenly he knows exactly where the diadem is. He realizes he saw it last year in the Room of Requirement, when he went in to hide his Potions book. It’s a tiara, on a stone bust, in that junky old room. He can’t believe it.

As he’s racing to the Room of Requirement he finally finds Ron and Hermione, who had the brilliant idea to go down into the Chamber of Secrets and get some basilisk fangs, which is one of the only other things that can destroy the Horcrux. He’s amazed at their brilliancy. Hermione has already destroyed the cup.

The battle has begun and they race even harder to get there. When they finally get the Room of Requirement open, they begin searching for the stone bust that Harry knows the diadem sits on. They’re disgusted to find out that Draco Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle are in the room as well.

They begin to duel and Harry just manages to grab the tiara before the piles of junk bury it forever. The room catches on fire from a spell and they manage to get out, saving Malfoy and Goyle in the process. Crabbe is burned to death by the Fiendfyre.

After they get out they realize the tiara got destroyed in the magical fire, which makes them really happy, but suddenly Percy and Fred come into view, dueling with two Death Eaters in the hallway. Suddenly the wall is blasted open from the outside, and Fred is killed in the explosion.

Chapter 32: The Elder Wand

They have to drag Fred’s body out the way, and Harry can’t permit himself to grieve. The castle is under serious attack, and the last Horcrux to be destroyed is Voldemort’s snake, Nagini.

Harry allows himself to go into Voldemort’s mind, and discovers that he’s in the Shrieking Shack. They throw on the Invisibility Cloak and weave their way through the battle. They make it to the Whomping Willow and head into the tunnel that leads to the Shrieking Shack.

While they are in there, they hear Snape talking with Voldemort. Voldemort wants to know why the Elder Wand won’t work for him like it’s supposed to. He can’t do the extraordinary magic that he thought he’d be able to, and he blames Snape for this. Because Snape is the one who killed Dumbledore, Snape is the wand’s true owner. He therefore must kill Snape in order for the wand to work properly, and he does this immediately, with no remorse, setting Nagini on Snape. Voldemort leaves the shack and the three of them rush in to see Snape dying. Snape, however, gives Harry one last thing before he is gone for good: he gives him his memories. After that, Snape tells Harry to look at him. Snape stares at Harry's green eyes before his own eyes fade away.

Chapter 33: The Prince’s Tale

Before Harry can even wonder what Snape just gave him, he hears Voldemort’s voice magically magnified. He calls for his forces to retreat, and tells Harry that he has one hour to surrender. If he doesn’t, Lord Voldemort will enter the battle himself, and kill every single person in Hogwarts.

They make their way back up to the castle to think of what to do. All the casualties have been put in the Great Hall, and Harry is horrified to see how many have lost their lives. Fred, he knew, but he’s shocked to see both Tonks and Lupin there, laid out side by side.

Harry can’t breathe, seeing everyone who died for him, and he races away to Dumbledore’s office. His sadness is too much to handle. He decides to look at Snape’s memory to see what he’d been trying to tell him.

What he sees is so shocking that he doesn’t even know how to comprehend it. Snape, it turns out, had been in love with his mother, Lily, since he was a boy. He worshipped her, and even though he lost her to James, Harry’s father, he never stopped caring about her. While Harry was at Hogwarts Snape did whatever he could to protect him, and it was all done out of love for his mother.

Harry also sees that last year, after Dumbledore took the ring Horcrux that shriveled his arm, he had a limited amount of time to live in spite of Snape’s best efforts to remove the poison. Dumbledore knew that Malfoy had been put to the task of killing him, and asked Snape if he would do it when the time came, since he was dying anyway. Events and memories unfold, and Harry sees that Snape was loyal, that he always was, and that perhaps he even cared for Harry in spite of his best efforts to hide it.

Harry also finds out that a piece of Voldemort’s soul is inside him, and has been since he was an infant and Voldemort tried to kill him. He finds out that he must die in order for Voldemort to be truly defeated, and Voldemort has to be the one to do it.

Chapter 34: The Forest Again

His heart seems to beat harder, with more vigor, now that he knows he must die. Now that he knows, he feels more alive than ever, and wonders if it will hurt. As he sits in the office coming to grips with the fact that he must die, and soon, he knows that he won’t duck out. Too many people have died for him already. No more.

He can’t bear to say goodbye to anyone, so he doesn’t. He sees Neville on his way out, and tells him that if something happens to Harry, he must kill Voldemort’s snake at all costs.

As he walks across the grounds towards the Forbidden Forest he’s flooded with memories of his time there. Everything is suddenly so precious, and he wishes more than anything that he just had more time to live his life. He realizes suddenly that the Snitch might open now that he is about to die, and when he tries it sure enough, it opens. The Resurrection Stone falls out. When he turns it, his parents, Sirius, and Lupin all appear, ghostly white in the night. They stay with him as he walks to the middle of the forest to meet his doom.

When he finally finds Voldemort, it only takes a moment. There is a flash of green light, and then nothing at all.

Chapter 35: King’s Cross

When he opens his eyes he is alone in a bright mist. The more he looks around the more it looks like he’s in some domed room. He thinks that he is in King's Cross. He sees an ugly, small crying child and before he can do anything about it, Dumbledore appears.

Dumbledore tells Harry that he (Harry) is really not dead, and explains to him that because Harry let Voldemort kill him, that piece of Voldemort that was inside Harry is now gone. Harry still doesn’t understand why he’s not dead, however, and Dumbledore tells him that because Voldemort used Harry’s blood to regenerate himself, Lily’s protection is now inside both of them. His body keeps her sacrifice alive, and it’s because of this that Harry is still alive.

Dumbledore also tells Harry about the Hallows, and how all this time Harry has had the magical Cloak from the legend. He explains all about his true past, his duel with Grindelwald, and their quest to obtain all three Hallows for themselves. He is sad and bitter about his past, but is determined not to have any more secrets from Harry.

He also tells Harry that he has a choice to stay or go back, and Harry decides to go back. Before going back, he looks at the child for the last time when Dumbledore tells him to pity the living, not the dead.

Chapter 36: A Flaw In The Plan

When he opens his eyes again he’s back in the forest, facedown on the ground. He hears Voldemort, who is on the ground as well, telling someone to make sure he’s dead. Soft hands touch his face, and a whisper asking if Draco is alive. He whispers that he is, and Narcissa yells back to the crowd that Harry is, indeed, dead. Voldemort makes Hagrid carry him back up to the castle to show everyone that he’s dead.

When they reach the grounds all the fighters of Hogwarts come out. Harry is still pretending to be dead, and his heart hurts to hear their grief for him. As Voldemort tortures Neville for trying to defy him, several things happen at once. Centaurs flood the grounds, shooting arrows at the Death Eaters, Grawp comes bursting out of the forest, and Neville manages to slice off Nagini’s head with Gryffindor’s sword, which he pulls out of the Sorting Hat.

A new battle rages on, and Voldemort runs into Hogwarts. Under his cloak, Harry follows him, intent on ending it for good. The battle is fierce, and Harry winds in and out, determined to get to Voldemort.

He watches in amazement as Mrs. Weasley kills Bellatrix Lestrange in an epic duel. Voldemort turns to kill Mrs. Weasley in return, and Harry unveils himself at last. The entire hall erupts in cheers and then silence as he and Voldemort circle each other, preparing to duel at last.

Harry tells Voldemort many interesting things as they circle each other, and he tries to get him to feel some remorse for what he’s done. Voldemort, of course, doesn’t believe anything Harry tells him, and when the spell is finally cast it’s over in a moment. Voldemort is dead, and Harry is left alive, the true master of the Elder Wand.

After it’s over Harry wants nothing but to be alone. He sneaks out with Ron and Hermione in order to tell them everything that happened. They go up to Dumbledore’s office for one last talk with the Headmaster’s portrait, and Harry decides to put back the Elder Wand because it causes more trouble than it’s worth. Dumbledore, it turns out, agrees with him. Before returning the Elder Wand, however, Harry uses it one last time to repair his broken wand.

Epilogue: 19 Years Later

Harry and Ginny have arrived at King’s Cross to see their kids off to school. Lily, their daughter, is not quite old enough, but James and Albus are leaving. It’s Albus’s first year, and he’s very nervous that he won’t be in Gryffindor like his father. They run into Ron and Hermione, who are also there dropping their kids off. Everything ends happily ever after.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince ( Book VI)

2010-12-08T01:16:00.000-08:00

Chapter 1: The Other Minister

The Prime Minister of Muggles is having a very rough week. In addition to being blamed for deaths and freak hurricanes that aren't his fault, he's just been informed by Cornelius Fudge, the former Minister of Magic, that the havoc his country is going through is the result of Lord Voldemort, who has returned to power. When he's introduced to Fudge's successor, Rufus Scrimgeour, the new Minister does not make him feel better about the grim situation.

Chapter 2: Spinner's End

When Severus Snape opens his door to find sisters Narcissa Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange on his stoop, he's unsurprised and immediately invites them inside. Narcissa is frantic for Snape's help in spite of Bellatrix's distrust of Snape's true loyalties. Snape, in his usual wry manner, invites Bellatrix to clear the air by asking him whatever she wants. Snape frankly answers her questions about his role as a Death Eater and proclaims his loyalty to the Dark Lord. When Narcissa is finally free to entreat Snape for help, he finds that she's worried about her son, Draco, and the task Voldemort has required him to accomplish. Snape makes an Unbreakable Vow with Narcissa, promising that he will help Draco on his mission and protect him.

Chapter 3: Will And Won't

Harry Potter has been waiting for Dumbledore for what feels like ages. Having received a letter that the Headmaster would be arriving at the Dursley's to pick him up, he hadn't even started packing in case the plan fell through or it turned out to be a trap. When Dumbledore shows up, however, Harry is more than surprised and rushes downstairs to greet him. Dumbledore's arrival is less-than-welcome to the Dursley's, however, and when Dumbledore walks into the living room to talk to Harry the air is thick with Uncle Vernon's ill will.

Harry finds out that Sirius left him everything in his will, including Kreacher, the house-elf that betrayed Sirius right before he died. Harry loathes Kreacher, and sends him to Hogwarts so he can work in the kitchens. As Harry and Dumbledore are leaving, Dumbledore reprimands the Dursley's for never showing Harry any kindness, and asks that Harry be allowed to come back one more time before he comes of age next year. When they get outside, they set out together into the warm summer's night.

Chapter 4: Horace Slughorn

They don't walk far when Dumbledore stops suddenly and takes Harry along for his first Apparition. Harry decides quickly that he doesn't like it, and will always prefer to travel by broom. As they walk down an unfamiliar street on a mysterious errand, Harry questions Dumbledore about what's been going on in the wizarding world while he's been stuck at the Dursley's. Harry finds out that the reason his scar hasn't burned once is because Voldemort is now practicing Occlumency against him. He also soon finds out what they're doing in the strange village; Dumbledore is going to try to talk an old colleague, Horace Slughorn, out of retirement to come to Hogwarts to teach.

When they get to Slughorn's house, things look very grim. All signs point to a vicious attack, and as they walk around the living room Harry is horrified by all the blood. Dumbledore knows better, however, and quickly unmasks Slughorn, who staged the whole scene and was in fact in the room hiding in the living room as an armchair.

As they sit for tea, Slughorn is revealed to be a nice, fussy old man who likes to be associated with famous and powerful people. Harry gets the feeling that Dumbledore wants to keep him front and center for Slughorn to see. When Dumbledore leaves to use the restroom Harry is able to, inadvertently, convince Slughorn to come back to work at Hogwarts. When Harry and Dumbledore leave Horace's house for the Burrow, Harry realizes that he is not sure he likes Slughorn or not.

When Dumbledore and Harry Apparate to the Burrow Dumbledore informs Harry that they'll be taking private lessons together, and he also praises Harry on how well he seems to be dealing with Sirius's death. He lets Harry know that he should tell Ron and Hermione about the prophecy regarding him and Voldemort, because he needs his friends.

Chapter 5: An Excess of Phlegm

When Molly Weasley, Ron's mother, makes Harry some late dinner she tells him excitedly that her husband, Arthur, has recently been promoted in the Ministry. As soon as Mr. Weasley gets home from a very long day at work Harry goes to bed, exhausted from the night's events.

Ron and Hermione wake Harry up early the next morning. Before they have the chance for a good conversation though, a blindingly beautiful woman appears in Harry's doorway carrying a full breakfast tray. The woman is Fleur Delacour, the part-veela contestant from the TriWizard Tournament. Harry is shocked to find out that she and Ron's brother, Bill, are engaged to be married.

When everyone else leaves the room Harry plucks up the courage to tell Ron and Hermione about the prophecy, and is more comforted than he can say when they keep their horror in check and offer words of support.

He's also happy with his O.W.L. results that come by owl later that day. His burning desire to become an Auror, however, looks like it will remain just that. Harry does not secure a high-enough Potions grade to continue with the required course, and in his heart of hearts he's very disappointed.

Chapter 6: Draco's Detour

Harry spends the next few weeks happily sequestered at the Burrow. It would have been a perfect break except for the daily reports of deaths and disappearances that keep coming in. When booklists finally arrive, they all head out to Diagon Alley to pick up school supplies. Harry's is thrilled when he discovers that his "bodyguard" is Hagrid, and the group split up in order to get their shopping done quickly. Mrs. Weasley is frantic over everyone's safety, and urges Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Hagrid to come back as soon as they're done at Madam Malkins.

While they get inside Madam Malkin's they are unpleasantly surprised to find Draco Malfoy in there getting fitted for robes with his mother. They narrowly avoid brawling with Malfoy, and Harry catches him acting strangely when Madam Malkin tries to touch his arm. Malfoy and his mother storm out of the shop soon after. As soon as Harry, Ron, and Hermione are done shopping they meet the rest of the Weasleys and head over to Fred and George's new joke shop, which is lit up like a Christmas tree and packed to the gills with people. As they check out all the new products, Harry sees Draco walk past the shop alone, and decides to follow him under his Invisibility Cloak.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione follow him to Knockturn Alley, where he goes into Borgin and Burkes, a Dark shop. With a pair of Ron's Extendable Ears, they listen as Malfoy threatens Borgin to fix something of his. When Malfoy leaves, Hermione goes into the shop to see if she can find out any more information, but Borgin quickly realizes what she's up to and throws her out.

Chapter 7: The Slug Club

Draco's meeting with Borgin is on Harry's mind constantly the last week leading up to school. He becomes convinced that Malfoy has replaced his father as Death Eater, although he's unable to convince Ron and Hermione.

Right before they all leave on the Hogwart's Express, Harry tells Mr. Weasley of Malfoy's foray in Knockturn Alley, and while Mr. Weasley doesn't seem convinced either, he promises to check out Malfoy's house. Harry gets a compartment on the train with Neville and Luna, and tries to ignore the fact that, once again, everyone on the train is staring at him. Right around lunchtime he and Neville both receive invitations from Professor Slughorn asking them to come to his compartment for a bite to eat. When they show up they're surprised to find the compartment full of well-connected and rich students that Slughorn has also invited. Harry is questioned about his night at the Ministry but gives nothing away.

On his way back he rashly decides to slip into Malfoy's compartment under his Invisibility Cloak to hear what Malfoy's up to. He hears a number of interesting things, but things go downhill when the train stops at Hogwarts and Malfoy discovers Harry's hiding in there. He jinxes Harry and leaves him on the train, frozen, with a bloody nose, and headed back towards London.

Chapter 8: Snape Victorious

Harry's in a right fix -- he can't move, and the train is starting back towards London. Luckily Tonks realizes he doesn't get off at Hogwarts and discovers him just in time. They're able to jump off the train and walk up to Hogwarts together. Snape meets them both at the gate and wastes no time humiliating Harry for being bloody and late to the Feast, plus taking 70 points from Gryffindor although the term hasn't even started.

As Dumbledore gives his traditional speech at the end of the Feast, Harry and the rest of the school are shocked to find that Snape has finally achieved his burning ambition to become Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and that Slughorn will be taking his place as Potions Professor.

Chapter 9: The Half-Blood Prince

As his first day back at school starts, Harry gets a lift when he realizes his ambition to become an Auror isn't out of his reach after all. Slughorn will accept him into Potions with his O.W.L. grade. First, though, he must get through his class with Snape in Defense Against the Dark Arts. He isn't surprised when he gets into an argument with Snape and lands himself in detention.

Right after that he gets a note from Dumbledore with the date and time of their first private lesson. Harry, Ron, and Hermione spend their break discussing what Dumbledore could possibly teach Harry that could help in his fight with Voldemort.

His first Potions class with Slughorn is interesting. He and Ron both have to borrow books and supplies from Slughorn because they didn't know they'd be able to take the class. Slughorn sets the class a challenge on their first day. Whoever produces the finest example of Draught of Living Death wins a tiny bottle of Felix Felicis potion, which makes you have a lucky day. Harry badly wants to win the potion, and is dismayed at first to find his book has been scribbled in. When he bends down to read the instructions, however, he finds that the previous owner wrote their own instructions. Taking a chance, he follows the handwritten ones and is amazed to find they work much better than the book's. To the astonishment of everyone in the class, Harry wins the Felix Felicis. As he's walking out he sees on the back cover that the book once belonged to someone called the Half-Blood Prince.

Chapter 10: The House of Gaunt

For the next week Harry continues to follow the Half-Blood Prince's instructions over the book's instructions and becomes the star of the Potions class, much to Hermione's disgust.

When Saturday night comes he eagerly heads off to his private lesson with Dumbledore. He's surprised to find out that Dumbledore does not plan to teach him to fight. They're going to be learning about Voldemort's past. With some trepidation, Harry slides into the Pensieve with Dumbledore to look at a very important memory.

The memory follows a man named Bob Ogden, who is a Ministry official on a errand to see the Gaunt family. When he gets to their hut he is threatened by the son, Morfin, and then follows the father, Mr. Gaunt, into the hut, which is dark and filthy. He informs the Gaunts that Morfin will have to go to trial for hexing Muggles. He catches a glimpse of the daughter, Merope, and then is threatened so heartily from Mr. Gaunt that he runs for his life.

Harry discovers from Dumbledore that Merope is Voldemort's mother, and she enchanted a Muggle, Tom Riddle, to marry her. With his head swimming with tons of new information about Voldemort's past, he says goodnight and heads back to the Common Room to fill in Ron and Hermione with everything he's learned.

Chapter 11: Hermione's Helping Hand

As the weeks slip by everyone's workload is almost too much to bear. Lessons are harder than ever, and Harry feels that all he ever does is homework. As a result, he's been unable to go visit Hagrid and explain why he didn't sign up for Care of Magical Creatures again. Hagrid has not spoken to him once since the first day back, and Harry knows he's furious.

The day of Quidditch team try-outs is a long one for Harry. As the new Team Captain he's stressed out by all the people that show up to get on the team, and gets furious when he discovers most of them are from other Houses and can't play for Gryffindor anyway. He leaves the Keeper try-out till the end, hoping Ron will have an empty field to try out in front of, but to his dismay there's even more people there as the afternoon wears on. A big burly hopeful, Cormac McLaggen, gets furious when Harry chooses Ron over him, but Ron outflew him. Harry gets suspicious over Hermione's behavior and starts to wonder if she jinxed Cormac so Ron could get on the team.

After try-outs they go and try to talk to Hagrid. He's furious with them at first, but quickly bursts into tears and tells them that the giant spider, Aragog, is dying. He softens up after they tell him that they couldn't fit his class into their busy schedules.

On their way to dinner later Harry finds out that Hermione did indeed confund McLaggen, and he's amazed she'd do something so questionable, in spite of McLaggen's bad personality. Slughorn invites Harry and Hermione to a little dinner party he's throwing next Saturday, and is dismayed when Harry tells him he has detention with Snape and can't make it.

Chapter 12: Silver and Opals

Harry has a terrible time out in Hogsmead when their first visit finally comes around. He catches Mundungus Fletcher hawking some of Sirius's possessions that he stole from Grimmauld Place, but before Harry can explode on him he Disapparates. Slughorn invites Harry to another party, but he can't make it this time because he's got another lesson with Dumbledore. The weather is cold and snowy, and the three friends all agree it wasn't a fun day out on the town.

As they trudge back up to the school, they are surprised to see Katie Bell and one of her friends arguing over a package that Katie is holding. Katie's friend tries to grab the package out of her hands and it rips and falls to the ground. Suddenly Katie floats eerily up into the air, and then starts to scream in the most horrible way. Harry, Ron, and Hermione rush forward and tug her back to the ground, but Katie won't stop screaming. Harry runs for help and finds Hagrid, who quickly carries Katie back up to the school. Harry wraps the package in his scarf and they rush back to check on Katie.

Professor McGonagall meets them on the front steps and gives the package, containing an ornate opal necklace, to Professor Snape in the hopes that it will help him cure Katie. She questions Harry, Ron, Hermione and Leanne, Katie's friend, in her office, wanting to know exactly what happened. Harry is convinced that Malfoy is behind the whole ugly scene, and is furious with his friends when they don't support his theory.

Chapter 13: The Secret Riddle

Katie is taken to St. Mungo's Hospital for treatment, and the whole school is abuzz with gossip about her brush with death. No one is able to find out who gave her the dangerous package, but Harry still remains convinced of Malfoy's guilt.

When it comes time for his lesson with Dumbledore, Harry questions him on where he goes when he leaves the school, which is often as of late. While Dumbledore doesn't tell him straight away, he does say that he'll tell Harry everything in time, which surprises Harry very much.

Their lesson this time is centered on a memory of Dumbledore's from years ago. He goes to a Muggle orphanage and visits a boy, Tom Riddle, who has magical powers and has been invited to attend Hogwarts. Harry knows that the boy is Voldemort, but it's still unnerving to see him as a child. When Dumbledore interviews Tom and tells him he can do magic the boy is proud and self-absorbed. He's full of mischief, and Dumbledore finds out he steals and is cruel to other children in the orphanage.

When Harry and Dumbledore are back in Dumbledore's office they discuss the boy Riddle and his tendency to collect "trophies" from his crimes.

Chapter 14: Felix Felicis

When Harry tells Ron and Hermione everything he learned from Dumbledore, they're awed by the thought of Voldemort as a child. Hermione and Ron get into a row about Slughorn's parties. Hermione keeps getting invited, but Ron is jealous that she always gets to go. He's taken aback when Hermione tells him that she was planning on asking him to the next one as her guest, and Harry is confused about how he feels about this. He always knew that Hermione and Ron getting together might happen one day, but he's afraid if it doesn't work out he'll lose his two best friends. He decides to just wait and see what happens between them.

After Quidditch practice that night (during which Ron played horribly) Ron and Harry are walking back to the common room when they stumble on Ginny and her boyfriend Dean making out in the corridor. Ron is furious, and Harry is astonished to realize he is too. He doesn't want anyone touching Ginny, and quickly realizes he really likes her, that he has for a long time but he never knew it.

The first Quidditch match is upon them before they know it, and Ron has never played worse. To bolster his spirits, Harry pretends to pour the lucky potion Felix Felicis into Ron's drink right before the game, and lets Hermione catch him doing it. When Ron suspects he drank the potion his confidence soars, plus a key Chaser and Malfoy are found to be missing from the team. They almost lose, but Harry distracts the reserve Seeker and catches the Snitch. Gryffindor wins spectacularly, 210-0. When Hermione confronts them both, she and Ron get into another huge fight and she storms off in tears. Ron retaliates against Hermione later that night by kissing Lavender Brown for hours at a time. Hermione is devastated, and a feud begins.

Meanwhile, Harry wonders why Malfoy, as a prefect and the most important player on the Slytherin team, would take off a game.

Chapter 15: The Unbreakable Vow

Christmas is approaching fast. Ron and Hermione's feud is still going strong, and Ron's involvement with Lavender Brown is not helping matters. Hermione is still trying to get to the bottom of who the Half-Blood Prince is, and she's livid that Harry is still using the Prince's tips to excel in Potions. When Slughorn announces that he's giving a Christmas party, Harry is dismayed at the number of girls who are dying to go with him. He ends up asking Luna Lovegood to go, as friends, and gossip spreads fast about the two of them.

The party isn't so bad, but when Malfoy gets dragged in by Filch for gate-crashing Harry is overjoyed. Snape drags Malfoy outside to reprimand him, and Harry follows under his Invisibility Cloak so he can eavesdrop.

He hears Snape questioning Malfoy about what Malfoy is up to. Malfoy won't tell him, however, and Snape tells him he only wants to help, that he made the Unbreakable Vow to Malfoy's mother that he would protect him. Malfoy scoffs at him, saying he doesn't need Snape's help and he's not going to tell anyone what his plan is. When they stalk out of the empty classroom Harry's head is reeling from the conversation.

Chapter 16: A Very Frosty Christmas

Harry and Ron are at the Burrow for Christmas. As they're helping make dinner, Ron and Harry discuss Snape's conversation, and Ron tells Harry that if anyone breaks an Unbreakable Vow they die. This leads Harry to believe that whatever Snape promised to Draco's mother was serious business. Harry is convinced that Snape is still working on the side of the Death Eaters.

On Christmas Eve night he tells Mr. Weasley and Lupin about what he overheard, but they trust Snape and believe that it was on Dumbledore's orders that he questioned Malfoy.

During Christmas Dinner the next day things get interesting when Rufus Scrimgeour and Percy Weasley show up. Scrimgeour asks Harry to walk him around the garden while Percy "catches up" with his family. Harry sees at once that this is the real reason why they have stopped by. When he's outside with Scrimgeour, the Minister makes it clear that he wants Harry to start working for the Ministry, to give people a "boost" that The Chosen One is helping out the fight against Voldemort. Harry is stunned that they would have the audacity to ask him to do this, and refuses point-blank to help the Ministry.

Chapter 17: A Sluggish Memory

When Harry and Ron get back to Hogwarts after the Christmas break, Harry is dismayed to discover that Hermione is still refusing to speak to Ron. He doesn't waste any time, however, filling her in on Snape's conversation the night of the party. Notices go up the next morning letting everyone know that Apparition lessons will be starting soon. Everyone is excited except Harry, who isn't that thrilled to learn to Apparate.

The night of his next lesson with Dumbledore comes quickly and Harry fills Dumbledore in on Snape's conversation. Dumbledore insists that Snape is trustworthy, but Harry still does not believe Snape is on their side.

Dumbledore shows Harry two more memories that he thinks are most important. The first shows Voldemort returning to the hut where his mother lived so many years ago. He goes in there and finds Morfin, his uncle. Voldemort goes into the village that night and kills his Muggle father, Tom Riddle, and his family. Voldemort modifies Morfin's memory so that Morfin believes he committed the crimes. When he confesses to the whole thing he's sent to Azkaban, and no one ever suspects that Voldemort was even there.

The second memory Dumbledore feels is even more important. It shows a much younger Horace Slughorn, surrounded by a circle of students, one of them being Tom Riddle. Riddle waits until all the other students leave, and then asks Slughorn what Horcruxes are. The memory gets foggy suddenly, and Slughorn shouts that he doesn't know anything about Horcruxes. Harry is confused until Dumbledore tells Harry that Slughorn has modified his own memory, and he sets Harry the most important task of retrieving the true memory from Slughorn.

Chapter 18: Birthday Surprises

When Harry tells Ron and Hermione (separately, of course, since they're still not speaking) about his task with Slughorn they're both baffled as to what Horcruxes are. When Harry hangs back after Potions and questions Slughorn, he gets very upset and yells that he has no idea what Horcruxes are. Harry is further annoyed when even the library can't tell them what this mysterious thing is.

Their first Apparation lesson takes place in the Great Hall, and Harry can't manage to Apparate once. He does overhear Malfoy yelling at his friend, Crabbe, and Harry realizes that Malfoy is using his friends as lookouts for something.

When Ron's birthday arrives Harry is checking the Marauder's Map for Malfoy and doesn't see Ron accidentally eat a bunch of candy spiked with love potion from some of Harry's admirers. Harry drags a lovesick Ron to Slughorn's office for an antidote, and when Ron comes back down to Earth he's devastated about his erratic behavior. Slughorn gives them all a drink in celebration of Ron's birthday. Ron is the first to drink the mead and he collapses immediately, foaming horrifically at the mouth and twitching violently. Harry knows he's been poisoned and rushes to Slughorn's bag where he knows a tiny bezoar stone is kept. He shoves it down Ron's throat, praying that it works.

Chapter 19: Elf Tails

Later that night Ron's family, Hermione, and Harry are all in the hospital wing waiting for Ron to come to. They talk incessantly about who could have poisoned Ron, but come to no conclusions.

Harry is quickly becoming obsessed with Draco Malfoy. Convinced he's up to something, Harry constantly checks the Marauder's Map, but has no explanation of why Malfoy disappears every now again off the map. Ron is making a quick recovery in the hospital wing, but he won't be allowed out until after the next Quidditch game, which means Harry has to take on the next-best player to fill his place. He grudgingly lets Cormac McLaggen on as Keeper.

When the day of the game arrives, Harry is instantly annoyed with McLaggen, who tells everyone how to play their position. During the game Harry streaks across the field when he sees McLaggen showing one of the Beaters how to hold their bat. He makes it just in time for McLaggen to hit him across the head, knocking him out cold.

When he comes to he's in the hospital wing, in a bed right next to Ron's. He's furious with McLaggen, who cost them the game, and has a hard time going to sleep because he can't stop thinking about Malfoy. He gets a stroke of genius, however, and tentatively calls Kreacher to him to order him to follow Malfoy.

When Kreacher appears he's fighting with Dobby, who attacked Kreacher in the kitchens when Kreacher was insulting Harry. Harry asks both of the house elves to follow Malfoy and find out what he's up to.

Chapter 20: Lord Voldemort's Request

When Harry and Ron get out of the hospital wing they're pleased to find that Hermione has buried her grudge against Ron and is friends with him again. Harry feels hopeful when he hears Ginny and Dean had an argument, although he's disappointed they didn't break up.

Harry's next lesson with Dumbledore is upon him before he knows it, and his heart sinks when he realizes that he forgot all about his task of getting Slughorn's true memory. Dumbledore seems very disappointed in him until Harry apologizes and promises to get the memory.

Dumbledore shows Harry two more memories. The first is a memory showing Voldemort as a young man working for Borgin and Burkes. He goes to an old woman's house to persuade her to part with some of her treasures, and finds that she owns two objects that are of extreme interest to him; a cup of Hufflepuff's, and a locket of Slytherin's. Voldemort comes back days later and kills the old woman for those two treasures, and the house elf, Hokey, is blamed for her death.

The last memory is of Voldemort years later, when he arrives at Hogwarts to ask Dumbledore for a job. He wants to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, and is furious when Dumbledore refuses the post to him.

Harry leaves with nothing but questions about the significance of all these memories, and Dumbledore promises to fill him in when Harry retrieves the memory from Slughorn.

Chapter 21: The Unknowable Room

Harry racks his brain over the next few weeks as to how he's going to get the memory from Slughorn. He's sitting in the Common Room one night with Ron and Hermione when Kreacher and Dobby show up to make their report on Malfoy. Harry finds out that Malfoy has been using the Room of Requirement to do whatever he's been doing, and is stunned he didn't figure it out sooner.

Harry tries numerous times over the next few weeks to get into the room to see what Malfoy is doing, but he's unable to penetrate the magic and come up with the right string of words to let him in.

Chapter 22: After The Burial

Harry's obsession with Malfoy is driving both Ron and Hermione crazy. While they're outside one day they receive a note from Hagrid who sobbingly tells them that Aragog died during the night, and asks them if they would come to the burial. They're all stunned that he would ask them to do something they'd surely get detention for, and resolve not to go. Ron suddenly gets a brilliant idea and tells Harry he should take a swig of Felix Felicis and try to get the memory from Slughorn after that. Harry is a bit reluctant because deep down he was saving the Felix in the hopes that he could ask Ginny out.

He decides in the end to use the potion, and once he takes a swig he ambles down to Hagrid's, feeling like the luckiest, most confident guy in the world. He bumps into Slughorn in the garden and persuades him to attend Aragog's funeral as well.

Later that night, with Felix's help, Harry is able to procure the memory from Slughorn.

Chapter 23: Horcruxes

Harry races to Dumbledore's office in spite of the late hour. When Dumbledore hears that Harry has gotten the memory he's ecstatic, and they both jump into the Pensieve quickly to have a look at it.

The memory shows Slughorn telling the young Voldemort about Horcruxes, which is the act of splitting your soul by murdering someone and putting half of the soul away in an object so you cannot be killed. Slughorn looks very uncomfortable talking about it, but he ends up telling Voldemort what he needs to know.

When Dumbledore and Harry get back to his office, Dumbledore fills Harry in on the meaning of all the memories. He tells Harry that he believes Voldemort split his soul into seven parts, storing six pieces in Horcruxes to grant himself immortality, while leaving the seventh in his body. Harry is horrified, but relieved somewhat when Dumbledore explains that, by now, there are only 4 more Horcruxes to be found. Two of the Horcruxes have been destroyed, one -- Marvolo Gaunt's ring -- by Dumbledore, and one -- Tom Riddle's diary -- by Harry in his 2nd year at Hogwarts. One part is still in Voldemort's body, and Dumbledore believes that Voldemort placed the other 4 Horcruxes in some of the objects he stole, like Hufflepuff's cup and Slytherin's locket. Dumbledore promises Harry that if he finds out where the next Horcrux is, Harry can come with him to help him destroy it.

Chapter 24: Sectumsempra

When Harry fills in Ron and Hermione on the night's events, they're in awe at the thought of Voldemort having a 7-part soul. Harry is thrilled to discover that Ginny and Dean broke up the night before, and he immediately starts wondering if Ron would kill him for asking her out. He's also thrilled when Katie Bell gets out of the hospital, which means his Quidditch team is all back together again. As the days slip past, he can't stop himself from staring at Ginny, and is in constant turmoil about asking her out.

One afternoon he slips into a bathroom to escape Filch and is shocked to see Malfoy in there crying. When Malfoy sees Harry in the mirror they both whip their wands out and start dueling. Before Harry knows what he's doing he shouts a curse that the Half-Blood Prince made up, sectumsempra. He's terrified when blood starts pouring out of Malfoy. Snape hears the ruckus from outside and storms in. He quickly heals Draco with a spell and helps him to the hospital wing. When he returns for Harry wants to know where Harry learned such Dark magic. When Harry tries to close his mind against Snape he's unable to, and Snape demands that Harry bring him all his schoolbooks immediately.

Harry is resolute that Snape not get his hands on the Half-Blood Prince's Potions book, so he switches books with Ron and quickly runs to the Room of Requirement to hide his book. When he races back to the bathroom to give them to Snape he's given detention every weekend until school lets out, which means he'll miss the final game of the Quidditch season.

After his detention he's on pins and needles to know whether or not they won the game, and when he gets to the Gryffindor Common Room he's amazed to find out they had a stunning victory. Before he knows what's happening he's kissing Ginny in front of everyone. When he looks up Ron gives a shrug, letting him know it's all right. Harry's heart explodes with gladness and he and Ginny go outside for a long talk.

Chapter 25: The Seer Overheard

The fact that he's finally going out with Ginny makes Harry very happy over the next few weeks. Hermione is still trying to find out who the Half-Blood Prince really is, and is disgruntled when Harry refuses to give up the book in spite of the Dark spells that are in it.

Harry is excited one night when he receives an urgent message from Dumbledore asking him to meet him in his office. He's racing to his office when he bumps into Professor Trelawney, who was just thrown out of the Room of Requirement. After hearing her account of what happened, Harry realizes that Malfoy is in there celebrating, which fills his heart with dread.

He drags Trelawney to Dumbledore's office, and as they walk she talks about one thing or another. Harry is barely listening until she starts talking about the night she made the prophecy about him and Voldemort. His ears perk up then, and she reveals that it was Snape who told Voldemort about the prophecy in the first place, which resulted in the deaths of Harry's parents.

Harry is so furious he can't even think. He runs to Dumbledore's office, who tells him that he's found a Horcrux and he wants Harry to come with him to destroy it. When Harry tells Dumbledore what he learned from Trelawney, Dumbledore assures an irate Harry that Snape feels terrible about what happened, and it was this event that caused him to leave the Death Eaters and come to Dumbledore's side. Harry is not convinced, and now hates Snape worse than ever.

Harry races back to the Common Room to get his Invisibility Cloak and tells Ron and Hermione quickly what he's about to do with Dumbledore. He also tells them about Malfoy celebrating, and gives them his bottle of Felix Felicis, urging them to keep an eye on Malfoy while he's gone.

Harry and Dumbledore walk quickly into the night, and once they step off the Hogwarts grounds they Apparate away to find the Horcrux and destroy it.

Chapter 26: The Cave

When they land Harry finds himself on a rocky ledge at the ocean's edge. Dumbledore leads him down a steep cliff, and through the water to a dark cave. When they get inside Dumbledore is quiet, and finally finds the doorway that is concealed by magic. They walk inside and Dumbledore searches for the means to cross a vast lake, where he believes the Horcrux is hidden. Clues have been left, craftily concealed by Voldemort's magic, but Dumbledore finally unveils a small boat, which they use to cross the lake. Harry is horrified to discover that the lake is actually teeming with dead bodies, which will come to life if either one of them touches the water.

When they get to the small island in the middle of the lake, they find the Horcrux contained in the middle of a basin that is full of a watery substance. Dumbledore deduces that the only way to get it out is to drink the water, and makes Harry promise that if the substance incapacitates him, that Harry will force Dumbledore to drink the rest so they can get the Horcrux. Reluctantly, Harry agrees. When Dumbledore starts drinking he quickly collapses in agony, and Harry has to force him to drink the rest of the potion. Dumbledore screams in pain, and still Harry makes him drink, hating himself. When the basin is empty, Dumbledore cries for water, and Harry has to dip from the lake, which awakens the dead bodies. There are too many for him to fight off, and he's about to be dragged into the lake when Dumbledore comes to and fights them off. They head back out to the sea, and Harry Apparates a very weak Dumbledore back to Hogwarts.

Chapter 27: The Lightning-Struck Tower

Once they're back in Hogsmead, Harry and Dumbledore are horrified to see the Dark Mark hovering over the school, meaning Death Eaters have attacked. They race back on brooms loaned by Madam Rosmerta and land on top of the Astronomy Tower. Dumbledore urges Harry to go find Snape, but before he can, Draco Malfoy opens the tower door. Dumbledore uses his split-second advantage to immobilize Harry, who's still under his Invisibility Cloak, and Draco disarms Dumbledore. Harry can't move, and watches in agony as Dumbledore is cornered and wandless. He tries to talk Malfoy into coming over to the good side, and Malfoy pretends to be brave, saying Voldemort gave him the task of killing Dumbledore and now he's going to do it. His bravado starts to waver, however, when Dumbledore says he's not really a killer, that the Order can hide Draco and his mother. Just as Malfoy is about to lower his wand, other Death Eaters show up and start taunting Dumbledore.

Snape shows up soon after and, pushing everyone else aside, kills Dumbledore with the Avada Kedavra curse without a second thought.

Chapter 28: Flight Of The Prince

Devastated does not even come close to what Harry is feeling. He can't believe that Dumbledore is dead, and after the Death Eaters escape back down the steps he can't move. He knows Dumbledore really is dead because the spell that froze him has been lifted, but it just doesn't seem real.

Suddenly, Harry takes off down the steps, determined to kill Snape once and for all. He races through the battle that is taking place downstairs. Many members of the Order,along with Ron, Hermione, Neville and Ginny, are there fighting Death Eaters. He runs as fast as he can after Snape and Malfoy, who are headed for Hogsmead so they can Disapparate. Two other Death Eaters follow Harry, shooting curses at him left and right.

Harry finally catches up with Snape and starts dueling with him, wanting to kill him. Snape screams that he is the Half-Blood Prince that Harry has been depending on all year. Snape does not curse Harry, however, only deflects his spells. Snape manages to escape, and Harry feels lower than he ever has in his life.

When he walks back up to the castle with Hagrid, Harry kneels over Dumbledore's body and sees the Horcrux they went out to find that night. He opens the locket and sinks when he realizes that it is a fake -- the real Horcrux has been taken by someone else a long time ago.

Chapter 29: The Phoenix Lament

Harry stays by Dumbledore's body until a warm hand leads him away. It's Ginny, and he follows her up to the hospital wing, where most of the Order, Ron, and Hermione are all being treated. He finds out that a werewolf viciously attacked Bill, and although he won't turn into a werewolf each month, he's still going to be disfigured for life. Fleur shocks everyone by her devotion to Bill, saying she doesn't care what he looks like and that the wedding will go on as planned.

When Harry tells them all that Snape killed Dumbledore, everyone is shocked and devastated by the terrible news. They are comforted, however, when Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, starts singing a song that seems to put their despair over the loss into music. It's haunting, sad, and beautiful all the same time, and brings a measure of peace over the school, at least for a while.

Chapter 30: The White Tomb

Dumbledore's funeral brings in witches and wizards from all over the world. He's laid to rest in a white tomb on the grounds, and the funeral is a somber affair that seems to rip Harry's heart out.

He makes up his mind about a few things. He tells Ginny that he can no longer be with her, even though he cares about her more than anything. He's afraid that Voldemort will use Ginny to get to Harry, and he doesn't want to see that happen.

He also decides he's not coming back to Hogwarts. His new mission is to find the rest of the Horcruxes and destroy them so that he has a fighting chance of killing Voldemort for good. He's comforted more than he can say when both Ron and Hermione say they won't leave his side and that they're coming with him on his journey. They do have one stop to make before they begin, however. They have to go to the Burrow first for one last day of peace at Bill and Fleur's wedding.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book V)

2010-12-08T01:15:00.000-08:00

Chapter 1: Dudley Demented

It's summertime again and Harry, as usual, is stuck at his aunt and uncle's house. He's had to resort to hiding in flowerbeds and nicking papers from bins in order to find out if Voldemort has attacked yet. Ron,Hermione and Sirius's letters are vague and frustrating, and he's nearly reached the end of his rope when one night, walking home with Dudley, two Dementors attack them both. Harry is able to drive them off with a Patronus charm, only to be jolted again when he finds out his batty neighbor, Mrs. Figg, is more than she appears to be.

Chapter 2: A Peck Of Owls

Harry is shocked to find out that Mrs. Figg is actually a Squib who's been keeping her cat Mr. Tibbles on Harry's trail. She's furious that Harry's secret guard, Mundungus Fletcher, disappeared in order to buy stolen cauldrons, leaving Harry unprotected and vulnerable to attack.

When Harry finally manages to get Dudley home he's bombarded by a succession of owls, the first from the Ministry of Magic expelling him from Hogwarts for doing Underage Magic and requiring his attendance at a disciplinary hearing on August 12. As he tries to explain the situation to Uncle Vernon he receives even more owls from Mr. Weasley and Sirius, both warning him to stay in the house and do no more magic.An second owl arrives from the Ministry of Magic, informing him that his expellation from Hogwarts has been recalled, though he is yet to attend a disciplinary hearing on August 12.

Just when Harry thinks the night can hold no more drama, it's discovered that Aunt Petunia knows more about the wizarding world than she's ever let on before,including the dementors and the Azkaban wizard prison.

Chapter 3: The Advance Guard

The next few days find Harry moping in his room, waiting for Hedwig to bring back replies from Ron, Hermione, and Sirius regarding the Dementor attack. His feelings of injustice continue to increase, and he alternates between bitterness and depression over his situation.

When the Dursleys unexpectedly go out Harry is shocked out of his bad mood when Remus Lupin, Mad Eye Moody, and half a dozen others show up to take him to the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.

Chapter 4: Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place

Harry finally is able to vent his pent-up frustrations on Ron and Hermione, both of whom are staying at Headquarters to help out. He finds out that the Order of the Phoenix is a secret society that Dumbledore formed to fight Voldemort, and that even Snape is a member. Ron tells Harry that Percy, Ron's brother, has had a falling out with the Weasley family over Harry and Dumbledore's claims of Voldemort's return. With both the Daily Prophet and the Ministry trying to discredit their claims, even Dumbledore has fallen under close scrutiny.

Chapter 5: The Order Of the Phoenix

Harry is surprised to find out that the dark, spooky house that has become Headquarters is actually the house that Sirius grew up in. After dinner, Harry starts asking questions about the Order, which Mrs. Weasley tries to put a stop to, claiming he's too young. Sirius overrules her, telling Harry that the Order's goals are to try to stop Voldemort from recruiting followers, especially dark creatures. He also slips and tells Harry that Voldemort is searching for a powerful weapon.

Harry also finds out just how much trouble Dumbledore has been in with the Ministry: he's been voted off the Chairmanship of the International Confederation of Wizards, and demoted from Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot. Fudge is growing increasingly paranoid that Dumbledore is going to try to take over the Ministry with a private army.

Chapter 6: The Noble And Most Ancient House Of Black

Harry and the rest of the Order settle into the house, working on decontaminating it from dark spells and objects so it can be lived in. They also find a heavy locket that no-one seems able to open. Harry finds out that Fred and George have been putting the money he gave them last summer to good use. They've developed Skiving Snackboxes, a range of sweets that make you ill enough to get out of class and magically better once you get out and eat the rest.

Kreacher, Sirius's crazy old house-elf, is rude to everyone although Hermione tries hard to be nice to him. He frequently sneaks family heirlooms off to his den, throwing looks full of loathing at everyone when things are thrown away.

Harry is full of trepidation when the night before his Disciplinary Hearing at the Ministry arrives and he finds out that Sirius is forbidden to accompany him.

Chapter 7: The Ministry Of Magic

Mr. Weasley and Harry leave early for the hearing, and it's a good thing. They find out almost too late that the time and place were changed at the last minute. They make it just in time, and Harry walks in alone, Mr. Weasley being forbidden to accompany him.

Chapter 8: The Hearing

As Harry walks in he is astounded to find out that a full Wizengamot Court is trying him. Just as the hearing starts Dumbledore shows up to defend Harry against the claims that he violated the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery. If he is convicted he will be expelled from Hogwarts.

When Harry tells the Wizengamot that he only did the Patronus Charm to ward off the dementors he's met with disbelief and skepticism from almost all the judges. Dumbledore brings Arabella Figg in for Harry's defense. Harry also gets a glimpse of Dolores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, whom he loathes immediately, although he's not quite sure why.

After a heart stopping few minutes of deliberation, Harry is cleared of all charges and Dumbledore sweeps from the room without one look or one word to Harry.

Chapter 9: The Woes of Mrs. Weasley

As Harry and Mr. Weasley depart for Headquarters from the Ministry they catch Lucius Malfoy in close conversation with Fudge, which worries them both since Harry accused Malfoy mere weeks ago of being a Death Eater.

Harry is also taken down a peg or two when booklists arrive and he discovers that both Ron and Hermione have been made Gryffindor prefects. At first he's more jealous than he can stand, but his good sense overrules and he accepts his friends' accomplishments with good grace. Ron gets a new broom as a reward.

That night, Mrs. Weasley throws a party in honor of the new prefects, and many from the Order come to dinner. She walks upstairs to get rid of a boggart that's been hiding in the drawing room. Harry follows her, intending to go to bed, but bursts in when he hears sobbing. He's shocked to find Mrs. Weasley on the floor, distraught as the boggart keeps turning into to members of her family and Harry, all dead. Members of the Order coming rushing in to comfort her, and Harry goes to bed, feeling astounded that he could care about prefect badges when so much life and death hangs on a balance.

Chapter 10: Luna Lovegood

Harry's unsettling dreams of locked doors and shadowy hallways continue. As the group leaves for King's Cross station for the school train there is the usual hubbub. Sirius transfigures himself into his usual disguise of a big, black dog, and accompanies them to the station.

As Ron and Hermione split up from Harry to do their prefect duties he grabs a compartment with Neville, Ginny, and Luna Lovegood, a dotty girl who's oddness become even more apparent the longer he sits with her. It's discovered that her father is editor the "The Quibbler", an unusual magazine. To Harry's mortification, he gets covered in Stinksap by Neville mere moments before Cho Chang opens the door to say hi.

When they finally arrive at school it's nothing like usual. Hagrid's missing, and there are now strange, skeletal horses pulling the carriages that only Harry and Luna can see.

Chapter 11: The Sorting Hat's New Song

As Harry, Ron, and Hermione sit down for the Start of Term Feast, Harry is outraged to see that Dolores Umbridge has been assigned to the vacant Defense Against the Dark Arts position. Everyone is surprised to hear the Sorting Hat's new song this year- it warns everyone to stand together in the face of troubled times.

As the Feast ends, Dumbledore introduces Umbridge to the students. She stands up and makes a speech, basically announcing to anyone paying attention that the Ministry is trying to interfere at Hogwarts.

The night finally ends on a sour note for Harry. As he's getting ready for bed in the boys' dormitory, fellow Gryffindor Seamus Finnigan and Harry get into a fight about Harry's claims that Voldemort has returned. Seamus calls him crazy, and Harry goes to bed feeling shaken over the argument.

Chapter 12: Professor Umbridge

The first day of classes start with ultimate dismay as Harry gets his schedule and sees that all his least favorite classes are on the same day. Fred and George offer them some Snackboxes, and Hermione jumps all over them for trying to test their products on unsuspecting First Years.

Harry is mortified when Cho Chang attempts to speak with him a second time, only to be attacked by Ron over her favorite Quidditch team. The day doesn't improve when he receives zero marks in Snape's Potions class, and as he troops to his first class with Umbridge he thinks the day couldn't possibly get any worse.

He's proven wrong, however. Umbridge announces to the class that they will not be practicing any magic for the entire year. She claims, to the astonishment of the class, that if they study the theory hard enough they'll pass their O.W.L.s without any practice. When Harry protests that this is the worst way to learn to defend themselves against Voldemort an argument explodes between them, and he's sent to Professor McGonagall. She warns him to keep his temper around Umbridge, and he's horrified to find out Umbridge has given him a week's worth of detention, meaning he'll miss Quidditch tryouts on Friday.

Chapter 13: Detention With Dolores

That night at dinner other students are gossiping loudly about Harry's showdown with Umbridge. Disgusted, Harry, Ron, and Hermione leave early and go back to the Common Room to start on their mountain of homework.

When the rest of the students return, Fred and George start testing their Fainting Fancies on First Years and Hermione explodes at them, threatening to tell their mother what they're doing. Before she heads up to bed Hermione reveals her new plan to further the house-elves cause. She's been knitting hats and socks, and plans to leave them hidden about the Common Room where they'll be accidentally picked up and the elves will be freed.

The next night is Harry's first detention with Umbridge, and he spends it horribly. His punishment is to write "I must not tell lies" with her special quill, which cuts open the back of his hand as he writes and uses his own blood for ink. Harry comes to the conclusion that Umbridge is an evil, sick woman. He doesn't utter a word of complaint, and keeps the secret from Ron and Hermione as well.

The rest of the week passes in a haze of tiredness as he continues his detentions. He finally confesses to Ron when he finds out that Ron is planning on trying out for Gryffindor Keeper. The week ends on a slightly brighter note when Ron makes it on the team, and Harry finally has the weekend to catch up on all his homework.

Chapter 14: Percy And Padfoot

Harry starts his weekend off with an early morning letter to Sirius, where he asks about Hagrid and tells him about Umbridge. He runs into Cho Chang at the owlery, where they're both confronted by Argus Filch, who accuses Harry of sending off an order of Dungbombs.

During Quidditch practice later that day Slytherins come down to taunt the Gryffindor team, resulting in a poor performance from Ron. That night he receives an owl from Percy, warning of future Ministry involvement at Hogwarts and urging him to sever ties with Harry. Soon after Harry is shocked to see Sirius's head in the Common Room fire, and they scramble down to talk to him. Harry finds out the Ministry thinks Dumbledore is trying to train Hogwarts students in combat so he can overthrow Fudge. The meeting ends on a bitter note as Harry urges Sirius not to take risks to come see him, and Sirius gets offended.

Chapter 15: The Hogwarts High Inquisitor

The next morning's Daily Prophet headline says it all: Dolores Umbridge Appointed First-Ever "High Inquisitor". Harry, Ron, and Hermione are shocked to find out she'll be using her new power to institute new rules, inspect teachers, and sack the ones she feels aren't up to scratch.

Things get worse when he gets to Umbridge's class that afternoon. He again gets into an argument with her over Voldermort, and she sentences him to another week's worth of detentions for spreading "nasty lies".

After his detention that night he finds Hermione and Ron waiting up for him, with a shocking new plan. They want Harry to form a secret Defense Against the Dark Arts group so they can learn how to defend themselves properly. What's more, they want Harry to be the teacher, and open the group up to anyone that wants to learn. Harry lets his temper get the best of him again and they scurry to bed, urging him to at least think about it.

Chapter 16: In The Hog's Head

After giving Harry a few weeks to simmer down, Hermione again approaches Harry about the secret group. After he grudgingly agrees to give it a shot, Ron and Hermione sound people out and tell everyone to meet at the Hog's Head in Hogsmead that Saturday.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione are all shocked when a mass crowd shows up at the Hog's Head to hear what Harry has to say. He gets furious with Hermione when some of them start asking questions about Voldemort's return and Cedric's death. Things settle down eventually, and they agree to start meeting once a week to learn practical defense.

The day ends on a bright note for Harry when Hermione informs him that Cho couldn't keep her eyes off Harry for the entire meeting.

Chapter 17: Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four

Harry's happy feelings from the successful Hogsmeade weekend come to a crashing halt Monday morning when he gets down to the Common Room. Umbridge has posted a large sign up, declaring "All Student Organizations, Societies, Teams, Groups, and Clubs are henceforth disbanded." Realizing she must have found out about their secret meeting, the 3 friends resolve to continue the meetings anyway. Harry is also surprised to find out that Umbridge is including Quidditch in her ban, and Angelina, the Team Captain, begs him not to get into any more arguements with Umbridge so she'll allow them to reform and continue to play.

Later that day while Harry is in History of Magic, Hedwig shows up with a letter, apparently injured. Harry ducks out of class and carries her to the staff room so that Professor Grubbly-Plank can take care of her. Professor McGonagall warns him that letters could be being intercepted, and he should be very careful what he says in them. He finally gets to read his letter, which is from Sirius, telling him to meet him at the fireplace again.

When Harry gets to Potions class Umbridge is inspecting Snape, and he finds himself hard-pressed to pick which one he wants to win over the other.

That night he only gets to talk to Sirius for a few minutes when suddenly the unthinkable happens: a fat, ugly-ringed hand reaches through the fireplace and snatches at Sirius's head. Sirius just manages to duck back to Grimmauld Place, but it's a narrow escape.

Chapter 18: Dumbledore's Army

Harry, Ron, and Hermione talk obsessively about Sirius's narrow escape the night before. Hermione sees it as proof that Umbridge has been reading Harry's mail, causing Harry to hate her even more.

After Quidditch practice that night Harry's scar sears again in pain, and Harry knows that Voldemort is in a very bad mood. When he accidentally falls asleep in the Common Room that night he's awoken suddenly by Dobby who, when asked, tells Harry the perfect place to hold the secret Defense Against the Dark Arts meetings is in a room on the 7th floor called the Room of Requirement. Harry is thrilled to finally have a safe place to hold the meetings.

The next day Harry and the others meet in the magical room, which is stocked for exactly what they need to learn defense. They agree to adopt the name Dumbledore's Army, or D.A. for short, in order to mock Cornelius Fudge. Harry starts by teaching them the basic disarming spell first.

Chapter 19: The Lion And The Serpent

Harry finds the next few weeks easier to bear because of the D.A. meetings. Everyone is coming along at a fast clip, and he's growing increasingly proud of their efforts.

When the match between Gryfinndor and Slytherin finally takes place, expectations and tensions are high. The Slytherin's have come up with a new song to taunt the Gryfinndor team, and Ron's goalkeeping abilities plummet as they sing it loudly throughout the game. Harry is able to scrape a win for Gryffindor by catching the Snitch early, but Malfoy is sore from losing and begins insulting the Weasleys and Harry's mother. Harry and George are unable to control their tempers and get into a fistfight with Malfoy. Umbridge decides to ban them both, in addition to George's twin, Fred, from ever playing Quidditch again.

Just when Harry thinks he's going to feel lousy for the rest of his life, Hagrid gets home.

Chapter 20: Hagrid's Tale

Harry, Ron, and Hermione sneak out to Hagrid's hut, only to be shocked when he answers the door looking like he recently suffered a bad beating. While he won't tell them exactly what happened to him to make him look so terrible, he does tell them about the mission he was on with Madam Maxine to try and recruit giants for the Order.

Their visit is cut short when Umbridge knocks on the door in spite of the late hour. Harry, Ron, and Hermione quickly hide under the Invisibility Cloak, and Hagrid lets her in. She wastes no time grilling Hagrid on where he's been for so long, and Hagrid does not stand up well under her leading questions. It's apparent to Harry that Umbridge knows way more than she should about Hagrid's mission.

Chapter 21: The Eye Of The Snake

The next week starts with Hagrid's first lesson back. It's an illuminating one for Harry because he finally finds out what the skeletal horses are. Umbridge meets them in the forest to inspect Hagrid, and the 3 friends quickly lose their temper when she twists everything he says in order to make him look bad.

As December rolls in the decorations go up and Harry's homework reaches epic proportions. During the last D.A. meeting before the holidays Harry gets his first kiss from Cho, and goes to bed in a state of happy amazement. Once he drifts off to sleep, however, he has a terrifying vision of being inside a giant snake. He's unable to stop as the snake attacks Mr. Weasley and bites him repeatedly with its fangs. When he wakes up he's frantic, and rushes to Dumbledore with Professor McGonagall and Ron to tell him what happened.

Chapter 22: St. Mungo's Hospital For Magical Maladies And Injuries

As soon as Harry tells Dumbledore what has happened he springs into action, sending portraits off to find word of Mr. Weasley's condition. Harry is terrified when he finds out his vision has really happened and that Mr. Weasley is seriously injured. Dumbledore sends Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George to Grimmauld Place to wait with Sirius until they find out more about Mr. Weasley's condition.

It's a long, silent vigil but finally at daybreak Mrs. Weasley comes in smiling, saying that he's going to be all right. Harry's fears are not relieved, however. He's terrified that if he falls asleep again he'll hurt someone else. When they all go visit Mr. Weasley in the hospital later that day Harry and the others hear Mad Eye and Tonks speculating that Voldemort is possessing Harry.

Chapter 23: Christmas On The Closed Ward

The rest of the group doesn't mention what they overhear, but it weights heavily on Harry's mind. The thought that Voldemort might be possessing him makes him feel dirty, and to protect the others he stays sequestered in his room for days until Hermione shows up and confronts him. When he talks to her, Ron, and Ginny, they determine that Voldemort is not possessing Harry, and this cheers him up immensely.

When they go visit Mr. Weasley on Christmas Day Harry, Ron, and Hermione accidentally wander onto a closed ward, where they run into Neville, who visiting his parents with his Grandmother. Only Harry knows his secret, but Ron and Hermione are mortified when they find out Neville's parents were tortured into insanity by Voldemort and now have to stay committed to St. Mungo's.

Chapter 24: Occlumency

As the end of the holidays approach Harry finds he not looking forward to returning to Hogwarts. He doesn't want to leave Sirius, or put himself under the iron fist of Umbridge. He starts to positively dread his return when he finds out that, under Dumbledore's request, he'll be learning Occlumency from Professor Snape.

The first day back isn't so bad, however. He manages to ask Cho Chang out for Valentine's Day. Things go downhill fast, however, during his Occlumency lesson. Snape repeatedly taunts Harry and forces open his mind, but it causes Harry to have a break-through. To Snape's displeasure, hesuddenly realizes that the corridor he's been dreaming about for so many months is in the Department of Mysteries.

That night as he's getting ready for bed Harry's scar explodes with pain, and Harry knows that Voldemort is happier about something than he has been in years.

Chapter 25: The Beetle At Bay

The reason why Voldemort is deliriously happy is answered the next morning when Hermione opens The Daily Prophet. Ten Death Eaters have broken out from Azkaban and rejoined Voldemort. Hermione rushes off suddenly to send a letter and won't tell anyone what she's up to, and Harry also finds out that Hagrid has been put on probation.

Umbridge quickly forces through another Educational Decree, this time banning teachers from talking about anything they're not strictly qualified to teach.

Valentine's Day is upon Harry before he knows it, and as he's about to leave to go meet Cho Hermione asks him to meet her at the Three Broomsticks at midday. Harry agrees, and leaves with Cho for Madam Puddifoots tea-shop, a hangout for couples. Once Harry tells Cho that he's meeting Hermione in a few hours she gets very upset, rages at Harry in front of everyone, and storms out of the shop. Harry is bewildered about what happened, and slowly walks to the Three Broomsticks where he's to meet Hermione.

He's more than surprised to see Hermione sitting with none other than Rita Skeeter, the gossip-spreading journalist from the Daily Prophet, and Luna Lovegood. Hermione threatens Rita until she agrees to write a true story about Voldemort's return. Luna Lovegood's father, as the editor of The Quibbler magazine, has agreed to publish the story. Harry, knowing this is his one good chance to convince the world, starts talking.

Chapter 26: Seen And Unforseen

The weeks slip by: Harry keeps dreaming of the tantalizing corridor, Gryffindor loses spectacularly against Hufflepuff, and Harry finally figures out what he did to upset Cho, thanks to a long explanation from Hermione.

The day-to-day routine is broken one morning when he begins to get a flood of mail, which can only mean one thing: his story finally went to print in The Quibbler. Quite a few people write to say they've been convinced Harry is telling the truth. His elation doesn't last long, however. As soon as Umbridge discovers what Harry's done she sentences him to another week's worth of detentions, and bans anyone from owning a copy of The Quibbler.

In spite of the ban put in place by Umbridge every student in school reads the article. Harry is relieved that so many students believe his story, and even the professors find ways to show their appreciation.

Harry's Occlumency lessons continue, but are growing more disastrous by the day. Harry still can't close his mind against Snape, and Snape's continual taunting of Harry's lack of willpower is starting to get to him.

Things escalate even further that night when Harry and Snape rush upstairs to locate the source of a screaming woman. They find that Umbridge has finally sacked Professor Trelawney, the Divination teacher. Dumbledore intervenes when Umbridge tries to kick her out of the school. He further infuriates her by hiring a new Divination teacher, Firenze, a centaur from the Forbidden Forest.

Chapter 27: The Centaur And The Sneak

Harry's first class with Firenze is an interesting one. The centaur urges Harry to carry an urgent warning to Hagrid. He agrees, but when he passes on the warning Hagrid chooses to ignore it, which unsettles Harry and keeps him wondering what Hagrid is up to.

Harry has finally moved the D.A. up to learning Patronus's. They're practicing these one night when they are suddenly interrupted by Dobby, the house elf, who has come to warn them that Umbridge has found out about their meetings and that she is on her way. They all scatter, hoping for escape, but Malfoy, who is now working for Umbridge, manages to catch Harry.

They make their way to Dumbledore's office. Harry is incensed to find that one of his own members of the D.A. ratted them out, and on an urging from Dumbledore insists that tonight was their first meeting of "Dumbledore's Army". In order to keep Harry from being expelled, Dumbledore takes the blame for the group, telling Fudge he was planning to use the students to overthrow the Ministry. Dumbledore flees the school in order keep from being arrested, and Harry's guilt weighs on him like a wet blanket.

Chapter 28: Snape's Worst Memory

Harry is unsurprised when the very next morning finds Umbridge in charge of Hogwarts. He is surprised, however, when he discovers that she's formed an Inquisitorial Squad, made up mostly of Malfoy and his gang, and that they have the power to overrule the prefects and dock points.

Fred and George decide to take their mischief making to the next level now that Dumbledore is gone. They set off an entire crate of their enchanted fireworks inside the school, much to the delight of the other students, and Umbridge spends her first full day as Headmistress running around trying to extinguish them.

The next night finds him in Occlumency lessons again. Harry's curiosity gets the best of him when Snape is called away for a few minutes and Harry peeks inside the Pensieve to see what memories Snape keeps hidden in there. Harry is disturbed when he witnesses his father tormenting Snape for no good reason, and realizes with a heavy heart that Snape was telling the truth all along; his father was arrogant and conceited. When Snape catches Harry witnessing the memory he explodes in anger, and forbids Harry from ever entering his office again.

Chapter 29: Career Advice

Harry doesn't tell anyone, not even Ron and Hermione, what he saw in the Pensieve. It weighs heavily on his mind, and with a sinking feeling he begins to question everything he thought he ever knew about his parents. He yearns to talk to Sirius about it, but with Umbridge keeping her eye on every form of communication he doesn't see how he'd manage it. Hope begins to flicker, however, when Ginny talks to Fred and George about it, and they decide to cause a diversion so Harry can use Umbridge's fire to contact Sirius.

Harry has a meeting with McGonagall about his career ambition to become an Auror, which Umbridge states flatly will never happen. An argument erupts between her and McGonagall over Harry, and he quickly leaves the office.

That afternoon Harry's stomach is in knots over whether he should risk expulsion to talk to Sirius. Every time he imagines not doing it, however, Snape's memory flashes back to him. When he hears the bangs of Fred and George's diversion he makes up his mind and sets off quickly for Umbridge's office.

Once he tells Sirius and Lupin about the memory, they both stick up for James's behavior, saying he was young and grew out of his arrogance. Harry feels better about it but has to go when he hears footsteps coming into Umbridge's office. He sneaks out and makes his way to the entrance hall, where he sees Fred and George surrounded by Umbridge and the rest of the school. She tries to apprehend them and they make a spectacular escape that Harry is sure will soon be a Hogwart's legend

Chapter 30: Grawp

In the days following Fred and George's departure it becomes evident how many joke products they managed to sell before they left. When Ron starts to suspect the two of foul play Harry finally comes clean about giving them his Triwizard winnings to start a joke shop.

During the final match of the Quidditch season Hagrid grabs Harry and Hermione and urgently asks them to follow him into the forest. They are shocked to find out that he brought his half-brother Grawp, who also happens to be a giant, back from his mission and is now trying to teach him English. Hagrid asks them to watch out for Grawp if Umbridge fires him. The three barely make it out of the forest alive, and when they make it back up to the school the match has finished. They're further shocked to find out that Ron played magnificently and they won the Quidditch Cup.

Chapter 31: O.W.L.S.

The tests are finally upon them and everyone is studying furiously in order to do their best. As they get underway, tensions are high but Harry is fairly pleased with his performance.

The night of his Astronomy practical is warm and clear, and as Harry fills out his star chart he's astounded when, from the top of the Astronomy Tower, he watches Hagrid get attacked by Umbridge and 5 other shadowy figures out on the grounds. With mounting horror he watches as McGonagall rushes to Hagrid's defense and gets Stunned by 4 of the figures. Hagrid manages to escape and disappears into the Forbidden Forest.

His last exam takes place the next morning, and as Harry tries to concentrate he falls asleep and has a terrifying dream. Voldemort has captured Sirius and is torturing him in the Department of Mysteries. Harry screams, and wakes up suddenly back in the Great Hall.

Chapter 32: Out Of The Fire

Harry is frantic. He quickly tells Ron and Hermione about his vision, and Hermione tries to interject some sense into Harry, saying there is no way Voldemort could have gotten to Sirius. She urges him to use Umbridge's fire to check on Sirius at Grimmauld Place before he goes off to do something rash and dangerous.

Harry is almost insane with worry about Sirius but he agrees. They station Ginny and Luna as lookouts and have Umbridge drawn away from her office with a diversion. When Harry and Hermione stick their heads in the fire to check on Sirius they only see Kreacher, who leads them to believe that Voldemort has indeed taken him captive.

Umbridge, who saw right through their diversion and had the Inquisitorial Squad capture Ron, Ginny, Luna, and Neville as well, pulls them suddenly from the fire. She sends for Professor Snape, intending to force Harry to drink Veritaserum so she can find out who he was talking to. Harry hurriedly tries to send Snape a cryptic message about Sirius, but is not sure he understands.

Just as Umbridge is about to do the unthinkable and torture Harry for information, Hermione comes up with an elaborate lie, and lures Umbridge into the Forbidden Forest with her and Harry.

Chapter 33: Fight And Flight

Harry has no idea what Hermione's plan is, but he follows her into the forest, hoping she knows what she's doing. They're quickly surrounded by an angry group of centaurs, who grow even angrier when Umbridge insults them. They carry her off and are about to kill Harry and Hermione when Grawp comes to their rescue, causing enough of a diversion to allow them an escape.

Just as Harry's temper is about to explode with impatience they meet up with Ron, Ginny, Neville, and Luna, who managed to escape the Inquisitorial Squad. Luna comes up with the brilliant idea to fly to the Ministry of Magic using the thestrals, and Harry quickly agrees to the plan.

Chapter 34: The Department Of Mysteries

Once they make it to the Ministry Harry leads them to the door he's been dreaming about for months. They search slowly through one room after another, looking for the one where Sirius is being held. They encounter a number of very strange objects and finally find the correct room. They race through, looking for Sirius, and Harry is sickened when he realizes he's not there. Ron finds a dusty orb with Harry's name on it, and as soon as Harry takes it off the shelf they are surrounded by Death Eaters.

Chapter 35: Beyond The Veil

Lucius Malfoy steps forward, demanding that Harry give him the orb. Harry doesn't know what the thing is, and he doesn't care. All he knows is that he wants to get his friends out alive. He is horrified when the Death Eaters tell him that his vision of Sirius was nothing more than a ruse from Voldemort to get him to the Ministry.

Harry tries to keep the Death Eaters talking so he can come up with a plan to get them out of there. He's surprised to find out that the orb he's holding has the secret why Voldemort tried to kill Harry on the night of his parent's death.

The situation comes to a head suddenly and they blast their way out of the ring of Death Eaters. Harry, Neville, and Hermione are separated from Ron, Ginny, and Luna, and Harry is terrified they're trapped somewhere with Malfoy and the others.

They run through various rooms in the Ministry, closely followed by some of the Death Eaters. In a skirmish with one of them Hermione is knocked out and Harry and Neville have to carry her out. They quickly run into the others Ron and Ginny are injured from fighting the Death Eaters. They're quickly found by some of the Death Eaters, and just when Harry thinks he's fighting his last battle help arrives from some of the members of the Order of the Phoenix. Sirius, Tonks, Moody, Lupin, and Kingsley rush through the door to their aid without a moment to lose.

Sirius urges Harry to grab the others and get out, but as he's doing so he's attacked and drops the prophecy. Due to the noise of the battle, Harry doesn't hear what it says. Right after the ghost of a prophecy fades away, Dumbledore arrives to save them.

It seems to happen in slow motion. Harry turns just in time to see Bellatrix Lestrange hit Sirius square in the chest with a powerful spell. He falls slowly through a magical doorway, and disappears.

Chapter 36: The Only One He Ever Feared

Harry races after Sirius, whom he believes is slumped just on the other side of the doorway. Lupin grabs him before he can go through looking for him. Harry is incensed when Bellatrix Lestrange escapes capture and he goes after her, his mind bent on killing her in retaliation for what she did to Sirius.

They're battling furiously when Voldemort arrives at the Ministry. He knows immediately the prophecy has been smashed, and tries to kill Harry. Just as he utters the Killing Curse Dumbledore arrives to save Harry.

The magic that passes between Dumbledore and Voldemort as they duel is like nothing Harry has ever seen. Suddenly Voldemort disappears and possesses Harry, causing him unendurable pain. He only stays a moment though, and is gone.

Fudge shows up and is finally convinced that Dumbledore has been telling the truth. Dumbledore creates a Portkey for Harry to get him back to Hogwarts, and promises he will meet Harry back in his office in half an hour.

Chapter 37: The Lost Prophecy

As he waits for Dumbledore in his office Harry is numb from despair. Knowing Sirius is dead and that it's all his fault is almost more than he can bear.

As Dumbledore tries to comfort him, Harry's temper explodes. He screams at Dumbledore and tears up his office in his rage, wanting his pain to end. He only quits when Dumbledore claims responsibility for Sirius's death, and begins to tell Harry the truth about Harry's past.

Dumbledore tells Harry a great many things, but most importantly he is able to relate the full prophecy that Sibyl Trewlaney made about Harry and Voldemort. Harry finds out that it's his destiny to battle Voldemort to the death.

Chapter 38: The Second War Begins

As the Daily Prophet proclaims Harry a champion for being "the lone voice of truth", Harry is at least relieved that everyone knows that Voldemort is back. He's having a hard time deciding if he wants to be around people or not, and drifts between the hospital wing to Hagrid's house to the lake. The knowledge that he will one day have to fight Voldemort to the death leaves him feeling separate from everyone else and very much alone.

As Harry tries to cope with his intense feelings of grief he finds comfort in the unlikely source of Luna Lovegood. On the train trip home he spends a few blissfully restful hours with his friends, and is happy to be met by all the Weasleys, Lupin, Mad Eye, and Tonks. They all troop over to where the Dursleys are standing and threaten them into treating Harry with respect. It means more than he can say that his friends stick up for him, and as he leaves with the Dursleys he smiles and waves farewell.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book IV)

2010-12-08T01:14:00.000-08:00

Chapter 1: The Riddle House

The caretaker of the old Riddle House, Frank Bryce, is convinced that kids have broken into the mansion again and are lighting fires. As he quietly shuffles upstairs to investigate, he finds a very different type of burglar. Unbeknownst to old Frank, a very weak Voldemort has returned to the house of his father with the assistance of his servant, Wormtail. As he discusses his future plans with Wormtail Voldemort’s white snake, Nagini, discovers Frank’s hiding spot in the hallway. Frank’s terror at seeing the mangled body of Voldemort is the last thing he knows.

Chapter 2: The Scar

Harry Potter awakes suddenly from a disturbing dream, his scar searing in pain. Voldemort was alive, in a room with his servant Wormtail and an old man Harry didn’t know. He’s not sure, but he thinks Voldemort and Wormtail were plotting to kill someone. He decides to write to his godfather, Sirius, and let him know what happened and if curse scars searing with pain is a normal thing.

Chapter 3: The Invitation

Dudley’s diet is not going well, and an already-thin Harry would be nothing more than a wisp of smoke if it weren’t for his friends sending him sustenance from the Wizarding world. As Harry finishes his meager breakfast, a letter arrives for him that sends Uncle Vernon into apoplectic fits of rage. The Weasley’s have invited Harry to the Quidditch World Cup, and volunteer to come pick him up at the Dursley’s if he’s allowed to go. Harry treads carefully, playing it just right, and begrudgingly Uncle Vernon allows him to go. Harry races upstairs to eat a decent breakfast of birthday cake, feeling enormously happy.

Chapter 4: Back to the Burrow

As Harry eagerly awaits the Weasley’s arrival he’s filled with some trepidation on how they will be treated by the Durlsey’s once they arrive. Pandemonium breaks loose when they show up in the fireplace of all places, and have to blast their way into the Dursley’s living room. The Dursley’s are barely civil to Mr. Weasley and his sons Ron, Fred, and George. Things get even worse when Fred and George "accidently" let some jinxed sweets fall from their pockets. Dudley, starving from his diet, immediately eats one and is horrified when his tongue begins to grow at an alarming rate. Uncle Vernon almost comes to blows with Mr. Weasley as he tries to sort it out, and Harry escapes through the fire to the Burrow, laughing fit to burst.

Chapter 5: Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes

When Harry gets to the Burrow he finally gets to meet Bill and Charlie, Ron’s two older brothers. They’re both cool and he likes them immensely. When he, Ron, and Hermione go upstairs to escape Mrs. Weasley’s wrath at the twin’s behavior, Harry discovers that they’ve been trying to start a joke shop. Mrs. Weasley disapproves heartily of the venture, and it’s a major source of contention between her and the boys.

Over an amazingly delicious dinner that night they discuss the upcoming match. Harry is more excited than he can say about seeing his first professional Quidditch game. Percy irritates them all with knowledge about a secret event that will take place at Hogwart’s this year, only he won’t give them hints as to what it is.

Chapter 6: The Portkey

Harry is awoken very early the next morning so they can all get an early start for the World Cup. As they’re getting ready to leave Mrs. Weasley gets into another argument with the twins when she discovers them trying to sneak their jinxed sweets to the match.

As they walk to the top of a huge hill, Harry discovers they’ll be taking a Portkey to the match. When they get to the designated spot they meet up with the Diggory’s. Cedric, a fellow Hogwart’s student, is embarrassed when his father insults Harry. When the time comes they all grasp a manky old boot and are jerked away towards the World Cup.

Chapter 7: Bagman and Crouch

When Harry gets up he’s at a campground chock-full of witches and wizards from all over the world. Although most of them tried hard to dress as Muggles, some had no idea what they were doing and are dressed in hysterical get-ups that makes everyone laugh.

When they get to their campsite and put up their tents, Harry is amazed when he walks inside and discovers they’re enchanted to look like a three-room flat complete with a kitchen and bathroom. As he, Ron, Hermione go off in search of water they see many people they know, and for the first time Harry gets a good look at international wizards and witches.

He gets to meet Ludo Bagman, Head of the Magical Games and Sports Department at the Ministry, later on the evening and Barty Crouch, Percy’s boss. The twins bet their entire savings against Bagman that

Ireland

will win but Krum will get the Golden Snitch. Harry buys a number of very cool souvenirs, and then when it’s finally time for the match to start they head off towards the stadium.

Chapter 8: The Quidditch World Cup

When they all get up to the Top Box, Harry thinks he sees Dobby up there but it’s another house-elf, Winky, who is saving a seat for her Master. He’s disgusted when the Malfoy’s show up, and tries hard to ignore them.

The mascots for each team are like nothing Harry has ever seen. The Bulgarians bring veela, beautiful women who make men do anything to impress them, and the Irish bring leprechauns who spread enchanted gold around the stadium.

Amazing is the only word Harry can use to describe the Quidditch players. The match is fast-paced and the player’s use moves that Harry has never seen before. The Bulgarian Seeker, especially, is brilliant and Harry records his moves on his Omnioculars. The match gets more brutal as it progresses, and finally ends in a stunning twist:

Ireland

win but the Bulgarian Seeker, Viktor Krum, gets the Snitch.

Chapter 9: The Dark Mark

After they go to bed that night pandemonium breaks out on the campground. Mr. Weasley wakes them all up, terrified, and sends them off into the forest so he can go rescue the Muggle campground manager and his family, who’ve been abducted by some wizards and are being taunted and jinxed.

As they’re walking through the forest Harry is dismayed to find he’s lost his wand, leaving him feeling very vulnerable. Suddenly they hear a low voice hidden in the dark behind them utter an incantation. A gigantic skull made out of stars shoots into the sky, and terror breaks loose on the grounds. Before he knows what’s happening, dozens of witches and wizards have Apparated right next to him and are shooting Stunning spells through the trees. Harry’s further amazed when Barty Crouch accuses him of conjuring the Dark Mark, which is Voldemort’s sign. Things get even more confusing when it’s later discovered that Crouch’s house-elf, Winky, was Stunned and was carrying Harry’s wand.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione know that Winky didn’t conjure the Mark, but Crouch fires her anyway. When they get back to the campsite Harry discovers it was Death Eaters who were tormenting the Muggles. With much on his mind, it takes Harry a long time to fall asleep.

Chapter 10: Mayhem At The Ministry

Harry and the Weasley’s set off early the next morning for the Burrow. When they finally make it back they find Mrs. Weasley in a frantic state, and she is overjoyed that they’re not dead.

Over the next week Mr. Weasley reports that the Ministry is in complete mayhem over the appearance of the Dark Mark, especially after reporter Rita Skeeter from the Daily Prophet spreads rumors that bodies were discovered at the World Cup.

As Harry, Ron, and Hermione are packing up their belongings to go back to school, Mrs. Weasley brings in their school supplies she picked up for them in Diagon Alley. Ron is horrified at the dress robes she picked out for him. They’re very old, moldy, and tattered. He gets upset about being poor all the time, and shoves the robes angrily into his bag.

Chapter 11: Aboard The Hogwarts Express

The next day finds Mr. Weasley in a rush when he is summoned to help out ex-Auror Mad-Eye Moody, who used magic in front of Muggles when he thought he heard an intruder.

Mrs. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie take them all to the train, and leave them with tantalizing hints as to what special event is coming up at Hogwarts.

Later on during the day they get into a row with Malfoy when he scoffs at them for not knowing about the event. He teases Ron mercilessly over his dress robes, which happened to be hanging out of Ron’s suitcase. Harry is happy when they finally get in to Hogwarts, and when he sees Hagrid corralling the first years he knows he’s back where he belongs.

Chapter 12: The Triwizard Tournament

Once the Sorting is over, Harry digs into the feast, famished. When Hermione finds out from Nearly Headless Nick that all the food in the castle is cooked by house elves she’s horrified, and refuses to eat another bite, saying it’s cooked by "slave labor".

When Dumbledore starts his traditional start-of-term speech he’s just gotten past shocking them all by saying the Quidditch Cup will not be held this year when the Great Hall doors clang open. A wizened, peg-legged man stumps to the table and, to the amazement of everyone, Dumbledore announces that this man, Mad-Eye Moody, is the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

When the shock subsides a bit Dumbledore tells them that the reason no Quidditch Cup will be held is because the Triwizard Tournament will be hosted at Hogwarts this year. It’s a competition between the 3 wizarding schools of Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons. A School Champion is selected and competes in a series of tests for the honor of his or her school. Dumbledore tells them that there will be an age limit, since the tests are difficult and dangerous. Fred and George immediately start plotting on how they’re going to fool the impartial judge and get into the tournament.

Chapter 13: Mad-Eye Moody

When classes start the next morning Harry is happy to see Hagrid again, although he’s less than thrilled to see what they’ll be learning about in Care of Magical Creatures Class. Hagrid’s new project is Blast-Ended Skrewts, giant lobster looking creatures that smell like rotting fish, have stingers, and can burn you as well.

Things improve later that day when Malfoy starts taunting Ron’s family. He’s shaking with fury and Harry is just about to start dueling when Malfoy suddenly turns into a ferret right in front of everyone. Harry is confused until he sees Mad-Eye Moody stumping down the stairs. He berates Malfoy for trying to jinx Harry when Harry’s back is turned, and it’s only when Professor McGonagall comes that Malfoy is changed back to his normal self again.

Ron and Harry both agree that seeing Malfoy berated in front of the whole school is one of the best memories ever.

Chapter 14: The Unforgivable Curses

Their first class with Moody shocks them all when he demonstrates the Unforgivable Curses on spiders for them to see. Harry is disturbed to see what the Avada Kedavra curse looks like, since it’s that spell that killed his parents. They leave with a new-found respect for Moody.

Later that night Hermione finally tells them why she’s been spending so much time in the library. She’s started a new campaign called S.P.E.W., or, the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, and wants Harry and Ron to join. Harry is bemused at her, and before he can start teasing her about her new passion Hedwig makes an appearance on the Common Room windowsill. When Harry lets her in he’s relieved to finally get a reply back from Sirius, who tells him that’s he’s flying north immediately to be close to Harry. Harry is very upset at this, since he does not want Sirius to be caught and sent back to Azkaban.

Chapter 15: Beauxbatons and Durmstrang

Early the next morning Harry wakes with a plan. He writes Sirius back, telling him there’s no need to come back, that he’s fine and his scar doesn’t hurt at all. He’s resolved that Sirius not put himself in danger for his sake, and sends Hedwig off with the letter first thing.

In Defense Against the Dark Arts class a few weeks later, the entire class is surprised when Professor Moody announces that he’ll be putting the Imperius Curse on all of them so they can practice throwing it off. Only Harry is able to resist the curse, and Moody is mightily impressed.

With their schoolwork increasing to epic proportions, the weeks fly by. Before they know it the arrival of the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students is at hand. The castle is given a thorough scrubbing and when the day finally arrives all the students go out to the grounds to greet the arriving schools.

The first school to arrive is Beauxbatons. They arrive in a gigantic horse-drawn carriage, and the Headmaster, Madame Maxime, is the largest woman Harry has ever seen. She is as big as Hagrid, but elegant and beautiful in spite of her size.

The Durmstrang students arrive soon after in a gigantic ship that appears magically in the lake. Harry and Ron are astounded that Viktor Krum, the famous Quidditch player, is a student there and intends to become his school champion.

Chapter 16: The Goblet of Fire

At the feast that night Ron can’t help ogling at Krum, and then gets swept off his feet when he discovers one of the Beauxbatons students is a veela.

After they are done eating Dumbledore explains the rules of the Triwizard Tournament. The entire hall is breathless with anticipation when he unveils a goblet spewing forth blue flames. They’re all surprised when they hear it’s this goblet that it the "impartial judge" that will be deciding who the school champion is. Dumbledore also tells them that he’ll be drawing an Age Line around the goblet to ensure that no underage student puts their name in.

The next morning they all get a laugh when Fred and George, after taking an Aging potion, try to get past the line to put their names in. They’re instantly thrown back against the wall and sprout magnificent white beards that amuse everyone.

That night after yet another feast the whole school eagerly awaits the choosing of the school champion. Viktor Krum gets selected for Durmstrang, Fleur Delacour, the veela, from Beauxbatons, and Cedric Diggory for Hogwarts. The champions file out to a back room, and everyone thinks the event is over until the goblet spews forth one more name: Harry Potter.

Chapter 17: The Four Champions

Harry can’t believe it when his name is called out. Everyone is staring at him when he gets up and walks to the back room with the other contestants.

The air is tense with arguing over Harry’s involvement in the games. The other two schools believe that Dumbledore is trying to cheat a win with two champions, but Harry is not allowed to duck out. Professor Moody believes someone put Harry’s name in the goblet as a cleverly disguised assassination attempt. Harry doesn’t know what to believe, and is relieved when he finally gets back to the Common Room. His relief doesn’t last long however. When he gets upstairs he’s shocked to discover Ron doesn’t believe that he didn’t put his name in. They get into a heated argument, and both go to bed fuming.

Chapter 18: The Weighing Of The Wands

Harry writes to Sirius the next day about what happened with the Goblet of Fire. Ron is still furious with Harry, and Harry is not inclined to make up with him yet. The rest of the school also thinks Harry entered to get himself more attention, and they do not give him any peace about it.

During Potions class Harry is mortified when he’s summoned upstairs for a photo shoot with the rest of the champions.

When he gets to the classroom Rita Skeeter, the snooping journalist from the Daily Prophet, corners him for an interview. Harry is put out when he discovers the notes she is taking don’t tell the truth about him or what he’s saying, but he’s quickly rescued by Dumbledore, who summons him forward to have his wand weighed and inspected. After the photo session Harry is grateful to get down to dinner, and when he gets back up to the Common Room he discovers Hedwig has come with a letter from Sirius, who tells him to meet him at the Gryffindor fire in a few weeks.

Chapter 19: The Hungarian Horntail

Life at Hogwarts gets even worse for Harry when Rita Skeeter publishes her interview with Harry, and barely mentions the other champions.

The time until the first task speeds by, and with barely a week to go Hagrid asks Harry to meet him at midnight to see something important. When Harry follows Hagrid and Madam Maxime around the grounds he sees a scene that stops his heart. Gigantic dragons have been brought in for the first task. The champions job will be to retrieve the golden egg.

Harry is terrified, and when he meets Sirius in the fire later on he’s not feeling any better. He has no idea how he’ll accomplish the task. Sirius urges him to be careful, because he’s sure someone in the castle has it in for Harry and wants to kill him. He suspects is may be Karkaraff, the Durmstrang Headmaster, who used to be a Death Eater.

Harry has to cut his meeting with Sirius short when Ron walks into the Common Room. Harry is furious with him still, and they get into another row.

Chapter 20: The First Task

Harry and Hermione hit the books in order to find out how to defeat the dragon. He gives Cedric a tip-off about the dragons since he knows all the other champions found out about the dragons. When Moody sees him sharing information Harry thinks he’s in big trouble, but Moody ends up giving him a valuable hint on how he can defeat the dragons. He urges Harry to "play to his strengths", and Harry figures out that he can use his broom and fly around the dragon. He and Hermione spend hours and hours learning a Summoning Spell, and the night before the task he finally gets it.

When the task starts Harry is the last up to face his dragon. As he waits for his turn it’s agonizing to listen to the crowd cheering and gasping during the competition. When he’s finally up he Summons his Firebolt and kicks off into the air to face the dragon. He wows the crowd with his flying ability and manages to retrieve the egg faster than any other the other champions. Just when he thinks he can’t feel any happier, Ron finally apologizes and they become friends again.

Harry receives top marks for his task, and is tied with Krum for first place. He gets a mysterious clue about the next task, which will take place months from now in February.

Chapter 21: The House-Elf Liberation Front

Harry writes a huge letter to Sirius telling him all about the dragons. He’s so relieved to have Ron back on his side that the taunting he gets from other students no longer bothers him. He’s extremely put-out, however, when Rita Skeeter ferrets around the grounds and ends up interviewing Hagrid. Harry is afraid that Skeeter will twist everything he says, and Hermione agrees with him.

One day, on Hermione’s urging, they all troop down to the kitchens where Harry is amazed to find Dobby, the house-elf. He has been working for Hogwarts only a week and he’s much happier now. He gets paid and has days off, and even though the other house-elves think he’s off his rocker Dobby loves being free. Winky is also employed at Hogwarts but she’s thoroughly depressed at her freedom.

When they all leave the kitchens the house-elves give them tons of food to take with them. Hermione is very happy that Dobby has come to Hogwarts. She’s hoping his desire for freedom will rub off on the other house elves.

Chapter 22: The Unexpected Task

With Christmas approaching it’s announced that a Yule Ball will be held this year in honor of the Triwizard Tournament. Harry and Ron are both mortified at the thought of asking a girl to the dance. Harry is especially daunted when he finds out that, as a champion, he has to open the ball. As it draws closer gossip abounds on who is going with who, and there is only one girl whom Harry wants to ask: Cho Chang. When he finally works up the courage, however, he’s devastated when she tells him she’s already going with Cedric Diggory.

Ron makes a complete fool of himself by asking Fleur Delacour. Both of the boys are astounded when they find out even Hermione has a date, and in a fit of desperation Harry secures Padma Patil for a date and a Ravenclaw girl for Ron.

Chapter 23: The Yule Ball

As the night of the Yule Ball approaches Ron keeps trying to find out who Hermione is going with. Harry finally gets an answer back from Sirius, who congratulates him on his success with the dragon.

The night of the Yule Ball finds Ron in a horrendous mood. His dress robes are old and ugly, and he rips them in an attempt to get all the lace off. Both Harry and Ron are shocked when they see Hermione on the arm of Viktor Krum.

The night does not go well. Ron is livid that Hermione went to the ball with Krum, and he completely ignores his date, who soon ditches him for someone else. When Harry and Ron go for a walk to clear their heads they stumble upon Hagrid and Madam Maxime having a personal conversation they really don’t want to listen to. They also discover Snape and Karkaroff walking together in the gardens and arguing.

At the end of the night Harry gets a tip from Cedric on the upcoming task. Cedric tells him if he wants to discover the answer in the golden egg to go take a bath with it. Harry rolls his eyes, thinking that Cedric is putting him on.

Chapter 24: Rita Skeeter’s Scoop

Now that Christmas is over Harry is getting nervous about the next task. He’s reluctant to accept help from Cedric because he’s still jealous that Cedric took Cho to the ball.

The first day back to class finds another scathing article from Rita in the Prophet, only this time she focuses her rumor-mongering on Hagrid. Somehow, she overheard Hagrid and Madam Maxime’s conversation in the garden on the night of the Yule Ball, when he revealed that he was half-giant.

When they go into Hogsmead Harry is surprised when Ludo Bagmen offers him illegal help on the next task. When he sees Rita Skeeter sauntering into the 3 Broomsticks he gets into an argument with her over her story about Hagrid.

When they get back to Hogwarts they head over to Hagrid’s house. He hasn’t shown his face since the article came out, and when they pound on the door they’re shocked when Dumbledore opens the door. Hagrid is inside, crying, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione all tell him they don’t care that he’s a half-giant. When Harry gets back to the Common Room that night, he decides to see if Cedric’s hint is worth anything after all.

Chapter 25: The Egg And The Eye

He decides to take Cedric up on his offer to use the prefect’s bathroom and is amazed when he walks in and discovers a bathtub the size of a swimming pool. He gets some assistance on the clue from Moaning Myrtle, who spies on him from the side of the pool. When she tells him how to hear the egg’s message he discovers that something he loves will be taken from him and kept at the bottom of the lake. It will be Harry’s job to figure out how to breathe underwater to retrieve it.

When he leaves the bath he runs into trouble when, checking his Marauder’s Map, he sees Barty Crouch snooping around in Snape’s office. Since Crouch is supposed to be really sick, Harry’s curiosity gets the better of him and he sets off to investigate. His foot gets caught in the stairs and he’s almost discovered by Snape and Filch when Mad-Eye Moody shows up and steers them in the wrong direction. Moody is extremely interested when Harry tells him Crouch was inside Hogwarts, and Harry loans him his Marauder’s Map to help him investigate.

Chapter 26: The Second Task

Ron, Harry, and Hermione all hit the books again, this time to try to find a spell that will enable Harry to breathe underwater. As the days go by Harry becomes increasingly frantic when they turn up nothing that will help. The night of the next task seems like a nightmare, and as Harry keeps checking book after book he gets sleepier and sleepier. He wakes up on the morning of the second task to find Dobby poking him with a wad of slimy gillyweed, which he claims will help Harry breathe underwater.

Harry races to the lake and is almost late for the task. He eats the gillyweed and dives into the water, his job to retrieve what has been taken from him. When he finds the merpeople’s city he’s surprised to see people down there. Ron, Hermione, Cho, and a little girl are all down there, asleep.

It’s creepy down there and Harry tries to free everyone, staying until everyone else is taken but Ron and the little girl, who looks like she’s Fleur’s sister. He frees them both and is the last to return to the surface.

Even though he was the first to get to the captives he was the last to return, and feels like an idiot for waiting so long and ruining his chance for a win. He gets high marks, however, for showing moral fortitude.

Chapter 27: Padfoot Returns

Rita Skeeter strikes again when she publishes a story about Harry and Hermion’s love life, throwing Viktor Krum’s name into the mix as well. Hermione starts to wonder how she’s getting all this secret information.

They meet Sirius in Hogsmead a few days later in a hidden cave outside of town. They spend hours discussing the current mysterious absences of Barty Crouch, his history fighting Death Eaters, and who might be inside Hogwarts that wants to kill Harry.

Chapter 28: The Madness Of Mr. Crouch

Monday morning arrives and Hermione starts receiving hate mail in regards to Rita Skeeter’s article. She’s forced to go to the hospital wing when one of the letters causes her hands to break out in painful sores. She’s made it her mission to find out how Rita Skeeter is finding out information about people at Hogwarts.

One night Harry is summoned to the Quidditch pitch where he and the rest of the champions will find out about the last task. He’s surprised to discover that the pitch is full of hedges, which make a maze. Ludo Bagman tells them that for the last task they’ll have to get through the maze and overcome the obstacles that will be inside.

Viktor Krum pulls him aside as they’re all walking back to the castle, wanting to know if Harry and Hermione are going out. Harry tells him they’re just friends, and they start talking about Quidditch when, to their surprise, Barty Crouch stumbles out of the Forbidden Forest looking very disheveled and not acting himself. He keeps talking about Voldemort and Harry, and begs them to find Dumbledore. Harry streaks back to the castle to get the Headmaster.

When he gets Dumbledore they walk quickly back to the grounds, only to find Krum knocked out and Crouch missing. Karkaroff is livid that his student was attacked and comes close to threatening Dumbledore because of it.

Chapter 29: The Dream

Harry, Ron, and Hermione talk endlessly about the night’s events and what could have been wrong with Barty Crouch. Mad-Eye Moody urges Harry to prepare for the last task and learn defensive spells. Harry gets a scathing letter from Sirius, admonishing him for walking around with Viktor Krum.

He’s in Divination one day when he has a terrible vision of Voldemort attacking Wormtail. When he wakes up his scar is searing and he’s on the floor. Professor Trelawney is dying to know what Harry dreamed about, but he tells her he needs to go to the hospital wing. When he’s out of class he sets off for Dumbledore’s office, wanting to tell him the dream straight away.

Chapter 30: The Pensieve

When Harry gets to Dumbledore’s office he finds Cornelius Fudge and Mad-Eye Moody already in there. They leave for a walk on the grounds and Dumbledore tells Harry to wait for him until he gets back. As soon as they leave Harry’s curiosity gets the best of him when he sees a shallow basin full of a glowing substance. As he leans in closer to see what is inside the substance, his nose touches it and he’s pulled into the basin.

When he opens his eyes he realizes he’s in a dungeon with a younger Dumbledore, and realizes this must be a memory he’s seeing. He watches Karkaroff as he’s on trial for being a Death Eater, and then sees the trial of Crouch’s son, who is accused of being a Death Eater. It’s a disturbing scene, and Harry is grateful when the real Dumbledore pulls him back to the present.

Dumbledore explains that the bowl is a Pensieve, and the substance inside is his thoughts. He also explains Crouch’s son was accused of torturing Neville Longbottom’s parents into insanity, and that is why he was sent to Azkaban. Harry is horrified at this knowledge, and promises to tell no one about Neville’s parent’s.

Chapter 31: The Third Task

As the days slip past towards summer, Harry spends all his free time practicing defensive spells. Things are going well until yet another story comes out about him, written by Rita Skeeter. Somehow she knew he had collapsed because of his scar, and she writes about him being "disturbed and dangerous". Hermione is livid but suddenly has a brain wave as to how Rita is getting all this information. She races off the library to look something up, leaving a perplexed Harry and Ron at the breakfast table.

Harry is thrilled when Mrs. Weasley and Bill show up to watch him do the third task. As evening approaches Harry feels less nervous than before the previous two tasks. He knows he’s done all he can to prepare and is looking forward to the competition being over.

The third task starts well for Harry. He has to get through many obstacles in the maze, and then has to rescue Cedric when Krum uses an Unforgivable Curse on him. The boys go their separate ways after that, but Harry is really starting to want to win the Cup. When he finally makes it to the middle of the maze he gets there the same time as Cedric. They both fight together against a gigantic spider that’s guarding the Cup, and then, on Harry’s insistence, they grab the Cup together to share the win. As soon as they both touch the cup, however, they’re jerked out of the maze.

Chapter 32: Flesh, Blood, And Bone

When they open their eyes they discover they’re in a cemetery. Not sure if this is part of the task or not, they get their wands out quickly. A figure approaches them and suddenly kills Cedric with the Avada Kedavra curse.

Harry is reeling with shock, and barely registers when Wormtail ties him to the grave of Tom Riddle. Wormtail prepares a cauldron and drops an ugly, horrific looking creature inside the water. He takes blood from Harry, sacrifices his own hand, and uses a powerful spell to bring Lord Voldemort back to his full strength.

Chapter 33: The Death Eaters

Voldemort is exultant about having a body again, and quickly summons his Death Eaters to him. He questions all of them about their actions, and then tells them all about how he came back to power, using a faithful servant planted inside Hogwarts and the opportunities that the Triwizard Tournament offered. He then turns his attention to Harry. He wants to duel with him, to show his Death Eaters that Harry is no more than a boy. He tells Wormtail to untie him, and give him back his wand.

Chapter 34: Priori Incantatem

As Harry starts to duel with Voldemort he begins to lose any hope that he’ll make it out of the graveyard alive. He’s cowering behind a gravestone when he resolves not to die afraid, and stands back up to face Voldemort. They both shout spells at the same time and the two spells meet in the air, forming a long beam of light connecting the two wands. Both Harry and Voldemort are surprised at this turn, and somehow Harry knows he should not break the connection. As they both rise in the air, still clutching their connected wands, a dome of light encircles them both. From all around him a phoenix begins to sing, and Harry’s heart is filled with hope.

Suddenly, Voldemort’s wand begins spewing forth ghostly images of the people he recently killed, starting with Cedric. Moments later, images of Harry’s parents come out of the wand. They tell him to hold on, and whisper a way for him to get out. Harry suddenly breaks the connection as the ghosts surround Voldemort, blocking his vision. Harry sprints to the Portkey and, clutching Cedric’s body, grasps the handle and is jerked back to school.

Chapter 35: Veritaserum

Harry is dazed and confused when he opens his eyes back at Hogwarts. Dumbledore is by his side immediately and Harry tells him that Voldemort is back. Shock waves reverberate through the crowd when they hear of Cedric’s death, and Dumbledore has to leave quickly to head off Cedric’s father, who is running quickly towards them.

Mad-Eye Moody helps Harry up to his office and questions him about what happened. Harry is astounded when he learns that Mad-Eye has been the traitor all along, that he’s a Death Eater and has been plotting against Harry all year. Just as he raises his wand to kill Harry he’s Stupefied by Dumbledore, who comes crashing into Moody’s office to rescue Harry.

Harry finds out that the real Mad-Eye Moody has been locked up all year in a trunk, and the impersonator is none other that Barty Crouch’s son, whom everyone believed dead.

Dumbledore gives Crouch a dose of Veritaserum, a truth-telling potion, and he tells them all how he managed to stay alive and get into Hogwarts to help the Dark Lord kidnap Harry.

Chapter 36: The Parting Of The Ways

When Crouch is done with his story, Dumbledore takes Harry back to his office where Sirius is waiting. Harry is still numb from shock, but Dumbledore urges Harry to tell him everything, even though Harry would rather just go to sleep. As he tells his story, however, Harry finds that the pain is relieved a bit, as though a weight is lifted off his chest. Harry finds out that his wand’s core, a phoenix feather, comes from Dumbledore’s phoenix, Fawkes.

When Harry is finally done with his story Dumbledore takes him to the hospital wing for a peaceful sleep. He’s awoken far too soon, however, by Fudge’s loud voice echoing through the hallway. Dumbledore is incensed to find out that Barty Crouch has been kissed by a dementor on orders from Fudge, rendering him unable to give testimony or speak further about anything. Fudge refuses flat out to believe that Voldemort is back, and he and Dumbledore get into a fierce argument about it. When Fudge storms out, Dumbledore immediately springs into action. Sirius reveals himself to the Weasley’s and Snape, and Dumbledore starts issuing orders, recalling members of the old Order that fought Voldmort when he was powerful before.

Chapter 37: The Beginning

The next few days pass in a blur to Harry. He finds out that Hagrid and Madam Maxine are about to go on a journey for Dumbledore to help in the fight with Voldemort, but he won’t say what it is. The last feast is a painful affair for Harry. Cedric’s memory is honored, and Dumbledore tells the school that Voldemort has come back.

On the way back to London Harry finds out a big secret of Hermione’s. She finally discovered how Rita Skeeter was getting all sorts of information on people at Hogwarts. She found out that Rita is an unregistered Animagus - a beetle. And she’d been flying around the grounds snooping on people all year. Hermione threatened to tell the Ministry about her illegal shape-changing unless she held off writing gossip for one full year.

Harry decides to give Fred and George his winnings so they can realize their dream to open a joke shop. He feels slightly better when he gets off the train and leaves with the Dursley’s.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book III)

2010-12-08T01:12:00.000-08:00

Chapter 1: Owl Post

It’s been another long summer for Harry Potter. Cut off from the wizarding world completely and tormented by the Dursley’s, he’s really looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts where he belongs. He finally gets letters from his friends Ron, Hermione, and Hagrid on the night of his birthday. He gets his first ever birthday cards and some really nice presents. Ron tells him that his dad won a contest and they’re spending the prize money on a trip to

Egypt

Chapter 2: Aunt Marge’s Big Mistake

The next morning Harry’s heart sinks when he hears that Aunt Marge, Uncle Vernon’s sister, is coming for a visit. Harry makes a deal with Uncle Vernon, saying he’ll be as normal as possible while Marge is here if Uncle Vernon will sign his permission slip that will allow Harry to visit the village of Hogsmead during the weekends. After Uncle Vernon leaves to pick up Marge, Harry clears at his room, trying to make it look like a Muggle room.

The week of Marge’s stay is almost unbearable. She delights in insulting Harry, and makes constant suggestions for his improvement. Harry is able to hold his temper until her last night there, when she starts insulting Harry’s parents. Before he can help it, he swells Marge into a giant balloon and refuses to put her right again. He packs his trunk in a rage, and bolts out the door into the night.

Chapter 3: The Knight Bus

Once Harry cools down a bit he realizes he’s in a lot of trouble. He just did illegal magic and is sure he’s going to get expelled from Hogwarts. As he’s formulating a plan for living alone in London, he feels himself being watched. He turns around and just makes out a hulking shape in an alleyway, glaring at him. Surprised, he trips over his trunk and somehow manages to flag down the Knight Bus. Stan Shunkpike, the conductor, informs him that the Knight Bus can take him to London and Harry climbs aboard, still uneasy about the dog-like shape he saw in the alley.

As Harry tries to ride the Knight Bus, which is extremely lurchy, he sees in the Daily Prophet that a man, Sirius Black, has broken out of Azkaban and is very dangerous. He was a big supporter of Voldemort, and killed 13 people with one curse.

When Harry finally gets dropped off at Diagon Alley he’s amazed to be met by the Minister of Magic himself, Cornelius Fudge. Fudge takes him inside the Leaky Cauldron and tells him that he’ll be staying there until school starts. Harry is amazed to find out that not only is he not getting punished for his illegal magic, but that he’s also allowed to stay away from the Dursley’s for the last two weeks of summer vacation.

Chapter 4: The Leaky Cauldron

Harry is so happy to be back in the wizarding world he almost doesn’t know what to do with himself. He’s able to do his homework in the bright sunshine at Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor and has fun people watching. One day he’s walking along window shopping when he sees that a new broom has come out, The Firebolt. It’s the best model available, and Harry has to muster all his strength not to spend his money on the superb broom.

Ron and Hermione meet up with Harry right before school starts. Hermione buys a cat, Crookshanks, and Ron buys some rat tonic for Scabbers, who has been looking sickly.

After dinner that night with Hermione and the entire Weasley family, Harry overhears Mr. and Mrs. Weasley having an argument about him. Harry finds out that Sirius Black has a vendetta against him, and might be coming to Hogwarts to kill him. He also finds out that dementors have been stationed outside Hogwarts for protection against Black.

Chapter 5: The Dementor

As they’re boarding the train the next day to head back to school, Mr. Weasley tries to tell Harry about Black, but Harry lets him know that he overheard the argument the night before and that he’s not that afraid. When the train starts he, Ron, and Hermione find a car and Harry tells them about Black’s vendetta. They’re both shocked and scared that Harry is in danger.

Right at dusk the train stops unexpectedly before they get to the castle, and all the lights go out. They can barely make out someone boarding the train, and then the mysterious thing opens their car door. Suddenly, Harry hears screaming and then collapses onto the floor. When he comes to he feels very sick and very ashamed, as no one else collapsed or got so sick. Professor Lupin, the teacher they were sharing their car with, tells him it was a dementor that came onto the train, and that they suck all the happiness out of people.

When they get to Hogwarts Malfoy is positively gleeful when he hears that Harry collapsed on the train, and immediately starts imitating him. Before the feast begins they find out that Professor Lupin is the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, and that Hagrid has been promoted to Care of Magical Creatures professor.

Chapter 6: Talons And Tea Leaves

When course schedules are passed out the next morning, Hermione seems to be trying to set a new record for course loads. There are times when she has 3 classes at once, and she mysteriously avoids questions as to how she’s going to accomplish such an amazing feat.

As they sit down to their first ever Divination Class Harry is dismayed when Professor Trelawney predicts that Harry has the Grim in his teacup. The Grim is a black dog that is an omen of death, and this means Harry doesn’t have long to live.

That night Harry tells Ron and Hermione that he saw a black dog the night he left the Dursley’s house, and Hermione passes it off as coincidence.

The next day during Hagrid’s first class as professor things take a disastrous turn when Malfoy, refusing to listen to Hagrid’s instructions, insults the hippogriff’s they’re studying and gets injured by one.

Hagrid is devastated that his first class goes so badly, and that night they cheer him up by telling him it’s all Malfoy’s fault for not listening to the directions.

Chapter 7: The Boggart In The Wardrobe

During Potions class later that week Malfoy drops mysterious hints to Harry about Sirius Black that leaves Harry wondering what Malfoy knows that Harry doesn’t.

During their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class Lupin troops them upstairs to the staff room to battle their first boggart, which is a shape-shifting creature that turns into whatever you’re most afraid of. Everyone is successful except for Harry. When it comes to his turn Lupin steps in and gets rid of it before Harry can even test his skills against it.

Chapter 8: Flight Of The Fat Lady

As Lupin’s popularity grows among the student, Harry is still wondering why Lupin did not want him to battle the boggart. He thinks Lupin might think that he, Harry, doesn’t have the strength to face the creature, and feels pretty low about it. Ron and Hermione get into a huge fight over their animals. Crookshanks, Hermione’s cat, keeps trying to eat Scabbers, Ron’s rat.

He cheers up a bit when the Quidditch season finally starts, but the good mood doesn’t last long. With the first Hogsmead weekend coming up, Harry still can’t go because no one has signed his permission form.

While everyone else is away enjoying themselves in town, Harry wanders into Lupin’s office and finally voices his bewilderment about the boggart and questions Lupin about why he didn’t allow him to fight it. Lupin admits that he was afraid the boggart would turn into Lord Voldemort and scare everyone, but Harry tells him he’s more afraid of the dementors than Voldemort.

When Ron and Hermione return from Hogsmead they bring him tons of candy, and that night at the Halloween Feast they all stuff themselves full of delicious food. When they return to the Common Room, however, they discover the Fat Lady has disappeared and her portrait has been shredded. When Dumbledore shows up Peeves informs him that she refused Sirius Black entrance when he didn’t know the password, and that he cut up her painting in his rage.

Chapter 9: Grim Defeat

The entire school is sequestered in the Great Hall that night as the professors search the school for Sirius Black. He isn’t found, and the school talks of nothing else the next few days.

When the day of Gryffindor’s first Quidditch match arrives, Harry is dismayed to find the weather in a terrible state. As the match starts, Harry can’t see anything because of the torrential rain. Suddenly, Harry sees the huge black dog again and soon after spots about a hundred dementors on the grounds. His head is again filled with screams and shouting, and before he knows it, Harry passes out.

When he awakes he’s in the hospital wing, and more ashamed than he can say. He finds out that Cedric Diggory got the Snitch just as Harry collapsed and that they lost the game. Just when he thinks he can’t feel any worse he finds out from Ron and Hermione that his broom was destroyed when he fell off. It drifted into the Whomping Willow and was beaten to splinters.

Chapter 10: The Marauder’s Map

Harry realizes a few days later that the screaming he hears inside his head every time the dementors come around is the screams of his mother right before she is killed by Lord Voldemort. When he returns to classes Monday morning, Malfoy teases Harry endlessly for collapsing over the dementors.

Harry asks Professor Lupin why the dementors affect him so strongly, and Lupin tells him that dementors force people to relive the worst memories of a person’s life. Harry is affected more than the other students because he has horrors in his past that the others don’t have. Harry is cheered slightly when Lupin promises to start teaching him defense against the dementors after the Christmas break.

The day of the last Hogsmead visit before break finds Harry downcast over not being able to go again. Fred and George cheer him up immensely when they give him a secret map of Hogwarts that shows all the secret passages out of school, as well as the location of everyone in the castle.

Harry grabs his Invisiblity Cloak and then uses one of the passageways to sneak into Hogsmead. He quickly finds Ron and Hermione, and they head off to Three Broomsticks so Harry can taste his first butterbeer. Harry overhears some of the Hogwarts professors and Hagrid talking about Sirius Black, and he’s shocked to find out that Black used to be best friends with his father, and that Black is the one who betrayed his parents to Voldemort.

Chapter 11: The Firebolt

Harry doesn’t really know how to deal with this new information. He realizes he hates Sirius Black for what he did, and as the Christmas break starts the knowledge that Black is free enough to drive Harry out of his mind with anger.

He decides to go visit Hagrid to ask him why he never bothered to tell Harry anything about Black, but shoves the idea away when Hagrid tells him that Buckbeak, the hippogriff that attacked Malfoy, will be put to death in a few months. Hagrid is devastated and Harry, Ron, and Hermione try hard to cheer him up. Hermione promises to help Hagrid in his defense against Buckbeak.

As he opens presents the next morning Harry is shocked to unwrap a brand new Firebolt. He has no idea who sent him such a princely gift. Hermione and Ron get into another fight about their pets, but it’s Harry’s turn to get mad at her later that night. She brings in Professor McGonagall to look at Harry’s Firebolt, and McGonagall quickly takes away the broom. Harry is livid with her, and Hermione tells him she thinks that Sirius Black sent Harry the broom as a trap.

Chapter 12: The Patronus

Harry can’t forgive Hermione over the Firebolt despite her good intentions. He cheers up with the start of his private lessons with Lupin, and is anxious to learn how to defend himself against the dementors. Lupin tries to teach him the Patronus Charm, which is a guardian of happy thoughts that fights against the dementor. Lupin brings in a boggart for him to practice on, but Harry finds the charm extremely difficult. Every time the boggart is let loose, Harry hears more and more of the night his parent’s were murdered.

As the lessons wear on Harry doesn’t improve nearly as fast as he’d like to, although he is making progress. Lupin is quite proud of him. Harry cheers up when Professor McGonagall gives him back his Firebolt, proclaiming it safe to use, and Harry makes up with Hermione.

Right after they make up, however, she and Ron get into another huge fight when Ron finds blood on his sheets and little cat hairs around them. He accuses Crookshanks of eating Scabbers.

Chapter 13: Gryffindor Versus Ravenclaw

Harry’s first match on his Firebolt is nothing short of amazing. The broom is superb, and Harry flies faster than anyone else. When 3 dementors show up during the match Harry doesn’t think twice. He shoots off an enormous Patronus Charm at them and then quickly catches the Snitch. When he lands he’s thrilled to discover that the dementors were actually Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle dressed up as a cruel joke, and they’re in big trouble for being involved in such a dirty trick.

That night, Ron awakes everyone by his screaming, and insists that Sirius Black was standing over him with a knife. When Professor McGonagall questions the Sir Cadogen, the portrait, he admits that Sirius Black was admitted into the Common Room because he had the password on a little slip of paper. Neville shamefully admits to writing them all down, and then losing the paper.

Chapter 14: Snape’s Grudge

Security inside Hogwarts is tightened after this near miss, and Neville is in total disgrace.

Harry decides to sneak into Hogsmead again with the Marauder’s Map in spite of Hermione threatening to tell on him. Harry is under his Invisibility Cloak when Malfoy and his cronies show up and start picking on Ron. Since he’s invisible, Harry decides to pick on them right back. To Ron’s delight, he ends up scaring them all senseless. Right at the end, however, Harry’s hood slips off his head and Malfoy sees him. Harry tears back up to Hogwarts before Malfoy can tell on him, and barely makes it back in time.

Snape drags him into his office and starts questioning Harry ruthlessly about being in Hogsmead. Snape then discovers the Marauders Map that Harry is carrying but can’t figure out how to get it to work. Lupin comes in and covers for Harry, confiscating the map himself. He scolds Harry later for leaving the school and for having the map, and tells him that this is the one and only time he’ll get Harry out of trouble.

Just when Harry can’t feel any worse, Hermione informs him and Ron that Hagrid lost his case and that Buckbeak is indeed going to be executed.

Chapter 15: The Quidditch Final

Ron and Hermione finally make up when Ron resolves to help Hermione save Buckbeak. Hermione shocks them all when she hears Malfoy berating Hagrid and suddenly slaps him. She surprises them again when, in Divination, she explodes at Professor Trelawney and quits the class for good.

As the last Quidditch match of the season approaches, tensions are high with expectations. Harry is unnerved when, the night before the match, he again sees the the Grim, only this time the shaggy dog is walking with Crookshanks on the grounds. The next day’s match against Slytherin is brutal, but Grynffindor plays spectacularly and they win the Quidditch Cup.

Chapter 16: Professor Trelawney’s Prediction

As exams begin an odd hush falls over the castle. The execution of Buckbeak is scheduled for the end of the week, and Hagrid is depressed and preoccupied as the date draws nearer.

During his Transfiguration exam, Professor Trelawney surprises Harry with a real prediction. She slips into a trance, and tells him that tonight Voldemort’s supporter will escape and rejoin his master, and will help him rise again. When she comes to she remembers nothing of the prophecy.

That afternoon Hagrid sends them all a note, telling them that Buckbeak lost his appeal and that he’ll be executed at sunset. They all sneak out under Harry’s Invisibility Cloak to be with him when it happens. When they get to Hagrid’s hut, Hermione is shocked to find Scabbers hiding in the cabinet, and then Hagrid shoo’s them all away when the executioner shows up. They sneak off back towards the castle, and are dumbfounded when they hear the dull thud of the ax and Hagrid’s cries.

Chapter 17: Cat, Rat, and Dog

None of them can believe that the executioner really killed Buckbeak. They numbly make their way back towards the castle, but suddenly Scabbers starts going crazy. He bites Ron and then takes off through the grass, followed closely by Crookshanks. Ron takes off after him and just manages to catch the rat and put him back in his pocket. Suddenly, the gigantic black dog Harry has been seeing attacks Ron, drags him to the Whomping Willow, and disappears out of sight.

They can’t figure out how to get inside until Crookshanks shows them the way. They slip into a tunnel that leads to the Shrieking Shack. When they find Ron upstairs Ron tries to tell them that Sirius Black is the great black dog, but he doesn’t have enough time. Sirius Black disarms them.

Harry explodes with rage, remembering how Black betrayed his parents, and suddenly attacks Black. When he has his wand back and Black cornered, Black tries to tell him there’s more to the story but Harry doesn’t want to listen. He’s trying to muster the will to kill him when he’s interrupted by Professor Lupin, who disarms Harry and helps Sirius to his feet. Harry is incensed at the betrayal, and is even more shocked when Hermione tells them all that Lupin is a werewolf. Lupin admits that Harry needs to hear the full story, and starts explaining. He tells them that the story starts with Ron’s rat, Scabbers. He says that Scabbers is really a wizard by the name of Peter Pettigrew, who is supposed to be dead.

Chapter 18: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, And Prongs

As Lupin starts the story, he tells Harry that he, Sirius, Peter, and Harry’s father James all used to be best friends at Hogwarts. He tells them that, because he was a werewolf, his three friends became unregistered Animagi to help him during his transformations. Lupin tells Harry that Snape was almost killed one night when Sirius put him in harm’s way during one of Lupin’s transformations, and it was James that pulled him back and saved his life. Just as Lupin as finishing this tale, Snape shows up and disarms them all.

Chapter 19: The Servant Of Lord Voldemort

Snape is deranged with anger, and quite out of his head. He resolves to let the dementors kill Black as soon as they’re outside, and Hermione pleads with Snape to let Lupin finish the story, which might prove Sirius’s innocence. Snape refuses, and suddenly he’s attacked by Harry, Ron, and Hermione and knocked out cold.

Lupin quickly finishes his story, telling Harry that all this while it was Pettigrew that had betrayed Harry’s parent’s, not Sirius. He forces Scabbers reveal himself to his true form, and they’re all amazed when the rat turns into the short, balding Peter Pettigrew. When they question him about Lily and Jame’s murder, he finally admits to selling them out to Voldemort. Harry believes Sirius was telling the truth all along, and then begs them not to kill Pettigrew. They tie him up, and head back up to the castle.

Chapter 20: The Dementor’s Kiss

As they’re walking up to the castle Sirius tells Harry that he is Harry’s godfather. He says that if Harry ever wanted a different place to live, he could come live with him. Harry is overjoyed at the thought, and is happier than he can say.

Suddenly, things start to go terribly wrong. Lupin begins transforming into a werewolf once he catches sight of the full moon. Sirius urges them all to escape and turns back into a dog in order to protect them from Lupin. Pettigrew, in all the commotion, manages to turn back into his rat form and takes off through the grass.

Harry then hears Sirius in pain and takes off after him. He’s terrified to see that Sirius has been surrounded by dementors, and tries to fend them off but can’t because there are just too many. Just as one of them is about to kiss him and suck out his soul for good, someone jumps out of the bushes and repels them all away with a huge Patronus Charm. Harry feebly looks at him, and then passes out.

Chapter 21: Hermione’s Secret

When Harry comes to he’s in the hospital wing. He goes ballistic when he hears from Fudge that they have Sirius locked and that the dementors will be giving him a kiss any minute. Harry tries to tell him about Sirius’s innocence and Pettirgrew’s betrayal, but Fudge won’t listen. It’s only when Dumbledore shows up that Harry has a spark of hope.

Dumbledore quickly forms a plan that will allow Harry and Hermione to help Sirius escape. They use a Time-Turner of Hermione’s that takes them 3 hours back in time. It is revealed that Hermione received the Time-Turner from Professor McGonagall at the start of term and that she has been using it to take classes scheduled at the same time.

They rescue Buckbeak from his execution, Harry saves himself from the dementors, and they rescue Sirius from his locked room right before the dementors show up to kiss him. Sirius thanks them with all his heart and flies away into the night on Buckbeak’s back.

Chapter 22: Owl Post Again

Fudge and Snape are livid when they find out that Sirius escaped, but Fudge certainly doesn't suspect Harry and Hermione, who supposedly never left their hospital beds, while Snape is almost too convinced Harry had had a hand in Black's escape. Dumbledore then shoos Snape away, and Fudge orders the dementors to leave.

The next day Harry is saddened to hear that Lupin has resigned. Everyone found out that he is a werewolf, so he’s leaving voluntarily.

On the train home they’re all surprised when a small owl shows up outside their car window, bearing a letter from Sirius. Sirius explains that it was him that sent Harry the Firebolt as a present, and he also encloses a signed permission form that will allow Harry to visit Hogsmead next year. He gives the owl to Ron since Scabbers is no longer his pet rat.

Ron cheers Harry up by telling him that the Quidditch World Cup is this summer and that Harry might be able to go with him, and Harry gets immense pleasure by informing the Dursley’s that his long-lost godfather is a convicted murderer and that he’ll be checking up on Harry. Uncle Vernon is at a loss for words at this news, and Harry, with a grin, sets off for Privet Drive.

--------END-------

Harry Potter and the Chamber Secrets (Book II)

2010-12-08T01:10:00.000-08:00

Chapter 1: The Worst Birthday

Harry is having the worst birthday ever. Not only have the Dursley’s completely forgotten about Harry turning 12, but Uncle Vernon is having his boss over for dinner in order to complete a very important sales deal. This means that Harry has to spend the evening sequestered in his room, making no noise and pretending he doesn’t exist. He has gotten no cards, and no presents, and feels absolutely invisible. As he dully scuttles up to his bedroom when the guests arrive he’s surprised to find there’s a strange creature already sitting on his bed.

Chapter 2: Dobby’s Warning

The creature turns out to be a house elf named Dobby. To his horror, Dobby turns out to be highly emotional, and his weedy-thin voice carries down the stairs where Uncle Vernon is negotiating his dinner meeting with his boss. Harry knows he’ll be in big trouble if the night goes awry, so he tries hard to keep Dobby quiet. It’s hard because Dobby worships Harry, and has come to tell him he must not return to Hogwarts. Dobby can’t tell him any specifics though. Harry is also livid to find out that Dobby has been stealing all of his mail so he would think he didn’t have friends at school.

As Dobby refuses to give Harry back his letters, he makes Harry promise he won’t go back to Hogwarts and put himself in danger. Of course, Harry refuses, and to his dismay Dobby and the letters disappear. Harry runs downstairs to find him, and his heart stops when he sees Dobby in the kitchen, floating a gigantic pudding in midair. When Harry again refuses to stay home from Hogwarts, Dobby drops the gigantic pudding on the floor, sending it flying all over the kitchen.

He’s promised death by Uncle Vernon, who manages to gloss the whole thing over. It ends badly, however, when an owl sent by the Ministry of Magic arrives and terrifies the guests. Harry is admonished by the Ministry for performing magic outside of school and when Uncle Vernon finds that Harry is not allowed to use magic during vacation he locks Harry up in his room and installs bars on his windows.

Three days after his imprisonment, Harry wakes up to find Ron Weasley floating outside his window.

Chapter 3: The Burrow

Harry is amazed to find that Ron, Fred, and George have come to take him home in a flying car that their father owns. Using the car they pull the bars off Harry's bedroom window and load Harry’s stuff in. Harry barely makes it away from the grasp of Uncle Vernon, but finally pulls free and they gleefully set off into the night towards Ron’s home.

As Harry catches them up on the Dobby fiasco, none of the boys really believe Dobby was telling the truth about there being a dangerous plot in Hogwarts.

Harry is ecstatic when they finally get to the Burrow but it doesn’t last more than a moment when Mrs. Weasley, Ron’s mother, comes stalking out of the house, livid that the boys confiscated the car and risked so much to go get Harry. Her rage doesn’t last too long, however, and she makes them a delicious breakfast.

Mr. Weasley gets a taste of his wife’s rage a bit later when he comes home from work and catches it from her for enchanting the car to fly. Harry and Ron retreat to his room to escape the battle and Harry admits to Ron that he loves the messy, scattered house that Ron calls home.

Chapter 4: At Flourish And Blotts

Life at the Burrow is completely different from life with the Dursley’s and Harry is very happy spending the last bit of summer vacation there. When booklists arrive from Hogwarts they plan to meet up with Hermione in Diagon Alley and all do their shopping together.

They travel to Diagon Alley using Floo powder, which allows wizards to travel from one fireplace to another. Harry is nervous about traveling this way and, to his horror, he ends up in some dark magic shop. He overhears Draco Malfoy’s father, Lucius, selling a bunch a poisons to the shop owner and as soon as he can, he creeps out and starts looking for Diagon Alley.

He’s very much relieved to bump into Hagrid, who quickly steers him the right direction and they meet up with the Weasley’s and continue their shopping.

When they get to the bookstore they’re all surprised to see famous author Gilderoy Lockhart there signing copies of his latest book. He takes a publicity photo with Harry and then announces that he’ll be arriving at Hogwarts shortly to assume the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. They bump into the Malfoy’s and Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy almost get into a fight when Mr. Malfoy insults his family. Harry is definitely glad to get back to the Burrow.

Chapter 5: The Whomping Willow

They’re running extremely late the morning they all have to meet the Hogwarts Express. Tempers are high and Ron and Harry are the last ones to push through the barrier to meet the train. They’re both stunned, however, when the gate seals itself against them and they’re stuck at the Muggle station, unable to get through.

They panic until Ron gets the brilliant idea to use the flying Ford Anglia to get to Hogwarts. They set off immediately, following the train through the air. Just as they reach Hogwarts, however, the car dies and they crash into a gigantic tree on the grounds. Ron’s wand is broken almost in half and they quickly figure out that the tree they’ve landed in is intent on killing them.

When they finally make it up to the school, they’re met by Snape, who promises them expulsion since Muggles saw them in the flying car. When Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall show up, however, they are relieved to discover they’re not expelled. They are still in a lot of trouble, though, but only get a detention.

They’re the heroes of the Gryffindor common room that night and Harry is extremely happy to be back at Hogwarts when he finally climbs into bed.

Chapter 6: Gilderoy Lockhart

Their first day back does not start off well. Ron gets a Howler from his mother, who is furious with him for stealing the car. Then Professor Lockhart accuses Harry of stealing the car to earn himself a bit more fame, even when Harry assures him whole-heartedly that this is not so.

Lessons prove to be extremely difficult, and Harry feels that everything he learned the previous year fell out of his head over the summer. His first class with Lockhart proves to be unbelievable. Lockhart is completely in love with himself and doesn’t teach them anything useful at all. He brings along a cage full of Cornish pixies and when they prove to be almost impossible to control, he assigns Ron, Harry, and Hermione the task of capturing them and leaves quickly with the rest of the class.

Chapter 7: Mudbloods And Murmurs

Harry tries hard to avoid Lockhart the rest of the week and by the time the weekend comes he’s ready for a break. His newest fan, first year Colin Creevey, follows Harry down to Quidditch practice and keeps adding fuel to the fire as he hero-worships Harry constantly. Harry is dismayed to find out that Draco Malfoy is Slytherin’s new Seeker and bought his whole team brand new brooms. He calls Hermione a terrible word, “Mudblood”, and Ron is horrified when he tries to curse Malfoy with his broken wand and ends up cursing himself.

Harry finds out later that afternoon that his detention will be with Lockhart, of all people, helping him respond to his fan mail. As he’s in the office with Lockhart he hears a strange, whispery voice that Lockhart can’t hear at all. Later, this voice proves to be the Basilisk. He’s unnerved about it when he goes to bed that night.

Chapter 8: The Deathday Party

When the Gryffindor ghost, Nearly Headless Nick, gets Harry out of trouble with Filch one day, Harry is so grateful he agrees to come to Nick’s deathday party on Halloween night. When he, Ron, and Hermione show up, however, he can’t wait to leave. It’s creepy and uncomfortable and full of other ghosts.

When they finally manage to sneak out, Harry again hears the scary voice in the walls. Even though Ron and Hermione are right next to him, they couldn’t hear it at all. It whispers about killing someone and Harry races down the hall after it. They follow it into a hallway where they’re shocked to find a message written in red, proclaiming the Chamber of Secrets to be opened again, and Filch’s cat, Mrs. Norris, frozen and dead looking.

Chapter 9: The Writing On The Wall

When Dumbledore shows up they immediately follow him into Lockhart’s office, where Harry is strangely reluctant to tell him about the voice only he can hear.

The next few days all anyone can talk about is the Chamber of Secrets. In their History of Magic class, Professor Binns tells them that the legend of the Chamber goes back centuries. Apparently Slytherin built a secret chamber within the school and sealed a monster inside it magically. No one but Slytherin’s true heir would be able to open the chamber but once they did the monster would purge the school of all Muggle-borns.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione spend the evening obsessively discussing the Chamber of Secrets and poking around for clues. Harry begins to think that Malfoy might be the Heir of Slytherin and they quickly come up with a plan to find out. They’re going to try to make Polyjuice Potion, which will make them look like someone else, and sneak into the Slytherin common room to interrogate Malfoy.

Chapter 10: The Rogue Bludger

They trick Lockhart into giving them permission to use the Restricted Section in the library and take out the book they need to brew up some Polyjuice Potion. They’re horrified when they realize they’re going to have to steal a bunch of the ingredients and that the potion will take a month to brew but they resolve to go forward with the plan.

During the first Quidditch match of the season Harry realizes that someone has cursed one of the bludgers because it won’t stop going after him. Fred and George do all they can do to protect him but Harry decides to take care of it on his own by out-maneuvering it. Just as he is about to catch the Snitch, however, it hits his arm hard and breaks it. He manages to reach out with his other hand, grab the Snitch, and win the game for Gryffindor.

As soon as he lands he passes out from the pain and when he comes to he finds Lockhart standing over him, attempting to cure him. When he casts the spell he ends up removing Harry’s bone, not mending it.

He has to spend the night in the hospital wing as Madam Pompfrey regrows the bones in his arm and in the middle of the night he’s awakened by Dobby of all things. He’s livid when he finds out it was Dobby that prevented him from getting on the train and apoplectic when Dobby admits to cursing the Bludger. He still can’t tell Harry what’s happening at Hogwarts and wants him to go home so he isn’t killed.

Suddenly Dobby vanishes when he hears someone coming as Dumbledore walks in to the hospital wing with Professor McGonagall. They’re carrying someone who is stiff as a board and when Madam Pomfrey comes in she’s horrified at what she sees. Colin Creevey has been petrified just like Filch’s cat, Mrs. Norris. Harry overhears Dumbledore saying the Chamber of Secrets has indeed been opened again.

Chapter 11: The Dueling Club

When Harry gets out of the hospital wing he meets up with Ron and Hermione, who have started working on the Polyjuice Potion. They decide to cause a diversion in Snape’s class so they can steal the ingredients they need and Hermione shocks them both by volunteering to do the actual stealing. The plan goes perfectly and they get what they need.

Lockhart starts a Dueling Club later that week and the first meeting is a disaster when Malfoy and Harry duel and Malfoy shoots a snake out of his wand at Harry. All Harry does is tell the snake to go away but for some reason it terrifies all the students and Ron rushes him out of the room. Harry later finds out that he is a Parselmouth and can talk to snakes. Now everyone thinks he’s Slytherin’s heir and is responsible for opening the Chamber of Secrets. When another student is attacked, Harry is taken to see Dumbledore.

Chapter 12: The Polyjuice Potion

Before Dumbledore can confront Harry, Hagrid bursts through the door, screaming that Harry had nothing to do with the latest victim. Dumbledore quickly assures him that he does not believe Harry was involved but he asks Harry if there’s anything he’d like to tell him. Again, Harry does not reveal he can hear a voice in the walls and says nothing.

During Christmas, Harry, Ron, and Hermione all stay at Hogwarts in order to finally get into Slytherin’s common room to question Malfoy. The potion is finally ready on Christmas Day, and to their amazement Hermione already has a well-thought-out plan for how it’s going to work. They put Crabbe and Goyle to sleep with enchanted cupcakes and use a piece of their hair to throw into their respective potions. Before they know it, Ron and Harry are looking just like Crabbe and Goyle. Hermione is hysterical for some reason and refuses to come out of her restroom stall, so they leave without her.

They quickly run into Malfoy and make it into the common room, where they’re shocked to discover that Malfoy has no idea who the heir of Slytherin is. They barely make it out of the common room without being detected after the Polyjuice Potion suddenly begins to wear off.

When they make it back to the bathroom they finally persuade Hermione to come out of her bathroom stall and are horrified to discover she still looks like a cat after accidentally using a cat hair in her potion.

Chapter 13: The Very Secret Diary

Hermione has to stay in the hospital wing for weeks and is grateful to Ron and Harry for bringing her homework to her every evening.

One evening, Ron and Harry are walking down the hall when they hear Moaning Myrtle sobbing harder than she ever has before. She informs them that someone threw a book at her and when Harry picks it up he’s intrigued because it looks just like a diary and he sees that it once belonged to someone named T. M. Riddle. To his disappointment it’s blank but, not quite knowing why, he pockets the book.

One night he starts writing in the diary and is amazed when the diary starts writing back to him, talking to him.

The boy, Tom Riddle, tells Harry that he was the one that caught the person who opened the Chamber of Secrets the first time. Tom invites Harry into his world to see how he caught the person. Nervously, Harry agrees and is pulled into the diary. He follows Tom into a secret passageway and is shocked beyond belief when he discovers it was Hagrid that was responsible for opening the Chamber the first time.

Chapter 14: Cornelius Fudge

Harry, Ron, and Hermione are shocked that Hagrid could have anything to do with the Chamber of Secrets but they decide not to confront him about it.

One day, Harry is surprised to find out someone pilfered his trunk, looking for something, and he quickly realizes that Riddle’s diary is gone. The next day on their way down to the next Quidditch match, Harry again hears the whispering voice. The game is just about to start when Professor McGonagall announces that the game has been cancelled and she brings a confused Harry and Ron up to the hospital wing. They’re shocked to find out that Hermione has been Petrified along with a Ravenclaw girl.

After the latest double attack, security is tightened immensely. Desperate, Harry and Ron sneak to Hagrid’s house to ask him about opening the Chamber the first time. Before they start talking about it, however, they must quickly hide when someone else knocks on the door. They’re shocked when Dumbledore and the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, enter, shortly followed by Lucius Malfoy. Hagrid is taken away to Azkaban as a “precaution”, and Dumbledore is forced to step down as Headmaster. Before he leaves, Hagrid gives them a mysterious hint, telling them to follow the spiders if they want more information.

Chapter 15: Aragog

Harry and Ron finally find some spiders to follow, and they head into the Forbidden Forest after them. They are extremely unnerved by the creepy, dark forest. Amazingly enough, they find Ron’s dad’s car, the flying Ford Anglia, roaming about the Forest. Suddenly they’re captured by gigantic spiders and are taken back to a nest that is filled with thousands of other spiders. Ron, who has a fear of spiders, is completely petrified and Harry is too. He really doesn’t see how they’re going to get out of there alive.

The leader, a gigantic spider named Aragog, tells them that Hagrid raised him from a tiny egg and protected him when the Chamber of Secrets was opened before. Aragog tells them that the beast that’s in the castle is one that spiders fear above all others but won’t tell them what it is.

Just when Harry and Ron are about to be eaten, the Ford Anglia comes to their rescue and gives them a ride out of the forest.

Chapter 16: The Chamber Of Secrets

Harry finally figures out that Moaning Myrtle is the girl that was killed the first time the Chamber was opened, so the first chance they get, they sneak off to her bathroom to question her. They’re caught by Professor McGonagall, though, and tell her that they’re on their way to visit Hermione in the hospital wing. She buys the story but they have no choice after that but to head up and visit Hermione. While they’re up there, Harry spots a piece of paper in her hand and, once they tug it free, they read that she discovered what the beast was--a basilisk, which is a gigantic snake that kills people with it’s stare (people were Petrified because they saw the eyes indirectly, in different ways). Hermione also wrote down the word “pipes”, which is how the beast was getting around the castle.

They immediately head to the staff room to tell Professor McGonagall this new information but overhear some tragic news. Ginny, Ron’s sister, has been taken captive by the monster. The other professors commit Lockhart to finding the monster since he’s always boasting about the things he’s done, so Harry and Ron head to his office later to tell him the new information. To their amazement, they find him about to run away and he tells them that he never did any of the stuff he wrote about. He’s about to wipe their memory, but Harry threatens him. Since Lockhart has little skill, he drops his wand and they all troop to Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom to question her.

She tells them where they can find the beast and they quickly set off through the tunnels to rescue Ginny. When Lockhart tries again to curse them and escape, Ron’s wand backfires on him and Harry and Ron get separated in the collapsed tunnel. Harry continues on to the Chamber alone.

Chapter 17: The Heir Of Slytherin

When he reaches the Chamber, he quickly finds Ginny, who is unconscious. Tom Riddle is also there and Harry is horrified when he realizes that Tom has stolen his wand and he’s the one that opened the Chamber--by possessing Ginny--and set loose the basilisk. She’s been writing in the diary all year and Tom took advantage of her through the diary. Harry finds out that Tom Riddle is really a school-aged Lord Voldemort.

As Riddle talks, Harry tells him that Dumbledore is the best wizard there is. Fawkes, Dumbedore’s phoenix, suddenly shows up bearing the Sorting Hat. Harry’s not sure what he’s supposed to do with a hat as a weapon but when Riddle calls forward the basilisk to kill him, he doesn’t have to worry just yet. Fawkes swoops down and pokes its eyes out.

Terrified, Harry wishes there was someone down there to help him and as soon as he mumbles this the Sorting Hat spits forth a beautiful sword. Harry is able to drive the sword into the roof of the basilisk's mouth but is bitten on the arm in the process. Harry is sure he is dying and Fawkes flies over and cries over his arm, healing Harry with his tears. Fawkes then grabs the diary and drops it in Harry’s lap and, not quite knowing why, he stabs the diary with the fang that the basilisk left in his arm. This destroys Riddle and leaves Harry alone with Ginny in the Chamber.

As they make their way back to Ron, Ginny is horrified over what she’s done. Fawkes helps them all out of the Chamber and they head immediately to Professor McGonagall’s office.

Chapter 18: Dobby’s Reward

Harry tells Dumbledore and the very relieved Weasley’s everything that happened down in the Chamber. Ginny is not punished for being tricked by Voldemort and Ron and Harry are both honored for their service to the school.

When everyone else has left the office, Dumbledore shows Harry that he truly belongs in Gryffindor because the sword that came out of the Sorting Hat was Godric Gryffindor’s sword.

When Harry leaves the office he runs into Lucius Malfoy and Dobby in the hallway. Dobby is cowering before his master, terrified, and suddenly Harry gets an inspiration. Dobby helps him figure out that it was Lucius that passed Ginny the diary before school started in Flourish and Blotts. Harry is able to pass Lucius the diary back in a dirty sock and when Malfoy throws away the sock in disgust Dobby catches it and is set free. Malfoy is livid that Harry lost him his servant but Dobby is more grateful than he can say for being freed.

The end of term feast is one of the finest that Harry has ever seen and as he sets off back to the Dursley’s, he’s already looking forward to the end of the summer--when he can come back to Hogwarts.

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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Or the Philosopher stones (BOOK I)

2010-12-08T01:08:00.000-08:00

Chapter 1: The Boy Who Lived

As Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, start their normal, Tuesday routine, there is nothing to suggest that this Tuesday is going to be different from any other Tuesday. They are a family that is very boring, very predictable, and very committed to being as normal as possible. Because Mrs. Dursley has a sister that is none of these things, they pretend she does not exist.

When Mr. Dursley finally leaves for work, he is disgruntled to find out that there are things happening on this Tuesday that are simply not regular. There are people walking around in cloaks, owls flying all around, and a host of other weird things that happen during the day to push him into a foul and confused mood.

When he finally drifts off to sleep that night he’s glad that the weird day is over, or so he thinks. Outside, a strange old man is discussing current event with a tabby cat who just turned into a very severe looking woman. The man is a wizard, Albus Dumbledore, and he tells the woman that Voldemort, the evilest wizard that ever was, was destroyed when he tried to kill little Harry Potter, and that no one knows why this is so. Harry’s parents were killed, and he’s bringing Harry to live with his aunt and uncle, the Dursley’s.

Chapter 2: The Vanishing Glass

It’s been 10 years since that fateful night. Harry is still living with the Dursley’s, although you can’t tell it from looking at the house. They force him to live in the cupboard under the stairs, and the only clothing he gets are hand-me-downs from Dudley, who is about 10 times bigger than Harry.

It’s Dudley’s birthday, and due to the neighbor, Mrs. Figg, breaking her leg, Harry’s allowed to go with them to the zoo instead of to Mrs. Figg's house. As Dudley and his friend wander off, Harry starts a conversation with a boa constrictor, who tells him he’d very much like to go to his home back in

Burma

. When Dudley pushes Harry onto the floor to watch the snake, the glass suddenly disappears and the boa is slithering away, thanking Harry for setting him free and causing a panic in the zoo. The Dursleys know immediately Harry is responsible, and they punish him soundly as soon as they get home.

Chapter 3: The Letters From No One

It’s Harry’s longest punishment ever. When he is finally free again summer has started, and one morning he’s amazed when a letter arrives just for him. As soon as Uncle Vernon sees him trying to open the letter he seizes it, and refuses to let Harry read it.

When the post comes the next day another letter for Harry is in there, but again Uncle Vernon will not allow him to read it. As the days go by the number of letters and the craziness of their arrival increases, Uncle Vernon starts to become dangerously unhinged over the affair. He takes increasingly drastic measures to prevent Harry from reading the letters, and when a boatload of letters come in on Sunday, when there is no "post" (British slang for mail), he finally forces them all into the car, where they drive all day to a remote location just so the post won’t be able to follow them.

The next day finds them still on the road, and this time Uncle Vernon takes them to a miserable shack on an island. That night, as Harry counts down the seconds to his birthday, something gigantic knocks on the door of the shack.

Chapter 4: The Keeper Of The Keys

A giant has forced his way into the shack. Harry is amazed when the giant, who introduces himself as Rubeus Hagrid, knows who he is, knows it’s his birthday, and brings him his first ever birthday cake.

Hagrid is shocked to find out that Harry knows nothing about Hogwarts School, and is livid when he finds out that Harry doesn’t know anything about his parents, or even the fact that he’s a wizard. The Dursley’s never told Harry anything about his past, or his parents, and it’s with complete disbelief that Hagrid sets about telling Harry the truth about his life.

Harry can’t believe that he’s a real wizard or that his parents were killed, not in a car crash as the Dursley's had told him, but by an evil wizard named Voldemort. He finds out that he’s the one who destroyed Voldemort when Voldemort tried to kill him too. When Hagrid finishes the tale, Harry feels upset because he’s sure there’s been a mistake. He can’t be a wizard!

Hagrid convinces him otherwise, and Harry is thrilled when Uncle Vernon insults Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster, and Hagrid gives Dudley a pig’s tail in retribution.

Chapter 5: Diagon Alley

The next morning Harry wakes up, trying to convince himself it was all a dream. When he opens his eyes and finds Hagrid still in the shack he so happy he doesn’t know what to do.

Hagrid takes him shopping for his school supplies in a section of London called Diagon Alley, which is just for witches and wizards. Harry is taken aback when he’s treated like a celebrity by everyone. He even gets to meet one of his teachers, Professor Quirrel, in the Leaky Cauldron Pub.

Harry is amazed when they get to Gringotts Bank to take out some of his inheritance. There’s a small fortune in there, and he can’t believe the way his life has changed overnight. While they’re in Gringotts Hagrid also takes out a mysterious package from a vault for Dumbledore, and in spite of Harry’s questioning he won’t tell him what it is.

When he goes in to get fitted for his school robes he meets a boy he doesn’t like at all. Hagrid buys him a beautiful owl for his birthday present, and Harry is most excited to get his new wand. He tries a variety of different wands on for size, and finally finds his match in a wand with a phoenix feather core. Mr. Ollivander, the wandmaker, informs him that the phoenix that supplied his feather gave another feather, which is in the core of Lord Voldemort’s wand.

Harry's sad to say goodbye to Hagrid, but is very much looking forward to his first day of school.

Chapter 6: The Journey From Platform Nine And Three-Quarters

The last month with the Dursley’s crawls by, and when Harry finally gets dropped off at the station he’s flabbergasted to find that there’s no such thing as a platform 9 ¾. He is starting to panic until he sees a wizarding family going through the barrier, and the kindly mother shows him how to get through.

When the train gets going the red-haired boy he saw at the platform shares a car with him. The boy’s name is Ron, and they become fast friends. They eat their way through a pile of sweets once the lunch cart comes around, and Harry learns loads from Ron about the wizarding world.

Later that afternoon they meet a bossy girl named Hermione, and after that he meets the pale boy he saw in Diagon Alley. His name is Draco Malfoy, and Harry’s dislike of him deepens even further.

He’s thrilled to see Hagrid when he gets to school, and he’s taken to the front doors by boat with the other first- years.

Chapter 7: The Sorting Hat

They’re taken inside by Professor McGonagall, who is a very severe looking teacher. They’re then taken into the Great Hall for the Sorting Ceremony, and Harry is extremely nervous about which House he’ll be Sorted into.

When it’s Harry’s turn to put on the hat, he begs the hat not to put him in Slytherin and the hat places him in Gryffindor, which is also the same house that Ron and Hermione get Sorted into.

After a very yummy feast, Professor Dumbledore informs all the students that a corridor on the third floor is out-of-bounds "to those who do not wish to die a most painful death". Harry is not quite sure if he’s kidding or not.

Chapter 8: The Potions Master

As Harry gets through his first day of lessons he’s awkwardly aware that most of the other students stare and whisper about him. The end of the week finds him in his first Potions class with Professor Snape, and it’s a disaster. Snape humiliates Harry in front of Draco Malfoy and all the other Slytherins by asking him questions about potions that no one has learned yet (except perhaps Hermione, who's studied all her books). Snape clearly hates him, although Harry has no idea why.

When he goes down to Hagrid’s hut for tea he takes Ron to meet him. Harry again reads about the break-in at Gringotts, and wonders if the package that Hagrid took out was what the thief was really after.

Chapter 9: The Midnight Duel

As the days progress Harry realizes he really hates Malfoy. When he finds out that Gryffindor’s flying lessons will be held with the Slytherins he’s downhearted, sure that Malfoy is going to torment him endlessly.

When fellow Gryffindor Neville Longbottom gets injured on his first attempt at flying, Madam Hooch leaves the class to take him up to the hospital wing. Malfoy immediately sets about insulting Neville, and Harry sticks up for him. Before he knows what he’s doing, he jumps on his broomstick and takes off through the air after Malfoy, who is already flying, despite threats of expulsion from Madam Hooch if they are caught while she is away. He’s astonished to find out that flying is something he knows how to do without being taught. He loves flying, and pulls off some astonishing moves before he lands. To his dismay, Professor McGonagall saw the whole affair, and in a furious temper drags him back up to the school.

To his surprise, not only does she not murder him for his extensive rule breaking, but she allows him to join the Gryffindor Quidditch team as their new Seeker.

During dinner a furious Malfoy challenges Harry to a wizarding duel at midnight, and Harry accepts. Hermione follows them out of the common room, trying to dissuade them from going, and ends up getting stuck outside. She has no choice but to go with them to the duel.

When they show up at the trophy room, however, they realize that Malfoy set them up, and set Filch about to punish them for being out of their beds. They quickly hide, and take off down the corridor to escape him. They hide in a room on the third floor when Peeves discovers them, and are terrified to find themselves face-to-face with a gigantic 3-headed dog - they had gone through the forbidden corridor. They race back to the common room, and Hermione points out to them that the dog was guarding a trap door.

Chapter 10: Halloween

The next morning Harry and Ron discuss the night’s events over breakfast, and Harry is dumbfounded when he gets a brand new Nimbus 2000 broom delivered by owl. Hermione is refusing to talk to them because of the rule-breaking that went on the night before, but the boys hardly care. They only have eyes for Harry’s new broomstick.

That night is his first training session with Wood, the Gryffindor Quidditch Team Caption, and Harry loves the game. His time at Hogwarts slips by effortlessly because he’s so busy and happy, and he’s astonished when Halloween finally rolls around.

During the feast that evening, Professor Quirrell comes in fainting, shouting at the top of his lungs that there is a troll in the dungeons. As they’re shepherded back to the common room, Harry and Ron realize that Hermione doesn’t know about the troll because she’s in the bathroom, and they sneak off to warn her about it.

They battle with the troll in order to save Hermione and end up knocking it out after a lengthy struggle. Hermione shocks them all by lying to Professor McGonagall that it’s all her fault. She saves the boys a severe punishment, and they don’t get in trouble (Hermione does lose 5 points for Gryffindor, although Harry and Ron each won 5 for their part). After that, the three are inseparable.

Chapter 11: Quidditch

As the first match between Gryffindor and Slytherin draws closer, Harry is nervous about performing in his first game. When Harry goes to Snape’s office to see if he can have his Quidditch book back (which Snape confiscated), he overhears Snape talking about the 3-headed dog, and also discovers that Snape was bitten by it.

The first game is nerve-wracking for Harry. His broom stick suddenly starts jerking out of control and it’s only when Hermione spots Snape mumbling an incantation in the crowd and sets his robe on fire that it stops. As Harry pelts back to the ground he manages to catch the Snitch in his mouth, and Gryffindor wins the game.

During tea back at Hagrid’s hut, Hagrid unwittingly tells them the 3-headed dog belongs to him, (and is named Fluffy) but he lent it to Dumbledore to guard something. When Harry asks what Fluffy is guarding, Hagrid lets slip that the mysterious object is between Dumbledore and someone named Nicolas Flamel.

Chapter 12: The Mirror of Erised

As Christmas approaches Harry is thrilled to be able to stay at the castle instead of going back to Privet Dr. Ron and his brothers are staying over during the holidays as well, and they spend a very enjoyable break lazily playing chess and tormenting each other.

When Christmas morning dawns Harry is amazed to find he has a small pile of presents. One of them is an invisibility cloak which, according to the anonymous note that came with it, used to belong to his father. Harry is dumbfounded to have such a princely gift.

That evening Harry decides to go on a night-time stroll in his new cloak. When Filch almost catches him in the library’s Restricted Section, Harry hides in an unused classroom until the danger has passed. In the room is a magnificent mirror, and when Harry looks at it he’s shocked to see many people looking back at him. When he takes a closer look, he realizes that the people looking back at him are his parents and other family members.

The next day all Harry can think about is the mirror, and that night he sneaks back with Ron in order to see his family again.

The third night finds Harry at the mirror again, staring at his parents, but this time Albus Dumbledore is in the room. He explains that the mirror shows the desire that is deepest in Harry’s heart. He says gently that the mirror will be moved, and Harry should not go looking for it anymore.

Chapter 13: Nicolas Flamel

When term starts again Harry is horrified to find out that Snape is going to be refereeing the next match. On a brighter note, Harry discovers that Nicolas Flamel worked on alchemy with Dumbledore. Once Hermione has this information, she informs them that Flamel is the only known maker of the Sorcerer’s Stone, whose elixir makes the drinker immortal.

The match ends quickly in a Gryffindor victory when Harry catches the Snitch in record time. After the game, Harry spots Snape sneaking out to the Forbidden Forest, and he races after him to see what he’s up to. He sees Snape threatening Professor Quirrel and asking him if he got past the 3-headed dog yet. Ron and Hermione can’t believe when they hear this new development.

Chapter 14: Norbert The Norwegian Ridgeback

One afternoon they go to visit Hagrid and are shocked to find out he’s got a dragon egg and is trying to hatch it. A few weeks later they get a note from him that it’s finally hatching. When they go visit him during break Malfoy, who overheard their conversation, sneaks down and peeks in the window. He sees the baby dragon, and to their horror races back up to the school.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione come up with the brilliant idea to send the dragon to Ron’s brother, Charlie, who works with dragons in

Romania

. The dragon is growing astonishingly quickly, and they’re worried Hagrid will be dead or fired soon because of Norbert. They immediately send an owl to Charlie to see if it’s a good idea, and eagerly await his reply.

He quickly writes back, saying that he can come pick up the dragon in secret the coming weekend. Malfoy finds out about that plot, but the night of the dragon’s departure comes and Malfoy is caught by Professor McGonagall for being out of bed so late at night. They don’t breathe a sigh of relief until the dragon is picked up and finally out of sight.

Chapter 15: The Forbidden Forest

Things go quickly downhill when, on their way back to the common room, they get caught by Filch and taken to Professor McGonagall’s study. They lose Gryffindor a record number of points as punishment, and the next morning the other students are shocked that they’re now out of the running for the House Cup.

Harry tries hard to stay on the straight and narrow, but one night he overhears Professor Quirrell sobbing that he’ll do something, and Harry fears that Snape has finally succeeded in threatening Quirrell to tell him how to get the Sorcerer’s Stone. The next night Harry, Hermione, Malfoy, and Ron must serve their detention for getting caught out of bed by Filch . Their punishment is to go with Hagrid into the Forbidden Forest to help him find an injured unicorn that is roaming about the forest. Harry and Malfoy eventually find the dead unicorn with a cloaked figure stooped down, drinking its blood. Malfoy bolts in terror, and Harry is saved by a centaur that chases the figure away.

Harry finds out from the centaur that unicorn blood will keep you alive when nothing else will and that it is Voldemort who is in the forest drinking the blood.

Chapter 16: Through The Trapdoor

Harry finally gets through his exams, but suddenly figures out that Hagrid let it slip to a complete stranger how to get past Fluffy. He realizes that the stranger who gave Hagrid the dragon egg was either Snape or Voldemort himself.

When Harry races to find Dumbledore he’s shocked to find out the Headmaster is gone. He resolves to try to get to the Stone first so Snape can’t steal it, and he’s bolstered when Ron and Hermione offer to go with him.

When they get to Fluffy they see that Snape already got past the dog. When they sneak past and jump through the door they land on a dangerous plant, Devil’s Snare. Thanks to Hermione’s quick thinking they narrowly avoid becoming entangled, and continue onward toward the Stone.

They then have to catch a winged key to get through the next door, and the next challenge is a gigantic chess game. Thanks to Ron’s brilliancy at chess, they play their way across, but Ron is knocked unconscious at the end and they have to leave him behind.

When Hermione helps him through the last challenge, Harry must go on alone. When he finally makes it into the last room, he’s surprised to find neither Snape nor Voldemort has come for the Stone.

Chapter 17: The Man With Two Faces

It’s Professor Quirrell who's waiting for Harry in the last room. He reveals that all this time Snape was trying to stop him, not take the Stone for himself, and it was Quirrell who tried to kill Harry at the Quidditch match, not Snape. Harry is dumbfounded by all this, and doesn’t know what to do.

He tells Harry that the Sorcerer’s Stone is hidden in the enchanted mirror that Harry looked in months before, and Harry starts furiously working out how to get the Stone before Quirrell does. When he finally manages a look in the mirror, the Stone drops mysteriously into his pocket, unbeknownst to Quirrell.

Harry is horrified when, a few minutes later, Quirrell undoes the turban wrapped around his head and Voldemort peers out at him. They begin to fight and Quirrell finds out he can’t touch Harry without suffering intense pain. Harry tries to fight him longer, hoping to stay alive, but he passes out.

He wakes up in the hospital wing with Dumbledore sitting by his bed, smiling. He finds that Dumbledore arrived just in time to save him, and that the Stone has been destroyed. Harry questions Dumbledore about why his parents were killed, but Dumbledore refuses to answer, saying that Harry will know when he is older. However, Dumbledore does explain that the reason that Professor Quirrell cannot touch him is because Harry's mother died to save him, leaving a protection of love, witch is one thing that Voldemort cannot understand. When he leaves the hospital wing, Harry is thrilled to see Ron and Hermione again and to find out they’re both all right. Things absolutely can’t get any better when, the next night at the end of the year feast, the efforts of Harry, Hermione, and Ron earn Gryffindor enough points to surpass Slytherin and win the House Cup. It’s by far the best night of Harry’s life.

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The Bread of Salt Summary

2010-09-23T18:11:00.000-07:00

As an author, N.V.M. Gonzalez usually wrote about the Filipino life and Filipinos in general. One of his most remarkable short stories is “The Bread of Salt”. The story is about a young boy who was very much in love with a girl named Aida but he was turned down mainly because of the difference in class that he later realized. However, this story is unlike any other typical love story. In fact, story is talks more about the painful realization of the young boy who was blinded from reality. In opening scene, we are told about the great Spanish house where Aida lived and from the line “I often wondered whether I was being depended upon to spend the years ahead in the service of this great house”, it clearly shows the difference of their classes. As we all know, in the real world, classes are a hindrance to love and marriage which the boy failed to realize from the very start because of his young age. Young boys naturally tend to think.

one of his dreams was becoming a rich and famous violinist. As we can see, the boy's experience to find out the truth is really painful, that even at the last part; it was quoted "the bread is not ready", which suggests that the boy is not quite ready to accept the real world. The pan de sal symbolizes the boy and by giving the task of buying the the pan de sal every morning to the girl, it shows how he is trying to escape from the reality so he could concentrate more on his dreams. He had wrongly regarded Aida as "his world" and thus it was painful to finally realize that he has no chance. He also had so many plans for Aida, including writing love letters and buying her a brooch. Unfortunately, how could one concentrate on his dreams if he is only at the aged of fourteen and has not even finished studying? Finally in the last part, the turning point of the story, where he hid the "egg yolks dip in honey and peppermint" in his pocket, he was caught by Aida. He has even thought of marrying Aida in the future. In the middle part of the story, the boy was relieved and was happy when he found out that her aunt brought a maid with her and that, his task of buying pan de sal every morning is now given to the "poor girl". This just shows that no matter how hard he tries to hide his "true" self, it will eventually, one day, come out. These things clearly show that the boy was very much in love with Aida so much so that he forgot that in this world not all dreams really come true. revolves around them and this is why the young boy had a lot of dreams and plans. He had already felt like he was part of the "higher class" since he was invited to the party but the truth is, his not. Some can be full of joy and happiness others not but no matter what, the realities of this world often dictates what will and must happen. If from the very start, the boy had accepted the realities of this world, maybe he would not have been to "hurt" at the last part.

Children of the city Summary

2010-09-23T18:07:00.000-07:00

"Children of the City" is a short story written by the Filipino contemporary author,
Amadis Ma. Guerrero.

The story is about the life of Victor, an eight year old boy whose father was involved in a company menace because of unjust salaries and compensations. His father joined the employee's strike and there he met his death when he was shot by the police officers managing the chaos in the strike. Victor was shocked to know the sudden death of his father on a newspaper. He and his mother were in deep pain upon hearing his father's death.

Soon, her mother had a new husband. She left Victor to his older brother. There, he was trained to be a newspaper boy in the dangerous streets of Avenida. He met there many children doing just like what he is. In those dark street he learned how to curse-say bad words and smoke cigarette because he was influenced by a group of unmannered teenagers. He found himself alone in the street, sometimes being beat up by bullies.

The story ended when the author realized how cruel the world is...

"... And Victor, swirled the life of the city: this city, flushed with triumphant charity campaigns, where workers were made to sign statements certifying they received minimum wage, where millionaire politicians received Holy Communion every Sunday, where mothers taught their sons and daughters the art of begging, where orphans and children from broken homes slept on pavements and under darkened bridges, and where best friends fell out and betrayed one another."

Desiderata Written by Max Ehrmann

2010-09-22T00:08:00.001-07:00

-- written by Max Ehrmann in the 1920s --
Not "Found in Old St. Paul's Church"! -- see below

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

The Chieftest Mourner by Aida Rivera Ford

2010-07-07T23:45:00.000-07:00

The Chieftest Mourner by Aida Rivera Ford

He was my uncle because he married my aunt (even if he had not come to her these past ten years), so when the papers brought the news of his death, I felt that some part of me had died, too.I was boarding then at a big girls' college in Manila and I remember quite vividly that a few other girls were gathered about the lobby of our school, looking very straight and proper since it was seven in the morning and the starch in our long-sleeved uniform had not yet given way. I tried to be brave while I read that my uncle had actually been "the last of a distinct school of Philippine poets." I was still being brave all the way down the lengthy eulogies, until I got to the line which said that he was "the sweetest lyre that ever throbbed with Malayan chords." Something caught at my throat and I let out one sob--the rest merely followed. When the girls hurried over to me to see what had happened, I could only point to the item on the front page with my uncle's picture taken when he was still handsome. Everybody suddenly spoke in a low voice and Ning, who worshipped me, said that I shouldn't be so unhappy because my uncle was now with the other great poets in heaven--at which I really howled in earnest because my uncle had not only deserted poor Aunt Sophia but had also been living with another woman these many years and, most horrible of all, he had probably died in her embrace!Perhaps I received an undue amount of commiseration for the death of the delinquent husband of my aunt, but it wasn't my fault because I never really lied about anything; only, nobody thought to ask me just how close an uncle he was. It wasn't my doing either when, some months after his demise, my poem entitled The Rose Was Not So Fair O Alma Mater was captioned "by the niece of the late beloved Filipino Poet." And that having been printed, I couldn't possibly refuse when I was asked to write on My Uncle--The Poetry of His Life. The article, as printed, covered only his boyhood and early manhood because our adviser cut out everything that happened after he was married. She said that the last half of his life was not exactly poetic, although I still maintain that in his vices, as in his poetry, he followed closely the pattern of the great poets he admired.My aunt used to relate that he was an extremely considerate man--when he was sober, and on those occasions he always tried to make up for his past sins. She said that he had never meant to marry, knowing the kind of husband he would make, but that her beauty drove him out of his right mind. My aunt always forgave him but one day she had more than she could bear, and when he was really drunk, she tied him to a chair with a strong rope to teach him a lesson. She never saw him drunk again, for as soon as he was able to, he walked out the door and never came back.I was very little at that time, but I remembered that shortly after he went away, my aunt put me in a car and sent me to his hotel with a letter from her. Uncle ushered me into his room very formally and while I looked all around the place, he prepared a special kind of lemonade for the two of us. I was sorry he poured it out into wee glasses because it was unlike any lemonade I had ever tasted. While I sipped solemnly at my glass, he inquired after my aunt. To my surprise, I found myself answering with alacrity. I was happy to report all details of my aunt's health, including the number of crabs she ate for lunch and the amazing fact that she was getting fatter and fatter without the benefit of Scott's Emulsion or Ovaltine at all. Uncle smiled his beautiful somber smile and drew some poems from his desk. He scribbled a dedication on them and instructed me to give them to my aunt. I made much show of putting the empty glass down but Uncle was dense to the hint. At the door, however, he told me that I could have some lemonade every time I came to visit him. Aunt Sophia was so pleased with the poems that she kissed me. And then all of a sudden she looked at me queerly and made a most peculiar request of me. She asked me to say ha-ha, and when I said ha-ha, she took me to the sink and began to wash the inside of my mouth with soap and water while calling upon a dozen of the saints to witness the act. I never got a taste of Uncle's lemonade.It began to be a habit with Aunt Sophia to drop in for a periodic recital of woe to which Mama was a sympathetic audience. The topic of the conversation was always the latest low on Uncle's state of misery. It gave Aunt Sophia profound satisfaction to relay the report of friends on the number of creases on Uncle's shirt or the appalling decrease in his weight. To her, the fact that Uncle was getting thinner proved conclusively that he was suffering as a result of the separation. It looked as if Uncle would not be able to hold much longer, the way he was reported to be thinner each time, because Uncle didn't have much weight to start with. The paradox of the situation, however, was that Aunt Sophia was now crowding Mama off the sofa and yet she wasn't looking very happy either.When I was about eleven, there began to be a difference. Everytime I cam into the room when Mama and Aunt Sophia were holding conference, the talk would suddenly be switched to Spanish. It was about this time that I took an interest in the Spanish taught in school. It was also at this time that Aunt Sophia exclaimed over my industry at the piano--which stood a short distance from the sofa. At first I couldn't gather much except that Uncle was not any more the main topic. It was a woman by the name of Esa--or so I thought she was called. Later I began to appreciate the subtlety of the Spanish la mujer esa.And so I learned about the woman. She was young, accomplished, a woman of means. (A surprising number of connotations were attached to these terms.) Aunt Sophia, being a loyal wife, grieved that Uncle should have been ensnared by such a woman, thinking not so much of herself but of his career. Knowing him so well, she was positive that he was unhappier than ever, for that horrid woman never allowed him to have his own way; she even denied him those little drinks which he took merely to aid him into poetic composition. Because the woman brazenly followed Uncle everywhere, calling herself his wife, a confusing situation ensued. When people mentioned Uncle's wife, there was no way of knowing whether they referred to my aunt or to the woman. After a while a system was worked out by the mutual friends of the different parties. No. 1 came to stand for Aunt Sophia and No. 2 for the woman.I hadn't seen Uncle since the episode of the lemonade, but one day in school all the girls were asked to come down to the lecture room--Uncle was to read some of his poems! Up in my room, I stopped to fasten a pink ribbon to my hair thinking the while how I would play my role to perfection--for the dear niece was to be presented to the uncle she had not seen for so long. My musings were interrupted, however, when a girl came up and excitedly bubbled that she had seen my uncle--and my aunt, who was surprisingly young and so very modern!I couldn't go down after all; I was indisposed.Complicated as the situation was when Uncle was alive, it became more so when he died. I was puzzling over who was to be the official widow at his funeral when word came that I was to keep Aunt Sophia company at the little chapel where the service would be held. I concluded with relief that No. 2 had decamped.The morning wasn't far gone when I arrived at the chapel and there were only a few people present. Aunt Sophia was sitting in one of the front pews at the right section of the chapel. She had on a black and white print which managed to display its full yardage over the seat. Across the aisle from her was a very slight woman in her early thirties who was dressed in a dramatic black outfit with a heavy veil coming up to her forehead. Something about her made me suddenly aware that Aunt Sophia's bag looked paunchy and worn at the corners. I wanted to ask my aunt who she was but after embracing me when I arrived, she kept her eyes stolidly fixed before her. I directed my gaze in the same direction. At the front was the president's immense wreath leaning heavily backward, like that personage himself; and a pace behind, as though in deference to it, were other wreaths arranged according to the rank and prominence of the people who had sent them. I suppose protocol had something to do with it.I tiptoed over to the muse before Uncle as he lay in the dignity of death, the faintest trace of his somber smile still on his face. My eyes fell upon a cluster of white flowers placed at the foot of the casket. It was ingeniously fashioned in the shape of a dove and it bore the inscription "From the Loyal One." I looked at Aunt Sophia and didn't see anything dove-like about her. I looked at the slight woman in black and knew of a sudden that she was the woman. A young man, obviously a brother or a nephew, was bending over her solicitously. I took no notice of him even though he had elegant manners, a mischievous cowlick, wistful eyes, a Dennis Morgan chin, and a pin which testified that he belonged to what we girls called our "brother college." I showed him that he absolutely did not exist for me, especially when I caught him looking in our direction.I always feel guilty of sacrilege everytime I think of it, but there was something grimly ludicrous about my uncle’s funeral. There were two women, each taking possession of her portion of the chapel just as though stakes had been laid, seemingly unmindful of each other, yet revealing by this studied disregard that each was very much aware of the other. As though to give balance to the scene, the young man stood his full height near the woman to offset the collective bulk of Aunt Sophia and myself, although I was merely a disproportionate shadow behind her.The friends of the poet began to come. They paused a long time at the door, surveying the scene before they marched self-consciously towards the casket. Another pause there, and then they wrenched themselves from the spot and moved--no, slithered--either towards my aunt or towards the woman. The choice must have been difficult when they knew both. The women almost invariably came to talk to my aunt whereas most of the men turned to the woman at the left. I recognized some important Malacañang men and some writers from seeing their pictures in the papers. Later in the morning a horde of black-clad women, the sisters and cousins of the poet, swept into the chapel and came directly to where my aunt sat. They had the same deep eye-sockets and hollow cheek-bones which had lent a sensitive expression to the poet's face but which on them suggested t.b. The air became dense with the sickly-sweet smell of many flowers clashing and I went over to get my breath of air. As I glanced back I had a crazy surrealist impression of mouths opening and closing into Aunt Sophia's ear, and eyes darting toward the woman at the left. Uncle's clan certainly made short work of my aunt for when I returned, she was sobbing. As though to comfort her, one of the women said, in a whisper which I heard from the door, that the president himself was expected to come in the afternoon.Toward lunchtime, it became obvious that neither my aunt nor the woman wished to leave ahead of the other. I could appreciate my aunt's delicadeza in this matter but then got hungry and therefore grew resourceful: I called a taxi and told her it was at the door with the meter on. Aunt Sophia's unwillingness lasted as long as forty centavos.We made up for leaving ahead of the woman by getting back to the chapel early. For a long time she did not come and when Uncle's kinswomen arrived, I thought their faces showed a little disappointment at finding the left side of the chapel empty. Aunt Sophia, on the other hand, looked relieved. But at about three, the woman arrived and I perceived at once that there was a difference in her appearance. She wore the same black dress but her thick hair was now carefully swept into a regal coil; her skin glowing; her eyes, which had been striking enough, looked even larger. The eyebrows of the women around me started working and finally, the scrawniest of the poet's relations whispered to the others and slowly, together, they closed in on the woman.I went over to sit with my aunt who was gazing not so steadily at nothing in particular.At first the women spoke in whispers, and then the voices rose a trifle. Still, everybody was polite. There was more talking back and forth, and suddenly the conversation wasn't polite any more. The only good thing about it was that now I could hear everything distinctly."So you want to put me in a corner, do you? You think perhaps you can bully me out of here?" the woman said."Shh! Please don't create a scene," the poet's sisters said, going one pitch higher."It's you who are creating a scene. Didn't you come here purposely to start one?""We're only trying to make you see reason.... If you think of the dead at all...""Let's see who has the reason. I understand that you want me to leave, isn't it? Now that he is dead and cannot speak for me you think I should quietly hide in a corner?" The woman's voice was now pitched up for the benefit of the whole chapel. "Let me ask you. During the war when the poet was hard up do you suppose I deserted him? Whose jewels do you think we sold when he did not make money... When he was ill, who was it who stayed at his side... Who took care of him during all those months... and who peddled his books and poems to the publishers so that he could pay for the hospital and doctor's bills? Did any of you come to him then? Let me ask you that! Now that he is dead you want me to leave his side so that you and that vieja can have the honors and have your picture taken with the president. That's what you want, isn't it--to pose with the president....""Por Dios! Make her stop it--somebody stop her mouth!" cried Aunt Sophia, her eyes going up to heaven."Now you listen, you scandalous woman," one of the clan said, taking it up for Aunt Sophia. "We don't care for the honors--we don't want it for ourselves. But we want the poet to be honored in death... to have a decent and respectable funeral without scandal... and the least you can do is to leave him in peace as he lies there....""Yes," the scrawny one said. "You've created enough scandal for him in life--that's why we couldn't go to him when he was sick... because you were there, you--you shameless bitch."The woman's face went livid with shock and rage. She stood wordless while her young protector, his eyes blazing, came between her and the poet's kinswomen. Her face began to twitch. And then the sobs came. Big noisy sobs that shook her body and spilled the tears down her carefully made-up face. Fitfully, desperately, she tugged at her eyes and nose with her widow's veil. The young man took hold of her shoulders gently to lead her away, but she shook free; and in a few quick steps she was there before the casket, looking down upon that infinitely sad smile on Uncle's face. It may have been a second that she stood there, but it seemed like a long time."All right," she blurted, turning about. "All right. You can have him--all that's left of him!"At that moment before she fled, I saw what I had waited to see. The mascara had indeed run down her cheeks. But somehow it wasn't funny at all.

Scent of Apples Bienvenido N. Santos

2010-07-07T23:42:00.000-07:00

Scent of Apples
Bienvenido N. Santos

When I arrived in Kalamazoo it was October and the war was still on. Gold and silver stars hung on pennants above silent windows of white and brick-red cottages. In a backyard an old man burned leaves and twigs while a gray-haired woman sat on the porch, her red hands quiet on her lap, watching the smoke rising above the elms, both of them thinking the same thought perhaps, about a tall, grinning boy with his blue eyes and flying hair, who went out to war: where could he be now this month when leaves were turning into gold and the fragrance of gathered apples was in the wind?
It was a cold night when I left my room at the hotel for a usual speaking engagement. I walked but a little way. A heavy wind coming up from Lake Michigan was icy on the face. If felt like winter straying early in the northern woodlands. Under the lampposts the leaves shone like bronze. And they rolled on the pavements like the ghost feet of a thousand autumns long dead, long before the boys left for faraway lands without great icy winds and promise of winter early in the air, lands without apple trees, the singing and the gold!
It was the same night I met Celestino Fabia, "just a Filipino farmer" as he called himself, who had a farm about thirty miles east of Kalamazoo.
"You came all that way on a night like this just to hear me talk?"
"I've seen no Filipino for so many years now," he answered quickly. "So when I saw your name in the papers where it says you come from the Islands and that you're going to talk, I come right away."
Earlier that night I had addressed a college crowd, mostly women. It appeared they wanted me to talk about my country, they wanted me to tell them things about it because my country had become a lost country. Everywhere in the land the enemy stalked. Over it a great silence hung, and their boys were there, unheard from, or they were on their way to some little known island on the Pacific, young boys all, hardly men, thinking of harvest moons and the smell of forest fire.
It was not hard talking about our own people. I knew them well and I loved them. And they seemed so far away during those terrible years that I must have spoken of them with a little fervor, a little nostalgia.
In the open forum that followed, the audience wanted to know whether there was much difference between our women and the American women. I tried to answer the question as best I could, saying, among other things, that I did not know that much about American women, except that they looked friendly, but differences or similarities in inner qualities such as naturally belonged to the heart or to the mind, I could only speak about with vagueness.
While I was trying to explain away the fact that it was not easy to make comparisons, a man rose from the rear of the hall, wanting to say something. In the distance, he looked slight and old and very brown. Even before he spoke, I knew that he was, like me, a Filipino.
"I'm a Filipino," he began, loud and clear, in a voice that seemed used to wide open spaces, "I'm just a Filipino farmer out in the country." He waved his hand toward the door. "I left the Philippines more than twenty years ago and have never been back. Never will perhaps. I want to find out, sir, are our Filipino women the same like they were twenty years ago?"
As he sat down, the hall filled with voices, hushed and intrigued. I weighed my answer carefully. I did not want to tell a lie yet I did not want to say anything that would seem platitudinous, insincere. But more important than these considerations, it seemed to me that moment as I looked towards my countryman, I must give him an answer that would not make him so unhappy. Surely, all these years, he must have held on to certain ideals, certain beliefs, even illusions peculiar to the exile.
"First," I said as the voices gradually died down and every eye seemed upon me, "First, tell me what our women were like twenty years ago."
The man stood to answer. "Yes," he said, "you're too young . . . Twenty years ago our women were nice, they were modest, they wore their hair long, they dressed proper and went for no monkey business. They were natural, they went to church regular, and they were faithful." He had spoken slowly, and now in what seemed like an afterthought, added, "It's the men who ain't."
Now I knew what I was going to say.
"Well," I began, "it will interest you to know that our women have changed--but definitely! The change, however, has been on the outside only. Inside, here," pointing to the heart, "they are the same as they were twenty years ago. God-fearing, faithful, modest, and nice."
The man was visibly moved. "I'm very happy, sir," he said, in the manner of one who, having stakes on the land, had found no cause to regret one's sentimental investment.
After this, everything that was said and done in that hall that night seemed like an anti-climax, and later, as we walked outside, he gave me his name and told me of his farm thirty miles east of the city.
We had stopped at the main entrance to the hotel lobby. We had not talked very much on the way. As a matter of fact, we were never alone. Kindly American friends talked to us, asked us questions, said goodnight. So now I asked him whether he cared to step into the lobby with me and talk.
"No, thank you," he said, "you are tired. And I don't want to stay out too late."
"Yes, you live very far."
"I got a car," he said, "besides . . . "
Now he smiled, he truly smiled. All night I had been watching his face and I wondered when he was going to smile.
"Will you do me a favor, please," he continued smiling almost sweetly. "I want you to have dinner with my family out in the country. I'd call for you tomorrow afternoon, then drive you back. Will that be alright?"
"Of course," I said. "I'd love to meet your family." I was leaving Kalamazoo for Muncie, Indiana, in two days. There was plenty of time.
"You will make my wife very happy," he said.
"You flatter me."
"Honest. She'll be very happy. Ruth is a country girl and hasn't met many Filipinos. I mean Filipinos younger than I, cleaner looking. We're just poor farmer folk, you know, and we don't get to town very often. Roger, that's my boy, he goes to school in town. A bus takes him early in the morning and he's back in the afternoon. He's nice boy."
"I bet he is," I agreed. "I've seen the children of some of the boys by their American wives and the boys are tall, taller than their father, and very good looking."
"Roger, he'd be tall. You'll like him."
Then he said goodbye and I waved to him as he disappeared in the darkness.
The next day he came, at about three in the afternoon. There was a mild, ineffectual sun shining, and it was not too cold. He was wearing an old brown tweed jacket and worsted trousers to match. His shoes were polished, and although the green of his tie seemed faded, a colored shirt hardly accentuated it. He looked younger than he appeared the night before now that he was clean shaven and seemed ready to go to a party. He was grinning as we met.
"Oh, Ruth can't believe it," he kept repeating as he led me to his car--a nondescript thing in faded black that had known better days and many hands. "I says to her, I'm bringing you a first class Filipino, and she says, aw, go away, quit kidding, there's no such thing as first class Filipino. But Roger, that's my boy, he believed me immediately. What's he like, daddy, he asks. Oh, you will see, I says, he's first class. Like you daddy? No, no, I laugh at him, your daddy ain't first class. Aw, but you are, daddy, he says. So you can see what a nice boy he is, so innocent. Then Ruth starts griping about the house, but the house is a mess, she says. True it's a mess, it's always a mess, but you don't mind, do you? We're poor folks, you know.
The trip seemed interminable. We passed through narrow lanes and disappeared into thickets, and came out on barren land overgrown with weeds in places. All around were dead leaves and dry earth. In the distance were apple trees.
"Aren't those apple trees?" I asked wanting to be sure.
"Yes, those are apple trees," he replied. "Do you like apples? I got lots of 'em. I got an apple orchard, I'll show you."
All the beauty of the afternoon seemed in the distance, on the hills, in the dull soft sky.
"Those trees are beautiful on the hills," I said.
"Autumn's a lovely season. The trees are getting ready to die, and they show their colors, proud-like."
"No such thing in our own country," I said.
That remark seemed unkind, I realized later. It touched him off on a long deserted tangent, but ever there perhaps. How many times did lonely mind take unpleasant detours away from the familiar winding lanes towards home for fear of this, the remembered hurt, the long lost youth, the grim shadows of the years; how many times indeed, only the exile knows.
It was a rugged road we were traveling and the car made so much noise that I could not hear everything he said, but I understood him. He was telling his story for the first time in many years. He was remembering his own youth. He was thinking of home. In these odd moments there seemed no cause for fear no cause at all, no pain. That would come later. In the night perhaps. Or lonely on the farm under the apple trees.
In this old Visayan town, the streets are narrow and dirty and strewn with coral shells. You have been there? You could not have missed our house, it was the biggest in town, one of the oldest, ours was a big family. The house stood right on the edge of the street. A door opened heavily and you enter a dark hall leading to the stairs. There is the smell of chickens roosting on the low-topped walls, there is the familiar sound they make and you grope your way up a massive staircase, the bannisters smooth upon the trembling hand. Such nights, they are no better than the days, windows are closed against the sun; they close heavily.
Mother sits in her corner looking very white and sick. This was her world, her domain. In all these years, I cannot remember the sound of her voice. Father was different. He moved about. He shouted. He ranted. He lived in the past and talked of honor as though it were the only thing.
I was born in that house. I grew up there into a pampered brat. I was mean. One day I broke their hearts. I saw mother cry wordlessly as father heaped his curses upon me and drove me out of the house, the gate closing heavily after me. And my brothers and sisters took up my father's hate for me and multiplied it numberless times in their own broken hearts. I was no good.
But sometimes, you know, I miss that house, the roosting chickens on the low-topped walls. I miss my brothers and sisters, Mother sitting in her chair, looking like a pale ghost in a corner of the room. I would remember the great live posts, massive tree trunks from the forests. Leafy plants grew on the sides, buds pointing downwards, wilted and died before they could become flowers. As they fell on the floor, father bent to pick them and throw them out into the coral streets. His hands were strong. I have kissed these hands . . . many times, many times.
Finally we rounded a deep curve and suddenly came upon a shanty, all but ready to crumble in a heap on the ground, its plastered walls were rotting away, the floor was hardly a foot from the ground. I thought of the cottages of the poor colored folk in the south, the hovels of the poor everywhere in the land. This one stood all by itself as though by common consent all the folk that used to live here had decided to say away, despising it, ashamed of it. Even the lovely season could not color it with beauty.
A dog barked loudly as we approached. A fat blonde woman stood at the door with a little boy by her side. Roger seemed newly scrubbed. He hardly took his eyes off me. Ruth had a clean apron around her shapeless waist. Now as she shook my hands in sincere delight I noticed shamefacedly (that I should notice) how rough her hands were, how coarse and red with labor, how ugly! She was no longer young and her smile was pathetic.
As we stepped inside and the door closed behind us, immediately I was aware of the familiar scent of apples. The room was bare except for a few ancient pieces of second-hand furniture. In the middle of the room stood a stove to keep the family warm in winter. The walls were bare. Over the dining table hung a lamp yet unlighted.
Ruth got busy with the drinks. She kept coming in and out of a rear room that must have been the kitchen and soon the table was heavy with food, fried chicken legs and rice, and green peas and corn on the ear. Even as we ate, Ruth kept standing, and going to the kitchen for more food. Roger ate like a little gentleman.
"Isn't he nice looking?" his father asked.
"You are a handsome boy, Roger," I said.
The boy smiled at me. You look like Daddy," he said.
Afterwards I noticed an old picture leaning on the top of a dresser and stood to pick it up. It was yellow and soiled with many fingerings. The faded figure of a woman in Philippine dress could yet be distinguished although the face had become a blur.
"Your . . . " I began.
"I don't know who she is," Fabia hastened to say. "I picked that picture many years ago in a room on La Salle street in Chicago. I have often wondered who she is."
"The face wasn't a blur in the beginning?"
"Oh, no. It was a young face and good."
Ruth came with a plate full of apples.
"Ah," I cried, picking out a ripe one. "I've been thinking where all the scent of apples came from. The room is full of it."
"I'll show you," said Fabia.
He showed me a backroom, not very big. It was half-full of apples.
"Every day," he explained, "I take some of them to town to sell to the groceries. Prices have been low. I've been losing on the trips."
"These apples will spoil," I said.
"We'll feed them to the pigs."
Then he showed me around the farm. It was twilight now and the apple trees stood bare against a glowing western sky. In apple blossom time it must be lovely here. But what about wintertime?
One day, according to Fabia, a few years ago, before Roger was born, he had an attack of acute appendicitis. It was deep winter. The snow lay heavy everywhere. Ruth was pregnant and none too well herself. At first she did not know what to do. She bundled him in warm clothing and put him on a cot near the stove. She shoveled the snow from their front door and practically carried the suffering man on her shoulders, dragging him through the newly made path towards the road where they waited for the U.S. Mail car to pass. Meanwhile snowflakes poured all over them and she kept rubbing the man's arms and legs as she herself nearly froze to death.
"Go back to the house, Ruth!" her husband cried, "you'll freeze to death."
But she clung to him wordlessly. Even as she massaged his arms and legs, her tears rolled down her cheeks. "I won't leave you," she repeated.
Finally the U.S. Mail car arrived. The mailman, who knew them well, helped them board the car, and, without stopping on his usual route, took the sick man and his wife direct to the nearest hospital.
Ruth stayed in the hospital with Fabia. She slept in a corridor outside the patients' ward and in the day time helped in scrubbing the floor and washing the dishes and cleaning the men's things. They didn't have enough money and Ruth was willing to work like a slave.
"Ruth's a nice girl," said Fabia, "like our own Filipino women."
Before nightfall, he took me back to the hotel. Ruth and Roger stood at the door holding hands and smiling at me. From inside the room of the shanty, a low light flickered. I had a last glimpse of the apple trees in the orchard under the darkened sky as Fabia backed up the car. And soon we were on our way back to town. The dog had started barking. We could hear it for some time, until finally, we could not hear it anymore, and all was darkness around us, except where the headlamps revealed a stretch of road leading somewhere.
Fabia did not talk this time. I didn't seem to have anything to say myself. But when finally we came to the hotel and I got down, Fabia said, "Well, I guess I won't be seeing you again."
It was dimly lighted in front of the hotel and I could hardly see Fabia's face. Without getting off the car, he moved to where I had sat, and I saw him extend his hand. I gripped it.
"Tell Ruth and Roger," I said, "I love them."
He dropped my hand quickly. "They'll be waiting for me now," he said.
"Look," I said, not knowing why I said it, "one of these days, very soon, I hope, I'll be going home. I could go to your town."
"No," he said softly, sounding very much defeated but brave, "Thanks a lot. But, you see, nobody would remember me now."
Then he started the car, and as it moved away, he waved his hand.
"Goodbye," I said, waving back into the darkness. And suddenly the night was cold like winter straying early in these northern woodlands.
I hurried inside. There was a train the next morning that left for Muncie, Indiana, at a quarter after eight.

Tress and Woods

2010-01-17T21:38:00.000-08:00

Once there were three trees on a hill in the woods. They were discussing their hopes and dreams when the first tree said, "Someday I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems. I could be decorated with intricate carving and everyone would see the beauty."

Then the second tree said, "Someday I will be a mighty ship. I will take kings and queens across the waters and sail to the corners of the world. Everyone will feel safe in me because of the strength of my hull."

Finally the third tree said, "I want to grow to be the tallest and straightest tree in the forest. People will see me on top of the hill and look up to my branches, and think of the heavens and God and how close to them I am reaching. I will be the greatest tree of all time and people will always remember me."

After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. When one came to the first tree he said, "This looks like a strong tree, I think I should be able to sell the wood to a carpenter" ... and he began cutting it down. The tree was happy, because he knew that the carpenter would make him into a treasure chest.

At the second tree a woodsman said, "This looks like a strong tree, I should be able to sell it to the shipyard." The second tree was happy because he knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship.

When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was frightened because he knew that if they cut him down his dreams would not come true. One of the woodsmen said, "I don't need anything special from my tree so I'll take this one", and he cut it down.

When the first tree arrived at the carpenters, he was made into a feed box for animals. He was then placed in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for. The second tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat. His dreams of being a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an end. The third tree was cut into large pieces and left alone in the dark. The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams.

Then one day, a man and woman came to the barn. She gave birth and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box that was made from the first tree. The man wished that he could have made a crib for the baby, but this manger would have to do. The tree could feel the importance of this event and knew that it had held the greatest treasure of all time. Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the second tree. One of them was tired and went to sleep. While they were out on the water, a great storm arose and the tree didn't think it was strong enough to keep the men safe. The men woke the sleeping man, and he stood and said "Peace" and the storm stopped. At this time, the tree knew that it had carried the King of Kings in its boat.

Finally, someone came and got the third tree. It was carried through the streets as the people mocked the man who was carrying it. When they came to a stop, the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air to die at the top of a hill. When Sunday came, the tree came to realize that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as close to God as was possible, because Jesus had been crucified on it.

The moral of this story is that when things don't seem to be going your way, always know that God has a plan for you. If you place your trust in Him, He will give you great gifts. Each of the trees got what they wanted, just not in the way they had imagined. We don't always know what God's plans are for us. We just know that His ways are not our ways, but His ways are always best.