Lord Voldemort's Request
Harry and Ron are discharged from the Hospital Wing together. Meeting up with Hermione, they head to breakfast, passing a small girl studying a tapestry. Startled, the girl drops the scales she had been holding; Hermione repairs them for her, and then reveals that Ginny and Dean had an argument. When Dean laughed about McLaggen hitting Harry in the head with a bludger, Ginny defended Harry. Hermione agreed with Ginny that it was not funny, that Harry was nearly seriously hurt. Harry tries to react calmly and curiously to this news, but Hermione remains suspicious that he is harboring feelings for Ginny.
Luna delivers Dumbledore's message regarding Harry's next lesson. The Trio continue on, running into Lavender, who is miffed she was not told that Ron was being discharged, and that Hermione is with him. Harry and Hermione walk off, and Ron arrives at breakfast a half hour later; he is upset and not talking to Lavender. Hermione seems secretly pleased by this development.
Later that evening, Harry arrives for his appointment with Professor Dumbledore, who is embroiled in a discussion with Professor Trelawney. She is upset that Firenze is still teaching Divination. As Professor Trelawney leaves, Dumbledore comments that, never having taken Divination himself, he could not have predicted the troubles that subject would cause. Dumbledore gently chastises Harry for failing to retrieve Professor Slughorn's memory. There is, he says, little point in continuing their lessons without it. Dumbledore's evident disappointment is harder for Harry to bear than anger would have been.
Dumbledore then asks Harry to recap the previous lessons. Harry recounts that Voldemort killed his own father, framed his uncle, Morfin, and left with the Peverell ring; he then returned to Hogwarts and asked Slughorn about Horcruxes. Dumbledore says they are now entering the realm of deep speculation. At this meeting, there are only two memories. The first belongs to Hokey, a House elf who worked for an elderly rich woman. At that time, Tom Riddle was working as a buyer for Borgin & Burkes. Tom's career choice surprised nearly everyone at Hogwarts, as it had been assumed he was aiming for a political career headed towards the Minister for Magic. But Tom had first approached Armando Dippet, the Headmaster then, for a teaching post at Hogwarts. Dippet turned him down, saying he lacked experience.
In Hokey's memory, Tom Riddle visits Hepzibah Smith, who claims to be Helga Hufflepuff's descendant. Hepzibah shows Riddle two coveted family treasures. One, a cup once belonging to Helga Hufflepuff, she bought from Borgin & Burke's. The other is a locket which was once owned by Salazar Slytherin. The locket was sold to Smith by Borgin & Burke's, who bought it off some poor woman. Harry recognizes the locket as having been the one seen earlier in Merope Gaunt's possession, and Tom clearly also recognizes it.
Two days later, Hepzibah died and her treasures went missing. Hokey admitted blame for her mistress' death, as she remembered mistakenly poisoning her. Dumbledore states that Riddle considered the locket was rightfully his, and suggests that Riddle also stole the cup because of his deep attachment to Hogwarts; why, exactly, he had wanted it will have to wait for another lesson.
In the previous chapter, Draco was seen accompanied by two small girls, both looking sulky and rebellious. Now there is a small girl standing in the seventh-floor corridor studying a tapestry with trolls in tutus; we previously saw small girls standing in seventh-floor corridors earlier. From the previous book, we might remember that the entrance to the Room of Requirement is on the seventh floor, opposite the troll tapestry. In a previous chapter, it is also discovered that Crabbe and Goyle were upset at having to spend so much time guarding Malfoy without knowing what he is doing, and they seem to be spending much time standing around in corridors. Is a pattern developing here?
The tenor of the encounter between Lavender and Ron is another clear indication that their relationship is on the rocks. We do not yet know whether they will be able to patch up their differences and go on, but we suspect not, as Ron seems to show no inclination to deal with the issues, instead avoiding them by, in this case, feigning sleep.
We now have a possible explanation for the short tenure of Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers: Dumbledore believes that Voldemort cursed the position when he was rejected. Dumbledore must either have been hoping that the curse would be broken when he appointed Professor Snape as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, or otherwise did not expect him to last any longer than his predecessors. We already know that Dumbledore trusts Snape, though not why; we also know that at least two of the previous five incumbents have been driven mad (Professor Lockhart by a backfiring charm and Professor Umbridge by the Centaurs), one (Professor Quirrell) has died, and one (the false Professor Moody) has had his soul sucked out of him by Dementors. Thus, the post does have a definite element of risk to it, leaving us to wonder why Dumbledore would choose to put someone he so trusted in a position where harm could easily befall him.
As Dumbledore implies, the memories we see tonight do not significantly increase our understanding of Voldemort. Dumbledore clearly believes that the missing memory will contain vital information for Harry's understanding of Voldemort's plans.
Luna delivers Dumbledore's message regarding Harry's next lesson. The Trio continue on, running into Lavender, who is miffed she was not told that Ron was being discharged, and that Hermione is with him. Harry and Hermione walk off, and Ron arrives at breakfast a half hour later; he is upset and not talking to Lavender. Hermione seems secretly pleased by this development.
Later that evening, Harry arrives for his appointment with Professor Dumbledore, who is embroiled in a discussion with Professor Trelawney. She is upset that Firenze is still teaching Divination. As Professor Trelawney leaves, Dumbledore comments that, never having taken Divination himself, he could not have predicted the troubles that subject would cause. Dumbledore gently chastises Harry for failing to retrieve Professor Slughorn's memory. There is, he says, little point in continuing their lessons without it. Dumbledore's evident disappointment is harder for Harry to bear than anger would have been.
Dumbledore then asks Harry to recap the previous lessons. Harry recounts that Voldemort killed his own father, framed his uncle, Morfin, and left with the Peverell ring; he then returned to Hogwarts and asked Slughorn about Horcruxes. Dumbledore says they are now entering the realm of deep speculation. At this meeting, there are only two memories. The first belongs to Hokey, a House elf who worked for an elderly rich woman. At that time, Tom Riddle was working as a buyer for Borgin & Burkes. Tom's career choice surprised nearly everyone at Hogwarts, as it had been assumed he was aiming for a political career headed towards the Minister for Magic. But Tom had first approached Armando Dippet, the Headmaster then, for a teaching post at Hogwarts. Dippet turned him down, saying he lacked experience.
In Hokey's memory, Tom Riddle visits Hepzibah Smith, who claims to be Helga Hufflepuff's descendant. Hepzibah shows Riddle two coveted family treasures. One, a cup once belonging to Helga Hufflepuff, she bought from Borgin & Burke's. The other is a locket which was once owned by Salazar Slytherin. The locket was sold to Smith by Borgin & Burke's, who bought it off some poor woman. Harry recognizes the locket as having been the one seen earlier in Merope Gaunt's possession, and Tom clearly also recognizes it.
Two days later, Hepzibah died and her treasures went missing. Hokey admitted blame for her mistress' death, as she remembered mistakenly poisoning her. Dumbledore states that Riddle considered the locket was rightfully his, and suggests that Riddle also stole the cup because of his deep attachment to Hogwarts; why, exactly, he had wanted it will have to wait for another lesson.
In the previous chapter, Draco was seen accompanied by two small girls, both looking sulky and rebellious. Now there is a small girl standing in the seventh-floor corridor studying a tapestry with trolls in tutus; we previously saw small girls standing in seventh-floor corridors earlier. From the previous book, we might remember that the entrance to the Room of Requirement is on the seventh floor, opposite the troll tapestry. In a previous chapter, it is also discovered that Crabbe and Goyle were upset at having to spend so much time guarding Malfoy without knowing what he is doing, and they seem to be spending much time standing around in corridors. Is a pattern developing here?
The tenor of the encounter between Lavender and Ron is another clear indication that their relationship is on the rocks. We do not yet know whether they will be able to patch up their differences and go on, but we suspect not, as Ron seems to show no inclination to deal with the issues, instead avoiding them by, in this case, feigning sleep.
We now have a possible explanation for the short tenure of Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers: Dumbledore believes that Voldemort cursed the position when he was rejected. Dumbledore must either have been hoping that the curse would be broken when he appointed Professor Snape as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, or otherwise did not expect him to last any longer than his predecessors. We already know that Dumbledore trusts Snape, though not why; we also know that at least two of the previous five incumbents have been driven mad (Professor Lockhart by a backfiring charm and Professor Umbridge by the Centaurs), one (Professor Quirrell) has died, and one (the false Professor Moody) has had his soul sucked out of him by Dementors. Thus, the post does have a definite element of risk to it, leaving us to wonder why Dumbledore would choose to put someone he so trusted in a position where harm could easily befall him.
As Dumbledore implies, the memories we see tonight do not significantly increase our understanding of Voldemort. Dumbledore clearly believes that the missing memory will contain vital information for Harry's understanding of Voldemort's plans.
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