Harry Potter and the First Time Readers

Chapter 2 - Spinner’s End

• The harsh cry startles the fox, now crouching almost flat in the undergrowth. It leapt from its hiding place and up the bank. There was a flash of green light, a yelp, and the fox fell back to the ground, dead.

Q1 - Why did they kill the fox?

• “He lives here?” asked Bella in a voice of contempt. “Here? In this muggle dunghill? We must be the first of our kind ever to set foot —”

Q2 - Why does Snape live here?

• Some of the streetlamps were broken; the two women were running between patches of light and deep darkness. The pursuer caught up with her prey just as she turned another corner, this time succeeding in catching hold of her arm and swinging her round so that they faced each other. ‘Cissy, you must not do this, you can’t trust him –’ ‘The Dark Lord trusts him, doesn’t he?’ ‘The Dark Lord is … I believe … mistaken,’ Bella panted, and her eyes gleamed momentarily under her hood as she looked around to check that they were indeed alone. ‘In any case, we were told not to speak of the plan to anyone. This is a betrayal of the Dark Lord’s –’ ‘Let go, Bella!’ snarled Narcissa and she drew a wand from beneath her cloak, holding it threateningly in the other’s face. Bella merely laughed. ‘Cissy, your own sister? You wouldn’t –’ ‘There is nothing I wouldn’t do any more!’ Narcissa breathed, a note of hysteria in her voice.

Q3 - What is the difference between Narcissa and Lily here?

• ‘So, what can I do for you?’ Snape asked, settling himself in the armchair opposite the two sisters. ‘We … we are alone, aren’t we?’ Narcissa asked quietly. ‘Yes, of course. Well, Wormtail’s here, but we’re not counting vermin, are we?’ He pointed his wand at the wall of books behind him and, with a bang, a hidden door flew open, revealing a narrow staircase upon which a small man stood frozen…‘Wormtail will get us drinks, if you’d like them,’ said Snape. ‘And then he will return to his bedroom.’ Wormtail winced as though Snape had thrown something at him. ‘I am not your servant!’ he squeaked, avoiding Snape’s eye. ‘Really? I was under the impression that the Dark Lord placed you here to assist me.’ 

Q4 - What is Wormtail helping Snape with?

• ‘Narcissa, I think we ought to hear what Bellatrix is bursting to say; it will save tedious interruptions. Well, continue, Bellatrix,’ said Snape. ‘Why is it that you do not trust me?’ ‘A hundred reasons!’ she said loudly, striding out from behind the sofa to slam her glass upon the table. ‘Where to start! Where were you when the Dark Lord fell? Why did you never make any attempt to find him when he vanished? What have you been doing all these years that you’ve lived in Dumbledore’s pocket? Why did you stop the Dark Lord procuring the Philosopher’s Stone? Why did you not return at once when the Dark Lord was reborn? Where were you a few weeks ago, when we battled to retrieve the prophecy for the Dark Lord? And why, Snape, is Harry Potter still alive, when you have had him at your mercy for five years?’ She paused, her chest rising and falling rapidly, the color high in her cheeks. Behind her Narcissa sat motionless, her face still hidden in her hands. Snape smiled. ‘Before I answer you – oh, yes, Bellatrix, I am going to answer! You can carry my words back to the others who whisper behind my back, and carry false tales of my treachery to the Dark Lord! Before I answer you, I say, let me ask a question in turn. Do you really think that the Dark Lord has not asked me each and every one of those questions? And do you really think that, had I not been able to give satisfactory answers, I would be sitting here talking to you?’ She hesitated. ‘I know he believes you, but –’ ‘You think he is mistaken? Or that I have somehow hoodwinked him? Fooled the Dark Lord, the greatest wizard, the most accomplished Legilimens the world has ever seen?’

Q5 - Is Snape fooling Dumbledore or Voldemort?

Q6 - Why didn’t Snape attempt to find the Dark Lord?

Why did Snape stand between the Dark Lord and the Sorcerer’s stone?

Why didn’t he return when the dark mark burned?

Why didn’t he fight at the ministry?

Why has Snape not killed Harry Potter?

Q7 - Are Snape’s answer’s satisfying to you?

• ‘You are avoiding my last question, Snape. Harry Potter. You could have killed him at any point in the past five years. You have not done it. Why?’ ‘Have you discussed this matter with the Dark Lord?’ asked Snape. ‘He … lately, we … I am asking you, Snape!’ ‘If I had murdered Harry Potter, the Dark Lord could not have used his blood to regenerate, making him invincible –’

Q8 - Is the Dark Lord invincible with Harry’s blood?

• ‘And through all this we are supposed to believe Dumbledore has never suspected you?’ asked Bellatrix. ‘He has no idea of your true allegiance, he trusts you implicitly still?’ ‘I have played my part well,’ said Snape. ‘And you overlook Dumbledore’s greatest weakness: he has to believe the best of people. I spun him a tale of deepest remorse when I joined his staff, fresh from my Death Eater days, and he embraced me with open arms – though, as I say, never allowing me nearer the Dark Arts than he could help. Dumbledore has been a great wizard – oh yes, he has’ (for Bellatrix had made a scathing noise) ‘the Dark Lord acknowledges it. I am pleased to say, however, that Dumbledore is growing old. The duel with the Dark Lord last month shook him. He has since sustained a serious injury because his reactions are slower than they once were. But through all these years, he has never stopped trusting Severus Snape, and therein lies my great value to the Dark Lord.’

Q9 - Is Dumbledore weak?

• Narcissa looked up at him, her face eloquent with despair. ‘Yes, Severus. I – I think you are the only one who can help me, I have nowhere else to turn. Lucius is in jail and …’ She closed her eyes and two large tears seeped from beneath her eyelids. ‘The Dark Lord has forbidden me to speak of it,’ Narcissa continued, her eyes still closed. ‘He wishes none to know of the plan. It is … very secret. But –’ ‘If he has forbidden it, you ought not to speak,’ said Snape at once. ‘The Dark Lord’s word is law.’

Q10 - What is this plan?

• ‘Severus,’ she whispered, tears sliding down her pale cheeks. ‘My son … my only son …’ ‘Draco should be proud,’ said Bellatrix indifferently. ‘The Dark Lord is granting him a great honor. And I will say this for Draco: he isn’t shrinking away from his duty, he seems glad of a chance to prove himself, excited at the prospect –’

Q11 - What is Draco doing? Why is he part of this?

• ‘Severus – oh, Severus – you would help him? Would you look after him, see he comes to no harm?’ ‘I can try.’ She flung away her glass; it skidded across the table as she slid off the sofa into a kneeling position at Snape’s feet, seized his hand in both of hers and pressed her lips to it. ‘If you are there to protect him … Severus, will you swear it? Will you make the Unbreakable Vow?’ ‘The Unbreakable Vow?’ Snape’s expression was blank, unreadable: Bellatrix, however, let out a cackle of triumphant laughter.

Q12 - What is the unbreakable vow?

Q13 - Can you break it, or what would happen if you do break it?

Chapter 3 - Will and Wont

Q1 - Is it good to get back into Harry’s head?

• Though Ministry spokeswizards have hitherto refused even to confirm the existence of such a place, a growing number of the wizarding community believe that the Death Eaters now serving sentences in Azkaban for trespass and attempted theft were attempting to steal a prophecy. The nature of that prophecy is unknown, although speculation is rife that it concerns Harry Potter, the only person ever known to have survived the Killing Curse, and who is also known to have been at the Ministry on the night in question. Some are going so far as to call Potter the ‘Chosen One’, believing that the prophecy names him as the only one who will be able to rid us of He Who Must Not Be Named.

Q2 - Is Harry the Chosen one? 

Q3 - What do you think about the ministry trying to cover up all this? Should this information be in the public domain?

• Rufus Scrimgeour, previously Head of the Auror Office in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, has succeeded Cornelius Fudge as Minister for Magic. The appointment has largely been greeted with enthusiasm by the wizarding community, though rumors of a rift between the new Minister and Albus Dumbledore, newly reinstated Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, surfaced within hours of Scrimgeour taking office.

Q4 - What is the rift between the two?

Q5 - The ministry leaflet talks about Inferi, what do you think these are?

• Dear Harry, If it is convenient to you, I shall call at number four, Privet Drive this coming Friday at eleven p.m. to escort you to The Burrow, where you have been invited to spend the remainder of your school holidays. If you are agreeable, I should also be glad of your assistance in a matter to which I hope to attend on the way to The Burrow. I shall explain this more fully when I see you. Kindly send your answer by return of this owl. Hoping to see you this Friday, I am, yours most sincerely Albus Dumbledore

Q6 - What do you think of this letter, and what is the matter he wants to attend to with Harry?

• ‘I don’t mean to be rude –’ he began, in a tone that threatened rudeness in every syllable. ‘– yet, sadly, accidental rudeness occurs alarmingly often,’ Dumbledore finished the sentence gravely. ‘Best to say nothing at all, my dear man. Ah, and this must be Petunia.’ The kitchen door had opened, and there stood Harry’s aunt, wearing rubber gloves and a housecoat over her nightdress, clearly halfway through her usual pre-bedtime wipe-down of all the kitchen surfaces. Her rather horsy face registered nothing but shock. ‘Albus Dumbledore,’ said Dumbledore, when Uncle Vernon failed to effect an introduction. ‘We have corresponded, of course.’ Harry thought this an odd way of reminding Aunt Petunia that he had once sent her an exploding letter, but Aunt Petunia did not challenge the term. ‘And this must be your son Dudley?’

Q7 - What do you think of this intro?

• As he replaced his wand in his pocket, Harry saw that his hand was blackened and shrivelled; it looked as though his flesh had been burned away. ‘Sir – what happened to your –?’

Q8 - What happened to Dumbledore’s hand?

• ‘This is, in the main, fairly straightforward,’ Dumbledore went on. ‘You add a reasonable amount of gold to your account at Gringotts and you inherit all of Sirius’s personal possessions. The slightly problematic part of the legacy –’ ‘His godfather’s dead?’ said Uncle Vernon loudly from the sofa. Dumbledore and Harry both turned to look at him. The glass of mead was now knocking quite insistently on the side of Vernon’s head; he attempted to beat it away. ‘He’s dead? His godfather?’ ‘Yes,’ said Dumbledore. He did not ask Harry why he had not confided in the Dursleys. ‘Our problem,’ he continued to Harry, as if there had been no interruption, ‘is that Sirius also left you number twelve, Grimmauld Place.’
• ‘But how are you going to find out if I’m allowed to own it?’ ‘Fortunately,’ said Dumbledore, ‘there is a simple test.’ He placed his empty glass on a small table beside his chair, but before he could do anything else, Uncle Vernon shouted, ‘Will you get these ruddy things off us?’ Harry looked round; all three of the Dursleys were cowering with their arms over their heads as their glasses bounced up and down on their skulls, the contents flying everywhere.‘You see,’ Dumbledore said, turning back to Harry and again speaking as though Uncle Vernon had not uttered, ‘if you have indeed inherited the house, you have also inherited –’ He flicked his wand for a fifth time. There was a loud crack and a house-elf appeared, with a snout for a nose, giant bat’s ears and enormous bloodshot eyes, crouching on the Dursleys’ shag carpet and covered in grimy rags.

Q9 - How is Dumbledore able to summon Kreacher like this?

• ‘Now, as you already know, the wizard called Lord Voldemort has returned to this country. The wizarding community is currently in a state of open warfare. Harry, whom Lord Voldemort has already attempted to kill on a number of occasions, is in even greater danger now than the day when I left him upon your doorstep fifteen years ago, with a letter explaining about his parents’ murder and expressing the hope that you would care for him as though he were your own.’ Dumbledore paused, and although his voice remained light and calm, and he gave no obvious sign of anger, Harry felt a kind of chill emanating from him and noticed that the Dursleys drew very slightly closer together. ‘You did not do as I asked. You have never treated Harry as a son. He has known nothing but neglect and often cruelty at your hands. The best that can be said is that he has at least escaped the appalling damage you have inflicted upon the unfortunate boy sitting between you.’

Q10 - What do you think of this?

• None of the Dursleys said anything. Dudley was frowning slightly, as though he was still trying to work out when he had ever been mistreated. Uncle Vernon looked as though he had something stuck in his throat; Aunt Petunia, however, was oddly flushed.

Q11 - Why was Petunia flushed?

• ‘And now, Harry, let us step out into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.’

Q12 - Where are they going?

Chapter 1 - The Other Minister

• It was nearing midnight and the Prime Minister was sitting alone in his office, reading a long memo that was slipping through his brain without leaving the slightest trace of meaning behind. 

Q1 - What do you think of the book opening like this?

• He turned over the second page of the memo, saw how much longer it went on, and gave it up as a bad job. Stretching his arms above his head he looked around his office mournfully. It was a handsome room, with a fine marble fireplace facing the long sash windows, firmly closed against the unseasonable chill. With a slight shiver, the Prime Minister got up and moved over to the windows, looking out at the thin mist that was pressing itself against the glass. It was then, as he stood with his back to the room, that he heard a soft cough behind him.

Q2 - Did you think Umbridge was back?

• It was coming – as the Prime Minister had known at the first cough – from the froglike little man wearing a long silver wig who was depicted in a small and dirty oil-painting in the far corner of the room. ‘To the Prime Minister of Muggles. Urgent we meet. Kindly respond immediately. Sincerely, Fudge.’ The man in the painting looked enquiringly at the Prime Minister.
• He was not remotely pleased to see Fudge, whose occasional appearances, apart from being downright alarming in themselves, generally meant that he was about to hear some very bad news. Furthermore, Fudge was looking distinctly careworn. He was thinner, balder and greyer, and his face had a crumpled look. The Prime Minister had seen that kind of look in politicians before, and it never boded well.
• At this, the Prime Minister had found his voice at last. ‘You’re – you’re not a hoax, then?’ It had been his last, desperate hope. ‘No,’ said Fudge gently. ‘No, I’m afraid I’m not. Look.’ And he had turned the Prime Minister’s teacup into a gerbil. ‘But,’ said the Prime Minister breathlessly, watching his teacup chewing on the corner of his next speech, ‘but why – why has nobody told me –?’ ‘The Minister for Magic only reveals him or herself to the Muggle Prime Minister of the day,’ said Fudge, poking his wand back inside his jacket. ‘We find it the best way to maintain secrecy.’ ‘But then,’ bleated the Prime Minister, ‘why hasn’t a former Prime Minister warned me –?’ At this, Fudge had actually laughed. ‘My dear Prime Minister, are you ever going to tell anybody?’

Q3 - Do you think the President gets a familiar visit from the US magical authorities?

• ‘So you think that …’ he had squinted down at the name in his left hand, ‘Lord Vol—’ ‘He Who Must Not Be Named!’ snarled Fudge. ‘I’m sorry … you think that He Who Must Not Be Named is still alive, then?’ ‘Well, Dumbledore says he is,’ said Fudge, as he had fastened his pinstriped cloak under his chin, ‘but we’ve never found him. If you ask me, he’s not dangerous unless he’s got support, so it’s Black we ought to be worrying about. You’ll put out that warning, then? Excellent. Well, I hope we don’t see each other again, Prime Minister! Goodnight.’

Q4 - Do you think Fudge here believes Dumbledore?

• Whatever the press and the opposition might say, the Prime Minister was not a foolish man. It had not escaped his notice that, despite Fudge’s assurances at their first meeting, they were now seeing rather a lot of each other, nor that Fudge was becoming more flustered with each visit. Little though he liked to think about the Minister for Magic (or, as he always called Fudge in his head, the Other Minister), the Prime Minister could not help but fear that the next time Fudge appeared it would be with graver news still. 

Q5 - Cool point about who the other minister is…

• Fudge took a great, deep breath and said, ‘Prime Minister, I am very sorry to have to tell you that he’s back. He Who Must Not Be Named is back.’ ‘Yes, alive,’ said Fudge. ‘That is – I don’t know – is a man alive if he can’t be killed? I don’t really understand it, and Dumbledore won’t explain properly – but anyway, he’s certainly got a body and is walking and talking and killing, so I suppose, for the purposes of our discussion, yes, he’s alive.’

Q6 - Why won’t Dumbledore explain it, and what is he explaining?

• ‘I thought Dementors guard the prisoners in Azkaban?’ he said cautiously. ‘They did,’ said Fudge wearily. ‘But not any more. They’ve deserted the prison and joined He Who Must Not Be Named. I won’t pretend that wasn’t a blow.’ ‘But,’ said the Prime Minister, with a sense of dawning horror, ‘didn’t you tell me they’re the creatures that drain hope and happiness out of people?’ ‘That’s right. And they’re breeding. That’s what’s causing all this mist.’

Q7 - Will you ever look at mist the same way again?

• ‘Now see here, Fudge – you’ve got to do something! It’s your responsibility as Minister for Magic!’ ‘My dear Prime Minister, you can’t honestly think I’m still Minister for Magic after all this? I was sacked three days ago! The whole wizarding community has been screaming for my resignation for a fortnight. I’ve never known them so united in my whole term of office!’ said Fudge, with a brave attempt at a smile.

Q8 - What do you think of Fudges sacking? Do you have pity for him at all?

• ‘I wish him luck,’ said Fudge, sounding bitter for the first time. ‘I’ve been writing to Dumbledore twice a day for the past fortnight, but he won’t budge. If he’d just been prepared to persuade the boy, I might still be … well, maybe Scrimgeour will have more success.’

Q9 - What does Fudge mean, “persuade the boy?”

• The Prime Minister’s first, foolish thought was that Rufus Scrimgeour looked rather like an old lion. There were streaks of grey in his mane of tawny hair and his bushy eyebrows; he had keen yellowish eyes behind a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles and a certain rangy, loping grace even though he walked with a slight limp. There was an immediate impression of shrewdness and toughness; the Prime Minister thought he understood why the wizarding community preferred Scrimgeour to Fudge as a leader in these dangerous times.

Q10 - What are your impressions of Scrimgeour?

• The Prime Minister gazed hopelessly at the pair of them for a moment, then the words he had fought to suppress all evening burst from him at last. ‘But for heaven’s sake – you’re wizards! You can do magic! Surely you can sort out – well – anything!’ Scrimgeour turned slowly on the spot and exchanged an incredulous look with Fudge, who really did manage a smile this time as he said kindly, ‘The trouble is, the other side can do magic too, Prime Minister.’ And with that, the two wizards stepped one after the other into the bright green fire and vanished.

Q11 - What do you think of the first chapter?

Join us as Jon interviews two of our other friends (Kaylie and Mel) as they talk about their reading experience with Harry Potter.

Movie Ginny sucks...we all agree. So join Jon, Jenn, Danny, and Kristen as they talk over the movie of Order of the Phoenix. They talk over some theories about what will happen, their impressions of the characters, and what they think of the movie.

Chapter 37 - The Lost Prophecy

• It was unbearable, he would not think about it, he could not stand it… there was a terrible hollow inside him he did not want to feel or examine, a dark hole where Sirius had been, where Sirius had vanished; he did not want to have to be alone with that great, silent space, he could not stand it ‐ 
• `Let me out,ʹ Harry said yet again, in a voice that was cold and almost as calm as Dumbledoreʹs. `Not until I have had my say,ʹ said Dumbledore. `Do you ‐ do you think I want to ‐ do you think I give a ‐ I DONʹT CARE WHAT YOUʹVE GOT TO SAY!ʹ Harry roared. `I donʹt want to hear anything youʹve got to say!ʹ  `You will,ʹ said Dumbledore steadily. `Because you are not nearly as angry with me as you ought to be. If you are to attack me, as I know you are close to doing, I would like to have thoroughly earned it.ʹ 

Q1 - Is Dumbledore to blame for everything that happened?

Q2 - What are your thoughts on Harry’s response?

• Harry, I believe I was right to think that Voldemort would have made use of you in such a way. On those rare occasions when we had close contact, I thought I saw a shadow of him stir behind your eyes …
• `Kreacher lied,ʹ said Dumbledore calmly. `You are not his master, he could lie to you without even needing to punish himself. Kreacher intended you to go to the Ministry of Magic.ʹ  `He ‐ he sent me on purpose?T ʹOh yes. Kreacher, I am afraid, has been serving more than one master for months.ʹ  `How?ʹ said Harry blankly. `He hasnʹt been out of Grimmauld Place for years.ʹ  `Kreacher seized his opportunity shortly before Christmas,ʹ said Dumbledore, `when Sirius, apparently, shouted at him to ʺget outʺ. He took Sirius at his word, and interpreted this as an order to leave the house. He went to the only Black family member for whom he had any respect left … Blackʹs cousin Narcissa, sister of Bellatrix and wife of Lucius Malfoyʹ 

Q3 - Thoughts about your confirmed suspicions of Kreacher?

• `Kreacher is what he has been made by wizards, Harryʹ said Dumbledore. `Yes, he is to be pitied. His existence has been as miserable as your friend Dobbyʹs. He was forced to do Siriusʹs bidding, because Sirius was the last of the family to which he was enslaved, but he felt no true loyalty to him. And whatever Kreacherʹs faults, it must be admitted that Sirius did nothing to make Kreacherʹs lot easier —

Q4 - Do you hate or pity Kreacher?

• `Snape made it worse, my scar always hurt worse after lessons with him - Harry remembered Ronʹs thoughts on the subject and plunged on `‐ how do you know he wasnʹt trying to soften me up for Voldemort, make it easier for him to get inside my - `I trust Severus Snape,ʹ said Dumbledore simply `But I forgot ‐  another old manʹs mistake ‐ that some wounds run too deep for the healing. I thought Professor Snape could overcome his feelings about your father ‐ I was wrong.ʹ 

Q5 - Do you trust Snape?

• ʹIt is time,ʹ he said, `for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry. Please sit down. I am going to tell you everything. I ask only a little patience. You will have your chance to rage at me ‐ to do whatever you like ‐ when I have finished. I will not stop you.ʹ 

Q6 - Did you get excited after reading this line?

• `While you can still call home the place where your motherʹs blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you. Your aunt knows this. I explained what I had done in the letter I left, with you, on her doorstep. She knows that allowing you houseroom may well have kept you alive for the past fifteen years.ʹ 

Q7 - Thoughts on Remember my Last?

• `The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies … and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not … and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives … the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies …ʹ 

Q8 - What does this all mean?

• `The odd thing, Harry,ʹ he said softly, `is that it may not have meant you at all. Sybillʹs prophecy could have applied to two wizard boys, both born at the end of July that year, both of whom had parents in the Order of the Phoenix, both sets of parents having narrowly escaped Voldemort three times. One, of course, was you. The other was Neville Longbottom.ʹ 
• `There is a room in the Department of Mysteries,ʹ interrupted Dumbledore, `that is kept locked at all times. It contains a force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence, than the forces of nature. It is also, perhaps, the most mysterious of the many subjects for study that reside there. It is the power held within that room that you possess in such quantities and which Voldemort has not at all. That power took you to save Sirius tonight. That power also saved you from possession by Voldemort, because he could not bear to reside in a body so full of the force he detests. In the end, it mattered not that you could not close your mind. It was your heart that saved you.ʹ 

Q9 - Is Love the only power Harry has over Voldemort?

Chapter 38 - The Second War Begins

• They were in the hospital wing. Harry was sitting on the end of Ronʹs bed and they were both listening to Hermione read the front page of the Sunday Prophet. Ginny, whose ankle had been mended in a trice by Madam Pomfrey, was curled up at the foot of Hermioneʹs bed; Neville, whose nose had likewise been returned to its normal size and shape, was in a chair between the two beds; and Luna, who had dropped in to visit, clutching the latest edition of The Quibbler, was reading the magazine upside‐down and apparently not taking in a word Hermione was saying.

Q1 - How do you guys deal with grief?

• Malfoy looked angrier than Harry had ever seen him; he felt a kind of detached satisfaction at the sight of his pale, pointed face contorted with rage. ʹYouʹre going to pay,ʹ said Malloy in a voice barely louder than a whisper. `Iʹm going to make you pay for what youʹve done to my father…ʹ  `Well, Iʹm terrified now,ʹ said Harry sarcastically. `Iʹsʹpose Lord Voldemortʹs just a warm‐up act compared to you three ‐ whatʹs the matter?ʹ he added, for Malfoy Crabbe and Goyle had all looked stricken at the sound of the name. `Heʹs a mate of your dad, isnʹt he? Not scared of him, are you? ʹYou think youʹre such a big man, Potter,ʹ said Malfoy, advancing now, Crabbe and Goyle flanking him. `You wait. Iʹll have you. You canʹt land my father in prison - `I thought i just had,ʹ said Harry.
• Perhaps the reason he wanted to be alone was because he had felt isolated from everybody since his talk with Dumbledore. An invisible barrier separated him from the rest of the world. He was ‐ he had always been ‐ a marked man. It was just that he had never really understood what that meant…

Q2 - What do you think of Harry’s grief?

Q3 - How do you think knowing that he is a marked man will effect Harry?

• Professor Umbridge left Hogwarts the day before the end of term. It seemed she had crept out of the hospital wing during dinnertime, evidently hoping to depart undetected, but unfortunately for her, she met Peeves on the way, who seized his last chance to do as Fred had instructed, and chased her gleefully from the premises whacking her alternately with a walking stick and a sock full of chalk. Many students ran out into the Entrance Hall to watch her running away down the path and the Heads of Houses tried only half‐heartedly to restrain them. Indeed, Professor McGonagall sank back into her chair at the staff table after a few feeble remonstrances and was clearly heard to express a regret that she could not run cheering after Umbridge herself, because Peeves had borrowed her walking stick.
• Harryʹs heart began to race. He remembered seeing his dead parents in the Mirror of Erised four years ago. He was going to be able to talk to Sirius again, right now, he knew it ‐  He looked around to make sure there was nobody else there; the dormitory was quite empty. He looked back at the mirror, raised it in front of his face with trembling hands and said, loudly and clearly, ʹSirius.ʹ  His breath misted the surface of the glass. He held the mirror even closer, excitement flooding through him, but the eyes blinking back at him through the fog were definitely his own. He wiped the mirror clear again and said, so that every syllable rang clearly through the room: ʹSirius Black!ʹ  Nothing happened.

Q4 - How devastating is this part?

• Nick turned away from the window and looked mournfully at Harry. `He wonʹt come back.ʹ  `Who?ʹ  `Sirius Black,ʹ said Nick. And so strong was his belief, Harry actually turned his head to check the door, sure, for a split second, that he was going to see Sirius, pearly‐white and transparent but beaming, walking through it towards him. `He will not come back,ʹ repeated Nick. `He will have… gone on.ʹ 

Q5 - Do you understand how ghosts work now?

• Harry nodded curtly, but found that for some reason he did not mind Luna talking about Sirius. He had just remembered that she, too, could see Thestrals. `Have you…ʹ he began. `I mean, who… has anyone you known ever died?ʹ  `Yes,ʹ said Luna simply, `my mother. She was a quite extraordinary witch, you know, but she did like to experiment and one of her spells went rather badly wrong one day. I was nine.ʹ  `Iʹm sorryʹ Harry mumbled. ʹYes, it was rather horrible,ʹ said Luna conversationally. `I still feel very sad about it sometimes. But Iʹve still got Dad. And anyway, itʹs not as though Iʹll never see Mum again, is it?ʹ  `Er ‐ isnʹt it?ʹ said Harry uncertainly. She shook her head in disbelief. `Oh, come on. You heard them, just behind the veil, didnʹt you?ʹ  `You mean…ʹ  `In that room with the archway. They were just lurking out of sight, thatʹs all. You heard them.ʹ 
• Harry was surprised to find that this information did not hurt at all. Wanting to impress Cho seemed to belong to a past that was no longer quite connected with him; so much of what he had wanted before Sinusʹ,ʹ death felt that «°av these days… the week that had elapsed since he had last seen Sirius seemed to have lasted much, much longer; it stretched across two universes, the one with Sirius in it, and the one without.

Q6 - Would Harry and Cho be a good couple now? Do you think they’ll get back together?

• When the ticket inspector signaled to Harry, Ron and Hermione that it was safe to walk through the magical barrier between platforms nine and ten, however, he found a surprise awaiting him on the other side: a group of people standing there to greet him who he had not expected at all…Harry nodded. He somehow could not find words to tell them what it meant to him, to see them all ranged there, on his side. Instead, he smiled, raised a hand in farewell, turned around and led the way out of the station towards the sunlit street, with Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley hurrying along in his wake.

Q7 - How will Harry go from this point on?

Chapter 35 - Beyond the Veil

• ʹItʹs time you learned the difference between life and dreams, Potter,ʹ said Malfoy. ʹNow give me the prophecy, or we start using wands.ʹ 

Q1 - Thoughts on this being a prophecy?

• ʹSo,ʹ said Harry, ʹwhat kind of prophecy are we talking about, anyway?ʹ  He could not think what to do but to keep talking. Nevilleʹs arm was pressed against his, and he could feel him shaking; he could feel one of the othersʹ  quickened breath on the back of his head. He was hoping they were all thinking hard about ways to get out of this, because his mind was blank. ʹWhat kind of prophecy?ʹ repeated Bellatrix, the grin fading from her face. ʹYou jest, Harry Potter.ʹ  ʹNope, not jesting,ʹ said Harry, his eyes flicking from Death Eater to Death Eater,.looking for a weak link, a space through which they could escape. ʹHow come Voldemort wants it?ʹ Several of the Death Eaters let out low hisses. ʹYou dare speak his name?ʹ whispered Bellatrix. ʹYeah,ʹ said Harry, maintaining his tight grip on the glass ball, expecting another attempt to bewitch it from him. ʹYeah, Iʹve got no problem with saying Vol—ʹ  ʹShut your mouth!ʹ Bellatrix shrieked. ʹYou dare speak his name with your unworthy lips, you dare besmirch it with your half‐bloodʹs tongue, you dare ‐ʹ ʹDid you know heʹs a half‐blood too?ʹ said Harry recklessly. Hermione gave a little moan in his ear. ʹVoldemort? Yeah, his mother was a witch but his dad was a Muggle ‐ or has he been telling you lot heʹs pure‐blood?ʹ 

Q2 - Is Harry right to instigate here?

• ʹDumbledore never told you the reason you bear that scar was hidden in the bowels of the Department of Mysteries?ʹ Malfoy sneered.

Q3 - Why didn’t Dumbledore tell Harry?

• Harry stared into the slitted eye‐holes through which Malfoyʹs grey eyes were gleaming. Was this prophecy the reason Harryʹs parents had died, the reason he carried his lightning‐bolt scar? Was the answer to all of this clutched in his hand?
• The jet of red light flew right over the Death Eaterʹs shoulder and hit a glass‐ fronted cabinet on the wall full of variously shaped hour‐glasses; the cabinet fell to the floor and burst apart, glass flying everywhere, sprang back up on to the wall, fully mended, then fell down again, and shattered ‐ 

Q4 - What happened here?

• The Death Eater had pulled his head out of the bell jar. His appearance was utterly bizarre, his tiny babyʹs head bawling loudly while his thick arms flailed dangerously in all directions, narrowly missing Harry, who had ducked. Harry raised his wand but to his amazement Hermione seized his arm. ʹYou canʹt hurt a baby!ʹ 

Q5 - Thoughts on Hermione saying this?

• But the Death Eater Hermione had just struck dumb made a sudden slashing movement with his wand; a streak of what looked like purple flame passed right across Hermioneʹs chest. She gave a tiny ʹOh!ʹ as though of surprise and crumpled on to the floor, where she lay motionless.

Q6 - What is this magic and is Hermione dead?

• Neville kicked aside the broken fragments of his own wand as they walked slowly towards the door. ʹMy granʹs going do kill be,ʹ said Neville thickly, blood spattering from his nose as he spoke, ʹdat was by dadʹs old wand.ʹ 

Q7 - Thoughts on this?

• ʹPotter, your race is run,ʹ drawled Lucius Malfoy, pulling off his mask, ʹnow hand me the prophecy like a good boy.ʹ  ʹLet ‐ let the others go, and Iʹll give it to you!ʹ said Harry desperately. A few of the Death Eaters laughed. ʹYou are not in a position to bargain, Potter,ʹ said Lucius Malfoy, his pale face flushed with pleasure. ʹYou see, there are ten of us and only one of you… or hasnʹt Dumbledore ever taught you how to count?ʹ  ʹHeʹs dot alone!ʹ shouted a voice from above them. ʹHeʹs still god be!ʹ 

Q8 - Do you see why I love Neville so much now?

• Harry did not have to think; there was no choice. The prophecy was hot with the heat of his clutching hand as he held it out. Malfoy jumped forwards to take it. Then, high above them, two more doors burst open and five more people sprinted into the room: Sirius, Lupin, Moody, Tonks and Kingsley.
• ʹHarry, take the prophecy, grab Neville and run!ʹ Sirius yelled, dashing to meet Bellatrix. Harry did not see what happened next: Kingsley swayed across his field of vision, battling with the pockmarked and no longer masked Rookwood; another jet of green light flew over Harryʹs head as he launched himself towards Neville ‐ 

Q9 - thoughts on everything happening here?

• He gave another stupendous heave and Nevilles robes tore all along the left seam ‐ the small spun‐glass ball dropped from his pocket and, before either of them could catch it, one of Nevilleʹs floundering feet kicked it: it flew some ten feet to their right and smashed on the step beneath them. As both of them stared at the place where it had broken, appalled at what had happened, a pearly‐white figure with hugely magnified eyes rose into the air, unnoticed by any but them..Harry could see its mouth moving, but in all the crashes and screams and yells surrounding them, not one word of the prophecy could he hear. The figure stopped speaking and dissolved into nothingness.
• Harry turned to look where Neville was staring. Directly above them, framed in the doorway from the Brain Room, stood Albus Dumbledore, his wand aloft, his face white and furious. Harry felt a kind of electric charge surge through every particle of his body ‐ they were saved.

Q10 - How good do you feel that Dumbledore is here?

• Only one pair was still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrixʹs jet of red light: he was laughing at her. ʹCome on, you can do better than that!ʹ he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room. The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest. The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock. Harry released Neville, though he was unaware of doing so. He was jumping down the steps again, pulling out his wand, as Dumbledore, too, turned towards the dais. It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall: his body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backwards through the ragged veil hanging from the arch. Harry saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his godfatherʹs wasted, once‐ handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind, then fell back into place. Harry heard Bellatrix Lestrangeʹs triumphant scream, but knew it meant nothing ‐ Sirius had only just fallen through the archway, he would reappear from the other side any second… But Sirius did not reappear. ʹSIRIUS!ʹ Harry yelled. ʹSIRIUS!ʹ  He had reached the floor, his breath coming in searing gasps. Sirius must be just behind the curtain, he, Harry, would pull him back out… But as he reached the ground and sprinted towards the dais, Lupin grabbed Harry around the chest, holding him back. Thereʹs nothing you can do, Harry ‐ʹ  ʹGet him, save him, heʹs only just gone through!ʹ  ʹ‐ itʹs too late, Harry.ʹ  ʹWe can still reach him ‐ʹ Harry struggled hard and viciously, but Lupin would not let go… Thereʹs nothing you can do, Harry… nothing… heʹs gone.ʹ 

Q11 - Thoughts on Sirius death here?

Chapter 36 - The Only One He Ever Feared

• Lupin dragged Harry away from the dais. Harry, still staring at the archway, was angry at Sirius now for keeping him waiting But some part of him realised, even as he fought to break free from Lupin, that Sirius had never kept him waiting before… Sirius had risked everything, always, to see Harry, to help him… if Sirius was not reappearing out of that archway when Harry was yelling for him as though his life depended on it, the only possible explanation was that he could not come back… that he really was

Q1 - How will Sirius’s death affect Harry?

• `Aaaaaah … did you love him, little baby Potter?ʹ  Hatred rose in Harry such as he had never known before; he flung himself out from behind the fountain and bellowed, `Crucio!ʹ  Bellatrix screamed: the spell had knocked her off her feet, but she did not writhe and shriek with pain as Neville had ‐ she was already back on her feet, breathless, no longer laughing. Harry dodged behind the golden fountain again. Her counter‐spell hit the head of the handsome wizard, which was blown off and landed twenty feet away, gouging long scratches into the wooden floor. `Never used an Unforgivable Curse before, have you, boy?ʹ she yelled. She had abandoned her baby voice now. `You need to mean them, Potter! You need to really want to cause pain ‐ to enjoy it ‐ righteous anger wonʹt hurt me for long ‐  Iʹll show you how it is done, shall I? Iʹll give you a lesson ‐ʹ

Q2 - Harry just used an unforgivable curse…thoughts?

• `Potter, Iʹm going to give you one chance!ʹ shouted Bellatrix. `Give me the prophecy ‐ roll it out towards me now ‐ and I may spare your life!ʹ  `Well, youʹre going to have to kill me, because itʹs gone!ʹ Harry roared and, as he shouted it, pain seared across his forehead; his scar was on fire again, and he felt a surge of fury that was quite unconnected with his own rage. `And he knows!ʹ said Harry, with a mad laugh to match Bellatrixʹs own. `Your dear old mate Voldemort knows itʹs gone! Heʹs not going to be happy with you, is he?ʹ  ʹWhat? What do you mean?ʹ she cried, and for the first time there was fear in her voice.
• `Donʹt waste your breath!ʹ yelled Harry, his eyes screwed up against the pain in his scar, now more terrible than ever. `He canʹt hear you from here!ʹ  `Canʹt I, Potter?ʹ said a high, cold voice.

Q3 - How intense is this? Did you expect Voldemort to be there?

• `It was foolish to come here tonight, Tom,ʹ said Dumbledore calmly. `The Aurors are on their way’ `By which time I shall be gone, and you will be dead!ʹ spat Voldemort.

Q4 - How good is this comeback?

• Dumbledore flicked his own wand: the force of the spell that emanated from it was such that Harry, though shielded by his golden guard, felt his hair stand on end as it passed and this time Voldemort was forced to conjure a shining silver shield out of thin air to deflect it. The spell, whatever it was, caused no visible damage to the shield, though a deep, gong‐like note reverberated from it ‐ an oddly chilling sound. `You do not seek to kill me, Dumbledore?ʹ called Voldemort, his scarlet eyes narrowed over the top of the shield. `Above such brutality, are you?ʹ  ʹWe both know that there are other ways of destroying a man, Tom,ʹ Dumbledore said calmly, continuing to walk towards Voldemort as though he had not a fear in the world, as though nothing had happened to interrupt his stroll up the hall. `Merely taking your life would not satisfy me, I admit’ ‘`There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!ʹ snarled Voldemort. `You are quite wrong,ʹ said Dumbledore, still closing in upon Voldemort and speaking as lightly as though they were discussing the matter over drinks. Harry felt scared to see him walking along, undefended, shieldless; he wanted to cry out a warning, but his headless guard kept shunting him backwards towards the wall, blocking his every attempt to get out from behind it. `Indeed, your failure to understand that there are things much worse than death has always been your greatest weakness’

Q5 - Why would Dumbledore not be satisfied to take Voldy’s life?

Q6 - What is this magic Dumbledore is using?

• He was gone from the hall, he was locked in the coils of a creature with red eyes, so tightly bound that Harry did not know where his body ended and the creatureʹs began: they were fused together, bound by pain, and there was no escape.

Q7 - What is happening here?

• Let the pain stop, thought Harry… let him kill us… end it, Dumbledore… death is nothing compared to this… And Iʹll see Sirius again…

Q8 - How much do you hate Fudge?

Q9 - What is the plan of action next?

Chapter 33 - Fight and Flight

• ʹCan we have your wand, then, if weʹre going first?ʹ Harry asked her. ʹNo, I donʹt think so, Mr Potter,ʹ said Umbridge sweetly, poking him in the back with it. The Ministry places a rather higher value on my life than yours, Iʹm afraid.ʹ 

Q1 - If you were leading Umbridge into the woods, where would you take her?

• But as he stretched out a hand towards it, a centaurʹs hoof descended upon the wand and it broke cleanly in half. ʹNow!ʹ roared a voice in Harryʹs ear and a thick hairy arm descended from thin air and dragged him upright. Hermione, too, had been pulled to her feet. Over the plunging, many‐coloured backs and heads of the centaurs, Harry saw Umbridge being borne away through the trees by Bane. Screaming non‐stop, her voice grew fainter and fainter until they could no longer hear it over the trampling of hooves surrounding them.

Q2 - Is this the end of Umbridge magical journey?

Q3 - Will she be back in this book?

• He opened his mouth even wider. ʹHagger.ʹ  Harry did not know what ʹhaggerʹ meant, or what language it was from.

Q4 - Is Harry the dumbest person in this book?

• ʹExcuse me, but I care what happens to Sirius as much as you do!ʹ said Ginny, her jaw set so that her resemblance to Fred and George was suddenly striking. ʹYouʹre too ‐ʹ Harry began, but Ginny said fiercely, ʹIʹm three years older than you were when you fought You‐Know‐Who over the Philosopherʹs Stone, and itʹs because of me that Malfoyʹs stuck back in Umbridgeʹs office with giant flying bogies attacking him ‐ʹ  ʹYeah, but ‐ʹ  ʹWe were all in the DA together,ʹ said Neville quietly. ʹIt was all supposed to be about fighting You‐Know‐Who, wasnʹt it? And this is the first chance weʹve had to do something real ‐ or was that all just a game or something?ʹ  ʹNo — of course it wasnʹt ‐ʹ said Harry impatiently. Then we should come too,ʹ said Neville simply. ʹWe want to help.ʹ  Thatʹs right,ʹ said Luna, smiling happily. Harryʹs eyes met Ronʹs. He knew Ron was thinking exactly what he was: if he could have chosen any members of the DA, in addition to himself, Ron and Hermione, to join him in the attempt to rescue Sirius, he would not have picked Ginny, Neville or Luna.

Q5 - Who is your starting three from the DA?

Q6 - Have your thoughts on Thestrals changed?

Chapter 34 - The Department of Mysteries

• This is mad,ʹ Ron murmured, moving his free hand gingerly up and down his horseʹs neck. ʹMad… if I could just see it ‐ʹ  ʹYouʹd better hope it stays invisible,ʹ said Harry darkly. ʹWe all ready, then?ʹ 

Q1 - Is Harry being a dick here?

Q2 - Thoughts on riding on an invisible horse?

Q3 - What animal would you want to ride from the magical world?

• Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business.ʹ  ʹHarry Potter, Ron Weasley Hermione Granger,ʹ Harry said very quickly, ʹGinny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood… weʹre here to save someone, unless your Ministry can do it first!ʹ  Thank you,ʹ said the cool female voice. ʹVisitors, please take the badges and attach them to the front of your robes.ʹ  Half a dozen badges slid out of the metal chute where returned coins normally appeared. Hermione scooped them up and handed them mutely to Harry over Ginnyʹs head; he glanced at the topmost one, Harry Potter, Rescue Mission.

Q4 - Is Harry dumb to say this stuff?

• ʹWhatʹre those things?ʹ whispered Ron. ʹDunno,ʹ said Harry. ʹAre they fish?ʹ breathed Ginny. ʹAquavirius Maggots!ʹ said Luna excitedly. ʹDad said the Ministry were breeding —ʹ  ʹNo,ʹ said Hermione. She sounded odd. She moved forward to look through the side of the tank. Theyʹre brains.ʹ  ʹBrains?ʹ ʹYes… I wonder what theyʹre doing with them?ʹ

Q5 - What is the ministry doing with these brains?

• Instead of a chained chair, however, there was a raised stone dais in the centre of the pit, on which stood a stone archway that looked so ancient, cracked and crumbling that Harry was amazed the thing was still standing. Unsupported by any surrounding wall, the archway was hung with a tattered black curtain or veil which, despite the complete stillness of the cold surrounding air, was fluttering very slightly as though it had just been touched. ʹWhoʹs there?ʹ said Harry, jumping down on to the bench below. There was no answering voice, but the veil continued to flutter and sway.

Q6 - Is there someone behind this veil?

• ʹI can hear them too,ʹ breathed Luna, joining them around the side of the archway and gazing at the swaying veil. There are people in there!ʹ  ʹWhat do you mean, ʺin thereʺ?ʹ demanded Hermione, jumping down from the bottom step and sounding much angrier than the occasion warranted, ʹthere isnʹt any ʺin thereʺ, itʹs just an archway, thereʹs no room for anybody to be there. Harry, stop it, come away ‐ʹ 

Q7 - What’s going on with this veil?

Q8 - Why is Hermione so angry?

Q9 - Why didn’t Harry make a quick stop to Grimmauld Place?

• S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D. Dark Lord and (?)Harry Potter

Q10 - What does this all mean?

• Nothing whatsoever happened. The others moved in closer around Harry, gazing at the orb as he brushed it free of the clogging dust. And then, from right behind them, a drawling voice spoke. ʹVery good, Potter. Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me.ʹ 

Q11 - Who’s voice is this?

Chapter 31 - O.W.L.s

Q1 - Have you ever had that moment of euphoria like Ron is at the moment?

Q2 - Were you guys studyers?

•  ʹBut I daresay the Ministry of Magic will track him down soon enough.ʹ  ʹI doubt it,ʹ shouted tiny Professor Marchbanks, ʹnot if Dumbledore doesnʹt want to be found! I should know… examined him personally in Transfiguration and Charms when he did NEWTs… did things with a wand Iʹd never seen before.ʹ 

Q3 - Who after Dumbledore is the best witch or wizard?

• The first question: a) Give the incantation and b) describe the wand movement required to make objects fly. Harry had a fleeting memory of a club soaring high into the air and landing loudly on the thick skull of a troll… smiling slightly, he bent over the paper and began to write.

Q4 - Is Harry going to get high marks?

• ʹWell, we were always going to fail that one,ʹ said Ron gloomily as they ascended the marble staircase. He had just made Harry feel rather better by telling him how he had told the examiner in detail about the ugly man with a wart on his nose in his crystal ball, only to look up and realize he had been describing his examinerʹs reflection.

Q5 - Why are they sacking Hagrid so late?

Q6 - What do you think of the whole sacking of Hagrid?

Q7 - In your opinion, did wand legislation contribute to, or lead to better control of, goblin riots of the eighteenth century?

Q8 - Harry mentions Legilimency for this exam, would that work?

• But there was a shape on the floor at the very end, a black shape moving on the floor like a wounded animal… Harryʹs stomach contracted with fear… with excitement… A voice issued from his own mouth, a high, cold voice empty of any human kindness… Take it for me… lift it down, now… I cannot touch it… but you can The black shape on the floor shifted a little. Harry saw a long‐fingered white hand clutching a wand rise at the end of his own arm… heard the high, cold voice say ʹCrucio!ʹ  The man on the floor let out a scream of pain, attempted to stand but fell back, writhing. Harry was laughing. He raised his wand, the curse lifted and the figure groaned and became motionless. ʹLord Voldemort is waiting Very slowly, his arms trembling, the man on the ground raised his shoulders a few inches and lifted his head. His face was bloodstained and gaunt, twisted in pain yet rigid with defiance… ʹYouʹll have to kill me,ʹ whispered Sirius. ʹUndoubtedly I shall in the end,ʹ said the cold voice. ʹBut you will fetch it for me first, Black… you think you have felt pain thus far? Think again… we have hours ahead of us and nobody to hear you scream…ʹ  But somebody screamed as Voldemort lowered his wand again; somebody yelled and fell sideways off a hot desk on to the cold stone floor; Harry awoke as he hit the ground, still yelling, his scar on fire, as the Great Hall erupted all around him.

Q9 - What do you think is happening?

Chapter 32 - Out of the Fire

• ʹI donʹt wonder youʹre shocked, Potter,ʹ said Madam Pomfrey, with a kind of fierce approval in her face. ʹAs if one of them could have Stunned Minerva McGonagall face‐on by daylight! Cowardice, . thatʹs what it was… despicable cowardice… if I wasnʹt worried what would happen to you students without me, Iʹd resign in protest.ʹ 

Q1 - What should the teachers do here?

Q2 - Are Ron and Hermione wrong to be questioning Harry here? Has Harry proved himself untrustworthy?

• ʹOK,ʹ she said, looking frightened yet determined, ʹIʹve just got to say this ‐ʹ  ʹWhat?ʹ  ʹYou… this isnʹt a criticism, Harry! But you do… sort of… I mean ‐ donʹt you think youʹve got a bit of a ‐ a ‐ saving‐people thing!ʹ she said.

Q3 - Is she right here?

• ʹIʹm trying to say ‐ Voldemort knows you, Harry! He took Ginny down into the Chamber of Secrets to lure you there, itʹs the kind of thing he does, he knows youʹre the ‐ the sort of person whoʹd go to Siriusʹs aid! What if heʹs just trying to get you into the Department of Myst—?ʹ

Q4 - Is she right here?

• ʹWeʹll have to use Umbridgeʹs fire and see if we can contact him,ʹ said Hermione, who looked positively terrified at the thought. ʹWeʹll draw Umbridge away again, but weʹll need lookouts, and thatʹs where we can use Ginny and Luna.ʹ  Though clearly struggling to understand what was going on, Ginny said immediately, ʹYeah, weʹll do it,ʹ and Luna said, ʹWhen you say ʺSiriusʺ, are you talking about Stubby Boardman?ʹ

Q5 - Is this a good plan?

• ʹWhereʹs Sirius, Kreacher?ʹ Harry demanded. The house‐elf gave a wheezy chuckle. ʹMaster has gone out, Harry Potter.ʹ  ʹWhereʹs he gone? Whereʹs he gone, Kreacher?ʹ  Kreacher merely cackled. ʹIʹm warning you!ʹ said Harry, fully aware that his scope for inflicting punishment upon Kreacher was almost non‐existent in this position. ʹWhat about Lupin? Mad‐Eye? Any of them, are any of them there?ʹ  ʹNobody here but Kreacher!ʹ said the elf gleefully and turning away from Harry he began to walk slowly towards the door at the end of the kitchen. ʹKreacher thinks he will have a little chat with his mistress now, yes, he hasnʹt had a chance in a long time, Kreacherʹs master has been keeping him away from her ‐ʹ  ʹWhere has Sirius gone?ʹ Harry yelled after the elf. ʹKreacher, has he gone to the Department of Mysteries?ʹ  Kreacher stopped in his tracks. Harry could just make out the back of his bald head through the forest of chair legs before him. ʹMaster does not tell poor Kreacher where he is going,ʹ said the elf quietly. ʹBut you know!ʹ shouted Harry. ʹDonʹt you? You know where he is!ʹ  There was a momentʹs silence, then the elf let out his loudest cackle yet. ʹMaster will not come back from the Department of Mysteries!ʹ he said gleefully. ʹKreacher and his mistress are alone again!ʹ 

Q6 - Will Sirius not come back from the Department of Mysteries?

• Snape gave her an ironic bow and turned to leave. Harry knew his last chance of letting the Order know what was going on was walking out of the door. ʹHeʹs got Padfoot!ʹ he shouted. ʹHeʹs got Padfoot at the place where itʹs hidden!ʹ  Snape had stopped with his hand on Umbridges door handle. ʹPadfoot?ʹ cried Professor Umbridge, looking eagerly from Harry to Snape. ʹWhat is Padfoot? Where what is hidden? What does he mean, Snape?ʹ  Snape looked round at Harry. His face was inscrutable. Harry could not tell whether he had understood or not, but he did not dare speak more plainly in front of Umbridge. ʹI have no idea,ʹ said Snape coldly.

Q7 - Is Snape good or bad?

Q8 - What do you think about the reveal that she was the one who sent Dementors to little whinging?

Q9 - She was going to use the Cruciatus curse?!

Q10 - What is Hermine leading them to?

Chapter 28 - Snape’s Worst Memory

• “Umbridge tried to get back into his office last night after theyʹd searched the castle and grounds for him. Couldnʹt get past the gargoyle. The Headʹs office has sealed itself against her.ʹ Ernie smirked. ʹApparently, she had a right little tantrum.”

Q1 - Do you think Dumbledore did this or is this just the magic of the castle?

• ʹMalfoy just docked us all about fifty points,ʹ said Harry furiously, as they watched several more stones fly upwards from the Gryffindor hour‐glass. ʹYeah, Montague tried to do us during break,ʹ said George. ʹWhat do you mean, ʺtriedʺ?ʹ said Ron quickly. ʹHe never managed to get all the words out,ʹ said Fred, ʹdue to the fact that we forced him head‐first into that Vanishing Cabinet on the first floor.ʹ 

Q2 - Where do you think Montague vanished to?

Q3 - What do you think about the new point system?

• The upshot of it all was that Professor Umbridge spent her first afternoon as Headmistress running all over the school answering the summonses of the other teachers, none of whom seemed able to rid their rooms of the fireworks without her. When the final bell rang and they were heading back to Gryffindor Tower with their bags, Harry saw, with immense satisfaction, a dishevelled and soot-blackened Umbridge tottering sweaty‐faced from Professor Flitwickʹs classroom.
• And now he was in a dimly lit room as high and wide as a church, full of nothing but rows and rows of towering shelves, each laden with small, dusty, spun‐glass spheres… now Harrys heart was beating fast with excitement… he knew where to go… he ran forwards, but his footsteps made no noise in the enormous, deserted room… There was something in this room he wanted very, very much…

Q4 - What is Harry looking at here?

• Sheʹs a lovely person really,ʹ said Cho. ʹShe just made a mistake ‐ʹ  Harry looked at her incredulously. ʹA lovely person who made a mistake? She sold us all out, including you!ʹ  ʹWell… we all got away, didnʹt we?ʹ said Cho pleadingly. ʹYou know, her mum works for the Ministry, itʹs really difficult for her ‐ʹ  ʹRonʹs dad works for the Ministry too!ʹ Harry said furiously. ʹAnd in case you hadnʹt noticed, he hasnʹt got sneak written across his face ‐ʹ  That was a really horrible trick of Hermione Grangerʹs,ʹ said Cho fiercely. ʹShe should have told us sheʹd jinxed that list ‐ʹ  ʹI think it was a brilliant idea,ʹ said Harry coldly. Cho flushed and her eyes grew brighter. ʹOh yes, I forgot ‐ of course, if it was darling Hermioneʹs idea ‐ʹ  ʹDonʹt start crying again,ʹ said Harry warningly. ʹI wasnʹt going to!ʹ she shouted. ʹYeah… well… good,ʹ he said. Iʹve got enough to cope with at the moment.ʹ  ʹGo and cope with it then!ʹ Cho said furiously, turning on her heel and stalking off.

Q5 - Who is right in this debate?

Q6 - Should Harry have looked into Snape’s memories?

• ʹLeave him ALONE!ʹ  James and Sirius looked round. Jamesʹs free hand immediately jumped to his hair. It was one of the girls from the lake edge. She had thick, dark red hair that fell to her shoulders, and startlingly green almond-shaped eyes—Harryʹs eyes. Harryʹs mother.

Q7 - Jenn and Danny, what do you think about the color and shape of the eyes?

Q8 - What do you think of the young marauders and of Lily and Snape?

• ʹYou think youʹre funny,ʹ she said coldly. ʹBut youʹre just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter. Leave him alone.ʹ  ʹI will if you go out with me, Evans,ʹ said James quickly. ʹGo on… go out with me and Iʹll never lay a wand on old Snivelly again.ʹ 

Q9 - Were James and Lily married because of this bet?

Q10 - Is James Potter a jerk?

Chapter 29 - Careers Advice

Q1 - What is going on with Harry at the start of this chapter? (Is he only depressed because of the memory he saw?)

Q2 - Is Harry an idiot to be breaking into Umbridge’s office to talk with Sirius?

Q3 - What would the trio be good at for their jobs?

Q4 - What would you want to do in the wizarding world?

• Professor Umbridge gave her most pronounced cough yet. ʹMay I offer you a cough drop, Dolores?ʹ Professor McGonagall asked curtly, without looking at Professor Umbridge.
• ʹI should have made my meaning plainer,ʹ said Professor McGonagall, turning at last to look Umbridge directly in the eyes. ʹHe has achieved high marks in all Defence Against the Dark Arts tests set by a competent teacher.ʹ  Professor Umbridgeʹs smile vanished as suddenly as a light bulb blowing.
• ʹPotter,ʹ she said in ringing tones, ʹI will assist you to become an Auror if it is the last thing I do! If I have to coach you nightly, I will make sure you achieve the required results!ʹ

Q5 - Thoughts on the showdown with McG and Umbridge?

• ʹHe kept messing up his hair,ʹ said Harry in a pained voice. Sirius and Lupin laughed. ʹIʹd forgotten he used to do that,ʹ said Sirius affectionately. ʹWas he playing with the Snitch?ʹ said Lupin eagerly. ʹYeah,ʹ said Harry, watching uncomprehendingly as Sirius and Lupin beamed reminiscently. ʹWell… I thought he was a bit of an idiot.ʹ 

Q6 - How do you look at your past self?

Q7 - Are Sirius and Lupin right to laugh it off like this?

• ʹSTOP THEM!ʹ shrieked Umbridge, but it was too late. As the Inquisitorial Squad closed in, Fred and George kicked off from the floor, shooting fifteen feet into the air, the iron peg swinging dangerously below. Fred looked across the hall at the poltergeist bobbing on his level above the crowd. ʹGive her hell from us, Peeves.ʹ  And Peeves, who Harry had never seen take an order from a student before, swept his belled hat from his head and sprang to a salute as Fred and George wheeled about to tumultuous applause from the students below and sped out of the open front doors into the glorious sunset.

Q8 - What do you think about this?

Chapter 30 - Grawp

• Eventually the area was roped off and Filch, gnashing his teeth furiously, was given the task of punting students across it to their classrooms. Harry was certain that teachers like McGonagall or Flitwick could have removed the swamp in an instant but, just as in the case of Fred and Georges Wildfire Whiz‐bangs, they seemed to prefer to watch Umbridge struggle.

Q1 - What prank would you play on Umbridge now?

• None of the staff but Filch seemed to be stirring themselves to help her. Indeed, a week after Fred and Georgeʹs departure Harry witnessed Professor McGonagall walking right past Peeves, who was determinedly loosening a crystal chandelier, and could have sworn he heard her tell the poltergeist out of the corner of her mouth, ʹIt unscrews the other way.ʹ

Q2 - Should Harry be that serious about occlumency and going back to Snape?

Q3 - Hagrid mentions he’s going to help Dumbledore when he gets sacked…what is he going to do?

• ʹWhat are those ropes for, then?ʹ Harry asked. He had just noticed ropes thick as saplings stretching from around the trunks of the largest nearby trees towards the place where Grawp lay curled on the ground with his back to them. ʹYou have to keep him tied up?ʹ said Hermione faintly. ʹWell… yeah…ʹ said Hagrid, looking anxious. ʹSee ‐ itʹs like I say ‐ he doesnʹ  really know ʹis own strength.ʹ 

Q4 - Is Hagrid right to have his brother like this?

Q5 - What do you think about Centaurs?

• ʹOh, come off it, Harry!ʹ said Hermione angrily, stopping dead in her tracks so that the people behind had to swerve to avoid her. ʹOf course heʹs going to be chucked out and, to be perfectly honest, after what weʹve just seen, who can blame Umbridge?ʹ  There was a pause in which Harry glared at her, and her eyes filled slowly with tears. ʹYou didnʹt mean that,ʹ said Harry quietly. ʹNo… well… all right… I didnʹt,ʹ she said, wiping her eyes angrily. ʹBut why does he have to make life so difficult for himself ‐ for us?ʹ 

Q6 - Why is Hermione so mad here?

Q7 - What do you think about Ron having a good match?

Chapter 25 - The Beetle at Bay

Q1 - What do you think of this mass breakout at Azkaban?

Q2 - Why was Bode assassinated? And who killed him?

• This latest Decree had been the subject of a great number of jokes among the students. Lee Jordan had pointed out to Umbridge that by the terms of the new rule she was not allowed to tell Fred and George off for playing Exploding Snap in the back of the class. ʹExploding Snapʹs got nothing to do with Defence Against the Dark Arts, Professor! Thatʹs not information relating to your subject!ʹ  When Harry next saw Lee, the back of his hand was bleeding rather badly. Harry recommended essence of Murtlap.

Q3 - Do you think Umbridge should be in prison for this?

• ʹWell, maybe Snape isnʹt really trying to help Harry…ʹ  Harry and Hermione stared at him. Ron looked darkly and meaningfully from one to the other. ʹMaybe,ʹ he said again, in a lower voice, ʹheʹs actually trying to open Harryʹs mind a bit wider… make it easier for You‐Know—ʹ  ʹShut up, Ron,ʹ said Hermione angrily. ʹHow many times have you suspected Snape, and when have you ever been right? Dumbledore trusts him, he works for the Order, that ought to be enough.ʹ  ʹHe used to be a Death Eater,ʹ said Ron stubbornly. ʹAnd weʹve never seen proof that he really swapped sides.ʹ  ʹDumbledore trusts him,ʹ Hermione repeated. ʹAnd if we canʹt trust Dumbledore, we canʹt trust anyone.ʹ 

Q4 - Whose side are you taking here?

Q5 - Life advice: After Pancy says, “At least Cedric was good-looking” and the conversation between Harry and Cho stops, what should Harry’s response be?

Q6 - Do you think the date is going well?

• In the time it took for their coffees to arrive, Roger Davies and his girlfriend had started kissing over their sugar bowl. Harry wished they wouldnʹt; he felt that Davies was setting a standard with which Cho would soon expect him to compete. He felt his face growing hot and tried staring out of the window, but it was so steamed up he couldnʹt see the street outside. To postpone the moment when he would have to look at Cho, he stared up at the ceiling as though examining the paintwork and received a handful of confetti in the face from their hovering cherub.

Q7 - Does Harry actually like Cho…because why wouldn’t he wanna makeout with her?

Q8 - Is Cho right to be angry at Harry here?

Q9 - Can guys and girls be actual friends? 

Q10 - What is going on with Hagrid?

Q11 - Is Hermione slightly abusive to be controlling Rita like this?

Q12 - Is Harry smart to be telling his story?

Chapter 26 - Seen and Unforeseen

• ’You should have told her differently,ʹ said Hermione, still with that maddeningly patient air. ʹYou should have said it was really annoying, but Iʹd made you promise to come along to the Three Broomsticks, and you really didnʹt want to go, youʹd much rather spend the whole day with her, but unfortunately you thought you really ought to meet me and would she please, please come along with you and hopefully youʹd be able to get away more quickly. And it might have been a good idea to mention how ugly you think I am, too,ʹ  Hermione added as an afterthought. ʹBut I donʹt think youʹre ugly,ʹ said Harry, bemused. Hermione laughed. ʹHarry youʹre worse than Ron… well, no, youʹre not,ʹ she sighed, as Ron himself came stumping into the Hall splattered with mud and looking grumpy.

Q1 - How do you know if a person likes you or not?

Q2 - Is it good that Harry’s story is published? Do we feel like Harry finally beat Umbridge?

• The teachers were of course forbidden from mentioning the interview by Educational Decree Number Twenty‐six, but they found ways to express their feelings about it all the same. Professor Sprout awarded Gryffindor twenty points when Harry passed her a watering can; a beaming Professor Flitwick pressed a box of squeaking sugar mice on him at the end of Charms, said, ʹShh!ʹ  and hurried away; and Professor Trelawney broke into hysterical sobs during Divination and announced to the startled class, and a very disapproving Umbridge, that Harry was not going to suffer an early death after all, but would live to a ripe old age, become Minister for Magic and have twelve children.

Q3 - What’s your favorite time a teacher praised you?

Q4 - What’s the deal with Avery and Rookwood? What information are they giving to Voldy?

• ʹI was You-Know-Who,ʹ said Harry, and he stretched out his hands in the darkness and held them up to his face, to check that they were no longer deathly white and long‐fingered.

Q5 - Why is Harry now becoming Voldemort?

• ʹSturgis Podmore—’ said Hermione breathlessly, ʹarrested for trying to get through a door! Lucius Malfoy must have got him too! I bet he did it the day you saw him there, Harry. Sturgis had Moodyʹs Invisibility Cloak, right? So, what if he was standing guard by the door, invisible, and Malfoy heard him move ‐ or guessed someone was there ‐ or just did the Imperius Curse on the off‐chance thereʹd be a guard there? So, when Sturgis next had an opportunity ‐ probably when it was his turn on guard duty again—he tried to get into the Department to steal the weapon for Voldemort—Ron, be quiet—but he got caught and sent to Azkaban…ʺ 

Q6 - Is Hermione right here?

• Snape staggered ‐ his wand flew upwards, away from Harry ‐and suddenly Harryʹs mind was teeming with memories that were not his: a hook‐nosed man was shouting at a cowering woman, while a small dark‐haired boy cried in a corner… a greasy‐haired teenager sat alone in a dark bedroom, pointing his wand at the ceiling, shooting down flies… a girl was laughing as a scrawny boy tried to mount a bucking broomstick.

Q7 - Do any of these memories mean anything?

• ʹCan you tell me something, sir?ʹ said Harry, firing up again. ʹWhy do you call Voldemort the Dark Lord? Iʹve only ever heard Death Eaters call him that.ʹ  Snape opened his mouth in a snarl ‐ and a woman screamed from somewhere outside the room. Snapes head jerked upwards; he was gazing at the ceiling.
• There, there, Sybill… calm down… blow your nose on this… itʹs not as bad as you think, now… you are not going to have to leave Hogwarts…ʺ  ʹOh really, Professor McGonagall?ʹ said Umbridge in a deadly voice, taking a few steps forward. ʹAnd your authority for that statement is… ?ʹ  That would be mine,ʹ said a deep voice. The oaken front doors had swung open. Students beside them scuttled out of the way as Dumbledore appeared in the entrance. What he had been doing out in the grounds Harry could not imagine, but there was something impressive about the sight of him framed in the doorway against an oddly misty night.

Q8 - What was Dumbledore doing outside the castle at this hour?

Q9 - Thoughts on Trelawney sack, Dumbledore’s attitude, and Firenze hire?

Chapter 27 - The Centaur and the Sneak

• ʹNot reallyʹ said Hermione indifferently, who was reading the Daily Prophet. ʹIʹve never really liked horses.ʹ  She turned a page of the newspaper and scanned its columns. ʹHeʹs not a horse, heʹs a centaur!ʹ said Lavender, sounding shocked. ʹA gorgeous centaur…ʹ sighed Parvati.

Q1 - Is it weird to be attracted to a centaur? (or the horse from Spirit?)

• ʹDid Hagrid breed you, like the Thestrals?ʹ asked Dean eagerly.

Q2 - Did Dean just unseat Ron as the dumbest student in Hogwarts?

• ʹIn the past decade, the indications have been that wizardkind is living through nothing more than a brief calm between two wars. Mars, bringer of battle, shines brightly above us, suggesting that the fight must soon break out again.

Q3 - Is he right here?

Q4 - What is Hagrid attempting?

Q5 - Did you think they were going to ever get caught?

• Potter was the leader, was he not, Potter organized it, Potter ‐ why are you shaking your head, girl?ʹ  ʹWell, usually when a person shakes their head,ʹ said McGonagall coldly, ʹthey mean ʺnoʺ. So unless Miss Edgecombe is using a form of sign‐language as yet unknown to humans ‐ʹ  Professor Umbridge seized Marietta, pulled her round to face her and began shaking her very hard. A split second later Dumbledore was on his feet, his wand raised; Kingsley started forwards and Umbridge leapt back from Marietta, waving her hands in the air as though they had been burned. ʹI cannot allow you to manhandle my students, Dolores,ʹ said Dumbledore and, for the first time, he looked angry.
• ʹYou will now be escorted back to the Ministry, where you will be formally charged, then sent to Azkaban to await trial!ʹ  ʹAh,ʹ said Dumbledore gently, ʹyes. Yes, I thought we might hit that little snag.ʹ  ʹSnag?ʹ said Fudge, his voice still vibrating with joy. ʹI see no snag, Dumbledore!ʹ  ʹWell,ʹ said Dumbledore apologetically, ʹIʹm afraid I do.ʹ  ʹOh, really?ʹ  ʹWell ‐ itʹs just that you seem to be laboring under the delusion that I am going to ‐ what is the phrase? ‐ come quietly. I am afraid I am not going to come quietly at all, Cornelius. I have absolutely no intention of being sent to Azkaban. I could break out, of course ‐ but what a waste of time, and frankly, I can think of a whole host of things I would rather be doing.ʹ 

Q6 - What are your thoughts on Dumbledore here?

• ʹI am not leaving to go into hiding. Fudge will soon wish heʹd never dislodged me from Hogwarts, I promise you.ʹ 

Q7 - What is Dumbledore going to do now?

• Professor McGonagall said nothing, but marched Harry and Marietta to the door. As it swung closed behind them, Harry heard Phineas Nigellusʹs voice. ʹYou know, Minister, I disagree with Dumbledore on many counts… but you cannot deny heʹs got style…ʹ 

Q8 - What do you think about everything that just happened?