Harry Potter 7: Chapter Eleven

Welcome back to another round of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows chapter analysis. For links to my comments about Chapters 1-10, see this post.

Regular readers should note that there's been a slight change of policy.... from here on the chapter descriptions contain spoilers for the entire book, not just the chapters they refer to.

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Seven.

Chapter Eleven: The Bribe

Picture: Lupin looks almost skeletal in this picture. Is it the candlelight? Also, if you look really closely, you can see a tiny picture of Harry in the newspaper under Lupin’s hand.

Chapter title: Very intriguing. It had me wondering throughout the whole chapter what on earth the bribe was going to be about.

Most memorable:

-Lupin appearing just when Harry, Ron and Hermione were so desperate to see a friendly face.

-The surprise of Harry being implicated in Dumbledore’s death.

-That Rufus Scrimgeour protected Harry even while he was being tortured. I give him a lot of credit for that.

-Ron’s fierce allegiance to Hermione.

-That Harry and Hermione address their former teacher as Remus. They are starting to sound like adults.

-Lupin’s misery, and his seeming lack of love for Tonks.

-Harry’s argument with Lupin. I was pretty shocked that Harry would say these kinds of things to one of his mentors, but I also agreed with him and was glad he took a stand. It was a more productive kind of righteous anger than Harry’s angst in Book 5.

-Umbridge has the locket? I got chills just reading that.

Funny:

-Ron turning the lights on and off without really paying attention. I know I would do this if I had a Deluminator… I wouldn’t be able to stop fidgeting with it.

Worth pointing out:

-The Deatheaters aren’t staking out the house because they think Harry is inside… they’re appearing because Harry and Hermione keep saying Voldemort’s name.

Question:

-Just how big is Lupin’s cloak? It seems that he keeps a lot under there… four bottles of butterbeer, a newspaper, etc. Sounds a bit like Hermione’s beaded bag.

Favorite quote:

Mundungus tries to defend his actions the night that the Order of the Phoenix moved Harry to the Burrow.

Mundungus: “I panicked, okay? I never wanted to come along, no offense, mate, but I never volunteered to die for you, an’ that was bleedin’ You-Know-Who come flying at me, anyone woulda got outta there, I said all along I didn’t wanna do it-“

“For your information, none of the rest of us Disapparated,” said Hermione.

“Well, you’re a bunch of bleedin’ ‘eroes then, aren’t you?”

(Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Scholastic hardcover, pg. 220.)