The Order of the Phoenix Re-Read: Chapter 35

[slowfox]

Black shapes were emerging out of thin air all around them, blocking theirway left and right; eyes glinted through slits in hoods, a dozen lit wand tips were pointing directly at their hearts; Ginny gave a gasp of horror.

So the Death Eaters Apparated into the Department of Mysteries? Then why bother with all the cloak and dagger stuff to sneak in through the Ministry undetected? Wouldn't the Ministry have wards around it to protect people from Apparating in and out? Why couldn't Voldemort Apparate in to the hall of Prophecies, pick up the glass ball and get out? We know that he can handle it, since he's involved, right?

Anyway, as Harry notes but a few sentences later, they're outnumbered two to one. And probably out-ruthless-nessed by an exponential factor to boot.

The only ray of light in the whole situation becomes clear a little further in:

"I TOLD YOU, NO!" Lucius Malfoy roared at the woman. "If you smash it-!"

Harry's mind was racing. The Death Eaters wanted this dusty spun-glass sphere. He had no interest in it...

It's interesting to note that Malfoy roars at Bellatrix - he's really worried that anything, uh, untoward might befall it.

Bellatrix calls Harry a half-blood. I've never been certain where in the overall Scheme of Purity the Boy Who Lived fitted - his mum, of course, is Muggle born, but his dad's a pureblood, and both parents are magical. So is he a pureblood? He's certainly not Muggle-born, nor a Half 'n Half like Seamus (or Voldemort).

Malfoy's being very forthcoming with the exposition, which is good because Dumbledore certainly hasn't been:

Harry stared into the slitted eye-holes through which Malfoy's grey eyes were gleaming. Was this prophecy the reason Harry's parents had died, the reason he carried his lightning-bolt scar? Was the answer to all of this clutched in his hand?

One Death Eater (Nott, we assume) is Stupefied by Hermione as they start their escape by crashing the prophecy shelves.

Harry, Neville and Hermione have to deal with two Death Eaters - Harry Stupefies the first (how long does that spell last?), and Hermione eventually Stupefies the second, who's head gets caught in the bell jar that flicks backwards and forwards through time.

Three down.

A further two Death Eaters catch up with them in the next room - Hermione silences one, Harry Petrifies the other. The silenced one then casts a silent charm at Hermione that incapacitates her. Remember, on the first read, all we knew for certain was that someone important died. But... surely not??

Harry Petrifies Dolohov (the strong silent type) when he's distracted by the arrival of BabyFace. Five down on the Death Eater side, Hermione's incapacitated and Neville's got a broken nose and a broken wand.

The gang reunite - Ginny has a suspected broken ankle, Ron's behaving very oddly, but Luna seems actually rather lucid. I think it's Ron who says that he fired a Reductor Curse at someone who had hold of Ginny's foot, but it might be Luna - the text isn't terribly clear on that point. Six down, so they've almost evened the odds (although, having said that, it looks like it's only Harry and Luna who are fully compos mentis).

They take refuge in the braaaaaaaaaaaaaainz room, where they're cornered by Bellatrix leading a further four Death Eaters. Presumably it's Malfoy who's missing?

Luna's sent flying, and ends up motionless on the floor. Ron summons one of the braaaaaaaaaaaaaaainz, which seems like a really bad move on his part, Ginny gets struck by a beam of red light, and suddenly it's just Harry and Neville left, the latter using Hermione's wand, but not to any great effect.

By the time that Harry makes it to the Veil Room, the stunned and incapacitated Death Eaters (with, I think, the exception of BabyFace) have been restored to full health, and it's now ten against one. Ten against two when Neville enters, seemingly just so that Bellatrix can have some fun torturing him.

But now we reach the Turning of the Tide: Five members of the Order turn up and turn the tables. Five - was that the best they could do?

Neville stabs Macnair in the eye with Hermione's wand. Ouch.

What curse would a Death Eater inflict upon an unarmed, defenceless school boy? Why, Taranteallegra of course! WHAT??? This makes no sense. The Death Eaters are dead certs to be sent straight back to Azkaban if they're caught, so what've they got to lose by killing people? But instead they cast playground charms...

The prophecy ends up being broken on the stone steps, with Harry and Neville the only witnesses. Unfortunately, they can't hear it, so the benefit of that knowledge appears to be lost, for the time being.

Dumbledore finally arrives to save the day, but too late to save Sirius, who pays for his arrogance in battling Bellatrix and falls through the veil, but doesn't reappear on the other side.

Quite the dramatic chapter, this one - I expected certain things (Ron's dealing with the braaaaaaaaaainz for one) to have repercussions in future instalments. Why didn't the Death Eaters try Imperio on the gang? Harry can deflect it, but the others can't, and as I said above, they're all going to Azkaban if they're caught, so might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb 'n all that.

Hermione's unconscious, Luna's unconscious, Ginny's unconscious. Ron's... odd, as far as we know. Neville's not too bad, but has certainly been through the wars. Harry fared quite well until the end, but will take Sirius' death quite hard - especially since Sirius died rescuing Harry from rescuing... er, Sirius who wasn't in need of rescue.

Woe :-(

Comments

[cynthia_black]

I think the Death Eaters have reduced or incapacitated the Ministry's defences, starting with the lack of a security guard in the previous chapter. But whether they have Apparated in just at that point or have merely concealed themselves in some way until the Opportune Moment remains unclear.

Must admit, you're right - the use of Taranteallegra on Neville just doesn't fit the occasion, particularly when dear Bellatrix has already gone straight for an Unforegiveable Curse.

I think the worst thing about Sirius' demise is that it is so much of a nothingness, there one minute, not the next. But then, a lot of deaths are like that in real life.

[aome]

Yes - that's why I have such a hard time with death - even for people I'm not specially close to. It's just so hard to fathom that someone was there yesterday - an hour ago - and now isn't.

[slowfox]

I think that this was one of the things I don't like about Avada Kedavra - there's no drama or fuss, no blocking or getting away. The target just... dies. And with Sirius' death through the veil, it's not clear whether Bellatrix' curse kills him, or whether it was falling through the veil that killed him. But what was hardest to deal with was the lack of ... aftermath. He was just gone :-(

[slowfox]

I think the Death Eaters have reduced or incapacitated the Ministry's defences

Entirely likely, but then wouldn't secondary defences have kicked in? This is the whole point of security guards having to report in to base every now and again, after all. So surely the Ministry must've been alerted to the intrusion before now.

Also, the DEs make it seem as though they expected Harry to have wanted to chase down the prophecy much, much earlier, and that Voldemort was having to go to extreme measures to induce the boy to dash there... which begs the question as to whether the DEs were hanging around the Hall of Prophecies constantly, on the offchance that Harry'd turn up, or whether Harry's being watched at Hogwarts to see when he caved into temptation.

I do wonder, too, what would have happened if Harry had thrown the prohpecy through the veil, just slowly enough for Malfoy to have tried to throw himself after it...

[aome]

But instead they cast playground charms...

I recall this occurred in the GoF graveyard scene, too. True, Voldemort was oh-so-kindly pretending to give Harry a sporting chance by dueling him "with the niceties observed" before killing him, but it still seems rather ridiculous. Only the purple slash-and-curse thing seems to be a spell that the Kids have never heard of, and, aside from that, and otherwise, they're all doing the same sorts of spells on each other. Then again, perhaps a lot of those DEs made their choices for the same reason Wormtail did - not particularly talented in magic, themselves, and thus are drawn to power. Bellatrix is the one who is known to have some true skill and power of her own, given what she and her dear husband did to the Longbottoms.

Re-enter evidence of S/R in Lupin's reaction to Sirius' death. However, even if I take off the Puppyshipper glasses, I can only imagine what Lupin must be feeling, as the lone survivor, after that marvelous close-knit friendship they all had together in their youth.

[slowfox]

Then again, perhaps a lot of those DEs made their choices for the same reason Wormtail did - not particularly talented in magic,

I'm torn on this. Obviously, Wormtail isn't as adept as Moody, Padfoot or Prongs, but he's still no slouch. He's an Animagus, after all (and I think, from the whole 'the form chooses the wizard, not vice versa', we're supposed to infer that size does matter, baby), and he killed twelve people with a single curse waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when.

Ah, the old S/R argument: embraced him like a brother in PoA, wasn't it? :-P

[aome]

Did he really kill them directly, though? I got the impression he "blasted the street apart" and the twelve who were unlucky enough to be nearby got affected by this (ie flying debris). Could have been a Reductor curse to the street or something - the same as what the DEs were doing, what Harry did to the prophecy shelving.