Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

As they leave the churchyard, Hermione thinks she sees “someone watching [them]” (330). They try to shake their nerves and start to look for Bathilda’s house, but they come across the ruins of the Potters’ house. A sign appears commemorating the site as “a reminder of the violence that tore apart [the Potters’] family” (333), and the sign is covered in graffiti offering support to Harry. Suddenly, a woman appears, and although she doesn’t speak, she nods when Harry asks if she is Bathilda. They follow her into her house, and Harry notices a photo of “the golden-haired, merry-faced thief” (337) who stole something from Gregorovitch. At her insistence, Harry follows Bathilda upstairs and leaves Hermione alone downstairs. Once they are alone, “the old body [collapses] and [a] great snake pour[s] from the place where [Bathilda’s] neck had been” (340). The snake, Voldemort’s pet, attacks Harry, and in the struggle, Harry has an intense vision of being Voldemort on the night that his parents were murdered. Harry sees himself killing Lily and James Potter and attempting to kill baby Harry. Harry awakens to find that he and Hermione have escaped from the house and snake, but Harry’s wand was destroyed in the chaos, “one fragile strand of phoenix feather [keeping] both pieces hanging together” (348).

Without his wand, Harry feels “fatally weakened, vulnerable, and naked” (350). Hermione shows him a copy of The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore that she stole from Bathilda’s house. They discover that the thief who stole from Gregorovitch was Dumbledore’s childhood friend, Gellert Grindelwald. They read that Dumbledore’s unlikely friendship with the infamous Dark wizard Grindelwald “calls into question everything that his admirers believed of Dumbledore: his supposed hatred of the Dark Arts, his opposition to the oppression of Muggles, even his devotion to his own family” (355). Bathilda Bagshot, who is interviewed in the book, states that Dumbledore and Grindelwald became close friends, and they often exchanged philosophical ideas about the idea of wizards having “the right to rule” (357) non-magical people. After Dumbledore’s sister Ariana died, his friendship with Grindelwald came to an abrupt halt, and “neither Dumbledore nor Grindelwald ever seem[ed]to have referred to this brief boyhood friendship in later life” (359). Harry is disgusted by this news, and Hermione tries to remind him that Dumbledore was a good man who had poor judgment as a teenager, and for the rest of his life, he was “devoted to fighting the Dark Arts” (361). Still, Harry is outraged and feels like he never knew Dumbledore at all.

Harry and Hermione move to a new campsite, and one night while Harry is keeping watch, a Patronus in the form of a doe appears and leads Harry away from camp. She brings him to a clearing, where he sees “the sword of Gryffindor [...] lying at the bottom of [a] forest pool” (367). He strips down and climbs into the pool to retrieve the sword, but the Horcrux locket around his neck tightens and tries to stop him. He is saved by the sudden reappearance of Ron, who fishes him out of the pool. They agree to destroy the Horcrux together, and Harry insists that Ron should do it because “[Ron] got the sword out of the pool,” so Harry “think[s] it’s supposed to be [Ron]” (373). Harry uses Parseltongue to open the locket, and nightmarish visions and taunts begin to pour out of it, directed at Ron. The locket tells Ron that he is “second best, always, eternally overshadowed,” and grotesque versions of Harry and Hermione appear to tell Ron that “[they] were better without [him]” (376). Ron stabs the locket and destroys the Horcrux, and they return to camp. Hermione is furious with Ron for leaving in the first place, but he explains that he “walked straight into a gang of Snatchers” (381) and couldn’t return immediately. Snatchers, he explains, are groups of bounty hunters trying to round up Muggle-borns and blood traitors to earn reward money from the Ministry. Ron says that the Deluminator helped him find his way back to Hermione and Harry by creating a ball of light that led him to their campsite. Ron gives Harry a wand he stole from the Snatchers, and Hermione begrudgingly allows Ron to rejoin them.

Despite Hermione’s anger, Ron and Harry are in good spirits and believe their luck might be turning around. Ron explains that while traveling solo, he learned Voldemort’s name has been jinxed, and “that’s how they track people” (389). He stresses how important it is that they call him “You-Know-Who” to avoid being discovered. Hermione wants to go see Mr. Lovegood and ask him about the symbol he was wearing on the night of the wedding because “it keeps cropping up” (394). Harry is hesitant, not wanting a repeat of Godric’s Hollow, but Ron tells him that Mr. Lovegood’s newspaper “keeps telling everyone they’ve got to help [Harry]” (395). They find the Lovegoods’ house, and although he is hesitant, Mr. Lovegood allows them to come in. Harry notices Luna isn’t there, but Mr. Lovegood excuses her absence and says she is “down at the stream, fishing for Freshwater Plimpies” (402). Mr. Lovegood is uneasy and says that “helping Harry Potter [is] rather dangerous” (402), even though his newspaper has consistently supported Harry. Harry asks Mr. Lovegood about the symbol around his neck, and Mr. Lovegood asks if Harry is referring to “the sign of the Deathly Hallows” (404).