HPatPS: Part 1: Chapter 1 - Chapter 4

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Alex wrote: "Why is the Deluminator important? And the snake?"

Deluminator is important in the final book, but I forget why now. Dumbledore gives it to Ron. I think to help him find his way back?

That snake I can only think is important because it shows Harry is a parseltongue.

[Bas]

Aaah the snake! I wonder how it would have been handled if Harry grew up with a wizard family. Would they have tried to keep quiet about him being a parseltongue?

[Ctgt]

Bas wrote: "Aaah the snake! I wonder how it would have been handled if Harry grew up with a wizard family. Would they have tried to keep quiet about him being a parseltongue?"

That's a great question Bas. There certainly was a stigma attached to that ability.

[[deleted user]]

I think they would have been terrified as hell.

Parseltongue's basically associated with the Dark Arts, right. So here we have a extremely mysterious situation where a kid, at the age of 1, somehow manages to defeat the worst Dark Wizard in Britain's history, if not the world. No one knows how he did it.

And when he's growing up he starts to manifest what looks like a Dark skill . . . . . . O_O

[Bas]

Exactly! Some people might have thought the same as some deadeaters who laid low, what if Harry Potter was just as dark and more powerful. Letting him grow up outside the wizard world might have been one of the wisest choices Dumbledore made.

[[deleted user]]

I think that situation comes up once or twice, especially in Chamber of Secrets, when people think he's a Dark wizard.

[Dara]

Alex wrote: "Why is the Deluminator important? And the snake?"

Deluminator because that's what Dumbledore leaves to Ron in his will. The Deluminator leads Ron back to Harry and Hermione after Ron leaves them.

The snake because it's the first instance we see of Harry's parsletongue ability.

[Dara]

Probably but it's still cool.

[Dara]

That's a good point. I don't think Malazan is fair comparison because it's so much more dense but things that show back up in that series, I never remember them. But like I said - unfair comparison.

[terpkristin]

I listened to Chapter 1 last night (well, most of it). I was exhausted. Here were things I probably didn't pick up the first time through:

In the UK edition, the word Dudley learns is "shan't." In the US, it's "won't." That little difference made me smile.

The newscaster reporting on the owls is named "Ted." Both audiobook editions make it seem as if he's amused by the response to the owls, like maybe he knows something more about them... Tonks' dad was named "Ted." Maybe???

Why, if injuries can be healed magically, would someone (Dumbledore in this case) have a nose that's obviously been broken before? Is this a small bit of foreshadowing to some of the guilt he carries around, due to his fight with his brother?

When people transform from animals back into people...how do they have clothes? The books (book 3, for example) and the movies show their clothes falling off when they transfigure, the clothes left on the floor...

Toward the end of the chapter, they say Dumbledore "turned on his heel" and disappeared. Earlier in the chapter, they had mentioned that Dumbledore had appeared as if he had popped out of the ground. This is our first glance at apparition (and how to do it)...

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

I didn't notice the shan't vs. won't, the only thing I noticed was jumper.

[Scott]

I think Dumbledore is very much someone who believes in the power of symbols and, considering the circumstances around the broken nose, I think he wanted to leave it the way it was as a reminder of his mistakes.

[[deleted user]]

Yea, Dumbledore is wise/off his rocker like that. Let's not forget this is a guy that arranged his own death.

[terpkristin]

So I finally finished Chapters 1-4. ;)

I noticed/thought about this time that the school that Dudley (and Vernon) went to was Smeltings. Is this what makes Dudley a sort of better person by the end of the series, his school refining him?

In Chapter 4, Petunia complains that Lily was coming home and doing magic like turning teacups into rats. How could she do this? Wasn't there a restriction against underage magic and a trace, like they had to remove from Harry?

I didn't think much of it on previous reads/listens, but I like that Hagrid mentions names of families Voldemort attacked/killed, including the Bones and the Pruitt's...I think we see both families in Harry's year.

I like the foreshadowing that Hagrid mentions that there wasn't much human left in Voldemort when Harry befuddled him. I also like that he thinks that Voldemort isn't truly dead. Great foreshadowing to books 6 & 7.

[[deleted user]]

Yea, there's a restriction, but the Trace breaks when they turn 16 so I always figured Petunia was referring to what Lily did after it. Also, the level of Transfiguration involved, teacups to rats, sort of made that more believable for me.

[[deleted user]]

Oh, the Prewitts were all killed, I think. But there is a Bones, in Hufflepuff.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

I think what made Dudley better by the end was when he saved him from the Dementors.

[Alexa]

Also, HP's quite snarky in these scenes. Didn't pick up on that as a child.

I also noted this. I don't think I noticed it up the first or second time I read this.

Petunia complains that Lily was coming home and doing magic like turning teacups into rats. How could she do this? Wasn't there a restriction against underage magic and a trace, like they had to remove from Harry?

There is indeed a restriction but maybe Lily did it while she was angry or scared? If I'm not mistaken there was no punishment if the magic wasn't intentional or something like that. It's explained in one of the later books.

I'm loving listening to this!