Favorite moments

Hey everyone! I really liked this book, but the best moment by far was in the Ministry of Magic, when Harry/Runcorn punches that balding guy and accuses him of saving everyone. I actually laughed out loud at that point. And really the whole scene before and including that, starting with Harry stunning Umbridge and Yaxley was totally awesome.

Chapter 3: The Letters from No One

Alrighty then, I guess it's about time for this next summary:

CHAPTER THREE: The Letters from No One

The pity that we felt for Harry at the end of chapter two only escalates in the beginning of the third chapter, despite the beginning of summer break. After learning that Harry had earned his longest-ever punishment for the Brazilian snake incident, we find out that Dudley has, in a weird way, earned a sort of punishment for his complaining about his mere thirty-whatever gifts: he seems to have broken half of them.

Now that school is over, Harry spends most of his time staying away from Dudley's gang who've taken up "Harry Hunting" as their favorite pastime. However, his spirits are still somewhat heightened by the prospect of finally going to a different school than Dudley in the upcoming year. The pity for Harry continues though, and in contrast to Dudley's brand-new Smeltings' uniform, Harry gets to wear some gray rags being prepared by Petunia in the kitchen sink. It is that morning that the letters from no one make their first appearance (DUNDUNdun).

"They heard the click of the mail slot and the flop of the letters on the doormat." Uncle Vernon tells Dudley to get the mail, who then tells his dad to make Harry get it. Uncle Vernon then tells Harry to get the mail, who then tells his uncle to make Dudley get it. Vernon then tells Dudley to poke Harry with his Smelting stick, thus showing more horrifically than usual how much the Dursleys really regard Harry as inferior. Harry dodges the stick and resigns to getting the mail. He then sees that lo and behold, there is "a letter for Harry"! He walks back to the kitchen wondering who could possibly have sent him a letter. We see the heavy parchment of the envelope, and what we will recognize later as the Hogwarts seal of an "H" and the four animals of the four houses surrounding it. Unfortunately, Harry's innocence gets the better of him and he starts to open the letter in front of them all, at which point Dudley suddenly screams out that "Harry's got something!" Vernon immediately snatches the letter out of Harry's hands. Indignance ensues, and as Vernon realizes the letter is from that gobbledygook school Warthogs or whatever it is, his face runs through the whole spectrum of colors. He then gives it to Petunia who then almost faints and chokes. (Shouldn't they have expected this letter though? I don't really buy their total astonishment.) He then kicks out the two kids who try futilely to get the letter for themselves. They resort to listening through the door to the conversation that takes place between Vernon and Petunia. Petunia expresses disbelief at how these m****folk know where he sleeps, at which point Vernon wildly mutters that they're spying on them, which happens to be true. Utterly fearful of what is happening, they (a.k.a. Vernon) decide the best thing to do is to ignore the letters.

My question at this point is what Vernon and Petunia are so afraid of? And what is Vernon afraid of? What has Petunia told Vernon about magicfolk?, because it seems he knows at least something, albeit horribly biased. I'm just not really sure what the realistic basis for Vernon's hatred is...

Vernon tries to continue his life as though nothing has happened, but at the same time lets some amount of fear into his mind and decides to give Harry one of Dudley's rooms -- the one filled with all of his broken presents.

The next morning everyone's tense. Dudely's upset he's lost his room, Harry is wishing that the previous day he'd opened the letter in the hall, and Vernon and Petunia are stealing dark glances at each other. Dudley is made to get the mail, and, what's this? Another letter for Harry! Vernon emerges the winner from the ensuing wrestling match over the letter, and sends both boys to their rooms. In his room, Harry hatches a plan for the next day...

Harry awakes silently at 6 the next morning, tip-toes down the stairs to the entrance of the house. He decided to wait for the mailman personally at the corner of Privet Dr--AARGH! What's that? Foiled again! Vernon was thinking along similar lines apparently, and was lying just beneath the mail slot of the door, when Harry accidentally steps on his face on his way out. Vernon gets mad, makes Harry get him a cup of tea, and three more letters fall on to Vernon's lap. He tears them up furiously. Thus begins Vernon's madness. In his frantic effort to prevent more letters from coming in, he starts hatching these totally useless plans, given who we're dealing with.

First, he nails up the mail slot, but twelve more letters manage their way under, around the door, and through some windows.

Second, he boards up the whole front door, while singing "Tiptoe Through the Tulips." ( (IMG:http://the-pensieve.org/forums/style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) ) Alas, now twenty-four letters arrive in their eggs.

The next day is Sunday. "No post on Sundays," says Vernon, but WHIZ! and 30-40 letters shoot out of the fireplace and into the kitchen. Harry leaps into the air trying desperately to catch one, but Vernon physically displaces him before Harry gets any. Five minutes later Vernon has decided to take to the road (we see how crazed Vernon is when "even Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going"). The chase is on! After driving for I guess most of the day, they arrive at some hotel in the outskirts. Harry lay awake that night, "wondering..." (I wonder exactly what he is wondering about?).

The next day they had just finished their measley breakfast when the owner of the hotel comes over to their table, and whadyaknow? A hundred of the same letters seem to have arrived at the hotel! Now Vernon's really off his rocker, and takes them to random deserted places - the middle of the forest, the middle of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge - and apparently tries to decide if it's remote enough to get away from whoever is sending the letters. All the while Dudley complains about having missed all his favorite t.v. shows. Harry overhears Dudley tell Petunia that today is monday - which reminds Harry that tomorrow is Harry's 11th birthday...

Finally, Vernon finds "the perfect place!" otherwise known as a large rock way out in the sea. The "family" takes a boat from a toothless guy who seems to be the owner of this large rock, and rows out to sea in the rain. After what seems like hours, they arrive, freezing, at a little shack. The broken-down house has two rooms. Vernon tries to start a fire with potato chip bags, but to no avail. He was in a very good mood though, thinking that nobody would stand a chance reaching them there. Harry sullenly and silently agreed. The night comes, and they prepare to go to sleep. Aunt Petunia makes a skimpy bed out of blankets on the sofa for Dudley, she and Vernon go off to the bed in the bedroom, and Harry is "left to find the softest bit of floor he could." More pity.

The storm rages on. Everyone else is asleep as midnight comes closer, but Harry stays awake. He notices Dudley's watch on his dangling arm. The time is 11:50. Harry wonders where the letter writer is.
11:55. Harry hears something creak outside. He looks up at the ceiling and humorously thinks to himself that if it collapsed perhaps he might be warmer.
11:57. The sea seems to be slapping hard on the rock.
11:58. He hears a funny crunching noise.
1 minute to go, 30 seconds.
20
.
.
.
10
.
.
.
"9 -- Maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him --"
.
.
.
3
.
.
.
2
.
.
.
1
.
.
.
BOOM!
Harry sat up with a start, staring at the door. Someone's-a-knocking...

(I can't really decide if the strange noises in the final minutes are just because Harry is listening so intently to the storm? or if it's supposed to mark the arrival of the knocker, why is he making sounds so early in advance of his arrival?)

Hints for Books 6 & 7...

I hope I'm not starting an erroneous topic, but I think her site merits a lot of attention since we know it'll be a place where she personally will insert hints about the next two books. so first I wanted to ask if anyone found more than two "prizes," that is, anything other than the original manuscript she had for one of the chapters in the first book, and a page of her doodlings.
Second of all, I think there was a pretty clear hint as to how book 6 is going to start: with a flashback to voldemort actually going in and killing the potters. Because she says that that was a draft of the opening chapter for the first book, and then about the opening to the sixth book, she said she was going to use an opening that had been one of her options for the first, third, and fifth books.

Gryffindor's Heir?

hey, i haven't read all the other posts yet, but i didn't see anything on this topic. several years back when my HP obsession was first developing, i saw a thought someone posted about harry potter being gryffindor's last remaining descendent. and i must admit, the evidence was quite compelling, although its weird we haven't really seen anything about it in the fifth book.
so here's the evidence:
1) harry's birthday is july 31st -- can you guess what zodiac symbol? that's right, it's the lion (gryffindor mascot = lion)
2) lily and james were living in Godric's Hollow (gryffindor's first name was godric)
3) when harry waved around his wand at ollivander's, red and gold sparks flew out of it (red and gold are the colors of gryffindor)
4) in chamber of secrets, the sword that harry conjurs out of the sorting hat says godric gryffindor on the hilt. dumbledore says "only a true gryffindor could have pulled that one out of the hat, harry." how "true" a gryffindor is harry? i'm inclined to think dumbledore was referring to more than just the house.

it just seems so right that this is the epic battle between the two last heirs of the rival houses of slytherin and gryffindor. although i'm very discouraged that the reason voldemort wants to kill harry is simply because of this prophecy that harry will kill him. it seems like there should be something deeper...
tell me what you think (IMG:http://the-pensieve.org/forums/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)