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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Chapter Summary and Analysis - Part Two



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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, is the bowdlerized version of the title for the first book in the Harry Potter series by J K Rowling. She wrote it under 'Philosopher's' Stone for her United Kingdom anticipated readership. I must confess, I didn't begin reading the collection until hearing a NPR (National Public Radio) book review as the second book was being released. The reviewers were claiming the Potter books to be: "The Wizard of Oz books for this generation." Well, having taken my childhood quarter and making the bus trip downtown to the Carnegie Free Library several weeks in a row in order to read all the "Oz" series - I decided to see if they really did compare… they did.

Rowling has said that Harry "sort of just walked into" her mind fully formed. And, it takes only just about that long for the reader to warm up to the 'Dickensian' youngster, from an emotionally abusive foster home; who, unknowingly, is more special than he has ever even dared daydream about. In fairness, I must also confess that part of the intrigue for me was, what seemed to be, the furor over whether or not the books were appropriate for children! How it could be, on the one hand the "next Wizard of OZ" and yet on the other hand as "religiously bad" as some claimed, was indeed confusing. Then when parents of my patients started asking for my opinion, I needed to read the book in order not to sound naïve… Didn't I?

To my pleasure it was a "good read," albeit lengthy, and I was able to describe the several moral lessons taught in it's pages. Especially when Harry and Dumbledore had their explanatory "debriefings." I began suggesting to even the most skeptical parents (of over 8-year-olds), that they try reading the book to, or with, their child. It was not infrequent that I received very positive feedback and joined them in the anticipation of the next "episode."


Bowdlerize: After Thomas Bowdler (1754-1825) who published an expurgated version of Shakespeare. To modify, shorten or skew the content of something in a "more preferred" direction. To remove vulgar, obscene, or otherwise objectionable material (i.e. before publication). The original JKR title was "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone"; but, US publishers felt the term would not be recognized by American children, as well as "Sorcerer's Stone." A seemingly, simple monetary decision made every day by US publishers; but, with which the British took offense over the perceived slight of a "favorite daughter."Dickensian After Dickens' Oliver Twist - usually an oppressed orphan in the setting of early England.
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1 - Harry Potter and Sorcerer's (Philosophers) Stone
Pages: 309


7
The Sorting Hat
As the massive door swung open to them the tall, black-haired, stern-faced green-robed witch which greeted them did little to set their anxious minds at ease. Most were expecting an initiation of some sort and expected the worst. While awaiting their imminent 'sorting' into one of the four Hogwarts 'houses,' a group of ghosts came through the wall and were equally surprised to see the children. They were marched to the head of a great hall, in front of four long tables of students, where a wooden stool stood supporting an old, patched, pointed wizards hat. The hall's ceiling had been bewitched to mimic the 'real' sky outside, which was still storming. To their surprise the hat twitched, then revealed a rip near the brim which began to sing. The song was about how it had been magically bewitched to be able to look into their head and declare which house they belonged to: "Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart- with daring, nerve and chivalry… Hufflepuff, where they are just and loyal- with patience and fearless of toil; Ravenclaw, wise with a ready mind- with wit and learning; and Slytherin, where cunning folk use any means to achieve their goals." Harry was relieved that was all there was to it; because, Ron had relayed the message from Fred and George that there would be a test in front of everyone, like wrestling a troll. Hanna Abbot, Justin Finch-Fletchley and Susan Bones went to Hufflepuff; Terry Boot and Mandy Brocklehurst to Ravenclaw; and (surprise, surprise) Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Millicent Bulstrode and Blaise Zabini went to Slytherin. Ron, Hermione, Neville and Seamus Finnigan were all placed in Gryffindor. When the hat was place on his head, he heard it muttering that it was perplexed because he had many qualities- like courage, good mind, talent and thirst to prove himself- and he "would do well in Slytherin." Preemptively, he concentrated "Not Slytherin, Not Slytherin" and the hat seemed to hear him. "Not Slytherin," it said, "well, if you're sure — better be GRYFFINDOR!"

The whole Gryffindor table cheered, Percy shook his hand officially, and a ghost patted his arm- filling him with a feeling of ice-water. Hagrid gave him a thumbs up from the head table and he saw Dumbledore smile. Now that the ordeal was completed their hunger seemed to attack them and they only saw empty gold plates. Dumbledore arose and said he "would like to say a few words, then said: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!" and sat down. While everyone sat puzzled and somewhat stunned, their dishes magically became piled high with about every kind of food you could imagine and, for some odd reason, included Peppermint Humbugs. Never having been allowed by Dudley to eat the good things, Harry took a little of everything (except the Humbugs) and reveled in its goodness which made a ghost, sitting at their table, envious. He introduced himself as "sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, the ghost of Gryffindor Tower, and said that he hadn't eaten in almost 400 years." Ron said that his brothers had called him "nearly-headless Nick" and asked why. Disgusted, because he didn't like the nickname, the ghost showed them that his head would tilt almost completely off- from where he had been beheaded by a blunt axe. He told him that the Bloody Baron, the Slytherin ghost, was insufferably cocky about his house winning the House Cup for six years in a row, and hoped that they would take the championship away from Slytherin's this year. The conversation over dessert turned to their families. Seamus said he was "half-and-half, muggle and Witch; and, Neville had thought that he was a Squibb (non-magical person born to a wizarding family) until his uncle Aglie (who kept trying to test his magical ability) dropped him out of an upstairs window when he was eight, and he bounced when he hit the ground. Harry overheard Hermione talking motor-mouthed to another girl, trying to show off her knowledge of the wizarding world (despite her parents both being Muggle Dentists). When he looked again at the head table, Harry saw professor Quirrel, in a purple turban, talking with a greasy, black-haired, hooked-nose man who suddenly looked past the turban and directly into Harry's eyes. At the same instant, Harry's scar burned with a sharp-hot pain making him exclaim "ouch" and grab his head. He asked Percy who the man was and was told it was Professor Snape, the potions teacher who really had always wanted the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. Dumbledore arose for his final words and told them all to completely avoid the right-hand, third-floor corridor if they "did not want to die a very painful death." Also the forbidden forest, and performing magic in the hallways were both completely "out-of-bounds." To conclude the day, Dumbledore had them sing the words to the school song together; but, they all got to pick their own favorite tunes. Of course, they all finished at a different time; especially, Fred and George who had chosen a slow funeral-dirge and were left singing a solo being conducted by Dumbledore's wand. When they finally ended, Dumbledore clapped the loudest and said "ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here!" before sending them all off to bed. Percy led them through the maze of hidden corridors, up stairs- which changed directions at their own desire, past paintings- whose subjects moved and conversed, and past Peeves- the annoying poltergeist who had to be threatened with the Bloody Baron in order to let them pass. Finally, Percy gave a large portrait of a fat lady the password and it swung forward to reveal a round hole which led into the Gryffindor common room. In the boys upstairs bedroom Harry fell, exhausted, to sleep, and dreamed of: professor Quirrell's turban telling him that he had to switch to Slytherin, then tightening on him, so as to strangle him; all the while Malfoy laughed at him, before he turned into professor Snape with a high, cold laugh. Then, there was a burst of green light and Harry woke up sweating and shaking.
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8
The Potions Master
Whispers followed Harry all the next day from students who were meeting 'a legend' for the first time. He and Ron were trying to learn and navigate the 142 staircases at Hogwarts, most with some magical 'quirk' like hiding, capturing your leg or changing places without notice. Doors weren't much better. Some wouldn't open unless you asked politely or tickled them; and, some were walls, just pretending to be doors. You couldn't use the many paintings as landmarks or markers for where you were; because, the people in them kept going to visit each other in distant frames. Although the ghosts were mostly helpful in giving directions, Peeves, the Poltergeist reveled in the amount of confusion and distress he could produce. The caretaker, Mr. Filtch, was as ornery as Peeves was crazy. Filtch wouldn't believe that Harry and Ron were just lost when he caught them trying to get through a locked door that led to the 'out-of-bounds' third corridor. They had to be rescued from being "locked in the dungeons" by the passing Professor Quirrell. Filtch's scrawny, dust-colored cat with bulging eyes patrolled the corridors and tattled on any student misdeed. Filtch knew all the castles secret passageways (almost as well as the Weasley twins) and could pop up as suddenly as a ghost. And, magic, Harry found, wasn't as easy as waving your wand around. They studied the stars and planets in Astronomy, herbs and plants in Herbology from Professor Sprout and were bored to tears in History of Magic by Professor Binns, a ghost who had just kept on teaching after he died. Their Charms class was taught by Professor Flitwick, a very tiny wizard, and Transfiguration by Professor McGonagall, the assistant headmistresses who they had met the first night. She was very strict and clever and warned them from the beginning about messing around in her class. She turned her desk into a pig and back again then assigned them to try and change a match into a needle. Only Hermione Granger made any headway with her match and was praised by McGonagall. They were all disappointed in what they hoped would be their favorite class, Defense Against the Dark Arts; but, which turned out to be quite a joke. The classroom smelled of garlic and Quirrell would change the subject whenever anyone asked him to give any specifics about his accomplishments. There also seemed to be an odd smell coming from his turbine. Hagrid's advice to Harry was true, he found. No one seemed to have an advantage and lots of students came from Muggle families.

By Friday they had managed to find the Great Hall for breakfast without getting lost, and weren't startled when the flock of owls came flying in with the letters and packages they were delivering. This morning Hedwig brought Harry a note from Hagrid, inviting him to come to tea on his afternoon off. They had double potions class with the Slytherin's that day, and Harry found out that Professor Snape, for some reason unknown to him, really… really... hated him. Pausing in roll call at Harry's name, he commented on "our new celebrity," with a sneer in his voice. He singled Harry out for embarrassment with impossible to answer questions: the ingredients of the Draught of Living Death, that Bezoar's can save from most poison's and Monkshood, Wolfsbane and Aconite are the same plant. Harry had to keep saying "I don't know, sir," while Hermione kept bouncing around and waving her arm in the air to answer. Finally, Harry said "I don't know, but Hermione does, so ask her" which got him a point docked from Gryffindor for his cheek. When they worked in pairs Snape swished around the room criticizing everyone except Malfoy; and, when Neville disintegrated his cauldron and got covered with slime that gave him boils, Snape blamed Harry for not "warning Neville" and took away another point. They were finally free to visit Hagrid in his cabin on the grounds. The barking dog, fang, clearly wasn't as fierce as he looked because he leaped on Ron and began licking his ears. When Harry introduced Ron, he commented that he had spend half his time chasing his twin brothers away from the forest. While they told him of their week, fang rested his head on Harry's lap and drooled on his robes. Hagrid agreed with their assessment of Filtch and Mrs. Norris but said "rubbish" and changed the subject, when Harry said that "Snape hates me." Ron told Hagrid about his brother Charlie's work with dragons in Romania to the giant man's delight. "He was one of my favorite students," Hagrid told them. They noticed an article about the break-in at Gringott's bank in the Daily Prophet newspaper which was lying on the table. Harry noticed the date, July 31st, and asked Hagrid if it might have happened while they were both there. The article said that "the vault which had been broken into had been emptied earlier that same day" and this time there was no doubt in Harry's mind that Hagrid changed the subject. Ron and Harry walked back to the castle with Harry wondering about the package he had seen Hagrid remove from the vault. Where was it now? What was in it? And, what was Hagrid not telling him about Snape?
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9
The Midnight Duel
Although Harry's new life was exponentially better than at Privet Drive, the magical world was like it in many ways. He had already learned of Voldemort's, and possibly Snape's, evilness. And now he realized that, where his Muggle world had Dudley, Hogwarts had... Draco Malfoy— just as "skilled" in bullying as Dudley, but "powered by magic." And they just received notice that they would be taking flying lessons with the Slytherin's. Very worried that he would make a fool of himself, he wasn't looking forward to them. Hermione was worried as well; because, it wasn't something she could learn from a book. At breakfast, while Malfoy's eagle owl brought him packages of sweets, a barn owl brought Neville a Rememberall- a small glass ball full of white smoke which turned red when you had forgotten something. He was looking at it when Malfoy grabbed it from him. Harry and Ron were instantly on their feet which was noticed by McGonagall who made Malfoy give it, scowlingly, back. At the lesson they were told to hold out their right hand and merely say, "up." Hermione's broom simply rolled over, Neville's didn't move; but, Harry's obeyed immediately with a firm "thump" into his hand— apparently knowing its master. They were delighted to hear Madame Hootch, their instructor, tell Malfoy he had been mounting his broom wrong for years. Nervous and jumpy, Neville didn’t wait for the whistle and launched straight into the air until at 20 feet he fell off; then, hit the ground hard breaking his wrist, while his broom escaped into the forest. Malfoy picked up Neville's dropped rememberall and, meanly, decided to hide it up a tree, taunting Harry to try and stop him. Harry mounted his broom, kicked off, and... Soared. His mind and soul were filled with a "rush of fierce joy"; because, he had finally found something that he could do well, without even being taught! Malfoy was stunned and took Harry's threat to, "knock you off that broom… without Crabbe and Goyle up here to save your neck," seriously. He threw the ball toward the castle and taunted: "catch it if you can, then!" Harry did! In a steep dive, he reached out his hand as if in slow motion; then, a foot from the ground caught it, pulled out, and toppled gently from his broom — just as if it was meant to be!

"HARRY POTTER!" The words, in the all too familiar voice of Professor McGonagall, stunned the happy boy, and congratulatory class, into silence. Advancing toward them, the clearly upset Assistant Headmistress was muttering indistinct words like: "dare you… broken your neck… never in my days…." Pavarti, who had stood up to Malfoy for Neville, tried to intervene for Harry and said: "It wasn't his fault, Professor…"; but, was told to "be quiet." Towering over Harry, who was still on the ground, she merely said "come with me" then turned and swept away. Harry had to nearly run to keep up with her stride, chastising himself for not lasting in school even as long as Hagrid and wondering if Dumbledore might keep him on at Hogwarts, now that he was going to be expelled. The professor didn't stop until she was in the castle, outside of Professor Flitwick's classroom, and asking to "borrow Wood for a moment." Worried that he was now going to be paddled, he stood readying himself until a burly fifth-year boy came out of the class room. She simply told them to "follow me" until out of earshot in an adjoining classroom; when, she said "I've found you a Seeker." Harry stood perplexed while the excited Wood and McGonagall discussed him, saying: "He's a natural… we'll get him a broom… Dumbledore will need to bend the 'first year' rule…." They finally told him they were talking about him being on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. McGonagall even said that his father had been a good Quidditch player and "would have been proud." Wood wanted to keep it a secret; but, told the whole team, including the Weasley twins who were the "beaters." Unfortunately, Malfoy still existed and was braver now that he was standing back on the ground in the middle of Crabbe and Goyle. Harry cut off his whining taunts with "you're braver now, with your little friends to back you up." Malfoy blustered that he'd "take Harry on," anytime, "alone"; then, set up a "wizards duel" for midnight in the trophy room, with Ron offering to be Harry's "second." Ron had to explain that the second was there to "take over in case you die"; but, people only died in "proper duels with real wizards" who know enough to hurt each other. Hermione Granger, who had been eavesdropping, interrupted them with admonishments about them "loosing points" and "being selfish"; but, was told "it was none of your business." As they were sneaking out the portrait hole, when everyone was asleep, they were intercepted by Hermione who nagged and badgered them all the way down the hall about "loosing all the points I won for Gryffindor." She found that she couldn't get back into the common room, because the fat lady had gone for a midnight stroll out of her painting; so, she decided to go with them. They nearly tripped over Neville asleep in the corridor, where he had been for hours, because he couldn't remember the password. He didn’t want to be left alone, so he came with them, too. When they got to the third floor trophy room, Malfoy was nowhere in sight.

They did hear Filtch talking to his cat, however, and fled, crashing into armor and, finally, through a tapestry into a hidden corridor. Hermione was so out of breath she could hardly talk; but, nonetheless, was able to spew out one "I told you so…" after another. She told them that Malfoy had never intended to meet them, and had tipped off Filtch instead, so they would be caught. They just thought that they had escaped detection when Peeves the poltergeist appeared, and delightedly called out "FIRST YEARS OUT OF BED… IN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR"! Fleeing the noise, they found themselves boxed in a corridor, outside a locked door, with Filtch approaching rapidly. Hermione used an "Alohomora" charm, she had already learned, to open the door for them, just as Filtch came round the corner. They listened through the door to find that Peeves wasn't being any more helpful to Filtch, than he had been to them, and both finally left. Their troubles had REALLY just begun, however, as they soon realized that they were now locked inside a room with a monstrous, snarling three-headed dog, dripping saliva and trying to decide which one of them to eat first. They were able to escape and ran all the way back to their tower before they said anything to each other. Ron had already offered that the school had no business keeping a dog locked up like that, before Hermione got her breath and temper back at the same time. She told them she had seen that the dog was standing on a trapdoor, obviously guarding something; they could have gotten them all killed… or "worse, expelled"; then, stormed off in a huff. Trying to force himself to sleep, Harry seemed to have found where the package, Hagrid had taken from the vault, was hidden.
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10
Halloween
The only thing good about their experience was seeing the stunned look on Malfoy's face the next day when he saw that they had not been expelled and actually appeared somewhat cheerful. In fact, Harry was almost considering their meeting the three-headed dog as an "adventure"; and, he now had Ron to conjecture about the package with, which was a unique experience for him. Ron called it "either really valuable or dangerous," for something only two inches to need such heavy protection. An added bonus was that the bossy know-it-all Hermione was no longer speaking to them. The only thing they seemed to lack was a way to get back at Malfoy, which occurred with the delivery of his new Nimbus 2000 broom in plain sight of the whole school. The best part was Malfoy's look of flustered rage when his usual attempt to ridicule, malign, and get them into trouble, by tattling to a professor, backfired. Harry had told professor Flitwick that it was "thanks to Malfoy that I've got it," as he calmly walked away unruffled. Their happiness wasn't even spoiled by Hermione's lapse in her "silent treatment" long enough to ridicule them with: "I suppose you think that's a reward for breaking rules." Oliver Wood explained the rules of Quidditch to Harry down on the field, which was inside a large stadium with three goal hoops at each end. There are seven players on each team. Three chasers— who try to score by passing the Quaffle, a large red ball, through the opponent's hoops; a keeper who defends the goals; two bat-carrying beaters— who hit Bludger's, two other smaller balls, at the opposing team members; and, the seeker— who fly's around trying to find and catch yet a third, much smaller, ball called the Snitch which then ends the game. And, just to make the game more interesting, the two Bludger's are bewitched to fly around on their own trying to hit and knock players off their brooms; AND, the tiny, Golden Snitch can hardly be seen, has wings, and rockets around to avoid capture. There are ten points for every goal score and 150 points for catching the snitch. They practiced by flying around and catching thrown golf balls. Harry didn't miss a single one. Wood was very happy with Harry, calling him better than Charlie Weasley "who could have turned 'pro' if he hadn't gone off chasing dragons."

Harry was incredibly happy and wondered how it had become Halloween so soon. Midst the aromas of baking pumpkin from the kitchens, Professor Flitwick taught them how to make objects fly, with: "Wingardium Leviosa". The spell had to be pronounced correctly and accompanied with a "swish and flick" of the wand. Ron had difficulty saying it correctly and Hermione gloated in correcting him. "You do it then, if you're so smart," he told her, and she did. As they were walking out of class, the angry Ron told Harry: "It's no wonder no one can stand her, she's a nightmare." Hermione overheard him and pushed past, crying. Harry's compassion over hurting her feelings was countered with Ron's, "So? She must've noticed she's got no friends." Hermione hid out in the girls bathroom all afternoon crying, and missed classes; but, Harry and Ron's uneasiness over this was put out of their minds by seeing the decorations of the Great Hall at supper. Thousands of live bats fluttered around the tables laden with food of all kinds, just as in the opening feast. In the middle of eating, however, Professor Quirrell startled them all by running in with a look of terror and crying "Troll in the dungeon" before fainting to the floor. Dumbledore restored calm to the room with loud cracks from his wand; then, sent them all back to their dormitories with their prefects, while he and the teachers searched the dungeons. On the way up the stairs, Harry remembered Hermione in the bathroom and they decided to sneak away to go tell her about the troll. Unexpectedly, they saw Snape sneaking away from the other teachers and wondered where he was going. Before they could find out, however, they smelled something like an "uncleaned public toilet" and saw a 12 foot troll go into the bathroom. They hurriedly shut and locked the door behind it; then, realized that it was the girls bathroom, Hermione was in there, and heard her scream. When they arrived, the troll had started to demolish the fixtures and was heading for Hermione. The troll didn't even feel the pipe that Harry threw at it; but, did hear Ron shout an insult, which gave Harry time to run around the other side and try to get Hermione to move. She was frozen in terror and wouldn't budge; but, the troll then headed for Ron, who was trapped with nowhere to go. Completely without thinking, Harry found himself leaping toward the troll and landing on it's back, all without it's notice; until, his wand stuck right up its nose, making it yowl and flail about in pain. Harry held on for dear life. Ron, not knowing what else to do, drew his wand and tried the only spell he could think of: "Wingardium Leviosa." The club few out of the troll's hand, hovered for a minute in the air, then dropped with a crack onto its head, knocking it unconscious to the floor. Harry retrieved his wand from it's nose and found it dripping with "troll boogers" as McGonagall, Snape and Quirrell came rushing through the door. Still trembling from their own experience, they were perplexed by McGonagall's anger. "You were lucky you weren't killed," she said through gritted teeth. Harry saw Snape begin to interject with one of his usual hateful remarks when Hermione spoke up and claimed that it was her fault. She claimed that she had gone looking for the troll, because she thought she could handle it, and "they came looking for me," and saved me with no time to call anyone. Ron's jaw dropped. There was 'miss perfect' Hermione actually telling a lie to a teacher in order to protect them. McGonagall took five points away from Gryffindor for Hermione's "stupidity" and, reluctantly, gave Harry and Ron five points each for their "saving Hermione." Arriving back at the Common Room they found each other; and, after an awkward silence, all merely said "thanks." After that, Hermione was their friend; because, "there are some things that you can't share without being friends… and fighting a troll is one of them."
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11
Quidditch
In November the weather turned just like one would expect it to, so close to the artic… and just the weather for Quidditch; but, what would Harry know, he'd never played it before. That's what wizards did, however, and Harry must be one, because the sport filled him with un-experienced joy. This was, despite the 'secret' of him playing seeker having leaked out making him, once again, the topic of conversation for EVERYONE… good and bad; and, the fact that he was becoming dependent on his new friend Hermione, just to survive the homework. Their first game was against the Slytherin's, here-to-fore consistent school champions; and, he was just slightly worried that all of the 700 ways of fouling would happen to him in this game, as it had done in a World Cup match in 1473. He had learned well that Slytherin's in general would pretty much stop at nothing to obtain their goals, and, as everyone had kept pointing out, most serious 'accidents' seemed to happen to the seeker. Hermione, nicer now that she had learned how to break a few school rules, had conjured a nice blue flame in a glass jar for them to use to keep warm in the courtyard. Not knowing if it would be allowed, Snape noticed their guilty looks and limped over to them to investigate. Harry diverted his question by showing that he only had Quidditch through the ages behind his back. Snape took the opportunity to take "five points from Gryffindor for taking library books out of the castle," then limped away. That evening Harry became restless without something to read, and his anger produced the courage needed to decide to confront Snape; but, his experience told him that it would be easier with other teachers around. He knocked lightly on the staff-room door and no one answered so he gently pushed the door open. There was Snape holding his robe up so Filtch could bandage his mangled and bloody leg, while complaining about not being able to watch "all three heads at once." Before he could slip back out, Snape spotted him and, hiding his leg, angrily exclaimed "POTTER"! Harry's timid request for the book only got another "GET OUT," which he did, rapidly. The sight, however, and the subsequent discussion with Ron and Hermione, destroyed his ability to get to sleep. So, the next morning Harry was neither rested nor hungry. He did have supporters who even carried signs; but, even though there didn't seem to be many detractors, his heart raced as he removed his school robes and changed into the Scarlet ones worn by the team. The fact that many of the Slytherin team looked like they had "Troll blood" in them didn't help Harry's nerves; but, being in the air, on his broom, where he loved, made the frantic pace of the game seem to fade into the background as he watched his team mates below... and for the snitch. They were really good, he thought, as they dodged bludger's, hit them at Slytherin's and scored. Hagrid came to watch and told Ron and Hermione that he was glad Harry had "kept outta trouble, though, that's sumpin." In the middle of a play Harry did see the snitch and dove toward it. Terence Higgs, Slytherin seeker, had seen it too and was trying to catch up with Harry, when Marcus Flint, their captain, deliberately fouled, and nearly killed, Harry with a body slam. While Harry, careened off, holding on for dear life, Madame Hootch told off Flint and awarded a free penalty shot to Gryffindor; but, the Snitch had gone. When Harry returned to his high post, however, his broom began lurching in one direction after another as if trying to buck him off. He barely managed to hold on tight as the game continued below, no one seeming to be aware of his plight. His broom was beyond control and he couldn't turn, descend or stop. It just kept zigzagging through the air as Slytherin's scored below. It was Hagrid who spotted Harry first and told the others that: "can't nothing interfere with a broomstick except powerful Dark magic — especially to a Nimbus 2000." Already suspicious, Hermione spotted Snape sitting in front of Quirrel looking fixedly at Harry and continually muttering something, as if he was jinxing him. Taking advantage of the diversion, Flint scored five times without anyone noticing, while Hermione made her way across the stands. In her hurry to set Snape's robes on fire she knocked over Professor Quirrell, but that was all that seemed to be needed to help Harry regain control and zoom toward the ground. Unexpectedly, however, the crowd saw him "clap his hand to his mouth — hit the ground on all fours — cough — and spit something gold from his mouth into his hand." He had nearly swallowed the snitch! Gryffindor had won, 170 to 60.

Back in Hagrid's hut warming up, Hagrid wouldn't believe it when they told him Snape had been cursing Harry. When Harry said that he'd seen Snape injured with a three-headed dog bite, and believed he was trying to steal something it guarded, Hagrid exclaimed "how do you know about Fluffy"? He still insisted that "Snape wouldn't hurt a student" to the point that, in frustration, Hermione told him "I know a jinx when I see one… he was making unblinking eye contact" and muttering a jinx. Hagrid bumbled back that they "should stop meddlin' in dangerous things… and forget what its guardin'… that was between Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel…"!
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