First Time Readers

Chapter 18 - Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs

• “They’ve — got — a — right — to — know — everything.” Lupin panted, still trying to restrain Black. “Ron’s kept him as a pet! There are parts of it even I don’t understand! And Harry — you owe Harry the truth, Sirius!” Black stopped struggling, though his hollowed eyes were still fixed on Scabbers, who was clamped tightly under Ron’s bitten, scratched and bleeding hands. “All right, then,” said Black, without taking his eyes off the rat. “Tell them whatever you like. But make it quick, Remus. I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for...”

Q1 - Who is right here? Lupin for waiting, or Black for wanting to kill Peter first?

Q2 - Why didn’t Scabbers try to escape earlier on?

• “Because ... because people would know if Peter Pettigrew had been an Animagus. We did Animagi in class with Professor McGonagall. And I looked them up when I did my homework - the Ministry keeps tabs on witches and wizards who can become animals; there's a register showing what animal they become, and their markings and things...and I went and looked Professor Mcgonagall up on the register, and there have only been seven Animagi this century, and pettigrews name wasn’t on the list.”

Q3 - I ask again, what would you be if you could be an Animagus?

• “It seemed impossible that I would be able to come to Hogwarts. Other parents weren't likely to want their children exposed to me. But then Dumbledore became Headmaster and he was sympathetic.”
• REDDIT - alphaWLFgang1 - So if we were looking at it from that perspective then I’d be a Nebelung Cat (according to Wizarding World) But, I mean if I had to choose I’d want to be something that could fly. So like an Eagle or maybe a Hippogriff would be sick too if that’s even possible? I’d want to fly or swim! So maybe a shark? I’d want to be an animal that can either fly/swim under water. I’d want to fly so I can travel faster places and swim because I love the water.

Q4 - Was Dumbledore right to let Lupin come to school?

Q5 - Why does Hogwarts have such a rag-tag bunch of teachers?

• “Now, my three friends could hardly fail to notice that I disappeared once a month. I made up all sorts of stories. I told them my mother was ill, and that I had to go home to see her...I was terrified they would desert me the moment they found out what I was. But of course, they, like you, Hermione, worked out the truth and they didn’t desert me at all. Instead they did something for me that would make my transformations the best times of my life. They became animagi.”

Q6 - Do you know and understand how truly difficult it is to become an Animagus?

Q7 - What was the craziest/most dangerous thing you’ve done in your life?

Q8 - Have you ever put someone else’s life in danger?

• “Sirius thought it would be — er — amusing, to tell Snape all he had to do was prod the knot on the tree-trunk with a long stick, and he’d be able to get in after me. Well, of course, Snape tried it — if he’d got as far as this house, he’d have met a fully grown werewolf — but your father, who’d heard what Sirius had done, went after Snape and pulled him back, at great risk to his life.”

Q9 - Do you have any sympathy for Snape?

Chapter 19 - The Servant of Lord Voldemort

• “YOU'RE PATHETIC!” Harry yelled. “JUST BECAUSE THEY MADE A FOOL OF YOU AT SCHOOL YOU WON'T EVEN LISTEN _” “SILENCE! I WILL NOT BE SPOKEN TO LIKE THAT!' Snape shrieked, looking madder than ever. "Like father, like son, Potter! I have just saved your neck, you should be thanking me on bended knee! You would have been well served if he'd killed you! You'd have died like your father, too arrogant to believe you might be mistaken in Black. Now get out of the way or I will make you.”

Q1 - What do you think of both Harry and Snape’s statements?

Q2 - Were they right to attack a teacher?

• "Harry I as good as killed them; he croaked. I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment, persuaded them to use him as Secret Keeper instead of me ... I'm to blame, I know it ... the night they died, I'd arranged to check on Peter, make sure he was still safe, but when I arrived at his hiding place, he'd gone. Yet there was no sign of a struggle. It didn't feel right. I was scared. I set out for your parents' house straight away. And when I saw their house, destroyed, and their bodies - I realized what Peter must have done. What I'd done. His voice broke. He turned away.”

Q3 - What do you think of this whole story so far?

Q4 - Do you get the secret keeper thing still?

• Harry remembered what Mr Weasley had told Mrs Weasley. “The guards say he's been talking in his sleep .... always the same words... "He's at Hogwarts.” “It was as if some...

Chapter 11 - The Firebolt

• He stopped on a picture of his parents’ wedding day. There was his father waving up at him, beaming, the untidy black hair Harry had inherited standing up in all directions. There was his mother, alight with happiness, arm in arm with his dad. And there...that must be him. Their best man...Harry had never given him a thought before.
• A hatred such as he had never known before was coursing through Harry like poison.

Q1 - How do you feel after letting it stew, that Harry is the godson of Sirius Black?

• Harry looked at them. They didn’t seem to understand at all. “D'you know what I see and hear every time a dementor gets too near me?' Ron and Hermione shook their heads, looking apprehensive. 'I can hear my mum screaming and pleading with Voldemort. And if you'd heard your mum screaming like that, just about to be killed, you wouldn't forget it in a hurry. And if you found out someone who was supposed to be a friend of hers betrayed her and sent Voldemort after her —”

Q2 - What would you say to Harry in this moment?

• “Hey, Harry —” Ron gave a great whoop of laughter, “Malfoy! Wait till he sees you on this! He’ll be sick as a pig! This is an international-standard broom, this is!”

Q3 - Do you think Sneakoscopes can gauge animal mischief?

Q4 - Why are Ron and Hermione staying for Christmas holidays?

• “Certainly I knew, Minerva,” she said quietly. “But one does not parade the fact that one is All-Knowing. I frequently act as though I am not possessed of the Inner Eye, so as not to make others nervous.” “That explains a great deal,” said Professor McGonagall tartly.

Q5 - Who sent Harry the firebolt?

Chapter 12 - The Patronus

• Harry knew Hermione had meant well, but that didn’t stop him being angry with her.

PREDICTION #11 - Short lifelines for Harry’s palm.

Q1 - Why is Lupin always sick?

• “The Patronus is a kind of positive force, a projection of the very thing that the Dementor feeds upon — hope, happiness, the desire to survive — but it cannot feel despair, as real humans can, so the Dementors can’t hurt it.”

Q2 - Which memory would you pick to cast your Patronus?

• “I heard my dad,” Harry mumbled. “That’s the first time I’ve heard him — he tried to take on Voldemort himself, to give my mum time to run for it...”
• “Professor Lupin?” he said. “If you knew my dad, you must’ve known Sirius Black as well.” Lupin turned very quickly. “What gives you that idea?” he said sharply. “Nothing — I mean, I just knew they were friends at Hogwarts, too...” Lupin's face relaxed. “Yes, I knew him,” he said shortly. “Or I thought I did.”

Q3 - Do you think Lupin and Sirius Black are working together in any way?

• “They clamp their jaws upon the mouth of the victim and — suck out his soul.” Harry accidentally spat out a bit of butterbeer. “What — they kill —?” “Oh, no,” said Lupin. “Much worse than that. You can exist without your soul, you know, as long as your brain and heart are still working. But you’ll have no sense of self anymore, no memory, no ... anything. There is no chance of recovery. You’ll just — exist. As an empty shell. And your soul is gone forever...lost.”

Q4 - What are your thoughts on the Dementor’s kiss?

• Harry sat stunned for a moment at the idea of someone having their soul sucked out through their mouth. But then he thought of Black. “He deserves it,” he said suddenly. “You think so?” said Lupin lightly. “Do you really think anyone deserves that?”

Q5 - Do you think anyone deserves the Dementor’s kiss?

DRINK FOR SCABBERS!

Q6 - Do you think Hermione was right to tattle about the broom?

Chapter 13 - Gryffindor Versus Ravenclaw

• “He bit Goyle for us once!” Ron said miserably. “Remember, Harry?” “Yeah, that’s true,” said Harry. “His finest hour,” said Fred.

Q1 - Would you like to play Quidditch?

Q2 - How incompetent is Madam Hooch?

• She smiled at Harry as the teams faced each other behind their captains, and he felt a slight jolt in the region of his stomach that he didn’t think had anything to do with nerves.

Q3 - How would you coach quidditch to make sure your team won? Are there any kind of Moneyball situations with Quidditch?

Q4 - Who’s side do you take in the friendship battle: Ron or Hermione?

Q5 - Do you think Harry’s dream meant anything?

• “Professor, I woke up and Sirius Black was standing over me, holding a knife!” Professor McGonagall stared at him. “Don’t be ridiculous, Weasley.”

Q6 - How is Sirius Black getting in the castle so easily?

Chapter 14 - Snape’s Grudge

Q1 - What...

Chapter 35 - Veritaserum

• Harry let go of the cup, but he clutched Cedric to him even more tightly. He raised his free hand and seized Dumbledore's wrist, while Dumbledore's face swam in and out of focus. "He's back," Harry whispered. "He's back. Voldemort."

Q1 - Why did Fudge want to tell Amos his son died before he got to his son? Meta Question...

• "Karkaroff's gone? He ran away? But then - he didn't put my name in the goblet?" "No," said Moody slowly. "No, he didn't. It was I who did that." Harry heard, but didn't believe. "No, you didn't," he said. "You didn't do that...you can't have done..."

Q2 - What were you thinking when he was saying all this?

• Decent people are so easy to manipulate, Potter. I was sure Cedric would want to repay you for telling him about the dragons, and so he did.

Q3 - Do you still suspect Krum?

• At that moment, Harry fully understood for the first time why people said Dumbledore was the only wizard Voldemort had ever feared. The look upon Dumbledore's face as he stared down at the unconscious form of Mad-Eye Moody was more terrible than Harry could have ever imagined. There was no benign smile upon Dumbledore's face, no twinkle in the eyes behind the spectacles. There was cold fury in every line of the ancient face; a sense of power radiated from Dumbledore as though he were giving off burning heat.

Q4 - Is this cool, or terrifying?

Q5 - If Crouch had to take it every hour, did he become crouch when he slept?

Q6 - What do you think of Crouch Jr’s whole story?

Q7 - Are there any unanswered questions?

Chapter 36 - The Parting of the Ways

• "If I thought I could help you," Dumbledore said gently, "by putting you into an enchanted sleep and allowing you to postpone the moment when you would have to think about what has happened tonight, I would do it. But I know better. Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it. You have shown bravery beyond anything I could have expected of you. I ask you to demonstrate your courage one more time. I ask you to tell us what happened."

Q1 - Is Sirius right, to want to let Harry sleep, or Dumbledore?

• "He said my blood would make him stronger than if he'd used someone else's," Harry told Dumbledore. "He said the protection my - my mother left in me - he'd have it too. And he was right - he could touch me without hurting himself, he touched my face." For a fleeting instant, Harry thought he saw a gleam of something like triumph in Dumbledore's eyes. But next second. Harry was sure he had imagined it, for when Dumbledore had returned to his seat behind the desk, he looked as old and weary as Harry had ever seen him.

Q2 - What is this gleam of triumph?

• "No spell can reawaken the dead," said Dumbledore heavily. "All that would have happened is a kind of reverse echo. A shadow of the living Cedric would have emerged from the wand...am I correct, Harry?"

Q3 - Do you understand what happened here?

Q4 - Is Fudge a coward?

• "You are blinded," said Dumbledore, his voice rising now, the aura of power around him palpable, his eyes blazing once more, "by the love of the office you hold, Cornelius! You place too much importance, and you always have done, on the so-called purity of blood! You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be! Your dementor has just destroyed the last remaining member of a pure-blood family as old as any - and see what that man chose to make of his life! I tell you now- take the steps I have suggested, and you will be remembered, in office or out, as one of the bravest and greatest Ministers of Magic we have ever known. Fail to act - and history will remember you as the man who stepped aside and allowed Voldemort a second chance to destroy the world we have tried to rebuild!"

Q5 - Why doesn’t Fudge believe this?

Q6 - What do you think of Dumbledore here?

• Time is short, and unless the few of us who know the truth do not stand united, there is no hope for any us.
• "Severus," said Dumbledore, turning to Snape, "you know what I must ask you to do. If you are ready...if you are prepared..." "I am," said Snape. He looked slightly paler than usual, and his cold, black eyes glittered strangely. "Then good luck," said Dumbledore, and he watched, with a trace of apprehension on his face, as Snape swept wordlessly after Sirius.

Q7 - What is happening here?

Q8 - How do you think Harry is going to deal with his survivors' guilt?

• There was a loud slamming noise, and Mrs. Weasley and Harry broke apart. Hermione was standing by the window. She was holding something tight in her hand.

Q9 - What is she holding?...

Chapter 4 - The Seven Potters

Q1 - What did you think this chapter initially meant?

• It gave him an odd, empty feeling to remember those times; it was like remembering a younger brother whom he had lost.
• Harry looked around at the stacked shoes and umbrellas, remembering how he used to wake every morning looking up at the underside of the staircase, which was more often than not adorned with a spider or two. Those had been the days before he had known anything about his true identity; before he had found out how his parents had died or why such strange things often happened around him. But Harry could still remember the dreams that had dogged him, even in those days: confused dreams involving flashes of green light and once — Uncle Vernon had nearly crashed the car when Harry had recounted it — a flying motorbike . . .

Q2 - Is there anything else about that flash of green light you think is important?

• Harry’s heart seemed to expand and glow at the sight: He felt incredibly fond of all of them, even Mundungus, whom he had tried to strangle the last time they had met.
• “You got married?” Harry yelped, looking from her to Lupin. “I’m sorry you couldn’t be there, Harry, it was very quiet.” “That’s brilliant, congrat —” “All right, all right, we’ll have time for a cozy catch-up later!”

Q3 - What do you think of Lupin and Tonks getting married?

• “So this time, when you leave, there’ll be no going back, and the charm will break the moment you get outside its range. We’re choosing to break it early, because the alternative is waiting for You-KnowWho to come and seize you the moment you turn seventeen.

Q4 - What would your plan be to get Harry out safely?

• From inside his cloak Moody now withdrew a flask of what looked like mud. There was no need for him to say another word; Harry understood the rest of the plan immediately. “No!” he said loudly, his voice ringing through the kitchen. “No way!” “I told them you’d take it like this,” said Hermione with a hint of complacency. “If you think I’m going to let six people risk their lives — !” “— because it’s the first time for all of us,” said Ron. “This is different, pretending to be me —” “Well, none of us really fancy it, Harry,” said Fred earnestly. “Imagine if something went wrong and we were stuck as specky, scrawny gits forever.” Harry did not smile.

Q5 - Jenn you mentioned this is unsafe in that Harry doesn’t even know who they are? Are any of them using polyjuice here to cover themselves up?

• They might not be able to get at you or this house while your mother’s charm holds, but it’s about to break and they know the rough position of the place. Our only chance is to use decoys. Even You-Know-Who can’t split himself into seven.” Harry caught Hermione’s eye and looked away at once. “So, Potter — some of your hair, if you please.”

Q6 - What would the harm be in telling everyone about Voldemort's Horcruxes?

• Harry dropped the hair into the mudlike liquid. The moment it made contact with its surface, the potion began to froth and smoke, then, all at once, it turned a clear, bright gold.

Q7 - Any significance of it turning gold here?

• When he straightened up again, there were six Harry Potters gasping and panting in front of him. Fred and George turned to each other and said together, “Wow — we’re identical!” “I dunno, though, I think I’m still better-looking,” said Fred, examining his reflection in the kettle. “Bah,” said Fleur, checking herself in the microwave door, “Bill, don’t look at me — I’m ’ideous.”

Q8 - How about the slight dig that Fleur gives here?

Q9 - Who would you want guarding you if you were one of the seven potters?

• The broomstick spun to earth, but he just managed to seize the strap of his rucksack and the top of the cage as the motorbike swung the right way up again. A second’s relief, and then another burst of green light. The owl screeched and fell to the floor of the cage. “No — NO!” The motorbike zoomed forward; Harry glimpsed hooded Death Eaters scattering as Hagrid blasted through their circle. “Hedwig — Hedwig —” But the owl lay motionless and pathetic as a toy on the floor of her cage.

Q10 - How do you feel about Hedwig’s death?

• Harry saw the strangely blank face of Stanley Shunpike — Stan — “Expelliarmus!” Harry yelled. “That’s him, it’s him, it’s the real one!” The hooded Death Eater’s shout reached Harry even above the thunder of the motorbike’s engine: Next moment, both pursuers had fallen back and disappeared from view.

Q11 - Is Stan Shunpike an actual Death Eater?

Q12 - Why has Expelliarmus become Harry’s calling card?

• Harry felt the bike drop a little, though the lights dow...