Join hosts Aureo, Irvin, Sam, and guest Geoff (dreamquaffle) as they discuss the most magical number for episode 7. Strap in for all the mentions of the number 7 and its importance to the overall series.
In this episode:
- The Weasleys’ vacation budget comes under scrutiny
- Did Snape try to poison the trio?
- Lockhart’s quest for maximum royalties
- Qualifiers are the real hero of this episode
- Super Effective Magical Purple Flames™
- Everything happens on the seventh floor
- How the Weasley kids play Quidditch
- Let’s not count the minister!
- We can do basic math – maybe
Resources:
- Seven Battles by Irvin
- Potions Riddle by Irvin
- Goblet of Sevens by Irvin
- Seven Obstacles for Seven Books by Irvin
- Death Eaters – Part 3: The Battle of the Tower by Irvin
- The Scoop on Rita Skeeter by Irvin
- 7 Days to go – the Lexicon countdown by HP Lexicon
- Potions Riddle solution by HP Lexicon
The Pub’s Jukebox:
- “Forget the Girl” by How Airplanes Fly
- “Death Eaters Rejoice” by The Butterbeer Experience
- “Weasleys” by Totally Knuts
- “Horcrux” by Kalysta Flame
- “Right Hand Man” by Split Seven Ways
- “Why Fight?” by Seven Potters
- “Beneath Our Floors” by Dream Quaffle
So I have analysed the seven boggart forms in Lupin’s class by students, which are the mummy, banshee, rat, snake, single bloody eyeball, shrivelled hand, acromantula, and snape. And I have figured out how they line up with the potions riddle quite seamlessly. So let’s start, nettle wines first: The mummy from Parvati and banshee from Seamus are the nettle wines, both simply things added to the list as things that children might be afraid of, not that interesting, here’s where the fun begins.
The shrivelled hand is poison, foreshadowing to the silver hand that kills Petigrew, pretty simple. The next of those three beverages is the snake, A reference to Nagini, who kills several people, attacks Harry and Hermione, and causes Harry’s wand to break. The third poison is the rat, a prognosticate to our favorite evil rat man who, by being a rat to the Death Eaters (stupid name), got Harry’s parents murdered.
Finally, the backwards and forwards potions are Snape and the acromantula, my reasoning for these two is perhaps the worst but it fits alright I guess. Snape is the backwards potion because he is, how do you say it, an asshole. He pushes students away from their dreams, and crushes their creativity. The forwards potion is the acromantula, which as we all know, in CoS, they are given the information they need from hagrid’s little pet, who for some reason, I can’t remember it’s name, so I’m calling it Shelob instead of googling it.
However I lied a bit in the first word of the last paragraph, because it gets even better. You may have noticed that I left out the bloody eyeball, well, after drinking the potion of Shelob and being propelled forwards to the next room, Harry encounters Quirell who literally has eyes in the back of his head. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
*slow clap*
Bravo! That was great work!
You also brought to my attention how much these boggarts pop up throughout the rest of the series… hmmm… there might be an essay brewing here!
Thank you, this was probably my first serious comment here and I’m glad it went over
Absolutely fantastic
Nice!
If you want another parallel: in the boggart lesson Voldemort was expected to appear but didn’t, and Snape appeared in someone else’s clothes. After the potions riddle, Snape was expected to appear but didn’t, and Voldemort appeared in someone else’s clothes.
Or that might be more indicative of the book we’re in. Prisoner of Azkaban is the first book where Voldemort is expected to appear but doesn’t – as soon as anyone thought there was a formula of H-vs-Voldy showdowns at the end of each book, Jo subverted that.
That’s really good, I wish I had thought of that first
You did the groundwork, I just tacked on a little extra.
I’d assert my right to first-refusal over the name “AbsentMindedRaisin”, but that might sound like whining…
Harry has caught the snitch 7 times during Hogwarts Quidditch matches, which means there are 7 snitches out there that remember him by flesh memory.
PS – match 1 vs Slytherin, caught in mouth
PS – match 2 vs Hufflepuff, unique pov shift to R/H as Harry catches snitch
PS – match 3, Harry is in Hospital wing unconscious
CoS – match 1 vs Slytherin, rogue bludger
CoS – match 2 and 3 cancelled
POA – match 1 vs Hufflepuff, Harry falls
POA – match 2 vs Ravenclaw, prank by Malfoy Crabbe and Goyle
POA – match 3 vs Slytherin, Gryffindor wins cup
GOF – all matches cancelled
OP – match 1 vs Slytherin, Harry and twins banned
OP – match 2 vs Hufflepuff, Ginny catches snitch but still lose
OP – match 3 vs Ravenclaw, Grawp
HBP – match 1 vs Slytherin, felix felicis plot
HBP – match 2 vs Hufflepuff, Luna commentates, McLaggen cracks Harry’s skull open
HBP – match 3 vs Ravenclaw, Ginny catches snitch
Just as well Dumbledore left the snitch from PS rather than CoS – it’d be rough to have to use flesh-but-no-bones memory…
Although that would have served Dumbledore’s purposes of obfuscating Scrimgeour just as well!
Albus really was very lucky that Harry did oral his first time and used his hands every other time – that way he could hide the “I open at the close” message where Scrimgeour wouldn’t see it. Otherwise, to frustrate the Minister, Dumbledore would have had to rely on Harry recreating the deboning, and just hope that the Boy Who Lived has easy access to Skele-Gro.
Something about this comment feels a mite…
Have you, perchance, read the fanfic “Sublimation and the Snitch”?
I’m now both worried and curious about this fanfic…
I love this! What a great catch. There are lots of ways to slice the Quidditch matches to get a set of seven, and I very much enjoy it.
Thanks! And yes, I’m sure there are plenty more Quidditch 7s to uncover with the right qualifiers 😉
Qualifiers are the real heroes 😀
The tarot card “Seven of Swords” is associated with brains over brawn, cunning, and secret plans. And there are certainly lots of those in the 7 times people take ownership of the Sword of Gryffindor:
1 – Harry pulls it from the sorting hat
2 – Harry gives it to Dumbledore, who puts it in a display case
3 – Dumbledore bequeaths it to Harry, the ministry interferes, but ultimately it winds up in the hands of Snape
4 – Ron pulls it (and Harry) out of the icy pond in the forest
5 – An un-named Snatcher claims it as spoils when they capture the trio (but doesn’t manage to keep it – it goes with the escapees)
6 – Griphook claims it as rightfully belonging to the goblins
7 – Neville pulls it from the sorting hat
And yes, they can be tied to both the 7 obstacles at the end of Philosopher’s Stone, as well as the 7 bottles in the potions riddle. And they form a mini-ring-composition. Essay pending. 🙂
Of interest is that things go well for those who claim it “under conditions of need and valour”, and less so otherwise.
OMG, this is so good! Masterfully done, even by your high standards.
I hope your essay truly is pending, because this is ripe for further exploration. Some thoughts to build on…
1 – How do the seven changes of ownership for the sword compare with the seven changes in ownership for the locket? Since each is a set of seven, and they are the iconic relics of Gryffindor and Slytherin, I think there could be something there!
2 – Rather like the Elder Wand, no witch claimed the Sword of Gryffindor. With the Wand, Jo seemed to be making a point. Is she making one here, or is it a statistical fluke?
Irvin, you’re too kind. I’m embarrassed. I’m blushing.
1 – Good thought! I’ll add it to the pile. 🙂
2 – It’s hard to say. I spent a while going over bits of DH (particularly Malfoy Manor and Gringotts) before finding that Hermione does actually touch the sword (once, at least). Handing it to Harry in the vault when he’s trying to reach the cup (why he didn’t just stab it is beyond me – it might even have helped convince Griphook that they needed the sword for a little bit longer). Yay for unconscious sexism! (/sarcasm).
Yeah that always bothered me, too. Just explain that you need to use it in the vault, once, and then give it to him right after. No need to be sneaky. Maybe mention that you’d like him to stab something if they need it for the next horcrux. Who knows, maybe Griphook would get a kick out of using the sword.
I think the point here is that they do need it a bit longer than just to destroy the cup. They still have a couple more Horcruxes to destroy with no real plan at this point. If they had known, it would all come to an end within the span of 48 hours it would have been an easy thing to promise Griphook.
1 – Upon reflection, I think it could be reasonably argued that the ones who claim ownership of the locket with cunning and/or ambition are generally successful:
The ones who don’t are less so:
The locket is poison for Hepzibah (she’s literally poisoned for it), Kreacher (who spends years agonising over his failure to destroy it), and the trio (the whole camping trip). Burke and Mundungus are the nettle wine, as they’re not interested in the locket, only profiting from it. It moves Riddle’s grand scheme forwards, and it helps Umbridge get back to her former status.
(Oh, and there’s hard work involved whenever Hufflepuff’s Cup is obtained, and cleverness – thank goodness for Luna! – whenever Ravenclaw’s Diadem is obtained)
Excellent! I came to a slightly different mapping of the locket in my essay.
I really like your analysis, I’d only point out that you’re missing Merope Gaunt – the locket has eight owners, and seven changes in ownership.
But the larger point – about needing to display the qualities of the House in order to successfully claim the Founder’s object – is very very good. And does present the perfect contrast between locket and sword!
There are a few different ways one can relate seven of anything to the potions riddle – I try to maintain a consistent perspective (in this case, people’s attitudes towards the locket). It feels awkward to use the locket’s perspective, as the first three changes of ownership are all before it becomes sentient.
We don’t see how Merope gets the locket (but can safely assume inheritance). She certainly shows cunning and ambition (you go girl! get your man! urgh… no, not like that!), but by the end her depression has robbed her of both (she’s easily tricked out of a valuable heirloom, and she has no interest in the prestige of her ancestry).
Oh, I think I got mixed up because you wrote “Burke cheats Hepzibah” when you probably meant “Burke cheats Merope,” so I thought you’d missed the initial change of Merope>Burke.
Ooof, so I did! Sorry about that. I was so worried about spelling Hepzibah correctly she turned up in the wrong place.
EDIT: I can’t go back and fix it (too old/has replies). Is it possible for an admin to change it to “Burke cheats
HepzibahMerope”?I don’t have anything new to add on, just congratulations, that’s really good
Just here to say: Wauw! What an amazing amount of research and knowledge you managed to boil down into one episode, by simply focusing on the number 7!
Aw, thank you! This was one of our more research-heavy ones 😀