Spies Like Us

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Chapter 12

So Kreacher has become a good guy to have around. A pleasant surprise for everyone.

Death Eaters are loitering in the square. Don't they know they're supposed to sit in a paneled van with lettering on the side proclaiming them to be a plumber, a delivery service or something equally unsuspecting, looking at monitors, wearing headphones and eating fast food. They could at least wear Muggle clothing to blend in.

Harry, Hermione and Ron have much better spy craft. Sneaking in and out day after day to do recon on the Ministry of Magic under the noses of Death Eaters would not please Voldemort. Their next job will be checking employee badges at the Ministry entrance if he finds out.

They've also chosen rather ordinary Ministry workers to use to get inside. More good spy craft.

Presumably the next chapter will reveal just how good our young spies are. They've just come face to face with Umbridge. That could be tricky.

Somehow they have to get into her office and find the locket. At least that's where it looks like this mission is headed. Fooling everyone has gotten them this far. They are going to have to keep outsmarting the unsuspecting Ministry. I can't imagine they could overpower or outmagic them to get out with the goods.

Of course, getting the locket is only half the battle. Destroying the horcrux in it might be the real challenge.

The Horcrux Hunt

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Chapter 10

RAB. I had to think for a few paragraphs what that was from. My reading has drifted for a while, but I'm back hoping to be diligent for another 26 chapters and end this thing.

So RAB represents the initials of Sirius Black's brother Regulus. He's the one he swapped the horcrux locket with a fake locket. It all made sense as I kept reading. Harry is now on the trail of a horcrux he thought was gone forever. It's still gone, possibly forever, but there is hope.

Kreacher. What a pathetic existence. He's in the house all alone. Of course, no one has been ordering him around, but still. I'm not as empathetic as Hermione, but still.

Kreacher now has the important job of finding Mundungus Fletcher and retrieving the horcrux. Not sure how Harry will destroy it, but there's probably something in one of those ancient books in Hermione's go bag.

The letter. Does it mean anything? Does it hold clue? Does Mundungus have the rest of it? Will we find out what Harry's mum said about Dumbledore?

I don't have a house elf to help me find these answers, so I'll just keep reading. I'd like to say I'll be finished in 26 days. But my track record says it will take longer than that.

But not too much. I promise.

The unknowable chapter

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Chapter 21

Just what exactly happened in this chapter to move the story forward? Felt a little like another day, another COVID-19 news conference with little to no status change.

• If Harry's progress to get Sluggy to talk was going any slower, it would be moving in reverse.
• I do agree with Hermione. Harry will have to persuade the old professor to spill it about Voldemort and Horcruxes. No spell or trickeration will work.
• Harry does learn that Dobby and Kreacher have followed Malfoy to the Room of Requirement, aka the Unknowable Room. But Harry can't find the door and learn anything. So not much progress.

A wise man once said: If you can't find a door, look for a window.

• Snape is as grouchy as ever toward Harry and Ron. What deep, intellectual answer was he looking for about the difference between an inferius and a ghost? Probably nothing. Just showing his superiority again.
• I do wonder who Myrtle was looking for in the boys room. Seems like Harry and Ron should have been more inquisitive.
• Quite a mysterious encounter with Tonks. We wonder along with you, Harry. Why does she need to find Dumbledore?
• Invisibility cloak and marauder's map sightings are always fun. Scaring Goyle half to death was funny. But another dead end.

Questions, questions, questions.

Was this chapter a big set-up for the next couple chapters, the rest of the book? We need answers and something big to happen soon. Will I get my wish?

Spy game

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Chapter 19

Some plot moments you just see coming. Some also have a little unexpected twist, which keep you reading.

• Saw it coming: Ron wants to break up with Lavender. Didn't see it coming: He's trying to weasel out of the relationship by pretending to be asleep. smh
• Saw it coming: Hermione is worried. Didn't see it coming: So much so that she's being unusually quiet. 😲
• Saw it all coming: McLaggen is a one-man wrecking crew against his own team, especially his captain. Know-it-alls are destined to fail. 🅵
• For sure saw it all coming as soon as he showed up: Hagrid can't keep a secret and can't stop talking about it. 🙊

Then there are the full-blown, magic-wand-waving plot twists that apparate the story forward. Every chapter does this. I had just about given up on a way for Harry to keep tabs on Malfoy. Those mangy little house elves actually have a greater purpose.

Satisfaction comes in knowing that Kreacher has to obey Harry even though he doesn't want to. And more satisfaction comes in knowing that Harry has closed every possible loophole (at least it appears that way) Kreacher could use to disobey. Dobby, however, needs no convincing to do his master's will.

Theories abound about what Malfoy and Snape are up to. I'm going with Harry's theory in regards to Malfoy. No doubt he is up to evil. My trust in Snape, however, has not wavered. I'm sticking with the loyal-to-Dumbledore theory. I might be proven wrong, but this is fiction and I have nothing actually at stake.

This does mean more frustrating scenes with house elves fighting, Kreacher saying rude things and Dobby literally beating himself up. But that's the price you pay for a clever plot twist.

Both sides in this war of good magic and evil magic are deep into the spy game now. Who can we trust?

Those are the plot moments we don't get to see coming.

An uninvited guest

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Chapter 3

Nothing like making the Dursleys as uncomfortable as possible by casually performing magic tricks in their living room. The sight of those glasses knocking against their heads must have been fun to see. I wonder if they even felt it through their thick noggins.

Doubtful. When they were reminded of their mistreatment of Harry they were surely clueless. And they are even more so in their lack of understanding of their rotten spoiling of Dudders. Still, nice to see somebody tell them the truth.

So Sir Albus Dumbledore (don't you think he's met the queen and that she's probably knighted him by now because he's probably prevented some grand catastrophe or two) comes to rescue Harry from another summer of discontent. An adventure of some kind surely awaits on the trip to the burrow or when he gets there.

We get more caught up on what's been happening since the end of the last book through newspaper clippings and via news from Sir Albus. Not surprising that Harry doesn't want two key pieces of his inheritance. I doubt I would want to return to number twelve, Grimmauld Place given all that's happened. And I wouldn't want Kreacher either. As handy as it might sound to have a house elf do your bidding, who could put up with the attitude.

And it's off to the burrow with the invisibility cloak in hand. One should never go out in these times without one of those.