How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
You don't get it! [...] I'm not having nightmares, I'm not just dreaming! What d'you think all the Occlumency was for, why d'you think Dumbledore wanted me prevented from seeing these things? Because they're REAL, Hermione – Sirius is trapped, I've seen him. Voldemort's got him, and no one else knows, and that means we're the only ones who can save him, and if you don't want to do it, fine, but I'm going, understand? (32.67)
Harry has this bizarre, irrational break here: he insists that Dumbledore wanted him to study Occlumency to prevent him from seeing things that are "REAL." Why does it never once occur to Harry that Dumbledore might want Harry not to see these things because they are fake? Why does Harry want so badly for his visions to be true? What does he hope to achieve through confronting these visions?
Quote #8
Harry turned to look where Neville was staring. Directly above them, framed in the doorway from the Brain Room, stood Albus Dumbledore, his wand aloft, his face white and furious. Harry felt a kind of electric charge surge through every particle of his body – they were saved. (35.268)
After this whole year of turning his back on Professor Dumbledore, when Harry sees him at the Ministry of Magic, he falls back on his faith that Professor Dumbledore will save them. He still believes that Professor Dumbledore can fix just about anything. But Harry's faith is going to get a final test, as Professor Dumbledore's presence still can't save Sirius from his inevitable fate. And here's another question we want to ask: why doesn't Professor Dumbledore kill Voldemort at the end of Book 5? Why doesn't Professor Dumbledore even try? Do the future books give us a clue?
Quote #9
And notice this, Harry: [Voldemort] chose, not the pureblood (which, according to his creed, is the only kind of wizard worth being or knowing) but the half-blood, like himself. He saw himself in you before he had ever seen you, and in marking you with that scar, he did not kill you, as he intended, but gave you powers, and a future, which have fitted you to escape him not once, but four times so far – something that neither your parents, nor Neville's parents, ever achieved. (37.206)
At the end of Book 2, when Harry worries about how much he is like the young Voldemort, Tom Riddle, Professor Dumbledore tells him that it's his choices that have put Harry in Gryffindor instead of Slytherin. We all have the choice to follow our better natures. But then, here, at the end of Book 5, Professor Dumbledore strongly emphasizes fate: Voldemort has chosen Harry, has given him "powers, and a future." So, where's the choice in that? What tension does this series create between personal choice and fate? Which do you think is more powerful in the Harry Potter world?