Harry Potter's Invitation to the World
by Vickie Ewell
Chapter 101 – Harry Visits With Hagrid (HP Chapter 17)
By the next morning, Harry felt almost back to normal. Although the kids have returned to Level One, the experience Harry went through has permanently changed him a little bit. He’s “almost” back to normal. Madam Pomfrey was straightening up his mountain of candy boxes – a sign that his mind was disorganized. “I want to go to the feast,” he told her assertively. “I can, can’t I?” Even his words are disorganized. They show his inability to make up his mind: I want…I can, can’t I?
Dumbledore had already told Madame Pomfrey that Harry could go to the feast, but she didn’t look like she agreed with that decision. However, Harry was guessing. He was imagining what Madame Pomfrey’s look meant compared to what that look had meant on someone else’s face in the past – undoubtedly, the Dursleys. He was reacting as if “now” was “then.” Madame Pomfrey didn’t reveal her feelings to Harry because Harry had another visitor. This time, it was Hagrid.
Hagrid sat down next to Harry, took one look at him, and burst into tears. He was feeling guilty for the situation and quite shook up. He understood that he was the one who told Quirrell how to get past Fluffy, and that Harry could have died because of his greed for a dragon egg. “I should be chucked out an’ made ter live as a Muggle!”
Actually, Hagrid wasn’t allowed to do magic, so he was already living as a Muggle. I think Jo’s point here was that Masters of Compassion, when functioning within a conditioned mindset, can make mistakes the same as the rest of us. They take upon themselves a certain degree of basic conditioning and blindness due to their upbringing, and many false beliefs. They have to release those issues the same as we do. We see that play out in Dumbledore’s life.
No one is born awake, but that helps to keep Masters of Compassion hidden – sometimes, even from themselves. It all depends on their role or mission this time around. They will often look like, and act like, those they are working with – especially if they’re mirroring us to help us see ourselves better. Biblical scripture describes this as entertaining Angels unaware.
Harry was shocked to see Hagrid so filled with grief and remorse. He tried to calm Hagrid’s self condemnation by explaining that Voldemort would have simply found a different way if Hagrid hadn’t told him, but Hagrid continued to blame himself because Harry could have died. He did stop sobbing long enough to insist that Harry not use Voldemort’s real name. But Harry didn’t accept Hagrid’s suggestion of fear. Instead, he bellowed, “VOLDEMORT!” which shocked Hagrid so badly, he stopped crying.
It appeared that the reason why Harry had “almost” returned to his old self was because now he had chosen to place himself in Dumbledore’s service. He was going to follow Dumbledore’s Wisdom instead of Hagrid’s, so he would call Voldemort by his name. “We saved the Stone,” Harry told Hagrid. “It’s gone, he can’t use it.” Then he offered Hagrid a chocolate frog. “I’ve got loads…” Harry still had loads of spiders, and loads of chocolate frogs inside his head!
But Hagrid didn’t take the chocolate frog. Hagrid wasn’t a newbie. He’s just blaming himself for what happened. He felt Dumbledore should have fired him for what he did. Instead, Dumbledore gave him a day off. Hagrid found that confusing. He didn’t understand. He had forgotten everything. His role only required his allegiance to Dumbledore and the School, his allegiance to those he specifically works with. It didn’t require him to remember who he was. His teaching method appears to be example.
Hagrid used that day off to purchase Harry a present. It was a leather-covered book full of Wizard photographs. Smiling and waving at Harry from every single page was his mother and father. It was like an alternative to the Mirror of Erised. Memories only stand in our way of spiritual development if we allow them to consume our lives over other things we need to do. Hagrid had sent owls to every friend of Harry’s parents asking them for photos because he knew that Harry didn’t have any. Harry was so overwhelmed at the gesture, he couldn’t speak, but Hagrid clearly understood.
Harry arrived at the end-of-the-year feast alone. While the feast was for all the school’s students, on whatever level they might be functioning, the fact that Harry felt alone jumped out at me. He had come to the end of Level One, the physical plane, and felt alone, but I’m not so sure that’s what the feast represents. Book 1 seems to lay out our entire journey. It isn’t just about the physical plane. While Jo shows us our carnal nature and vanities first-hand, she also shows us the entire puzzle.
Alone is how we might feel when we begin to question the purpose of life because most of life’s pleasures no longer hold any meaning for us. We might temporarily enjoy doing some things, but they don’t hold the same satisfaction that they did before. Our close friends tend to dwindle in number, and we become more aware of our separateness from the world. In a way, we stop participating in all of the Games of life. Like the prodigal who wakes up and then discovers he’s eating slop with the other swine, the pleasures of the world begin to fade.
Harry was late getting to the feast. Madame Pomfrey had insisted on giving him a final check up before he left. This seemed to indicate that the school of life offers us opportunities along the way to Wake Up, but we don’t always take them. Harry was behind schedule. He’s late.
The result of not arriving sooner was that the The Great Hall was now already full. Harry’s universe (or inner self) was completely stuffed with assorted personalities (students and teachers) – some were useful, but many are not. The longer we’ve been asleep, the more Not-I’s we’ll have to deal with when we finally Wake Up.
What next caught Harry’s attention was how the hall was decorated. It was filled with Slytherin’s colors: green and silver. The color green was used throughout the series in a variety of ways. It can represent the raw force of our carnal nature, rebirth, and new growth, or an eternal evergreen depending on one’s perspective. But Slytherins aren’t just Green. They aren’t just raw emotion and uncontrolled ego.
They are also silver, the female energies of the moon, sometimes referred to as Alchemical Mercury. Silver was second in value to Gold. Its properties included repelling demons, as Harry will learn to do with his Patronus in Book 3. It’s also a symbol for the relationship between the moon and water. The moon waxes and wanes, so when combined with raw emotion, it isn’t very stable (hence, Professor Snape’s worst memory), but silver also reflects our self in the same way a mirror does.
Slytherins were not the enemy as Harry supposes. Their role is to mirror our Ego, our negative emotional tendencies such as fiery outbursts and unconscious reactions and retaliations, our false beliefs and ideals, so they can all be dealt with appropriately. Their presence is what helps us find our Luna, our True and Loving Selves, which then results in achieving the White Stone. Their presence also helps us to purify our male energies, which then results in achieving the Red Stone.
While they might choose to clothe themselves in the darkness and blindness of the world, without them (the opposition “in” all things), we cannot become who we desire to be