Harry Potter's Invitation to the World
by Vickie Ewell
Chapter 36 – Harry Receives a Nimbus Two Thousand (HP Chapter 10)
Once the fright of meeting the three-headed dog wore off, both Harry and Ron started looking at the event as an adventure and were anxious to have another one. The fear of getting caught was not strong enough to override their curiosity about what was going on. In fact, you can actually become addicted to the feeling that adrenaline and other stress hormones give you.
Harry filled Ron in on what he knew about the package he and Hagrid removed from Gringotts on his birthday, but that wasn’t very much. Although Hermione had been upset and agitated at the boys that night for not noticing the dog was standing on a trapdoor, she and Neville were not even slightly interested in discovering what the dog was guarding.
Hermione and Neville are not yet ready to face themselves. In fact, Hermione wasn’t even speaking to Ron or Harry – she was still blaming them for putting her through all of that – but they considered it a good thing because their focus was on getting even with Draco. Jo tells us that the boys perceived Hermione to be “a bossy know-it-all,” so her absence in their lives was a bonus.
Harry received a chance to get back at Draco early one morning when six owls delivered him a large parcel. As the owls dropped it onto Harry’s lap, the parcel knocked his bacon onto the floor. A seventh owl dropped a letter on top of the parcel.
A total of seven owls reminded me of the seven basic levels of Alchemy and also symbolize the seven pairs of opposites that must be resolved before a Seeker reaches the top of the mountain he’s climbing. In one of the interpretations of Alchemy and The Alchemical Wedding I’ve been reading lately, this mountain represents the middle portion of a Seeker’s journey. The black, white, yellow, and red phases occur within this middle section of the work.
Six owls delivered the package, signifying that the contents (or what it will be used for) will help Harry resolve six of these seven pairs of opposites. The seventh owl delivered a letter that asked Harry to keep the contents of the package a secret. “I don’t want everybody knowing you’ve got a broomstick or they’ll all want one.”
The letter came from Professor McGonagall who undoubtedly received permission from Dumbledore to purchase the broomstick, which first year students were not ordinarily allowed to own. On the surface, this secrecy seemed to be a bit odd. As soon as Harry began playing Quidditch, everyone was going to know he had a broomstick. There was no way to keep that a secret, even if Harry didn’t open the package at the breakfast table.
The inference here is that the secret is actually tied to the last pair of opposites that must be resolved: seed versus desolation. But there are many misunderstandings regarding this secret knowledge.
Although man covenants to keep this last bit of information to himself, he could not reveal it to another individual even if he wanted to. It is only acquired through personal experience. We see that in the Harry Potter series when Harry and his friends leave the physical grounds of Hogwarts for their seventh year and go out into the world to destroy the remaining horcruxes that will spark the final confrontation between Harry and Voldemort.
It is the ‘how did Harry cause Voldemort to dissipate’ that cannot be taught or given to another through language. When that power or force becomes a living part of the Seeker, he has no way to transfer that knowledge to another individual.
Harry can tell others about what he experienced when hunting down horcruxes. He can reveal what he saw and learned in the pensive when he was given the opportunity to look into Snape’s heart. He could tell us what it felt like to face Voldemort and sacrifice himself for both the Wizarding and Muggle Worlds. He could even tell us about the conversation he had with Dumbledore during his Near-Death Experience. But he cannot tell us how his return from the grave made him different. He cannot tell us how he made Voldemort dissipate.
Pigs are often believed to be dirty animals due to their restriction under Jewish dietary laws, and bacon is a particularly fatty piece of meat. Fat is where an animal stores its toxins. The package the owls delivered knocked Harry’s bacon onto the ground. The purpose of the broom – giving Harry an opportunity to become and rise to the calling of a Seeker – will help him rid himself of his excess toxins and impurities. These false aspects of himself are sometimes referred to by Mystery Schools as Not-I’s because they often imitate and impersonate our true Self.
Ron was ensnared by the type of broom Professor McGonagall gave Harry. Harry felt happiness, but Ron felt envious. Envy (wanting what someone else has) is an emotion that reveals how Ron is still heavily tied to material things. However, envy isn’t wanting something ‘like’ what someone else has. It’s actually wanting that particular item for ourselves.
Envy carries a strong, negative connotation because it’s very destructive. Although Ron’s knee-jerk reaction to the broom was a reflection of his family’s poor circumstances and his young age, it casts a darkness onto Ron that we didn’t see before.
Ron and Harry leave the hall. They intend on unwrapping the package together in private, but halfway across the entryway, they find the stairs blocked by Crabbe and Goyle. Draco grabbed the package away from Harry. “That’s a broomstick,” he said and threw it back at Harry. Jo tells us that Draco felt jealousy and spite.
Less dark than envy, jealousy is a totally different emotion than envy. It is a fear of loss. Since fear sits at its heart, jealousy can easily motivate mechanical reaction. For Draco, the revelation of what’s in the package caused him to feel hope. Perhaps, that was why he quickly gave the package back. “You’ll be in for it this time, Potter,” Draco said, “first years aren’t allowed them.” Draco was always looking to find fault with Harry. He was always looking for ways to get him into trouble.
Ron was overcome by the fact that the broom was top-of-the-line. He can’t resist throwing that fact into Draco’s face and reminded Draco of the type of broom he had at home. The loss that Draco felt was the loss of having the best. “Comets look flashy,” Ron said, “but they’re not in the same league as the Nimbus.”
The inference here was that Draco was like his broom: He looks flashy, but is not in the same league as Harry. That was in Ron’s opinion, of course, which was faulty. At the physical level of being, we are all caught in a pit of domination and subjugation.
Draco easily rose to Ron’s bait and defended himself by attacking Ron’s poor circumstances. It was the only way that Draco knew to protect his self-esteem and fears. He did that by making Ron appear less capable than himself, but the tool he’s using to do that was ownership of material possessions. Ron’s family didn’t have enough money to buy him a broom that compared with Draco’s, so he had no room to talk. But Professor Flitwick interrupted the confrontation before it went any further.
Draco took pride in telling the professor that Harry was in possession of a broom. He was still trying to get Harry into trouble. To Draco, that seemed the more diplomatic way of keeping Harry under control. But Professor Flitwick was not surprised. Professor McGonagall had already told him about the special circumstances