Harry Potter's Invitation to the World
by Vickie Ewell
Chapter 46 – Hermione Reacts to Save Harry (HP Chapter 11)
Harry’s broom was vibrating hard. He was at a higher level of consciousness than his broom could withstand. It didn’t look like he’d be able to hang on for much longer. As we ascend, the vibration gets stronger.
The Weasley twins courageously flew up to where Harry was. They had their own brooms, their own inner Christ that was mature enough to withstand Harry’s current height. Without thinking of themselves, they tried to pull Harry onto one of their brooms, but it didn’t work. Every time they got close to Harry, his broom jumped higher.
So they backed off. Dropping below him, the twins circled, hoping they would be quick enough to catch him if he fell. This tells us that the twins were acting out of love, not showing off their abilities. But in contrast to the twins’ attempt to save Harry, Flint grabbed the Quaffle and scored five times for Slytherin without anyone noticing.
The number five was interesting here because it showed us Flint’s letter-of-the-law mentality. Like most Slytherins, he functions from the every-man-for-himself position. We are reminded once again of the three poles found on the Tree of Life. In this experience, Harry represented love, Flint represented severity, and the Weasley twins represented personal sacrifice.
Hermione had fought her way over to where Snape stood, not pausing to say she was sorry to Professor Quirrell as she accidently knocked him headfirst into one of the rows below. Although Hermione was reacting from a faulty perspective, she did the right things for the wrong reasons. She had already stopped Harry’s demise by shoving Quirrell – up in the air, Harry was able to pull himself back up onto his broom – but she doesn’t know that because she wasn’t looking in the right direction. She had convinced herself that Snape was guilty as charged.
When she reached Snape, she used the blue fire charm she had cast in the schoolyard the previous day to keep herself, Ron, and Harry warm. Now, she cast that charm onto the hem of Snape’s robes. Outward fire can ignite the Alchemical fire within. Having faced the three-headed dog, Snape’s attempt to save Harry from Quirrell’s interference had now resulted in Hermione igniting his inner spark.
It took nearly 30 seconds before Snape realized he was on fire, so it worked, but that 30 second delay implied that we won’t see forward movement in Snape until Book 3.
At his yelp of shock, Hermione scooped the fire off him (her intent wasn’t to harm him; it was just to save Harry) and put it into a little jar in her pocket. So the fire was still burning within Hermione as well as Snape. It was as if Hermione had shared some of her own inner fire with him. Hermione scrambled back down the row without being seen by Snape.
Neville had been sobbing into Hagrid’s jacket for the past five minutes. He was overcome with compassion and empathy for what Harry was going through. Since Snape was working on the fifth level of the Alchemical process, the reference to five minutes of crying also reflected Snape’s inner condition. He was suffering due to his love and compassion for Lily, the same way that Neville was suffering for Harry.
Neville and Snape both stand in polarity to the cold, uncaring attitude of Flint. Although Neville will be slow to show us outward magical ability, internally, he was awake and already traveling the Path. However, he was unable to act because he had shut his eyes to what was going on due to his fear. “Neville, you can look!” Ron prodded him, hoping to get Neville to open up his eyes and look. Most of us display the same type of blindness toward Snape. We are advised here to open up our eyes and look.
Harry was fine. As he zoomed toward the ground, he clapped his hand over his mouth as if he was going to throw up. That was what the crowd saw. He hit the ground on all fours, coughed, and caught the Golden Snitch in his hands. He shouted and waved it above his head.
This was a clue that the Golden Snitch represented Keter, and reflected how Harry will come back to life in front of the Hogwarts’ crowd near the end of his journey. Harry caught the Snitch inside his mouth and probably slightly swallowed it because he had to cough it up. What we eat, we become.
The game ended, but in complete confusion. This inferred that when Harry reaches the end of his Path, when Voldemort dissipates, it will not look like a nice, neat little package with no loose ends. Many readers will be confused as to what it all means. Only when we reach that stage for ourselves will we completely understand.
Flint was angry. Harry had nearly swallowed the Snitch and in Flint’s perspective, he didn’t actually catch it. But Harry hadn’t broken any rules by catching it with his mouth. This insinuates that Harry will achieve the end result of transformation by a different method than those in the past.
Griffindore was awarded 170 points to Slytherin’s 60. The number eight (170 factored down by adding 1 + 7) represents the end of the path. Since 50 of the points awarded to Slytherin were received while the Weasleys were busy trying to save Harry, this suggests that the Slytherins will oppose Harry throughout his entire journey, but that their efforts to win over Harry won’t materialize. Although Level 6 (Slytherin’s 60 points) is an honorable goal, it still falls short of perfection.
Harry was unaware of Flint’s protest or howling because Hagrid had taken him home with him along with Ron and Hermione. This further symbolized that catching the Golden Snitch was the end of our journey. Harry, Hermione, and Ron went home with Hagrid once the game ended.
Ron told Harry that Snape was responsible for jinxing his broom, but Hagrid didn’t believe it. However, Harry believed his friends over Hagrid, because of what he saw and overheard in the teacher’s lounge. Harry told Hagrid about Snape’s attempt to get past the three-headed dog on Halloween, and that the dog had bitten him. “We think he was trying to steal whatever it’s guarding.”
Hagrid dropped his copper teapot in shock. “How do you know about Fluffy?” The three-headed dog actually belongs to Hagrid. He purchased him from a Greek he met at the pub last year. This reflected the Christian idea that Christ purchased us at the moment he paid the ultimate sacrifice. The dog was at Hogwarts because Hagrid had loaned him to Dumbledore, but Hagrid stopped before he had revealed to the kids what the dog was actually guarding.
Harry accepted Hermione and Ron’s version of what happened because it supported what he wanted to believe and see about Snape. Harry was as blind to Snape’s redeeming qualities as Snape was to Harry’s. As a result, he insisted that Snape was trying to steal the guarded item, but Hagrid still didn’t believe that a teacher would do that. The irony here is that Professor Quirrell, a teacher, does try to do that.
“So why did Snape try to kill Harry?” Hermione knew a jinx when she saw one because she’s read all about them. You have to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn’t blinking.
Hermione continued to embrace her need to be right, and refused to entertain the idea that her perception of what was happening in the air and on the ground was somehow faulty. She had also circled back around to depending upon the information she had read in a book to guide her perspective, rather than her intuition. She had already forgotten what she had learned from the troll.
Hagrid continued to insist that the kids were wrong. This showed how messengers attempt to lead us into truth, but many times, we reject what’s offered because we think we know better ourselves.
Hagrid didn’t know what had happened to Harry’s broom and wasn’t about to guess, but he firmly believed that Snape would never try to kill a student. The kids were meddling in something that didn’t concern them. Hagrid didn’t understand the role the three-headed dog played in the children’s lives because it was a dangerous path. He cautioned them to forget about the dog and to forget about what it was guarding.
“That’s between Professor Dumbledore an’ Nicolas Flamel—“ At that point, Hagrid realized he had said too much