HP1- Chapter5- Diagon Alley

[Serenoli]

Chapter Five, Diagon Alley, opens with a half-asleep Harry, convinced that everything that had happened was a dream. Luckily for him, and for us, it wasn’t. A knocking owl wakes him up, and soon, he and Hagrid are on their way to Diagon Alley.

The main events that occur are as follows:

-They travel to the Leaky Cauldron in London, where we meet Professor Quirrel, t-the n-n-nerv-vous DADA teacher, and then to Diagon Alley itself.
-The trip to Gringott, to get Harry’s gold, and the all-important ‘small grubby package’.
-Madam Malkin’s to get school robes, and make the acquiantance of Draco Malfoy.
-Parchment, inks, the introduction of Quidditch, cauldrons, scales, phials, apothecary and all the rest. Then, finally, Hedwig the snowy owl, and a wand at Ollivander’s.
-Once they’re done, they leave the Leaky, have a hamburger, and after giving Harry the Hogwart’s train ticket, and handing him into another train to get back to the Dursleys, Hagrid leaves.

A highly enjoyable chapter, in fact. Diagon Alley effectively summarises the wizarding world for us, hands it to us in a nutshell, giving us loads of information ranging from hags to broomsticks disguised as a shopping trip. Did anyone else love the names of the school textbook authors? Switch writes transfiguration, and Spore gets the herbology book, and of course, Magical Theory is written by Waffling. A very humourous chapter, with lots of little jokes everywhere.

But, as always, clues everywhere as well. Meeting Quirrel, who’s there to rob Gringotts, and the Philosopher’s Stone. Poor Harry, he didn’t know the title of the book, or he might have figured out what the package contained at once. When you first read it, what did you think the all-important package contained?

Then Hagrid mentions dragons, and how he’d always wanted one. More foreshadowing.

Discussion points:

What are your first impressions of the wizarding world from Diagon Alley? How is it different from your expectations gotten from reading the first four chapters?

What was the point of Ollivander’s measuring tape? As far as I saw, he handed him completely random wands, with little in common…

And the appropriate thread for the question: how DID the Dursleys get home?

Do you think any of the folk from the Leaky Cauldron will make any appearances in the 7th book? Or were they just extras?

Also, how does Hagrid fly? Maybe he came on that bike of Sirius', because I've never seen a broom near him... but other than the first chapter, I've never seen the flying motorcycle either. Any ideas where that could be?

And, this is obviously something we wont know on our first reading, but any theories on how Quirrel/Voldy managed to get in the vault without getting sucked in and being trapped for ten years?

I’ve written this on very short notice, and because I’m anticipating my A level results tomorrow , I can’t even postpone and take time to hone it better, so forgive me for the shortness, or the lamentably low number of discussion points I could think of… If I can think of more, I’ll come back and post. Meanwhile, enjoy!

[durinsbane2244]

brilliant job, serenoli!

this chapter is what made me pick up HP, when it was read to my class in school.

as to the wands, i think that he was just trying to see what kind of wand suited harry, as his father's favored transfiguration and his mother's charms, we see that wands vary.

[Serenoli]

Originally Posted by durinsbane2244

brilliant job, serenoli!

this chapter is what made me pick up HP, when it was read to my class in school.

as to the wands, i think that he was just trying to see what kind of wand suited harry, as his father's favored transfiguration and his mother's charms, we see that wands vary.

And Voldy's wand favoured power; as Ollivander says, powerful wand.

By the way, I never really saw any reference to Harry's wand prefering any specific kind of magic... I mean, how can you tell? Unless of course, his wand is good for defensive spells, as in DADA.

[jammi567]

To your first post, i recon that was the original plan (go in, and claim he was getting the stone to put in the maze to protect it from voldy). But that went wrong when Harry and Hagrid got to it first. But i have no idea how he managed to do it, and at this stage of the series, we probally never will.

To your second post, i agree. Another issue to do with this wands is: why mention that it was specifically one of Fawk's tail feathers? And how common are phionixes anyway?

[jammi567]

Anyone else?

[Serenoli]

He doesnt really mention Fawkes. Only that Harry and Voldy share wand-cores, which is a pretty strange fact, and no reason why Ollivander should keep it a secret, is it? We only find out its Fawkes in book4. But its cool, isn it, how she's setting the foundation for all the future books here, in small ways like this? I mean, without the wand-core sharing thing, Harry couldnt escape Voldy in GoF.

BTW, what you said about Hagrid coming by Portkey... well, that wouldn't technically be flying, would it? And the thing is, whatever he used to fly to the hut, wasnt there the next morning....

[jammi567]

No, no, this is perfect. Short and to the point, with enough discussion points to keep us going for a while. Hopefully. Of course, people can add to them.

Before i start answering the questions, here's a map of Lexicons interpritation of what Diagon alley looks like.

1) Upon first reading, especially to younger kids, you do expect wizards to be those people who pull rabbits out of hats, and witches as ugly things, all green and warty, riding broomsticks and such like.

2) On this, i have no idea.

3) Maybe the Dursleys were expected to stay one night at that hut, and return in in the morning, so when they didn't the old man went to them in a boat to pick them up. Maybe.

4) i can't remember now, but weren't some of them original Order members, and so possibly stationed around London to help keep an eye on both Harry, and the Dursleys.

5) Maybe he arrived by Porkey, although it doesn't answer why it took him 5 minutes to get to the hut (see previous chapter thread). With the 'cycle, maybe the castle has a garage for magical vercles.

6) Since when has Voldy cared about his follower's health, so long as they did as he asked. Especially to someone he barely knows.

[Serenoli]

Thanks, durinsbane and jammi.

Originally Posted by jammi

6) Since when has Voldy cared about his follower's health, so long as they did as he asked. Especially to someone he barely knows.

Thats all very well; but if Quirrel got sucked in, Voldy wouldn't get the Stone, which he does CARE about. And Quirrel was his only ally right then; he's meaner than a ghost, is Voldy, and afraid of his own followers. Of course he'll want to keep Quirell around until he has a chance to get his life back.

[jammi567]

i don't know then. Maybe to say that he was getting the stone for dd.

[Serenoli]

ten years later?

[jammi567]

10 years later from what?