Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Chapter Thirty-Six:
The Flaw in the Plan

'Really gives a feeling for the scope and tragedy of the thing, doesn't it?'

Notes by Michele L. Worley
Page editor Belinda Hobbs

U.S. hardcover edition: pages 724 - 749
U.K. hardcover edition: pages 580 - 600
Timeframe: ?+1 May, 1998

In which both Harry and Voldemort regain consciousness in the Forest, Harry plays dead, and Hagrid is forced to carry Harry's body up to the castle, where Voldemort displays him to the defenders of the castle in an attempt to break their will to resist. Neville confronts Voldemort, who Body-Binds him and puts the Sorting Hat on him to make a point. Neville pulls Gryffindor's sword out of the Hat and kills Nagini when Voldemort is distracted by the arrival of the centaurs, the battle resumes, and Voldemort is finally defeated by Harry.

Interesting facts and notes about the text of this chapter:

'You see?' screeched Voldemort. 'Harry Potter is dead by my hand, and no man alive can threaten me now! Watch! Crucio!'

More shades of the Stone Table sequence in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, except that Voldemort had enough sense to wait until after his enemy was safely dead (supposedly) to make showy gestures like this.

what sounded like hundreds of people came swarming over the out-of-sight walls and pelted toward the castle, uttering loud war-cries.

And as long as I'm on the subject of scenes that remind me of other scenes from some of JKR's favourite books, this reminds me of the arrival of the eagles at the Battle of Five Armies in The Hobbit - an army of unexpected help arriving at the last moment in a desperate battle.

'Snape's Patronus was a doe,' said Harry, 'the same as my mother's

I'm willing to take Harry's word for it that Lily's Patronus was a doe, and it certainly fits with what we saw earlier in the Pensieve (i.e., Snape conjuring his own Patronus to make the point that what he did was done for Lily's sake), but I don't recall that it was previously stated outright that Lily's Patronus was a doe.

try for some remorse, Riddle...

As Hermione learned from Secrets of the Darkest Art (DH6), this is what would be necessary for Riddle to put his soul back together again.

Characters introduced in this chapter:

• none

Characters returning in this chapter:

• Abbott, Hannah

• Bane

• Buckbeak

• Black, Phineas Nigellus (portrait)

• Derwent, Dilys (portrait)

• Dolohov, Antonin

• Dumbledore, Aberforth

• Dumbledore, Albus (portrait)

• Finnigan, Seamus

• Flitwick, Filius

• Fortescue, Dexter (portrait)

• Granger, Hermione

• Grawp

• Greyback, Fenrir

• Hagrid, Rubeus (as Hagger)

• Jordan, Lee

• Kreacher

• Lestrange, Bellatrix Black

• Longbottom, Neville

• Lovegood, Luna

• Macnair, Walden

• Magorian

• Malfoy, Lucius

• Malfoy, Narcissa

• McGonagall, Minerva

• Nagini

• Peeves

• Potter, Harry (the Boy Who Lived)

• Riddle, Tom (as my Lord, Voldemort)

• Ronan

• Rookwood, Augustus

• Shacklebolt, Kingsley

• Slughorn, Horace

• Sprout, Pomona

• Thicknesse, Pius

• Weasley, Arthur

• Weasley, Charlie

• Weasley, George

• Weasley, Ginny

• Weasley, Molly

• Weasley, Percy

• Weasley, Ron

• Yaxley

• (unnamed) gargoyle outside the Head's office

• (unnamed) two giants

• (unnamed) Hogwarts house-elves

Characters mentioned in this chapter:

• Black, Regulus

• Black, Sirius

• Carrow, Alecto

• Carrow, Amycus

• Creevey, Colin

• Longbottom, Alice

• Longbottom, Frank

• Lupin, Remus

• Malfoy, Draco

• Peverell, Ignotus

• Potter, Lily Evans

• Slytherin, Salazar

• Snape, Severus

• Tonks, Nymphadora

• Weasley, Fred

Settings and locations introduced or returning in this chapter:

• Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

  • Entrance Hall

  • Forbidden Forest

  • Great Hall

  • grounds

  • Headmaster's office

Settings and locations mentioned in this chapter:

• Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

  • Gryffindor Tower

  • kitchens

• Little Hangleton churchyard

Exceptional character moments:

• Molly Weasley's duel with Bellatrix, who is too arrogant to take Molly seriously.

• Tom Riddle, who doesn't understand love well enough to avoid making mistakes in handling the Malfoys and Snape, let alone to understand Harry or Albus Dumbledore.

Spells:

• Accio (non-verbal spell)

• Avada Kedavra (as the Killing Curse)

• Body-Bind Curse

• blood protection

• Crucio

• curses

• Expecto Patronum

• Expelliarmus (referred to by verb Disarmed)

• fire magic

• Imperio

• jinxes

• Protego

• Reparo

• Silencing Charm

• (unnamed spell) bang and a shriek of pain by the target

• wand effects (bursts of red and silver light)

Links and Resources:

• Bestiary

  • Blibbering Humdinger

  • centaurs

  • dementors

  • giants

  • hippogriffs

  • house-elves

  • phoenixes

  • snakes

  • thestrals

• blood status

• Death Eaters

• Dumbledore's Army

• ghosts

• Hogwarts Houses

• items and devices

  • Deathly Hallows

  • Horcruxes

  • Pensieve

  • pictures with moving subjects

  • Snitch, Golden

  • Sorting Hat

  • sword of Gryffindor

  • wands

• Ministry of Magic

  • Aurors

  • Minister for Magic

• music, rhymes, and dance

Memorable lines:

• 'Quite honestly, I've had enough trouble for a lifetime.'

Strictly British:

• mental

• mummy

Timelines/Calendar:

Still in the small hours of the same morning as the previous chapter.