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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Chapter 10: Halloween
But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can’t share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.
Summary
Chapter Ten continues to follow Harry’s slice-of-life moments at Hogwarts while also giving him, Ron and Hermione a new adventure that bonds them and creates the unstoppable trio that will define the series. On the slice-of-life side, Harry receives his new broomstick from Professor McGonagall; the Numbus 2000 is a sleek, fast, and top of the life broomstick procured for Harry specifically for his new role on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. All the teachers have been informed of this break in the norm, to Malfoy’s horror, when the young Slytherin tries to, once again, get Harry into trouble for seemingly breaking the rules.
We are introduced to Quidditch in this chapter as Gryffindor team captain Oliver Wood explains the rules to Harry during their first training session. Qudditch is a mix of basketball and soccer and at the same time different from any other Muggle sport. A lot of times Quidditch is used to remind us that Harry is a young boy at school and is keen to do the things those other boys are doing at his age and we see in this chapter that Harry has a natural ability for flying and for Seeking.
The main crux of the chapter, however, is Halloween, which is a big deal at Hogwarts. There is a giant feast and a party that is rudely interrupted when Professor Quirrell runs into the Great Hall to announce that there is a troooooooll in the dungeon (thought you ought to know). Feeling guilty over a slight uttered toward Hermione earlier in the day, Ron and Harry set out to find their Gryffindor peer only to accidently lock the mountain troll in the bathroom with her. Realizing their error, the boys charge in and defeat the troll using teamwork, the limited magic they do know, and some good old-fashioned distraction via throwing objects at the troll’s head. Professors McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrell enter the bathroom after the troll is defeated and while McGonagall is furious with the three Gryffindors, she doesn’t punish them too severely, largely because Hermione takes most of the blame for the bathroom incident on herself. This exercise in life or death and lie Hermione told bonds Harry, Ron, and Hermione as friends forevermore.
Analysis
BFFs
I want to talk about Hermione Granger.
For much of the first book, Hermione Granger is a stuck up know-it-all. She is written as a stickler for the rules, as a teachers pet, and as someone who’s haughty demeanor does not endear her to her fellow students. In fact, we are given to understand that over the course of the first two months at Hogwarts, Hermione has not made a single friend.
“It’s no wonder no one can stand her,” he [Ron] said to Harry as they pushed their way into the crowded corridor, “she’s a nightmare, honestly.”
Someone knocked into Harry as they hurried past him. It was Hermione. Harry caught a glimpse of her face—and was startled to see that she was in tears.
“I think she heard you.”
“So?” said Ron, but he looked a bit uncomfortable. “She must’ve noticed she’s got no friends.”Hermione and Harry are often discussed together because they come from a similar background: both came from Muggle families and had no idea about the magical world or that they were witch/wizard. However, one of the biggest differences between the two is that while Harry quickly and easily made friends with his fellow students (Draco Malfoy and the other Slytherins aside), Hermione has had zero luck in making any friends.
A lot of this has to do with the way Hermione acts around others. We’ve all had experiences with a person like Hermione, someone who wants to answer all the teachers questions, has an easy time with the lessons of the day, and someone who regularly shows up her classmates. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that many of us of were quite a bit like Hermione in our own schooling—I know I was.
But is Hermione really haughty and stuck up? Is she really as condescending as she appears? I don’t think so. In spite of her former declaration to want nothing to do with Ron and Harry, she keeps popping up wherever they go. She followed them to the Midnight Duel in the previous chapter, going so far as to wait up for the boys as they sneak out. In this chapter, Hermione inserts herself into Ron and Harry’s conversation about the Numbus before being told off by Ron and, while she does it rather meanly, Hermione does attempt to give Ron a lesson in how to make the feather fly in Charms class.
At every turn, it appears more that Hermione is trying to forge a connection rather than be snotty and rude. I think what drives Hermione is neither haughtiness nor thinking herself better than anyone, but fear and loneliness. However, like many of us at such a young age, she is incapable of articulating her real issues, and instead resorts to petty and often “mean” remarks that make others dislike her.
We know precious little about Hermione’s younger years before Hogwarts, but if I had to guess, I’d say that she has always been smarter than every other student in her class and that this has made her an outcast. Her status as being ostracized from any and all social groups in the Muggle world has hurt her because at such a young age, it’s hard to understand why people won’t be friends with you simply because you are of above average intelligence. In light of not understanding why others do not like her, Hermione developed a defense mechanism to help her cope with an uneasy social status. Namely, she became what everyone assumed she was: a know it all who rubs peoples faces into the fact that she knows all the answers.
Children are mean. It’s one of those facts of life that no matter how many times adults try to intervene and explain why bullying is wrong, it keeps happening. Even Harry, someone who was bullied by Dudley for his entire life, doesn’t warm up to Hermione and, when she speaks to him and Ron in the common room early on in this chapter, he questions why she is speaking to them at all. Now, granted, Harry is more empathetic toward Hermione than others and does not seek to provoke or make fun of her outright but he still has problems liking her.
We’ve discussed previously that Hermione likely studied hard and read all her magical books over the summer because she was scared that she would be so far behind the other magically born students—much like Harry was. I think she’s still scared. I think she’s scared that she’ll get an answer wrong one day, or that she’ll fail and not be clever anymore and if she loses that, if she loses her “smart” status, then what does she have left?
Until the troll incident, Hermione has no friends and she’s cut off from the world she’s known all her life. All she has are her books and her mind. This is another part of what I mean when I say fear drives her so early on in this series; she’s scared that she won’t measure up and will lose the one thing she does have in this new magical world: her brain. Her rigorous studying, her haughty tone, and her sometimes mean nature toward others are all because she’s scared that she will not succeed.
But hey, she’s 11. We’ll cut her some slack.
Of course, Harry and Ron and Hermione bond in a most unique way. At a moment when all three could get into a world of trouble, Hermione comes to the rescue and uses that which defines her—her smarts—to get all three of them out of a jam. The idea that Hermione has read all about mountain trolls and thus thought she could handle the situation on her own makes so much sense to the three professors that they don’t even question Hermione’s lie. They know her to be clever, smart, and—because they are older and have probably figured this out about the young girl—a bit desperate for approval and accolades.
Hermione lying to the Professors clue Harry and Ron (and, indeed, us) in to the fact that there is more to Miss Ganger than meets the eye, one of the biggest themes in this first book: things are not what they appear to be.
Another Slice of Life
I want to touch briefly on a few other moments in this chapter, namely the little moments that remind us that Harry is at school just trying to become a wizard, not actively seeking to change the magical world.
Hogwarts is now home. It’s the place where Harry can finally ask questions, explore, and act like a kid. For example, Harry is a natural at Quidditch flying and being the Seeker because he’s small and quick, as Wood noted last chapter. If the Durselys had been paying even the slightest bit attention to him over the years, they’d realize that his small but quick stature could be used in several sports. Because the Dursleys never really saw Harry as anything more than an obstacle they had to endure, they denied him any chance to explore his natural talents. Hogwarts is different; the professors encourage Harry to “be all that he can be” by bending their own rules when they see how great at Quidditch he could be. This acceptance instead of rejection lends Hogwarts to being a place where Harry is comfortable and at peace.
Perhaps it was because he was now so busy, what with Quidditch practice three evenings a week on top of all his homework, but Harry could hardly believe it when he realized that he’d already been at Hogwarts two months. The castle felt more like home than Privet Drive ever had.
Potential Foreshadowing
1. Harry and Ron notice that Snape heads off to the third floor instead of the dungeons with the rest of the Professors.
2. Perhaps a bit stretchy—but Harry’s role as a Seeker in Quidditch is to essentially find that which any other person cannot find. There is also a lot we could say about the archetype of the hero being a sort of “seeker” in a cosmic sense. To add another fantasy element here, in the “Sword of Truth” series by Terry Goodkind, the main hero, Richard, has the official title of the “Seeker {of truth}.”
Conversation Questions
1. Why do you think Hermione can be a haughty know-it-all?
2. Would you have been friends with Hermione at school?
3. Do you think Hermione, Harry and Ron still would have become friends if there had never been a troll incident?
Extra Fluff Question
1. Which Quidditch position would you want to play?
[adrotate group="5"]"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"……Maybe there is two Emma’s? Swan Princess and Black Swan.
But then how is everyone in Camelot with the Swan Princess? And why are there two Emma’s? That’s not what the Dark Curse does. It doesn’t render you into two actual separate people. Rumple didn’t becomes Dark One! Rumple and Spinner! Rumple, two different bodies. Neither did Zozo (so far as we know, I guess).
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"Really loving Regina’s red Camelot dress. And Henry’s!
But again..this is confusing. It can’t be flashback since she’s the White Swan there not Grey or Dark.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"In other semi-related news, THIS happened today. It’s relevant (a bit) but it’s also a wee bit fluffier than our current conversation. But, on the more serious and important side, there’s a conversation to be had at some point down the road about Harry Potter’s impact on culture–not just Nerd Culture–and the usurpation of the saga for profit.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"A very concise and well thought out answer, Slurpeez. I agree with pretty much everything you wrote on that. I think Hermione does value bravery and friendship above all else, even cleverness. This in turn makes Hermione a bit of a tragic figure in these first opening chapters. She has a very hard time making those friends she wants because young kids are inclined to find smarts and a desire to answer questions off putting (except in Ravenclaw, I’d wager). They cast Hermione as a know it all whom they find annoying before they really get to know her. It’s an interesting dynamic with kids because those who are shunning Hermione are likely doing so because they don’t want to feel inferior but it’s not Hermione herself who projects that they are inferior. Rather, they simply feel that she is making them feel that way with her actions.
Like I said, a bit of a tragic figure. But so are Ron and Harry, hence when the planets do finally align and they become friends, they fit easily together.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"There is one thing that would explain that, that camelot works like NARNIA, lots of time pass there, but on our world only seconds or minutes pass.
Yeah which they could do and might make some sense especially since 1) they can’t actually use Narnia and 2) they keep talking about Camelot having some sort of bizarre time differential
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"Awww. Hugs to you, WR dear! I hope your son does well at college!
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"Ah, so he was. Thanks. Don’t know that I ever saw those.
Well, then they probably are in Camelot for an extended period of time. Though it’s still really discombobulating for them to be swept up in 501, returned in 502 and then told that they were there for much longer than what was shown. Flashbacks are fine but they better stress in present day that they were in Camelot for longer.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"
