Week 5 - Discussion: Chapters 13 - 15

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

Here we’ll be discussing chapters 13 - 15 of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

Feel free to offer any thoughts that you like or to use some of our suggested questions below. If someone else has said something you find interesting, you should definitely respond to them – this is a discussion, after all!

Your response should be at least 50 words long and will earn you 10 beans and a dice roll for the board game. You’re welcome to post as many times as you like but you’ll only earn beans for your first 3 posts (we’d also prefer it if you wait for other people to respond before posting again, rather than doing it back to back, unless you’ve been waiting a few days and nobody else has replied.).

Optional Questions
If you’re not sure what to say, here are some discussion prompts to get you started
Did you laugh when you read that Oliver Wood was attempting to convince the Weasley twins to play a 'clean' game?
Why was it considered so terrible that Professor Snape would be the referee for the Quidditch match?
I had completely forgotten about that chocolate frog card on the Hogwarts Express, the first one that Harry Potter had ever opened. Did you remember it -- and Nicolas Flamel -- when the name was next broached and the trio were searching for him?
Why, do you think, was Norbert was brought into the story? What plot ramifications were developed because of this adorable Norwegian Ridgeback?
What, to you, is the scariest thing about the Forbidden Forest?

The deadline is 11:59 PM HOL-time on the 31st of May.

[Prof. Will Lestrange]

This part of the book showed us the first time just how fickle Harry's classmates (well, except for Ron and Hermione) were... and how what seemed to be house spirit and community was really a sense of 'what have you done for me lately?' Thinking about how Harry had never had any friends before Hogwarts (because of the way the Dursleys 'raised' him) and getting him to the point where he fianlly felt like he had a place... only to become a pariah just for some house points (it's not like Gryffindor routinely expected to win House Cups in the years before Harry Potter's arrival)? The realization that you're not liked for who you are but rather for whatever you've done in the past week... can be pretty crushing to say the least!

[Luna Ravenlong]

I think Norbert was brought into the story for a couple reasons. Firstly, as mentioned later in the book, Hagrid getting the dragon egg was a ploy for Quirrell to find out how to get past Fluffy the three headed dog. He also led to Harry getting detention by trying to get rid of him, causing Harry to end up in the forbidden forest while Voldemort was there. This helped Harry piece together that Voldemort was the one after the stone, and what might be coming. It also introduced us to the centaurs and their predictions of the future. (Mars is the god of war).

[River Fenwick]

I couldn't help but feel some sympathy for Oliver Wood while he tried to convince the Weasley twins to play a clean game. I can imagine you'd have better luck talking to a brick wall than trying to persuade the twins not to do something, or even worse, since it may encourage them to do it more. It was a great, though somewhat weak, effort from Wood, but ultimately, those boys will do whatever they want.