Comments on: Through the Trapdoor

By: Abby

Abby — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 00:16:30 +0000

these pictures are gr8. i love them. now you can see how the readers see these characters, not the actors. But, i would LOVE to see a new picture of malfoy,

By: Aija

Aija — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:19:48 +0000

Good going. Am I the only one who was itching to find out what would happen if you offered Fluffy drugged honey cakes (á la Aeneas) rather than play him music (á la Orpheus)?
OK, I probably am.
Also, just a point, but the riddle doesn’t work in the films. Could just be the camera angle, though.

By: hpboy13

hpboy13 — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:38:40 +0000

Love the new artwork here! And I’d like to jump in on the debate. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think the obstacles were custom-made for the Trio. I think they were just specifically designed to need several sets of skills, so no one would try it alone. They’re actually a good set of obstacles – you need someone logical, a chess player, and a good flyer. I don’t think the Trio has a monopoly on these attributes in Hogwarts. This would just ensure that Harry wouldn’t be alone and wouldn’t fail in the first few tasks. It seems clear to me that the obstacles were all set up before the schoolyear began, in reverse order.

Also, if I can veer off in another direction, I think the chess match does actually reflect the series, just not in the way we expected. Ron is represented by Dumbledore, who sacrifices himself to the white queen (Snape, who is Voldy’s right-hand DE at this point) so that Harry can defeat Voldemort.

By: Alexnder

Alexnder — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 05:24:40 +0000

In regards to the small bottle with the potion to send the person forward, I had always thought the bottle was filled up more and Quirrel had simply drank more with a little left over. I may be wrong, but that is how I always saw it.

By: May

May — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 10:08:45 +0000

There IS substantial evidence scattered throughout the series that Dumbledore orchestrated the obstacles, specifically, for the trio. After all, he is like the “man behind the scenes” – quite the manipulator of almost the whole plot. John’s essay is an excellent one and it further reinforced my beliefs regarding Dumbledore’s huge contribution in the way Harry’s life turned out.

Anyone noticed that Dumbledore didn’t Apparate to the Ministry in this chapter? After all, he left while the sun was still shining and arrived back at Hogwarts at nightfall. My guess is that he must have been quite fed up by Fudge at this moment, and opted to travel via slower means. Of course, we later found out that the note was only a false lure by Quirrell. And Quirrell must have known that Dumbledore’s trip to the Ministry would take all day; in short, he knows DD wouldn’t use Apparition. Question is: how did he know?

By: rtozier

rtozier — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 21:06:58 +0000

Amy, I like some of your ideas, but I do think that the Mirror would be sufficient protection against Quirrell – he wanted to use the Stone, so, according to what Dumbledore says in Ch17, he should be unable to get it. As for Fluffy, perhaps it was either a way to convince Quirrell that Dumbledore needed more mundane protection of the Stone, hence that Quirrell might think he stood a better chance than he did of reaching it, or Fluffy was a way to prove once and for all that Quirrell was in league with Voldemort, by telling everyone where the suddenly forbidden and dangerous area was and waiting for him to make his move.

By: Amy

Amy — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 12:22:07 +0000

Ok, I went to sleep thinking about this and came up with a solution that I was happy with. What if Dumbledore got all the teachers to do their own protection before school starts i.e. as soon as the stone arrived at Hogwarts. They did it in reverse order so none of the teachers knew what the others had done. Then as Dumbledore gets to know what the trio are capable of he gets the teachers to alter their protection to suit the trio. He makes up an excuse that he thinks the thief has found out what some of the protection is and advises the teachers what to change it to. By this point he basically knows it’s Quirrell so doesn’t ask him to change his. After all there is a big chance that when Quirrell goes through the trapdoor he’ll leave the troll knocked out. If not the trio have defeated one before so could do again. Since he suspects Quirrell and trusts the other teachers it doesn’t matter that they see what the other protection is. Or he could still do it in reverse order so the tasks they pass are the old ones. That’s my theory anyway.

By: Amy

Amy — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 23:23:46 +0000

Oh, sorry, I hadn’t read rtozier’s comment before I posted. I like that idea. So the protection is set up in reverse order so the teachers only know what they’ve done. Perhaps Fluffy was moved whilst the protection was being set up.

Oh but Quirrell tried to get passed Fluffy at Halloween. This was before the trio was the trio and before Dumbledore knew what they were capable of together. Do you think Quirrell thought he just had to get past Fluffy and he would get the stone? Or perhaps he didn’t even know about Fluffy. He knew the third floor was out of bounds so assumed that was where the stone was. On Halloween he went to have a look to assess the protection.

To be honest I think that JKR intended the protection to be set up before the start of the year. It would seem stupid to have the stone there without much protection (even if it was just to delay the thief). She also made it so the trio was able to get through. I like to think Dumbledore had set it up so they could but maybe the trio were just lucky. So the teachers did their bit before term started and the trio just happened to be able to get through.

By: Amy

Amy — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 23:01:47 +0000

Okay, I wasn’t confused about this chapter until I came here and read the discussion. I think all that I’m going to say has been discussed but I need to say it to get it clear in my head. I think Dumbledore set up the protection intending the trio to be able to get through it. Simple, or so I thought. He must have added to it as the year went on. Clearly Fluffy has been there since the start of the year. Other protection was added as Dumbledore got to know what the trio was capable of. But that leaves the question of how the teachers added their protection without knowing how to get past Fluffy/the other protection. I don’t know, maybe Dumbledore put them in a deep sleep and woke them when they got to the area they were to protect. I don’t like that idea but can’t come up with a better one.

By: rtozier

rtozier — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 13:59:42 +0000

You’re right, John, but what if the Stone wasn’t at the third floor at the start but Fluffy was? What if Dumbledore put Fluffy there above a trapdoor leading to an empty chamber, then trapped the Stone in the Mirror and kept the Mirror somewhere else, perhaps bringing it out to teach Harry a lesson? Then he moves the Mirror to the chamber whose entrance Fluffy guards, and has the teachers set up the chambers in reverse order? Quirrell’s chamber is separated from the Mirror’s by Snape’s; thus not only is Snape metaphorically as well as literally between Quirrell and the Stone, it also provides an opportunity for Snape to keep an eye on him, if the chambers are set up in very quick succession.