Comments on: The Vanishing Glass

By: Nathaniel Shafer

Nathaniel Shafer — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 22:16:33 +0000

LillyPunk,
Yes, I do think we have seen someone levitate. Pre-Hogwarts Lily seems to do so. She had jumped off a swing, “and flown into the air, quite literally flown…staying up far too long, landing far too lightly.” (DH23)

Harry seems to inherited that bit of magic from his mother.

By: mitch

mitch — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 15:28:30 +0000

Harry Potter had a scar from when Voldemart tried to kill him. Why did Voldemort try to kill Harry? My favourite part of chapter two was when Harry used magic to make the glass disappear and made Dudley fall in where the snake was that he let free to go to Brazil, its home.

By: May

May — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 05:57:52 +0000

The Wingardium Leviosa thing acts to levitate stuff, doesn’t it? Makes stuff hover. I dunno… with Harry’s magic being unstable at such an early age, he might not have needed to recite the spell, in order to “magically” appear atop the roof in the blink of an eye.

By: LillyPink

LillyPink — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 12:14:51 +0000

May good point about apparating being uncomfortable, i had forgotton that. But i didnt think there was such a thing as levitating? Has anyone else done it in the book and i have just forgotton about it?

By: May

May — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 10:23:51 +0000

LillyPink and Amy, I’m much more rather inclined to believe he unintentionally and unconsciously levitated himself to the roof (quickly, it seems). I don’t know… it’s what occurred to me upon reading it. Plus, Apparition for first-timers seems to be an uncomfortable experience and what Dumbledore later says as “takes quite some time getting used to”. The ten-year-old Harry here surely must have remembered experiencing such an unpleasant sensation, if he did Apparate. Anyway, he does think that the “wind had caught him in mid-jump”, so surely, he must have levitated himself without knowing he did so.

Funny how at an early age, Dudley already loves punching Harry. Later on, we’ll see how boxing will help control Dudley’s weight problem. :)

By: Todd

Todd — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 12:16:36 +0000

On “Something to Remember”: I think this is a fine touch of Rowling’s. She sets up the stage for Harry being a Parseltongue, which will eventually turn out to be one of the signs that he’s one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes. But in this scene, she makes it look as if it’s just part of Harry’s wizarding abilities manifesting itself, like making the glass disappear or growing his hair back. So we come to the end of the book believing that the question “How could Harry talk to the snake?” has been answered, and only when we read the next book do we discover that there was something deeper at work.

By: Amy

Amy — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 18:42:29 +0000

I think he apparated. He was determined to get away from them and probably subconsciously thought he would be out of their reach on the roof. He would also have had to turn to go behind the bins so there’s the turn which is usually required. So he had determination and destination but not deliberation. However, as with many young wizards, I think he was able to do it even though he didn’t realise what he was doing. Perhaps he subconsciously thought about doing it which was enough for him to actually do it.

By: Ida

Ida — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 12:37:46 +0000

I agree with gobi12 – it’s hard to imagine the spiders as guardians. I do think that Dumbledore kept an eye on Harry – but as it is later described he mainly uses witches and wizards for this purpose i.e. Arabella Figg.

As for LillyPinks comment: I never really understood that part. Apparition is difficult magic, which is not to be tried until the age of 16 (and even then it is not taught by a teacher, but by an expert). To me apparition just doesn’t seem like an uncontrolled outburst of magic. However, I don’t know how else he ended up on the roof.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 14:42:11 +0000

I wonder how much Vernon makes working at Grunnings since he and Petunia already bought Dudley 36 presents not counting the one from Marge and the two they plan on buying for Dudley later since I don’t remember Petunia having a job.

By: LillyPink

LillyPink — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 21:34:01 +0000

Just found this website, its really great, had not thought of alot of the small details in the book. So decided to re read them. While reading this chapter I was woundering what everyone else thought of p24 where Harry was trying to get away from Dudley and ended up on the roof of the school… In the book it says ‘Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump.’

Could he have disapperated onto the roof?