MODLY NOTE:
Here's the revised and expanded version of this essay. It's currently the second post on this thread.

This draft version was originally part of the "Alchemy and Other Metaphysics" thread, which I've been breaking up into smaller sub-topics to make them (somewhat) easier to follow.

- gal-texter Jun2008



I know this is supposed to be alchemy and DH, but it looks like the old alchemy thread has been abandoned, so---here's my latest little essay.

Alchemy in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

I just finished rereading this with an eye to alchemical symbolism. Beyond the basic symbolism repeated from PS/SS, there are a few new things worth noting.

Purple

Purple is the color of the rubedo and JKR has used it in a positive way, associating it with both DD and Hermione. However, to keep us all on our toes, she also uses it in the ordinary, non-alchemical way, to describe Uncle Vernon when he is furious (“his purple-faced uncle” Ch. 1).

Hermes

Percy’s owl Hermes shows up in Ch. 3 for the first time. Hermes, to date, has not been important at all in the story. This shows you how JKR drops in her alchemical symbolism in a fairly random way, as if she had a checklist of names and terms she wanted to drop in as little clues that this is an alchemy story

Green

Green is quite a mystery in HP. It is the traditional color of the element water, and JKR follows this by making Slytherin House’s color green (and silver for the serpent). But green isn’t always bad. We had positive associations for green in PS/SS: Harry has green eyes. McGonagall uses green ink and wears emerald green robes. In COS Arthur wears green robes and the Floo ‘s flames are emerald green (Ch. 4).

Ginny

We didn’t have Ginny’s full name or her birthday when COS was published. But her flaming red hair and the reference to her “face glowing like the setting sun” (Ch 4) establish her as fire and a red character. See also, Ch 8: “The steam pouring from under her vivid hair gave the impression that her whole head was on fire.”

Hermione

It’s always interesting to see how Hermione is introduced in each story. Harry has already thought and spoken about her before we see her in Chapter 4.



Hermione, as mind, is a White character, so this clever reference confirms that. However, why “at the top of the white flight of steps”? In Michelspacher’s emblem of the alchemical process the Opus is depicted as a set of steps the adept must climb to reach transformation at the top.

http://www.levity.com/alchemy/amclglr18.html (See # A 143)

This may seem a stretch but if I’m right, then this is an early clue that Hermione is Harry’s goal. Since this is early days yet, Hermione runs down to meet him. She will aid him on his quest.

Solve et coagula

I kept my eyes open for more examples of Harry being dissolved and congealed—here is an obvious one.

In Ch. 5 Snape dissolves Harry by telling him that he and Ron will be expelled. He goes to get McGonagall. When McGonagall arrives she uses her wand to light the fire:



Sitting next to the fire Harry can now be coagulated: McGonagall says they remain remain at Hogwarts.

Mandrakes

Notice that Professor Sprout, in her explanation of mandrakes, omits the most common use, as a fertility treatment. They are “purplish green”—another example of a positive association for green.

Harmony

Lockhart is associated with every kind of false and fishy color—turquoise, aquamarine, lilac—and he turns out to be a very disreputable character indeed. However, JKR often puts her truest, deepest messages in the mouths of questionable characters, and this is exactly what happens in Ch. 6, when Lockhart announces that his ideal birthday gift would be “harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples.” There in a nutshell, is Harry’s ultimate goal.

Salamander

Here’s another checklist reference (Ch 8): Fred and George were



The salamander doesn’t figure in the plot. It’s probably just a nod to an emblem in Atalanta fugiens:

http://www.alchemywebsite.com/atl26-0.html (See #29)

Snape

There continue to be lots of negative associations with Snape—black eyes, black robes, and, in Ch. 9, a couple of references to “shadow,” which link him to Voldemort:



Ch. 9 has another solve et coagula for Harry, again with Snape dissolving and McGonagall congealing. After Mrs. Filch is petrified, Snape wants Harry taken off the Gryffindor Quidditch team. McGonagall replies that “There is no evidence at all that Potter has done anything wrong.”

Dumbledore then (we can now assume) Legillemenses Harry and determines that he’s telling the truth, so Harry isn’t punished.

Still we get one tiny hint that Snape is good. In Ch 11, he casts an Expelliarmus at Lockhhart in their duel, and there’s a flash of scarlet light.

Lockart

In Ch 10 we find out that Lockhart was also a Seeker—and JKR gives him a peacock quill. So Gilderoy joins the list of several Seekers in the book who are clearly out of the running for achieving the Philosopher’s Stone (Draco, Cho, and briefly Ginny) because of their flaws of character. The peacock quill is a puzzler: Did Gilderoy make it all the way to the cauda pavonis stage (the brief, optional stage between Black and White)? Pretty doubtful. I suspect JKR is using the peacock symbolism here in the standard way: to show personal vanity. It certainly fits with his concern for dressing well.

Death by Quidditch

Harry’s death is foreshadowed repeatedly in HP. In Ch. 10 Wood tells Harry:



They play in the rain—and instead of dying, Harry just gets dissolved again. After Harry is hit by Dobby’s rogue bludger, Lockart tries to fix his broken arm. Instead he dissolves his arm bones completely. This time it’s up to Madame Pomfrey and her Skele-Gro to coagulate him. This is one of the more literal and obvious examples of Harry being dissolved and congealed.

The Amazing Hermione

In PS/SS First Year Hermione was already able to create fire—the Bluebell Flame charm. This is extraordinarily significant in alchemy. Alchemists are above all masters of fire. The very first masters of fire in human history (or rather prehistory) were potters, who are consequently also revered in alchemy texts.



We find out in Ch 11. that Hermione has developed her fire-mastery since First Year.



Certainly a worthy partner for our alchemical hero!

Fawkes

The phoenix is the bird associated with the rubedo, but Fawkes has a major role to play in Book 2 so we meet him in Ch 12. He is red and gold, the colors of the final stage—and, of course, the Gryffindor colors as well.

Dumbledore sits in “the high chair” behind the desk, not simply appropriate to his status as Headmaster but the kind of chair the leader of a Masonic Lodge would sit in.

The Singing Valentine

George Ripley’s Vision describes the entire Opus in terms of the transformation of a toad. In HP the only toad is Neville’s familiar. Its escape is what brings Hermione to Harry and Ron’s compartment, but otherwise its role has been minor. In Ch. 13 for the first time, in Ginny’s Valentine, the toad is associated directly with Harry: “His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad.” Yes indeed, Harry is the toad, the prima materia, that is being transformed.

One aside: A curious aspect of the Valentine is Ginny’s use of the term “Dark Lord” for Voldemort, a term we learn later is used only by Death Eaters. If the Valentine was written by Ginny and not Voldemort, why the use of “Dark Lord”?

Hufflepuff

In PS we found out what Gryffindor and Slytherin’s house colors were. In COS (Ch 14) we learn that Hufflepuff’s color—only one is stated—is “canary yellow.”

Hufflepuff is the Earth house, and according to the traditional colors for the elements, it should be gray. But you can see why JKR preferred yellow, a more vibrant color. Hermione, despite being in Gryffindor, is marked as Earth, so perhaps that explains why the birds she launched at Ron in HBP were “canary yellow.”

Circles

The Griffyndor tower room is circular, DD’s office is circular, and in COS (Ch 14) we learn that Hermione’s mirror, the one she was holding when she was petrified, is also circular. In alchemy circles represent perfection, harmony, divine love, the completed Opus.

Ch 14 also has a nod to The Winter’s Tale, the Shakespeare play from which JKR told us she took the name Hermione.



In TWT, a stone statue of Hermione appears in the final scene, then comes magically to life.

The Chamber of Secrets and The Heir of Slytherin

This is Harry’s crucible experience (Ch 17, 18). He travels through a dark tunnel to a chamber deep below the earth. JKR uses a creature, the basilisk, straight from the alchemy textbooks. Everything is black or green.

We’ve been learning throughout about the similarities between Harry and Riddle, alchemically how Riddle is Harry’s shadow. Now we learn a bit about Tom and Ginny’s relationship.



Has Ginny fully and completely recovered from this encounter? Why was she so easily possessed—for so long—when Voldemort was only able to possess Harry for a few minutes (in OOTP)? From alchemy we know that Voldemort is Harry’s shadow. But what is Ginny to Riddle? We don’t know. Other than that they both can put on a “twisted smile.”

Harry shows loyalty to Dumbledore, and, as Dumbledore promised, receives help. The deus ex machina scenario is a standard rescue for an alchemy hero. Fawkes arrives, accompanied by music—a red bird with golden talons and a golden beak. Fawkes continues to sing, Harry begs the Sorting Hat for help, and pulls out Gryffindor’s sword.

The Sword is silver, not gold, but its handle has “rubies the size of eggs.” The ruby is a symbol of the Red Stone, the Philosopher’s Stone. Rubies are also used to count Gryffindor house points.

Harry is prepared to die. He accepts it, in line with the formula that the hero must undergo a fake death before his final triumph. On instinct—Harry, typically, doesn’t know why—he stabs the diary with the basilisk fang, which destroys Riddle’s horcrux.

Dumbledore Explains It All

In Ch 18 Dumbledore explains to Harry why he succeeded in the Chamber. Harry is loyal, resourceful, determined and makes good choices, choices that make him worthy of being a Gryffindor, the house noted for bravery.

Hermione is revived with Mandrake root—which will coincidentally make her quite fertile! (Remember the 12 children Trelawney predicted for Harry in OOTP. )

Final note:
This is one of the best emblems I’ve found to depict the Chemical Wedding—it’s quite early, 1582—showing the correspondences between Sulphur/Sun/fire and Mercury/Moon/earth. The queen, Mercury, has a Moon above her head and is standing on a globe, which indicates earth. The king, Sulphur, has a Sun above his head and is standing on fire.

http://www.alchemywebsite.com/ss4.html

This was originally posted in the Pumpkin Pie's Army (PA). I'm moving it here to keep alchemy discussions in one place (or two) as much as possible. I've kept a link to this topic in the PA.
- gal-texter Jun 2008

Alchemy in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

According to Ripley and other standard alchemy formulas, the second stage is Dissolution, the beginning of the nigredo (Black stage). This doesn’t seem to fit terribly well, because, unlike other books, Harry doesn’t get dunked in water. I guess you could argue that he is figuratively “dissolved” by all the suspicions of being Slytherin’s heir that he suffers during the year. What fits better is that Harry is moving on from lead to tin. Ron dominates COS—and Ron, as a Pisces, is ruled by Jupiter and has tin as a metal.

Purple – Chapter 1

As noted in PS/SS, purple is the color of the rubedo and JKR has used it in a positive way, associating it with both DD and Hermione. However, to keep us all on our toes, she also uses it in the ordinary, non-alchemical way, to describe Uncle Vernon when he is furious (“his purple-faced uncle”).

Hermes and the Burrow– Chapter 3

Percy’s owl Hermes shows up in Ch. 3 for the first time. The name is an obvious nod to the putative “father” of alchemy, Hermes Trismegistos. Percy’s owl, to date, has not been important at all in the story. This shows you how JKR sometimes drops in her alchemical symbolism in a fairly random way, as if she had a checklist of names and terms to include in as little clues that this is an alchemy story.

As Harry approaches the Burrow, there appears “the edge of a brilliant red sun…gleaming through the trees.”

This is the first time we see the Weasley home—and much in about the house and its inhabitants is ruled by 9. First, of course, there are 9 Weasleys. But also, “eight or nine sausages,” Mr Weasley’s “nine raids,” Chudley Cannons “ninth in the league.” Nine is a powerful number if everyone sticks together, a lesson from The Fellowship of the Ring, which was broken when Boromir succumbed to the power of the Ring and tried to take it from Frodo.

We get some foreshadowing of the punishing fire Harry will experience this year when he enters Ron’s room: “Harry stepped in, his head almost touching the sloping ceiling, and blinked. It was like walking into a furnace.” Indeed.

Ginny

Ginny enters the scene in memorable fashion:

At that moment there was a diversion in the form of a small, red-headed figure in a long nightdress, who appeared in the kitchen, gave a small squeal, and ran out again.

As alert readers have noticed, this foreshadows the reference to Ginny in HBP as “a distraction.”

We didn’t have Ginny’s full name or her birthday when COS was published. But her flaming red hair and the reference to her “face glowing like the setting sun” (Ch 4) establish her as fire and a red character. See also, Ch 8: “The steam pouring from under her vivid hair gave the impression that her whole head was on fire.”

Emerald Green – Chapter 4

We see a new example of emerald green as a distinctive color of the WW when the emerald green flames of the Floor are introduced.

Hermione

It’s always interesting to see how Hermione is introduced in each story. Harry has already thought and spoken about her before we see her in Chapter 4.

Harry looked up and saw Hermione Granger standing at the top of the white flight of steps to Gringotts. She ran down to meet them, her bushy brown hair flying behind her.

Hermione, as mind, is a White character, so this clever reference confirms that. However, why “at the top of the white flight of steps”? In Michelspacher’s emblem of the alchemical process the Opus is depicted as a set of steps the adept must climb to reach transformation at the top.

http://www.levity.com/alchemy/amclglr18.html (See # A 143)

This may be an early clue that Hermione is Harry’s goal. Since this is early days yet, Hermione runs down to meet him. She will aid him on his quest.

Solve et coagula – Chapter 5

I kept my eyes open for examples of Harry being dissolved and congealed—here is an obvious one.

In Ch. 5 Snape dissolves Harry by telling him that he and Ron will be expelled. He goes to get McGonagall. When McGonagall arrives she uses her wand to light the fire:

She raised her wand the moment she entered; Harry and Ron both flinched, but she merely pointed it at the empty fireplace, where flames suddenly erupted.

“Sit,” she said, and they both backed into chairs by the fire.

Sitting next to the fire Harry can now be coagulated: McGonagall says they may remain at Hogwarts.

Mandrakes – Chapter 6

Notice that Professor Sprout, in her explanation of mandrakes, omits the most common use, as a fertility treatment. They are “purplish green”—another example of a positive association for purple and green. This may be foreshadowing for many children for the two petrified girls who are treated with it: Hermione and Penelope Clearwater (Percy’s girlfriend).

Harmony

Gilderoy Lockhart is associated with every kind of false and fishy color—turquoise, aquamarine, lilac—and he turns out to be a very disreputable character indeed. However, JKR often puts her truest, deepest messages in the mouths of questionable characters, and this is exactly what happens in Ch. 6, when Lockhart announces that his ideal birthday gift would be “harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples.” There in a nutshell, is Harry’s ultimate goal.

Salamander – Chapter 8

Here’s another blatant alchemy reference (Ch 8): Fred and George were

trying to find out what would happen if you fed a Filibuster firework to a salamander. Fred had “rescued” the brilliant orange, fire-dwelling lizard from a Care of Magical Creatures class and it was now smoldering gently on a table surrounded by a knot of curious people.

The salamander doesn’t figure in the plot. But it’s a well-known representation of sulphur and of the red stone. See this emblem from Atalanta fugiens:

http://www.alchemywebsite.com/atl26-0.html (See #29)

See also the tenth emblem of the Book of Lambspring.

http://www.alchemywebsite.com/lambjrny.html

Harry is Sulphur, and, like the salamander, he is being burned in the fire of the nigredo.

Snape – Chapter 9

There continue to be lots of negative associations with Snape—black eyes, black robes, and, in Ch. 9, a couple of references to “shadow,” which link him to Voldemort:

Snape loomed behind them, half in shadow….

“If I might speak, Headmaster,” said Snape from the shadows, and Harry’s sense of foreboding increased; he was sure nothing Snape had to say was going to do him any good.

Ch. 9 has another solve et coagula for Harry, again with Snape dissolving and McGonagall congealing. After Mrs. Filch is petrified, Snape wants Harry taken off the Gryffindor Quidditch team. McGonagall replies that “There is no evidence at all that Potter has done anything wrong.”

Dumbledore then (we can now assume) Legillemenses Harry and determines that he’s telling the truth, so Harry isn’t punished.

Still we get one tiny hint that Snape is good. In Ch 11, he casts an Expelliarmus at Lockhhart in their duel, and there’s a flash of scarlet light.

Lockart – Chapter 10

In Ch 10 we find out that Lockhart was also a Seeker—and JKR gives him a peacock quill. So Gilderoy joins the list of several Seekers in the book who are clearly out of the running for achieving the Philosopher’s Stone (Draco, Cho, and briefly Ginny) because of their flaws of character.

The peacock quill is a puzzler: Did Gilderoy make it all the way to the cauda pavonis stage (the brief, optional stage between Black and White)? Pretty doubtful. Perhaps Rowling is using the peacock symbolism here in the standard way: to show personal vanity. It would certainly fit with his concern for dressing well.

Death by Quidditch

Harry’s death is foreshadowed repeatedly in HP. In Ch. 10 Wood tells Harry:

Get to that Snitch before Malfoy or die trying, Harry, because we’ve got to win today, we’ve got to.”

They play in the rain—and instead of dying, Harry just gets dissolved again. After Harry is hit by Dobby’s rogue bludger, Lockart tries to fix his broken arm. Instead he dissolves his arm bones completely. This time it’s up to Madame Pomfrey and her Skele-Gro to coagulate him. This is one of the more literal and obvious examples of Harry being dissolved and congealed.

The Amazing Hermione – Chapter 11

In PS/SS First Year Hermione was already able to create fire—the Bluebell Flame charm. (See Alchemy in HPSS.) We find out in Ch 11 that Hermione has now developed her fire-mastery even further.

An old cauldron was perched on the toilet, and a crackling from under the rim told Harry they had lit a fire beneath it. Conjuring up portable, waterproof fires was a specialty of Hermione’s.

Certainly a useful partner for our alchemical hero!

Fawkes – Chapter 12

The phoenix is the bird associated with the rubedo, but Fawkes has a major role to play in Book 2 so we meet him in Ch 12. He is red and gold, the colors of the final stage—and, of course, the Gryffindor colors as well.

Dumbledore sits in “the high chair” behind the desk, not simply appropriate to his status as Headmaster but the kind of chair the leader of a Masonic Lodge would sit in.

Separation

According to the Emerald Table, the alchemist must separate the earth from the fire, and Harry and Hermione are separated in COS longer than in any other book.

In Chapter 12, she half-transforms into a cat and is unable to accompany Harry and Ron in their sleuthing in the Slytherin Common Room. Although the Polyjuice Potion only lasts an hour, her mistake with the cat hair puts Hermione into the hospital wing for “several weeks.” In Chapter 14, she is petrified—like Queen Hermione in The Winter’s Tale--and she remains out of action until the last pages of the book.

The Singing Valentine – Chapter 13

George Ripley’s Vision describes the entire Opus in terms of the transformation of a toad. In HP the only toad is Neville’s familiar, Trevor. Its escape is what brings Hermione to Harry and Ron’s compartment, but otherwise its role has been minor.

In Ch. 13 for the first time, in Ginny’s Valentine, the symbolism of the toad is associated directly with Harry: “His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad.” Yes indeed, Harry is the toad, the prima materia; he is the one being transformed.

One aside: A curious aspect of the Valentine is Ginny’s use of the term “Dark Lord” for Voldemort, a term we learn later is used only by Death Eaters. If the Valentine was written by Ginny and not Voldemort, why the use of “Dark Lord”?

Hufflepuff – Chapter 14

In PS we found out what Gryffindor and Slytherin’s house colors were. In COS (Ch 14) we learn that Hufflepuff’s color—only one is stated—is “canary yellow.”

Hufflepuff is the Earth house, and according to the traditional colors for the elements, it should be gray. But you can see why JKR preferred yellow, a more vibrant color. Hermione, despite being in Gryffindor, is marked as Earth, so perhaps that explains why the birds she launched at Ron in HBP were “canary yellow.” (The other possibility is that the stray references to yellow in HBP were markers for the yellow stage, the citrinitas.)

Circles

The Griffyndor tower room is circular, DD’s office is circular, and in COS (Ch 14) we learn that Hermione’s mirror, the one she was holding when she was petrified, is also circular. In alchemy circles represent perfection, harmony, divine love, the completed Opus.

Ch 14 also has a nod to a plot point in The Winter’s Tale, the Shakespeare play from which JKR told us she took the name Hermione.

But Harry was only half-listening. He didn’t seem to be able to get rid of the picture of Hermione, lying on the hospital bed as though carved out of stone .

In TWT, a stone statue of Hermione appears in the final scene, then comes magically to life.

Aragog

Spiders come up occasionally in alchemical texts, but they play a very minor role. There’s no entry for spider in Abraham.

However, the loathsome giant spider Shelob is a major character in LOTR, and she brings Frodo as close to death as he will come in the story. Is Shelob Rowling’s inspiration for Aragog in HP? If so, she changes the gender and makes him not altogether vicious. He is capable of loyalty to Hagrid. Perhaps Rowling was looking farther back, to the giant spider in John Bunyan’s 1678 Christian allegory, Pilgrim’s Progress.

The confrontation with the spiders gives Rowling a chance to underscore Harry’s bravery. In language echoing Manxmouse’s thoughts when facing certain death at the hand of Manxcat, she writes:

Even as he reached for his wand, Harry knew it was no good, there were too many of them, but as he tried to stand, ready to die fighting, a loud, long note sounded, and a blaze of light flamed through the hollow.

The Chamber of Secrets and The Heir of Slytherin – Chapters 17-18

This is Harry’s crucible experience. He travels through a dark tunnel to a chamber deep below the earth. JKR uses a creature, the basilisk, straight from the alchemy textbooks.

basilisk a fabulous reptile supposedly hatched by a serpent from a c*ck’s egg, and thought to be able to kill any living thing by casting one of its eyes upon it. Also known as the cockatrice. (Abraham, p. 16)

It can be killed only a weasel—through the weasel’s stench—so it is a bit surprising that Ron gets knocked out of the action, as usual, before Harry meets the basilisk. Perhaps there will be another basilisk in Book 7, so the reason for the choice of Ron’s last name will finally be clear.

Everything is black, the color of the nigredo, or green, the color of Slytherin.

We’ve been learning throughout about the similarities between Harry and Riddle, alchemically how Riddle is Harry’s shadow. Now we learn a bit about Tom and Ginny’s relationship.

“How did Ginny get like this? He asked slowly….

“I suppose the real reason Ginny Weasley’s like this is because she opened her heart and spilled all her secrets to an invisible stranger.”…

“I was sympathetic. I was kind. Ginny simply loved me. No one’s ever understood me like you, Tom. . . . I’m so glad I’ve got this diary to confide in. . . .. It’s like having a friend I can carry around in my pocket. . . . “

“Powerful enough to start feeding Miss Weasley a few of [I]my secrets, to start pouring a little of my soul back into [/I] her[/I]. . .”

Has Ginny fully and completely recovered from this encounter? Why was she so easily possessed—for so long—when Voldemort was only able to possess Harry for a few minutes (in OOTP)? From alchemy we know that Voldemort is Harry’s shadow. But what is Ginny to Riddle? We don’t know. Other than that they both can put on a “twisted smile.”

Harry shows loyalty to Dumbledore, and, as Dumbledore promised, receives help. The deus ex machina scenario is a standard rescue for an alchemy hero. Fawkes arrives, accompanied by music—a red bird with golden talons and a golden beak. Fawkes continues to sing, Harry begs the Sorting Hat for help, and pulls out Gryffindor’s sword.
The Sword is silver, not gold, but its handle has “rubies the size of eggs.” The ruby is a symbol of the Red Stone, the Philosopher’s Stone.

Again, Harry is prepared to die. He accepts it, in line with the formula that the hero must undergo a fake death before his final triumph. On instinct—Harry, typically, doesn’t know why he does it—he stabs the diary with the basilisk fang, which destroys Riddle’s horcrux.

Dumbledore Explains It All – Chapter 18

In Ch 18 Dumbledore explains to Harry why he succeeded in the Chamber. Harry is loyal, resourceful, determined and makes good choices, choices that make him worthy of being a Gryffindor, the house noted for bravery.

The books ends with a multiple Eucatstrophe: Harry kills the basilisk, destroys the Diary Horcrux, saves Ginny’s life, frees Dobby, wins the House Cup for Gryffindor, and is reunited with a revived Hermione.

Another great essay redshoes!!! I see that you have changed parts of the essay to include that Voldemort is Harry's Shadow. Are there any alchemic implications to this in terms of Harmony?? I had thought the idea of the Shadow was part of the New Age Alchemy Theory where one has to figure out to how come to terms with all of the bad stuff within oneself before one can be enlightened. Is it somehow different since Voldemort is actually an actual person instead of some alter-ego inside of Harry's head or are you suggesting that part's of Voldie are actually in Harry's head??

Do you think it is possible that the role of Mercury has been split between Ron and Hermoine?? I have always thought that Hermione's link to water has been kind of weak since it is her Patronus(otter). Harry is definitely marked with Fire and Air, but can JKR have made Hermione marked by Earth because of birthday and Ron marked as Water by his birthday?? Just a thought that popped into my head after reading how Voldemort is clearly marked by Earth(birthday) and Water(Slytherin).

I am currently trying to stay off of the net as much as possible these days. I don't want to accidently read any kind of spoiler for DH. They seem to be everywhere. There was even an article on the Yahoo front page talking about it!! I have to try selective read things and then close the window immediately if the poster accidently posts something that they have seen. Great Essay again redshoes. Looking forward to your future analysis of Deathly Hallows.

Great essay again redshoes! I bow down to your great analytical prowess.

I said it before and I'll say it again. There are to many clues and hints for it to not go into a harmony ending. Thanks for proving just how much there is.

*feeling pretty optimistic right now*

Only 2+ days!!