Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - Chapters 6-7

Corned beef? Whose mom fixes their kid corned beef?!?

Anyway, if you've seen the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire movie, you may recall a scene that takes place right after the second challenge of the Triwizard Tournament. In the scene, Harry, Hermione, and Ron and walking with Hagrid in the woods singing. If you paid attention to the words, you would have noticed that they are the lyrics to the Hogwarts school song, the lyrics of which are only found in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone book in Chapter 7. What is noteworthy is that in the novels, the song is only ever sung in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, never in Goblet of Fire.



On a completely separate note, there is one important distinction in the author's writing that you may have already picked up on. The distinction is between the roles J.K. Rowling has as the author of the novels and as the narrator. As the author, she knows the story from beginning to end. As the narrator, she sees the world as 11-year-old Harry sees it, and in turn, the story (at least on the surface) is probably suitable to a similar-aged reader. Throughout this book, Harry doesn't always see what is going on behind the scenes and doesn't understand as deeply the problems going on right under his nose, as we'll learn in this novel as well as future books in the series. One example of Harry's 11-year-old point of view is that at this point in the series, Harry sees professor McGonagall as an intimidating authority figure. As the series progresses, we'll get to see how Harry's relationship with his teachers changes and develops and we'll see how very differently he interacts with the teachers by the end of the series.

Lastly, remember back to my post from the very first chapter. Remember how I said that the fact that Harry's parents lived in Godric's Hollow was important? The head of Gryffindor house was Godric Gryffindor. The house colors of Gryffindor are red and gold. Harry was born in the town that was named after Gryffindor. Also, remember back to Diagon Alley. The sparks Harry shoots out of the wand that eventually becomes his are red and gold. It's no coincidence then that Harry ends up in Gryffindor house. I told you there is no minor detail that should be overlooked.