LIFE AND LIES #23 | A Potterhead's Tale

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Sometime in 2004

I must have dozed off. But suddenly I am awake. The screen is mostly dark. On concentrating further, I can make out a lake during night. There’s a man lying alongside it, whimpering in pain. Close to him sits a bespectacled boy who is terrified by the dark figures hovering in the air, circumventing the two of them. One of the dark figures breaks from the rest and swoops in, and on getting close to the man drains his face somehow. The man winces in pain. The boy tries to protect him, shooting a burst of light at the dark figures with the stick he’s holding. The figures are deterred for a moment but they double back, one by one, draining both the man and the boy. Just then a silver stag appears across the lake, driving all the dark figures away by its light. And the boy faints.

I can make neither head nor tail of the scene. Somehow, I manage to sit through the rest of the movie. Why it is so dark even during the day; must be because of the poor picture quality. There’s a horse with head and wings of an eagle. Also, there’s some time-travel involved. Therefore, I have to sit through the entire lake scene again.

“What a boring movie,” I remark later during dinner.

“You didn’t like it because you haven’t read the books,” replies Chandram from across the table.

“What books?”


Sometime in 2005

“He’s Hagrid, you know,” Chandram tells me one movie night, pointing towards the fat guy on the screen. It’s one of the James Bond movies: The World Is Not Enough.

“No way… seriously,” I utter in disbelief but on careful scrutiny find it to be true.

By the time Goblet of Fire is shown on movie night, I am done with the first four books. Thanks to Chandram who is such an ardent follower of Harry Potter, I am up-to-date with everything Potter related. I learn the name of the actors and all the spells and their functions by heart. I even try to rearrange my name into something menacing as Voldemort does in the second part; although, in vain.

 

Sometime in 2006

“He didn’t come when Voldemort summoned all of his Death Eaters. And now Dumbledore has made him a part of the Order,” I say, flipping a page of Order of the Phoenix. The hardcover book is the thickest book I have ever handled. “How can then Snape be the bad guy?”

“You’ll see,” replies Chandram.

Yes, Snape used to be a Death Eater and as I progress through the book, I find out that he was bullied by Harry’s father, elaborating why he hated the four Marauders.  It was most likely that he held a grudge against Harry too. But then again Dumbledore trusted him for some reason and so far in the wizarding world, it was a big deal to be on the good side of Dumbledore. He might not get full marks for character and demeanour but he definitely wasn’t on the Dark Lord side.


Sometime in 2007

“I have to return it today,” Chandram declares as he hands the book over to me. “You have until lunch to finish this.”

“And one more thing,” he adds, as I hurry for breakfast. He is smiling now. “Snape kills Dumbledore.”

Of course, he was just messing with me, I think while having a plate of porridge. Calculating only six hours remaining for lunch, I bunk the morning assembly. Later on, when the class fills up, I leave my usual seat in the front and move to the back. The hours pass by as I devour page after page, holding the book under the desk, all the while ensuring to make eye contact with the teacher present at regular intervals.

Dumbledore is at the cave with Harry, looking for one of the Horcruxes. He has collapsed after drinking the potion from the basin that contains the Horcrux and is now begging Harry for water. Unable to produce water by magic, Harry rushes to the black lake. That is when one of the Inferi emerges from the water and grabs him.

I am immersed in the story to such an extent that I forget to deceive the teacher at regular intervals. Before I realize that the book disappears from under the desk. I feel everyone’s eyes on me as the history teacher balances the book in his hand like a weapon. I am one of his favourite students so I am more shocked than hurt when the book lands on my head. The rest of the period, I spend staring at the book sitting on the teacher’s desk, thinking about how I would make up for the lost time. I am grateful when the teacher returns the book after his period gets over.

I skip lunch to make up for the lost time. I finish the book with my head still throbbing where the teacher hit me but it’s nothing compared to the revelation that Snape really does kill Dumbledore.

 

Sometime in 2008

It’s very overwhelming for me. Snape is dead and Harry is diving through his memories, one after another. The haze clears with every paragraph: the unwritten agreement between Snape and Dumbledore, why Snape had turned into a double-agent and then why he had to kill Dumbledore. Dumbledore’s master plan is revealed; how Harry was just a pig for slaughter and had to die in the end. The revelation about Snape was pivotal to the story as it tied the entire saga from beginning to end.

Told you guys he wasn’t the bad guy, I almost shout but there’s nobody around. The dormitory is empty. I am ill, brimming with fever and just have the book for company.

After the sixth book came out and then the movie, I was the only one still unmoved from my stance that Snape wasn’t the bad guy. Yes, I fell short of any explanation to back my point because my only argument ‘Dumbledore trusted Snape’ was now null and void. Still, there was something, a feeling that there was more to Snape. And here it is. Yes, the revelation does not turn Snape into a saint but one thing that cannot be denied is that Snape was through and through Dumbledore’s man and he stayed that way till the end. And that is what I had been saying all along.

Voldemort is eventually defeated. All the storylines come to a close. The epilogue lays emphasis on a new beginning, a new journey undertaken by the next generation starting from King’s Cross Station. I am very pleased when it is revealed that Harry named one of his children after Snape; that Snape was the bravest man he knew. To me, it’s the Author’s way of saying to the readers: Yes, Snape wasn’t a good guy but he helped save the wizarding world, he wasn’t a bad guy either. Harry understands that, so should you.

Well, this is my Potter journey. Tell me how it resonates with yours.


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