The Lion and the Serpent

Calendar and Dates

The chapter picks up where the previous one leaves off, at the end of the first D.A. meeting.  It then speeds through the next two weeks and spends the majority of the chapter on the day of the Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch match, on the 2nd of November 1995.

Interesting facts and notes

The chapter begins with Harry's pride at the progress of his Dumbledore's Army students learning new skills, but ends with a fall.

"On these fake coins, though, the numbers will change to reflect the time and date of the next meeting. The coins will grow hot when the date changes, so if you're carrying them in a pocket you'll be able to feel them. We take one each, and when Harry sets the date of the next meeting he’ll change the numbers on his coin, and because I've put a Protean Charm on them, they'll all change to mimic his."

Hermione was able to cast a Protean Charm on the coins that will let them know the next D.A. meeting - magic that is at N.E.W.T. standard.

"Don't let Ron see what’s on those Slytherins' badges," she whispered urgently.
Harry looked questioningly at her, but she shook her head warningly; Ron had just ambled over to them, looking lost and desperate.

Poor Ron, his confidence is so low that he is barely able to function. Hermione and Harry are right to try and hide what the Slytherins are doing. Unfortunately, the "Weasley is our King" badges and the accompanying song will become impossible to ignore during the match.

"I'm supporting Gryffindor," said Luna, pointing unnecessarily at her hat. "Look what it does..."

Luna Lovegood can be depended on to provide something different every time she pops up in a scene. She is not only supporting another house but doing it in outrageous style. Don't you wish she had found the time to add the chewed serpent to the lion's mouth?

"Saved Weasley’s neck, haven't you?" he said to Harry. "I've never seen a worse Keeper … but then he was born in a bin … did you like my lyrics, Potter?"

Draco Malfoy then keeps escalating his slurs against the Weasleys in order to provoke Harry's reaction.

"For thinking I can play Quidditch," said Ron. "I'm going to resign first thing tomorrow."
"If you resign," said Harry testily, ‘there'll only be three players left on the team.’ And when Ron looked puzzled, he said, "I've been given a lifetime ban. So've Fred and George."

Thanks to Dolores Umbridge invoking Educational Decree Number Twenty-five, the power to punish Harry and George for fighting with Draco has been taken away from their Head of House, McGonagall. And further, with her powers as the Hogwarts High Inquisitor, Umbridge is able to add Fred into the lifetime Quidditch ban and keep their brooms safely chained in her office.

Exceptional character moments

Harry's pride at the marked improvement of Neville Longbottom, Colin Creevey and Parvati Patil during the D.A. meeting sessions.

Luna Lovegood wishing Ron luck for the Quidditch match with her fantastic supporter's hat.

Hermione asking Harry to try and keep Ron from seeing the Slytherin badges.

Lee Jordan trying to make his match commentary louder than the Slytherins singing their hateful song.

Harry managing to keep his temper - for a bit - while Draco Malfoy is saying horrible things about the Weasley family.

Professor McGonagall's reaction to another Educational Decree being passed.

Memorable lines

When Alicia Spinnet turned up in the hospital wing with her eyebrows growing so thick and fast that they obscured her vision and obstructed her mouth, Snape insisted that she must have attempted a Hair-Thickening Charm on herself and refused to listen to the fourteen eyewitnesses who insisted that they had seen the Slythrein Keeper, Miles Bletchley, hit her from behind with a jinx while she worked in the library.

Even Fred had said that Ron might yet make him and George proud, and that they were seriously considering admitting that he was related to them, something he assured Ron they had been trying to deny for years.

"Well, [Crabbe and Goyle] don't look bright enough to tell one end of a broom from another," said Angelina, "but then I was always surprised Derrick and Bole managed to find their way onto the pitch without signposts."

Words and phrases

• Bin
• Biscuit
• Mental

Characters Introduced

• Ladislaw Zamojski