Hey cool kids, did ya think I forget this week’s Wizarding World of Law School post? Nah, I’ve just been busy adulting this week, which means things are running a tad bit behind. Here we are though, starting the fifth HP book. To be honest the first chapters of every book are always a tad difficult to make a great blog post out of, but this book starts with a BANG! Check it out!
Chapter 1- Dudley Demented
We are back at Privet Drive. Harry hasn’t heard a word from anyone about what’s going on, so he tends to hide in the bushes listening to the muggle news outside the Dursely’s home. When he hears what he thinks is someone apparating onto the street he rolls out of the bushes with his wand at the ready. Caught by Uncle Vernon, Harry heads to the park where he has a run in with the new and improved Dudley. Okay, maybe improved isn’t the word, but Dudley has lost some weight and joined boxing. In Dudley’s spare time he practices his boxing skills on 10 year olds. Harry and Dudley have a slight altercation, things start to get stormy and they start to run home where they have an encounter with Dementors. Yes, Dementors. Harry of course whips out an “EXPECTO PATRONUMMMMMM.” Suddenly Mrs. Figg, the batty old neighbor from across the street appears explaining she’s a squib and well, that Harry needs protecting.
Chapter 2- A Peck of Owls
Well as the night goes on, Dudley is like truly messed up. Mrs. Figg and Harry get Dudley home. The Dursley’s freak out. Hella owls come saying Harry is expelled, Harry isn’t expelled but has a hearing, and that HE SHOULD NOT LEAVE THE HOUSE. But like the Durselys want Harry out… until a howler comes for Petunia with a message “Remember my last, Petunia!”…. Interesting…VERY INTERESTING.
See? I told you it was a BANG! Anyways, isn’t it odd when a) things aren’t always as they seem AND b) everyone is suddenly telling you what to do in your time of need? That’s an interesting part of the law school. They (the weird collective they; the all-knowing, omnipotent they) tell us going into law school that you don’t always end up doing things just the way you plan on doing them once you get out. And they just might be right. That’s not to say that I am having a change of heart or anything, nor does it mean that I don’t want to have food law.
What it means is that things, paths, life goals, life circumstances, etc., aren’t always what they seem. I came to law school thinking that I had one path… well that path was my own carved out sort of mucking it through the mud path. But the thing is, it’s pigeonholed me, and I’ve actually found joy in doing transactional work. Contracts, accounting, real estate, employment, and all other business related law things. But as I start to find joy in these things and look towards doing business/transactional work after law school, people start to try and persuade you to go back to your roots. When you say you want to do corporate work or business work people all of a sudden want you to remember the little man, to remember the public interest work you wanted to do.
The thing is… I haven’t lost my interest in the little man or public interest work. I have always committed my life to serving others, to taking care of other people, to going above and beyond. Only some of that has changed. I have instead started to want to do what’s right for me as well. It’s not about wanting money, it’s not about wanting to help the “big guys,” it’s not about not wanting to do “what’s right.” No, this is about needing to pay my dues, to obtain the skills that will help me help so many more people one day, and to do something I like doing.
Law school is hard. We all come in thinking that we know exactly what we want to do and how we are going to do it. For some that path works out, for others things change, and it doesn’t help when people suddenly want to speak up about your choices. The best thing one can do is listen to their intuition. You can take people’s advice or follow their directions: Harry decides to follow Aunt Petunia and Arthur Weasley’s words and stay put in the Durselys’ home. You can also decide to go your own way: yes, like the Fleetwood Mac song.
Either way like they said every day in middle school and high school after the announcements “the choice is yours.” Stay true to you… you’ll be glad you did.
Until Next Time,
Mischief Managed
So Harry is let down from the grave he was tied to and then the duel begins. Harry scrambles a bit, Voldemort taunts him a bit and then they duel. They cast curses at each other and BAM they are oddly connected. They hold the connection and start to float. Then ghost like figures start coming out of Voldey’s wand. These figures include Cedric and Harry’s Parents. They all say they are going to buy Harry some time. Cedric says to take his body back. Harry breaks the connection and runs to Cedric’s body summoning the portkey and heads back.
Harry lands with Cedric’s body back at Hogwarts. He tries to tell everyone Voldemort’s back and then panic sets in. Oddly enough the “My son, my son” cries of Mr. Diggory are not in the book, but it happens. Through the chaos Moody grabs Harry to take him back to the castle. Turns out he’s not actually Mad-Eye Moody, he’s BARTY CROUCH JR.!!!!! Hogwarts teachers burst in the door to save Harry. They pour veritaserum down Barty’s throat and the truth spills out. We get the whole back story of how Barty Courch Sr. broke Barty Crouch Jr. out of Azkaban and how then Jr. escaped and how Bertha Jorkins found about him and then had to die. Barty Crouch Sr. also needed to die so Junior killed his papa.
Talk about traumatic experiences! I’m the first to admit that Harry is one of my least favorite characters in the series and we will see why in Book 5, but I do feel bad for him in these chapters. Harry has something super traumatic happen to him, but since he was the only one to see it and experience it, he is treated poorly. No one believes him. It made me start to think about how we do things in the legal field. Sometimes people come to us with problems and we have to decide to believe them and take on their case; or at least we have to believe in the system and take on their case. But sometimes it is so hard to believe someone’s story. No matter how hard we want to believe, no matter how much this person cries and tells us their tale, sometimes we just can’t believe them.
Our egos are a huge part of this journey. Our egos tell us only what we want to hear, what we want to know, and what we think about ourselves. Our egos compare us to others, dismiss others thoughts and ideas when they challenge ours, and try to keep us in control at all times. But that smaller voice, the one that says Harry is telling the truth (why would he lie to us about this?), that’s the voice we want to listen to. That is the instinct, the truth teller, the right voice to lead us. Sure, sometimes its a very naive voice that may put you in situations that you don’t like, but that doesn’t mean you can’t listen to it.
My fear is this won’t happen. Things will only continue to get worse. Trump will only continue to be silent and not condemn either side. A leader who does nothing only stirs the pot and allows violent, hate-filled acts to continue.
The Wizarding World of Law School 