The Vanishing Glass
*This post contains spoilers for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and the Harry Potter Series.
Chapter Summary:
Ten has passed since Harry was left on his Aunt and Uncle’s doorstep.
We meet Harry when he is woken up by his Aunt Petunia alerting him that it is his cousin Dudley’s birthday.
“Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small for his age. He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley’s…Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair , and bright green eyes. He wore round glasses.”
Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone
Some background is given as to what Harry has been told happens to his parents. The Dursley’s story to Harry is that his parents died in a car crash. This is also the reason given for Harry’s lightning scar in his forehead.
Harry is tasked with helping make breakfast for Dudley’s birthday. We meet Dudley when he comes down to view his gifts.
“Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head.”
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Dudley begins to throw a tantrum about the amount of presents he received this year versus last year and his parents promise to get more.
Aunt Petunia receives a call from the neighbor Mrs. Figg who was supposed to watch Harry while the family celebrated Dudley at the zoo. She unfortunately broke her leg and cannot have Harry over.
Harry hopes that they will leave him home but Uncle Vernon squashes this as he thinks Harry will destroy the house. To Dudley’s dismay, the solution is to take Harry with them to the zoo along with Dudley’s best friend. Before they go Uncle Vernon gives Harry a warning that he will be severely punished if anything happens while he is with them.
We are then giving examples of times where Harry had been blamed for odd things that have happened. Once, when Aunt Petunia had given Harry a particularly bad haircut, his hair grew back the next morning. Another time, she tried to get him to wear a hideous sweater that shrank until it couldn’t fit anyone. The final example is when Harry is being chased by Dudley and his friends. He somehow ended up on the roof of the school after attempting to jump behind trash cans.
The trip to the zoo was going well and Harry hadn’t had any issues.
Once they entered the reptile house they all headed to a glass enclosure that housed a very large Boa Constrictor. Dudley grew bored of the snake sleeping and left Harry alone. Once Harry was the only one around the snake winked at Harry. Harry spoke to the snake and it seemed to understand him by pointing and giving certain looks.
Once Dudley realized the snake was awake he punched Harry to get out of his way and leaned on the glass with his friend. The glass suddenly vanished and the two boys tumbled into the enclosure. Of course this fell under Uncle Vernon’s warning and Harry was sent to his cupboard with no meals as soon as they got home.
We then get backstory of Harry remembering a bright green light the night his parents died but he can’t remember the car crash he was supposedly in. He also recalls odd times where strangers had come up to him and shook his hand or bowed to him.
*Spoiler reminder. If you do not want aspects of the Harry Potter series ruined for you, do not read below. Discussions about future stories and characters take place.
Character Introductions
Harry Potter
We did meet Harry as a baby in Chapter 1 but this is the first true description of him. We learn that Harry has no inclination of who is truly is and what happened to his parents.
We also learn that odd things seem to happen to him. This is evident by the vanishing glass and his ability to communicate with the snake.
The glass vanishing and the other odd occurrences that Harry describes are the first instance of magical children not being able to control their magic. Due to high emotion that the children have not yet learned to harness, magic can manifest even when they don’t intend it to. We learn in the Order of the Phoenix that this can be weaponized to be used against the students of Hogwarts.
Dudley Dursley
Dudley is the classic spoiled child. Being roughly the same age as Harry, Dudley is meant to be a counter balance. Harry has nothing of his own, no friends and no parents. Dudley gets everything he wants, has many friends and his parents absolutely adore him.
Of course, Dudley does not deserve the life he has and takes advantage of it. He bullies Harry and other children and demands his parents shower him with gifts. Poor Harry has to sit by and watch his cousin be constantly rewarded for his bad behavior.
Piers Polkiss
Piers is Dudley’s best friend. We will see him later in the series but for the most part he is a side character.
A good way to think of Piers is he is to Crabbe and Goyle what Dudley is to Draco Malfoy. There are a lot of parallels between the two groups of bullies.
To be quite honest he is a forgetful character who Harry mentions is unpleasant but never really explored. I’m actually using a comprehensive list of characters just so I can check spelling and Piers is omitted from it. Just to show you how forgettable an unimportant he is.
Future Books
Parseltongue
Harry’s ability to speak to snakes is crucial to the series. In The Chamber of Secrets, Harry is thought to be the Heir of Slytherin due to this ability. It is also how he is able to enter the chamber and hear the snake moving about the castle.
In The Deathly Hallows, we learn that Harry is a Horcrux. Voldemort put a little bit of his soul, unintentionally, in Harry when he attempted to kill him. This causes him to gain the skill to speak to snakes which is incredibly rare.
Arabella Figg
Mrs. Figg is revealed to be a squib (non magical child of magical parents) in The Order of the Phoenix. Mrs. Figg has been keeping an eye on Harry his entire life and reporting to Dumbledore. Even though she can’t be forthcoming with Harry, she still provides a safe place for him to go if the Dursleys are trying to pawn him off on someone else.
Mrs. Figg probably felt so bad that she was not able to take Harry that day. She knew how the Dursleys treated him and would have wanted to do all she could. Both her and Harry say that his visits to her aren’t particularly eventful but she states that she had to keep them boring otherwise the Dursleys wouldn’t let him go to her house.
Aunt Marge
Vernon Dursley’s sister Marge is mentioned as not being able to watch Harry when Mrs. Figg is unavailable. Marge is a large part in the beginning of The Prisoner of Azkaban. She follows the family tradition of being awful to Harry. Harry, being unable to control his emotions, causes Marge to swell into a balloon float through the air.
Even though Marge is a family member, she is never told about Harry’s magical abilities. Not that this would have caused her to treat him better. Vernon seems to have known for a very long time before the series starts and he still treats Harry horribly.
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