Philosopher's Stone-Lethal White connections, Part 6: The Trapdoor and the Dell

This is the last in my series of posts on Philosopher's Stone-Lethal White connections. I was pleasantly surprised with how many I found: enough to make me think this isn't completely a pointless exercise and to make me interested enough to continue on to Chamber of Secrets- Troubled Blood links. In the meantime, here's a quick look how the last part of PS ("Through the Trapdoor" and "The Man With Two Faces") compared to the end of LW (Chapter 61, the breakdown on the verge through the epilog. 

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  I had previously compared Aamir's attempt to attack Strike to Neville's attempt to attack Crabbe and Goyle, but it even more closely resembles Neville's failed attempt to fight the Trio in "Through the Trapdoor." Both rather inexpertly put up their fists in a boxer's pose. And, Hermione's expressed regret at putting the Body-bind Curse on Neville ("I'm really, really sorry about this") is like Strike's guilt at knocking Aamir over. ("If it makes you feel any better, I don't feel good about it.")
• Robin's dinner with Raff has some similarities to what we are told about Hagrid's drink with the mysterious hooded stranger in the Hog's Head. 
• Hagrid's weakness for alcohol and eagerness to own a dragon allows the stranger to trick him into revealing the secret to putting Fluffy to sleep. Robin, inadvisably drinking wine while in  emotional turmoil over her split from the Flobberworm and stressed over finding affordable housing, reveals information about her dissolving marriage to Raff and blocks her phone in front of him. 
• These careless slips have grave consequences: Quirrell gets past Fluffy to get to the Philosopher's Stone; Raff is able to successfully impersonate Matthew on his burner phone and lure Robin to Little Venice to be taken captive on the barge. 
• There are some common elements between the Trio's trip through the trapdoor and Strike's team's late-night trip to first the dell, then Chiswell House. 
• Both involve a threesome sneaking into an out-of-bounds space late at night. 
• Obstacles they have to get past include nasty plants (stinging nettles, Devil's Snare) and snarling dogs (Fluffy, Badger, Rattenbury). 
• True, Harry's team has to deal with three heads, while Strike's only has two.  Unless, you want to count that bitch Kinvara as the third; she certainly barks and snarls at them plenty. 
• It's more of a stretch, but we could connect Harry's finding the correct flying key with Robin finding the hidden Mare Mourning, which is an important "key" to solving the mystery. 
• And, if we're looking for a potions equivalent, maybe that can be Kinvara's cart full of liquor bottles, and the scotch Strike drinks. 
• As for the chess set, the excavation of the dell itself could be the comparison point, especially when you consider the parallel roles of Ron Weasley and Sam Barclay. 
• Just as Ron has to take the lead in crossing the chessboard, because he is stronger in chess, Barclay takes the lead in digging, because he is so much more physically strong than Robin or Strike. Barcley is the one who announces "Time to dig!" and, when they actually start, is able to make much faster progress than either Strike or Robin. 
• Once the dogs are released, Barclay has to scramble to put away the tools and get out; this results in him staying behind while Strike and Robin continue on to Chiswell House. This is like Ron getting knocked out at the chess board and Harry and Hermione continuing on. 
• Harry is fully knocked out and nearly killed at the end; Dumbledore has rescue him. We next see Harry recovering in the hospital wing three days later. Strike's leg is fully incapacitated by the end of the night ("my leg's f*cking killing me"); he has to be fully supported by Robin to get back to the car. We next see him three days later, at New Scotland Yard. 
• When captured by Raff, Robin's goal is to keep him talking and distracted as long as she can. When captured by Quirrell, Harry's goal is to distract him from the mirror and keep him talking as long as he can. Both are able to hold on long enough for help to arrive. 

Thanks to everyone who has read and commented on this series. We'll see if there is as much food for thought in CoS-TB connections. To be honest, it would not shock me if there are fewer overall:  I think the 1-4-7 books of the first Strike ring have stronger connections to their Harry Potter counterparts than do books 2, 3, 5 and 6....  and I doubt there will ever be any stronger Parallel Series evidence than that derived from Goblet of Fire-Lethal White. But, I can already sense that Riddle's Diary may prove a good match for Talbot's True Book. 

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