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The Aftermath: We were all correct

by David Haber

Sometime a week before Book 7 came out, someone commented that Harry would die, but then come back. I think most everyone on the site thought it was a silly idea. But I told several people at that time that I thought that just might be the perfect solution, although I couldn't figure out how J.K. could make it work. J.K. did, of course! So, the half of the Harry Potter fans in the world who thought Harry would die were right! And the other half who thought he would live were also right!

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Reader Comments: (Page 79)

You know what I really missed?
When Harry called Voldemort Tom Riddle, I wanted Hagrid to yell out: 'Tom Riddle? Voldemort is the guy that got me kicked out of school?!'

Posted by Kendra from Alicante on August 28, 2007 07:08 AM

I haven't really understood why the fact that Harry didn't defend himself made all the difference (as Dumbledore said) and allowed him to come back to earth... unless there is a christian reference in that ("there is no greatest love than giving away your life", and the fact that Jesus accepted his , and was then resurrected).

Posted by herve from strasbourg on August 29, 2007 02:16 AM

Lupin and tonks were my favorite characters and I was really shocked when harry saw their bos in the great hall. I regret that there isn't more information about how they d. were they together? The dursley's I wouldn't normally have cared about, but seeing as dudley warmed up to harry in the end (in his own blunt way of course), I would like to know what happened to them. And even more so I would really like to know what happened to Hermione's parents. In the book she had altered their memories so that they didn't remember they had a daughter.

I actually miss all the characters in the book. It's only memories now and anything i read about them be something I already knew. I wish I hadn't read the book yet, then there would still be things to discover for me.

Posted by Carola from Netherlands on August 29, 2007 03:23 AM

After all, the only thing we can say...
Be at peace Moody, Hedwig, Tonks, Lupin, Dobby, Rufus, Snape, and the most important one, FRED weasley. we are all going to miss your jokes. and your bother Goerge is never the same after your .

Posted by Bothayna from Doha-Qatar on August 29, 2007 06:48 AM

About the need for Harry not to defend himself in the Forbidden Forest - I think there are two points here.

One is that by choosing to not defend himself, he was making the same kind of choice Lily had made, to sacrifice himself to save the rest of his friends. The result was that Voldemort's spells did not harm anyone when he and the Eaters entered Hogwarts' grounds. Harry's sacrifice of love created a protection for his friends.

The second point could be that by not defending himself, there was no chance Voldemort's AV spell would miss him. It was necessary for the AV to hit Harry and the portion of Voldemort's soul within Harry. Nothing should be allowed to stop that occurence.

Posted by Alice from Milton on August 30, 2007 2:05 PM

I wanted to put this out there see what ya think? The real reason the dementors kept coming after Harry were because they could feel the small part of Voldemort's evil soul in Harry.

Posted by Pamela sue from Ark. on August 30, 2007 9:28 PM

I don't know, Pamela, but on a related note, while we were waiting for book 7 to come out, I was sure that Harry would somehow use dementors to destroy the horcruxes, since dementors suck souls, and horcruxes have little bits of souls in them. Sounded like a lock to me. Didn't happen though...

Posted by Dave Haber from Los Angeles, CA on August 31, 2007 06:55 AM

While i was waiting for book 7 to come, i had imagined most of the chapters in my mind but i definitely couldn't imagine the Order using decoy Harrys to get him out of Privet drive.

Posted by Latika from Delhi on August 31, 2007 09:20 AM

I just wanted to say that I agree with Brad. I am reading the series with my 8 year old son and 6 year old daughter. They both love it! Being able to talk about the story with them has been great. Kids have such great questions, as do the fans of this site!

Posted by Kim from Manchester on August 31, 2007 6:35 PM

You know pamela, I was just thinking about the dementors on Hogwarts train, and Lupin said, "None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks."

I always wondered why the dementors thought Black was in that carriage, and someone in it was helping Black get into the castle with Harry right there! It just sounded sort of odd. Obviously they could sense Voldemort's soul in Harry, so technically there was a dark wizard in the carriage that night!

However, I don't think that's why dementors affect Harry so much. It's just that Harry's had a lot of troubles, and happy things are pretty much the only stuff that keeps him going, so Harry just has that thing with dementors.

Posted by C.J. from Utah on August 31, 2007 10:30 PM

I just love this HP series and its underlying themes are so well developed (love, freedom of choice, good/evil). It's a real page turner and I can't stop reading:)

I loved reading the comments as much as reading the book.
A lot of people wonder why the epilogue is set 19 years later. Well, I don't know, but I've noticed something. Harry is 36 then, just as Sirius when he d (i must admit i'm still in love with the character Sirius, even though he's been for two books). But I can't think of a good reason - everything I come up with seems farfetched. Perhaps it's a way of including Sirius in the epilogue. The others that come out of the resurrection stone (James, Lily, Lupin) are more or less represented there. But it can be a mere coincidence as well, Harry being 36.

There are indeed a lot of christian themes in it as someone pointed out. I'd like to add that the numbers 7 and 3 also are very important in Christianity, in fact they are often referred to as 'holy numbers'

Someone asked what James' and Lily's occupation was... I'm not sure whether Wikipedia is to be trusted, but it says James inherited a lot of money of his parents. He was their only son and they were quite old when they had him. I'm still not satisfied why Harry doesn't have any grandparents left. Seemed to have d quite young all of them, but I guess it's part of the story...

The Elder wand thing is very complex, but then again... I think we forget that it is probably not made by , but a very sed dark wizard. Perhaps that's why it does funny things.

Posted by veerle from Belgium on September 1, 2007 07:26 AM

Herve,
I am still thinking about the Christian connection, especially as the title of the chapter, King's Cross, seems an obvious play on words in Jo's style.
I think the books could not be overtly Christian (you know, witches and all) but I wonder if she wanted to leave the door open to tolerance and acceptance of all manner of beliefs.
Also, why would wizarding families be buried in a Christian graveyard, with quotes from the Bible on the headstones?

To respond to why Harry didn't defend himself, I would add that he was able to come back from as he was now the vanquisher of , being in possession of all three Hallows. When he didn't use Draco's wand to defend himself there was no challenge to the ownership of the wand, so he still retained ownership of the Elder Wand.
I wonder if this was why Dumbledore frequently used his hand to perform magic instead of using his wand, so there would be fewer opportunities to be challenged.

Posted by Patty from Quincy MA on September 1, 2007 08:09 AM

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