All is Well

I remember when I finished the seventh book for the first time it felt surreal, as if I had been in this dreamlike trance throughout the entire novel. This is the first time that I have reread the seventh book and there were a lot of events that I had either forgotten about or straight up missed my first time through. I remember the thing that impressed me the most when I had first read the book was the extremely high death toll that occurred in the final novel. There were so many deaths in the seventh book and nearly each one affected me. First Hedwig died, who, for some reason I thought would come back to life until the end of the novel. Then Moody died, one that I wasn’t too extremely surprised by. Later in the series Tonks and Lupin die. While I was upset when Lupin died, I knew as soon as Wormtail died that he would be next (him being the last of the Marauders.) Lastly and, perhaps the most tragic death of the seventh book, Fred Weasley. I thought Fred’s death was so perfectly tragic. The person who brought the most laughter throughout the series died a violent and senseless death. To me, this was the most somber moment of the series. All these deaths really enforced the horrors of war especially since the casualties’ of the good heavily outweigh the casualties’ of the bad.

I loved the way Dumbledore’s relationship with Harry evolved throughout the series and especially in the seventh book. I like how we find out about Dumbledore’s less-than-noble history. How, at one point in his life, he wanted wizards to dominate muggles, something that Voldemort could agree with.  Then we discover what happened to his sister, which sheds light on events that happened in the earlier books. We now know what Dumbledore would see when he looked into the Mirror of Erised and we also find out who Dumbledore was moaning about when he had to drink the potion in the cave in the sixth book. But my favorite moment in Dumbledore’s and Harry’s relationship is when they have their conversation at King’s Cross. Here we find out all the details of Dumbledore’s master plan. I think that this book defined Dumbledore’s character role throughout the series. He wasn’t just some old and wizened mentor; he was the ultimate magician and illusionist. He devised some grand and elaborate scheme and it ultimately came through.

I think that reason why this series is so influential is because it helped shape an entire generation of readers. The series began with us being thrown into this wonderful world of fantasy and by the end we come out of a world fraught with danger. We’ve learned that while we don’t have control over the situations that we find ourselves in, we always have the ability to make our own choices. And, most importantly, we learn that love can conquer all – however sappy that may sound.