The inevitable Deathly Hallows commentary.

[ninety6tears]

Yep. Finished. I liked it.

Spoilers ahead:


"Go home, you pussy!"

Yeah, Remus was kind of a jerk about Tonks getting pregnant, but I totally ate it up when Harry got all pissed at him and they got into a serious fight, because I knew that Harry was doing exactly what James would have done. Usually, Remus has been kind of emotionally distant from Harry, but after that incident it kind of solidified a friendship between them. Much like Sirius, Remus started treating Harry like an equal. But it all went to waste anyway, I guess (see "The Deaths").

Neville Longbottom: Brave, or in a hurry to join his parents at St. Mungo's?

Probably the only part I read in the entire novel that made me go, "Thaaat's overdoing it" was when we heard from Neville and other students about the horrible conditions at Hogwarts since the Carrows were sort of put in charge. Come on...Teaching students to torture each other? Somehow this turned the Cruciatus curse into not-as-big-a-deal as it should be.
A lot of people were looking forward to how Neville would show a kind of heroism that would rival even Harry's level of valor, considering that he was like, on the other side of the prophecy but Voldy never tried to wipe him out and all. And his sort of carrying on the legacy of Dumbledore's Army in Harry's absence was pretty awesome, but at the same time...when he showed up looking like he'd gotten the crap beat out of him and shrugging it off like, "At least they can't kill us", I was kind of concerned for the state of his mental health. I smelled a long spell of suffering eventually capped off with him being desensitized to pain, and I just found it to be deeply disettling, considering the similar fate of his parents, who are now permanently unsound. I feel like I'm playing devil's advocate here, but I thought the remaining students were being reckless and pointlessly bold. Then again, Gryffindor is not my house, so maybe I wouldn't understand.
Of course, I totally agree with everybody else that Neville lopping Nagini's head off was no less than badass; he was mere feet away from Voldemort and was completely trusting a vague explanation from Harry that the snake needed to be killed.

Ron finally got S.P.E.W., and earned himself a snog.

Ron and Hermione were beyond adorable. I found myself caring way more about their developing relationship than I ever did about Harry and Ginny. This book made me come to an understanding that the reason Hermione is always on a short fuse with Ron is because she knows that he is actually a wonderful person and loves his nobler aspects, but doesn't understand why can't always show it. It's funny that Ron started to show a lot of jealousy over her friendship with Harry, because I'd imagine that she wishes she could be in love with someone more like Harry, but has always had feelings for Ron and always will. They're going to be so madly in love and constantly arguing for the rest of their lives, and it's so cute.

As for Harry and Ginny...

There are already tons of jokes about Harry's birthday snog, saying that Ginny was about to have sex with him before Ron interrupted.
I have really mixed feelings about H/G, because even though I don't outright dislike it, I can't help agreeing with a lot of other people that his affection for her just kind of came out of nowhere. I mean, in all of two books in which Harry acknowledges that he loves Ginny, I can name two things that he loves about her: She doesn't cry a lot, and her hair smells nice. But I do like the idea that in marrying the sister of his best friend Harry was able to officially become a member of the Weasley family, who he has long loved like they were his own kin.

"The Silver Doe"

This ties with "The Prince's Tale" as my favorite chapter. The attaining of the Sword of Gryffindor felt like a breath of fresh air after a few chapters of sort of hopeless lack of direction as Harry and Hermione tried to get along without Ron. I was reading this chapter around Shep and Sara, and the moment that it described Harry's savior coughing up water I just knew it was Ron and started clapping with glee and got a couple odd looks from them. It was such a beautiful moment, like, I didn't really care or even wonder how the hell Ron found them again, I was just so happy that he'd come back and was sopping wet and holding the sword and yelling, "Are you mental?" and being all Ron and when the Horcrux made him cry I just wanted to bundle him up in my arms and tell him everything was okay. Or rather, I wanted Harry to. Ron and Harry were never the types to talk about their romantic feelings or jealousy, and Ron's humiliation in front of Harry kind of forced them into a momentary intimacy that they kind of needed to have to make peace with each other. And the end of the chapter was kind of amusing; I was actually expecting some tearfully joyous greeting from Hermione to see that Ron came back, but of course her relief manifests into stubborn fury, which shows us that everything is pretty much back to normal.

"The Prince's Tale"

Where do I even start? I always thought the theory that Snape had been in love with Lily was a bit on the radical side, but I have to hand it to a huge number of fans who totally called this one. Having already been kind of emotionally beaten by the previous couple chapters, I got only a few pages into this chapter and started crying and just couldn't stop. The history of Snape and the nature of his redemption was right along the lines of what I had imagined it would be, but Rowling made it more richly and lovingly illuminated than I ever could have dreamed, and somehow so tragic that I almost wondered why I ever hoped that this would be his actual story. The relationship between Snape and Dumbledore, which I imagine very gradually became trusting, was great to be able to witness in a few scenes, some of which revealed more of Snape's casual and un-calloused personality than we've ever been able to see before. Long-time fans of Snape ought to be overjoyed by the revelations of his character, as the entire wizarding world owes a lot to "the best of him." In numerous ways, Voldy was totally fucked up the ass as a result of Snape's unrelenting love for Lily Potter; most important was his request to spare her life, which resulted in her choosing to give her life for the protection of her son, which left a mark in Harry's blood which ultimately led to Voldemort's downfall.

"I am about to die."..."Just kidding!"

I'm sure a lot of people will think that Harry's death-and-resurrection thing was totally lame, but in my mind it just had to happen that way. The reason I really couldn't exactly picture Harry living but couldn't exactly picture him dying was because I felt like the books needed to be concluded with that message about self-sacrifice, but at the same time just couldn't imagine how the book would end if Harry really died. As madlori put it, Rowling got her cake and ate it too on this one. Of course, I found the logic justifying that Harry could come back to life a little hard to follow, but I love how she used that idea that the best people for positions of power are people who don't actually want power and actually applied it to death. I enjoyed the imaginative scene at King's Cross, which actually reminds me of a part of Neverwhere...Damn, that screechy baby thing was creepy, though...
Haha, Narcissa helping Harry was the awesome. And GOD, I LOVED that everyone didn't just fall apart when they thought that Harry was dead, but were actually angered to the point of rallying fury. Hagrid sobbing all over Harry's body made me so sad, though...

The Final Riot

Yeah, the Death Eaters got their shit handed back to them, allright. It goes without saying that the people who are opposed to the anti-Muggle scum vastly outnumber them, and when Voldemort could no longer cling to his Horcruxes it suddenly seemed like they had no hope against, heh...house elves with pitchforks.
Harry was just awesome. That's all I have to say.

The Deaths

-Hedwig. It was strange how very affecting the mere death of Harry's pet actually was, but as Rowling explained, it symbolized the end of Harry's childhood and in my mind it made a lot of sense.
-Mad-Eye Moody. Can't say I was very affected by this one, particularly since the whole scenario with the decoys had me completely freaked out, and he was the character involved that I definitely cared the least about.
-I was WAY bummed that Ted Tonks died, man! That sucks! Overall, I was pretty dissapointed that we didn't see more of Andromeda and Ted.
-I can easily say that the Weasley twins have been my favorite non-major characters since book one, so needless to say, the death of Fred broke my heart in half. I would have been less sad about the death of Mr. Weasley, who Rowling almost killed, but instead killed two others. Thanks, Jo.
-I can't say I was really sad about Snape's death because I was absolutely certain, if he turned out to be a good guy, that he wouldn't live. His death was pretty intense, though.
-Lupin and Tonks kinda pissed me off too. Lupin, because I just can't believe the entire older generation that was acquainted with Harry's parents are now dead. And I'm really bitter about the fact that apparently Bellatrix is supposed to have killed Tonks. It was foreshadowed pretty heavily that the bitch really wanted Dora dead, and the fact that she succeeded makes it seem less like Tonks died fighting for a worthy cause than simply placed herself in the perfect opportunity to be hunted down and slaughtered by a one-dimensionally evil wench. Really, though, when Remus appoints Harry as godfather after Teddy is born, that should have sent up a death flag on both his parents. He might as well have been humming and carrying a bag of groceries into the kitchen.
-Colin Creavey shoulda gone home? Damn Gryffindors.
I have to say that the deaths that occurred close to the ending almost...didn't really sink in. After the defeat of Voldemort, everything concluded so abruptly that we pretty much saw about as much of the characters who lived as those who died, and there wasn't a lot of grieving or closure.

Comments on the Epilogue

The Epilogue was pretty cute, but I kind of wanted to know more from it, like if Harry ended up living at Grimmauld Place and a good explanation of what everybody ended up doing for a living (though Rowling is fully capable of informing us about these things in interviews). Of course, tons of fans are excited about the possibilities of fanfiction for this new generation of children. People are already joking that their new favorite pairing is Albus/Scorpius. But really, I melted into a puddle when Harry addressed his son as "Albus Severus."

Top 10 Passages of Love and Awesomeness!!!

"But you're dead," said Harry.
"Oh yes," said Dumbledore matter-of-factly.
"Then...I'm dead too?"
"Ah," said Dumbledore, smiling still more broadly. "That is the question, isn't it? On the whole, dear boy, I think not."
They looked at each other, the old man still beaming.
"Not?" repeated Harry.
"Not," said Dumbledore.

"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"

"...I've done what my mother did. They're protected from you. Haven't you noticed how none of the spells you put on them are binding? You can't torture them. You can't touch them. You don't learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you?"

"That makes me sound a lot cooler than I was," Ron mumbled.
"Stuff like that always sounds cooler than it really was," said Harry. "I've been trying to tell you that for years."

"It's traditional to give a wizard a watch when he comes of age," said Mrs. Weasley, watching him anxiously from beside the cooker. "I'm afraid that one isn't new like Ron's, it was actually my brother Fabian's and he wasn't terribly careful with his possessions, it's a bit dented on the back, but -"
The rest of her speech was lost; Harry had got up and hugged her. He tried to put a lot of unsaid things into the hug and perhaps she understood them, because she patted his cheek clumsily when he released her, then waved her hand in a slightly random way, causing half a pack of bacon to flop out of the frying pan onto the floor.

There was a clatter as the basilisk fangs cascaded out of Hermione's arms. Running at Ron, she flung them around his neck and kissed him full on the mouth. Ron threw away the fangs and broomstick he was holding and responded with such enthusiasm that he lifted Hermione off her feet.
"Is this the moment?" Harry asked weakly, and when nothing happened except that Ron and Hermione gripped each other still more firmly and swayed on the spot, he raised his voice. "OI! There's a war going on here!"

"Saintlike," repeated George, opening his eyes and looking up at his brother. "You see...I'm holy. Holey, Fred, geddit?"
Mrs. Weasley sobbed harder than ever. Color flooded Fred's pale face.
"Pathetic," he told George. "Pathetic! With the whole wide world of ear-related humor before you, you go for holey?"

"Karkaroff intends to flee if the Dark Mark burns."
"Does he?" said Dumbledore softly, as Fleur Delacour and Roger Davies came giggling in from the grounds. "And are you tempted to join him?"
"No," said Snape, his black eyes on Fleur's and Roger's retreating figures. "I am not such a coward."
"No," agreed Dumbledore. "You are a braver man by far than Igor Karkaroff. You know, I sometimes think we Sort too soon..."
He walked away, leaving Snape looking stricken...

"But this is touching, Severus," said Dumbledore seriously. "Have you grown to care for the boy, after all?"
"For him?" shouted Snape. "Expecto Patronum!"
From the tip of his wand burst the silver doe: She landed on the office floor, bounded once across the office, and soared out of the window. Dumbledore watched her fly away, and as her silvery glow faded he turned back to Snape, and his eyes were full of tears.
"After all this time?"
"Always," said Snape.

Harry crouched down so that Albus's face was slightly above his own. Alone of Harry's three children, Albus had interited Lily's eyes.
"Albus Severus," Harry said quietly, so that nobody but Ginny could hear...,"you were named for two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew."

P.S. Regulus = my new favorite Black.
P.P.S. The word "Deathstick" makes me laugh.

Comments

[flowrs4ophelia.livejournal.com]

I didn't feel the same way about what Neville and those other students were doing. That's the thing about how Voldemort tries to control people; he always underestimates how the other side has a lot more to keep fighting for no matter what. Think about it this way: at least Neville and those other kids who were sticking it to the man were pretty grown up. There were First Years being treated just as badly. When the Carrows were doing stuff like that, Neville couldn't just sit around instead of making things as hard for them as he possibly could since no matter what they wouldn't dare hurt him permanently. It sounds to me like the Carrows were getting so infuriated by the trouble they kept causing them and the fact that no punishment seemed able to make them stop that Neville felt like they were the ones winning. Neville was able to say "Whatever, physical pain is nothing as long as they can't kill me," and then later on he seemed to think, "Whatever, dying is nothing as long as I don't have to serve that douchebag." LOL.

I just don't know what to think of Harry/Ginny. The thing is...Harry's a teenage boy, after all. Would he really think all that much about Ginny's fine qualities, rather than how much he'd just like to snog her right at the moment? I think that sometimes people worry too much about the why of romance being explained in fiction, when it doesn't seem to me that people ever think that much about these things in real life anyway. We can see quite clearly why they go so well together, and I think it might actually be overkill to get so much into it in Harry's POV or something. But he laughs a lot when she says something witty. He feels a lot of affection for her in moments that she's being brave. The reasons for his attraction to her are shown, not told.