Harry Potter Revisited

Now that Harry is all grown up with children of his own as we have learned in the last book, 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows', the mania that has swept the world has now come to an end. But, even though its all over, is it possible that we can still think about Harry even though the books have ended?

I have read the books, and found that there were a lot of things about Harry and the people that he had called friends and family within the series that we all know inherently being a part of the brotherhood of man. But, I had also found that there were darker and more human issues that were being addressed as we read, and it may be something that could have been easily passed over as simply just great story plot. I am going to site several references that attest to this and I want to see what my readers think about my findings:

1) Harry's Muggle family, the Dursley's: The Dursley's through the concourse of the books have not been portrayed as what one would think as a very 'noble' family. For instance, Uncle Vernon. Vernon was the typical neanderthalic uncle that most people would have within their own family. He is boorish, a blowhard, and extremely abusive toward Harry as he lives with them up until the third book, 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'. He hates everything about Harry, and merely took him in out of a small sense of familial duty simply because Lily Potter was the sister to his current wife, Petunia Dursley. It isn't until the last book that Vernon soon realizes that he will never be seeing Harry again due to the danger that is being posed by Lord Voldemort during the time of the Wizard Wars. Even though their parting was not on the best of terms, Harry himself had to learn to try and at least forgive and to move on and leave that part of his life behind him.

Next, let us look at Petunia Dursley. Petunia was the typical doting wife and mother who would do anything to remian in the favor of her overbearing husband and her spoiled son, Dudley (*a.k.a 'Dudders'). Petunia has no mind of her own, and she consistently lets her feelings be known about her strange nephew by treating him the very same way that her husband did. She would demean Harry at every chance that she could get, but the real fact remained that she was afraid of Harry and the powers that he possessed. There was also the fear of the Death Eaters if they were to ever find Harry and not only destroy him but them, as well. Petunia has been revealed completely in the last book as to why her attitude was the way that it was in the final book. It was one simple emotion: jealousy! Petunia hated the harsh reality that her departed sister, Lily, was able to perform magic where she could not. She had considered her a freak of nature and one that could not be trusted, let alone have a normal relationship with. That, and was also rebuffed by Dumbledore when she had made an attempt at joining Hogwart's to join Lily in her newest adventure. She, however, was not saavy to just how talented she was until the appearance of a very young Severus Snape, who was Lily's first friend and her introduction into the world of magic and the reality of the Hogwart's School. Because of all this, it makes one wonder why she even married Vernon and had Dudley. Was it simple because she wished to lead a normal life of a housewife, or was it out of spite towards her sister, who was a gifted magical person? One can only entertain hypotheses at this point.

Lastly, we cannot forget Dudley, Harry's cousin. Dudley is simply nothing more than a spolied brat, whose jealousy of Harry and his powers reflect very much like that of his mother's. He also has no mind of his own, mimicking the attitudes of his parents and doing everything in his power to outshine Harry. But, in the final book, that attitude had changed when Dudly actually shakes Harry's hand, realizing how much harry did care for him after saving him in the 'Order of The Phoenix'. With this act, it is then that Dudley realizes that he does have the ability to think for himself, to the great disdain and misunderstanding of his family at his act.

2) Harry and Dumbledore: Harry and Dumbledore have had a great chemistry with each other throughout the course of the series, as any student who would have admired a beloved teacher or schoolmaster. But, as the story progresses, Harry finds that he doesn't know as much about Albus Dumbledore as he thought he did, and greater revelations are uncovered in the last book through Albus' brother, Aberforth, who is the local bar and innkeep. Many great illusions were shattered for Harry as he learned that his great schollmaster may not have been all that he appeared, and had lived a life of great personal tragedy that most had not known about. For starters, Albus in his younger years had been a dabbler in the Dark Arts with a colleague, a man known as Grindelvald, who was for all intensive purposes, a Death Eater. The two were on a glorious crusade to make the wizarding world a shining pinnacle amongst a world of Muggles, all for what he termed as 'for the greater good'. But, when he realized just far he was going, Albus had to duel Grindelvald with his brother, Aberforth, which ended up with the death of their younger sister, Ariana, who was born with an uncontrollable magical power that had been placed within her after a tragic beating by a group of Muggle boys who saw her doing magic. This led to the breaking up of his family, with their mother dying shortly after and their father imprisoned in Azkaban for the mistreatment of the three Muggle boys by using magic as revenge. Algbus's life had then turned for him, causing him to retreat even more within his studies into magic, where the cause of the tragedy had also began.

Upon learning of this, Harry is not sure how to feel as there was so much that Dumbledore had not explained before his death. For one, he never understood why Harry was sent with his two friends, Ron and Hermoine, to destroy the magical Horcruxes, Voldemort's storage devices of his soul and his powers. It had made sense and yet made no sense, especially after the items that were left to him and his friends in the 'Deathly Hallows'. It isn't until later on that Harry finds that Albus' true quest had been for the Hallows rather than the Horcruxes, which were three magical items that had been created by Death himslef for three brothers who thirsted after power. When he had left the clues to find the Hallows, Dumbledore had the hopes that Harry would not make the same mistake as he had in his search for magical supremacy. But, as Harry is torn between the two missions, he become even more confused as the quest continues, not knowing what th best course of action is to defeat Voldemort.

With all of these contradictions at hand, Harry finds that Dumbledore did indeed know more than he was letting on, and his anger soon subsided. It was not until Harry had finally met Voldemort that he realized that the fates were already against him, and the only way to truly defeat Voldemort was to die. Or, did he truly die? For those of us who have read the novel, we know that Harry may have died, but not completely and was brought back to finally take it to his enemy for the death of his parents. It was only then that Harry had truly understood what it was to be who he was and what he was.

Would it not be safe to say that throughout the course of human history, we have had many teachers, from those who were considered divine to those that were merely people who took a stand to make a change in the way that this world was going? How much better was it that the author made that matter more clear to us with the relationship between Harry and Dumbledore.

3) Severus Snape: While most had considered Severus to be the ultimate in crafty villians next to Voldemort himself, 'The Deathly Hallows' cast an even better light upon the character as we began to learn more about this instructor from Hogwart's. Severus was portrayed as the essential antagonist for Harry within the series, along with others such as the Malfoys, Bellatrix Lestrange, and even the current Minister of Magic, Scrimgeour. But, there was a lot more to Severus that many had known, and with Harry believing that Severus was the one that killed Dumbledore at the end of 'The Half-Blood Prince', there were many misunderstandings to the wizard's true nature. While that may have been true, Harry did not know the reasons for Severus committing the act, which was mainly the reason why towards the end that the now young wizard had such a hatred for the man.

The real question remained of whether Severus was good or evil? Before we can ascertain that, let us get into a little of Severus' background that was revealed in the 'Deathly Hallows' before we can draw a conclusion. We know from the memory that was given to Harry by Snape upon his death that Severus wanted Harry to understand why he was doing what he was doing. In truth, Severus had a multitude of reasons why he was being so hard on Harry during his time at Hogwart's. Firstly, it was because he was made Harry's guardian upon the death of his parents when he came of age. Second, Severus had known Lily since childhood, and was dear friends with her from the time that they had entered school before she had met Harry's father, James. Third, Severus was in love with Lily, and had been since he was a boy. While they were in school, Severus had spent countless days attempting to curry Lily's favor. But, after a massive argument between the two when he joined the Death Eaters at a very young age, Severus's contempt towards her and her feelings for James had only blossomed, calling her a 'Mudblood', and eventually ending up a Death Eater in his early adulthood. But, after the death of James and Lily at the hands of Voldemort, a death that he felt personally responsible for and felt that he could have prevented, he then chose to be Harry's protector, but not because he liked him. It was for Lily, and for the love that he wanted to give her even though she had parted from this world. When he saw that Harry existed, he knew that her love existed, and that had been enough reason for him to keep going.

As to the death of Dumbledore, Snape had been given orders to kill Dumbledore by the man himself, as he had fallen under a terrible curse after destroying one of Voldemort's horrible Horcruxes, and had been diagnosed at having only one year left to live! While Harry did not know it, Severus was doing everything in his power to keep him alive, and using his espionage techniques to do so, it was at great risk and great peril that he did so, ultimately leading to his own demise in the end.

Would Snape have been a great ally to Harry if he had lived? Possibly, but with only his own interests in mind, it was unfortunate that they had not become better acquainted.

4) Lord Voldemort: Voldemort is the embodiment of pure evil, a horrible entity that looks only to destroy and kill rather than use his magic for higher purposes. We have seen that in all of the books, but it was not until 'The Half-Blood Prince' that Voldemort's secrets had been released, and it turns out that Voldemort was not the pureblood wizard that he had made himself out to be. Voldemort had been born Tom Riddle, a half-blood wizard whose mother was a witch and his father was an unfeeling and uncaring Muggle. His birth was the product of magic, as his mother had bewitched his father into loving her and marrying her in order to get away from her abusive and uncaring family, the Gaunts. But, after many years of the enchantment, she released his father from the spell and bore Tom. She died shortly afterward, leaving Tom an orphaned wizard in a Muggle world.

Dumbledore had done everything for Tom, knowing that he carried great potential for being a master wizard, only to find that he was becoming more and more wicked as the years passed. He had actually murdered his Muggle father and grandparents when he came of age, and had spent the greater parts of his years wandering the world, looking for more dark magic and ways to accelerate his abilities. It wasn't until he learned of Horcruxes and how to create them from Professor Horace Slughorn that things drastically got worse. This was told to Harry in the same book, and full of regret during his confession, Slughorn soon discovered that he may have been the instrument that may have led to Voldemort's rise to power.

It wasn't until Harry's birth that Voldemort had shown his true nature, murdering his parents and attempting to kill him, with the baby being protected by the love of his mother which dispelled the Killing Curse that he had tried to perform. It was after this that Voldemort had stepped up his efforts, as we all know. Voldemort, in truth, was scared of Harry and what he could become. Hence, the beginning of his crusade. It wasn't until he had possessed the Elder Wand, the most powerful of the Deathly Hallows, that he thought he had his chance to finally destroy Harry. But, when he realized that he was not the wand's master, he then fullly comprehended that he had met his match.

The matter was that Voldemort ruled by fear and destruction, while all of the time he was fearful himself of the mediocrity of his own powers and the existence of a small boy who he deemed as a threat. Drowned in his own arrogance and lust for power did he not realize that there was more power within the grown wizard than he could contend with, because the power was just not from one, but from many, and this led to his final demise in 'The Deathly Hallows'.

So, what you might be asking is what the heck does this actually teach? It actually teaches us a great many things. It teaches us that love conquers all. It shows us what our own history was reintroduced from the archetype of Voldemort and his campaign to take over the wizarding world. Very much in the same way that Hitler had tried to take over Europe during World War II with his ideals of a master race and a master government. It shows us what humanity will do in times of war, as well as the feelings that one feels during the losses that happen during war. We also know about the feelings that come with not knowing who we are and where we came from.

In essence, Harry teaches us about life. Life, of itself, is a story all of its own and we are the writers of the story. We see and feel things that many people have in common with each other as we progress through it. It is no different that someone who blogs over an event in their life and uses it to try to make sense of it all. Could that not also be said of authors as well?