DH:36 - The Flaw in the Plan (Bloomsbury 2007)
Italics are impressions from my first read, when I did not yet know what was going to happen.
1) Harry's awareness returns. Again. He has the presence of mind this time not to move. He plays dead and waits to see what will happen.
2) "It was Bellatrix's voice, and she spoke as if to a lover." It seems to me that that makes Voldie/Bella pretty explicitly canon. Anyone have any objections? So, what happened to Rodolphus? We haven't seen him at all in this book. Did Bella dump him, or did he die off screen and no one cared?
3) Voldemort apparently took a hit. The AK he cast at Harry knocked him down or something. He does not understand why this has happened, but it makes him understandably nervous. Voldemort is just now getting up, which probably means that Harry's chat with Dumbledore took no time at all.
4) Harry's luck holds. Of all the Death Eaters, the one to come and examine his body is Narcissa Malfoy -- someone Harry can bargain with. Because Harry can offer her something far more valuable that anything Voldemort has: The knowledge that her son lives and is in the castle. I knew it! I always knew Narcissa would be the weak link in Voldemort's plan. She is as much a mother as Lily was, and no cause means more to her than that of protecting her child. But Voldemort has never understood what a mother's love means. As with Snape, it is for love that she betrays Voldemort.
5) Voldemort's Cruciatus Curse does not harm Harry. This had me *really* confused on the first read. I had no idea what it must mean. Because I was really tired and slow by the time I got to this chapter. Harry's luck continues to hold.
6) Hagrid carries Harry. A perfect mirror to the first chapter of the first book. Once again, Hagrid is given the task of carrying Harry away from what was meant to be his death. Poor Hagrid, thinking Harry is dead. :(
7) Voldemort lies. He tells the besieged that Harry died running from him. Already he seeks to besmirch Harry's name and dishearten the "defeated". He gives his final ultimatum: Surrender or die. He is confident now that he has won, and we know that when villains get overconfident, they get sloppy.
8) McGonagall's is the first reaction Harry hears. I am mourning my dead theory. I so, so wanted at least one person to walk out of the castle here and smugly stand by Voldemort's side, declaring they had been working for him all along. Jo has taught us to expect a major twist -- a hidden evil -- at the end of each of the previous books. I kept waiting for it, and it never came. The only hidden evil at the end of this book is that bloody epilogue. *stabbity*
9) Ron, Hermione and Ginny. My heart breaks for them here. After all their hard work, to think even for a moment that all is lost, and a dear friend lost with it ... well, it's the stuff of nightmares. Those kids are going to be dreaming this moment for a long time, I think. PTSD fics, anyone?
10) Neville, defiant. Could I love this boy any more? He rushes forward first and alone, ready to duel with Voldemort one-on-one, ready to die in order to carry out the last request Harry made of him. He faces Voldemort, unarmed and defiant, unwilling to hide behind the purity of his blood. Blood doesn't matter; Neville is one of his story's few pure souls. This boy believes absolutely that his cause is worth fighting and dying for, and he loves Harry, possibly more purely, truly and unconditionally than anyone else does.
11) Voldemort: "There will be no more Sorting at Hogwarts School." In this one thing, I agree with Voldemort. The House system is divisive and causes more trouble than it is worth. When you split kids up and tell them that where they are implies certain characteristics, you invite prejudice.
12) The Sorting Hat. I wonder if it said anything to Neville before it ignited? I was so sure that the Hat was destroyed here and that the House system was done with whether Voldemort won or not. Destruction of the Hat is a symbolic destruction of Hogwarts. A breaking down of order.
13) Hogwarts rises. Without a resurrection from Harry, the forces opposing Voldemort rise up, willing to continue the fight even with their hero fallen. I bet Voldemort didn't expect that.
14) Chaos breaks out. While no one is looking, Harry vanishes beneath his cloak. Neville breaks the body-bind, presumably puts himself out, and draws the Sword of Gryffindor from the Hat, as if he meant to do it all along. Did he know the story from Harry? Did he know that a true Gryffindor could always pull the Sword out of the Hat? Neville is close enough and Voldemort is paying him little enough attention that in a second, Nagini's head is off.
15) Oh, look! I was right! At the end of PS, the trio all got enough house points to tie with Slytherin, but it was Neville's ten points that put them over the top. Well, I predicted some sort of mirror of that for the end of this book, and this seems to be it. The trio did a shitload of work tracking down Horcruxes all year, but it is Neville who destroys the final Horcrux, leaving Voldemort vulnerable at last.
16) Harry, invisible, has eyes only for Neville. *Harry/Neville forever* OK, OK, so he's watching out for Voldemort, but he silently casts a shield charm to save Neville, acting as some sort of guardian angel.
17) "WHERE'S HARRY?" Jesus's body is missing from the tomb. Whoops; wrong story. Aslan's body is gone from the stone table. *sigh* Wrong again. Anyway, people finally notice that Voldemort no longer habeus corpus, and which results in more chaos and a surge in morale, since there is a sudden doubt as to whether Voldemort has actually won. All they know is that Strange Things are afoot.
18) The creatures of the Forest drive the wizards back into the castle. The final confrontation must clearly take place within the walls of Hogwarts. Harry, in the true tradition of the Hero's Journey, has gone down into the Underworld and returned with the Elixir for the benefit of his tribe -- in this case, the knowledge of how to defeat Voldemort once and for all.
19) Slughorn came back to fight. Well done at last, Horace! He's come with the cavalry Charlie Weasley and the families of all the battling students. Reinforcements at last! The tide is most definitely turning.
20) "Fight the Dark Lord, in the name of brave Regulus!" God, I hope Voldemort heard that! I want him to die knowing that everything and every person he ever took for granted was important and contributed to his downfall. Even brave, rash boys. Even house-elves. *hugs Kreacher* The house-elves of Hogwarts are prepared to defend their home.
21) Flitwick got Dolohov! Yay! I hope he spit on his no-good corpse afterward.
22) Ron and Neville bring down Fenrir. Go boys! The thing is, we hear about all these people "falling" and being "brought down", but that's not really confirmation of them being dead, is it? I want a dead list, Jo! I want to know who's done.
23) Lucius and Narcissa. They know Voldemort's done. They don't even try to appear loyal any longer; all they care about is finding Draco. You know, I always saw this quality in Narcissa, but I was convinced that Lucius was a cold-hearted bastard, and that's how I've always written him. Oh, well. AU, right?
24) Three on one. McGonagall, Kingsley and Slughorn (yay!) battle Voldemort, while Hermione, Ginny and Luna face Bellatrix. And we know that neither of these Big Bads are pushovers or slouches in the magic department. Bellatrix nearly succeeds in killing Ginny, and thus diverts Harry from his purpose momentarily. *bites nails* But...
25) "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" Oh, YESSSSSS! Mrs Weasley is hot shit. Raise your hand if you ever thought you'd be seeing her say that in canon? No one? Thought not. But Molly is hardcore. A fanatic's passion is *nothing* compared to a mother's instinct to protect her child -- especially a mother who's already lost one today, and doesn't have any spare daughters.
26) Bellatrix's death. The first time I read it, I did not believe it. I was sure there was some ambiguity -- some chance that Molly had merely stunned her -- but it doesn't sound like it, does it? Molly shoots to kill. And Voldemort screams. *That* surprised me. Can it be that there actually was one person in the world that Voldemort cared about besides himself? He killed Snape, his "most faithful servant", without a second thought. I don't claim to understand what he felt for Bellatrix, but there was something there, wasn't there?
27) Resurrection. Harry reveals himself at last to the assembled armies, alive, whole, and *very* pissed off. He faces Voldemort alone, telling everyone else loudly and firmly that this is how it has to be.
28) Harry: "I've done what my mother did. They're protected from you." There it is: The reason Harry had to go willingly to his own death. But did it stop only Voldemort or everyone on Voldemort's side from being able to harm them by magic?
29) Harry taunts Voldemort. He has no fear left. There is nothing Voldemort can do to him now, and he knows none of the Death Eaters will interfere in their duel. Stay focussed, Harry! Don't get cocky! I do love hearing him lay the verbal smackdown on Voldebitch.
30) "Severus Snape wasn't yours." Harry very publicly vindicates Snape, clearing his name forevermore. Sure, I bet Harry still thinks he was an asshole, but he has at last seen the good and the heroism in the man as well. I still can't believe that Voldemort would try to spare a Muggleborn girl at the request of one of his followers. I would think that would put her right at the top of the "To Kill" list. Voldemort doesn't want his followers mingling their blood with Muggleborns.
31) Love. Dumbledore was right. All along it was love that would defeat Voldemort. A great power he underestimated because he could not understand it. But it's not just Harry's love that does it. Snape's love for Lily more than helped bring them to this point, and Nacissa's love for Draco made it possible for them to have their final confrontation standing here, before all these witnesses.
32) Harry: "try for some remorse, Riddle." Harry gives Voldemort one chance at redemption, telling him to be a man for once. Yeah, that's never going to happen. It would have been nice to see Voldemort killed by the pain of his own regrets, but there's just not enough human left in him to feel any of the deeper human emotions.
33) Harry: "The true master of the Elder Wand is Draco Malfoy." I think that shocked me the first time I read it. Or maybe I was only shocked by the fact that Harry has now spoken of both Snape and Draco without any malice or vindictiveness in his tone or thoughts. Who would have thought? Anyway .... Dumbledore intended the power of the Elder Wand to die with him. But it didn't. It passed to Draco Malfoy when he disarmed Dumbledore that night. This bothers me. How many people has Harry disarmed in the course of this series? And how many of their wands has he claimed? And what happens when the victorious wizard does not claim the wand of their opponent? That's right; the wand reverts to its former owner. Draco never touched the Elder Wand. He did not claim it. And if he never claimed it, its power should never have passed to Harry when Harry later disarmed Draco of his own wand. This, as far as I can see, makes the Elder Wand still Dumbledore's. Except that Dumbledore is dead. Is that what makes the difference? Because the former master is dead, the wand *has* to be Draco's, even if he never touches it? Wandlore gives me a headache.
34) Harry is the master of the Elder Wand. He's finally figured it out, though we did not "hear" him arrive at this conclusion. Did he know when he spoke with Dumbledore at King's Cross, who told him he was now the Master of Death? Did he awake knowing? Did he work it out as he was carried up to the castle? He is now the possessor of all three of the Hallows (or would be if he hadn't dropped the stone in the forest), and Voldemort is out of Horcruxes. So now it's down to two men facing one another with wands that belonged to Draco Malfoy, one loyal to Harry and one the most powerful wand in existence.
35) Voldemort, defeated. He died because he tried to turn the Elder Wand on its true master, whom he had not disarmed or taken it from by force. The wand refused to act against Harry, and turned on the man who held it instead. And most importantly...
36) Harry did not kill. His soul is intact. He used instead his trademark Expelliarmus, which did nothing more than bring the wand that was rightfully his into his hand at last.
37) HUGS! Ron and Hermione are the first ones to him, quickly followed by Ginny, Neville and Luna. Yay! The gang all survived! I get my postwar 'ship! So it was only one of the three things I wanted out of this book, but still I got it!
38) Harry rises above his personal desires and bodily needs to accept his new role. Right now, these people need him more than he needs food and sleep and time alone, and he does not begrudge them that. Because he is whole and because he is everything that Voldemort was not, he must acknowledge and share in the grief or joy of every person there present. He must mourn for those who died so that he could have the chance to succeed, even if he did not know them well or at all, and he must show gratitude to every person who fought for him and lived.
39) Kingsley for Minister! They couldn't have made a better choice. At least, until Neville is old enough. :p And awww, look! Neville has admirers! He's earned them.
40) Over fifty dead for our side. No other names? No one else we knew? I'd like to think that if any of them were characters we had met more than once, we would be told. I'll take this to mean that Lavender survived, among others.
31) "nobody was sitting according to house any more." Good. I hope it stays this way.
42) The Malfoys. These are broken people, but that does not make them good people. Yes, they care about one another, but if their own safety had not been at stake, do you think they would have cared if Harry lived or died? If their place under Voldemort's regime had been secure, would they have wanted him to fail? They have lost everything now. It is likely that, even if they all get out of it without prison time, their property will be forfeit. But in spite of their difficult position, do you think for one minute that they care less about the purity of their blood than they did before? Not on your life. They are still a bunch of bigoted snobs. Tolerance is not going to happen in Lucius and Narcissa's generation. It *might* conceivably begin in Draco's, since he is still young. But I do not think it will truly begin until the generation of Draco's children.
43) Luna sees his need and gives him a chance to get away for a bit. Harry throws on his cloak and seeks out Ron and Hermione. We have come full circle, and it is time now for the trio lay down their arms, stop being warriors, and just be three friends again.
44) Ron: "Really gives a feeling for the scope and tragedy of the thing, doesn't it?" Heh. Well said, Ron. He's lost a brother today, but he can still make a joke. They are all too relieved to truly mourn just yet. There will be time for that tomorrow, and I'm sure Fred and the rest won't mind won't mind. Besides, they should be appreciating what they have and what they've gained more than mourning what they've lost.
45) The headmasters applaud Harry. *sniff* I find myself moved. Dexter Fortescue gets a first name at last. Phineas declares that the part played by Slytherin house should not be forgotten. And he's right. Himself, Snape, Slughorn, Narcissa -- all of them helped bring about this victory and they should all be remembered for it. But Harry isn't there for them. He's there to ask Dumbledore's advice one last time.
46) Harry will not seek out the Resurrection Stone. He has no need of it. Death holds no terror over him, and he will see all those the loves again one day without summoning them to him.
47) Harry uses the Elder Wand only once. He uses it to repair the phoenix wand at last. He means to return the Elder wand to Dumbledore's tomb, and for its power to die with him, as Dumbledore meant to do. But will it? Everyone who was in the Great Hall now knows Harry possesses this powerful item, and soon everyone in the country, and maybe the entire wizarding world will know. Just because Voldemort's finished doesn't mean there won't be some clever young wizard one day who wants to try his luck at defeating Harry Potter and ruling the world. Or maybe someone will just get desperate enough that they think the Elder Wand will solve their problems. But I suppose that is another story for another time.
48) Harry is going to spend tonight in his bed in Gryffindor Tower. I sort of hope all the boys do tonight, but then again I doubt it. Ron will want to be with his family, and Harry will get no rest if his admirers don't leave him alone. Maybe Neville will stay tonight, too. That would be nice ... for my fanfic. :p
And while I am thinking of it, rich_jacko wrote a wonderful piece entitled Chapter 37: Moving On, which I think does a very good job keeping in the true spirit of these books and telling what might have happened over the next days and weeks. I'll tell you this: It beats the epilogue hands down. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
1) Harry's awareness returns. Again. He has the presence of mind this time not to move. He plays dead and waits to see what will happen.
2) "It was Bellatrix's voice, and she spoke as if to a lover." It seems to me that that makes Voldie/Bella pretty explicitly canon. Anyone have any objections? So, what happened to Rodolphus? We haven't seen him at all in this book. Did Bella dump him, or did he die off screen and no one cared?
3) Voldemort apparently took a hit. The AK he cast at Harry knocked him down or something. He does not understand why this has happened, but it makes him understandably nervous. Voldemort is just now getting up, which probably means that Harry's chat with Dumbledore took no time at all.
4) Harry's luck holds. Of all the Death Eaters, the one to come and examine his body is Narcissa Malfoy -- someone Harry can bargain with. Because Harry can offer her something far more valuable that anything Voldemort has: The knowledge that her son lives and is in the castle. I knew it! I always knew Narcissa would be the weak link in Voldemort's plan. She is as much a mother as Lily was, and no cause means more to her than that of protecting her child. But Voldemort has never understood what a mother's love means. As with Snape, it is for love that she betrays Voldemort.
5) Voldemort's Cruciatus Curse does not harm Harry. This had me *really* confused on the first read. I had no idea what it must mean. Because I was really tired and slow by the time I got to this chapter. Harry's luck continues to hold.
6) Hagrid carries Harry. A perfect mirror to the first chapter of the first book. Once again, Hagrid is given the task of carrying Harry away from what was meant to be his death. Poor Hagrid, thinking Harry is dead. :(
7) Voldemort lies. He tells the besieged that Harry died running from him. Already he seeks to besmirch Harry's name and dishearten the "defeated". He gives his final ultimatum: Surrender or die. He is confident now that he has won, and we know that when villains get overconfident, they get sloppy.
8) McGonagall's is the first reaction Harry hears. I am mourning my dead theory. I so, so wanted at least one person to walk out of the castle here and smugly stand by Voldemort's side, declaring they had been working for him all along. Jo has taught us to expect a major twist -- a hidden evil -- at the end of each of the previous books. I kept waiting for it, and it never came. The only hidden evil at the end of this book is that bloody epilogue. *stabbity*
9) Ron, Hermione and Ginny. My heart breaks for them here. After all their hard work, to think even for a moment that all is lost, and a dear friend lost with it ... well, it's the stuff of nightmares. Those kids are going to be dreaming this moment for a long time, I think. PTSD fics, anyone?
10) Neville, defiant. Could I love this boy any more? He rushes forward first and alone, ready to duel with Voldemort one-on-one, ready to die in order to carry out the last request Harry made of him. He faces Voldemort, unarmed and defiant, unwilling to hide behind the purity of his blood. Blood doesn't matter; Neville is one of his story's few pure souls. This boy believes absolutely that his cause is worth fighting and dying for, and he loves Harry, possibly more purely, truly and unconditionally than anyone else does.
11) Voldemort: "There will be no more Sorting at Hogwarts School." In this one thing, I agree with Voldemort. The House system is divisive and causes more trouble than it is worth. When you split kids up and tell them that where they are implies certain characteristics, you invite prejudice.
12) The Sorting Hat. I wonder if it said anything to Neville before it ignited? I was so sure that the Hat was destroyed here and that the House system was done with whether Voldemort won or not. Destruction of the Hat is a symbolic destruction of Hogwarts. A breaking down of order.
13) Hogwarts rises. Without a resurrection from Harry, the forces opposing Voldemort rise up, willing to continue the fight even with their hero fallen. I bet Voldemort didn't expect that.
14) Chaos breaks out. While no one is looking, Harry vanishes beneath his cloak. Neville breaks the body-bind, presumably puts himself out, and draws the Sword of Gryffindor from the Hat, as if he meant to do it all along. Did he know the story from Harry? Did he know that a true Gryffindor could always pull the Sword out of the Hat? Neville is close enough and Voldemort is paying him little enough attention that in a second, Nagini's head is off.
15) Oh, look! I was right! At the end of PS, the trio all got enough house points to tie with Slytherin, but it was Neville's ten points that put them over the top. Well, I predicted some sort of mirror of that for the end of this book, and this seems to be it. The trio did a shitload of work tracking down Horcruxes all year, but it is Neville who destroys the final Horcrux, leaving Voldemort vulnerable at last.
16) Harry, invisible, has eyes only for Neville. *Harry/Neville forever* OK, OK, so he's watching out for Voldemort, but he silently casts a shield charm to save Neville, acting as some sort of guardian angel.
17) "WHERE'S HARRY?" Jesus's body is missing from the tomb. Whoops; wrong story. Aslan's body is gone from the stone table. *sigh* Wrong again. Anyway, people finally notice that Voldemort no longer habeus corpus, and which results in more chaos and a surge in morale, since there is a sudden doubt as to whether Voldemort has actually won. All they know is that Strange Things are afoot.
18) The creatures of the Forest drive the wizards back into the castle. The final confrontation must clearly take place within the walls of Hogwarts. Harry, in the true tradition of the Hero's Journey, has gone down into the Underworld and returned with the Elixir for the benefit of his tribe -- in this case, the knowledge of how to defeat Voldemort once and for all.
19) Slughorn came back to fight. Well done at last, Horace! He's come with the cavalry Charlie Weasley and the families of all the battling students. Reinforcements at last! The tide is most definitely turning.
20) "Fight the Dark Lord, in the name of brave Regulus!" God, I hope Voldemort heard that! I want him to die knowing that everything and every person he ever took for granted was important and contributed to his downfall. Even brave, rash boys. Even house-elves. *hugs Kreacher* The house-elves of Hogwarts are prepared to defend their home.
21) Flitwick got Dolohov! Yay! I hope he spit on his no-good corpse afterward.
22) Ron and Neville bring down Fenrir. Go boys! The thing is, we hear about all these people "falling" and being "brought down", but that's not really confirmation of them being dead, is it? I want a dead list, Jo! I want to know who's done.
23) Lucius and Narcissa. They know Voldemort's done. They don't even try to appear loyal any longer; all they care about is finding Draco. You know, I always saw this quality in Narcissa, but I was convinced that Lucius was a cold-hearted bastard, and that's how I've always written him. Oh, well. AU, right?
24) Three on one. McGonagall, Kingsley and Slughorn (yay!) battle Voldemort, while Hermione, Ginny and Luna face Bellatrix. And we know that neither of these Big Bads are pushovers or slouches in the magic department. Bellatrix nearly succeeds in killing Ginny, and thus diverts Harry from his purpose momentarily. *bites nails* But...
25) "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" Oh, YESSSSSS! Mrs Weasley is hot shit. Raise your hand if you ever thought you'd be seeing her say that in canon? No one? Thought not. But Molly is hardcore. A fanatic's passion is *nothing* compared to a mother's instinct to protect her child -- especially a mother who's already lost one today, and doesn't have any spare daughters.
26) Bellatrix's death. The first time I read it, I did not believe it. I was sure there was some ambiguity -- some chance that Molly had merely stunned her -- but it doesn't sound like it, does it? Molly shoots to kill. And Voldemort screams. *That* surprised me. Can it be that there actually was one person in the world that Voldemort cared about besides himself? He killed Snape, his "most faithful servant", without a second thought. I don't claim to understand what he felt for Bellatrix, but there was something there, wasn't there?
27) Resurrection. Harry reveals himself at last to the assembled armies, alive, whole, and *very* pissed off. He faces Voldemort alone, telling everyone else loudly and firmly that this is how it has to be.
28) Harry: "I've done what my mother did. They're protected from you." There it is: The reason Harry had to go willingly to his own death. But did it stop only Voldemort or everyone on Voldemort's side from being able to harm them by magic?
29) Harry taunts Voldemort. He has no fear left. There is nothing Voldemort can do to him now, and he knows none of the Death Eaters will interfere in their duel. Stay focussed, Harry! Don't get cocky! I do love hearing him lay the verbal smackdown on Voldebitch.
30) "Severus Snape wasn't yours." Harry very publicly vindicates Snape, clearing his name forevermore. Sure, I bet Harry still thinks he was an asshole, but he has at last seen the good and the heroism in the man as well. I still can't believe that Voldemort would try to spare a Muggleborn girl at the request of one of his followers. I would think that would put her right at the top of the "To Kill" list. Voldemort doesn't want his followers mingling their blood with Muggleborns.
31) Love. Dumbledore was right. All along it was love that would defeat Voldemort. A great power he underestimated because he could not understand it. But it's not just Harry's love that does it. Snape's love for Lily more than helped bring them to this point, and Nacissa's love for Draco made it possible for them to have their final confrontation standing here, before all these witnesses.
32) Harry: "try for some remorse, Riddle." Harry gives Voldemort one chance at redemption, telling him to be a man for once. Yeah, that's never going to happen. It would have been nice to see Voldemort killed by the pain of his own regrets, but there's just not enough human left in him to feel any of the deeper human emotions.
33) Harry: "The true master of the Elder Wand is Draco Malfoy." I think that shocked me the first time I read it. Or maybe I was only shocked by the fact that Harry has now spoken of both Snape and Draco without any malice or vindictiveness in his tone or thoughts. Who would have thought? Anyway .... Dumbledore intended the power of the Elder Wand to die with him. But it didn't. It passed to Draco Malfoy when he disarmed Dumbledore that night. This bothers me. How many people has Harry disarmed in the course of this series? And how many of their wands has he claimed? And what happens when the victorious wizard does not claim the wand of their opponent? That's right; the wand reverts to its former owner. Draco never touched the Elder Wand. He did not claim it. And if he never claimed it, its power should never have passed to Harry when Harry later disarmed Draco of his own wand. This, as far as I can see, makes the Elder Wand still Dumbledore's. Except that Dumbledore is dead. Is that what makes the difference? Because the former master is dead, the wand *has* to be Draco's, even if he never touches it? Wandlore gives me a headache.
34) Harry is the master of the Elder Wand. He's finally figured it out, though we did not "hear" him arrive at this conclusion. Did he know when he spoke with Dumbledore at King's Cross, who told him he was now the Master of Death? Did he awake knowing? Did he work it out as he was carried up to the castle? He is now the possessor of all three of the Hallows (or would be if he hadn't dropped the stone in the forest), and Voldemort is out of Horcruxes. So now it's down to two men facing one another with wands that belonged to Draco Malfoy, one loyal to Harry and one the most powerful wand in existence.
35) Voldemort, defeated. He died because he tried to turn the Elder Wand on its true master, whom he had not disarmed or taken it from by force. The wand refused to act against Harry, and turned on the man who held it instead. And most importantly...
36) Harry did not kill. His soul is intact. He used instead his trademark Expelliarmus, which did nothing more than bring the wand that was rightfully his into his hand at last.
37) HUGS! Ron and Hermione are the first ones to him, quickly followed by Ginny, Neville and Luna. Yay! The gang all survived! I get my postwar 'ship! So it was only one of the three things I wanted out of this book, but still I got it!
38) Harry rises above his personal desires and bodily needs to accept his new role. Right now, these people need him more than he needs food and sleep and time alone, and he does not begrudge them that. Because he is whole and because he is everything that Voldemort was not, he must acknowledge and share in the grief or joy of every person there present. He must mourn for those who died so that he could have the chance to succeed, even if he did not know them well or at all, and he must show gratitude to every person who fought for him and lived.
39) Kingsley for Minister! They couldn't have made a better choice. At least, until Neville is old enough. :p And awww, look! Neville has admirers! He's earned them.
40) Over fifty dead for our side. No other names? No one else we knew? I'd like to think that if any of them were characters we had met more than once, we would be told. I'll take this to mean that Lavender survived, among others.
31) "nobody was sitting according to house any more." Good. I hope it stays this way.
42) The Malfoys. These are broken people, but that does not make them good people. Yes, they care about one another, but if their own safety had not been at stake, do you think they would have cared if Harry lived or died? If their place under Voldemort's regime had been secure, would they have wanted him to fail? They have lost everything now. It is likely that, even if they all get out of it without prison time, their property will be forfeit. But in spite of their difficult position, do you think for one minute that they care less about the purity of their blood than they did before? Not on your life. They are still a bunch of bigoted snobs. Tolerance is not going to happen in Lucius and Narcissa's generation. It *might* conceivably begin in Draco's, since he is still young. But I do not think it will truly begin until the generation of Draco's children.
43) Luna sees his need and gives him a chance to get away for a bit. Harry throws on his cloak and seeks out Ron and Hermione. We have come full circle, and it is time now for the trio lay down their arms, stop being warriors, and just be three friends again.
44) Ron: "Really gives a feeling for the scope and tragedy of the thing, doesn't it?" Heh. Well said, Ron. He's lost a brother today, but he can still make a joke. They are all too relieved to truly mourn just yet. There will be time for that tomorrow, and I'm sure Fred and the rest won't mind won't mind. Besides, they should be appreciating what they have and what they've gained more than mourning what they've lost.
45) The headmasters applaud Harry. *sniff* I find myself moved. Dexter Fortescue gets a first name at last. Phineas declares that the part played by Slytherin house should not be forgotten. And he's right. Himself, Snape, Slughorn, Narcissa -- all of them helped bring about this victory and they should all be remembered for it. But Harry isn't there for them. He's there to ask Dumbledore's advice one last time.
46) Harry will not seek out the Resurrection Stone. He has no need of it. Death holds no terror over him, and he will see all those the loves again one day without summoning them to him.
47) Harry uses the Elder Wand only once. He uses it to repair the phoenix wand at last. He means to return the Elder wand to Dumbledore's tomb, and for its power to die with him, as Dumbledore meant to do. But will it? Everyone who was in the Great Hall now knows Harry possesses this powerful item, and soon everyone in the country, and maybe the entire wizarding world will know. Just because Voldemort's finished doesn't mean there won't be some clever young wizard one day who wants to try his luck at defeating Harry Potter and ruling the world. Or maybe someone will just get desperate enough that they think the Elder Wand will solve their problems. But I suppose that is another story for another time.
48) Harry is going to spend tonight in his bed in Gryffindor Tower. I sort of hope all the boys do tonight, but then again I doubt it. Ron will want to be with his family, and Harry will get no rest if his admirers don't leave him alone. Maybe Neville will stay tonight, too. That would be nice ... for my fanfic. :p
And while I am thinking of it, rich_jacko wrote a wonderful piece entitled Chapter 37: Moving On, which I think does a very good job keeping in the true spirit of these books and telling what might have happened over the next days and weeks. I'll tell you this: It beats the epilogue hands down. I cannot recommend it highly enough.