this chapter is really meaningful to me because as harry came to terms with his death, i came to terms with my eventual death, too.
i love the description of them looking as though they were behind a veil. (i think that was this chapter? this is where i admit i haven't read along at all)
when you think about it, it must've been so weird for harry at age 17 to be calling people who were relatively his peers "mom" and "dad." hm.
The description says they were like diary!Tom Riddle - more real than ghosts, but weird around the edges.
When they noted Harry's parents were the same height as him, I was confused. I still pictured him as shorter than the adults. With the exception of my mom, even my younger brother is now taller than me.
Dumbledore's betrayal was almost nothing. Of course there had been a bigger plan; Harry had simply been too foolish to see it, he realized that now. He had never questioned his own assumption that Dumbledore wanted him alive. Now he saw that his life span had always been determined by how long it took to eliminate all the Horcruxes. Dumbledore had passed the job of destroying them to him, and obediently he had continued to chip away at the bonds tying not only Voldemort, but himself, to life! How neat, how elegant, not to waste any more lives, but to give the dangerous task to the boy who had already been marked for slaughter, and whose death would not be a calamity, but another blow against Voldemort.
And Dumbledore had known that Harry would not duck out, that he would keep going to the end, even though it was his end, because he had taken trouble to get to know him, hadn't he? Dumbledore knew, as Voldemort knew, that Harry would not let anyone else die for him now that he had discovered it was in his power to stop it. The
( ... )
To be honest, I couldn't really process the Dumbledore stuff until much, much later. It was just like 'yeah, Dumbledore planned it, whatever, HARRY IS GOING TO DIE'. But now... I don't know, I just can't hate him. The manipulation was harsh, yes, but necessary. If Harry had found out, before the crucial moment, that he had to die, without having seen the things he's seen and done the things he's done, then the sacrifice would have meant less. Perhaps he might have even tried everything he could to avoid his fate - I know that's what I would have done - and up until this point Harry is not the master of death, he's always fought as hard as he can and walking towards death is against his nature. So I think Dumbledore had to manipulate Harry to get him to where he ended up, as if he'd been reared knowing he had to die the plan wouldn't have worked out. Plus, Dumbledore clearly cared for Harry and didn't find it easy to do what he did, so I really feel for him.
I don't think I will ever forgive Dumbledore. I had started to be disappointed in him since OotP, where JKR starts revealing his mistakes and tendency towards manipulation.
I can understand why Harry feels he has to go through with it, but only the magnitude of emotions from seeing his friends die and facing death himself explains to me why he wasn't raging at Dumbledore and his plan. I hope, when Harry thinks it through at a later time, he concludes that he would choose a different way if he had been in Dumbledore's position.
I appreciate Dumbledore as an interesting and complex character, but I don't agree that having your plan hinge on sacrificing a child is an acceptable way to win a war.
Between this chapter and the last movie, I will have no more tears left to cry because Rowling will have STOLEN THEM ALL.
The marching to death; the acceptance of dying for his friends; seeing Lily, James, Remus and Sirius; appreciating the miracle of life while he still has it. . .
"Slowly, very slowly, he sat up, and as he did so he felt more alive and more aware of his own living body than ever before. Why had he never appreciated what a miracle he was, brain and nerve and bounding heart? It would all be gone… or at least, he would be gone from it. His breath came slow and deep, and his mouth and throat were completely dry, but so were his eyes...
It was not, after all, so easy to die. Every second he breathed, the smell of the grass, the cool air on his face, was so precious: To think that people had years and years, time to waste, so much time it dragged, and he was clinging to each second. At the same time he thought that he would not be able to go on, and knew that he must. The long game was ended, the Snitch had been caught, it was time to leave the air…
The Snitch. His nerveless fingers fumbled for a moment with the pouch at his neck and he pulled it out.
I open at the close.Breathing fast and hard, he stared down at it. Now that he wanted time to move as slowly as possible, he seemed to have sped up
( ... )
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i love the description of them looking as though they were behind a veil. (i think that was this chapter? this is where i admit i haven't read along at all)
when you think about it, it must've been so weird for harry at age 17 to be calling people who were relatively his peers "mom" and "dad." hm.
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When they noted Harry's parents were the same height as him, I was confused. I still pictured him as shorter than the adults. With the exception of my mom, even my younger brother is now taller than me.
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And Dumbledore had known that Harry would not duck out, that he would keep going to the end, even though it was his end, because he had taken trouble to get to know him, hadn't he? Dumbledore knew, as Voldemort knew, that Harry would not let anyone else die for him now that he had discovered it was in his power to stop it. The ( ... )
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I can understand why Harry feels he has to go through with it, but only the magnitude of emotions from seeing his friends die and facing death himself explains to me why he wasn't raging at Dumbledore and his plan. I hope, when Harry thinks it through at a later time, he concludes that he would choose a different way if he had been in Dumbledore's position.
I appreciate Dumbledore as an interesting and complex character, but I don't agree that having your plan hinge on sacrificing a child is an acceptable way to win a war.
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The marching to death; the acceptance of dying for his friends; seeing Lily, James, Remus and Sirius; appreciating the miracle of life while he still has it. . .
Brilliant Chapter. My favorite; most definitely.
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It was not, after all, so easy to die. Every second he breathed, the smell of the grass, the cool air on his face, was so precious: To think that people had years and years, time to waste, so much time it dragged, and he was clinging to each second. At the same time he thought that he would not be able to go on, and knew that he must. The long game was ended, the Snitch had been caught, it was time to leave the air…
The Snitch. His nerveless fingers fumbled for a moment with the pouch at his neck and he pulled it out.
I open at the close.Breathing fast and hard, he stared down at it. Now that he wanted time to move as slowly as possible, he seemed to have sped up ( ... )
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Oh MAN.
Every time. Every time I think of this I well up.
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Tears. Tears forever.
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