The Book Nook

Out here in Victoria, I am totally TV free. That means no sports games, no Friends re-runs, no finally watching Scrubs. I mean, sure, I can do all that on the Interweb – but its beside the point. As such, I’ve started really powering through a rather vaporous mental reading list, one that changes as time progresses. There’s a little sidebar on my main blog that provides the most recent books read, but this is to provide a few further thoughts. I mean, hey, reading is awesome. If you couldn’t do it, how else would you be able to read my clever wit and amazing insights into the world? Exactly.

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS

Started: July 21st

Finished: July 21st

Thoughts:

WARNING: MAJOR HARRY POTTER 7 SPOILERS BELOW!!

In honour of what is, undeniably, going to be the event of my summer – namely the release of the last Harry Potter book – I decided to compile a list of my favourite 10 moments from the last novel. This is a break from my standard blog fare, but there were just so many great bits that I felt the need to compile them and talk, one last time, about awesome the Harry Potter series was.

 

I, along with 2998 other people, waited in line at Bolen Books for the strike of midnight on the 20^th/21^st of July. Clutching my copy at 12:48, I biked home – stopping to grab some Dr. Pepper for the long road ahead – and set up camp in my bed. I read the first word at 12:58, and the last at 7:37… having consumed two Dr. Pepper’s, a Powerade and a bottle of grape juice. I then snatched two hours sleep before leaving for a split shift at The Restaurant… but not before I’d had a chance to see my heart leap at the following moments, listed in no particular order.

WARNING: MAJOR HARRY POTTER 7 SPOILERS BELOW!!

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Okay… you’ve had enough space to get out of this page by now.

 

1. Harry’s Youngest Son – The epilogue, though rather hamfisted throughout, was saved for me when Harry leaned down to his son to explain why being sorted into Slytherin isn’t that bad after all. “‘Albus Severus’ Harry said quietly…” I’m a big fan of characters who redeem themselves (you may note this trend through the upcoming moments listed), and Snape has always struck me as being the most challenging to fully grasp. Thus for him to be completely forgiven by Harry shows just how much Harry felt for Snape, and just how important to Harry’s survival Snape truly was. Also, the fact that his initials are ASP – and Harry is a Parseltongue – strikes me as incredibly cool, and if JK did it on purpose, she’s a freakin’ genius.

2. Snape’s Dying ‘Gift’ – Unrequited love is a serious bitch. Like, Dolores Umbridge serious. With everyone telling Harry how much his eyes looked like Lily’s throughout the last half-dozen books, and Snape’s total infatuation with Lily Evans/Potter made clear, the fact that the last thing Snape saw was the eyes of his love was touching, sweet and showed how disgustingly romantic he was beneath the greasy, oddball exterior. He’s just a misfit, still in love with a woman 17 years after her death, and he’s allowed to see ‘her’ last before he dies.

3. The Return of Percy Weasley – Not going to lie, I absolutely adored Percy in the early books. Sure he was stiff and uptight about rules. Sure, he was condescending and arrogant. Sure, he had the sense of humour of a limpet whelk. But he was a good guy at heart, who jumped around like a maniac when Gryffindor won the House Championship and the Quidditch Cup. In fact, I think Jackie may have referred to ME as Percy for almost all of the above reasons. So his subsequent estrangement and disowning of the family was awful. Thus when we walked back in, admitted his fallacies, and then got down to duelling against top-notch Death Eaters, I was ready to forgive him. I especially liked how quickly his family took him back, showing the Weasley’s have more ‘family’ in them than anyone other than the Malfoy’s.

4. Dobby’s Death – This was, for me, the most real of all the deaths in the book. For some reason Lupin and Tonks didn’t really hit me, acting as they did off-camera. I never was overly attached to the twins, and I already knew a Weasley was going to have to die, so I was prepared for Fred’s death. But Dobby – who had been so loyal to Harry right through to the end – died in Harry’s arms, and that was a bitter pill for me to swallow.

5. Dudley’s Maturity - Very few people remains bullies forever. At 17, Dudley appears to have finally grown out of his parents imbecility and shows a bit of spine. He first is the tipping balance on the Dursley’s finding protection, insisting he’s going with the Order, his actually caring about what was going to happen to Harry, and finally his commenting – in true reluctant friendly fashion – “I don’t think you’re a waste of space,” which managed to help bridge the gap between some of the most fervent Muggles and the best of Wizarding in one line. This is the kind of understanding that needs to be worked towards as a greater theme of the book, and it was Dudley who made the step.

6. BITCH – Not going to lie – I did NOT expect to see this word in JKR’s work. I also didn’t expect to see it capitalized, isolated and coming out of the mouth of the Ultimate Mother, Molly Weasley. But I probably shouldn’t have been so surprised. This scene is great, since it shows how when family is on the line, Molly Weasley is more terrifying and a better dueller than Sirius Black. She takes down Bellatrix Lestrange, while enduring taunts about her dead son and danger to her daughter, and does so screaming “NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!” That’s a pretty powerful moment, the kind that makes you go “YEAH!” out loud, then look around and remember its 7:15 in the morning and people are probably trying to sleep.

7. Luna’s Mural – If you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m a fan of the oddball and of sentimentality. Luna Lovegood – the oddballest of them all – having painted her friends onto the ceiling of her room, linked by the word ‘friends’ is such a heartstring tugging touch that I couldn’t help like it. It really showed the more generous side of the trio, who for all their bravery and admitted cockiness, truly are there for everyone. More than that, though, it shows how this comes back to help them time again, as Luna (and Neville – more on him in a second) are always battlers and loyal.

8. Neville’s Moment – He had the big one in the first book, when he got the final 10 points from Dumbledore to give Gryffindor the House Cup. He had a huge one in the DA, when he and Luna were the only ones who showed up to fight. And he had the biggest one in Deathly Hallows, when it was him who was entrusted with the death of Nagini, and him who walked straight to Voldemort and a whole crowd of Death Eaters, and did some serious snake sushi slicing. A lot of other wizards hung back in the face of the terror, but a true Gryffindor didn’t.

9. Cracking the Codenames – I know that neither McNutt brother picked this one up, so the fact that I did makes me feel a bit smarter. There were codenames given to the radio commentators, all beginning with ‘R’. Most people just liked the alliteration, but it struck me that there had to be something else. Thus…

a. River – Lee Jordan: Winding its way through the Middle East is the River Jordan.

b. Royal – Kingsley Shacklebolt: King = Royalty. Voila.

c. Romulus – Remus Lupin: Remus and Romulus were the brothers who founded Rome after having been raised by wolves. It was nice to see the other half get his due as a character name.

d. Rapier/Rodent – A Weasley Twin: This is the one that I wasn’t sure of… its possible that it was for the Weasley’s ‘rapier wit’, which makes a bit of sense. My Newfie friend Ms. Ryan has a more compelling argument, that this is a callback to the twin’s departure of Hogwarts, when their final attack was a combination of sneaky/rodent-like behaviour, or a final rapier-thrust into the gut… depending on how you look at it.

10. The Kiss – It was SPEW stuff that did it in the end. Ron’s wanting to ensure the safety of House Elves meant that Hermione wanted to play tonsil hockey. But it was a long time coming, and Ron got the best girl of the lot – showing that not everything goes to Harry in the end.