Q2 Blog Post #3

So yesterday I finished the seventh Harry Potter book, and I am simply amazed at the writing ability of J.K. Rowling yet again. She must have had every single important detail of the plotline planned out from day one, because without key elements from the previous six books, the seventh book could not have been written as amazingly as it is. It cleans up any loose ends, and still holds an element of surprise when the reader begins to think that all hope is lost.

The Deathly Hallows begins with Voldemort and his followers, showing the beginning of his regime as the most powerful wizard, yet again. The consensus on Snape is still that he betrayed Dumbledore and anyone against the Dark Lord. He joins in the chase after Harry when Harry is being moved from his home on #4 Privet Drive to the Burrow, and one of the Twins' ears is blown off. Hedwig is killed, as well. These are just the beginning of the killings that are yet to come in the fight every wizard faces to be free from Voldemort.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione set off to find the remaining Horcruxes and destroy them, encountering a great many obstacles along the way. They have no idea how to destroy the Horcruxes they have got, until one night they find the sword of Godric Gryffindor in the lake. They destroy the locket from the descendants of Slytherin. Tonks and Lupin get married, and have a baby named Teddy, after Tonks' father. Harry is named Godfather. The three teenagers proceed to break into Gringotts and escape very narrowly on the back of a dragon, getting the cup of Helga Hufflepuff which is the fourth horcrux in the process.

In between all of this Harry discovers the existence of the Deathly Hallows, three separate objects which together would allow the owner to master death. He has the Invisibility Cloak, and the Resurrection Stone, (which happened to be one of the Horcruxes) but does not beat Voldemort to the Elder Wand. The Elder Wand is the most powerful wand of all wands, and it would be almost impossible to beat anyone that had it.

Harry needed to find the fifth Horcrux quickly, because Voldemort discovered that Harry had found out about them. Harry escaped into Hogwarts, and immediately the entire castle began armoring themselves for a huge battle. Everyone wanted to help while Harry tried to find the lost diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw, which he soon realized he had already seen in the Room of Requirement. He raced there, only to be confronted by Malfoy and his two best friends. A cursed fire spread rapidly through the room from Crabbe's doing, which incidentally destroyed the diadem in the process. Harry saved Malfoy, twice that night in fact, from death as well.

Harry needed to kill the snake Nagini, which he knew had to be the sixth horcrux. He saw in Voldmort's mind that he was in the Shrieking Shack, and rushed there. He listened at the door and realized that he was about to kill Snape. He left immediately after doing so, and Harry rushed in to see Snape beckoning him to catch his memories. Harry went back to the castle and watched them in the Pensieve, realizing that Dumbledore had a much bigger plan all along, and that Snape had not, in fact, killed Dumbledore. Snape had been in love with Harry's mother, and therefore decided he would do all he could to protect Harry's life. Harry also realized he himself was the seventh horcrux... And that for Voldemort to die, he too would have to die along with him.

He began to go find Voldemort and accept his death- after all, Fred had already been killed in the battle, along with Tonks and Lupin, and he did not want anyone else to die for him. Along the way, he told Neville to kill the snake the next chance he got, in case he couldn't himself.

Harry faced Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest when the time was almost out for the rest of his friends, and Voldemort used the killing curse on him- Harry did not protest. As it turns out, this actually saves Harry and kills the part of Voldemort's soul inside of him instead. He pretends to stay dead, as Voldemort brings him through the crowd to show them that their hero is dead. Neville kills Nagini, and Harry proceeds to slip off to fight Voldemort on his own. He kills Voldemort, and he wins the war he fought for so long.

There are so many details that make the story so amazing and mind boggling, and it is impossible to recreate the suspense and inability to quit reading it in just a blog. Truly an amazing work, and a stroke of genius to have a chapter titled "Nineteen Years Later", which shows Harry and Ginny married, Ron and Hermione married, and their children being sent off to Hogwarts.

I loved this book, and series itself!

Stacey