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Last week, I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, completing this year’s reread of the Harry Potter series. I have so enjoyed this reread, as I enjoy it every year, but I have particularly enjoyed writing down all my thoughts as I read the books and sharing those thoughts with you. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading them.

If you’re just joining in now, you can find my thoughts on Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets here and Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, and Order of the Phoenix here.

So here are my random thoughts on the last two books in the series. As always, there will be spoilers, so if you haven’t read the books and don’t want to be spoiled, stop reading now.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

I really love the opening chapter of this book, “The Other Minister.” It not only does an excellent job of catching the reader up on what has happened since Voldemort revealed himself at the ministry at the end of Order of the Phoenix and how the whole world has changed since then, but it also is just a great Muggle perspective of the wizarding world we have become so accustomed to by now. It’s a really great opening to the book.

“Spinner’s End” is also a great chapter, and I think it’s interesting whether you know or do not know the truth about Snape. The first time I read it, I definitely took it as confirmation of Snape actually being on Voldemort’s side, which I think was a big part of the point. Rereading it now that I know all the truth, it’s really cool to see how well Snape acts, particularly when you consider that Wormtail is living with him, and he must hate Wormtail as much as he hated Sirius (it was Wormtail, really, who got Lily killed after all). I do wonder about Wormtail’s presence though. He isn’t important to the rest of the plot of this book, so I kind of feel like he’s there to remind the reader that he exists before he reappears in the seventh book.

I love how everything about this book exudes a darker tone and how Harry and his friends are treated much more like adults. Like when Harry first arrives at the Burrow, the conversation he has with Molly Weasley while he’s eating soup is a much more adult conversation than any in previous books. Same goes for his feeling that he can confide his suspicions about Malfoy to Arthur. We see it in how Diagen Alley has changed too, and that everything at Hogwarts seems more tense. Poor Hannah Abbott!

This brings me to the point about the sixth book that annoys me. Harry just becomes obsessed with Draco Malfoy and what he’s up to, to the exclusion of everything else. For one thing, it feels like a repeat of the first book when they’re convinced that Snape is trying to steal the sorcerer’s stone, except this time there’s barely any proof that Malfoy is up to anything bad, at least for a good chunk of the book. And the problem isn’t so much that Harry is obsessed. The problem is that he’s right. It just irks me.

Harry also becomes an annoying person around the Half-Blood Prince’s potions book, and he winds up doing a lot of things that feel totally outside his character. Like in Order of the Phoenix he is really upset when he sees how his father bullied Snape and hears that his father walked around Hogwarts jinxing people who annoyed him. And in this book, Harry is totally fine with trying out the Prince’s pretty gruesome spells on Crabbe and Filch, just because he can. This is actually kind of an interesting point, because as annoying as I find it, it’s kind of a cool point to show how much Harry trusts Snape (the book actually makes this point at the end).

If Malfoy wasn’t in Hogsmeade because he was in detention, how did he put Madam Rosmerta under the imperius curse? I assume he used an accomplice, like Harry said when he, Ron, and Hermione are debating the necklace incident. But a lot of the specifics of how malfoy’s plan came together get answered in the end, and this doesn’t.

Another thing that annoys me about this book is that while it’s cool to learn about Voldemort’s past, it isn’t really an interesting backstory. He’s a sociopath. He’s been a sociopath for forever. Personally,I prefer villains who have a reason—even a bad reason—for being villains. But maybe that’s just me. That being said, eleven-year-old Voldemort is quite creepy.

Okay, so while I like a lot of the elements of this book, it doesn’t feel as well put together as the earlier books in the series, particularly in the middle. It’s just kind of messy.

I appreciate that Dumbledore gives Harry a talking to about not getting the memory. He deserved that one hundred percent.

Dumbledore and Voldemort’s meeting is really fascinating.

If I wrote fanfic, I would most definitely write the Slughorn Christmas Party between Tom Riddle leaving school and Voldemort showing his true colors in which it’s obvious to Dumbledore that he’s a bad guy, but they’ve both been invited and have to make civil conversation while actually hating each other.

So if I have my timeline right, which I may not, the defense against the dark arts job has been jinxed for like forty years? Wow.

Ugh I hate that Harry uses sectumsempra on Malfoy. I like it for the story, but I hate it for Harry. It makes me so uncomfortable and angry with him, which is totally the point.

A lot of people hate on the Harry and Ginny romantic pairing. I don’t hate it, but I don’t absolutely love it either. I think part of the reason why is that we don’t spend a lot of time with them as a couple to really get attached to it and be upset when Harry breaks it off to protect her. There’s also a lot of telling and not showing that happens both with the buildup to the relationship and the relationship itself. I know having characters be happy is hard to write, but instead of just saying over and over again that Harry is happier than he’s been in a while, show us. And while Ginny is certainly more developed in the books than the movies, she’s still always kept outside important things like knowledge about the prophecy and the horcruxes, and that all stops me from really getting behind their relationship.

I don’t really like Harry exploding at Dumbledore about Snape being the one who told Voldemort about the prophecy. It makes complete sense based on everything we know about Harry and Snape, but hasn’t he exploded at Dumbledore enough for the series?

I think after this reread, I would say Half-Blood Prince is probably my least favorite of the books, for all the reasons I’ve mentioned so far. I just don’t like hanging out with Harry as much when he’s so obsessive, I don’t like that he’s right, I think the plot is in general weaker, and I wish Voldemort’s backstory was more interesting and not just Voldemort was born evil and just became more evil.

That being said, the climax of this book is awesome and creepy and then terrifying and then heartbreaking, and it leads into the seventh book so well.

Speaking of, it’s a good thing none of the horcruxes they track down in the seventh book are protected the way the cave is. If they had to search through thin air for magic like Dumbledore does, they would never get there.

I know Dumbledore drinking the potion is more dramatic, but seriously would it be against Voldemort’s cave rules to fill the cup with potion and just dump it on the ground or vanish it once it’s in the cup or whatever?

Malfoy must be good at the imperius curse to keep Rosmerta acting so normally all the time. Harry doesn’t do so well himself in the seventh book.

This must be a really interesting book from Dumbledore’s perspective, because he spent a lot of time this year trying to keep Harry off Malfoy and Snape’s trail—not that he does a very good job of it—but still.

This is another one of those endings where I hope every time that it will be different.

The end of this book is a little like a recap of the whole series, which works really well as a lead into the seventh book, which ditches the school-year formula the first six books have followed.

And I just love that Ron and Hermione continue to stand with Harry all the way.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The first chapter of this book is so, so creepy. It sets the tone well. And I love how from then on, things just take off and don’t stop.

I always wondered why Harry, Ron, and Hermione didn’t bring at least one cauldron with them. Like it wouldn’t have been that farfetched that they would need to make some potions.

HEDWIG!!!! Why? I mean, I know why, don’t answer that. But it makes me so, so sad! Poor Hedwig!

And Moody! It’s wild how so much of us getting attached to Moody happened in the fourth book when he wasn’t Moody. But losing him is still just so awful!

So when Hermione is sorting books, she puts Numerology and Grammatica on one pile of books and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts on the other, and I can’t figure out which pile she put which on. Again, I wish I knew more about arithmancy. Also why in the world is she indecisive about Break with a Banshee? Trash it already.

Not a big deal but I always wondered what happened to Crookshanks and Pigwidgeon when the three go off on their quest for horcruxes.

I would love to know Mrs. Weasley’s feelings on Harry and Ginny and the fact that they were dating and are now broken up.

I love how J. K. Rowling keeps the tension up through the scenes at the Burrow and on to the wedding and the aftermath. Things just continue to be really tense even when they’re in Grimauld Place trying to find the locket. And of course the sequence at the Ministry is just great.

It’s never quite clear to me if the reason the Death Eaters are hanging out outside Grimauld Place is because they know Harry owns the house or because they’ve been saying Voldemort’s name. You’d think there would be more out there if it was because they were saying the name. Because they would know for sure that they were in there.

Also when did Ron start saying Voldemort’s name? He was always so strongly against it, and all of a sudden he’s saying it.

Kreacher’s tale is horrifying.

I’m really curious why any muggle borns would turn themselves in to the Ministry for questioning. Like they at least should be aware of muggle history, right? Whatever the reason, the interrogation of muggleborns scene is really scary.

I really hope the Cattermoles made it out of the Ministry. I want to know what happened to them.

Also, I’m curious if Mr.Weasley puts two and two together and realizes that he wasn’t talking to Runcorn once he knows that there were intruders in the Ministry.

And of course, Umbridge is the worst.

The thing I love about the sequence in the Ministry is that it calls back so much to the fifth book. It’s yet another example of just how well put-together these books are.

A week or so ago, while we were playing trivia, I was talking with my friends about wizarding religion. Wizards celebrate Christmas, but it’s very secular. There is Easter break, but there isn’t any celebration of Easter beyond Mrs. Weasley sending the kids Easter eggs. Usually the Easter holidays is the time when the schoolwork ramps up, and we get into the climax of the book. But it was never religious. Students didn’t usually go home (Deathly Hallows is the exception and who can blame them), and there wasn’t even Easter dinner at Hogwarts. So there really isn’t a lot of religion in the wizarding world. There’s possibly some religion at Dumbledore’s funeral and at Bill and Fleur’s wedding, but the line between magical ceremonies and religious ceremonies is blurry. On the other hand, when Harry buries Moody’s eye, he marks the tree with a cross. I wonder if that’s a wizarding thing or if it’s because of Harry’s muggle upbringing.

And now we come to the point that seems most contentious, at least in my circle of Harry Potter fans: the time they spend in the tent. I know so many people who dislike this book for this segment, even call it Harry Potter and the Neverending Camping Trip. I admit that things can be a bit slow at this point in the book, but I don’t dislike it. The truth is they don’t know where the other horcruxes are, they’re in real danger all the time, they’re struggling to find food, and feeling isolated from the rest of the wizarding world and abandoned by Dumbledore. This is really important to their journey throughout the rest of the book. Cutting away from Harry’s point of view at this point and showing us what’s going on in the rest of the wizarding world wouldn’t, as a couple of friends think, solve the problem. For one thing, it feels like a cheat to get away from a part of the book that I imagine was difficult to write and certainly isn’t the easiest to get through. We’ve never left Harry’s point of view in the middle of the book before except in his visions of Voldemort, which are still his point of view, and those couple of times in the first book when we got Ron’s and Hermione’s perspectives during the quidditch games for some reason. So cutting away from Harry now would feel unnatural, and personally it would have annoyed me as a reader. Second, and I’ve expressed this view before, I hate it when the reader knows things that the main characters don’t—unless there’s some deliberate dramatic irony thing going on. It would make it much harder to connect with Harry and his feelings of isolation and abandonment if we, the readers, know what’s going on out there. So no, the tent isn’t the best part of the book, , but it’s an important part of the book. Rant over.

Actually, not quite over, because this is the part where I tell you of my vision of a Netflix original adaptation of the Harry Potter books. I think in that form, we could see more of the wider wizarding world throughout the course of the whole story and it would feel much more natural than it would in the books. Also, like, Netflix originals are so good I would love to see them adapt the Harry Potter books.

I’m so mad at Ron for leaving, but it feels totally natural. Remember Goblet of Fire?

Okay, so they can’t make good fooc out of nothing, but they can visit supermarkets and they have a bag of holding. So why don’t they buy enough food to last a while? Like once they realize this is a problem, they should plan ahead.

The Godric’s Hollow sequence is great every time. So many feelings. So terrifying.

I get that Harry has doubts about Dumbledore, but I’m always surprised that the source of those doubts is Rita Skeeter, after how she twisted the truth about Harry, Hermione, and Hagrid back in Goblet of Fire. Okay, so some of what Rita wrote about was true, like Hagrid was half-giant, and Harry’s scar did hurt him, but most of it was completely made up or so twisted it was unrecognizable. Hermione reminds Harry of this a couple times when they’re talking about Dumbledore, but it never occurs to Harry that Rita Skeeter might just be wrong. Okay so there’s no skating around the for-the–greater-good letter between Dumbledore and Grindlewald, but on the other hand who’s to say Rita Skeeter couldn’t fake that too? I’m just saying while I understand that Harry has doubts about Dumbledore throughout the course of this book, and it’s perfectly natural and a really good character journey for him, I wish he didn’t accept Rita Skeeter’s version of events so readily.

Ron’s totably right. Why didn’t Harry take the horcrux off before diving into the pond? It seems like a stupid move given that they know the horcrux can be sort of alive at times. A sentence explanation could solve this problem.

I like the bits when both Harry and Hermione express frustration with their new wands, because they don’t work right. Only aside from complaining, they generaally seem to do fine with them.

Xenophilius Lovegood is heartbreaking. He just wants to save Luna. Also awful because he betrays Harry but still heartbreaking.

Not gonna lie, I would love to see the scene when the Death Eaters take Luna off the Hogwarts Express. Was the train stopped halfway back to London? Do Ginny and Neville and other members of Dumbledore’s Army put up a fight? Or did the Death Eaters wait until they got to Kings Cross and grab her on the platform or even out in the muggle station when she was alone?

Of all the encounters they’ve had with Death Eaters so far, the sequence at Malfoy Manor is by far the most terrifying.

DOBBY!!! NO!!! I cry every time, particularly when Harry writes “Here lies Dobby, a free elf” on the headstone. I’m crying now just writing about it. Poor Dobby!

Harry says that the Death Eaters will know that Hermione snapped his wand by using priori incantatem, and okay, maybe, but that was months ago, and she’s been doing that set of protective spells every day since (or almost every day, since harry complains his wand doesn’t work as well). Would the Death Eaters really have the patience to wade back through all that magic to get there? I feel like they should be more worried about the fact that the Death Eaters will know what their protective spells are. The Death Eaters could certainly deduce that Harry doesn’t have the phoenix feather wand anymore, given that none of the wands taken from Harry, Ron, and Hermione match Olivander’s description.

Once you hit Gringotts in this book, it’s sort of the point of no return. You can’t stop.

I love how so much of the Gringotts break-in harkens back to the earlier books, particularly the first book when everything was so happy and innocent.

I love the scene in the room of requirement. It really ties everything together so nicely. And it’s really fun seeing everyone back together.

The battle of Hogwarts is the most epic.

FRED!!!

I don’t know why but the image of Professor Trelawney throwing crystal balls at Death Eaters has always been really funny to me.

I feel silly, but this is the first time when I actually realized the moment when Ron looks for Crookshanks to stop the whomping willow so they can get through to the shrieking shack and Hermione says “Are you a wizard or what?” is a callback to the moment when Hermione panics over the devil’s snare in the first book and looks for wood to start a fire and Ron says “Are you a witch or what?” I love it!

Lupin! Tonks! Nooo!

The sequence of Snape’s memories is probably one of my favorite sequences in the whole series. I know there’s a lot of debate around this. Snape is a horrible, abusive person to Harry, and he should in no way be forgiven for that. I don’t get behind the idea that he was a stalker to Lily. I read this chapter as he genuinely loved her. And it’s all just so sad!

Pause for a small anecdote: When these books were first coming out, it always took almost a month for the Braille version to be printed and shipped after the print version had come out. So I had the fourth, fifth, and sixth books spoiled for me (when I started the series, the first three had already been published). For the seventh book, National Braille Press was able to work things out with the publisher so they could have an advance copy and the Braille book was on my doorstep by 10:00 AM of release day. Still, my older brother got it at midnight, so by noon or 1:00 or something, he was already finished, and I was still in the beginning middle when he called me. Now we’d been having a longstanding debate about whether Harry was going to die or not. My older brother was positive Harry was going to die. I vehemently objected to the idea, and I used the fact that Voldemort took Harry’s blood as proof. So my older brother calls me up on Deathly Hallows release day, and he’s finished the book, and I haven’t, and all I want is to discover it myself and not be spoiled. And he says, “Jameyanne, we were both right.” And before he could say more I hung up. So I got through Deathly Hallows without being spoiled, and yes, we were both right.

Colin!

Actually I have something to say about Colin dying beyond just wailing. I’ve mentioned this before in other posts, but i feel like by the time we get to Colin, it’s just too much, and it doesn’t matter, and it should. I don’t know. Like this all should be messy and people should die, because otherwise it doesn’t mean anything, and it’s unrealistic if it’s all so clean and neat, but it just feels like too much death around this point (though admittedly that depends on the mood I’m in when I’m reading this particular sequence).

Harry’s walk into the forest is just so tense and full of feelings.

The quote “Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” has always been one of my favorites in the series. But then again, I’m one of those people with whole worlds in my head, and I totally approve of the idea that they are still real.

There are just so many amazing epic moments after Harry comes back. Neville! Oh Neville is just great! And Molly is amazing!

Just one question though, how does Bellatrix know that Fred is dead? She wasn’t there. Is there like some running Death Eater score board or something we don’t know about?

The first time I read this, I wished for a more climactic duel between Harry and Voldemort. Now I think it’s perfect. Harry honestly doesn’t have the skill to battle Voldemort, Voldemort isn’t interested in  a protracted fight, and Harry taunting Voldemort with what he knows and Voldemort doesn’t understand is all amazing. Particularly when you contrast this with all Harry’s previous encounters with Voldemort, when he’s always been on the defensive and been terrified. It’s just a great moment of realizing the character development.

Voldemort referring to himself in the third person is always just kind of funny to me. Like it’s not a funny scene at all, but whenever Voldemort says something like “Lord Voldemort is happy,” or “Lord Voldemort is angry,” or “how can you dream of knowing more than Lord Voldemort” (these are not exact quotes), I crack up.

Oh I just love this ending! All of it! But especially Peeves!

I know a lot of people hate the epilogue. But I like it.

Every time I finish this series, I always need to take some time to mourn the fact that it’s over. But I’ll always be able to go back and reread them again next year.