First of all, let me just say . . . Being Sad is not my most beloved of leisure activities,
and I have spent more time Being Sad in my leisure time this past week than doing anything else.
AND I BLAME ALL OF YOU.
 |
| Teddy is my only friend now. |
There were just a couple of
times when I took a break from Being Sad to be Cautiously Amused. Like when Ginny thought she heard Ron and
Hermione say something about the bathroom right before disappearing together for
a prolonged period of time. (They were gathering Basilisk fangs in the Chamber
of Secrets, obviously. Geez. Get your minds out of the gutter.)
Speaking of Ron and Hermione going on solo missions to
remote parts of Hogwarts, the first time WE see them kiss is the first time
Harry sees them kiss, which is right after Ron says a nice thing about
house-elves. But I’m not entirely convinced that was their first kiss. Almost
completely certain it wasn’t, actually. Or maybe it was. I just realized I’m
not all that invested in this theory.
But do you know what theory I AM invested in? (Look at all
my smooth segues today! I’ve just ruined them by pointing them out, haven’t I?)
The good ship Potterfoy. I will go DOWN with that ship holding tight to just
a couple of tidbits. I can live off tidbits for AGES.
Tidbit #1: "'Don’t kill him! DON’T KILL HIM!' Malfoy yelled
at Crabbe and Goyle, who were both aiming at Harry" (pp. 631–631).
Tidbit #2: "Malfoy was screaming and holding Harry so
tightly it hurt" (p. 634).
Damn. Fresh out of tidbits.
Another theory I’ve been working on (i.e., thought of just
now) has to do with perhaps the only big secret Severus Snape succeeded in
taking to his grave.
"With a tingle of horror, Harry saw in the distance a huge, batlike shape flying through the darkness toward the perimeter wall." (p. 599)
 |
| Snape was Batman. |
I didn’t shed actual tears at any point in this last book.
(There was a LOT of lip trembling and throat tightening. I’m not a robot.) But
the most emotional moments for me were the ones that continued a tiny thread
from the very first book. Like when Hermione yells at Ron: "Are you a wizard,
or what?" (p. 651). And when Hagrid tenderly carries through the woods what he
thinks is Harry’s body . . . much like when Hagrid carried a smaller Harry
to the doorstep of Number 4 Privet Drive. And when we see through Snape’s
memories how hurt Petunia was that she wasn’t magical like her little sister—a
hurt she carried into adulthood. And when Neville’s Gryffindor qualities (the
ones that made it possible for him to stand up to his friends in those
little-boy PJs) fully manifest in the absence of Harry, Ron, and Hermione at
Hogwarts.
It’s like, in this last section, everyone’s very best qualities
come out (even Kreacher’s). Which makes it all the more painful when some of
these people are taken away from us.
And that means I can’t put this off any longer. It’s time
for the final, and most painful . . .
1. Crabbe (burned in hellfire of his own making)
2. Fred (I refuse to talk about it.)
3. Lavender Brown (fell from a balcony; briefly savaged by
Fenrir Grayback)
4. Severus Snape (received Hicky of Death from Nagini)
5. Lupin and Tonks (manner of death unknown)
6. Colin Creevey (manner of death unknown)
7. Bellatrix (cursed by badass Mama Weasley)
8. Voldemort (was his own undoing)
9. Fifty others (I'm sure they died bravely and well.)
 |
| And Draco and Harry AREN'T best friends in 19 years?! |
