So after reading “The Half Blood Prince” I felt compelled to finish the series again. So I decided to read “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” again.
I found reading the book this time so much more enjoyable than when I did when I read it in July of 2007. I also think that because I read “The Half Blood Prince” right before, I was able to understand more of it.
So, the thing I wanted to talk about was the chapter “King’s Cross” which I am going to discuss in detail this time instead of being remotely conscientious of anyone who may have not read the book so here it comes:
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SPOILER ALERT
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So as we know, Voldemort uses the killing curse on Harry Potter, who goes into the and does not attempt to defend himself. The first time I read this, I was completely confused why Harry did not die, and I read this chapter twice to figure it out. Eventually it made some sort of sense in my brain, but I remember thinking “umm….so he isn’t dead. Fine, what happens next?” and continued on my marry way.
According to Dumbledore the secret lies in Voldemort’s decision to rebuild his living body with Harry’s blood. Therefore, the protection spell that Harry’s mother cast now lives in both of them. Dumbledore says “He tethered you to life while he lives.”
Harry, and everyone else, is kind of confused. Because it just makes it sound like that both of them would need to die in order to get rid of him. However, because Harry is a Horcrux the answer seems clear. As Dumbledore says:
“You were the seventh Horcux, Harry, the Horcrux he never meant to make. He had rendered his soul so unstable that it broke apart when he committed those acts of unspeakable evil, the murder of your parents, the attempted killing of a child. But what escaped from that room was even less than he knew. He left more than his body behind. He left part of himself latched to you, the would-be victim who had survived.”
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“He took your blood believing it would strengthen him. He took into his body a tiny part of the enchantment your mother laid upon you when she died. His body keeps her sacrifice alive, and while the enchantment survives, so do you and so does Voldemort’s one last hope for himself.”
I feel this actually answers the question. Lily cast an enchantment which prevent Voldemort from being able to kill Harry with the killing curse. The first time he tried he lost a part of his soul in Harry, and lost his body for the time being. When Voldemort casts the death spell again, he obliterates his own Horcrux, but he does not obliterate Harry. So Harry is once again, “The Boy Who Lived” thanks to Lily’s magnificent enchantment. The power of love was of not interest to Voldemort, so he knew not what he was doing when he used Harry’s blood in the way he did. He just made the connection even stronger. So basically, Harry and Voldemort get a do over, only this time, it really counts. Because Voldemort has no more Horcruxs, except Nagini who gets her head cut off in the next chapter.
Dumbledore is also correct in that in Harry, is Voldemort’s one last hope. Before Harry and Voldemort cast their final spells at each other, Harry gives him one last chance. He asks him to show remorse. Doing so, would allow Voldemort to tap into some of that magic which is stronger than his own, but of course Voldemort does not, and dies.
So that is my personal take on it. I think I had to approach it this time in reading only those elements which explain how Harry lived, and then I could go back through the chapter to learn about the Hallows and everything else.
