Of Destinies and Destinations

Of Destinies and Destinations

      

       And then we all knew.  YES.  We all knew that Harry must die, and that Voldemort must do it.  And of course that’s how it’s going to end isn’t it.  It’s going to end with Harry dying and by sacrificing himself he will kill Voldemort.  Maybe the curse will kill Harry and then reflect back and kill Voldemort. 

     Harry is ready.  And when he realizes it, the snitch Dumbledore has given him reveals the secret: the resurrection stone.  

He is visited by his entire family, who help him prepare for what is about to happen.  OMG, Harry is really going to die isn’t he.  We’ll be with you, “always”.  We never lelft. OMG, Harry is really going to die isn’t he.  Yes.  And then Harry does die, and we enter the most profound scene in all the movies.  But it’s not OVER!  In the books, its chapter is simply King’s Crossing.

     Harry is dead, but so is the part of Voldemort that lives inside him.  It is “something that is beyond our help” as Dumbledore then says.  Wait, Dumbledore is here too, in this dreamlike situation.  Yes.  Of course he is.  Dumbledore, the wizard who has been protecting and with Harry the whole time, even when leading him to his own death, is there.  And now we learn the truth.  Harry is dead, but if he chooses, he can return.  And we are thrust back into the world of Harry Potter for a final time.

     It is Harry’s destiny to die.  It has been all along.  We realize this in these final moments of one of the most powerful series’ of all time.  But the destination is something that is yet to be determined.  Harry asks Dumbledore where he can go…his response…he can choose.  He has been brave, he has done all that he has been asked.  Sacrificing himself. But he thinks if he chose, he could return.  It’s his destination that is his to decide.  He has accepted his fate, but now, he makes the greatest decision of all… To end it once and forever.  And he remembers…the last enemy to be conquered is death.

     It is something more than just a simple choice in this matter. Harry has done his part.  He has given his very life.  But Harry returns not just because he wants to, but because of a love that he traveled throughout the entire series.  It is love that leads him to become the person he was born to be, to finish the story that started 17 years before and to show that love is at the core of every piece of this story. 

     The world without love is a world that shouldn’t exist. Voldemort’s world, his quest for power is not about love.  It’s a reason why Harry pitty’s him, why Dumdledore can see the hope in Harry.  There is love that has surrounded him the entire story. It is Lilly’s love and sacrifice which has kept him alive.  The love that saved him on the night when Voldemort killed his parents, the love that protected him against the worst things the world could carry.  But there was also love from Dumbledore and Snape, from the Weasley’s and from Hermoine.  And when love is given in such bountiful quantities, a love that in every moment could have turned away and the hope to end Voldemort’s reign ended, that Love transforms Harry.

     He has been loved, and thus he returns, his destination is a world that needs him, back from the destiny of death and into a further destiny to live.  The boy who lived, who came to die, who embraced death like an old friend, he lives.  IT’S NOT OVER

     And boy does he make an appearance, especially in the movies.  A speech, a moment, and then just like that Harry has returned.  His death is but a moment, but his life is a mystery to Voldemort, who now realizes that there is something even more amazing than a single survival story to this boy. 

     Harry didn’t want anyone to die for him.  And now it’s going to end.  Because no one else is going to die for him.  the enemy to be conquered is death.  And so, the dual of the fates begins and ends quicker than we might have thought.  It is in the end that Harry is rewarded.  He has disarmed Draco, who has disarmed Dumdledore, and he is the master  of the elder wand.  It is the end of Voldemort, a man who loved power but it didn’t seek to love him back.  And Voldemort dies. 

     The end of Harry Potter is something that takes all of our passion.  It is a story of good and evil, of kindness and care, of power and control.  But it is in its end a story of love.  Without Lily, Harry would not have survived that night.  Without Dumbledore, even when absent, Harry would not have been able to do what he was supposed to do.  Without Snape, Voldemort would have learned the secret, without Hermoine and Ron, Harry would have never made it through the obstacles throughout the years.  It is love.  and that’s what we need to accomplish the hardest things in the world. 

     Why would we as Christians not share out love.  Not share the care of the world that has been shared with us.  Harry Potter is a reminder for us that the gospel message can come in many ways.  It doesn’t always have to come packed into a book with scripture but can be outlined in the stories that change us, even if no one called Harry Potter ever lived literally.  But he does live in each of us, in some of us even more particularly.  We see the world as J.K. Rowling describes it right in front of us.  Those stories, those pieces of our fictional history that capture us forever like Harry Potter, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings.  They are all very true.  And in each of them, we come to learn about ourselves.  The Bible might be the same for us if we ever took the time to consider it.  It may not all be factual, it may not have happened that way, but it is true.

     Now, let us go forth, embracing the truth of the world and the realization that in everything we need to love and be loved.  We must accept that our destiny is something more than just the everyday comforts of our dorm rooms and lounge spaces.  Something greater is required.  But the destination is up to you.  You just have to let go of all things that have stopped you before.  And then, you might come to truly love.  And truly live.  No matter what the story.  This is the gospel according to Harry Potter.  Love.