Lessons from Re-Reading Harry Potter

Today is my favorite Harry Potter character’s birthday.

Happy birthday, Luna Lovegood!

In honor of me actually knowing something like that, I thought it would be fun to write up a little post about the things that have been hitting me a little more poignantly as Derek has been reading the Harry Potter series out loud to the kids for the past year and a half or so. (We’re in the middle of book 6 right now)!

Of course, I got up this morning and was trying to remember all the things I’ve been sort of squirreling away in my brain in preparation for a post like this and I’m sure I’ve forgotten most of them.

How very Luna Lovegood of me.

But I’ll do my best to remember.

The Beauty of the Weasley Family

Something that has struck me a lot throughout this re-read of the series is just how beautiful the Weasley family is. Sure, they have their difficulties and they are not perfect, but they are first and foremost, a family. They are the thing Harry has wanted all his life.

As we were reading book 2, and Harry gets to see Ron’s house for the first time, I was struck by how different Harry and Ron’s perspectives are on that moment. Ron has had this family his whole life. He takes them for granted. Though he loves them fiercely, he’s also just a little bit embarrassed by them, and worried how they will appear to his best friend.

Meanwhile, the Weasley family is everything Harry has ever wanted. Large, sprawling, comfortable with each other with that familial kind of understanding and love and chaos that he has longed for in the depths of his soul.

In that moment, you see that Harry would gladly give his right arm to be Ronald Weasley. And Ron never really understands that. He’s simply relieved that Harry doesn’t turn his nose up at them.

I have been struck again by how the Weasleys are in many ways the beating heart of the story. This simple, beautiful, chaotic, wholesome family. The thing that Harry sees throughout the books as “the way it should be.”

The Tragedy of Snape

Another thing that has stood out to me this time around is the tragedy surrounding Severus Snape. And it’s struck me that the true tragedy of this character is how he could have been so very much more than what he was.

Snape could have been Harry’s hero.

All he had to do was greet him with a smile on that first day at Hogwarts and tell him, “Your mum was the best friend I ever had.”

All he had to do was give a kind word and tell Harry stories about Lily. Harry would have idolized him.

He also could have been the best potions teacher Hogwarts ever saw. Snape was a brilliant wizard and he could have passed that brilliance on to generations, teaching them to think outside the box (and the book). He could have written books. He could have moved beyond the fact that he hated James Potter.

But he didn’t.

And that is the true tragedy of Snape.

Snape’s Worst Memory

And that leads me to the moment in book 5 when Harry looks into the pensieve and sees Snape’s Worst Memory (the title of the chapter). And it struck me that I had never really understood why that particular memory was Snape’s “worst” memory.

Upon initial reading, it sort of seems like Snape is hiding this memory because he’s embarrassed by it or still hurt by how James and Sirius bullied him.

But that’s not why it’s Snape’s worst memory.

This time around, re-reading the story, it struck me exactly why Snape protects this memory, why it is a wound that will not heal.

It’s the moment his friendship with Lily ended.

In his hurt and frustration and anger, he lashes out at her and calls her a “mudblood” and it effectively ends their friendship forever. And while he blames Sirius and James for that moment, he is tortured by the fact that he knows it was truly his own fault.

Traditionally Published Authors Aren’t Perfect

Even super famous ones.

This is not a criticism. It’s just been a good reminder to me that famous and beloved are not synonyms for perfect.

As a very brief example: Harry should have been able to see the thestrals pulling the carriages at the end of book 4.

“Hermione turned away, smiling at the horseless carriages that were now trundling toward them up the drive…”

As an author, it is just encouraging to see that there are inconsistencies/mistakes like this in brilliant, traditionally published, beloved stories like Harry Potter, too.

It’s not just indie authors.

The Cunning of Dumbledore

It’s interesting, reading the books again. I see Dumbledore in a bit of a different light, and I’m afraid I’m not sure I like him.

I feel like he makes a lot of excuses for why he doesn’t tell Harry things. He argues that he cares too much and wanted Harry to be spared from any further hurt or sadness.

But I’m not sure I believe him. I think Dumbledore lets certain events play out through Harry Potter because he is involved in an epic game of wizard’s chess against Voldemort. When he knows that Harry is having dreams about a certain door and he suspects that Voldemort wants a specific prophecy, and he has the ability to just tell Harry about it (and tell him the whole prophecy so that Harry won’t have any need to go to the Ministry of Magic to try to hear the thing himself… thereby erasing Harry’s own curiosity and preventing him from being taken in by Voldemort’s trick later)… he doesn’t. And I think he doesn’t because he needs Voldemort to show himself, to tip his hand, to convince the wizarding world that he is back, so that he can no longer operate in the shadows.

And I don’t think he does it because he’s unkind or because he doesn’t care about Harry. But I do think that he does it out of arrogance and pride in his own abilities, fully believing that he is capable of manipulating Voldemort and protecting Harry all at the same time.

And to some extent, he is right.

Luna Lovegood

Oh, Luna. She has always been my favorite character, and as we re-read the series, she continues to be my favorite character.

I love this quirky, lonely, awkward little bean so very much. Even though she doesn’t show up until book 5, she is one of the brightest, purest things in the whole series.

"That's right," said Luna encouragingly, as if they were back in the Room of Requirement and this was simply spell practice for the D.A. "That's right, Harry... come on, think of something happy..."

"Something happy?" he said, his voice cracked.

"We're all still here," she whispered, "we're still fighting. Come on, now..."

Do you re-read your favorite stories? I think that the importance of re-reading is often overlooked in our quest as book dragons to read more all the time. I really enjoy re-reading my favorite stories. Since I am always a slightly different person than I was the last time I read something, I always pick up new lessons from those old favorites or see things in a different light than I saw them in before.

What is a book you’ve reread recently? Or want to reread again soon? Or loved so much it’s tattered almost to pieces because you’ve read it so much?