What Will You Decide?

The Elder Wand is the final piece of the puzzle to complete the Deathly Hallows. It's a symbol of ultimate power and control in the wizarding world. A sign that you cannot be beat if you possess the wand to beat all other wands. In the end, Harry is the one to win it from Draco, even though he got it from defeating Voldemort. The Dark One was never supposed to possess in the first place. Draco, for technically winning the wand from Dumbledore by disarming him, has possession of it first, then Harry wins it from Draco, when he beats him and takes his wand. After the final battle, Harry really doesn't want the wand, once Hermione explains to him how it is now his to own. He doesn't want that kind of power. He prefers his wand, his phoenix feather wand, over all others, so the only thing he uses it for is to fix that one. Then he gives it back to its previous owner, and puts it back into Dumbledore's grave, where it belonged.

Extra Credit Post - Long Live Longbottom!

After reading the final book again, I have come to the conclusion that Neville is by far my favorite character besides the trio. He shows great growth since the beginning f this adventure and we finally get to see his true colors. After things just go from bad to worse, when the world is falling to its knees at the hands of Voldemort and his army, the trio must find and destroy the horcruxes. But then that leaves the question of what is becoming of Hogwarts while they are gone? Who will the students look to for leadership and rally with to defeat the 'bad thing' this time? Surprisingly, Neville is the one to step up and take over. When we finally run into him again, we see that he's taken the role that Harry once had and he is helping students to fight back and take back the school, little by little. He even participates in the fight and killing the snake with the Sword of Gryffindor. This is totally backwards from what we have seen of him before. Back in his first year, he was meek and he really didn't pose any sort of threat. Now, he has proven to everyone that he is a force to be reckoned with. By the time the book ends, I saw him in a whole new light. He's not weak and he's not a coward. He's smart and brave, and he is the underdog. Thinking of him and how his character developed in the last book, it reminds me of a phrase said to me plenty of times, "Be careful of the quiet ones. They'll be the ones to surprise you."

Extra credit post

Kreacher

One character that changed a lot during the last book was Kreacher. Indeed, Kreacher was very loyal to the entire Black family except Sirius Black, whom he hated, “Master Sirius ran away, good riddance" (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 193). He was forced to follow the orders Sirius was giving him, but he would always be rude with him. The house-elf was also being very hostile to Harry, Ron and Hermione because he thought they were not worthy of his dead master. He was always murmuring insults at them, and he kept the house very dirty on purpose, “Harry saw his lips moving soundlessly, undoubtedly framing the insults he was now forbidden to utter” (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 191). He considered that the house on Grimmauld Place belonged to his old master and that Sirius was not his true master.

After Sirius death, Harry inherited the house and Kreacher. Again, the house-elf was not respectful and he did not want to serve his new master, Harry. However, his attitude changed after Harry, Ron and Hermione gave him the locket that had once belonged to his old master Regulus, Sirius’ brother. Kreacher grew less hostile and was happier than he had been in a great number of years, resuming most of the duties expected of him, including cleaning the filthy kitchen “the kitchen was unrecognizable. Every surface now shone” (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 225).

            By treating the house-elf with respect, we see that Kreacher respected the person back. It shows that not only humans deserve to be treated properly, but all other creatures have to be shown respect, too. At the end of the book, he was very courageous and led the house elves into the fray during the battle of Hogwarts saying “Fight for my Master, defender of house-elves! Fight the Dark Lord” (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 734). Therefore, we can say that Kreacher has come a long way, and in the end we feel sympathy and respect for him. He is not all about hate and insults, but he is just very loyal to the people he loves.

Extra Credit Blog: Neville-Character Development

One of the character's who makes the most drastic changes throughout the series in Neville.
In the first books, we see him as shy and awkward, and the butt of a lot of jokes. He is constantly teased. He is yelled at and embarrassed by his grandma at school though a Howler. In the early books, the heroes are always Harry, Ron and Hermione, and sometimes some of the adults. Neville is never really seen and kind of takes a back seat. We know him as the student who is worst at Potions and tortured by Snape.

As the books progress, Neville's strengths begin to peak. We find that he is talented in Herbology, the best in class. We find that he is a lot like Harry because his parents were tortured by Voldemort. It gives us a new respect for Neville, recognizing that he must have a lot of strength in order to continually visit his parents even though they are pretty much vegetables and can't interact with or remember him at all. He's faced this hardship alone and hasn't told anyone or confided in his friends.

Later, Neville shows his bravery and loyalty to Harry when he joins Dumbledore's Army. He is willing to fight and wanting to defend his friends and Hogwarts. In the last book, I believe that Neville's coming of age story is capped off when he kills Nagini. I enjoyed that Neville was the one to do this, because we learned through the prophecy that "The Chosen One" could have been either Harry or Neville. I feel like it was his shining moment that he deserved, and felt that it was necessary to seek revenge for Voldemort torturing his parents.

Draco Malfoy (Extra Credit Blog)

                                                     Draco Malfoy              

  Draco Malfoy has been Harry’s arch enemy in school from the beginning of the series. He has always been horrible to Harry and everyone else. However, at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I began to feel pity for Draco when he has to watch a former teacher from his school be murdered and eaten by a snake. When Voldemort kills Charity she falls on the table. On page 12 it says, “Draco fell out of his chair onto the floor. ‘Dinner, Nagini’, said Voldemort”. His family is not in good standing with Voldemort. When Harry, Ron, and Hermione are captured by snatchers Draco will not positively identify Harry, even though he surely recognizes him. In the book Rowling says that Draco’s expression is full of reluctance and fear when his father asks him to identify Harry and simply replies, “I don’t know”. Draco also refuses to identify Hermione and Ron even though they look the exact same and he has spent years making fun of them.

When Draco follows Harry into the room of requirements to try to capture him I believe that it is only because he is making one final attempt to put his family back in Voldemort’s good graces when it seems as if he will inevitable. Even Crabbe, as slow as he is, notices that the Malfoy family is not in good standing. He tells Draco, “I don’t take orders from you no more, Draco. You an’ your dad are finished”.

                Draco is definitely not a nice kid but that is quite possibly the result of his pureblood upbringing by his prejudice and rich family. He evolves into someone decent. He seems to act out of fearfulness for his family. He does not give up Harry’s identity, which gives them the time they need to escape Voldemort and steal another Horcrux. 

Narcissa Malfoy (Extra Credit Blog)

The development of the character of Narcissa Malfoy into one that defies Lord Voldemort is perhaps one of the most surprising of the series. While she is never revealed as actually being a Death Eater, and did not appear in the graveyard of Little Hangleton in Goblet of Fire when Voldemort recalled his followers, she is certainly supportive of her husband and sister in the fight for their ancient family beliefs in Pure Blood dominance.

We see little of her until Half-Blood Prince, which is when her true loyalties begin to show. She defies Voldemort for the first time by asking Snape to protect Draco, even though the Dark Lord had forbidden that she speak of the plan, that Draco is to kill Dumbledore, to anyone. Although it is to her benefit that Snape was aware of the plan, and she was not going against Voldemort’s orders after all. In Deathly Hallows Narcissa defies Voldemort again when she lies to him and declares that Harry Potter is dead. "She no longer cared whether Voldemort won" (726; ch. 36).

 

Narcissa Malfoy is first and foremost, a mother that loves her child and will do anything to protect him. She took an enormous risk in betraying Voldemort which most certainly would have cost her her life. Thus reinforcing the major theme of the Harry Potter series, and echoing the maxim of Albus Dumbledore, that love is the greatest force of all and one would risk death in order to protect and defend those in which they love.

 

Extra Credit Blog: Neville Longbottom

        Neville Longbottom. Enough said. He was a character that has completely developed from the first to the last book. Yes he was quirky and a bit of a goof but honestly when you first read the seventh book did you really think you’d see Neville bursting out of the crowd to kill Nagini? Neville has definitely grown up and shown his true colors throughout the series and honestly without Neville we wouldn’t see the comic relief or just the flat out good guy in all of this. He was the guy that you cheered for.

        When we first met him in his first year at Hogwarts he was this awkward kid. He was that kid that you didn’t want to talk to when you were eleven because he was just that odd. As you grew up, you realized that the weird kid you didn’t talk to at eleven was becoming the cooler kid at the age of like fourteen and so on. By the time they hit their seventh year Neville is leading a secret alliance against the Carrows at Hogwarts and is basically taking the lead since Harry is off fighting Voldemort. When you first meet you don’t see him doing this by his seventh year. You almost expect him just to be the same awkward kid forever.

        To me the changing point with Neville came really early on. In the first book he stood up to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. You don’t see it then but when you think back through the book you realize “yeah Neville’s got some guts.” Then you read through the seventh book and see him leading an alliance and killing Voldemort’s snake and you’re like “YEAH Neville!” Basically he’s the guy that you want to see get the girl and live a long happy life. He is the classic coming of age kid. He is a strong, brave, kind individual. He’s the most underrated character in this entire series but he is the most developed character in the series even though he isn’t one of the three main characters. He really comes into his own in the seventh book and people really see this. 

Make Up Blog

The elder wand was important because it represented ultimate power. Whoever possessed this wand had the most power in wizarding world. This power drove people to do go to any measure to get this wand, even if it meant killing one’s own brother or friend. At the very end of the book, Harry was the master of the wand because he won it from Draco Malfoy in a duel.

        At the end of the book Harry felt that the wand was too powerful for one person to have possession of it. He especially felt that he should not have possession of it. He was content with his wand and he felt that the powers of the elder wand should die with the last person to truly hold power of the elder wand. He wanted the wand to lay peacefully with Dumbledore for as long as Harry shall live. Once Harry dies the Elder Wand will lose its power forever.

        Harry feels this way because the wand caused much more damage than good. Voldemort was going after the wand to have the ultimate power and Voldemort killed thousands of innocent lives in his quest to become the most powerful wizard in the world. Harry saw the terror of this wanted it to stop. He didn’t want the power. Harry wanted to be normal now that Voldemort was gone. The wand’s powers should never be in possession of one man.

Extra Credit Blog: Draco Malfoy

There is no denying that all of the characters in Harry Potter changed significantly over the course of seven novels. Some developed more than others, and not everyone turned out the way the readers expected. I suppose that's Rowling's way of telling her readers to not judge a person based on their background.

For me, the person who changed the most was Draco Malfoy. All throughout the series, all the readers hear about is how proud Draco is to be associated with Voldemort and the Dark Arts, of how close the Malfoy family's relationship is with Voldemort and his Death Eaters, and of how Draco hero-worships Voldemort and his quest to purge the wizarding world of "mudbloods". And of course, who can forget Draco's infamous quip: "Wait until my father hears about this!"? At any rate, at the end of book 6, no one can doubt where Draco's allegiance lies, and that is with Voldemort, despite his hesitation at killing Dumbledore.

However, what I think is the most interesting part happens almost immediately at the beginning of book 7. Draco, who has gone on since the start about how he's going to be a Death Eater and he and his family are far superior to everyone else because of their pureblood status, seems to be doubting his decision to take the Dark Mark. For once, he's acting like the clueless, frightened boy that he is, and I think that shows so much of his character. You can't judge him, because he was raised in that environment and he was basically bred to have these thoughts and ideas. The moment he gets to think for himself, he starts to doubt that what's going on is okay.

Another wonderful example is that of Draco denying Harry's identity to his aunt and mother. The old Draco Malfoy would have given Harry up in a heartbeat, but this Draco keeps Harry's secret and protects Harry, if only for a few moments. And finally, I think the most telling part of Draco's character is when Harry is attempting to destroy the diadem. It's Crabbe who casts the fiendfyre and destroys everything, not Malfoy. And I think that that's the most telling aspect of his character: that he doesn't take his chance to kill Harry Potter.

Extra Credit Post: Neville

Neville Longbottom might be one of the most underrated characters in the Harry Potter series. At the beginning of the series, we see Neville as an awkward, insecure eleven year old. He isn’t even to Hogwarts before he loses his toad, and spends most of his early years trying to keep up with his peers. To be honest, I never gave Neville much thought or paid attention to him when I first read the series. It seems like all of a sudden, he comes into his own and is confident. It was something I noticed more reading the series again, and even more this time around for class. Neville also took the DA lessons in The Order of the Phoenix seriously as well. As time went on, he seemed to greatly improve, and gained a little but more confidence each time. However, this stood out most in The Half-Blood Prince, when Neville is sorting out his class schedule with Professor McGonagall. Neville feels that he will disappoint his grandmother if he does not continue Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall points out that his grandmother did poorly in a subject as well, and that just because she did does not mean it is bad for Neville to take.

Neville has his coming of age moments in Deathly Hallows above all. When Harry, Hermione, and Ron are coming from Aberforth’s pub, Neville explains the what is happening at Hogwarts. He is standing up for what he believes in, and standing against Voldemort and Snape’s regime. It becomes clear in this book why Neville was placed in Gryffindor in the beginning of the books. He emerges a brave, strong young man, and even his grandmother, who was so harsh on him before, takes notice and openly expresses her pride. This is why I think Neville might be one of the most developed, and underrated, characters in the series. 

Extra Credit - Harry and Voldemort

     When we first meet Harry, he is this insecure little boy who has suffered from torture and discrimination by the Dursleys. We see him growing extraordinarily throughout his years attending Hogwarts. Every year, Harry and his friends face an insurmountable problem. We finally begin to understand why this is Harry’s reality in book 5.

     Voldemort heard of the prophecy that a boy born in July would be his downfall. This prophecy would never have passed if Voldemort hadn’t acted upon it. This one event caused Harry’s life to be turned upside-down. Voldemort created his own worst enemy.

        

     We see a great deal of responsibility emanate from Harry as he sets out on his quest to find and destroy Horcruxes. Though he may not hold all the answers at first, he is given the tools to discover them. He becomes a great leader to Voldemort’s opposition consisting of the D.A. and the Order of the Pheonix. He shows courage and intellect on how to proceed to find the Horcruxes. When he discovers that a Horcrux is in the Lestrange vault, he devises a plan to break into Gringotts and obtain it, something that is said to be impossible. Then we see his clever ability to find a solution to escape by releasing the dragon and escaping on its back.

     We also see his bravery shine through when he discovers, through Snape’s memories, that he must willingly die to finally destroy Voldemort. This resolution comes to him easily because deep down, he always knew that his journey would succumb to this. We see him repress his urge to do show Voldemort that he hadn’t killed him and waited until the time was right to be able fight back. Harry grows so much through the series and especially the last book as every truth about who he is and who he knew comes to light, giving him the knowledge that people are imperfect and through this realization, he learns why Voldemort thinks the way that he does.

          

     We also learn a lot about Voldemort in the final book. We learn why he is as evil as he is. Voldemort’s biggest fear is death. This is the reason he has gone through so much effort to make sure he will live forever. He becomes power hungry so that no one can defeat him. These weren’t his initial goals when he studied at Hogwarts. Originally he believed that wizards should not be hidden and should be known as a superior species. However he foresaw opposition with his plans. He had to protect himself at all costs and by doing so, he created many enemies, including his demise Harry.

     We learn that when Harry sacrificed himself, he did something that Voldemort feared above all else, and that I believe is why Harry ultimately succeeded in defeating him. Harry did not fear dying, which allowed him to keep a level head during battle, however Voldemort saw his life crushing before his eyes. First by knowing that his Horcruxes, which he had allotted so much time and effort to create and protect, had been destroyed; and secondly that all that he knew was diminishing before him. All of his followers were being defeated and the fear of death closing in on him drove him to his demise.