Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (3rd Reread)

Last summer, when I was in Canada, I was rereading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in an effort to prep for the second half of the last movie.  I finished rereading it for the third time earlier this week.

I cannot believe there are so many things that I missed the second time through.  I picked up so many more things on this third reread that I'm really surprised I read books only once now.  I think I need to slow my reading down.  I might be missing out.

I wish I had been able to take notes on my tablet.  Turns out the margin note feature doesn't work on a tablet or other device.  Only works in a browser on a computer.  A couple things that are completely clarified for me now:

1.)  Harry was able to return from death because Voldemort has Harry's blood in him (from Goblet of Fire) which contains Lily's sacrifice.  It had nothing to do with the Resurrection Stone.  It was simply because Voldemort screwed up again.  That which he found unimportant, he never took the time to learn.  However, I also feel that Voldemort using the Elder Wand against Harry when Harry was the correct owner also plays a part.  It even states that when Voldemort tried to use the Cruciatus curse on Harry's "corpse", Harry prepped for the pain, but he felt none.

2.)  Voldemort's curses do not work on the crowed of fighters at the castle when he arrives with Harry's corpse not because he's not the rightful owner of the Elder Wand, but because Harry willingly went to his death, faced it, and died (but returned).  He sacrificed himself to protect them, just as his mother sacrificed herself to protect him.  That is why Voldemort was never able to properly hit Harry, ever, with a spell.  And now all of these people that Voldemort threatened prior to Harry's "death" were protected from Voldemort's curses because of Harry's "sacrifice".

3.)  I really wish the movie had stuck much closer to the book in the last few scenes.  Harry disappearing from Hargid's arms using the Invisibility Cloak would have been much more interesting.  And all hell breaking loose in the middle of that would also have been more interesting.  And the fight ending in the Great Hall would have been really amazing.  As well as the entire conversation Harry has with Voldemort.  I'm not sure why they didn't just use that verbatim.

So a few things that I was unsure about totally and completely make sense now.

I made a bit of a mistake in my review of the previous book.  I made a note in Half-Blood Prince where Dumbledore tells Harry that the night that Voldemort killed his parents and tried to kill Harry himself, he failed in making that last Horcrux that would have given Voldemort seven pieces of his soul (six Horcruxes).

I figured that Dumbledore hadn't yet known at this time that Harry was a Horcrux.  He did.  He was fully aware.  He straight-up lied to Harry to prevent him from learning this too soon.

However, there is also a mistake near the end of this book that states that Dumbledore never discovered the "secrets" that Harry and Voldemort had found of Hogwarts.  This is in reference to the Room of Requirement.  But Dumbledore had discovered.  In Goblet of Fire, Dumbledore goes on a bit of a tangent when telling Harry about a wrong turn he had taken in the wee hours of the night while looking for a toilet.  He turned right in to a most glorious room full of perfect chamber pots.  He went back on several occasions in an attempt to find the room again but to no avail.  Maybe Rowling meant that Dumbledore never truly learned what the room was and how it worked.  But he definitely knew it existed and even hinted at the fact that he understood how it might operate in that the room is not always available and that it might only appear based on the needs of the person searching for it.

Oh well.  Just thought that was a bit curious.

Again, I love this book, it is my favorite.  Goblet of Fire was my favorite until Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows.  But Rowling outdid herself with the last in this series; a more proper ending for this story couldn't possibly exist.  I was glad all over again that Harry didn't stay dead.  It would have been a little anti-climactic, or too predictable.  However, bringing him back from the dead was done perfectly.  No silly ritual, nothing Harry actually had to do.  He simply made the choice to come back because it was available to him due to Voldemort's mistake.

I'm returning to the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series now with The Enchantress.  I'm a little lost in starting it but I'm sure it'll all come back to me soon.