[HPforGrownups] Progression of Endings

[Mhochberg at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 70003

In a message dated 7/13/2003 1:57:19 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
annemehr at yahoo.com writes:

> OoP:  Tragedy:  This is pure and simple.  Harry and Sirius were left 
> without support.  Dumbledore made a huge mistake and left Harry 
> without help or guidance with consequences throughout the entire 
> book culminating in the death of Sirius. [On a personal note, I was 
> *furious* with Dumbledore and elated to see his office being trashed 
> by Harry, but I do forgive him.  This time.]
> 

    I (Mary) disagree with calling then end of OoP a tragedy. On the 
contrary, I found it the most optimistic ending of any of the books. Yes, Sirius died 
and that was a tragedy, especially since it was preventable. It was caused by 
the mistakes of both Harry, Dumbledore and others. The characters in the books 
are human beings, not perfect angels. 

    Nonetheless, Sirius died in a way that he would have approved of--in 
battle, protecting Harry, AND against a despised Black family member. 

    Where in the first four books, the battle was strictly between Voldemort 
and Harry, now Harry has both the Order of the Phoenix AND the Ministry of 
Magic fighting Voldemort. The eve of battle is not a good place to be, yet it is 
better than the where Harry was at the end of SS. He didn't even had Sirius 
then. Note group meeting the Dursley's at the train station. Harry has more 
people supporting him than ever before. 

    At the end of OoP, Harry is closer to Dumbledore than ever, especially 
compared to CS or even PoA. He has two new school allies in formerly background 
characters (Neville and Ginny), the return of Lupin, plus all the rest of the 
OoP members.

    As for the rest of the series, I would not be surprised to find Voldemort 
vanquished at the beginning of book 7, with much of rest of the book devoted 
to wrapping things up.

    IMO, OoP had a far more happy ending than did GoF.

---Mary



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