Train Station Dream

[allthecoolnamesgone]

No: HPFGUIDX 176238

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "ddamian1" <ddamian1 at ...> wrote:
>
> I am having trouble understanding in Bk 7 what the train station was
> all about.  I would appreciate if someone could give me some insight
> into that.  Was it a dream?
> 
> ddamian1
>

I think that JK left this fairly vague so as to allow the widest 
possible interpretations for fans. 

Personally I find it more satisfying to think of as a 'real place'. 
Not necessarily a physical 'real place' but nonetheless a place where 
Dumbledore was present rather than this whole scene just being in 
Harry's mind and Harry reinterpreting information he already had. A 
departure lounge for the hereafter perhaps. But if it was solely in 
Harry's mind ( a dream or a vision)  then how was Dumbledore able to 
give Harry information which he had not previously known?

My interpretation leans towards it being a place of waiting, of 
departure and for Harry this resolved itself into Kings Cross Station 
which was a real place that for him had had that function in life. It 
is perhaps a little like the Gery Havens in LOTR, which I know is a 
real place but you could also take a ship there, as Frodo did, which 
could find the 'straight road' to escape the physical curve of the 
earth to the undying lands. So the Grey Havens also had a dual 
function of being a real harbour and also a departure point for a 
from of the 'afterlife'. Although for Frodo as a mortal he would 
still die and 'leave the circle of the world'. The Undying land was 
for him a step on the journey.

In my post Potter musings, of which there have been many, I feel that 
Dumbledore had lingered in this place of waiting for the purpose of 
having this conversation with Harry. The theme of life after death as 
a 'journey' seem to resonate in the books and I have taken this to be 
a form of purgatory as the deeds done in life will affect the length 
of the journey and the method of travel available. Harry as a young 
man with little in the way of 'debt' to repay could well 'take a 
train'. I suspect that Dumbledore as an old man with many 'meetings' 
to make probably had a long walk ahead of him with a heavy pack to 
carry which he would have to shed along the way as he met with others 
and dealt with his 'issues'. I hope he also lingered for Snape who 
deserved a companion for his journey and a helping hand with 
his 'very' heavy load, some of which Dumbledore had made for him! In 
this interpretation then the place will be 'Hell' for Voldemort whose 
sundered soul will arrive as 'flayed babies' incapable of even 
starting the journey.

I mused a scene where Snape appears at the very end of the 
conversation coalescing out of the mist into which the scene is 
dissolving. Harry and he greet each other tentatively, perahps Snape 
with a brief nod and for the first time calling him 'Harry'. Harry 
merely responds 'Sir' but for the first time in his life with respect 
abd a look of compassion. Snape and Harry at this point see the pack 
that Snape must lift and Harry helps him to put it on, realising its 
crushing weight. He then says to Snape 'Don't carry any burden for 
your dealings with me Sir' and part of the load comes away in his 
hand and disolves into the mist. The pack is lighter as a result. 
Dumbledore calls to Snape that they must leave and so must Harry and 
as they turn to leave Harry says 'I won't forget you, either of you' 
and the mist swallows them. Harry wake up in the forest.

My own interpretation I know but I have had work through such scenes 
in my mind particularly with regard to some 'resolution' for Snape. 
Sorry if this is not very coherent I am in many ways still struggling 
with my own emtional response to the book.

allthecoolnamesgone