[HPforGrownups] Deaths affecting Harry

[k12listmomma]

No: HPFGUIDX 183480

>I have a question?
> Out of all the deaths that Harry saw and heard about, other than his
> parents and Sirius, which do you think he was saddest about
> I think it was DD, lupin, Fred and Dobby. I can't chose out of those 4
> I think that he considersd DD as a surrogate Father, Lupin as a trusted
> friend and someone unbiased to give him advice , Fred as a surrogate
> brother and of course Dobby as a friend even though he was an elf
>
> Jayne
> Starting a thread for once


Pretty much- "saddest" is a very personal definition. Saddest for me are the 
useless ones. Dolby's death, while bringing tears to my face, wasn't sad in 
that he died heroically, and with purpose. It was noble- it was fitting. The 
same was true with Mad-Eye- he died while doing a job that he knew the risks 
for- he died protecting Harry, and he wouldn't have wanted it any other way. 
Dumbledore was at the end of his life- we knew he was cursed, and we knew 
that he had to die somehow. The totally outrageous part for me was that act 
by Snape that I didn't see coming, and thus when I read it the first time, I 
literally threw my brand new book against the wall in rage. So, I can't 
really remember Dumbledore's death without feeling the anger of Snape's act.

So, the most sad death for me is Hedwig. She dies caged up, helpless, and 
her death is totally meaningless. We see her tired of being caged up, and 
Harry belittling the fact that she's impatient to be free again. She didn't 
even have the ability to duck and dodge, to flee or try and save herself. 
For Rowling to carry on the theme of "Harry must grow up" and "Harry must go 
on alone" to include Hedwig just strikes me as cruelty to the readers in the 
worst way. I would have to second Hedwig's death with Tonks and Lupin. Ok, 
kill off Lupin to show how ugly the battle got, but why both Lupin and 
Tonks? That seems to me to be going overboard with the killing, to leave 
poor Teddy as an orphan. Since it's the end of the series, we never really 
get to see why Teddy needs to be an orphan, and so those deaths strike me as 
sad. Also, Fred- why just after the family reunited? I know she planned to 
"off" a Weasley all along, but it almost strikes me that the more meaningful 
death would have been Mr. Weasley earlier in the series when she gave him a 
reprieve, as his death then would have demonstrated that NO FAMILY was safe 
from Voldemort. It would have fueled Harry's desire, even further, to find 
an end to the madness, and put Ron's pain to be equal with Harry's, so that 
they had a common bond of losing a parent to Voldemort. I think Mr. 
Weasley's death would have given that "we are all in mortal peril" message a 
clear forefront, rather than just have the kids reading it from a newspaper 
or hearing from friends that they all were in danger. Although, not killing 
Mr. Weasley earlier did serve to allow him to help Harry get ready for the 
DH's journey, and gave Harry that one adult who supported his efforts 
without having to know all the details. In that, Harry owed Mr. Weasley a 
debt.

Shelley