Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows | Part Two of Three
There's something wonderfully ironic about the way Voldemort is defeated.
Here's a wizard who spent his entire life trying to become the most powerful person in the world. Someone who believed that depending on other people was a weakness, that friendship was something to exploit, and that love was an emotion for people who weren't clever enough to understand real power.
So naturally, he decides the best way to become immortal is to rip his soul into pieces and hide those pieces all over the wizarding world.
Seems reasonable.
But here's what I find so fascinating about Deathly Hallows as an adult.
Voldemort's entire plan depends on the idea that he's smarter, stronger, and more capable than everyone else.
And yet, bringing him down requires something he never truly understands.
People working together.
Seven Pieces, Seven Destroyers
I don't think I fully appreciated this when I first read the books, but the destruction of Voldemort's Horcruxes is one of the most satisfying examples of collective effort in the entire series.
And what's particularly interesting is that seven different people are responsible for destroying them.
Harry destroys Tom Riddle's diary in Chamber of Secrets, years before he even understands what a Horcrux is.
Dumbledore destroys Marvolo Gaunt's ring with the Sword of Gryffindor, although not before making the rather unfortunate decision to put it on and nearly getting himself killed.
Ron destroys Slytherin's locket, overcoming the insecurities and fears that the Horcrux had been using against him.
Hermione destroys Hufflepuff's cup using a basilisk fang retrieved from the Chamber of Secrets.
Vincent Crabbe accidentally destroys Ravenclaw's diadem when his Fiendfyre consumes the Room of Requirement. An excellent reminder that being a terrible person doesn't necessarily make you a competent one.
Voldemort himself destroys the fragment of his soul living inside Harry, completely unaware that he's helping dismantle his own immortality.
And finally, Neville Longbottom pulls the Sword of Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat and destroys Nagini.
Seven Horcruxes.
Seven different people.
And not a single one of them could have accomplished the entire task alone.
I love that.
Voldemort divided himself into pieces because he believed his own existence was more important than anything else.
But destroying those pieces required courage, sacrifice, friendship, and, in Crabbe's case, a truly spectacular lack of judgment.
It's almost poetic.
The man who believed he needed nobody was ultimately defeated by everybody.
The Boy Who Could Have Been Chosen
And can we talk about Neville for a minute?
Because I think Neville Longbottom deserves a tremendous amount of credit.
When we first meet him in Philosopher's Stone, he's an awkward, forgetful kid who struggles with magic, loses his belongings, and seems perpetually one bad decision away from disaster.
He's not exactly the person you'd expect to play a decisive role in defeating the most dangerous dark wizard in history.
But over the course of seven books, Neville becomes one of the bravest characters in the entire series.
And what makes his story especially interesting is that he could have been the Chosen One.
The prophecy that Voldemort interpreted as referring to Harry could also have referred to Neville.
Both boys were born at the end of July.
Both had parents who had defied Voldemort three times.
Voldemort chose Harry, marking him as his equal and setting the entire story into motion.
But that doesn't mean Neville lacked the potential to become someone extraordinary.
In fact, we watch him become exactly that.
And I think there's something beautiful about the fact that Neville ultimately destroys the final Horcrux.
Harry may have been the boy Voldemort chose.
But Neville becomes a hero because of the choices he makes for himself.
A Wizard Needs His Own Wand
There's another detail about Neville that I find increasingly interesting as an adult.
For much of the series, Neville uses his father's old wand.
His parents were tortured into permanent psychological incapacity by Death Eaters, and Neville grows up carrying the weight of their legacy.
Including, quite literally, his father's wand.
And he's not particularly good with it.
Now, there are plenty of reasons for Neville's early struggles. He's insecure, his grandmother places enormous expectations on him, and he spends years being treated like someone who isn't quite good enough.
But we also know that wands matter.
A lot.
The wand chooses the wizard, after all.
And while the books don't explicitly tell us that his father's wand was responsible for his difficulties, I can't help wondering how much of a difference it made.
After Neville's father's wand is broken during the battle at the Department of Mysteries, his grandmother buys him a new one.
His own wand.
And from there, we watch him become increasingly confident and capable.
Now, I'm not saying a new wand magically fixed everything. Neville had already demonstrated extraordinary courage, and he'd been improving through Dumbledore's Army.
But symbolically, I think it's wonderful.
For years, Neville has been trying to live up to the legacy of a father he never really got to know.
Then he finally gets something that's his.
And he starts becoming his own person.
There's probably a larger conversation to be had about wand ownership throughout the series. Even Hagrid has been trying to perform magic with the remains of his broken wand hidden inside an umbrella for decades.
How much of what we perceive as magical ability is actually affected by the tools a wizard is using?
It's an interesting question.
But for Neville, the important part isn't whether his new wand makes him more powerful.
It's that he eventually stops being defined by what everyone expects him to be.
And when Hogwarts needs someone to stand up to Voldemort, Neville doesn't hesitate.
The Sword Chooses Neville
I think Neville pulling the Sword of Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat is one of the most triumphant moments in the entire series.
Because the sword doesn't simply appear for anyone.
It presents itself to a worthy Gryffindor in a moment of need.
And Neville, the boy who once struggled to perform basic spells, proves himself worthy.
He stands up to Voldemort in front of the surviving defenders of Hogwarts.
He refuses to surrender.
And when the opportunity comes, he destroys Nagini, eliminating the final Horcrux.
The same boy who once needed encouragement just to stand up to his friends is now standing against the most feared wizard alive.
And I think that matters.
Because Neville's story reminds us that being a hero isn't necessarily about being the most talented person in the room.
Sometimes it's about being the person who's willing to stand up when everyone else is afraid.
And Harry trusts him to do exactly that.
The Strength to Trust Someone Else
That trust is really the heart of this article for me.
Because Voldemort doesn't understand it.
Throughout the series, there are countless moments when Voldemort could have allowed someone else to kill Harry.
He has followers willing to do practically anything for him.
But he insists that Harry belongs to him.
He has to be the one to defeat Harry Potter.
It's personal. It's about pride. It's about proving that he's the most powerful wizard alive.
And that obsession becomes one of his greatest weaknesses.
Harry, on the other hand, understands that he can't do everything himself.
He needs Hermione's intelligence.
He needs Ron's loyalty.
He needs Dumbledore's knowledge, even after Dumbledore is gone.
And ultimately, he needs Neville's courage.
That's what I appreciate so much about Harry's development across these books.
He doesn't become a great hero because he eventually learns to do everything on his own.
He becomes a great hero because he learns when to trust the people around him.
And I think that's something I've come to appreciate more as I've gotten older.
When I was younger, I had this idea that becoming a successful adult meant becoming completely self-sufficient.
That I should have all the answers.
That I should be able to solve my own problems.
That needing help somehow meant I hadn't figured things out yet.
But the older I get, the more I realize how ridiculous that expectation is.
Nobody builds a meaningful life entirely on their own.
We learn from other people. We rely on friends. We ask for advice. We make mistakes, and sometimes someone else has to help us clean them up.
And occasionally, the person who saves the day isn't the one everybody expected.
Sometimes it's Neville Longbottom.
Reading the Same Book as a Different Person
As a kid, I saw the destruction of the Horcruxes as a series of obstacles Harry had to overcome before he could finally defeat Voldemort.
Find the objects.
Destroy the objects.
Save the world.
Simple enough.
But reading Deathly Hallows now, I see something much more interesting.
Voldemort spends his life trying to become so powerful that he never has to depend on anyone.
And Harry spends his journey learning just how much he does depend on other people.
Voldemort believes that power means being above everyone else.
Harry learns that strength can come from standing beside them.
And perhaps that's why the destruction of the Horcruxes feels so satisfying.
The very thing Voldemort considers a weakness becomes the reason he's defeated.
He never understands why Harry trusts his friends.
He never understands why people willingly risk their lives for one another.
And he certainly never understands how a boy like Neville Longbottom could become someone capable of bringing down the last piece of his immortality.
But Harry understands.
And I think I understand a little better now, too.
As a kid, I thought being a hero meant becoming strong enough to save everyone.
As an adult, I realize that sometimes the greatest strength is trusting someone else to help save the day.
This is Part Two of my three-part finale to Reading the Same Book as a Different Person.
In Part Three, we're going to talk about the thing Voldemort feared more than anything: love. Why I find myself pitying him as an adult, why I still don't believe Severus Snape deserves the redemption people give him, and why Harry's final decision about the Elder Wand might be the most important choice he makes in the entire series.
