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I did what an ardent yet lazy fan of Harry Potter would do : As soon as news of the last instalment filtered in, I scurried into my pre-ordering ritual. And then I sat pretty, soaking in the 'Potter-Mania'.....the buzz, the excitement...which was a live and breathing thing.And along with the rest I gave reality a hard shove and prayed fervently that the good hero.....the self-effacing Harry Potter wouldn't be snuffed out by the end of the series.
When I finally laid my hands on the book, I read it in a blur of feverish excitement. My only aim: to finish it and savour that feeling of mini-achievement that only a speed-reading geek would feel!!
It was only a week back, that I decided to revisit it...sit down and actually read it in full and pain-staking detail. And once again I was left with absolute admiration for the supreme story-teller.
Harry sets of on the quest set to him by the now-deceased Dumbledore : to find and destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes. He also stumbles upon the legend of "The Deathly Hallows" - the possession of which would make the bearer virtually impossible to defeat. And accompanying him on this penultimate adventure are his best-friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.
As the three tread into new and unknown territory.....faith, trust, courage and friendship are tested. Was Dumbledore as pristinely unblemished a character as we were led to believe? Does the unwavering friendship of Ron, Hermione and Harry survive in the face of a seemingly impossible task? Will Harry choose 'The Horcruxes' or 'The Deathly Hallows' to fight Voldemort? Was Snape the loathsome toad we were always led to believe?.... and the biggest query of them all...who will die in the final battle... the battle between "The Chosen One" and " He Who Shall Not Be Named" ?
All these questions and many more are effectively answered. Rowling has managed to tie up all the loose-ends; the niggling queries that remained suspended in limbo. Events, objects and people that appeared to be just a part of the magical scenery are effortlessly woven into the larger picture.
The beauty of this book lies in the fact that long and winding though it may seem... every paragraph, every seemingly tedious monologue is actually crucial to tying up the saga that began eleven years ago.
Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows is a fitting and fantastic conclusion to the tale of one of the most endearing heroes in contemporary literature. And a fabulous treat for all who, as J.K.Rowling puts it in her epigraph, "stuck with Harry until the very end".
