Harry Potter and the Death of Innocence

Let There Be Peace On Earth…

Text and Image Prompts by the author. Images by Gemini 3

Harry and Hermione are great characters at the top of most people’s list of favorites. But numbers 3 through 7 could be any of the following: Dumbledore, Hagrid, Luna, Neville, Snape.

I’ve often thought of Trump as Voldemort. So in these times when there’s a million refugees driven out of Lebanon, parents, children, old people…I think of Harry and Dumbledore, and I try to have an attitude like Hagrid.

But in these times, more often than thinking about how nice it would be to have a friend like Hagrid, I think about the most heartbreaking scene of them all: the death of Dobby. When Dobby died, it was so crushing. It was like innocence and childlike naivety died along with him.

The type of innocence I’m thinking about is childhood naivety.

Source: Merriam Webster: Childlike naivety is the positive, endearing, and innocent perspective often associated with children, characterized by trust, wonder, and a lack of guile or worldliness. Unlike childish immaturity, this state is seen as a “pure heart” or “wide-eyed” approach, often fostering creativity, sincerity, and joy in adults.

With Harry Potter and the death/loss of innocence swirling around in my mind, I thought of Neville.

The most dramatic scene for me was when Neville cut off the head of the snake. I read the book before I watched the movie, and as I was reading the passage, first I gasped and almost lost my breath. Then my chest began to shake and I began to weep. (This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I read the final book again, but I already knew of Neville’s bravery, so the impact was not as great.)

Little Neville from the first movie, all grown into a man! And the best of men at that!

I’m thinking of this now because of the children and their mothers in the far-too-many war-torn places of the world. I wish someone like Neville would rise up and help them (not drop bombs on them).

If I believed in God I would pray for them. The best I can do is hope against hope that things will work out for them. Unfortunately, most of the children will be scarred for life, as will their mothers.

But, we can hope!

Maybe young people, who have the same good heart as Neville, Harry, and Ron, will take up their cross (so to speak) and go help the world’s children.

Let there be peace on earth. And let it begin with me.