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from the afterlife who must be summoned to return with the Resurrection Stone in DH. The Avada Kedavra is a powerful spell that cannot be blocked, and Harry doesn’t even try to block it because he wants to protect his friends as his mother protected him with an unselfish sacrifice. So the result is that both his own soul and the piece of Voldemort’s Horcrux that was lodged in his head are transported to another plane of existence for a few moments. Harry can see both himself and the crying baby, which is Voldemort’s maimed and incomplete soul. It is the classic out-of-body experience when Harry enters a heavenly purgatory where he speaks to a wise mentor—in this case, Dumbledore. Since we know that Dumbledore’s body was buried in the grave at Hogwarts, then what Harry sees has to be Dumbledore’s soul made whole again. They are not on earth anymore, but Harry can touch Dumbledore’s arm and it is real. Since Harry isn’t very religious, there is no reason to think his subconscious mind would invent a heaven where souls are made. Why would his imagination conjure up the idea that in heaven he can see without his glasses, i.e., is made whole again? Harry would not have that belief in his subconscious, therefore, it must be actually happening to him and not part of a dream. Another clue that shows that Harry really dies is that Dumbledore gives him information that he never talks about during his life, such as his feelings for Gellert Grindelwald and the remorse he feels over the death of his sister Ariana. It is all very secret and personal, and Harry could never have guessed those details on his own. In the end, Harry is given a choice of whether to return to his body or move on, presumably to eternal life. He only wakes up when his soul chooses to go back into his body, and he is resurrected from the dead.

Verdict

Did Harry truly depart this world and pass on in DH, or was it all in his head? What seemed like just a dream could also be explained as Harry’s soul leaving the body and going to heaven. But Harry was anchored to the earth by the very blood in Voldemort’s veins, and the Avada Kedavra spell merely killed the Horcrux in Harry’s forehead. While it’s a thin line between life and death, in this case the verdict is: No, Harry did not die in DH.

Are the Slytherins too demonized?

No!

No way. The Slytherins are not demonized at all. It’s just that Harry sees the world in black and white, and he has to grow up to see the shades of gray. Most of the Slytherins keep their best side hidden, and you have to look at what they do and not what they say. Whoever thought we’d be sympathetic to Severus Snape or Narcissa Malfoy? They turned out to be better people than we thought, which proves that Slytherins are just as human as the other characters and not the devils we thought we should fear.

Snape is the epitome of a Slytherin—dark, sarcastic, and cruel at times. Yet in the “Prince’s Tale” told in DH, we learn that he started out in life just as innocently as Harry. He becomes a Death Eater, of course, but then he changes out of love for Lily Potter. Harry doesn’t know that for most of the series, so he demonizes Snape and even wants to kill him. Yet once Harry finds out the truth, he forgives Snape, and that’s the most important thing—even a Slytherin can be redeemed. Snape is the opposite of Peter Pettigrew, the Gryffindor who turns to the Dark Side, so we get a balanced view that none of the houses are all good or all bad.

Regulus Black, another Slytherin, is not demonic. He has a resemblance to his brother, Sirius, and that makes him an attractive character. He has Slytherin pride, but he also cares about Kreacher as much as Harry loves Dobby, and that gives him the guts to stand up to Voldemort in DH. That’s a heroic message and once again shows that a person’s heart has nothing to do with his house.

Narcissa Malfoy and Phineas Nigellus symbolize how much Slytherins love their families and the fact they are willing to work for the common good. Slytherins can be very emotional—in DH, for instance, we see