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Chapter Fifteen
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Choices, Redemption, and Morality
Grief and Coming of Age
Knowledge and Power
Mortality and Sacrifice
Friendship, Community, and Resistance
Summary
Analysis
The next morning, Harry and Hermione eat and dress silently. They dawdle as they pack up, hoping Ron will return, but they finally Disapparate. When they arrive on a hillside, Hermione sits down and sobs. Harry performs the protective spells, seeing Ron's seething face in his mind. They don't mention Ron, though Hermione cries at night. Harry begins poring over the Marauder's Map, looking for Ron at Hogwarts. He never shows up, so Harry fixates on Ginny's dot. They discuss where Dumbledore might have hidden the sword, but Harry keeps thinking that Ron was right: Harry has no idea what to do, since Dumbledore left him so little information.
Harry's willingness and ability to perform the protective spells around the campsite reinforces the novel's assertion that it takes a variety of people to carry out a quest like this; Hermione can't be expected to be the only one to perform these spells the entire time. Now that she's grieving for Ron's loss, Harry can step in and do her the kindness of letting her grieve and not worry about whether or not they're going to be safe.
Themes
Hermione brings out Phineas's portrait at night, and he visits every few days. He's touchy about perceived insults to Snape, but reveals that Ginny and possibly Neville and Luna are continuing Dumbledore's Army. Harry feels homesick for Ginny and for Hogwarts. He wishes he could go to Hogwarts and join the resistance to Snape, as well as have food and a warm bed.
One evening, after a good meal, Harry suggests that they go to Godric's Hollow. Hermione doesn't hear him at first and asks him to help her with a symbol in The Tales of Beedle the Bard that someone wrote in. Harry looks at it and says it's Grindelwald's mark. Hermione is flabbergasted, especially since she hasn't read anywhere that Grindelwald had a mark. She finally hears Harry's request to go to Godric's Hollow and surprises him by agreeing. She suggests that Dumbledore might've left the sword there, since he'd know that Harry would want to go there and since it's Godric Gryffindor's birthplace. Harry thinks that the draw of Godric's Hollow is his parents' graves, their house, and Bathilda Bagshot. He mentions that Bagshot still lives there, and Hermione gasps and wonders if she has the sword.
It's telling that Hermione hasn't heard that Grindelwald had a mark; though it's entirely possible that Krum could be correct and that Hermione, being a UK-educated witch, isn't aware of the international implications of the symbol. It's also possible that Krum is wrong. That Harry thinks it's unlikely that the sword is with Bathilda (and that Hermione does) speaks to Hermione's desire for help and a greater sense of community on this quest—something that at this point, arises in the form of Bathilda Bagshot.
Themes
Harry doesn't think this is likely, but he expresses support since it'll get him to Godric's Hollow. Hermione begins to plan and Harry daydreams about the life he might've had in Godric's Hollow. He looks through his photo album that night and, a week later, they Apparate to Godric's Hollow, disguised as an older Muggle couple. They arrive under the Cloak to find snow, so Harry suggests that they ditch the Cloak since they're in disguise. Harry looks at the houses, wondering which one was his, until they reach the square. There's a war memorial in the middle and a service going on in the church. Hermione thinks it's Christmas Eve.
Harry's interest in Godric's Hollow has to do with making sense of the dead and trying to answer questions that he can't actually answer, such as what his life might've been like had his parents survived, or what Dumbledore's childhood in Godric's Hollow was like. In other words, Harry is still fixated on information that he can't actually find, no matter what he does. This is a product of his youth and of his unwillingness to look forward and deal with Dumbledore's legacy rather than Dumbledore's past.
Themes
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As they start across the square, the memorial transforms into a sculpture of James, Lily, and baby Harry. They continue to the graveyard and start to look through the headstones. Hermione finds Kendra and Ariana's graves, and Harry thinks that Rita Skeeter and Muriel were right about something. Harry feels betrayed and thinks that he and Dumbledore could've come together to the graveyard. He continues on, but returns when Hermione finds a headstone with the symbol from her book on it. A few minutes later, she finds Lily and James's graves. Harry is disturbed to see "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" on the stone, as he thought it was a Death Eater idea. Hermione comforts him, conjures a wreath of roses, and leads him to the gate.
Again, it's telling that Harry feels so betrayed when he simply confirms that Dumbledore's family lived here; it continues to suggest that Harry is still misguidedly intent on fact-checking Rita Skeeter—someone who he knows doesn't write the truth unless she's forced to do so. The writing on James and Lily's gravestone starts to prepare Harry for his later sacrifice, as one of the things that makes death an enemy is the fact that people fear it so much—which, in Harry's sacrifice, he has to push away in order to be successful.
Themes
