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Chapter Thirty-Six
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
Nineteen years later, on September first, Harry comforts his daughter Lily and Ginny tells their sons to stop arguing about what House Albus will be in. James Jr. stops arguing and goes through the barrier. Harry and Ginny assure Albus that they'll write often and they go through the barrier onto the platform. They meet up with Ron, Hermione, and their children, Rose and Hugo, at the final train car. Ron jokes that he's going to disinherit Rose and Albus if they don't end up in Gryffindor, but Hermione and Ginny comfort their terrified children. Ron points to Draco, who nods slightly as he puts his young son on the train. He tells Rose to beat Draco's son on every test.
Seeing Harry with his children—and Ron and Hermione with theirs—allows the reader to see how Harry is putting what he learned into practice. He can assure them that Hogwarts is a place where they'll find their home, and that they'll find community there no matter what house they end up in. Draco's nod toward Ron, Harry, and Hermione suggests that he still remembers what Harry did for him and, like Harry, he wants his son to have a good experience at Hogwarts.
Themes
James Jr. reappears and breathlessly says that Teddy is kissing Victoire. None of the adults are bothered, much to James's disappointment. James rolls his eyes when Ginny asks him to give Neville their love and tells Albus to watch out for thestrals before racing onto the train. Harry reassures Albus that the thestrals are gentle and hugs him. Albus whispers and asks what will happen if he's in Slytherin. Ginny looks away as Harry crouches down, calls Albus by his full name, Albus Severus, and says that he was named for a brave Slytherin headmaster. He says that Slytherin will be lucky to have him, and says that the Sorting Hat listens to requests. Albus leaps onto the train and Harry waves as it disappears. He touches his scar, which hasn't hurt for nineteen years.
That Albus is afraid of being in Slytherin suggests that, while Voldemort might be gone, the fear surrounding Slytherin persists: the echoes of the past still make people question if good wizards can come out of Slytherin. Harry's advice that Snape was from Slytherin and that Albus will possibly have the opportunity to choose which House he goes into plants the seed for Albus to learn that he can choose what kind of a wizard he wants to be, no matter what House he ends up in.
Themes
