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Originally Posted by happy_terd
Why did Dumbledore have to die???
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Because Harry needed someone to talk to when
he died!
Quote:
Originally Posted by ShortNCuddlyAm
Personally, I wouldn't give that any weight, as they are also when two of the three long breaks between terms in UK schools are (the other, and longest, being the summer break between years), and many people celebrate them even if they don't believe in Christianity.
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My feeling reading the books was that the Christian holidays were merely the secularized versions. There are still references to God, though. Sirius sings "God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriphs," but I still get the secular feel there too.
There was one moment, beautifully described in TDH, where I think Rowling
may be pointing to a "higher magic" as it were.
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Deeper and deeper amongst the graves he went, and every time he reached a new head stone he felt a little lurch of apprehension and anticipation.
The darkness and the silence seemed to become, all of a sudden, much deeper. Harry looked around, worried, thinking of dementors, then realized that the carols had finished, that the chatter and flurry of churchgoers were fading away as they made their way back into the square. Somebody inside the church had just turned off the lights.
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This is absolutely up for interpretation, but my feeling is that the carols, and the Christmas (the birth of Christ) celebration itself had lent a certain unconscious sense of hope to the moment. It was when the celebration and carols ended that Harry noticed not only the darkness and silence, but the
loss of hope -- like the dementors made him feel.
-Pie