I’m not sure about that.

That he goes through a personal transformation as he digs Dobby’s grave, is clear. As he digs:

‘… understanding blossomed in the darkness … Hallows … Horcruxes … Hallows … Horcruxes … yet he no longer burned with that weird, obsessive longing. Loss and fear had snuffed it out: he felt as though he had been slapped awake again.’

‘… Dumbledore had foreseen that … how much more had he known?’

‘And if you knew them … what did you know about me, Dumbledore?’

I know that people are going to disagree, but I honestly don’t think this is about Harry trusting and having faith. I think it’s about him working his own painful way to knowing what is the right thing to do. Dumbledore is his guide and mentor, but Dumbledore is fallible and flawed. In fact even as he makes the decision to die, he thinks of Dumbledore’s ‘betrayal’. And acknowledges that Dumbledore was right in this:

‘And Dumbledore had known that Harry would not duck out, that he would keep going to the end, even though it was his end … Dumbledore knew, as Voldemort knew, that Harry would not let anyone else die for him now that he had discovered it was in his power to stop it.’

Ultimately it is not his faith in Dumbledore which makes Harry decide to walk to his death; it is his need to do the right thing, to keep anyone else from dying for him.

And as he walks to his death, it is not faith or trust which supports him, but love.

JKR’s struggles with her faith, to me, are reflected in something else altogether. I think that she’s affirming certain articles of faith in the books: the triumph of love over death through an act of willing sacrifice, which is a very Christian theme; the existence of an immortal soul which can be damaged by the things we do in life; and the existence of a hereafter, King’s Cross, and stations beyond, which is where the immortal soul goes to, after death. That is a lot of affirmation of faith, but it stops there. The last step, acknowledging the existence of God, as the ultimate cause of all this, is not taken.

Now there are many possible reasons for this. An obvious one is that she didn’t want the Harry Potter books to end up in the “Religion” shelves of the bookstore. Another reason is that unless you’re Kevin Smith and don’t honestly care what people think of you, writing about God is not advisable. And of course the odds of getting it ‘right’ are remote. But I’m also thinking, maybe this is where she struggles. Maybe this is how far she has been able to go herself.

And a part of me thinks that we have no right to demand any more from her. The books speak eloquently enough. Her personal beliefs are none of my business.

“First, the biggest revelation of the night came when Jo revealed to her audience the fact that Albus Dumbledore is gay and had fallen in love with fellow wizard and friend, Gellert Grindelwald. This, by no doubt, elicited the biggest reaction of the evening with many audience members gasping upon hearing the news. So much so, it promoted Jo to say:

“If I had know this would have made you so happy, I would have told you years ago.”

She continued, explaining having to slip a note to the director, David Yates, during a script reading of the sixth film, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” when a small reference was made to ‘a girl Dumbledore was once attracted to’ was in the script. In tune with the activities of many in her fandom, Jo also said this after revelation: “Just imagine the fan fiction now.””

The link is http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/10/20/j-k-rowling-at-carnegie-hall-reveals-dumbledore-is-gay-neville-marries-hannah-abbott-and-scores-more

This was apparently at the Carnegie Hall reading. This is also confirmed by a Newsweek story, linked to here http://www.newsweek.com/id/50787

So, that raises some other questions, doesn’t it?