HP moment #3: Fawkes' lament

The following is #3 in a series of blog posts counting down my ten favorite Harry Potter moments leading up to the release of Deathly Hallows, pt. 2 this Friday.

Dumbledore's passing is a momentous event in the HP series. As I talked about in moment #9, it was a watershed moment in Harry's life as the last of his great protectors passed on. Such a moment required a touching literary aside. What we got only added to the melancholy mood in such a way that the reader was drawn in by something impossible to understand. None of us know what a phoenix song sounds like, but we can be assured that it is something magical.

The movie creation of Half-Blood Prince tried its best, having the Hogwarts teachers and student body raise their wands in unison and dissolve the Dark Mark, but in truth no scene would cut it. Unfortunately for the producers, Rowling crafted a scene incapable of being re-created. More than any other time in HBP, this was assuredly a religious moment.

We can infer that phoenixes are rare birds, seeing as Fawkes is the only one we ever met. The only other phoenix mentioned is the one that gives feathers for the twin wands that chose Harry and Voldemort (apparently this, too, was Fawkes--thanks to Andrew Scherber for that). Fawkes is tied to Dumbledore unlike any other magical creature that we know of. So, when Dumbledore passes it is hardly a surprise that Fawkes' time too has come.

The phoenix is simply the coolest creature that Rowling crafts. Able to carry heavy objects, with tears that cure wounds, and re-birthing itself from the ashes when it is time to die, it exists at the junction of Harry and Dumbledore's relationship. Not surprisingly, it was the phoenix that carried the Sorting Hat to Harry in Chamber of Secrets when Dumbledore himself was absent. Yet, we never know about its song until the day Dumbledore dies. We learn that it is a "stricken lament of terrible beauty” that feels to Harry like his “grief magically to song."

When people say that the books are better than the movies it is because of scenes like this; scenes incapable of being captured on a screen divorced from the touch. It is a fitting end; Dumbledore's true memorial service packed into a few moments song. It's also a reminder of that which Voldemort does not value: grief cannot be without love. Fawkes was a symbol of love; a fiery, fierce, undying love. His departure sets the stage for a Hogwarts battling for its very existence.