Hymn to Harry Potter

Hymn to Harry Potter

When great heroes are spoken of, how shall I pass over you, oh Harry Potter? From the first days of your life, you began your fight against Evil and saved the Wizarding world from the terror wreaked by Voldemort, the Dark Lord, whose name nearly all the world feared to speak. Overcoming adversity from the narrow-minded Dursleys to the ungenerous-hearted Snape, you achieved all you set out to do, Harry Potter. And so, from the tops of Hogwarts Castle and the Ministry of Magic, I will honor you in my song as the Boy Who Lived.

It was in dark times when he whom even the Dark Lord feared, the wisest of the wise, Albus Dumbledore heard the prophecy foretelling the coming of a great one, with more power than the Dark Lord. A rainy evening it was, and Sibyll Trelawney, descended from the renowned prophetess Cassandra Trelawney, was possessed by the heavens and the spirit of Merlin to tell of the coming of one with the power to defeat the Dark Lord.

Two of the best of their time at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Lily Evans, she of the flame-colored hair and emerald-green eyes, and James Potter, pride of Gryffindor House, the parents of Harry Potter were destined to be. On leaving school, they had been recruited by the bane of Grindelwald to join his exclusive band of the brave ones who vowed to work together towards the defeat of the greatest evil the world had yet seen. Three times they defied Voldemort, three times escaped from his wrath and lived to tell the tale. Three times, also, Frank and Alice Longbottom worked against He Who Must Not Be Named and escaped.

Those who had thrice defied the Dark Lord were mentioned in the prophecy told by the seer, Sibyll Trelawney. Both flame-haired Lily and round-faced Alice, she of the unhappy fate, bore sons as the seventh month waned but only one would be marked as the equal of the Dark Lord. This one was you, oh Harry Potter, born with the messy black hair of your father and the emerald-green eyes of your mother, and a power that was from both of them and yet was all your own.

Just over a year old was he when the Dark Lord came to the small house in a place known as Godric's Hollow, led there by a faithless friend, he who was called Wormtail. Noble James, of the excellent reflexes and bravery of the Gryffindors, the father of the Savior of the Wizarding world, died in a blast of green light and the murderous curse of Avada Kedavra, protecting the still helpless infant, Harry Potter, and his mother, flame-haired Lily. But pitiless and merciless is the Dark Lord, whose heart is all evil and filled by the consuming need for power over all life, and he struck down flame-haired Lily, struck her down and laughed a cold, cruel laugh as the deadly curse killed the mother of the Hero. Baby Harry Potter watched his mother be murdered, watched with the laughter of the Dark Lord ringing in his ears, the green light of murderous intent filling his eyes.

Ah, then, oh then the Dark Lord turned his evil intent on Harry Potter! Harry, whom he had come to kill on the dark last night of the tenth month, Hallowe'en when the spirits of the dead are restless. Oh Muses, help me tell the tale of how a helpless baby defeated the Dark Lord! Help me sing to the glory of Harry! Help me sing of the first downfall of Voldemort!

Many years ago, a witch married one of the non-magical community and from that unhappy, ill-fated union was born Tom Marvolo Riddle. This Tom Riddle formed a hatred of his father, for he was a Muggle and not magical, and became powerful, possibly the most powerful of all wizards to study at Hogwarts with the exception of the wise and whimsical Dumbledore, he known to all the Wizarding world as the bane of Grindelwald. Only Dumbledore suspected the seemingly perfect Tom Riddle of the evil behind his fair face. Ah, then dark times had come to the land of England for the Dark Lord had risen, the Dark Lord known to only a few as Tom Riddle, once Headboy of all of Hogwarts. Tom Riddle became Voldemort, whose name nearly all feared to speak. So He Who Must Not Be Named went on killing those he deemed impure and unworthy, and few dared to oppose him, save Dumbledore and his Order of the Phoenix.

But now, at the height of his power, was Voldemort defeated, stripped of his powers, and by whom? Oh, yes, by whom, Muses? By the child known as Harry James Potter, the Boy Who Lived. His mother, flame-haired Lily, had died for love of her child, and her love remained, protecting and shielding Harry from the deadly curse of the Avada Kedavra. The curse rebounded, rebounded back upon its originator, as evil deeds tend to do. The Dark Lord had been defeated by the Boy Who Lived!

Then did the Wizarding world of Great Britain rejoice to hear the news and lift their glasses in a toast to Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived! The dark times were over; a fragile peace would reign again and so it did for thirteen years. But the Dark Lord was strong and the Dark Lord was cunning and the Dark Lord bided his time, waiting for a loyal servant to help him regain his power.

You grew up in those years, Harry Potter, from a baby to a boy. You faced the Dark Lord again when you were eleven and emerged victorious. The next year, you defeated that most feared and most deadly of animals, the fatal-eyed basilisk, and in so doing, cleared the falsely-accused keeper of animals, Hagrid, giant of the gentle heart. Such is why the family of Weasley will give praise to the name of Harry Potter, for you rescued the youngest daughter, Ginny.

Then, Muses, tell me how I may sing of his rescue of his godfather with the help of his boon companion, Hermione Granger, the intelligent and kind-hearted. For the heart of Severus Snape, Potions Master, was bitter and full of hatred for Sirius Black, from school days long ago, memories poisoning his mind until he nearly lost control of his reason. Then too, did Harry Potter learn the truth of the faithless friend of his father's, he who was called Wormtail but disguised as Scabbers, pet rat of Ronald Weasley, he so skilled in the art of chess. Then did Harry show his quality. Ah, how can we more highly praise the actions of the Boy Who Lived that night? To show mercy to one who deserved it not from his hand is a great virtue. Justice was served that night as the unjustly accused and unjustly imprisoned Sirius Black, also called Padfoot, was freed through the help of his godson and his best friend.

As a stone cast into the water will leave ever-widening ripples, so too did the mercy of Harry Potter have far-reaching consequences, for his mercy spared Wormtail and returned to Voldemort a servant to use. And in a graveyard thirteen years after the first defeat did the blood of an enemy, the bones of the father, and the flesh of a servant restore the Dark Lord to his body.

It was a dark hour for you, oh Harry Potter, faced with the implacable hatred of your enemy, but even then your courage did not fail you. You faced He Who Must Not Be Named, faced him in a duel as few have done and lived to tell the tale. And from the song of the phoenix and the magic of the phoenix feathers did the spirits of those whom the Dark Lord had murdered return to pursue him. Flame-haired Lily and quick-witted James returned and you faced your honored parents again. They said, "We will give you time." Cedric Diggory of the upright heart returned and charged you to bring his body back to his parents. Then did the strength of your heart reveal itself at its strongest. You escaped the wrath of the Dark Lord and his followers to become the voice of truth to a blind world.

Should I sing of the suffering you endured, oh Hero of the Wizarding world? Should I sing of those who perished nobly, defending the cause of the right? Those names shall long be honored in story and in song in Wizarding Britain and around the world. The last of the most ancient House of Black, brave-hearted Sirius, was the first to fall, then the Bane of Grindelwald himself perished, leaving the world to mourn and say, "We shall not look upon his like again." Sturgis Podmore, of the power to deceive the eyes, also fell. Cornelius Fudge and cruel-minded Umbridge, his assistant, perished, not nobly but as one of the many who fell in the years of war. Who can tell the countless others, not of magical blood, who perished at the hands of He Who Must Not Be Named and his followers?

Ah but while I have breath and life to sing, my song will be to you, Boy Who Lived and how you faced the Dark Lord and defeated him finally. The love of your parents, the faith and loyalty of your friends and the power that is yours alone saw you through and with one incantation, you called the life-force of the Evil One back to the lowest regions of the Hellmouth where he came from. Glory to your name, Harry Potter, so for your greatness will all witches and wizards tell your story of bravery and drink to your name, Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived!

Dumbledore

Sturgis Podmore has an Invisibility Cloak and he is killed in Order of the Phoenix.

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