The first Harry Potter book begins with the temporary defeat of Voldemort, and the seventh and final book ends with his death. In both cases, Voldemort is defeated because he fails to understand the power of love. Immensely powerful though Voldemort is, he does not understand that love contains a magic deeper than his own. When he tries to kill one-year-old Harry, Harry's mother stands in the way and, although Lily Potter dies trying to protect her child, her sacrifice in death gives Harry protection from Voldemort's spells.
Voldemort's final defeat at the end of the seventh book is a little more convoluted. Doubtless the precise plot twists would only be of interest to Potter geeks like me (but if you ask me, I'd be happy to bore you on the subject). Suffice it to say that it all comes down to the loyalties of Professor Snape. Snape is a double agent, a former Death Eater turned informant, who feeds information about the Death Eaters back to Albus Dumbledore at great personal risk. Throughout the seven-part series it is never entirely clear which side Snape is on. He really does hate Harry although, as it turns out, he really is trying to protect him. In my favourite chapter of the whole series we finally discover that Snape loved Harry's mother, Lily; after she is murdered by Voldemort, Snape's allegiance is firmly with those who oppose her murderer. He can never be loyal to the man who killed the woman he loved. And Voldemort just doesn't get that at all. In the end, it is his undoing.
In Harry's magical world, love isn't just a feeling, but a power stronger than evil, stronger than darkness, stronger than death. The magic of the cross of Christ is that love really does have the power to save.
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