Harry Potter on sacrifice

This morning I was rereading the chapter in the final Harry Potter book where Harry gives himself up. He goes to Voldemort unarmed and allows his enemy to kill him... Only Harry doesn't die. His sacrifice does, however, destroy the part of Voldemort's soul which is lodged within himself. Voldemort could not have been defeated without this selfless act. Apologies to those of you who don't spend your lives rereading Harry Potter and who might be a tad confused at this point.

This part of the series reminds me of the death of Aslan in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The White Witch gleefully kills Aslan, who has willingly given himself up to die, believing that Narnia will be hers. What she doesn't know about, but Aslan does, is the deep magic from before the dawn of time. When an innocent victim gives himself up in place of another, death itself is reversed. Aslan dies, but he comes back, and defeats the witch. This is widely understood to be an imaginative reworking of Christ's death and resurrection.

I wonder whether Harry's sacrifice might have closer parallels, in some respects, to the death and resurrection of Christ, however. If Jesus was fully human, did he know that God would raise him from death? Or did he willingly go to his death - scared, needing the comfort of friends - trusting God without knowing the outcome?

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