Harry Potter, Love and Valentines Day
"...Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love."
-Albus Dumbledore
In Harry Potter, love is the most inexplicable, perplexing, powerful, magic there is. It is love that saved Harry, and gave him the scar. It is love that makes Snape sacrifce his entire life to rectify his mistake. It is love that pushes Harry to continue and go into the forest where he thinks he will meet his death. Love. The foundation to the seven books, and in the end the moral of the story. That love will always be stronger than hate. That it is easy to fill your heart with hatred, and much harder to love, truly love. Because when you love, you open yourself to the most vulnerable you can ever be.
It is that vulnerability which can be mistaken for weakness at times, which is why dark wizards like Voldemort see it as a strength not to love. But it is love that becomes Voldemorts weakest link. The power of love is so complex that even the smartest, most powerful wizard cannot comprehend it. Love is like more magical than magic. Lily's love for Harry and her willingness to die for him, resulted in keeping him protected from the most powerful dark magic there is- the killing curse. The enchantment cast by Lily kept Harry safe from Voldemort until the day Harry yelled 'Expelliarmus' and defeated him. Love is the only protection against the lure and power of the Dark Arts, which are fueled by hateful emotions. And it is the capability of love that meant Voldemort could never fully enter Harry's mind and body, the way Harry could Voldemorts.
Where am I going?
Lets take a little break from the Harry Potterness (I will get back to it later, i promise). Today is Valentines Day. The day of love. I know a lot of people who hate this day. Who might be a bit bitter, or they might argue that you should love your loved ones everyday. True. So true. But darn it, there is something that makes my heart feeel so warm and beautiful on the inside when I ride the subway and see people carrying flowers, and chocolates and taking each other out, and kissing, and hugging, and friends laughing. If we had more love- we could kick hatreds ass. I have always been a fan of this day, unfotunetly. Even when I was a single lady and felt like no one was EVER going to want me. Ever. I loooved Valentines day. And still do! Ever since I can remember, my dad would buy me and my mom a red rose each. Because we are the best ladies in his life, he says.
One V-day me and Hermine organised a movie night with a cake, brownies, ice-cream, candy, chips, popcorn, veggies, dip, coke, tea, nuts, and muffins. We ate it all and watched three movies and then went to bed feeling like the Michelin man. I then woke up in the middle of the night and threw up. GOOD TIMES. I also remember my first year at University. I took a nightbus down to London to celebrate Valentines day with Naelia, Amira and Agge. We went and saw Music Soulchild, Donell Jones, and Avant. We went to the awesomest of nightclubs and danced to UK funky and made lots of new friends, and on Valentines Day we were in Kensington Market and I bought myself a ring with a silver rose on it. Because I wanted to remember that weekend forever. I felt so immensely loved an had so much love in me when I left back to Glasgow.
I remember spending one really hectic Valentines Day with Adrian in the Library. The library was so deserted. I had bought him chocolates that spellt ”LOVE” and we had heart-shaped helium balloons that we inhaled in the cafeteria in the middle of the night and had hysterical fits of laughter trying to sing and have a conversation. I was hopelessly in love with Ross who had another love interest at the time, but that didn't stop me from enjoying my day of love with my best friend!
This year I was woken up by Hermine who came over. I've not spent quality time with her in months, and I was feeling so incredibly lucky to have her for a few hours before she is off to Småland. In the middle of our breakfast the door knocked and it was a lady delivering a rose with a note saying ”Jag älskar dig. GL”. And a card smelling of my favourite scent ever. Ross :) Later during the day I got another rose from my niece Cleo and another one from Eddie, Idas boyfriend. I could feel the love. How hippie does that sound? But I could. It felt like because I knew love was being celebrated and expressed everywhere today, at the samt time, love became tangible. Like it was literally filling me up and pressing in on me from all sides.
As I was on my way to dinner with my friends I remembered my conversation with Ross earlier today, he said he sent me the rose and the card because he does not want me to feel alone on Valentines Day. He wanted to make sure I felt loved. And this is what I want to get at. I wouldn't have felt alone. I don't need the rose or the cards or the dinners. Love is a feeling that is untangible and unexplainable. It is a true form of magic that beats the rest. I cant truly define why I love someone, or how it happens. I just know that it does, and I am so full of love.
And that is where i take it back to Harry Potter. Rowling created an alternative world where the power of love is measurable. It is tangible. Where true love has a direct force and result. Tonk's patronus changed into a werewolf after she fell in love with Lupin. Love has a direct connection to your abilities, it affects your soul, your entire being. In contemporary society, we live in a world where hatred is everywhere. Where negativity and inequalities take over. Racists are exponentially gaining power in our parliament, and it is a form of hatred and dispise that I never thought imaginable. Pretty much every tenth person in Sweden votes for the Swedish National Party. So pretty much every tenth person is either extremely misinformed, or believes that those daaaarned immigrants should just go back to where they came from! But my point is: their hatred, and their anger will never be more powerful than ours. We have the ability to love. They do not. We are protected by that, and anything that happens- we shall beat!
It is so simple to forget to love. To fall into bitterness, to focus on what we don't have rather on what we do have. It is so easy to take the easy way out: to treat others with disrespect in order to get what you want. It is so easy to be dishonest and sly, and use others for your gain. I like to think of Voldemort as 'the man'. He represents the evil, consumerist, egoist, capitalist, sexist version of society. I never want to be one of Voldemorts death eaters, who looses myself to serve him just because it is an easy way out. I never want to do a Wormtail and sacrifice my hand to help him get stronger, and have him give me a silver hand instead. A hand that a few years later strangled him to death. Because nothing you get with its roots in evil, masked in bribery and spite will benefit you. It will come back to haunt. I take pride in working hard to remain pure at heart, admitting when I am wrong, and surronding myself with people I love. Fighting for them and my beliefs. Voldemort does not scare me. Ok. Im lying. He scares the shit out of me. But as long as I have my people, who are also fighting for the same things I believe in, people who I love, and who love me, we will always win. Even when we are losing.
