Blog 3 - Death of a Gryffindor

Blog 3 - Death of a Gryffindor 

As the Harry Potter series ends, I felt J.K. Rowling explained and brought closure for each conflict of issues within the Wizarding World. Or at least she created a tiny closure towards the elongated and complex concerns (like the house-elves, runaway Death Eaters, Deathly Hallows, and etc.). However, there is one particular element, I want to focus on the death of a significant Gryffindor, Colin Creevey. From the Harry Potter series, we meet this highly spirited and passionate character in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, where we find out Colin is a Muggle-born. He was excited about learning the Wizarding World like Harry, Colin “ ‘never knew all the odd stuff [he] could do was magic till [he] got the letter from Hogwarts. [His] dad’s a milkman, he couldn’t believe it either’ ” (Chamber of Secrets, 96). J.K. Rowling establishes this character as a Muggle-born, and passionate about Hogwarts and what Harry stands for.

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the audience reads about his death because he stayed behind to protect Hogwarts and Harry. But the problem I see is how did he attend Hogwarts when he was a Muggle-born? He wouldn’t have been there to begin with because of the Muggle-born Register. The Daily Prophet says, “ ‘Recent research undertaken by the Department of Mysteries reveals that magic can only be passed from person to person when Wizards reproduce. Where no proven Wizarding ancestry exists, therefore, the so-called Muggle-born is likely to obtained magical power by theft or force’ ” (Deathly Hallows, 209). Therefore, Colin would have gone to Azkaban because he has “stolen” his magical abilities or he would be on the run like Dean Thomas from the Snatchers; he would not have attended Hogwarts his sixth year. Did he lie about his magical background? Why did Colin Creevey die? When he would have not been there in the first place. Perhaps J.K. Rowling established Colin’s death this way because he would have stayed behind and defended Hogwarts and his death critically affected Harry. Harry didn’t want anyone else to die for his cause, “Harry glanced down and felt another dull blow to his stomach: Colin Creevey, though underage must have sneaked back just as Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had done. He was tiny in death” (Deathly Hallows, 694). There is a problem of how Colin had success in attending Hogwarts and why he died. Perhaps Colin’s death was a method in which J.K. Rowling used to help Harry accept death and continue the story’s flow. But I will always wonder about Colin Creevey.