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By spanning something like real time, the story has grown older along with them. In a dreamy sequence, we are allowed to see the characters as they were in the beginning.
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She created a fictional world with its own logic and consistency, and here at the finale, there is some satisfaction in seeing loose ends tied up, lingering mysteries explained and suspicions confirmed. Rowling's original conception, and resisted temptations to cheapen its action or simplify its complexity. What is does occupy is a Britain of the imagination. There is no place in Britain that fits this geography, but then is Hogwarts quite in the real Britain? The school also seems to have mysteriously relocated adjacent to towering heights that permit vertiginous falls to the earth far below. Many of its shining spires and noble gothic arches are reduced to ruin and ashes, providing an apocalyptic battleground. You don't want to know what happens to Hogwarts here. Minerva McGonagall, who is called upon to summon her powers and shield Hogwarts School from the powers of Voldemort.
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Here we see once again characters whose names were once new and now resonate with associations: Bellatrix Lestrange, Rubeus Hagrid, Professor Dumbledore, Ollivander, Lucius Malfoy, Sirius Black, Severus Snape, Remus Lupin and even Prof. So many distinguished British actors have played roles in the Potter films that those who haven't may be fitfully resentful. What I can observe is that this final film is a reunion of sorts for a great many characters we've come to know over the years. Maybe Harry dies, Voldemort is triumphant, and evil reigns. I dare not reveal a single crucial detail about the story itself, lest I offend the Spoiler Police, who have been on my case lately.
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