In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling masterfully brings her series to a close. One thing I really loved about the ending to the series was the sheer emotion that Rowling sought to create in her readers. During the Battle of Hogwarts, the very atmosphere seemed to be infused with a sort of electricity that both quickened both the rate of my heart and the rate at which I turned the page. Rowling made me think that I was there in person, witnessing the events as they happened in real time. I shared the heroes' excitement as they found the final Ravenclaw Horcrux, and experienced their intense grief as fellow friends Colin Creevey, Fred Weasley, Remus Lupin, and others more lost their lives in the fighting.
This series, although filled with magic and all sorts of peculiar occurrences, acts as a commentary for the real world as well. School rivalries, as exhibited by the continual (and borderline unhealthy) clash between houses Gryffindor and Slytherin. The same drama that exists in Hogwarts also exists in virtually all our public schools--sans magic of course. It is Rowling's literary mastery that allows her to show how two seemingly opposite worlds are more alike than different.
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