14 Harry Potter Quotes About The End

The hardest part about being a Harry Potter fan is admitting that the series has ended. Thankfully, this has been a great year for Harry Potter news: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is coming to theaters, and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is hitting the stage, so the series is still going in some ways. However, those main seven books have come to a close.

As etched on the snitch in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, however, some things open at the close. And truly, Rowling used endings in the series to give us some truly beautiful quotes.

Each book is structured around a beginning and an end as Harry starts and finishes a new school year. And within that year, there are plenty of other endings, from finishing terms to saying goodbye to friends. There’s a lot of loss throughout Harry Potter, and a lot of change: Harry goes from a lonely eleven-year-old trying to dodge his cousin’s fist to the chosen one who finally vanquishes Voldemort once and for all. Along the way, there are many endings, but those are often just an opportunity for something new to begin. After all, the series may be over, but the story lives on.

1. And suddenly, their wardrobes were empty, their trunks were packed, Neville's toad was found lurking in a corner of the toilets; notes were handed out to all students, warning them not to use magic over the holidays ("I always hope they'll forget to give us these," said Fred Weasley sadly); Hagrid was there to take them down to the fleet of boats that sailed across the lake; they were boarding the Hogwarts Express; talking and laughing as the countryside became greener and tidier; eating Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans as they sped past Muggle towns; pulling off their wizard robes and putting on jackets and coats; pulling into platform nine and three-quarters at King's Cross Station.

—J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

2. The end of the summer vacation came too quickly for Harry’s liking. He was looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts, but his month at the Burrow had been the happiest of his life.

—J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

3. At last the term ended, and a silence deep as the snow on the grounds descended on the castle. Harry found it peaceful, rather than gloomy.

—J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

4. "This is our last chance — my last chance — to win the Quidditch Cup," he told them, striding up and down in front of them. "I'll be leaving at the end of this year. I'll never get another shot at it." "Gryffindor hasn't won for seven years now. Okay, so we've had the worst luck in the world — injuries — then the tournament getting called off last year Wood swallowed, as though the memory still brought a lump to his throat. "But we also know we've got the best-ruddy-team-in-the-school," he said, punching a fist into his other hand, the old manic glint back in his eye.

—Oliver Wood, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

5. Gryffindor House, meanwhile, largely thanks to their spectacular performance in the Quidditch Cup, had won the House championship for the third year running. This meant that the end of term feast took place amid decorations of scarlet and gold, and that the Gryffindor table was the noisiest of the lot, as everybody celebrated. Even Harry managed to forget about the journey back to the Dursleys the next day as he ate, drank, talked, and laughed with the rest.

—J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

6. "Though I must fulfill my duty And must quarter every year Still I wonder whether sorting May not bring the end I fear. Oh, know the perils, read the signs, The warning history shows, For our Hogwarts is in danger From external, deadly foes And we must unite inside her Or we’ll crumble from within. I have told you, I have warned you. . . . Let the Sorting now begin."

—The Sorting Hat, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

7. “Well, the Sorting Hat did seriously consider putting me in Ravenclaw during my Sorting,” said Hermione brightly, “but it decided on Gryffindor in the end."

—Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

8. “The end of the prophecy . . . it was something about . . . ‘neither can live. . . .’ ” “ ‘. . . while the other survives,’ ” said Dumbledore. “So,” said Harry, dredging up the words from what felt like a deep well of despair inside him, “so does that mean that . . . that one of us has got to kill the other one . . . in the end?” “Yes,” said Dumbledore.

—J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

9. “That’s no reason for them to take your things,” [Harry] said flatly. “D’you want help finding them?” “Oh no,” [Luna] said, smiling at him. “They’ll come back, they always do in the end."

—J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

10. "It seems as though I always knew I’d have to face him in the end. . . .”

—Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

11. “I never really gave up on you,” she said. “Not really. I always hoped. . . . Hermione told me to get on with life, maybe go out with some other people, relax a bit around you, because I never used to be able to talk if you were in the room, remember? And she thought you might take a bit more notice if I was a bit more — myself.” “Smart girl, that Hermione,” said Harry, trying to smile. “I just wish I’d asked you sooner. We could’ve had ages . . . months . . . years maybe. . . .” “But you’ve been too busy saving the Wizarding world,” said Ginny, half laughing. “Well . . . I can’t say I’m surprised. I knew this would happen in the end. I knew you wouldn’t be happy unless you were hunting Voldemort. Maybe that’s why I like you so much.”

—J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

12. “I kept hoping you’d appear. But when it started to get dark I knew I must have missed you, so I clicked the Deluminator again, the blue light came out and went inside me, and I Disapparated and arrived here in these woods. I still couldn’t see you, so I just had to hope one of you would show yourselves in the end."

—Ron Weasley, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

13. Ron and Hermione seemed a long way away, in a far-off country; he felt as though he had parted from them long ago. There would be no good-byes and no explanations, he was determined of that. This was a journey they could not take together, and the attempts they would make to stop him would waste valuable time. He looked down at the battered gold watch he had received on his seventeenth birthday. Nearly half of the hour allotted by Voldemort for his surrender had elapsed. He stood up. His heart was leaping against his ribs like a frantic bird. Perhaps it knew it had little time left, perhaps it was determined to fulfill a lifetime’s beats before the end.

—J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

14. The last trace of steam evaporated in the autumn air. The train rounded a corner. Harry’s hand was still raised in farewell. “He’ll be all right,” murmured Ginny. As Harry looked at her, he lowered his hand absentmindedly and touched the lightning scar on his forehead. “I know he will.” The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well.

—J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

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