Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn’t realize that love as powerful as your mother’s for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign. . . to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. It is in your very skin. Quirrell, full of hatred, greed, and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, could not touch you for this reason. It was agony to touch a person marked by something so good.
Now, I know that I am very late to the game, but I just finished reading the first book in the Harry Potter series last week. My kids have been speaking Potterisms for a few years already, so I’m glad not to be left in the dark any longer! I’m hooked. Fell in love with Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione and appreciated their strong bonds of loyalty. Such beautiful examples for kids to meet in literature.
There are so many themes within the book, but the classic theme of good vs. evil shone brightly at the end, and this quote was the clincher that got me all awash. Who cries reading Harry Potter?! (I’m guessing (hoping) there are more of you out there like me!)
I was thinking – I have been loved sooooo deeply by my parents and my husband, and I soooo love my own children in ways words can’t seem to express. But these words captured it tangibly for me.
I often feel like our love for each other penetrates into places unseen and offers a million gifts that we can’t anticipate. As parents, we hope that our expressions of love will result in a sense of security and confidence that allow our children to go after their dreams and make a difference in the world. “To have been loved so deeply will give them some protection forever.”
Granted, our kids will not have to face Quirrell’s or Voldemort’s with magic wands, but one day they will have to go out on their own to pursue their own adventures, battling against many adversities, hardships, and even”forces of evil” in their lifetime. And I think the love we offer will give them a strong inner sense of security, knowing in their core that there is a safe and loving place to be, and therefore being “protected” from some of crazy things they will experience in life from others- “hatred, greed, evil ambition.”
And I know I was lucky, and my kids are lucky, and Harry, even though he lost his parents, was so lucky to have been loved by them. They did their best to love and protect him, just as we do.
But not everyone is so lucky; I know that. The double-edged tears I shed were for other kids and big-sized adult-kids who do not know this kind of love and protection. It inspired me to keep an eye out for ways to show that love whenever possible. Show grace, kindness, patience, humility. In doing so, maybe we can give a byproduct gift of security and protection that will “mark them” forever.
Sonya Dalrymple 