The new Harry Potter movie opens this week. It’s going to be very Harry around here for a while. I apologize to those of you who are not Harry-obsessed. Regularly scheduled programming will resume in a few days.
There is one scene in the last HP book that has seized my younger children’s attention, and I admit it fascinates me too. It occurs during the last, great battle at Hogwarts, the ultimate good-vs.-evil confrontation. Bellatrix Lestrange, a most deliciously evil female character, is battling three teenage girls at once.
Suddenly, Molly Weasley comes racing across the room. Throughout the series, Molly is portrayed as the ultimate mother. Plump, dowdy, nurturing to an extreme, she is the mother-figure Harry has always craved. Until this point in the series all Molly’s magic has been directed towards taking care of her husband, home or seven children. All that changes at the moment Bellatrix takes aim at Molly’s youngest child.
As she comes racing across the Great Hall at Hogwarts to battle and ultimately kill Bellatrix Lestrange, Molly screams, “NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!” My children love this. It’s the only bad language in seven Harry Potter books. Tonka loves to repeat it to me. The forbidden word is acceptable in this context. After all, he’s just repeating a line from a book.
But I am fascinated for another reason. Molly Weasley is me. I’m the stay-at-home mom. I’m the one whose powers are directed towards taking care of home and family. And NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH is how I feel when anything threatens my children. Bullying on the school yard? NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH. My son’s education is hampered by difficulties in the classroom? NOT MY SON YOU BITCH. Autism is going to prevent my child from reaching her full potential? NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH AUTISM.
It’s the protective love of a mama tiger. Or dragon, as the case may be. Don’t underestimate us mamas. Evil is no match for the ferocious power of love.
Grrrr……love it and love this!!
And that growl you just heard? Yep, that’s me channeling my inner Mama Bear, who lurks, generally quiet and unassuming, until one of mine is near harms way.
I kinda think she would like your Dragon.
If I knew that there was profanity in Harry Potter books, I would have been all over it! As it stands, I have never read one word of them. I’m hoping that Audrey will be a big nerd (almost a certainty) and that we can read them together when she’s older.
Pingback: Love is Secure | Never The Twain
Pingback: Sometimes He Surprises Me in a Good Way | Never The Twain