Dumbledore leads Harry to a couple of seats and commends
him for his bravery. He acknowledges that he is dead, but says that Harry
is probably not. He explains, or helps Harry to figure out, that
while Voldemort has just killed the part of his own soul that was
embedded within Harry, Harry is still alive because Voldemort reconstituted
his own body out of Harry’s blood (in Harry Potter and the
Goblet of Fire). Because Voldemort contains Harry’s blood, as
long as Voldemort is alive he preserves Lily Potter’s charm, so Harry
can’t die at his hand. Thus, paradoxically, while Harry had to die
before Voldemort could, Harry can’t die while Voldemort lives. They
have a double bond, with Voldemort’s soul in Harry and Harry’s blood
in Voldemort.
Dumbledore explains the mystery of why Harry’s wand defeated Voldemort
even when the latter had Lucius Malfoy’s wand. The first time Harry
fought Voldemort with their twin wands, Harry won because his courage
was greater. Because of Harry’s bond with Voldemort, and because
of the kinship between their two wands, Harry’s wand absorbed a
bit of Voldemort’s essence and also came to recognize him as a mortal
enemy. That is why Harry’s wand recognized Voldemort and defended
against him, turning a bit of Voldemort’s highly potent magic back
against him and destroying Lucius’s wand.
Harry raises the subject of the Deathly Hallows, and Dumbledore
admits with shame that he was seduced by their promise to make him
master over death. The search for the Hallows drew Dumbledore and
Grindelwald together years before, and they had intended to embark
on a search for them when Aberforth pointed out that they couldn’t
leave Ariana. Dumbledore, realizing that the craving for power was
his most dangerous weakness, turned down the post of Minister of
Magic and stayed at Hogwarts his whole career.
Dumbledore avoided facing Grindelwald for as long as possible, afraid
that he might learn that it was he, Dumbledore, who cast the spell
that killed Ariana. Finally, he defeated Grindelwald and took the
Elder Wand from him. Dumbledore had given up on the search for the
Hallows when he learned that Harry’s father had the Cloak and borrowed
it to examine it. When Dumbledore got hold of the ring with the
Stone, he couldn’t resist using it to try to speak to his sister
and parents. He put it on, forgetting that the ring was now a Horcrux
and thus cursed, thereby ruining his hand and causing his own eventual
demise. He says that he never could have united the Hallows because
he took the Cloak out of idle curiosity and the Stone for selfish
reasons, wishing to disturb the peaceful dead. He only did the right
thing with the Wand, having taken it to protect others from it.
Harry, on the other hand, only wanted each of these items for selfless
reasons.
Dumbledore concludes by explaining that he had counted
on Hermione to slow Harry down somewhat during his quest, keeping him
from rushing after the Hallows, so that Harry would not impulsively
seize upon the Hallows for the wrong reasons. He says that Voldemort
just wanted a wand powerful enough to beat Harry, while understanding
nothing of the Hallows. Dumbledore admits that he hoped that by
having Snape kill him, he could protect the Wand from being taken
by another unscrupulous master, but that things hadn’t worked out
as he’d planned.
Finally, Dumbledore tells Harry that he can choose to
go back to life or move on. In answer to Harry’s question, he acknowledges that
all of this is happening inside Harry’s head, but that this fact does
not make the conversation less real.
