SiorX -- you can't tell from the epilogue of Deathly Hallows how much the wizarding world and wizard culture has or has not changed or reformed in the past 19 years. All you know is that wizards are still hidden from Muggles -- nothing more. The focus of the epilogue is entirely on our characters and how they themselves turned out. The "all was well" is entirely genuine: Harry has fought the fight that was thrust upon him, has done his part and has since found peace.
No, you can't tell what's been going on beyond Harry's family, but the narrow focus in the epilogue is itself genuinely interesting. At least I find it so. Many of the loose ends in the HP books are about the wider problems which beset the magical world. Around books 4 and 5 the novels opened up and we learned about the discontent of other magical creatures - the goblins, the centaurs, the giants, even the dementors, and especially the house-elves.
There are other issues which we know about but which haven't been brought to any real resolution. Slytherin is a breeding ground for old bigotries (within a divisive house system which has ramifications beyond Hogwarts). There's widespread ignorance of the Muggle world (which proved a fertile breeding ground for misinformation and discrimination under VDM's regime). These problems contributed directly to Voldemort's rise to power. He wasn't just a lone baddie - his success was also the result of pre-existing systemic problems.
The epilogue, however, returns to the microcosm. The setting in King's Cross has personal meaning for Harry but also effectively shuts out the wider world. Back at the entry point to the magic world, we get Harry's happy ending. Any answers to wider questions are conspicuous by their absence. I'm sure the 'all was well' is genuine for
Harry, but for the house-elves? The goblins? These are questions the book leaves entirely open. Hermione's abortive attempts with S.P.E.W. notwithstanding, the books really make no allusion to any efforts to change the system. I find that fascinating and a really powerful ambiguous ending, even though I'm sure from what JKR has said in interviews that that isn't what was intended.
The epilogue is full of allusions to Harry's first trip to Hogwarts, and the names and appearances of his kids harks back to earlier generations. There's a comforting sense of nostalgia and a return to innocence. This time 'round, Harry gets to do it right and send his family off to Hogwarts with the love, support, and preparation he never had. But doesn't all the repetition also raise questions about history repeating itself in
less desirable ways? The problems Harry found at Hogwarts weren't all down to his own unhappy start, after all.
There are some tantalising hints in Ron's jokes. "Grandad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pure-blood", "if you're not in Gryffindor, we'll disinherit you", his pointing out Scorpius Malfoy to Rose as a rival, and using magic against a muggle driving examiner - it's light-hearted, but every joke is a reminder of an ideology which contributed to the violence in the books. We saw what happened when such prejudices were taken to extremes. Can Ron joke now because all that's over and done with, or is his casual teasing an indication that the status quo remains largely unchanged and unchallenged?
I think the spectre of unresolved prejudices in the WW is lurking all around the edges of Harry's happy ending. YMMV.
(By the way -- "prejudice against Slytherins"? Really?)
Yes really. There has always been a chasm between Slytherins and everyone else, and it's not been resolved by the end of the books.
TBH, during Harry's time at school I think you'd be mad not to be automatically distrustful of Slytherins. There doesn't appear to be a good one in the batch. Slytherin house's reputation is well-earned, but it also precedes it and seems to create a self-fulfilling prophesy. Harry's been in the wizarding world less than a day in all before he's heard enough to have him begging the hat not to put him into Slytherin.
Fast forward nineteen years and automatic suspicion of Slytherin hasn't gone away. It's still something James can use to tease Albus. Harry's last whispered conversation with his son may offer private assurance that he won't be judged for being sorted into Slytherin, but he also emphasises that Albus can opt out of Slytherin in the sorting like Harry did. Definitely a mixed message.
To take a cynical view for a moment: ultimately in this world, can we ever completely fix things in one fell swoop or is it more a matter of gradual change?
It's a fair point. Honestly, I think if Rowling had given us a eutopian ending it wouldn't have been at all convincing. (Though I still would have preferred it if Harry's last pre-epilogue thought hadn't been 'I wonder whether my slave would bring me a sandwich in bed'.)
