This is magnificent. The beautiful sky sweeping softly into darkness; the dreadful, dark blue dome illuminated by turrets smashed and set aflame; the smoke escaping through wounded walls and broken windows; and the immediate sense of present panic all give you the emphatic notion that you're not looking at ruins, but a moment captured mid-barrage! Look at how most of the water appears docile apart from the place where the reflection is floating. The image of Hogwarts drifts and ripples in its own small storming sea. I think the image is meant to be distinguished in a way that allows both those who have, and those who have not read the series to understand that many of the people who exist in this story will not survive it. It's devastating and exclamatory. It encapsulates the breadth and scope of war, and makes it indisputably clear that this isn't a children's story, but a story with children in it. It should also be both acknowledged and understood by all fans that Hogwarts is, as Rowling has put it herself, a character in the story; one of the most essential characters, no doubt. It's Harry's second home)the first being the year he spent in Godric's Hollow) and his stalwart companion. An image of the castle beset and infested with flames is a clear and present conveyance of everything that precedes it. Remember the trailer for Chamber of Secrets? "..And the struggle for the future of Hogwarts will begin." .......I'll say.
