Return of the Hero

The end of the Hero's Journey is the hero's return to the world of the known.

Campbell identifies six stages that may occur during the return, though as noted in the overview not every story includes every stage and they don't always happen in the same order.

Refusal of the Return

The hero may find that he is happier in the new world that he was in the old, and may resist returning.

Harry's home life was firmly established in the opening of the first book (and the openings of most of the others) as fairly awful. He is much happier in the magical world than he was in the mundane, and he takes advantage of every opportunity to stay in the magical world (such as during Christmas breaks). Nevertheless, outside constraints (the end of the school year) force him to return each year until the end of the final book, when he has achieved adulthood and becomes entitled to establish his own home.

The Magic Flight

Depending on the nature of the quest, the journey back may be filled with as many dangers as the trip there. If the hero was retrieving or stealing some treasure, the guardians of the treasure may pursue him, or the way back may be different than the way there and may pose a new set of perils.

This is perhaps the least represented stage in Harry's journeys, as most of his journeys involve the protection or destruction of an item, rather than a retrieval. His confrontations happen on the way to and upon his arrival at his goals and he generally has no need to escape afterwards.

Rescue From Without

The hero often has helpers or guides who aid him on his journey, sometimes they also need helpers to aid on the return. It may be the same helper, but often it isn't, as the guide who helped them during the initiation is often incapacitated before the final confrontation, forcing the hero to confront the final challenge on their own.

Harry's quests typically resolve themselves fairly quickly once he has completed his task, but he has had help:

• Dumbledore arrives too late to help Harry save the Philosopher's Stone, but in time to bring him back to the hospital
• Fawkes brings Harry the tools he needs to defeat the basilisk (and helps) and is there to bring Harry and friends back up to the castle
• Buckbeak the hippogriff helps carry Harry, Hermione, and Sirius to safety once Harry has defeated the dementors
• Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall rescue Harry from the traitor at Hogwarts following Harry's escape from Voldemort
• Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix help rescue Harry and Dumbledore's Army from the Department of Mysteries
• In the final battle at Hogwarts, Harry has a virtual legion of helpers who confront Voldemort's forces while Harry confronts Voldemort
• Throughout the series, Harry continues to be aided by his best friends, Ron and Hermione, and by other friends he has made along the way

The Crossing of the Return Threshold

The trick with the return is usually to hold on to that which you've earned/learned during the journey, so that you may bring it back with you.

In most of the books, Harry's return to the known world is via the Hogwarts Express, the same vehicle that helped him depart it. The most significant thing he brings back from each journey is newfound skills and knowledge, so his returns are generally uneventful.

Master of Two Worlds

In its most spiritual form, this is a stage achieved by those who achieve true spiritual enlightenment, such as Jesus or Buddha. For other heroes, it can represent a hero who may move comfortably in both the mundane world and the other world.

Many heroes begin with a comfortable life in the mundane world which they risk to gain something from the unknown world by going on a journey. Harry begins as someone who has been made to live unhappily and uncomfortably in the mundane world. When he discovers the magical world he worries at first about his place in it, but is ultimately drawn to it more than the real world, and over the course of the series, by completing both his education and the challenges that present themselves in parallel, he gains mastery over the magical world. He also resolves his differences with his mundane relatives, reaching a level of peace with the real world, but ultimately does not choose to embrace it, thus failing (deliberately) to become a master of both worlds.

Freedom to Live

Mastery can lead to freedom from the fear of death, or the freedom to live. The hero who achieves inner peace can live without fear or worry.

Harry achieves this in the final book. While this stage is generally part of the return, Harry achieves it during his final walk into the Forbidden Forest to confront Voldemort and his forces during the lull in the Battle of Hogwarts, prior to his final confrontation. Having experienced the loss of many parent figures prior to this point, and having spent much of the last book pondering the life of Dumbledore, his ultimate mentor, and trying to understand the mystery of his own life and that of Voldemort, Harry comes to an understanding of himself that allows him to confront his own demise.

The Hero's Journey in Popular Culture

While Campbell originally wrote The Hero With a Thousand Faces as an exploration of common themes in ancient myths and fairy tales, the power of the concept has influenced the structure of many more recent stories. Some of them, such as George Lucas' Star Wars, have been consciously influenced by Campbell's work, while others, such as J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, have been influenced by the original stories that inspired Campbell's analysis, or by other works that have.

Wikipedia has an excellent article on the Hero's Journey that has more detail on the journey itself, criticism of the theory, and modern variations on it. The work has had a huge impact on Hollywood in particular, where three act stories have become the norm for mainstream epic blockbusters, which no doubt was part of the appeal the Harry Potter novels had as sources for film adaptations.