History Heartwarming / TheDresdenFiles

* [[http://www.reddit.com/r/dresdenfiles/comments/2ecbvc/so_im_an_idiot_and_april_fools_is_now_my_least/ This post]].

* This troper forgets what book the moment is in, but it's the one where everyone picks what Lord of the Rings characters they are. Despite Harry being miffed at not getting to be Gandalf, during a conversation with Uriel later in the book, the Archangel tells him who everyone actually thought he should be, and everyone who's read the books and seen the movies knows how important this is: To everyone else, Harry isn't Gandalf. He's Sam.
** It's ''Changes'', and it was Sanya who tells Harry this- saying that it was Sam who was the true hero, a person who went out to face a terrible darkness for the sake of people he cares about.

* Molly has one in ''Bombshells''. [[spoiler:At the end when "Auntie Lea" is explaining why she mislead Molly, she speaks of Harry in the present tense. Molly, who throughout the story was filled with self-loathing at her part in Harry's death, picks up on it and asks Lea in a bare whisper if he's alive..]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Lea:'''“I did not say that he was alive, child. And neither should you. Not yet.”]]
--->[[spoiler:''I bowed my head and started crying. Or laughing. Or both. I couldn’t tell. Lea didn’t wait around for it. Emotional displays made her uncomfortable. Harry. Alive. I '''hadn’t''' killed him. Best reward ever.'']]
-->[[spoiler:'''Molly:'''(whispering)“Thank you, Auntie, Thank you.”]]

* Any and all interactions between Mister and Mouse are prone to be this.

** It's ''Changes'', and it was Sanya who tells Harry this- saying that it was Sam who was the true hero, a person who went out to face a terrible darkness for the sake of people he cares about.

* Heartwarming/FoolMoon

* Heartwarming/SummerKnight

[[AC: ''Storm Front'']]
* Murphy taking Harry back home after he passes out in her office, holding his hand the whole time.

[[AC: ''Grave Peril'']]
* At the end of ''Grave Peril'', Susan has been [[spoiler:[[VampireRefugee half-vamped]] by the Red Court and has to constantly resist the urge to drink blood, so she leaves town]]. She sends Harry a card. Awwww...

[[AC: ''Death Masks'']]
* In ''TheDresdenFiles'' book, ''Death Masks'', we are first introduced to The Archive. Although she's an seven-year-old girl, she's got the sum total of all human knowledge and wisdom, as well as the collective life experience of every Archive before her. She proceeds to unnerve Harry with her maturity and power despite looking like she could almost be his daughter. But when she sees Mister, Harry's cat, she squeals "KITTY!" like a little girl should and starts playing with him.
* In ''Death Masks'', the very last lines. "I took Susan's picture down. I put the postcards in a brown envelope. I picked up the jewel box that held the dinky engagement ring I'd offered her, and that she'd turned down. Then I put them all in my closet. I laid the old man's cane on my fireplace mantle. Maybe some things just aren't made to go together. Things like oil and water. Orange juice and toothpaste. Me and Susan. But tomorrow was another day."
* In ''Death Masks'', Marcones' visit to the hospital where [[spoiler: "Persephone"]] is being cared for. He [[spoiler: brings her a teddy bear, reads to her from a book for an hour, and then lays the Shroud of Turin over her.]] The clincher is at the end, as Harry is watching.
-->''I hadn't ever pictured John Marcone praying. But I saw him forming the word ''please,'' over and over.''
* [[spoiler:Shiro]] lies tortured, broken, dying, his life taken to fuel a monstrous curse, his blood defiling the airport chapel. But the Denarians couldn't take his dignity, nor his purpose.
--> ''"Remember. God sees hearts, boy. And now I see yours. Take it[[hottip:*:Fidelacchius, the Sword of Faith]]. Hold it in trust until you find the one it belongs to."''

[[AC: ''Blood Rites'']]
* While it doesn't seem like much at the time due to [[spoiler: Thomas]] also giving selfish reasons to help Harry through the first few books, it all takes another meaning when you (and Harry) find out that [[spoiler: Thomas is Harry's half-brother and has been subtly looking after him.]] TheReveal via soulgaze was heartbreaking in the good way.
* In ''Blood Rites'', after Harry and Thomas share the soulgaze where [[spoiler: they both get to see their mother]], Harry has a brief but powerful moment:
-->The aching, lonely old hurt was overflowing me. But I suddenly found myself laughing. I had seen my mother with my Sight. I had seen her smile, heard her voice, and it was something I could never lose. Something no one could ever take away from me. It couldn't wholly make up for a lifetime of loneliness and silent grief, but it was more than I ever thought I would have.

[[AC: ''Dead Beat'']]
* In ''Dead Beat'', the conversation between Harry and the spirit of his father.
-->'''Malcolm Dresden''': Yes. I'm dead. But that doesn't mean that I'm not here. It doesn't mean that I don't love you, boy.
** This great line, from the same conversation:
-->'''Malcolm Dresden''': Son. Everyone dies alone. That's what it is. It's a door. It's one person wide. When you go through it, you do it alone. But it doesn't mean you've got to be alone before you go through the door. And believe me, ''[[YouAreNotAlone you aren't alone on the other side]]''.
* Also from ''Dead Beat'', when Harry is trying to convince an EMT to talk to him, the man is initially worried that Harry will think he's crazy for reporting it, and doesn't trust him...at least until he remembers where he'd seen Harry before, when he and Michael had been arrested for breaking into the maternity ward a few years back. He says the hospital they're in, Cook County, was suffering the highest rate of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in the country, up until that night. Ever since then, they haven't lost a single baby - and he realizes that it was Harry and Michael who "did something" to stop it. It's a small but powerful scene that shows how what Harry has been doing has really been helping people and that his struggles aren't going unrecognized.
* Butters helping Harry rehabilitate his badly burned hand [[hottip:*:Harry burned it severely in a previous adventure, and has spent most of ''Dead Beat'' too traumatized to use his fire spells.]] by buying him a guitar and a copy of ''Guitar for Total Idiots''. Harry settles back to read it, and casually lights some candles using magic.
-->I stopped and blinked-first at the candles and then at my burned hand.
-->"What?" Butters asked.
-->"Nothing," I said, and opened the book to look over it. "You know, Butters, for a mortician you're a pretty good healer."
-->"You think so?"
-->I glanced at the warm, steady flame of the candles and smiled. "Yeah."


[[AC: ''Proven Guilty'']]
* While it's the type of thing that goes under the radar, there is a very moving moment in ''Proven Guilty'' when Harry is using his Sight on one of the victims of the phobophages and he turns to look at Murphy. He sees Murphy with the stains of her life as the head of SI and then: "She smiled at me, a sunny light in it, though her body's face remained a neutral mask." I missed it the first time I read through and it made me do a double take when I reread it because it conveyed faster then almost any scene in the series that Murphy is Harry's friend and loves him.
* Molly's return home, from the same book. Michael's first reaction on seeing his daughter come home with rainbow-coloured hair, dressed "like Frankenhooker", covered in tattoos and with piercings in pretty much every place where it is possible to have one, is to hug her.
--> Michael: Harry, am I just too old?
--> Harry: Hey, let he who hath never stonewashed his jeans cast the first stone.
* Also from the same book, the scene in which Harry finds out that [[spoiler: the fetches have taken Molly to Arctis Tor, Mab's capital and the stronghold of literally half of Faerie.]] Harry states that the mission has just gotten more difficult, and he doesn't expect [[spoiler: Thomas, Charity or Murphy]] to still come. Without a word, they step up to his side, willing to do it anyway. To quote Harry: "A bolt of warmth, fierce with joy and pride and gratitude, flashed through me like sudden lightning. I don't care about whose DNA recombined with whose. When everything goes to hell, the people who stand beside you without flinching- they are your family. And they were my heroes."
* Later on in the same book, after [[spoiler: rescuing Molly from Arctis Tor]] a weary Thomas asks Harry and Murphy why they just went through all of that. Harry and Murphy exchange a smile and draw Thomas' attention to [[spoiler: Charity and Molly]]. Thomas' response: "Oh. Right."
* Michael's reaction after learning that Harry was [[spoiler: willing to take on essentially the entire White Council to protect Molly.]]
--> "Greater love hath no man," he said. Nothing I can say would be enough. [[spoiler: She's my daughter, Harry.]] Thank you."

[[AC: ''White Night'']]
* ''White Night'' has Harry's final conversation with Lasciel, where [[spoiler: he makes her realize that she ''does'' have a choice and that she ''can'' redeem herself.]] And then, [[spoiler: in the final confrontation, she accepts the psychic backlash from escaping the mind-control spell, effectively sacrificing her existence for the sake of Harry's.]] Redemption is, indeed, a beautiful thing.
** Minor clarification: It wasn't Lasciel the Fallen, but Lash, the "shadow" living in Harry's head. Harry actually gave her a portion of his soul, and her sense of self in the process, which just makes it more heartwarming.
* The final conversation of the book between Ramirez and Harry, with Ramirez saying he's with Harry 100%, especially when Harry watches over him sleeping the whole night because "you don't leave an injured friend alone."
* [[spoiler:Molly,]] terrified and more than a little scarred, finally learns ''why'' Harry fights, and still steps forward to fight as well. [[spoiler: Her father's daughter, indeed.]]

[[AC: ''Small Favor'']]
* And then in ''Small Favor'', when Ivy's an eleven-year-old, she, Harry and company are meeting the big Nasties at the local aquarium when she goes missing for a few minutes. Harry quickly figures out where she is, though: watching the otters at play.
** Also in ''Small Favor'', when [[spoiler:the Archive is kidnapped]] and Dresden [[spoiler: writes her a note]].
*** ''"....I got your letter. Thank you."''
* [[MagnificentBastard Gentleman]] Johnny Marcone gets one when, after having been tortured by the Denarians for a week straight, he silently demands that Harry and the Knights save [[spoiler: Ivy]] first. [[PetTheDog Then he turns around and ''shelters'' her and makes sure she is the first one to get on the rescue helicopter.]]
** Glimpses of Marcone's inner good nature always end up being [=CMoHs=]. The best is in ''White Night'', when [[spoiler:Marcone is providing an extraction route for Harry and the battle gets heated. Marcone tells Harry he didn't sign on for a war.]] Harry responds by going up to him and saying:
-->"People are dying, John. Help me save them. God, ''please'', help me."
-->"Who do you think I am, wizard?"
-->"Someone who can help them. Maybe the only one."
-->He stared at me with empty, opaque eyes. Then he said very quietly, "Yes."
* Michael gets these all the time but one that really stands out doubles as a moment of awesome as well. [[spoiler: After he was shot and had some of his organs shredded by a fallen angel shooting him and spending hours if not days in the hospital in critical condition. The first thing he does after waking up is ask if Harry was okay.]]
* One in ''Small Favor'' that really got me: during the hob attack in the subway, Harry and Michael burst into a room where an attendant ushered some trapped travellers to protect them, and is furiously praying for help and protection. When Michael, Knight of the Cross, busts in with a shining holy blade emitting pure white light, she begins crying tears of shocked, hopeful joy, to which Michael replies, "Of course He is there. Of course He is listening. Granted, He doesn't always answer this quickly..." The quiet power and beauty of that one scene, where amidst all the horror and GrimDark of the ''Dresden Files'', the heroic KnightInShiningArmor really does show up to save the day, and the effect he has on the ordinary people, always makes me want to cry. That one paragraph summed up everything you need to know about the Knights of the Cross and what they do, and firmly and forever cements them as the unquestioned Good Guys in an otherwise very grey setting.
** Later on, when Harry is having his mental breakdown when he learns that [[spoiler: Mab had taken his blasting rod and {{Mindrape}}d him into not remembering it]], Michael leans down over him and prays to break the enchantment....and the power of either God or simple faith in that prayer is enough to utterly shatter the [[spoiler: geas on Harry's mind]]. Really shows both the power of Michael's friendship toward Harry and the strength of his faith, as well as the raw power of ''good'' in a setting overrun by evil.
** Another from Small Favor: There's a moment near the end after [[spoiler: Michael has been badly wounded and is in the hospital, Harry tries to leave Charity and Molly to wait for news without him, given that he thought they would be mad at him. Charity grabs him and tells him that "family stays." Given Harry's relationship with Charity (one of unmitigated anger from her towards him) its pretty touching. Esepcially considering she calls him 'Harry' instead of 'Dresden' for possibly the first time since her introduction.]]
* Not all heartwarming moments must be between friends. After the chaos on the island, after all the mind games and traitors and manipulating, Harry's conversation with [[spoiler:Eldest Gruff]] is so gloriously honest it melts the heart.
-->“They tell children stories about you guys, you know,” I said.\\
“Still?” he said.

[[AC: ''Turn Coat'']]
* ''Turn Coat'' has a bunch, but my particular favorite is [[spoiler: Harry and Murphy,]] in Chapter 35.
--> She reached up with both hands, put them on the sides of my head, and pulled me down a little. Then she kissed my forehead and my mouth, neither quickly nor with passion. Then she let me go and looked up at me, her eyes worried and calm. "You know that I love you, Harry. You're a good man. A good friend."... "My world would be a scarier place without you in it."
--> Then I bent down and kissed her forehead and her mouth, gently, [[HeadbuttOfLove and leaned my forehead against hers.]] "Love you, too," I whispered.
* Another one that got me in ''Turn Coat'' happens [[spoiler: just after [[TheButlerDidIt Peabody]] is killed and Morgan is dying on the ground. He explains to Dresden why didn't turn Molly in to the Wardens for using psychomancy:]]
** [[spoiler: "Do you know why I didn't? Why I came to you?" I shook my head. "Because I knew," he whispered. He lifted his right hand and I gripped it hard. "I knew that you knew how it felt to be an innocent man hounded by the Wardens."]] Considering how Morgan was the one who had [[InspectorJavert dogged Dresden the most in an effort to prove him being a warlock,]] it made the moment of empathy all the more striking to me.

[[AC: ''Changes'']]
* Several lines from ''Changes'', including most of Harry's conversation with Uriel (in a weird way) but especially, "Whatever you do, do it for love. If you keep to that, your path will never wander so far from the light that you can never return," [[spoiler: Especially when you realize he is preparing Harry to become the Winter Knight.]] and a few lines from the end, [[spoiler: when Ebenezar says "Oh, Hoss," and when Leanansidhe promises to see to Susan's body Harry comments, "A direct promise from one of the Sidhe is a rare thing. A kindness is even rarer. But I guess I shouldn't have been surprised: Even in Winter, the cold isn't always bitter, and not every day is cruel."]]
** Lea's bit, while small, is significant because it comes right after Harry [[spoiler: kills Susan.]] This act of kindness, from a being who is usually anything but, demonstrates that life and love go on. It's stunningly effective simply because it's ''Lea''; it wouldn't have worked half as well from, say, Ebenezar, because it's just what we expect from him. We don't expect it from the crazy death Sidhe lady.
** A crazy death Sidhe lady who genuinely loves Harry - in her own weird Faery way - and probably loved his mother too.
* Also from ''Changes'', Harry's conversation with Molly--she has always known that Daddy would [[PapaWolf Show]] [[BigDamnHeroes Up]] when she needed him. But [[spoiler: because of the events of ''Small Favor'', although he's still there, Michael isn't combat-capable anymore.]]
-->'''Harry:''' "Tell you what,grasshopper. You ever need rescuing, I'll handle that."
* In ''Changes'' when we get to hear [[spoiler: Mouse talk]] thanks to Lea, and he tells her that Harry didn't [[spoiler: 'win him' it was the other way around, Mouse won Harry]].

[[AC: ''Ghost Story'']]
* ''Ghost Story'' has Harry learning that Mouse is now protecting Maggie. Just the mental image is enough to make one want to sob happy tears--especially when Harry speculates that he's "probably spending half his time pretending to be a pony." And this is before we learn that the "home" that Forthill found for Maggie is [[spoiler: the Carpenters' residence, ringed with Guardian Angels.]]
** The most touching part is Harry watching Maggie sleeping peacefully; it shows that all of the hardship that Harry endured, all of the choices he made, ''did'' have a positive outcome.
** And even more touching when you realize that this is the way Father Forthill and Michael chose to repay Harry for all the things he's done for them. Harry asked Forthill to find her a good family. He did.
* Uriel offering Sir Stuart's shade the opportunity to [[spoiler: work for him protecting free will.]] Made even more poignant by the fact that Stuart turns and looks to his descendant, Mortimer, who has steadily been [[TookALevelInBadass becoming more and more badass throughout the book]], and deciding that the once-cowardly ectomancer can stand on his own, and agrees.
* The seven words Uriel says to Harry in order to balance what was done to him form a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming crossed with CrowningMomentOfAwesome.
-->'''Uriel''': [[spoiler:Lies. Mab cannot change who you are.]]
* Minor in comparison to some of the others, but in ''Ghost Story'', when Harry is trying to prove to Murphy and company that, yes, [[spoiler:he really is a ghost, and yes, he really is there]], Mister wanders into the room. The cat stares at him and looks shocked for a second, then ''barrels into him and starts purring''.
* Doubles as a TearJerker, but Murphy's utter denial that Harry is dead. She refuses to believe it, despite all accounts to the opposite, and when she finally accepts it, she holds her emotions in until after everything has simmered down.
** And ''while'' she's breaking down in tears, ''Mortimer Lindquist'', cowardly ectomancer who took [[TookALevelInBadass 50 bajillion levels in badass]] shields her grief and attempts to hide her so her pride is not damaged.
* Harry barely even thinks before possessing Molly to help her fight off the turtlenecks.
* A quiet one for Marcone. In the six months since Harry's death, he essentially built a functional monument to everything Harry stood for and fought for on the ruins of his house.
* It's a small one, but the scene in Ghost Story where [[spoiler: we get a flashback to when Harry arranged for Kincaid to kill him. Before Harry's told him what the call is about,Kincaid actually seems pretty darn happy that it was Harry calling.]]
* Yes, we know -- and Harry finds out later -- that he's an utter bastard, but there's something genuinely touching about Justin Du Morne giving young Harry a baseball glove and going outside to play catch. It's all in how Harry describes it. He grew up an orphan, the only gifts he'd ever gotten were given anonymously and randomly. Seeing little Harry's joy at being given a gift that's really meant for ''him'' is enough to bring tears to your eyes.
** Course this is kind of destroyed when we remember that line about Justin teaching him about shield spells [[FridgeHorror by throwing baseballs at him.]]
** The tiny scene that follows, where Harry recovers his magic. Jim Butcher is really coming along as a writer.
--->I opened my eyes, standing on a random Chicago sidewalk, immaterial and unseen. I turned my right hand palm up and focused upon that sudden kindling of light and hope, crystallized by the memory of that moment of triumph and joy.\\
"Flickum bicus," I whispered.\\
The fire was every bit as beautiful as I remembered.
* Father Forthill's [[spoiler: death angel]] in general, and not just Harry's interactions with her. By her description she sounds frightening, but she's also very patient with Harry, [[spoiler: and promises to protect Father Forthill from all the supernatural enemies he's made in his life who may want to take him in his death. Thankfully, Forthill is saved in time and her services are not required.]]

[[AC: ''Cold Days'']]
* Molly [[spoiler: pulling her life together]] in the aftermath of the last book's events.
* Harry and Thomas's reunion. All of it.
-->'''Harry:''' What would it have changed? What could you possibly have said that would have made a difference?
-->'''Thomas:''' That was I was your brother, Harry. That I loved you. That I knew a few things about denying the dark parts of your nature. And that we would get through it. That we'd figure it out. That you weren't alone.
* And then they hug, Supernatural-style, while Thomas rails off a list of insults at Harry and Harry responds with: "Yeah, I missed you too."
* Thomas's attempts to get Harry to reconnect with Maggie, reassuring him that he's going to be a great dad and talking about how they're going to get the cottage cleaned up for Maggie. They, like he's planning on helping Harry raise her. For a pair of orphans who never really knew parental love, you know these two are going to be an awesome father and uncle.
* Actually, all the brotherly moments between Harry and Thomas in the book. Made even better when you realize why they're going at it even more with the banter and the teasing and the hugs - they really missed each other, and they're making up for lost time. It's pretty sweet to see how far they've come from when they couldn't have a proper conversation because of a 'guy thing'.

* This troper forgets what book the moment is in, but it's the one where everyone picks what Lord of the Rings characters they are. Despite Harry being miffed at not getting to be Gandalf, during a conversation with Uriel later in the book, the Archangel tells him who everyone actually thought he should be, and everyone who's read the books and seen the movies knows how important this is: To everyone else, Harry isn't Gandalf. He's Sam.

** Another from Small Favor: There's a moment near the end after [[spoiler: Michael has been badly wounded and is in the hospital, Harry tries to leave Charity and Molly to wait for news without him, given that he thought they would be mad at him. Charity grabs him and tells him that "family stays." Given Harry's relationship with Charity (one of unmitigated anger from her towards him) its pretty touching.]]

* This trooper forgets what book the moment is in, but it's the one where everyone picks what Lord of the Rings characters they are. Despite Harry being miffed at not getting to be Gandalf, during a conversation with Uriel later in the book, the Archangel tells him who everyone actually thought he should be, and everyone who's read the books and seen the movies knows how important this is: To everyone else, Harry isn't Gandalf. He's Sam.

** ''The Warrior'' is simply CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming in literary form.

* And then in ''Small Favor'', when she's an eleven-year-old, she, Harry and company are meeting the big Nasties at the local aquarium when she goes missing for a few minutes. Harry quickly figures out where she is, though: watching the otters at play.

* Father Forthill's [[spoiler: death angel]] in general, and not just Harry's interactions with her.

** It really hits home when [[spoiler:Uriel points out that these are just some of the most recent and insignificant examples, pointing out that all of this doesn't even begin to cover the lives that Harry's saved, the pain he's averted and the darkness he's banished in all his countless battles beforehand.]] Given Harry's frequent musings on how often it seems that in spite of his best efforts he can't make the world a better place, he has a tremendous impact all the same.

--> ''"Remember. God sees hearts, boy. And now I see yours. Take it[[hottip:*:Fidelacchius, the Sword of Faith]]. Hold it in trust until you find the one it belongs to."