another Harry Potter thread: predictions for the new book?

Cafe Society
1

The 7th (and supposedly final, but I wish it weren’t so) book is coming out in July, right? I’ve been reading and rereading the whole series for years now, and I always love trying to figure out where the next book was going. (I’m going to assume that spoiler tags are unnecessary because the books have been out for so long)

Here’s what I think will be revealed in the next book:

The R.A.B. who stole the Horcrux is Sirius’ brother, and this is why he was killed.

Snape killed Dumbledore on his orders, OR he made the Unbreakable Vow not knowing what he was getting himself into. Hear me out:

In the first scenario, Dumbledore gets wind of the assassination plan, either through Snape or some other source, and convinces Snape to do it, thus saving Draco (who may well come over to the good side) AND proving Snape’s dedication to Voldemort and silencing the Death Eaters who might want to do him in.

OR

Snape tells Narcissa he knows of the plan in order to get the information out of her, but doesn’t, and ends up making the Unbreakable Vow not knowing what the hell he’s doing. When he and Dumbledore figure this out, Dumbledore is screwed, because Snape’s their only inside man, and so Dumbledore sacrifices himself for the good of the Order.

You might think I’m crazy for not believing that Snape is an evil bastard. I didn’t come to this conclusion until I read the book a few more times, and here’s why I think it-

-Snape is visibly nervous when making the Vow (his hand twitches)
-He argues with Dumbledore about not wanting to do something which he had previously promised to do
-I can’t for the life of me figure out why Dumbledore would immobilize Harry, though I really can’t use this to argue one way or the other (ideas would be appreciated, and I don’t buy the whole protection angle- he was freakin invisible, and being unable to move would put him in greater danger IMO)
-Snape uses no spells that hurt Harry when he is pursuing him, he either blocks them or knocks Harry down, but he could have done much worse

2

My kids believe Harry himself is the final horcrux, and Neville has to kill him to destroy Voldemort.

3

Holy freakin crap, that’s crazy. I think I’d soil my drawers if that happened. (I mean, I didn’t think she’d kill Dumbledore either, but hey)

But how would that work? Harry wasn’t supposed to survive. Or did he become a horcrux at a later date? Or did everyone assume Voldemort was trying to kill him, but he was really just making a horcrux out of him? I dunno, there’s a lot of holes with that theory…

4

Some speculation vis-à-vis Snape in this discussion here:

A couple of predictions (I don’t have cites for the JK Rowling quotes, but I’m sure some enterprising person could dig them up at http://www.accio-quote.org )
JK Rowling has said in Book 7 that there will be a person that hasn’t used magic before, and will now. I’ve heard some people guess Filch, the caretaker of Hogwarts. Wrong! He’s a squib! If Ms. Rowling means anyone, it must be Hagrid! I don’t know why Hagrid hasn’t un-pink umbrellaed his old wand yet, we all know now that he didn’t open the Chamber of Secrets way back then.

JK Rowling has said that there will be two “significant” deaths in book 7, one of the characters that she intended to kill off in Book 7 has gotten a reprieve after an intercession by her husband, but there will be two deaths. Who will these two “significant” deaths be?
I think that the big three - Hermione, Ron, Harry - will be safe, that would be too heart-breaking and she would never be able to show her face in public again. Who can be destined for the chopping block? I would guess Lupin - I can’t foresee a happy future for him anyway, being tied to the werewolf curse for the rest of his life, and with the rest of the wizard world prejudiced against his kind. If not Lupin, Hagrid - he is too courageous and too much of a risk-taker to be able to make it through the Wizard War with Voldemort and helping Harry find the final horcruxes. The other one, of course, is Snape - Snape will die saving Harry Potter near the end of the book. Wormtail is also dead meat, but I don’t count him as a “significant” death. Voldemort will face a fate worse than death, as a Dumbledore-inspired lesson - I like the suggestion I read somewhere (I think it was here at the board) that he will become a squib and have to clean the bathrooms at Hogwarts (especially the bathroom leading to the chamber of secrets, but he won’t be able to open the door anymore).

The remaining horcruxes are: Ravenclaw’s wand (the wand we saw in the window of Ollivander’s way back in Philosopher’s Stone when Harry first went to Diagon Alley), Hufflepuff’s cup, Slytherin’s locket (the mysterious gold locket found at Grimmauld place in Order of the Phoenix), and (surprise!) Gryffindor’s sword from Dumbledore’s office - Dumbledore made a mistake when he assumed that Nagini was a horcrux. (As has been pointed out by people smarter than I, the four relics of the founders correspond to the four suits of a tarot deck.)

Bill and Fleur will get married, Ron and Hermione will kiss, Harry and Ginny will move together to Godric’s Hollow, Hermione will end up as a teacher at Hogwarts and future headmistress, McGonagall will be the new headmistress, and Percy will be demoted to watching the security desk at the Ministry of Magic and having to salute his father every day while Arthur Weasley takes the elevator to his brand-new big office.

5

Hagrid has used magic, in fact he did so in the very first book. He gave Dudley a pig’s tail and swore Harry to secrecy because he isn’t supposed to use magic.

ETA- I don’t recall offhand if it was in the book or just the movie, but he started a fire by magic when he went to pick Harry up for his first school year.

6

[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried]

The remaining horcruxes are: Ravenclaw’s wand (the wand we saw in the window of Ollivander’s way back in Philosopher’s Stone when Harry first went to Diagon Alley), Hufflepuff’s cup, Slytherin’s locket (the mysterious gold locket found at Grimmauld place in Order of the Phoenix), and (surprise!) Gryffindor’s sword from Dumbledore’s office - Dumbledore made a mistake when he assumed that Nagini was a horcrux. (As has been pointed out by people smarter than I, the four relics of the founders correspond to the four suits of a tarot deck.)
QUOTE]
Wow. wow wow wow. Unfortunately the first book is the only one I don’t own, so I am less familiar with it than others and can’t reread the passage about Ravenclaw’s wand. However, that certainly explains why Ollivander disappeared. And I’m going to reread the bit about the locket at Grimmauld Place… how exciting.

7

Well yeah, plus Hagrid would have used magic when he was a student at Hogwarts. (Also he used magic to make those huge pumpkins - book 4?) But he doesn’t habitually use magic in the books, and when he does, it’s strictly on the QT. In book 7 he will do use it in new, significant ways. That’s my prediction.

8

It will be revealed that Snape was in love with Harry’s mother, which explains both his hatred of Harry’s father and why Dumbledore is so confident that Snape isn’t a triple agent.

9

I think there will be a revelation about Petunia’s hatred of Lily that’s more than embarassment. Rowling has said Petunia’s not a squib, but perhaps she’s a weak witch.

Dumbledore’s brother (the barkeep) will have some important information and Dumbledore’s portrait will wake up.

Harry will be expelled from Hogwarts for an offense that involves appearing naked with a hippogriff onstage.

Do you think the resemblance between Potter and Voldemort is a red herring? It’s been referred to several times.

10

When Harry first sees Ollivander’s, there is a single wand resting on a faded cushion in the window display. Why a single wand? Well, the answer is obvious - in any luxury store, the window displays are small and tasteful (think Tiffany’s), displaying a small number of expensive items. That’s what came to mind when I first read the book. But knowing what I know now, I realize that JK Rowling was giving us a valuable clue! Why was that wand chosen for the display? Because it was Ollivander’s prize collection item - the wand of Rowena Ravenclaw! Of course this is pure guesswork on my part and she doesn’t say it in the first book.

11

Very true. That requires a bit looser interpretation of ‘hasn’t used magic before’ but I wouldn’t mind seeing Hagrid get to act more like a wizard.

This isn’t a prediction, but just my mind running. I don’t recall Professor Trelawney or the herbology professor (her name escapes me at the moment) using actual magic either. I wouldn’t call Trelawney’s prophecy as being strictly her using magic as it seems to be an involuntary thing the rare occasions she can do it.

12

JK Rowling has said that Petunia is not a witch.

Aberforth will definitely have a bigger role in Book 7. JK Rowling has said that there will be “new” characters in book 7, new in the sense that they haven’t played a big part yet, but she has also said that there will not be “new” major characters, meaning major characters that haven’t been mentioned in any of the previous 6 books.

Resemblance between Potter and Voldemort? I don’t think there will be any big meaning to that.

13

Can Nearly Headless Nick (or any other ghost) use magic?

14

I have no idea if it would fit in with the book or not, but I’d absolutely love it if Dudley (the nephew of a witch, after all) performed a bit of desperation magic.

I think there’s more to Petunia than meets the eye, too, though that could be due more to the actress who plays her in the movie than to the character as written. There’s more than disgust or shame in her feelings about Lily, and it’s more than jealousy, too, I think.

My theory about Snape WRT Dumbledore’s death: Snape made the Unbreakable Vow with Narcissa because it did not interfere with a previous vow he’d made to Dumbledore. I think Dumbledore very specifically did not want Draco saddled with his death - either because it would give Voldemort a reason to “promote” Draco, or because Dumbledore thinks Draco’s redeemable and didn’t want the taint of his “murder” to hinder that redemption. I think it’s significant that Dumbledore said, “Please” to Snape, and not “Please DON’T.”

I do think Regulus Black is the RAB who stole the horcrux, and I think Harry MIGHT be a horcrux himself. When Dumbledore realizes Nagini is one, he mentions something about it being difficult, but not impossible, for someone to make a horcrux of a living thing, and has previously said that Voldemort gave Harry “more than that scar” or words to that effect.

I sincerely hope Rowling doesn’t kill off Harry, Ron or Hermione.

15

Would a ghost be able to hold a wand? I think not, and a wand seems essential for the practice of magic.

16

Well, there aren’t many characters that haven’t used magic, if it’s not Petunia, then it’s got to be either Vernon or Dudley. Probably Dudley.

I mean it would be a let down if it was one of the teachers at Hogwarts, or the bus driver, and Rowling says “well, we didn’t actually see him using magic before.”

17

I don’t think Dudley is a wizard.
J K Rowling at the Edinburgh Book Festival, Sunday, August 15, 2004.
http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2004/0804-ebf.htm

18

Has anybody ever speculated that James Potter may have been a Death Eater? I know he was killed by Voldemort, but then Peter Pettigrew was “killed” by Sirius Black.

19

Not James, but here’s what Jo has to say about Lily:
http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/rumours_view.cfm?id=5

which would make me guess that James being a Death Eater would also be out of the question.

20

The girl that was riding with Tom Riddle the morning after he was attacked by Morfin Gaunt was jilted by Riddle when he eloped with Merope. When Tom Senior returned to Little Hangleton, having just broken it off with his pregnant wife, he took up with her again, and a few years later sired a child upon her. Cad that he was, he did not find himself inclined to take on the responsibilities of fatherhood for the sake of a bit of crumpet.

The poor young lady herself unknowingly followed her predecessor to the selfsame orphanage to which Merope had presented herself, and also died in childbirth. Before she passed away, she named her daughter Amy Benson.

Little Amy Benson grew up and married young, to Alphonse Dursley, who, in an almost unbelievable coincidence, had an estranged brother who just happened to be a Squib. Upon the deaths of his brother and sister-in-law resulting from a poorly-executed lesson from a Kwikspell knock-off, Alphonse and Amy Dursley, themselves the parents of a daughter, Marjorie, took in their newborn nephew, Vernon, adopted him, and raised him as their own.

Vernon grew up idolizing his older “sister,” and his affection for her was returned. Partly responsible for this was her adoptive little brother’s whole-hearted acceptance of the principles of Rationalist Materialism.

Today, Vernon Dursley, unidentified Squib, prides himself on how “normal” his life is, how “normal” his family is, how “normal” and completely explicableby sound scientific principles his whole mundane world is. And yet, some nights he has dreams.

The son and grandson of Squibs, Dudley Dursley has no idea that he has any closer ties to the world of magic than those represented by his despised cousin, Harry. But those who know Truth know that the Magic-using gene is never really eliminated.

Will Dudley be the hitherto unsuspected magical actor? Find out in Chapter 84 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows…