I would imagine that the first in line for that would be her husband (if he’s still alive) or else her sister Narcissa Malfoy.
Yes and also perhaps he came to share his father’s fascination with Muggle technology.
Not to mention the name “Xenophilius.”
It’s fiction, you know. 
They do what the author says they do.
She could have lopped off a few months and given them an idea of something to do. Something interesting. Harry could have opted to try to go to Hogwarts, like he thought he should. He could have thought about opening the snitch. (You know, instead of pouting and ruminating around about how Dumbledore left him in the dark, while not apparently bothering to try to open, or even think about, the thing Dumbledore did leave to him.)
Did anyone else think, “Cool, magical podcasts!” when Ron tuned into the underground Order of the Phoenix radio broadcast?
Luna’s bedroom with all the pictures and “friends” written all over, was so touching and awesomely Luna-esque.
Anyone else get frustrated by Harry wondering over a clue that had been SO OBVIOUSLY explained pages before? “Hmmm… who is that curly haired thief? 5 seconds before, I noticed a picture of Dumbledore and a Curl haired fellow, let me ponder this for a couple more weeks.” I wound up yelling at my book when he was searching for the diadem, “Ask the ghosts damn it!”
I’m feeling a bit blue now that it’s over. Once the last movie is out, man that will be tough!
I loved the book, but I found the 1945/German/racial purity stuff a little trite (not that Nazis aren’t bad and all). And, in the vein of children’s literature/films that take on the ‘Nazis are bad’ theme complete with witchcraft, didn’t Bedknobs and Broomsticks cover the animated army of empty suits of armor idea pretty thoroughly already?
Yeah, I mean the former. I know Lewis was telling a Christ story, from his point of view. But the most problematic part of the Christ story to me is why a perfect god would “have to” sacrifice himself to himself to force himself not to roast humanity for all time. The Aslan story, while very affecting, and certainly involving sacrifice which helps save the good guys, sidesteps this whole problem. And as I said, the themes involved are universal enough that, did I not know the background of the story and the author, I would not assume it was supposed to be a Christian allegory.
I imagine that dead Death Eaters have their assets seized by the Ministry, regardless of what her will states.
All of a sudden, instead of seeing Maggie Smith, I was seeing Angela Lansbury, singing “Treguna mekoides and tracorum satis dee” over and over again.
When the characters were wondering where Rowena Ravenclaw’s tiara was, I wanted to shout at them, “It’s in the Room of Requirement- you saw it in the last book!” But I didn’t do that, because Mr. Neville was there, and I didn’t want to spoil anything for him.
I would have liked to know this, too, especially for Hermione.
Speaking of Hermione, one thing I was happy about in the epilogue was that she and Ron seem to have only two kids. That was something I was worried about from when the Ron/Hermione relationship seemed to be happening- that Ron would expect her to spend all her time taking care of lots of kids, like his mother did, rather than her having time to do other stuff with her magical abilities. I never saw Hermione being fulfilled by staying home and raising lots of kids… (OK, I’ll concede that I might be projecting a bit here) Of course, the scene where Ron destroys Slytherin’s locket made it clear that Ron wasn’t so happy being one of so many kids, either, so it’s not too surprising.
There’s something I would have liked to see, but didn’t- one of the pureblood fanatics falling in love with a half-blood or Muggle-born character. I would have particularly liked to see it happen to Draco.
I was so happy to see Neville and Luna both make it. I really would have liked to see Luna in the epilogue, though.
I got the impression from book 1 that Petunia and Lily’s parents had loved having a magical daughter, and Petunia was the only one in the family who didn’t like it. I thought Petunia resented her parents for their attitude towards Lily’s being a witch.
I wasn’t bothered by the long stint in the woods, perhaps because it very effectively conveyed the angsty let-down of “okay! we went on an adventure! but now we, um, don’t, uh, really have any idea what to do.” I took ~14 hours to read the book, though I could have gone faster, because I wanted to read for rhythm and atmosphere as well as to learn what happened. This may have made a difference for me; I really liked the confusion and tedium and stuckness, which seemed very realitic.
You’re right, I was misremembering Petunia’s speech when Hagrid showed up to bring Harry his letter (and cake). Petunia did say her parents were thrilled to have a witch in the family, but she claimed she knew all along Lily was a freak, which we see isn’t quite true.
This is a jumble of replies, so forgive me if it’s a bit disjointed. I finished the book and immediately came to read this thread.
Oh, man. I thought it was amazing. I laughed and sobbed and screeched and “squee!”'ed like I never have reading another book.
All in all I loved it. I had a bit of trepidation because I loved the series so very much and this book could have been terrible in so many ways… in the end, I thought it was absolutely amazing.
I did think there was a long rough patch starting immediately after Harry summons the bad guys by shouting “VOL”… “DEMORT” (Man, was that stupid, or what?). It seemed like there was a long stretch where the dialogue suddenly got stilted and awkward and the flow of the storytelling just got a little… weird. [bad Monty Python impression]It go’ be-ah tho ;)[/bMPi]
I kept scratching my head over the idea that anyone could ever take the wand in a duel from the rightful master… I mean, isn’t that kind of the point of the wand? That it’s invincible in a duel?
Evidently not so:
Bolding mine.
I’m still not sure I get it. How can you be disarmed if you “cannot be defeated in a duel”? Maybe Draco could disarm Dumbledore because they hadn’t squared off and officially dueled? Dumbledore was able to be defeated because he wasn’t fighting Draco, but allowing him to attack while immobilizing Harry, and that any others who have lost the wand in combat have done so in similar circumstances? That still doesn’t explain him being able to defeat Grindlewald though.
Well, yes. Sort of. He knew Harry would have to willingly walk into death to sacrifice himself. He couldn’t willingly walk into death if he knew it wasn’t a real death he was facing. It wouldn’t been a sacrifice. Dumbledore knew both of those things, and he explains them to Harry at King’s Cross. That was his “original plan”.
Forgive me, I’m a complete HP geek and I love the books so I think this position is really, really sad. I enjoy the movies but I don’t think they’re anywhere near as satisfying as the books, precisely for that 50% “fluff” that makes this such an amazing, intricately detailed world–flaws and all. Skipping all that for the prepackaged, “just the facts” version in the movie is… definitely not for me. My imagination and JKR’s books give me an experience that’s worlds beyond what the screenwriters who pare it down and spoon feed the visuals to you have yet been able to provide, for me at least.
I think the latter. Dumbledore says “of course it’s all in your head, doesn’t make it any less real!” Plus, as JKR says, dead is dead, even in the Potter world.
I dunno, I thought it was remarkably dense of anyone, much less suspicious, secretive Voldemort to think they could possibly be the only one who knows about the hide-stuff room, when the whole point of the hide-stuff room is that any student throughout the history–thousands of them, by the looks of the place–can find it when they need it. A better explanation would have been that no one would have picked it out of the mountains of discarded chattel.
I think it was Pureblood. No Slytherin would make “mudblood” the gate key to get into their sanctum.
I thought this was a nice touch, too, especially that the answers weren’t hard-and fast, but that any well-reasoned response was equally valid.
Now this is brilliant.
I, personally, would love an R rated film. The series starts out for children and matures into a very dark and adult book. I know it’ll never happen for the movie to accurately reflect the horror I felt at the darkest spots, but it’ll still make me sad to see how they tidy it up for the ticket sales.
[QUOTE=cmkeller]
[li]Give both Snape and Dumbledore demerits for not confiding to other members of the Order, in advance, that the death at the end of Book 6 was all part of a plan. Even if JKR meant to keep the readers in suspense, it would have made things much easier for the Order if they knew Snape was still their inside man on Voldemort and not the other way around.[/li][/QUOTE]
For Snape to stay in Voldemort’s innermost circle, the illusion had to be complete. Voldemort could pry into anyone’s brain, and one of the reasons he trusts Snape so implicitly is that he allows Voldemort to do so. I think he’s able to guard his association with Dumbledore so closely is because he doesn’t want anyone to know about his unrequited love for Lily and protection of Harry and all that. I just think he couldn’t allow a single other soul to know of his true allegiance, because it would trickle back to Voldemort somehow.
Well, I’m happy in the thought that Harry has a pretty good stash of gold between both his inheritances and that he’s content to spend the rest of his life with Ginny and his kids in Godric’s Hollow, surrounded by family. Why should he have to spend a single second of his future thinking about anything else?
The few things I’m disappointed about: Fred’s death, I loved those twins, and was heartbroken at the image of George at his head. I’m glad to be spared a description of George’s grief, what that might look like is too terrible to contemplate. I wish they had made it through unscathed. I am very glad we didn’t see George and wifey with little mischievous red-headed Freddie on the platform.
I guess the only reason I’m disappointed is because I was so attached to seeing them in the victory party and imagining a lifetime of WWW partnership and what their hellion kids would have been like running around together. His death, like Tonks and Remus were just there to up the emotional impact of the battle, and I guess that’s okay, I’m just sad about it.
I do agree that Slytherin got a bit short-shifted, although that was partly McGonagall’s fault, she booted them because of Parkinson and I suppose the good guys didn’t want the complication of wondering if the Slytherin supporters who stayed were only there to hinder the fight and so on. I think it would have been nicely in line with the idea of interhouse cooperation and such for a few to come to the good side, though. I also wish the theme of international cooperation would have been extended too, since that was such a big deal in book 4 which I mostly dislike anyway. At least if that had been a contributor to the final battle, I’d feel better about book 4 being such a waste of story.
I don’t get why some people are all eye-rolley over everyone getting together with the loves of their lives. What’s wrong with the good guys getting their hearts’ deepest desires in the end? Yeah, it’s warm and fuzzy, and yeah life doesn’t always work out that way, but sometimes it does, and sometimes it’s nice to have that end, then for Ginny to eat it in a sacrifice for Harry for the sake of plot twists and emotional gut-wrenching.
Yay for Neville and Luna, and for Hagrid’s survival, that was really all I wanted out of this book, I cheered and cried for Neville’s “when Hell freezes over… Dumbledore’s Army!” It would have been neat to see Hagrid leading in an army of monsters though.
I agree in part. The one thing I’d really, really love to see is Hogwarts: A History which, of course, was published long before HP & Co. and shouldn’t mention a word about them.
Man, what a great trip. I love books, I have studied and collect children’s literature and am pretty widely read in general, but these books have engaged me in a way that no other fictional world ever has. Thanks, Ms. R.
If the LaStrange’s vault was not seized when they entered Azkaban the first time I do not know why it should be seized this time.
I had just assumed that he was killed before Molly went Xena Warrior Princess on his wife, since he did nothing to help her (or the Dark Lord for that matter). You are probably right about it going to the Malfoys, unless there are some other LaStranges younger siblings running around that we have never met.
I was waiting to see a flash of her with Dean–isn’t there a moment where they’re together that seems extra-intimate for what we knew about them? I thought we were getting foreshadowed.
Agreed on all counts.
I don’t recall us being told of Rodolphus Lestrange’s death. He might still be in Azkaban, or he might not, or he might be put back there after Voldemort was defeated.
If he is dead or otherwise disqualified from inheriting, wouldn’t Andromeda Tonks have at least as good a claim on her estate as Narcissa Malfoy would? They’re both her sisters, after all…
ya gotta have a long, trek through wilderness before you are worthy of your goal. didn’t we learn this in exodus?
the journey is as important if not more important than the goal. it is where you learn, make mistakes, learn again, meet people who help you, and those who don’t. it makes you worthy of your goal.
i found it a testament to potter that he wanted to help anyone. even if he dislikes the person, he will do all he can to help. he came to malfoy’s rescue twice, ran to snape. and even though he was icked out over tommy’s soul, still he wanted to somehow help.
I was talking about before Voldemort took Harry’s blood for the resurrection. At some point between Halloween, 1981 and Voldemort’s resurrection, Dumbledore realized that Harry was a Horcrux(Dumbledore must have realized this before the resurrection because of the “gleam of triumph” – Dumbledore realized that Harry might not have to die to kill Voldemort). How did Dumbledore intend on getting rid of the Horcrux within Harry before Voldemort was resurrected with Harry’s blood?
oooh, he’s another question that, at least to me, remains unresolved.
I don’t get what made Harry so special, to be impervious to Voldemort the first time Voldy tried to attack him when Harry was a baby. I get that Lily’s dying to save him gave him a special, ancient protection. However, that means that NO PARENT BEFORE had died trying to save their child, right? That seems a bit unlikely.
Or was there something else in addition to that? The prophesy makes it seem like Harry is destined to at least be able to face Voldy in battle and have a chance to beat him. But the prophesy itself cannot confer any power on Harry; was there something greater that gave Harry that power?
Gestalt.
I think he always knew that Harry would have to die. The gleam of triumph was for the bonus that now Harry might continue to live after doing so, and for confirmation of Voldemort’s continual underestimation of the complicated magic that binds him and Harry.