It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Hogwarts. On the one hand, she’s set it up so that a lot of the action of book 7 will have to take place outside the school, but on the other it’s hard to see how she’s going to fit any non-OOTP secondary characters into such a story.
Dumbledore is the new Black
As I recall, the thing that tipped Sirius off to Wormtail’s continued existence was the photo of the Weasleys in which Ron had Scabbers on his shoulder: Scabbers was missing a toe on his front foot. The missing finger (supposedly the only thing left of poor Peter Pettigrew) was all that was left at the site of the mass muggle killing. Sirius knew Pettigrew survived because of that finger.
Other injury came to Pettigrew of the hand of Voldemort, but I don’t remember any other injury. Is there other injury?
I’ve finished both threads (finally!) and I agree with some points and disagree with others. I think the theory that AD was pleading with Snape TO kill him is spot on. I agree with RAB being Regulus Black. I also like the idea that Snape may be under another older unbreakable vow between Snape and Dumbledore/Lily. If that’s the case, I don’t think he could have made the unbreakable vow with Narcissa if it somehow conflicted with the earlier UV. Wouldn’t the first UV have priority? I still think Snape is not a nice guy–a real ass, actually–but I also think he’s on the right side.
I disagree that Harry is a horcrux. My understanding is that Lily’s sacrifice–her charm–caused Voldiethingie’s spell to backfire. Didn’t JKR indicate that Lily’s skill at charmwork was important? I think she knew exactly what she was doing. Voldie didn’t die because he’d already created a number of horcruxes elsewhere. Harry’s scar is a souvenir from the interaction between Voldie’s failed curse and Lily’s charm. Maybe his past ability to connet with Voldemort was part of her charm? Or maybe again, a result of the interaction between both spells. IMO, of course! I also think AD is really, truly dead. If he and Snape had some grand scheme, then why would Snape have had the expression of hatrid and loathing (assuming it was directed inwardly) when AD was pleading with him? I guess he could have been putting it on–dunno. But I felt like he was experiencing much the same thoughts as Harry was when he forced AD to drink the potion.
Other thoughts…I loved, loved, loved Luna’s commentary at the game. That was just HI-larious. In fact more Luna–and Neville–would have been great. I wished the Tonks storyline would have been fleshed out a little more. I kept thinking that Draco’d polyjuiced himself into Tonks or something like that. It was kind of confusing. I did not see Tonks/Lupin coming at all but I liked it. I liked the small seed of pity Harry felt for Draco–I kind of think it was a turning point for his character. (I still think Draco is a bad guy though and he and Harry will always hate each other) I thought Ron grew up a lot–the tongue-hockey with Lavendar was kind of gross and annoying but basically believable. I cracked up at his comment about “we don’t really talk all that much.” (No pg. # sorry–I’m at work and book is at home) I was happy about the Harry/Ginny thing. I’m not an obsessive shipper or anything but I really liked that.
One incredibly random thought…yeah, I know I’m a geek, but I couldn’t help laughing at the way Molly phrased “I’ll run into the kitchen and knock up dinner,” or words to that effect. How’s that again? That’s probably a total Britishism and I’m just an idiot but it still was rather unfortunate phrasing. Visual images of poultry mating or something. Yeah, I’m strange. What of it?
I think Regulus could have taken Kreacher with him…he knew Kreacher would keep his secret, he is small so as not to swamp the boat, and Kreacher is still with us to tell the tale…
At last, a reason for Kreacher to exist other than to be a PITA to everyone.
Here’s my wild specs about what’s going on. I really liked HBP. The only prediction I got right about it was that Aragog would die, but I never suspected it would be from old age. Now Hagrid knows the acromantulas aren’t his friends. Book 6 was filled with humor and pathos, and I was saddened by Dumbledore’s death, but after I finished it, I was disturbed because I had even more questions, and I felt like the book didn’t answer a lot of questions about Hogwarts’ founders’ backgrounds, Harry’s parents, nor did it develop a lot of characters like Neville and Luna.
However, I think I know why Dumbledore died. What disturbs me about how Rowling’s set up Book 7 to have Harry huntin’ Horcruxes is that I don’t think Harry or the rest of Dumbledore’s Army have learned enough. If Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard, gets injured when he encounters Voldy’s jinxes, then how is Harry & Co. going to get to them, much less destroy them? I think Dumbledore died to protect Harry the same way his mother did. Dumbledore’s definitely dead, but he will continue to help Harry because like his mother he loved him enough to die and used the same old magic charm she did to protect Harry. Snape knows this, and that’s why he didn’t try to curse Harry.
Snape, while it looks like he’s sold out to Voldy, really is a double agent, and he’s on Harry’s side. He was trying to help Harry by telling him to master nonverbal spells because that is a skill he’ll need to survive against the Death Eaters and Voldy. In Spinner’s End, he’s frontin’ for Narcissa and Bellatrix, pretending that he knows what Voldy wants Draco to do, but Rowling lets us know all through the book that he really doesn’t. Dumbledore shows us how Voldy has no friends and trusts no one with his information. Snape kept trying to get Draco to tell him. I’m not sure what proof Dumbledore had about Snape that made him trust him, but I think that Dumbledore is a direct descendant of Goddric Gryffindor. Why else would Fawkes have brought Harry Goddric’s sword in COS? I also don’t think Harry’s a Horcrux because why would Voldy and his minions have kept trying to kill him in just about every book? All in all a good read. Can’t wait for Book 7 where I predict it’ll end with Harry becoming a famous Quidditch player for a major professional team. 
Yep, ‘snogging’ is British slang. I guess the American equivalent would be ‘making out.’
Does anyone know if JK has set a date for the next book yet? I’m already dieing to read it!
She hasn’t even started writing it yet, so don’t hold yer breath.
I thought she had the final chapter already written? Maybe it’s all the stuff in between…
I am rereading HBP and (excuse the sacrilege) HP is bugging me–is he stupid? He has how many adults telling him to trust Snape/Snape is good/Snape helped Lupin despite his feelings/Snape helped Harry ditto.
Ok-I get why he doesn’t…but why does he never reflect and THINK that maybe there is more here than meets HIS eye? He seems to go off like a badly made firecracker–Draco/Snape/Draco/Snape…I doubt he has learned wisdom yet (and I think that Snape has been trying to teach HP that for most of the books). I am not excusing any of what Snape has done (he is such a tragic character) but c’mon already, Harry! Grab a clue here and THINK.
Hope I am not banned from thread. uh-oh…
He almost certainly didn’t intend to do it. But re-read the section on Horcrux’s and Harry’s parents death. Voldy definately meant to create a Horcrux during the murder of Harry. In fact, I would wager that given that this all took place in Godric’s Hollow or whatever, and that Harry has a Gryff connection, that this was connected to Voldy’s desire for a Gryff-type trophy.
Keep in mind too that, murder itself, not any particular intentional spell, is what tears the soul apart. The magic of making a Horcrux is more about placing one of the parts of the torn soul in some other object. It’s certainly plausible that Voldy tore his soul killing the Potters (particularly Lily, the mother whom gave her life for her child. Voldy has clear mother issues.) That part of it ended up in Harry somehow is certainly plausible enough. In fact, it seems almost certain at this point given their strange connection to each other.
While this novel does have its own merits, it’s obvious that this is the setup for The Grande Finale in book 7.
I’m going on record as saying I think that Dumbledore’s death was faked. He and Snape cooked this up so that Valdemort would finally accept Snape 100 percent because he thinks Snape whacked Dumbledore. I think Dumbledore is in suspended animation, or hidden away inside Harry’s head, and that he will emerge in time for the final confrontation, whereupon Dumbledore, Snape and Harry will proceed to kick Valdemort’s butt up between his shoulderblades.
Concerning Dumbledore’s brother: Isn’t it one of those outside-the-books facts that Aberforth’s the bartender at the Hog’s Head pub in the village? I’m sure I read that here from some one once, and so I wasn’t at all surprised to see that bartender at the funeral…though I do wonder why he’s so uninvolved, considering who his brother is.
It is. She wrote the last chapter shortly after writing the first, so she knows where she’s going. At least that’s what she tells people.
I think an important consideration here is that Harry is 16. When I was 16, I thought I knew better than everyone, and so has every other teenager I’ve ever run up on.
This is part of Harry’s lesson, I think. For a child who has never had a soul besides himself to depend on, trusting something that feels so wrong would be a tough nut. After all, he’s got all that built up animosity toward the Dursleys that he can’t vent because he can’t cross them openly…how much easier is it to transfer all that onto Snape, who is SUCH a good target.
Not only that, but Snape has never shown Harry any kindness. Whatever Snape’s motives are are unrevealed to Harry, who only sees him as a biased tormentor. I can see why he thinks everyone is crazy to trust Snape, and I can also see how much of a lesson it will be for him to learn that appearances, however dire, are not all there might be to a story, and that at some point, he must surrender trust to the people he knows to love him.
OK, so I have a psychology background!
I for one don’t buy the Harry as a horcrux thing, because it frankly doesn’t make sense. Voldemort went to the Potters to kill Harry…not to use him as a vessel. Making a horcrux out of a living thing would mean that the thing would have to stay alive, which was against the entire reason Voldemort went to the Potters. Plus, it is well established that Harry got the scar and Voldemort had his primary being vanquished by using Avada Kedavra on Harry…thus, he wasn’t trying to install a horcrux in him, he was trying to kill him. He probably woulud have used the death of Harry to create a Horcrux, but he wouldn’t have had a chance after Avada Kedavra backfired.
Frankly, if Rowling makes Harry a horcrux, it will seriously diminish the books for me, because it’s just not logical.
On to other topics…loved the book, and I have to say that the cave scene was the darkest scene she’s ever written…how creepy. If they do that scene right when they do the film of HBP, it will truly be terrifying.
I knew Dumbledore had to die either in this book or at the beginning of book 7, but like so many others, I didn’t see Snape as the killer. I am still torn 50/50 about whether Dumbledore told Snape to kill him, or whether Snape just really is an active Death Eater. Either way, Snape stays the most intriguing character in the series!
All I have to say is: Hermione better not die in book 7…I will be pissed beyond belief if she dies. Mainly because she’s almost exactly like my wife, so it would hit too close to home.
Unless the idea was to make a Horcrux of Harry’e corpse. The ultimate trophy, the body of your prophesied killer…
Yep, that he is.
The problem with that is, Voldemort was vanquished (well, mostly) when he performed Avada Kedavra, which means he wouldn’t have had the power to install his soul in an object such as the living Harry.
That’s what happened, but I say that was unintended consequences. If Moldyfart had his way, he’d have offed James to get in the necessary murder, then whacked Harry after Lilley ran away for her life, and made Harry’s corpse the horcrux. He didn’t count on Lilley standing her ground to defend her son, and making the ultimate sacrifice, causing it all to blow up in Moldy’s face.