It’s not what he said that felt out of character to me, it’s how he said it. The language that was used, or the pattern of speech, or something. I felt like he usually speaks with such decorum and intellect, but here it was hardly possible to hear a difference between any of the characters’ voices, if that makes any sense at all.
Yes, but I recall that the other characters who started the books were Voldemort and Pettigrew, (in Books 4 & 5) seen from Harry’s point of view. The first three books began with Harry, and again the narrator gave no more information to the reader than Harry had. The first chapters of this book give the reader information that Harry does not have. I believe this is the first time Rowling has done this.
Perhaps it is in the pile of garbage he sleeps on.
I reread this one today. I think this book ties with number three as my second favorite of the series. OotP disappointed me. I felt there were too many grisly scenes. The detention with Umbridge where blood spurts out of Harry’s hand was especially disturbing as was the long drawn out battle at the Ministry HQ.
In this book I felt she let the characters lighten up a little and have more fun. Harry is no longer persecuted at school. Instead he’s positively sought after as captain of the Quidditch team and even allowed a girlfriend who adores him. Snape is now the DADA teacher but we don’t see that many scenes of him in Harry’s classroom. Ron gets to be keeper without other students chanting nasty songs at him. Fred and George open up what appears to be the coolest shop on the entire planet. Neville passes many of his OWLs with good grades and even winds up praised by McGonagal. The wizarding world may be at war but the violence (aside from the last scenes) does not spill over into Hogwarts.
I have a question about Harry’s potions book. Is the handwriting in the book Snape’s or his mother’s? And if it is Snape’s, why doesn’t Harry recognize it immediately?
Another question: why did Dumbledore finally let Snape have the DADA job?
Fantastic book. I was hooked all the way through. It’s almost 6 am and I have work tomor- today. :smack:
Beginning was wonderful, as was the middle and the end. A few rough edges, but a fun ride.
The romances were OK. The feelings were played out in a very realistic way. I don’t buy Tonks and Remus particularly, since I think of them both as gay, but I guess we’ll never get a gay couple in cannon.
Other great relationships: Ron being bullied by and arguing with his brothers. That read so much like the sibling relationships I’ve observed, only a little more exotic.
I was starting to think I was the only one who thinks that Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes is a dangerous thing to let loose on the public, then it turned out that Draco used one of their products again the Order, so it musthave occurred to others now! Fred and George should be off doing proper research, not enabling kids to give their enemies constipation (that’s not a minor thing!)
She would be of age in Britain; you can leave school at 16 here, and quite a few 16-18 year olds live alone. I can’t see her parents being happy with it, considering their education level, but then they have been out of the picture so much that they come across as not particularly caring about her fate at all. I don’t think Mrs Weasley could stop Ron if she tried. It’ll probabl end up being the least of anyone’s worries.
That reminded me of Marty McFly’s reaction to being called chicken. Perhaps, after facing so much for so long, and being so brave for so long - even allowing people to think he really is evil, being called a coward was the ultimate insult. I am on the side of him still being good, as you see.
I was relieved that Dumbledore turned out to be good. He’s seemed fishy ever since book 1 to me. Then developments in this book, such as ‘you’re totall Dumbledore’s man,’ made me think that even more. Maybe JKR intended us to think that, and if she did, it was very well done.
Voldemort’s a much more rounded villain now. Backstories usually weaken a villain by trying to make him more human. This one did the opposite. We already knew the parts which might make us sympathetic (orphan, half-blood, poor), and the added knowledge, from small cruelties to big, make him more of a deadly foe.
McGonagall seemed dreafully eager to take over Dumbledore’s office and call it her own! Guess she’s been waiting for year for her promotion!
It sounds familiar because it is the sort of thing that is all over literature (as well as pop culture.) I would argue that for this sort of story, Dumbledore must be killed. Now, this does not mean that he cannot somehow help Harry through any way valid in the constructed universe–for this universe, I would say the portrait(s) that may exist of Dumbledore, echoes and memories, and so on. In fact, I would probably be more surprised if Dumbledore does not help Harry in any way in book 7, because the idea that the student must face an enormous task but can still get some spiritual help from the mentor is fairly common.
Or maybe I have just watched too much anime and read too many fantasy novels.
I don’t think anyone’s gay in the stories. As much as we’d like to see that, Ms. Rowling gets enough shit from the religious fanatics about witchcraft, I don’t think she wants to make a token homosexual character just to make a point, and get even more crap thrown at her.
Even though Harry will never forgive Snape, I think Snape will sacrifice himself to help the Order, so it won’t matter.
I just thought of something else-perhaps Hogwarts WILL remain open…but they won’t have it at the actual school. It’ll go underground, or whatever.
I liked this book, but I need to process it further. A few thoughts before bed.
So Sahasrahla, er Dumbledore, has sent Link, er Harry, on a quest to collect the 8 crystal madiens, 7 horcruxes. Interesting.
The next book will have to be like 2000 pages to tie everything up. The wedding, the gum wrappers, the horcruxes, the Luna/Tonks/Remus three-way. Its going to be a big book.
Of course Dumbledore will reappear. The last scene of the seventh book is the spirits of Dumbly, Sirius, and Snape waving to Harry across a campfire as the house-elves sing.
Snape isn’t evil. He’s a douchebag, but not evil.
I just finished it tonight .
I went on Friday evening to the B&N with a few friends. I got their really early so was able to check my (and my friends’) names off so we’d be in the group of the first 50 people to buy the book at 12:01 (I’m a hero to my friends now).
So I got it at like 12:05 AM and in the bag was a rubber braclet (like the “Livestrong” yellow Lance Armstrong one). But this one was green and had an owl next to ‘July 16, 2005’. I’ve been wearing it for the last two days .
WOW! I had a feeling Dumbledore would die, but not like that! Snape did him in, but there is some leeway in there to believe that Snape was doing what Dumbledore wanted. When Dumbledore said “Severus, please”, he may have been pleading to put aside his feelings and do what needed to be done. Though I have a feeling that one way or another, Snape will be redeemed.
And SNAPE, being the Half-Blood Prince? Of all the predictions, I don’t think ANY mentioned Snape!
My prediction is Harry WILL die at the end of the 7th book. Take it to the bank. The story is a tragedy and the main character will have to go. Harry has left Ginny behind already, leaving no one for him by Ron and Hermione, and Ron and Hermione will get together, leaving Harry as the one by himself. Harry will make the ultimate sacrifice to kill Voldemort. He will do what is right, instead of what is easy.
On the Horcrux being Harry, I’m not sure. Perhaps it could be. Dumbledore said it would be risky to make a living think a horcrux and we have seen if it was Harry, then it was risky. That would also explain why Harry could see what the Dark Lord was seeing in OotP.
What an amazing ending though. R.H.B will be interesting though and if that is Black’s brother or not, we’ll have to see.
It is Snape’s. Examples of Snape’s handwriting show up in other books. Harry probably recognised it after he found out it was Snape, like I did.
I’d imagine that Snape was starting to feel a little humiliated about not getting the job, since in the previous year Dumbledore let the Ministry appoint a teacher rather than let Snape have it.
I can’t imagine Rowling discarding the framing device she’s been using for the entire series. There will be school in some way, shape, or form.
Just finished the book, and…
Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!!
Dumbledore has been my favorite character since day one. Yes, I knew that JKR would have to kill him off. But I still felt my stomach drop through the floor when it happened. I had to exert some real effort to keep my eyes from welling up. And I’m a big thirty-four year old grizzly bear of a guy who has cried maybe three times in the past ten years.
I’ll get over it. Maybe.
I don’t think that’s wild speculation at all - that’s the first thing I thought of. Polyjuice Potion was mentioned several times throughout this book.
If you want to get into some really wild spec, try this on for size:
The real Snape was killed during the war, but only Dumbledore knew (was forced to do it? Saw it happen?). Dumbledore seized the opportunity, created a homonculus (or golem, or whatever such a creature might be called in the Harry Potter universe) of himself, and used Polyjuice Potion to become Snape. He would “remote control” the fake Dumbledore as needed, and essentially became Snape for the next 16 years, so he would have the most reliable spy into the Death Eaters possible.
That being said, I don’t buy that last bit of spec either :). I do, however think that Snape was Dumbledore and Dumbledore was Snape via the PJP at the time of the “killing” of Dumbledore, which would explain the utterances he (“Dumbledore”) made while drinking the potion over the horcrux. I also think it’s likely that it was Dumbledore as Snape that made the Unbreakable Vow with Narcissa.
So how could Dumbledore kill Snape (If that was what occurred per my spec)? Answer: he didn’t. Huh? Well, we know that Snape is one of the more accomplished Occulmens and there was a big deal made about spellcasting without incantations. Snape (as Dumbledore) read Dumbledore’s mind (as Snape), and and used that advantage to time it just right to throw up some kind heretofore unknown ward (or maybe the Unbreakable Vow between Dumbledore and Snape counters the Avada Kedavra?) and at the same time threw himself into a death-like trance.
Well we got two years to wait. Any bets that the release date of the 7th book is going to be July 7th, 2007 (7/7/07) 
? Especially since that’s on a Saturday as well?
At the very least, you’d assume that Harry would want to go back for the Half-Blood Prince’s potions book. Perhaps some clues are found there. Or pick Slughorn’s brain. After all, he taught Snape and Voldemort.
I posted my thoughts in the other thread, but to me, I think it’s clear that Harry dies at the end of the next book. He has Ron and Hermione (and possibly Ginny), but after Voldemort dies, then what? A job as an Auror… eventually becoming Minister of Magic or some-such? I don’t see it. I think Rowling is going to leave us with a dark ending. It’ll also prevent speculation and/or pressure for her to write an ‘adult Potter’ book.
Just finished a couple minutes ago. Two thoughts:
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Waiting for the next book is going to suck.
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Harry is going to go back to Privet Drive only to find that the Dursleys have teamed up with Mundungus to drain Harry’s Gringott’s bank account. AD never should have mentioned Harry’s gold in front of the Dursleys, it’s the one thing that would get them involved in the wizarding world.
I’m pretty sure point 2 is going to involve the muggle world intruding into the picture much more strongly in the next book. JKR was hinting at that when she included Tony Blair in this story. If you think about it, that whole section really didn’t add anything to the storyline. JKR doesn’t add things in willy-nilly like that. She’s got something very definite in mind.
Anybody besides me catch the post 9/11 vibe in the Tony Blair section? I reread the whole series recently, and where the first book seemed to reflect the giddy enthusiasm and hopefulness of the internet bubble era, this one seemed a more grim and jaded reflection of the war on terrorism era. Or maybe it’s my own reflections, having been through all that. Huh.
Snape just killed the only person (and most important person besides Harry) in the ‘Light” side who believed in Snape. AD protected him (see chapter 2), and Snape has just killed him. Will anyone in the Order believe Snape if he says he kill AD on AD’s order? I don’t think so. Snape has just lost his place at Hogwarts, his place in the normal wizard world, possible even his place in history and he knows this. Safety is very important to Snape (again see chapter 2) and he has thrown away all his safety in the wizard world, on AD’s order. This took great courage.
Don’t think so myself. What that portion did for the storyline was to introdice Scrimgeour (sp?) and explain about Fudge’s dismissal.
I very much doubt that dumbledore is going to come back. If theres one thing we’ve learnt in the HP universe, it’s that dead is dead. There are no miraculous ressurections or saves. Death is final.
Judging from Dumbledore’s plan to take out the Horcruxes one by one, it sounds like killing a living Horcrux, such as Nagini, would destroy the piece of Voldemort’s soul residing within. Therefore, it would make no sense for Voldemort to turn Harry into a Horcrux, because he was planning to KILL Harry… what was he going to do, bind part of his soul to the baby’s corpse (ewww…)?
Besides, even had he somehow managed to use James and/or Lily’s murders to turn Harry into a Horcrux, why then would he proceed to attempt to murder Harry every time he runs into him thereafter? “Die, keeper of one-seventh of my very soul!”
As I was falling asleep last night, it came to me: why didn’t Dumbledore use Fawkes’ tears to heal his arm, or for that matter, why didn’t Fawkes’ tears (at Dumbledore’s death) bring him back?
The idea that Snape’s unbreakable vow was with Lily, and AD was the Bonder is a wonderful idea. That may be one of the reasons why Harry having his mother’s eyes is so important. Her eyes are watching…
Someone else said (maybe in this thread maybe in the other), that Lily could have been Snape’s Potions partner. I think they became close during Potions; Lily in a friendly way and Snape in a unrequited love way. Maybe Voldemort killed Lily’s parents and Lily then begged Snape to protect her son with an Unbreakable Vow? I really like the Lily/Snape Unbreakable Vow thing, because it shows that as damaged as Snape was, he was capable of love and could do the right thing.