Ah, I was wooshed. Whew.
My prediction is that the Hufflepuff Cup is actually a symbol for Mary Magdeline and “the sacred feminine.” It’ll be buried under that pyramid in front of the Louvre.
There will be clues about it in some of the Hogwarts paintings.
I don’t think there will be dozens of major characters dying in the last book.
Really obvious ones, because the Hogwarts paintings talk.
Hmmm.
Somehow, some way, HP does Petunia a Good Deed. This makes her share some memories of Lily that will help HP in his Quest for the Horcruxes. (any money that the last book is titled “Harry Potter and the Horcruxes”?).
I think that Draco will die.
I also think that Neville will die in a heroic way, saving Harry and either weakening Voldy or killing him outright by his sacrficial love–and it will be revealed that it was really Neville all along, afterall. Harry will go on to do Good Deeds in Neville’s honor. Or perhaps it is Snape who sacrifices himself for HP in some way.
I am of 2 thoughts about Ginny and Harry. One part says, good thing, and about time, too. The other is that most stories like this, it would be Harry and Hermione who hook up, so does that mean that Ron and Ginny have to snuff it?
I ahve too much HP on the brain for a 43 y/o woman.
I need a life or at least a break from the heat…
Wow, this is the first time I’ve seen people get vicious over Harry Potter on the SDMB. Usually that’s something I expect on the fanboards 
First, the stuff Rowling has actually said:
She’s discussed Dumbledore as dead in interviews, and has never been known to lie in interviews. She has also discussed Dumbledore’s flawed judgement in a recent interview – his incessant urge to see the good in people.
Regulus Black is dead – another confirmation. There are already theories building around that.
She’s told us we’ll find out something huge about Lily, and something about Petunia. She’s also said that Harry will get his comeuppance on Dudley eventually. So there are going to be some interesting scenes at Privet Drive, I’ll wager.
Now, my thoughts:
I could maybe take Snape killing Dumbledore as a contingency plan worked out between them, but there are people in cyberspace already claiming that Dumbledore let the Death Eaters into the school that night as part of a plan to get Snape into Voldemort’s inner circle. I can’t imagine Dumbledore agreeing to any plan that could potentially endanger the students.
No thoughts on whether there will be a Hogwarts, yet. Maybe there doesn’t need to be for the plot.
I have mixed feelings on Harry as a Horcrux. Voldemort, as I understand it, was transformed instantaneously into Vapourmort the minute the spell rebounded, and could not use a wand. Horcruxes sound like the kind of thing you need wands for, and besides – since Lily “needn’t have died” and neither Harry nor Voldemort died, it would’ve had to have been James.
And why would he make Harry a Horcrux if the intention was to kill him that night?
If there are any people cursed with a bit of Vodlemort’s soul, I bet the Dementors will come in handy. Their soul-sucking abilities felt like a plot point that has not yet been fully explored. I wonder if Dementors can sniff out soul fragments like pigs with truffles?
My real prediction, though, is that Harry will realize that – way back in Chapter 6 of Order of the Phoenix – he and Hermione and the Weasleys threw out “a heavy locket that none of them could open” while they were cleaning out the former of Regulus Black. Since it was likely Regulus Black that R.A.B. refers to, that means the locket is in one of four locations:[ul][li]In Kreacher’s nest[/li][li]Given to Bellatrix[/li][li]Stolen by Mundungus Fletcher and sold (this one’s most likely)[/li][li]Eaten by that creepy carnivorous garbage can of theirs[/ul][/li]
As for who’ll die, I don’t think it means much that this is a children’s book – it a children’s book in the tradition of the Brothers Grimm. It’s had grisly death and shredded souls, soul-eating horrors and ritual dismemberment (Pettigrew’s hand). At this point, killing off Ron – or even Harry – would be pretty tame.
I can’t think of a kids book in which the main character dies. I can think of quite a few where major supporting characters die, including one who is mentioned in a title, but I don’t really want to list them because I could be spoiling some books for other readers.
I guess I’d rather no one lists books in which the main character dies, either, please.
I need some background info from HP readers. What’s the deal with “getting Snape into Voldemort’s inner circle”? Voldemort is considered some dark lord, and yet from the second movie (the only one I’ve seen) he appears to be just another run of the mill wizard, albeit somewhat powerful and psychotic.
But wouldn’t Dumbledore, being so old, wise, and powerful, have been able to completely demolish his ass in a straight one on one fight? It’s not like Voldemort’s some demi-god like Sauron.
Well, JKR has said that she wants the books to mature as her readers do, so how do we know that she still considers it a “kids book?”
I’m assuming you haven’t read any of the books? The Voldy in the second book was a very, very weakened Voldemort, who wasn’t even fully alive (but 1/7th of the Dark Lord’s soul).
Try the end of Book 5. It seems in a straight one-on-one fight they are pretty evenly matched.
As for Hogwarts, it seems we’ll be seeing a shortened year if at all. JK Rowling in her interview the night of the Book 6 release said that she had Luna commentating the last Quiddich match because it was the last one she was ever going to write and she wanted to have fun with it.
[QUOTE=Hamish]
I wonder if Dementors can sniff out soul fragments like pigs with truffles?
QUOTE]
Oh! Oh! What a good idea! Don’t know how the good guys would get control of the Dementors again, but what an idea!
Harry willl not return to Hogwarts as a student. He may go back briefly for another reason.
As others have said, I don’t believe Snape is evil.
Dumbledore is dead.
Percy will die, helping his family. (After realising what a prat he is.)
What if the last Horocrux were Neville? Voldemort killed his parents, so he could have done it, and could have reasoned that Neville would be safe. This gives Harry the unpleasant choice between sparing Voldemort or killing a friend.
I don’t think she’ll do that, but it would make for interesting reading.
I completely agree. Also, if you’ve notice, Dumbledore uncharacteristically got blasted back when he was hit by the “Avada Kevadra” curse. All mention of Avada Kevadra and its effect in the HP books speak only of dropping dead - bolstering the theory that a non-lethal, non-verbal spell was actually used while Snape mouthed “Avada Kevadra!”
Neville’s parents are still alive, but driven mad by Voldemort, and are in the wizards’ hospital.
You think it’s not a kids’ book? Well, OK then, in an adults’ book it would be feasible for Harry to die - unlikely, but feasible. In a kids’ book it’s highly unlikely that the major character will die. So your prediction has more chance of coming true if Rowling no longer considers it as a kids’ book. I don’t think she does, but there’s no point in going into my reasons here. These are just speculations after all.
(You have read the books, haven’t you?)
Me neither. I just think there will be more than one.
Must go!
When Sirius was accused of killng Peter, the wizarding world thought that he had blown Peter to smithereens, leaving only a finger, didn’t they?
We know that didn’t happen, but that would seem to hint that the spell could potentially be more… explosive than simply making someone drop dead.
Or am I crazy?
It was never mentioned what spell Sirius used. It doesn’t seem to fit the description of the effects of Avada Kedavra.
They were driven insane by Bellatrix Lestrange, not Voldemort. The Death Eaters were looking for information on where Voldemort had gone after he’d lost his powers.