I am convinced that Percy Weasley is more than just a bit of an ass. I think he will be on the wrong side during the final battle. It would set up an interesting Weasley v. Weasley confrontation.
While I think it’s highly unlikely that any of the three principle characters (Harry, Ron, Hermione) will die in the last book, I think virtually everyone else is on the table as a possible casualty.
I’m also not sure that using the normal standards for children’s books is a reliable template for what JKR will do. This series may be nominally of the “children’s” genre, but it has transcended and expanded the conventions of that genre in some considerable ways. The length, the darkness and the depth of the story are all extraordinary for the genre as well as its uprecedented crossover appeal to adults. The only thing we can expect with real certainty is that Harry will defeat Voldy.
For my own predictions, I like the theory that Harry’s scar (not Harry himself) is a horcrux. It would make sense with a number of clues throughout the series.
I agree that Snape is not evil and it wouldn’t surprise me if he were to die in some noble way in the finale.
I predict that after Voldy is detroyed that Harry will become the DADA teacher at Hogwarts and perhaps, some day, the Headmaster.
I predict that Herminone will become (or it will be hinted that she will one day become) the Minister of Magic.
I predict that Ron will play pro Quidditch.
Ron and Hermione will get married, of course, as will Harry and Ginny.
Does anyone have any guesses on who will replace Dumbledore as headmaster of Hogwarts? McGonagall would seem like the only feasible interim choice unless a new character is intoduced, but in some distant future, I could see either Harry or Hermione taking the job.
One thing that I predict is that far fewer people will kick it that is being predicted by some. To listen to some people, Harry, half the Weasley family, Snape, Neville, and Dobby are all going to buy the farm before the end.
Rowling isn't writing a Marvel comic here. I suspect that any major character deaths will mean something story wise, like Black and Dumbledore. Not just "kill someone we like for shock value, so the readers know that the bad guy is serious."
I really do belive that Rowling is good enough to let us know that Voldemort is a bad guy without cutting a massive swath through the cast.My theory: Snape was hopelessly in love with Lily Potter, and turned against Voldemort because he killed her.
THAT was what made Dumbledore so convinced that Snape was on the level. Lily was the only person who’d ever given Snape so much as a kind look. He adored her from afar, and in all likelihood, everybody knew it (though he told himself his love was a secret ), including Dumbledore.
Snape now despises Voldemort for killing the one human being he ever really cared about, and Dumbledore was certain Snape’s hatred for Voldemort was sincere.
Probably not, I’m afraid. From the World Book Day Chat:
When asked about Snape in love:
Not exactly conclusive. But given the stock Rowling puts in love, and how it seems to be the opposite force of everything Voldemort stands for, i strongly suspect you can’t cast Avada Kedavra if you’ve ever really felt it.
On the other hand, from yesterday’s interview:
It also explains why Dumbledore mentions Snape’s regret over giving Voldemort the prophecy as the reason he trusts him. Snape wouldn’t regret that his actions led to James Potters death or making an orphan out of Harry, as he hates them both. The only explanation was that he was seized with remorse over having killed
Of all the predictions, this is the one I’m most confident about.
“Having killed Lily” was supposed to be the end of that sentence.
My guess is that Snape and Dumbledore agreed that if it came down to it, Snape would kill Dumbledore rather then allow Malfoy to fail in his mission, which would result in the deaths of Malfoy, Malfoy’s mother and Snape (Snape from the Unbreakable Vow, Malfoy and his mum from being killed by Voldemort). Harry mentions that he can hear Dumbledore pleading with Snape, which he interprets as pleading for his life. I think Dumbledore was in fact pleading with Snape to go through with his plan.
Which means I plan to see one of my long term predictions come true in book 7 (and we already saw part of it in book 6), that Malfoy will come down on the side of the good guys in the end, especially when he realize Dumbledore took a bullet for him.
I predict that Book Seven is going to be the Book of Many Redemptions, possibly including Snape, Draco, and Peter, and certainly including more backstory about Regulus. (I would never ever have considered the possibility of a redeemed Draco before HBP, but it does look like the kid’s got a spark of decency in him.)
I’m expecting a couple of big deaths among the good guys, but not a bloodbath.
I have a hard time buying Snape in desperate love with Lily. For some reason the whole idea makes me shudder in a not pleasant way. Personally I think Snape and Petunia make a better match.
Dumbledore is dead. The barmy old coot has ceased to be. He is a portrait in the headmaster’s office.
While Snape is never going to be a nice man and he is totally screwed because he offed Albus, his true allegiance will come out in 7. I think he will either throw himself in front of a curse meant for Harry or will keep other DEs off Harry while the boy does his part to bring down Voldie. But I am convinced he will not live to see the end.
If Lucius turns from the Dark it will not be for any other reason than elightened self interest. Narcissa and Draco have been given moments were they show something in themselves that is redeemable, as much as I can’t stand that little ferret, and may actually switch over to the other side or at least disappear into hiding, taking a neutral position.
Because Neville could have been The Chosen One, he should play a bigger role in the finale. My personal wish is for him to be the one that hands Bella her ass.
In Book 7, I predict Wormtail’s Life Debt to Harry will come into play. There are also a couple of things that JKR has said are important which we still haven’t seen anything on that have to be addressed in 7: The significance of Harry having Lily’s eyes, and the importance of Sirius’ mirror.
I don’t believe Harry is a Horocrux. Though Dumbledore did tell Harry back in Book 1 or 2 that Voldemort had left a part of himself in Harry when he gave him that scar. If anything, I think it would be the scar and not Harry personally. But I got the impression that creating a Horocrux would have been more of a Dark ritual than a simple spell that could be tossed off. Something that required the necessary murder followed by the creation. After all, it requires the ripping apart of one’s soul which can’t be painless or easy.
One of the things I still find odd and I hope is addressed in 7 is Harry’s family history. What Harry knows about his parents is damn little and he knows nothing of his grandparents. I would like to see more about the family line of the House of Potter, but I don’t see how she’s going to be able to address that and wrap up everything else if the next book isn’t any longer than HPB.
Didn’t Slughorn agree to take the job at Hogwarts because Harry’s eyes reminded him of Lily’s?
No, he takes it bacause the school has many protections against death-eaters.
Dumbledore is definitely dead (imo). Only his actual death could have brought about Fawkes’s song. It’s obvious of course that his pleading with Snape was “please kill me” (for several reasons- it saves Draco’s life, it gets Snape closer to Voldemort, plus he was in pain and very probably mortally injured anyway due to the potion).
I think Snape and Draco are hiding out at 12 Grimmauld Place. The fact that Draco’s mother is a Black will somehow aid them.
I think we’ll find out McGonagall and Dumbledore had been lovers for many years.
I still think Dumbledore’s brother is going to come into play somehow. There’s some reason that his identity as barkeep isn’t more open.
A timeturner may come into play. Firenze most definitely will. Sybil Trellawney will recite a portion of the prophesy nobody has heard. A major star will attempt to leave Scientology but be blackmailed by their tapes of him/her talking about gay desires, and in the Forbidden Forest a tree will fall but nobody will hear it due to Muffliamus.
Harry will visit the house his mother died in and find something in the nursery that puts him on the trek of a Horcrux.
Somehow the sword of Godric Gryffindor will be a horcrux.
Voldemort will be killed by sectumsempra.
Even if it turns out Snape is a good guy (wouldn’t it be awesome if he really is evil? That’d make Rowling the master of the quadruple twist) he still deserves the mother of all ass-kickings from Harry.
The ability of the house-elves to apparate inside Hogwarts will come into play.
Of course, studying history will tell you the most likely path BOOK VII will take: Durmstrang and BeauxBatons will fall to Voldemort and Hogwarts will be seemingly hopelessly besieged and then the American wizards will have to cross the pond and save their incompetent asses…
(Sampiro quickly blows Peruvian Blackness powder, jumps on Firenze and gallops off like hell before the wands come out…)
In the last few pages of the book, when Harry had his break-up scene with Ginny, he said that he would kill Voldemort whether it was next month, next year or in ten years. I’m wondering if Book VII, liberated from the Hogwart’s academic calendar, may cover several years. (This would allow Ron/Hermione to marry and have kids and Harry to grow up.)
Some of these are actual predictions, some are just "wouldn’t it be fun if"s.
Forgive me if I said it in another thread (I’m starting to lose track), but I am among those who believe that Snape will be vindicated (and die in some sort of particularly noble and suicidally courageous way); I hope (but do not necessarily expect) that Neville’s parents will somehow be revived. (Hey! Wait! Maybe the horcrux is a gum wrapper. Only joking.) Wouldn’t if be fantastic if something really crazy that Luna suggested did the trick?
I thought it was interesting that Dumbledore made a point of telling the Dursleys that Harry would only becoming back to their house, briefly, one more time. I can’t help wondering if the urge to let the Dursleys in on that fact somehow suggests that Dumbledore knew there was some chance that he (Dumbledore) would snuff it before then. (Of course, it is equally likely that Dumbledore spoke with the Dursleys only so JR Rowling would have the chance to foreshadow Malfoy’s dilemma by mentioning the “damage” which the Dursleys had inflicted on Dudley by their overindulgence. or to let the Dursleys in on the fact that Harry has inherited a house.)
I said elsewhere (and I still think, in agreement with some others) that there is a good chance that the Horcrux will turn up in Kreacher’s nest. I think Dumbledore’s death will screw up the unplottability of Sirius’ house (because if it didn’t, there’d be no excuse for a big confrontation there). Also, I think that the bit of dialogue where the Vernon Dursley (I think it was Vernon) got all pig eyed and excited upon learning that Harry had inherited a house was also intended to foreshadow the ultimate importance of the house and its contents. (It would be damned amusing if the failure of the unplottabilty charm and the Dursleys’ greed led to Vernon and Petunia being on hand for the big showdown. Note that I say “amusing” and not “likely”.)
I’m wondering if Harry’s proposed pilgrimage to the site of his parents’ house will yield anyting interesting and “Horcrux-y.”
This would be extremely cool, but I would think she would have mentioned it when he died. Also, if they were long term lovers, I doubt McGonagall would have said “How did you know it was me?” when Dumbledore recognized McGonagall as the cat in Book #1. Also, he would not have referred to her as “my dear Professor.”
Weren’t they all destroyed? Or am I thinking of something else?
I just assumed that everyone KNEW that the Weird Sisters were gay. 
Of course, if anything of the sort DID happen, the Quibbler would know about it first.
Yeah, either Hermione or Harry said that the Time Turners were destroyed.
That just doesn’t seem nearly significant enough, considering the big deal that’s made about Harry’s eyes.
Much more significantly, Harry having his mother’s eyes is a big part of what convinced a drunken Slughorn to give Harry his real memories about his conversations with Tom Riddle regarding horcruxes.