I was fine with Sirius’s death, but I teared up when Harry found the two-way mirror. I also thought that Rowling was going to dump the guilt there, that Harry could have found out without risking the Floo Network, that Sirius was safe. But screaming Sirius’ name and shattering the mirror, then chasing off after Nearly Headless Nick to ask if Sirius would come back as a ghost…very sad.
Ginny seems to have come into her own, no longer the tongue-tied shy girl, she’s quite the confident young lady, dumping boys without a thought!
I think we’ll see Neville as more of a major character, and we’ll see more Luna too. I’d have wanted a greater humiliation for Umbridge (what a hateful spiteful wee bitch she was) when she left.
Fred and George went out in a blaze of glory. Good for them!
Perhaps I missed it, but was it ever stated flat-out what the centaur(s) did to Umbridge that make her so? I have a pet theory, but considering that there was support to have Harry and Hermione join in Umbridge’s fate (and I don’t think Rowling is as twisted as I am), I’m not going to voice it.
I confess I got a little sniffly when Phineas Nigellus left his portrait in Dumbledore’s office to look for Sirius at home – other than that, Sirius’ death wasn’t very impactful. I was so worried for a moment that it was going to be Hermione who snuffed it. She’s my favorite! And count me amongst those who are Harry/Hermione shippers. (Cho? Please. So dull.)
Though…am I the only one who thinks that Draco has a thing for Hermione, which makes him hate her and hate himself for liking a Muggle-born? I hope not.
I loved the insight we got into Snape’s character and his suffering at the hands of Harry’s dad. I liked the dose of reality that Harry got when he learned his dad wasn’t perfect.
I have a couple of questions (my memory for the previous books isn’t too good):
What’s a squib?
If Lucius Malfoy is known to be a Death Eater (seems like it’s common knowledge), why is he allowed to roam around freely?
A squib is someone in the magic world that can’t do magic. Maybe a little, but not a wizard or witch. Not a muggle either.
My biggest question was with Snape’s memories. Harry sees his father mistreating Snape, but that was in Snape’s memories. Wouldn’t that be colored by Snape’s thinking? That maybe he’s remembering something differently from the way it happened? Lupin and Sirius seem to confirm some of it for Harry, but I’m not sure all of it happened the way Snape remembered it.
Well, the book was good, but I think we’re seeing Rowling go through a sort of transitional period right now. The tone of the first books is very different from the last two, and I don’t think it’s all attributable to Harry maturing. Rowling is now dealing with issues that are more properly young adult or even adult in nature, and she’s dealing with them in more mature ways. Her last two books had very loose ends; I think she’s trying to write adult fiction and is feeling constrained by the ‘children’s book’ label. The length of the books seems also to point in this direction.
Harry is changing, and not necessarily for the better. The adolescent angst and anger is understandable, but this kid is carrying a lot of emotional baggage, and it gets worse every year. I can understand why he’s angry all the time, beyond just being a typical 15-year-old. And I understand why he used the Cruciatus curse, something he never would have done previously. I don’t know where Rowling is going with this character, but I can’t see anything good coming of it. I’m really starting to think Harry will die in the last book. Think about it- he has no proper life or personality. He is solely defined by his opposition to Voldemort. While he continually triumphs over his adversary, he has nothing else in his life, and all personal affairs end in tears for him.
I’m also a little unclear on exactly what happened to Sirius. Obviously that veil or curtain he fell through is a rather ham-handed metaphor for the “veil” between this world and the next. It makes sense this would be in the Dept. of Mysteries- despite the presence of ghosts, wizards never seem to talk about what happens after people die. It may be because they’re just as in the dark about it as Muggles, and they’re trying to find out through magic. But I think Sirius might come back. For one thing, there was no body, and as we all know from years of tv, if you don’t see a body, then nobody’s ever really dead. For another, the dead have a way of returning, in some form, in the HP series, through spells or photographs or mirrors.
nah-uh. Though it did seem as if Malfroy Sr. was finally going to receive his due, I wouldn’t be surprised if Azkaban was empty now. With the dementors joining Lord V, nobody’s left to man the gaol. I think Draco’s father is technically now on the run.
IIRC, there was only 1 attempt at the avada kadavra?
And i don’t like pronouncing it. Sounds too much like “abra cadebra”.
Book 6? Judging from the way Rowling has been styling her books (think lengthwise), i’d say another 3-4 years.
:eek:
And am i the only one who thought Ron was gonna kick the bucket? (in chrono order) Oooh, it’s arthur weasly! oooh, ooh, no, it’s McGonagall! No, no, no! It’s any of the children! No, not Hermione, she’s breathing. Ron? Ron? Stupid brains. Ron! Poor sod, strangled to death by Brains!! (Rowling should have given the brains to Herimone, IMO. Heh.) And to think i definately thought it was going to be Ron.
Yes, but reread the Prophesy. It says that while they both live, neither has a life. Once one gets offed, the other is free.
Reread Dumbledore’s talk to Harry regarding the Prophesy. He mentions that while it was destroyed those who were present can remember it perfectly with a little help. The Pensieve lets a person remember their memories with 100% accuracy.
Did we ever learn what Snape was supposed to do for Dumbledore? I remember reading about some secret meetings etc, but was it ever specifically spelled out what exactly Dumbledore asked him to do?
Good question. I imagine that’s why Dumbledore was so adament about her staying on Hogwart’s premises.
Also, it took me until the revelation of the Prophesy before I finally figured out what all those letters on the crystal ball’s label were - they were Trelawny and Dumbledore’s initials.
Stephi, I don’t think it was. We obviously know Snape was a Death Eater - he has the mark. He also admitted to Harry that it is his job to keep tabs on the Death Eaters. Other than that, I think things are still pretty vague. They certainly point to what would seem to be a logical conclusion, but there’s most likely a twist somewhere. I highly doubt he’s still loyal to Voldemort, though.
Simple. He won’t. She’s not worth the effort. Remember back in Goblet? When she launched into a prophesy? She didn’t even know that she was the mouthpiece, and promptly forgot everything she said immediately after she said it. Seems likely that the happened to her 1st prophesy too. So if Voldemort wants to lay his hands on the prophesy, he has to get thru’ Dumbledore.
Nope, not specifically. The impression i had was that Snape was supposed to be some sort of spy for the good guys, and learning the secrets of the Malfroys while passing titbits to Dumbledore.
Assuming, of course, he isn’t a double crosser! :eek:
The archway that Sirius fell through seems to have been in one of the courtrooms–was it a magical death penalty device? I assumed from the earlier books that the worst penalty they had for someone who got captured was life in Azkaban–otherwise the Ministry would have killed Black in the first place. Also, they made a big deal of it when the Aurors or the dementors were given special permission to use deadly force in attempting to capture a resistant target.
And, do we now know how Snape is managing to continue to spy on Voldemort? Is he removing part of his thoughts and closing his mind when he’s acting his deatheater part? I thought his absence from the circle of deatheaters at the end of IV would have sealed his fate as ever being able to do the spy thing again.
No, the archway was in the Department of Mysteries. The courtroom that Harry was at in the beginning of the book was several floors below the Dept. of Mysteries.
I think we can assume that Voldemort knows that Snape works at Hogwarts, as he’s worked with him when he was controlling the first Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Since people can’t disapparate in or out of Hogwart’s, Snape has a pretty good Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card on that account.
Oooh–that’s a good point on disapparating–you should have sighed and told me to read Hogwarts, a History.
The room was in the Dept. of Mysteries, but it was set up like one of the courtrooms–round, with levels of seating, made of stone (IIRC–don’t have the book here). That sounds like either a courtroom or a classroom. So what the hell (heh) were they doing with the gateway in that room?
Or an ampitheatre, or a senate chamber, or a weird room containing a really weird object, or any number of things. A courtroom would most likely have a separate chair for the accused as well as a distinct area for the council, as described in all the other descriptions of MoM courtrooms. The archway room did not have any of those.