Ah, but the Death Eaters have kidnapped Ollivander, the wand maker. Presumably so that Voldemort will have a new and good wand.
Lily didn’t cast a spell, though. It was just her sacrifice for him that created the magic, not any incantation of hers. Likely she didn’t know it would even work.
I thought he just sold the wands–I didn’t know he made them. And what of Voldemort’s wand already in use? IMO, they took Ollivander (thanks, couldn’t remember his name) to make him say if and where the brother wand is of Voldemort’s–I doubt that Voldy knows that Harry has it. Or at least that’s not been made clear in the books. Maybe with the prior incantatum he knows it now, but…
I just want Snape to either sacrifice himself for good or to be good in the end, and let Neville et al be ok in the end.
I’m not entirley sure we can conclude that. Granted, the memories of all the participants would be of the modified time-stream–like Harry’s memory of seeing the person who conjured the Patronus. That doesn’t necessarily mean that someone couldn’t go back and make further changes, however, only that the participants’ memories would be of the further modified time-stream.
Hermione did say that they weren’t supposed to change the past, under one of the “most important” wizarding laws. She made a point of avoiding any tampering that would create inconsistencies with people’s memories. However, she also claimed that wizards have “wound up killing their past or future selves”. If a time-traveler can kill an earlier version of himself, it implies that the past is, at least theoretically, malleable. It also suggests that the resulting paradoxes were somehow resolved.
Then again, maybe there are Shrodinger’s Cat-like wizards walking around, blinking in and out of existence at whatever rate the hysteresis of space-time dictates in the Potterverse…
Voldemort would pretty much have to know it after what happened in GoF. Even if he had never heard of piori incantantum before, he would have to look into why Harry managed to block an Avada Kedavra.
Is anyone else worried that the ending might just cop out with a “love conquers all” theme? Seems to me that JKR has alluded to that being the reason that Harry surivived Voldy in the first place, and there are many allusions to what saved Harry being very old magic.
I think JKR is too clever for this, but if it ends like that…oh sad, sad day.
p.s. I like the Snape/Voldimort soul tying theory above. Sorry to not give credit where credit’s due—but you, mysterious stranger, have got me thinking.
Really? Huh. I thought she had. Weird that no other wizard parents had sacrificed themselves to protect their child.
But as far as we know, Voldemort wasn’t specifically going after any other children, either. He went after baby Harry because of the prophecy.
I think you are all overthinking the Ollivander thing. I think he’s a Dark wizard, and that’s all there is to it.
I agree. I read his disapperance as “there’s gonna be trouble, get all the loyal people ready” kind of thing. And perhaps this is just the first time anyone’s tried to stand up to an Avada Kedavra instead of running with the kid. She HAD to know what he was trying to do.
Scratch that, it’s pratically canon. Apparently, JKR recently donated a copy of the Black Family tree to a charity. That tree gives Draco Malfoy’s birth year as 1980, which agrees with the Lexicon timeline.
According to the Black Family Tree, Sirius’ mother died in 1985, four years after Voldemort’s downfall. I’m pretty sure that talking portraits have to be commisioned after the death of their subject, so I can’t imagine how Voldemort could have turned it into a portrait.
Remember, there’s still a locket horcrux at large, presumably hidden by “R. A. B.”. Also remember, one of the items the Order threw out during the cleaning was a locket that nobody could open. I noticed that one all by myself, which if it turns out correct, will be the first thing in Harry Potter I successfully figured out in advance.
As to time-turners, paradoces cannot occur. Those who attempt to produce paradoces inevitably fail. The manner in which they fail can be quite catastrophic, and likely rather unpleasant. This explains the wizarding laws regarding time-travel, and also provides a mechanism by which Hermione’s talk of accidental suicide by time-turner could be approximately true.
I’m already reasonably sure that Ollivander was a Slytherin, from his line about how “the Dark Lord did great things. Terrible things, but great.”. But I’m not convinced he’s evil. There’ve been plenty of wizards disappearing, and I don’t think that we should assume that they’re all Death Eaters. Also on the list, for instance, is Florean Fortescue, the ice-cream vendor in Diagon Alley, and presumably descendant of one of Hogwarts’ greatest headmasters. I don’t think anyone suspects Florean of being dark.
And while the portrait of Sirius’ mum definitely has some dark magic about her, I can’t see why it would be significant enough for Voldy to Horcrucify it. On another art note, though, I too think that Dumbledore’s frog cards are significant, just as I think that he really did see clean socks in the Mirror of Erised. When Dumbledore says something, he means it, even if it might seem frivolous.
I do suspect Florean might know something about the Gryffindor / Ravenclaw Horcrux, though, since he’s evidently got family connections to the school and is enough of a medieval history buff to help Harry out with his History of Magic homework. Perhaps that’s why Voldemort wanted him silenced?
I am firmly against the Snape/Lily thing. IMHO, the other who loved her, besides James, is Remus Lupin. I’ll go dig out the books and try to produce some back up for it, if anyone wants, but I just have a really strong feeling about that.
The whole time turner thing bugs me something awful. Harry conjured the patronus that saved himself from dying. Wouldn’t he have had to have lived (without that patronus being conjured) to get to the point were he could go back in time to conjure the patronus. Which, at this point, would not be necessary, since Harry survived without it.
OK. I’m really sorry about that. That paragraph is just godawful. But, after several tries, it was the best I could do right now 
My friend is convinced that those socks will play a vital role before the end. I laughed at her at the time, but knowing Rowling, I suppose it’s possible. Are there any theories out there concerning why Dumbledore saw a pair of socks in the Mirror of Erised? Or it is just a reflection of his Buddha-like character?
You’re trying to think of time as being linear, but if time travel is allowed, it’s not. There’s only one timeline, with two Harry’s in it.
I don’t think that the fact that he saw socks is significant; I do think he was being completely serious. And he wanted a new pair of socks because socks are comfy.
But, as you say, Rowling could just assign some significance to that… We also have that socks are Nobby’s favorite item of clothing, both to give and receive. Probably nothing more to that, but…
I’m firmly for the Harry/Horcrux idea.
-its been a theme in virtually every book that Harry is connected to Voldemort in some inexplicable way: they share powers, emotions, a connection into each others minds, etc. Heck, they now even share blood. Harry in his dreams sees himself AS voldemort for goodness sakes!
-Dumbledore explicitly states that Voldemort had not completed his final Horcrux when he entered the Potter’s house
-Voldemort’s horcruxing is supposedly done off a really sweet murder. It’s makes fine sense that he would save the final horcrux spell for the great murder of his supposed nemesis.
-Order of the P’s final confrontation is telling. Harry finds himself connected with, part of Voldemort: a fused creature. That’s more than mere possesion.
Finally, the way Dumbledore speaks about Nagini is the way Dumbledore speaks when he’s not sure… he suspects that Nagini could be it, but it’s because that’s all he can think of. The passage has an air of “I’m still missing something here.” This strongly suggests to me that it is a setup for it NOT to be Nagini. Thematically, it just wouldn’t make sense FOR it to be Nagini when it’s presented as something Dumbledore isn’t sure about.
It’s not that you couldn’t go back an time and kill Voldemort, but if he wasn’t killed, then you didn’t. Already. 
My bad! :o I was going from date of publishing, so that means that… hang on…
OK, it’s 598,080 turns of the Time-Turner. Point is, it’s impossible, so nyah.
If Harry is a Horcrux, the problem now remains how, exactly, they’re going to de-Horcrux-ify him. Presumably there’s a spell that lets you do it without destroying the object / person / animal / etc. (the ring was still intact, albeit cracked) but the only person Harry knows as of yet who knows the spell is Dumbledore, and he’s gone. He has the option of simply destroying the Horcrux, like he did with the diary, but if he’s one himself, well…
I think Harry just might be a horcrux. Not intentionally, but as an accident. A side effect of the whole AK gone wrong. I believe Harry is going to have to make the ultimate sacrifice to defeat Voldy. Not his life, but his magic. The only time in his life Harry is ever truly happy is at Hogwarts being allowed to study and practice magic. I think Harry having to bind or relinquish his magic would be a far greater sacrifice for him. And, I think it fits because Rowling seems to be a bit of a sadist where Harry is concerned, he’s never allowed to be happy for very long before the next tragedy befalls him.
This is one book where I just can’t see an “and they all lived happily ever after” ending.
I can see that working in terms of personalities, but not plotting. I can’t think of any possible plot relevance that it could have if Lupin had an unrequited crush on Lily. He’s not, as far as we know, associated with Voldemort in any way, and I think it’s a safe bet that the reason why it matters is that somebody bargained Voldemort into offering to spare her life.
