Agreed. Umbridge is the personification of everybody’s worst experience with the lady behind the window at the Driver’s License Branch.
Sirius Black, actually [del]who is not dead lalalalala he’s just sleeping[/del].
Incidentally, how is Percy’s storyline going to play out? I foresee at least some kind of reconciliation with his family…
I thought that, too, but that doesn’t seem to be Dumbledore’s style (given that the penalty for breaking an unbreakable vow is death).
The statues consisted of “[A] noble-looking wizard with his wand pointing straight up in the air. Grouped around him were a beautiful witch, a centaur, a goblin, and a house-elf.”
As far as those doomed to die, I can agree with Hagrid and maybe Charlie Weasley. Or perhaps Percy will be redeemed through a courageous death. I don’t think Fred, George, or Ron will bite it. And something about Trelawney’s prophecy strikes me as odd–“And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives.” It’s worded rather suspiciously–I wonder if either Harry or Neville must be killed by Voldemort (the “other”). I don’t think Harry would die, as he’s the protagonist of the story, but it would be a bit of a bummer for Neville to have to die, considering all that his family has been through.
Is Nagini a horcrux or not?
Five figures, not four. So there goes my four figures, four Horcruxes idea.
Though Voldemort actually has five pieces of soul left, including the one still left in him… 
I think the head of Creacher’s mother in the Black/OotP HQ is bewitched. If not a horcrux, her ears and eyes can report on what’s going on there.
Eh? I don’t remember Kreacher’s mother’s head being mentioned much at all. Do you mean the portrait of Sirius’ mother? I can definitely believe that she might be a spy.
House elves tend to remain attached to the same family down through the generations (if Winky’s report of her family’s service to the Crouch family is typical). It would follow that Kreacher’s forebears, including his mum, served the Black family, and are ensconced (capitally speaking) in Grimmauld Place.
That said, the idea of her head remaining animated and functional strikes me as far-fetched. Although it’s possible that Sampiro was indeed thinking of the late Mme Black. In that case, however, her portrait strikes me as being so single-minded as to preclude her usefulness wrt espionage activities.
In Order of the Phoenix it’s mentioned that Kreacher wants to end up like his mother who served the Black family for centuries after which her head was chopped off and mounted on the wall.
I mostly really like that explanation - it makes more sense than Regulus going all the way into the cave, drinking the potion, destroying the horcrux, then bothering to replace it and refill the bowl.
I don’t see Voldemort letting Bellatrix hide the horcrux, though, however trusted she is. I don’t think he’d see her as smart enough to put all the traps in he did.
It seems more likely than Dumbledore using the impersious curse. Besides, Snape might’ve volunteered it as proof of his commitment, rather than Dumbledore demanding it.
I would imagine that she has another portrait somewhere. That’s the reason they shut her behind the curtains.
What would you do if you were an Animagus? Who could turn into a cute little kitty-cat?
I know what I’d do …
If Snape is good, then why does he need to be Impervized? I am leaning more to him being a secret-keeper of some kind for Dumbledore. His previous Death Eaterness makes him an unlikely suspect to outsiders (as how Peter P. was selected as SK for the Potters instead of Sirius who was the more obvious choice), but absolutely trustworthy to Dumbledore.
Or, he could be keeping some sort of secret for Lily Potter, if indeed they were friends before her death. This wouldn’t really explain his hatred for Harry, though. There’s got to be some deeper explanation of this, not simply that Harry reminds Snape of James.
I can’t remember the specifics of secret-keeping - why was PP able to disclose the Potter’s secret to Voldemort without repurcussion? What would keep Snape from doing the same with whatever secret Dumbledore (or someone else) entrusted to him?
In any case, so much was made of secret-keeping in book 3 that I would expect this to become a big thing in #7.
It’s not that Lily and Petunia have to be twins, it’s just with the names, it is intriguing.
I bet that Lily is the younger, prettier sister (or twin). Once again–twins do not have to look alike.
Regardless of their birth order, IMO, Petunia knows alot more about the magical world than she lets on.
And was James an only child? What of extended relatives on that side of the family? Or neighbors?
I think Snape is good, but out for Snape first.
I hope Neville doesn’t die–I like him too much!
I don’t buy Harry OR his scar as a horcrux, and here’s why: at the end of Goblet of Fire, Voldemort is all set to kill Harry, who escapes by sheer luck. Why would he destroy one of his own horcruxes? The scene would only make sense if V. never intended to actually kill Harry - which actually doesn’t work either, because why would someone who rules by fear set himself up to look bad in front of his followers?
I think there’s an H somewhere. Henry?..Harvey?..I just can’t seem to put my finger on it…
OOOH I know! I know! It’s Hagrid! 
I think Harry was a Horcrux, but isn’t any longer. That’s why his scar resembles the damaged Gaunt ring’s crack (both are lightning shapes). Couldn’t say how he became un-Horcruxified though.
Off the subject of Horocuxi .
Hogwarts is not PC.
In book four, when Harry is working out the riddle of the egg thing in the prefects bathroom, Moaning Myrtle tells him about the merpeople in the lake, whom she has seen when she has been flushed out of the Ubend into the lake.
Yuck.
Just thought I would report this information.
What I and others are looking for is why Dumbledore trusted Snape so completely. Dumbledore’s smart, and Snape was a real death-eater and is not a nice guy. What other ex-death eaters would Dumbledore have trusted? The likely explanation to me is that Snape gave Dumbledore an unbreakable vow to prove his trustworthiness.