I tried out a paradox idea here, a couple of years back. Let me know what you think.
One conclusion thalt can be drawn is that the diary horcrux was not created with the murders at chez Riddle (they were already dead when Tom was getting his first Horcrux lesson).
Another bit that I picked up was that Tom killed the Riddles and framed Morfin Gaunt “durng the summer of his sixteenth year,” as told by Dumbledore when introducing Morfin’s memory. He was fifteen, then, when he committed those murders, and sixteen when he opened the Chamber in 1943 (somebody check me – in COS did Harry find the diary before or after the Christmas holidays?).
All of the above is, of course, subject to the whims of Rowling’s legendary “maths” deficiencies.
I thought about that conclusion, but no, you can’t quite be certain of it. The problem is that Riddle is so naturally deceitful.
All we can know for certain is that he had the ring while he was talking to Slughorn, and that he had a conversation with Slughorn about Horcruxes.
It’s possible Voldemort already knew how to make one, then, but was merely asking Slughorn’s advice on making five more.
No. Just…no. The whole history of everything we’ve been exposed to showed that Dumbledore was always kind, and never trusted Tom Riddle ever.
Anybody ever notice this?
Hufflepuff’s item is a Cup.
Gryffindor’s item is a Sword.
Four houses… cup, sword… Tarot, anyone?
To add to that: who was just captured?
Ollivander the wand-maker.
Cups, Swords, Wands…
Slytherin’s item is, in theory, the locket: but it might also be something inside the locket. A Coin, perhaps?
Seems really unlikely, given the plot twists that would entail. I suppose nothing is impossible, though.
Regarding Dumbledore…I found this some time ago: http://www.dumbledoreisnotdead.com/ - these guys aren’t convinced Dumbledore’s really gone. There’s some decent evidence to suggest otherwise, I must say. I suppose I’ll have to sit on the fence for the time being on this one.
I should write those guys and tell them that Dumbledore’s dead body was a boggart: it turned into what Harry feared it would be. Then Harry told everyone Dumbledore was dead, and they saw it too. The body was covered at the funeral so the boggart wouldn’t get confused.
I believe the big D really is dead, but you can’t deny that the boggart = corpse thing was set up in Book 5. Also, Dumbledore claims he can hide Draco — saying “they can’t kill you if you’re already dead,” exactly what his mother fears. A boggart could be produced as Draco’s body.
Now was that a red herring?
Yes, I think it was. Interesting nevertheless.
In order to have a grand conclusion, Harry has got to score with Hermione.
And probably Ginny.
And possibly Cho Chang.
Volume 7: Harry Potter and the Raging Hormones
My predictions:
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release date: June or July 2007
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it will be revealed that Dumbledore let himself die because he had/was a Horcrux: either by drinking the potion or when Voldemort visited him to ask for a teaching position.
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Neville’s talent at herbology will lead to him discovering a cure for his folks. He and Ginny will end up together after they both help Harry fight the final battle.
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Ron will tragically be killed in the final third of the book, which will throw Harry and Hermione together. Harry will want to give up because the struggle has lead to his best mate’s death, but Hermione will force him to realize how much more can be lost if he throws in the towel.
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Hermione’s mangy cat will play an important role. Maybe he’ll twine around Voldemort’s legs and make him fall down the stairs
JKR has said the last word of the 7th book will be “scar.” No idea what that means, but it is intriguing.
[/QUOTE]
Sigh. I HOPE it’s:
And with that, Ginny kissed Harry passionately upon that little sensitive spot only she knew about, right below his SCAR.
Or am I asking for the WORLD here?
–Beck
[/QUOTE]
You got a cartland style ending covered, how about a Spillane ending?
“Ron- you damn bastard, I’ll never forgive you! You could have saved him but you let him die.”
"Yeah that’s right sweatheart, sometimes it just works out that way. I let him die
but Harry knew why. For you Hermione, and Ginny, everything he cared for
because the last horcrux was his SCAR.
That site convinced me, when it pointed out that Dumbledore’s body is never seen. Isn’t that one of the most basic must-dos in writing? When you kill off someone, always show their body.
My copy of The Half-Blood Prince has everyone, including Harry, crowded around Dumbledore’s body at the end of ‘The Flight of the Prince’ chapter.
Sure, it could be a fake / a clone / Opal / whatever. But… there’s pretty definitely a body there.
I always took when they say Gryffindor took me off his head and put some brains in me to be more of a metaphore, then to mean that it was acctually Gryffindor’s hat. I interpreted it to mean it was Gryffindor’s idea.
No that’s one of the rules for watching cheesy horror flicks. One of the basic rules of writing, though, is that you don’t undermine the critical thematic and emotional elements of your story by yelling “PSYCHE!! I was just kidding!” at your audience after you’ve got them to buy into a significant plot point. Dumbledore is deader than an ex-parrot. If he wasn’t, the entire climax of HBP would be irrelevent.
Does that really apply if you’ve planted clues and hints throughout the book that makes it obvious in retrospect? I re-read the book last night after reading the website, and must say there’s a lot of allusions to recovery from death. The Draught of Living Death potion competition… the way Dumbledore offered to make it appear as if Malfoy was dead… the song on pages 332 & 333 at the Christmas Party… the phoenix scenery. Plus, Snape’s Avada Kedavra is -very- strange. It throws Dumbledore off the tower, rather than causing him to keel over on the spot.
JK Rowlings, if nothing else, went a long way to make us wonder. It’s not as if there was much debate about Sirius, for example.
Opal’s Dead!!!1111!!!
Curse you, SNAPE!
Also, consider this: the death scene, as played out, would have worked only if Snape were still loyal to the Dark Lord. There’s reason to suppose that Avada Kedavra only works if you really meant it. But, he acted as if he were killing Dumbledore on his own orders, and he fooled Bellatrix and Draco’s mom into thinking he knew about the plan, but later in the book, we see him trying to get it out of Draco as if he knew nothing.
It could have been another type of death spell staged like Avada Kedavra, but that’s pretty convulted also.
If Snape and Dumbledore have the same goal, which is to defeat Voldemort, and the only way to defeat Voldemort (or at least to keep the fight going) is for Snape to kill Dumbledore, then Snape could genuinely want to administer the Avada Kedavra, thereby fulfilling the requirements of the spell, without actually wanting Dumbledore to be dead.
It’s also possible that the spell simply requires genuine murderous intent, not necessarily specific to the target. So Snape could be picturing, say, Harry’s face while aiming at Dumbledore.
Who thinks that Colin Creevey is going to be this group’s Wormtongue?
Well, he’s Muggleborn, so wouldn’t exactly stand to benefit from helping Voldemort – unless he’s stupid enough to think that Voldemort might spare him and his family if he were to betray somebody. Besides, he’s not exactly in a good position to do anything: he’s not close to any of the Trio and wouldn’t be privy to any special information. We don’t have much reason to believe he’s close to Ginny(all we know is that they’re in the same house and year). Unless he were to somehow betray Ginny and help Death Eaters capture her(maybe in Hogsmeade?), what could he do?