Voldemort: If only you knew the power of Black Magic. Dumbledore never told you what happened to your fahter.
Harry: He told me enough! he told me you killed him.
Voldemort: No. I am your father!
Harry: No! That’s not true! That’s impossible!
Voldemort: Search your feelings, you know it to be true.
Harry: Nooooo! Nooooo!
(grins, ducks, runs)
When the books end the principal characters will be, what, 18? Too young for Ron & Hermione to marry, though I’m sure they’ll have hooked up in one way or another by then.
I think the Harry & Cho thing is just another Rowling Red Herring™. Harry will wind up with Ginny, thus making Harry & Ron brothers-in-law if Harry & Ginny ever married.
I sort-of see redemption for Draco Malfoy. Maybe some tragic event will show him that the Dark Side is not the way to go. Maybe his dad will betray and kill his mom, and then there’ll be all these father-son issues…
I think Harry will be tempted by “the dark side”. My friends laugh at this prediction, but I think Harry needs some kind of flaw or near-flaw.
He is mortal, after all.
Biggirl
Harry’s foster family will be really mean to him.
And Harry will be nice and do absolutely nothing about it (which is why the characterisation in these books is pants, because I find it completely inconceivable that someone with such a psychologically abusive upbringing could turn out so confident and un-neurotic, and not want to seek revenge).
I think Harry will be tempted by “the dark side”. My friends laugh at this prediction, but I think Harry needs some kind of flaw or near-flaw.
He is mortal, after all.
Epigramcracker, Dumbledore is not centuries old. IIRC, the second book portrayed him as a young teacher at Hogwart’s when Tom Riddle was a student there.
Ratty, I used a spoiler tag in the OP because I mentioned a pivital plot point of the fourth book.
Anyway, some other things that aren’t necessarily so, but would be work:
-Beginning of fifth book: Voldemort shows up at the Dursley’s door and tempts them to cast Harry out, so he won’t be protected by whatever magic it is that’s related to having kin. The Dursleys will for once show the barest shred of decency and refuse to, out of pride if nothing else.
-Fifth or Sixth book: as a side plot, someone is stealing forbidden books out of the library’s restricted area; books on the magical equivalents of how to make nerve gas or nuclear weapons. It turns out to be Hermione- she’s preparing a last gasp defense for if the “mudbloods” find themselves friendless and alone.
-Ron & Hermione, definatly. Harry and Ginny is a weaker possibility. They haven’t developed her character much since the second book.
-It turns out that Harry’s entire life is a counterpoint to Riddle/Voldemort’s- maybe even a deliberate spell or enchantment. Harry was presented with the same choices and chose good instead of evil.
-Final book (not all necessarily together):
–It becomes necessary for the magical world to reveal itself to the Muggles. Harry becomes a celebrity, much to the Dursley’s chagrin.
–The Dursleys present Harry on his 18th birthday with a bill for all the expenses of raising him. Harry pays it just so he can sever all obligation to them.
–Aunt Petunia has a late pregnancy, and the baby is born magical. Harry threatens them with dire retribution if they abuse the baby the way he was abused.
1st post!! ooo excitement. my sister, epigramcracker, u may know her through this board…got me started. i think harry and cho chang, if u do recall, will end up together. he has wanted her for a while, and pavarti or whoever that gurl was was just a safety date. it sounds horrible, but now that cho’s man has died…u just never know. hermione and ron will def have sumthing going on. i liked the idea Lumpy had about snape, tho it was rather ummm creepy! bye for now.
The Chronicles of Prydain are some of the best books ever written. I’ve read them so many times it’s hard to count. Wow–there’s my childhood.
But yeah, I agree about the dark ending in the style of either Alexander or Tolkien. And about no romance for Harry–it’s like Star Wars:
Harry=pure, celibate paladin/jedi-like hero totally devoted to Good with a capital G (luke)
Ron=funny, flawed, human side-kick with an ego and a soft-spot for love (han)
Hermione=resourceful, smarter-than-the-guys heroine with a romantic streak, obviously destined for the above side-kick (leia)
But hey, we might all be surprised.
I do think though,
That Neville’s going to be REALLY important. All that stuff about his parents going insane and still being alive because of that curse (Cruciatus?) seems to set him up for a real moment of self-proving something-or-other.
yay.
Welcome to the SDMB, rapunZeolite!
Predictions:
Hermione will not end up with Ron. To cliché. She ends up with the guy she was given in book four - The Bulgarian dude.
Snape will end up saving everyone somehow, but not before turning back to evil. Draco will also follow his lead.
Dumbledore dies. No question. The Master must pass for the student to take his place. i’m guessing Snape kills him, then sacraficing himself to save everyone later.
Harry and Ron have a temporary falling out, during which something bad happens.
Ron joins the quidditch team
The new defence against the dark arts teacher is capable
Some old/new teacher is evil/secretly replaced by an evil clone.
Hermoine will not be able to choose between Harry and Ron, so she’ll take them both.
cue the 70s porn music
Dumbledore is 150 years old. Not old enough to be Flamel’s alchemy partner.
Anyway, I also think Dumbledore will die eventually. Isn’t that the staple of your standard wise old wizard stories?
Draco isn’t really evil, just a spoiled, snotty teenage boy. I wouldn’t be too surprised if he ended up on the side of good eventually…even if it’s just because Voldemort won’t give him what he wants.
I have no other predictions (I prefer to simply wonder about little details), but I want to know if Snape really wants the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. He obviously loves Potions (or is a darn good actor with that show back in Harry’s first year…“put a stopper in death” indeed). I think it’s a rumor among the students myself, but I am curious to see which it is.
Vast quantities of gold will pour merrily into Rowling’s pocket.
My predictions are never wrong. 
I don’t think Harry will die. JK has mentioned that she has the last sentence/page written of book 7 and that unless something drastic happens
The books end with Harry watching his scar disappear.
And Dumblebum is toast.
dumbledore may die, she’s such a sellout that she’d do it just to help the movies.
harry will absolutely NOT die. ron and hermione will get together. harry and cho will never get together. harry will probably not get together with anyone, because it would have to be a character we all knew from the beginning and liked, like hermione. but he will not get with hermione.
draco will not be good…he’s evil through and through.
harry will get contacts.
I don’t know what else, but for darned sure, the house-elves are going to be a major factor in the big good-vs-evil battle at the end.
As everybody else has said, Dumbledore dies (though don’t be surprised if he makes an appearance as a ghost, you know, all Jedi-like).
[spoiler]So as to not ruin book 4 for anyone…
Draco Malfoy follows in his father’s footsteps as a death eater. Don’t forget his last scene in GoF, in the train, where he has fairly conclusively, IMHO, shown that he has chosen his side in the upcoming confrontation. And it’s not like he has any emotional attachments to anybody - except possibly his pop - for Rowling to use as a reason for him to defect.[/spoiler]
Snape’s probably going to die as well.
I wouldn’t place any bets on Mad Eye living to see the end either, though I foresee him giving Harry, Ron, and Hermione some precious lessons and/or tools (artifacts, spellbooks, etc.) to help them out.
After witnessing/being told about one of these deaths (probably Dumbledore’s), Harry will be sorely tempted to perform one of the forbidden curses, but won’t. The decision will probably come backk to haunt him as well.
And I doubt Harry will end up with Cho. Just call it a feeling.
I don’t see that happening either. Of all the girls that have been in the series so far, I think that Ginny is the most likely suspect. Not even because of her, though, really but because of how enamored Harry is with the Weasleys in general. They’re like family to him, so what could be more appealing than marrying into the family? (Hopefully it’d turn out better than in Little Women, though)
I love Lumpy’s idea about a magical baby. I f not that, remember that Neville says his parents had given up hope on him being magical until he saved himself when tossed out the window… imagine how unhappy it would make his aunt and uncle if his cousin turned out to be a late bloomer 
So what will be the climatic showdowns?
Voldemort vs. Harry (obviously)
Draco vs
Lucius Malfoy vs
My picks.
Draco vs. Hermione
Granted Draco and HP have the greater rivalry going, but Draco is downright meaner to Hermione, and she has proven that she has the guts to stand up to him, slapping him, when even the boys are willing to slink away with only parting repartee.
Besides, it’ll be cool to show just how much stuff Hermione knows, with a sound smacking-down of Draco.
Lucius vs. Snape
I think it would be more appropriate for Mr. Weasley to have this confrontation, but it would be more interesting for it to be Snape, and it would advance the plot more. Besides, I honestly don’t think Mr. Weasley has it in him.