Huh? I’ve just finished rereading Prisoner of Azkaban and I seem to recall Sirius Black saying he’d bought the Firebolt with his own money.
[scuttles off to check]
Aha! Pages 432-433 of the hardbound, Sirius’s letter to Harry just before he leaves Hogwarts for the summer:
I stand corrected. Still, the bank is letting Harry withdraw money from Sirius’ account without apparent authorization. Wouldn’t they be at least a little suspicious of somebody withdrawing money from the account of a prisoner on the lam? Also, I know that in book six, Bill Weasley takes money from Harry’s account without Harry’s knowledge and brings it to him.
Bill Weasley takes money out of Harry’s account, it’s true, but if one wants to come up with an explanation for this seeing breach of bank rules, again with a little creativity it can be done:
The second possibility could also explain how Sirius Black was able to withdraw money in Harry Potter’s name - since Harry Potter is his godson, the “magic” used by a Gringotts goblin to authorize withdrawals tells him “The owner of this account would be OK with a Harry Potter taking money out of his account.”
You’re so close!
Hermione, knowing that the final duel between Harry and Voldy will potentially take out the entire landscape (like electron-positron mutual annihilation), prepares a portkey to the past and has Harry trick Voldy into touching it with him…
So, Voldemort and Harry’s duel, shown on the cover of the book, is taking place in the past, fifty years before the founding of Hogwarts. Harry wins the battle, but they both die in the encounter, and become ghosts. But Voldemort isn’t the Bloody Baron; he’s Peeves.
The Bloody Baron is Harry. 
I am going to have to wrestle my copy of GoF away from my 9 year old to find the Foe-glass references. I don’t remember MacConagall’s face appearing, just Crouch.
You’ve given me a diversion. Curse you 
A week from now the web will be quiet as everyone on the planet is reading 7.
Part of me never wants it too end.
ISTM that the prophecy is that Harry dies, or Voldemort dies. So if Voldemort loses his powers, Harry is DOA.
Kreacher now “belongs” to Harry - perhaps SPEW will be successful in freeing the house elves, and Kreacher will save Harry in gratitude.
Regards,
Shodan (who can hardly wait another week)
The fake Moody (Bartholomew Crouch junior) has Harry Potter in Moody’s office at Hogwarts. Barty junior, in the best tradition of villains everywhere, explains most of the plan to Harry before attempting to kill him. But Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape burst in and disarm Barty junior. Those three are the ones we see in the Foeglass. When you reread, pay particular attention to the way Snape takes a careful look in the Foeglass - almost as if Snape is verifying that he was able to fool the Foeglass, or Snape is checking if the Foeglass will show him as being on the side of the good guys.
“Neither may live if the other survives” I believe the phrasing is. Rowling has stated repeatedly (and on her website) that she took great pains with the phrasing in the prophecy, and you have to admit it is ambiguous. Particularly the difference between the words live and survive.
A part of me never wants it to end as well.
6 more days.
Never mind the whole Harry or Voldermort thing, here are my predictions as to who else is going to die in book 7.
Molly Weasley-ah, the irony. She’s so focussed on her clock and the hands at “mortal peril” that she is easy pickin’s for the Deatheaters. Heck, I’ll toss Arthur in there as well (trying to save her).
Kingsley Shacklebolt.
Hagrid and Grawp both die.
That takes care of the three (plus some extra).
I think that Percy will also die (what other choice does he have–one of the twins may save him, only to have the other twin kill him…).
I doubt that Neville or any of the 6 in the dep of ministries fight wiil snuff it. Just a feeling.
I think Voldy must die-it is the thing he fears most. I think his pride and arrogance will kill him in the end…
If that’s the phrasing, then the prophecy is already proven wrong! Both Harry and Voldemort are alive at the same time. This is incompatible with a notion that “neither may live if the other survives.” The prophecy says only one of them can be alive at any particular time.
-FrL-
Of course he was. That’s what they’re discussing in the vow scene, and what Draco says Voldie will kill him for if he doesn’t accomplish, and the task he was attempting to complete with the cursed necklace and poisoned mead. I also think it’s pretty clear that Dumbledore and Snape were the only two that knew the ultimate plan was for Snape to kill Dumbledore to solidify his place as a spy for the good side. After all, Dumbledore says in the first book “to the well ordered mind, death is but the next great adventure.” Pleading with Snape in the tower scene, he was pleading with Snape to fulfill his side of the bargain, as he was reminding him during that overheard scene in the woods earlier in book 6. There is no way, absolutely none, that Dumbledore would plead for his life. Further, it’s a way to prevent Malfoy from committing murder. Dumbledore’s death in this way protects Malfoy’s soul, cements Snape’s loyal Death Eater image, and launches Harry from the role of student.
I tell ya what, I can get behind sacrificing almost any character in the book including any of the trio, but if Neville, Hagrid, or Luna Lovegood bite it, I don’t know if I can cope. In fact, I go beyond wishful thinking and full-on predict all three will kick some instrumental ass in the final volume.
Speaking of Hagrid, one thing that’s always bothered me is that Hagrid has never been reinstated as a wizard after his name was cleared. He’s still using a broken, disguised wand. The unfairness of that is astounding to me, and obviously drastically limits his magical capabilities.
Furthermore, I don’t think either Arthur or Molly will die. Harry’s lost three parental figures so far, four if you count Dumbledore. Two more would just be needlessly cruel. He’s as good as a son to them, and they provide him with home, hearth, comfort and family in the wizarding world. I really, really hope Rowling doesn’t take this away from him. Percy will have a major redemption, maybe dying for the cause. The twins will make me cheer out loud.
He and Ginny will still carry on in book 7. Harry has to realize that whether he’s “officially” with her or not, the connection still exists for Voldemort to exploit. They love each other and will fight together like James and Lily.
I think this is a really nice observation.
Perhaps the charm was lifted when the purpose of it was negated. That’s the only explanation I can come up with. I somehow always thought that Godric’s Hollow is the town, but that the address of their home is the secret the Secret Keeper is holding, much the same way that #12 Grimmauld Place is the secret, not the neighborhood or the city. The posse were able to take Harry to the very place on the street where the headquarters were located, but weren’t able to reveal the building itself. Hagrid, and everyone else, could have known they lived in the village of Godric’s Hollow, and Hagrid could have gone there. If the charm was lifted when the Potters were betrayed, the scene of the battle would probably have been easily located.
Oh my. This is so fitting I feel like I’ve been whacked upside the head with a clue-by-four. The first thing that occurs to me is how she whisked him away to interrogate him about their activities, much the same way Mad-Eye Barty did and got huffy when he remained loyal. There were a few moments when I was bothered at her lack of reaction when Harry would look to her for support or relaying a message to Dumbledore. It bums me out because I loves me some Dame Maggie Smith and cherish the idea of seeing her kick some ass in the last movie. I want the stern but kind, wise and tough old lady, not the evil old hag. I don’t want it to be true but I’d lay down some bucks it is.
Not only this, but remember that when you save someone’s life they owe you a debt. I think the worst possible fate for Voldemort is to survive in vastly diminished power, mortal, and in Harry Potter’s debt. Death is too easy.
We got a pretty good view of Harry as a teacher with Dumbledore’s Army. He turned to to have a serious knack for it, teaching very advanced magic to a large group of students with vastly varying skill levels. Some of them had never stunned anything before and were eventually able to summon Patronuses, something that is supposed to be remarkable in a wizard of that age. That he was able to teach 25 students to do it, or even a portion of them, is big. The DADA position curse will be lifted when Voldie goes down and the position will be vacant, as usual.
Hermione follows the rules but not blindly like Percy, works hard and is deeply clever. She wants to do something “meaningful” with her future. I think she’s a natural for a teacher and future Headmistress. With the above McG prediction the position will be vacant.
The talk about how mad you’d have to be to try to break into Gringott’s sets up the possibility for a great Sorcerer’s Stone/Tri-Wizard Tournament style obstacle course action scene.
I think the opposite is more likely to be true. Spew frees the house elves, and Kreacher is now free to betray Harry and the OotP. On the other hand, lots of Hogwarts elves are happy and they play a major role in either Harry’s defense or the cause in general. So much has been made of their incredible powers and the lack of respect (or being not worthy of notice) that it would be a real shame not to see them play a serious part in the final epic battle, earning them the notice they’ve been denied for so long.
Maybe it doesn’t count until Harry comes of age? Besides being the age of majority, Voldy’s charms guarding the horcrux in 6 didn’t work on underage wizards.
Of course for this to be true, 7 would have to be a really short book. I have problems with that wording too.
And you know, about McGonagall being the spy, it always did bother me a bit how Dumbledore as Headmaster wouldn’t have known she was going to be there. If he didn’t send her there, why was she there? Was she waiting to intercept Harry? Hoping to pry the Potter’s location from Muggles not restricted by the Fidelius Charm?
Damn, I’m going to have to re-read all six in the next week in light of this* 
I am such a geek.
That article presented a *very *convincing argument in favor of McGonagall being a spy. There’s something else not mentioned in the article: the dichotomy with the two heads of the only two houses that play any part in the books (who’re the heads of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff anyway?)
Gryffindor head seems good; is really evil. Slytherin head seems evil;is really good. It would show Harry that just because they’re in Slytherin, they aren’t inherently evil, and just because they’re in Gryffindor, they aren’t inherently good.
It would also make sense if Harry and Snape have to work together to kill or capture Professor McG.
The main problem with the McGonagall as Voldie spy theory is that she also appeared in the foe glass when they busted in on the fake Moody. If we’re gonna use that to as a point in Snape’s favor, then it has to go for her too.
Oh, cr*p. I just subvocalized that line as “Neither may live if the otter survives.” What if Trelawney was slurring her words? HERMIONE’S Patronus is an OTTER! If the otter survives, then Hermione must survive, so if she survives, Harry and Voldy are both toast. 
I dropped out after reading the fifth book, because I just couldn’t stand the bad writing anymore, so I admit I’m not completely up on all the, uh, “complexities” of the saga to this point. But I’ve scanned most of this thread, and I’m kind of surprised at the predictions everyone’s making. Back in the day, when I was still interested in the series, I figured the stories would end with Harry defeating Voldemort in his last year at Hogwarts and then staying on at the school to become the new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher. I mean, once Harry defeats ol’ Tom, who in the world knows more about defeating the Dark Arts than him? But I wouldn’t consider that some great reveal; to me that seemed to be the whole, rather obvious progression of the series–the obvious reason why there was always a new DATDA teacher in each book. Harry wins, stays at Hogwarts (the closest thing to a real home he’s ever had) and lives relatively happily ever after. Doesn’t that make sense to anybody?
Beyond that, I think other speculations are doomed to be profitless; everyone’s just swirling a stew of names and (real and imagined) facts about characters around their heads. I recommend just relaxing for the moment and then taking it in when you finally get your hot little hands on the last book.
I suppose I’ll have to come back to the fold and read these last two books, for cultural literacy if nothing else.
See above. I don’t think it should be used as a point in Snape’s favor. The simple fact was, in that situation, in that context, McG and Snape were Moody’s foes, whether they were ultimately on the same side as him or not.
-FrL-
Yes, it makes sense.
Too much sense.
-FrL-
Off the top of my head, Flitwick and Sprout, respectively. Sprout I’m sure of, Dumbledore mentions it when he’s talking about her meeting with Cedric’s parents in book four. Flitwick as Ravenclaw HoH just exists in my brain, I don’t have an immediate cite.
No kidding.