The End (or the beginning?)
Jul. 23rd, 2007 11:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matrilEmerging from my cave at last, having spent the weekend feverishly reading the seventh book aloud with my husband, I will say first of all that I am satisfied. A fitting conclusion to an excellent series. I'm weepy, of course, that there are no more books to wait for and speculate about, and still kind of stunned at all the new information to absorb, but at the bottom of it all I'm satisfied.
Before I go off into a disjointed ramble on my reflections regarding the book, I'll just mention that the midnight bookstore party was a blast. The majority of attendents were kids, but there were still plenty of die-hard adult fans, including a group with fantastic costumes for Umbridge, Trelawny, and Hagrid (complete with a pink umbrella!). They had an arts and crafts thing to make your own wand, a guy performing Muggle magic ;) a costume contest, and of course The Great Snape Debate. I was amused to note that when we went to our respective sides, nearly all the adults ended up on the "friend" side (including a man in a very convincing Snape costume). Honestly I wasn't sure either way; I could see arguments for and against Snape's goodness, but I wanted him to be good, so I went on that side. The adults (including my very enthsiastic husband) had cogent, convincing arguments for Snape's innocence. The kids on the other side mostly argued, "But he's mean to Harry!! He takes points from Gryffindor!" Heh. There's plenty of deeper reasons to suspect his guilt, but for an eight-year-old, a mean teacher is bad and there's just no other way to see it. Anyway, we didn't reserve our copy in time, so we had the purple standby wristbands, but they assured us early on that there was no shortage, that everyone would certainly get a copy. And we did, albeit a little later than most other attendents, whom I watched enviously as they walked away with fat orange books clutched in their hands. At last, at last, we got our copy, and read the first chapter before the drive home. We read two more chapters before going to bed around 2:30 (my husband had work the next morning; otherwise we might not have slept at all). Then I waited restlessly all Saturday morning, my mind full of the first three chapters' contents, until my husband came home and we tore into the book again. We only paused to sleep, eat, and oh, right, pay attention to our children. No, we didn't neglect them....too much. Emma certainly knows the phrase Harry Potter now, though all she knows is it's something that keeps her parents very, very busy. :P We finished last night a little past midnight, and had to restrain ourselves from staying up for another hour or two just discussing it. So much to think about....
Wow. Let's see. First off, so different from the previous books. No classes at Hogwarts and events like Quidditch games and Halloween to keep track of the year. And big, climatic scenes of being captured/pursued and then escaping smattered all throughout the book, even one right near the beginning, whereas the other books tended to have a few small scrapes through most of the story, reserving the main climax for the end. Not that the enormous exciting climax at the end of this one wasn't absolutely thrilling! - but I'll get to that later. Anyway, it just made for a very different pacing, even more so than the Triwizard tasks in the fourth book. Harry's life really is in danger every single second of this book.
At the end, I actually felt as if I had read three or four books rather than one - not that it felt disjointed by any means, but just that so much happened. I wouldn't really want the task of adapting this to a two hour movie; what in the world could you cut? So many meaty details bearing so much importance on the plot, so that it took three or four chapters of almost sheer exposition near the end just to resolve most of those details. I'm still musing over it, trying to see how it all fits together. But like I said, I have a general satisfied feeling, I don't feel like there's dozens of loose ends dangling around. It's just - so much to take in.
Okay, I'll just start listing things as I think of them:
-Opening chapter - appropriately spooky, still leaving Snape's role amibiguous. Lots of foreshadowing, which I noted once I skimmed through the chapter again after finishing the book. Oh, and yay Lupin and Tonks being married!
-I was really, really surprised to discover that this book was going to bring up Dumbledore's backstory. Like Harry, I mistakingly believed that we already knew him pretty well, but surprise surprise - he has quite a few skeletons in his closet! Interesting how we're first introdued to it rather favorably from Dodge's obituary; his father's crime, his mysterious sister. Of course I was inclined to disbelieve Rita's take on it, just like most of the characters, but it was Harry who was right in wanting to know the truth, however terrible. Whew! In some ways it makes me admire Dumbledore more for knowing the weaknesses and misdeeds of his past, because it means he's worked long and hard to change himself for the better and not succumb to those weakenesses again. And even near the end, he still makes mistakes, but I can't hate him for it - he's human, and he's still better than Grindelwald or certainly Voldemort could ever hope to be.
-Really liked the Dursely's departure, though I would have like to have heard something about them in the epilogue or something. Good for you, Dudley! For someone who's been raised to be pigheaded and self-absorbed, it takes a lot of guts to stand up and say, "I don't think Harry's useless; he saved my life."
-The escape from Privet Drive - hair-raising, and so early on in the narrative - it was then I knew just how many people were going to fall, if we were already losing them this soon in the story. Meeting the Tonks parents at last! and just as quickly leaving them behind. Alas, Moody. I confess being a teensy bit relieved when his death was revealed, not at all because I wasn't sad to see him go, but simply because knowing who it was relieved the tension of that darn chapter title "Fallen Warrior." Once I knew, the worst was over.
-Nice for Harry to have something of a break at the Burrow, if only for a few days - I love, love the trio so much. Ron and Hermione, going to such extremes to help Harry and protect their own families - eep! And hee, I loved Ron's renewed, slightly less befuddled attempts to woo Hermione. I wasn't sure how I felt about Ginny - she's a strong fighter, and having her just kind of hanging around the home front seemed kind of a waste, though of course Harry wouldn't think so....but that worry turned out to be unnecessary.
-The wedding, exactly as Harry thought of it in the sixth book - one last happy day with Ron and Hermione. Krum gets a cameo, the first mention of Grindelwald, yay! And then we have no chance to breathe before everything really falls apart. Eep! I confess I hadn't thought of the Ministry actually literally being taken over by Death Eaters, but of course that fits. It makes the stakes so much higher. Harry is on the run. Muggle-borns terrorized, tyranny taking hold in every facet of the magical world. Snape running Hogwarts, hmmm....Wasn't sure what to think about that.
-I love Hermione's bottomless bag! It's just one of those marvelous fun magical things. I noticed that while Harry always has to Summon stuff out of it, Hermione seems to know exactly where to look for everything.
-Thank you, Harry, for putting the pieces together as soon as you saw Regulus's full name. After that, everything moved so quickly, with Kreacher revealing some pretty startling stuff. Yay, Kreacher! Dumbledore was right about treating him kindly; it made all the difference in the world. Oh, that poor house-elf, left to die in the cave....then having to leave his master to death, and unable to complete the task he gave him...and then Master Harry never comes back for his steak-and-kidney pie. Sigh. Obvious now why Kreacher had to be in movie five, even just a teensy cameo.
-I was a bit surprised to see Harry getting into Voldemort's mind again, but it makes sense in the big picture. First off it introduced the whole Deathly Hallows thing. Very nice, putting the Hallows and the Horcruxes next to each other. Seems to me it was pretty silly for people to complain or rave about the title before any of us had any idea what the Hallows were...but anyway.
-Luna and her daddy! I'm so glad we got to see them in spite of the action taking place away from Hogwarts for most of the book. Gnome saliva, hee.
-Lupin and Tonks having a baby! I guessed it, earlier, from her being described as "radiant." Heh. Oh, I was exceedingly anxious for Lupin to come to his senses about hsi family.
-The caper at the Ministry. Loved the way Hermione prepared for it like an exam. I was on the edge of my seat throughout, knowing it wouldn't end neatly. Grrrr, how I despise Umbridge even more than before. Grrr! We don't get to see her get her ultimate comeuppance! I'd like to assume that one of Kingsley's first tasks as interim Minister is to sack her, put her under arrest, maybe punch her toady face into the bargain, and put her in an underwater cage in a mermaid village. :P
-Rather convenient of Ted and Dean and Griphook to come within hearing distance of the Trio's camp and offer oodles of eavesdroped information. But that's just part of writing a mystery, I guess; sometimes the hero just stumbles upon what he needs. Phineas Nigellus, heh. Yes, in fact, he was spying on them for Snape, and thank goodness.
-The next part of the book was hard, so hard. That darn locket Horcrux, turning them all so horrible, but Ron especially. I knew it had to be the Horcrux that really made him go bonkers and leave, and that he only didn't come back because he couldn't find them, but it was so hard seeing the Trio disintegrate! I had to keep reminding myself that he was on that book cover with the other two atop a dragon, which clearly hadn't happened yet, but right in the middle of that was when we had to stop reading to go to bed on Saturday night. Argh!
-Godric's Hollow. A poignant scene, a nice counterpart to Harry's first Christmas in the books, when he sees his parents in the Mirror of Erised. The next chapter with the dead Bathilda, though - yikes. And knowing now that he had not one, not two, but three Horcruxes on him before he started into that prolonged vision of his parents' death - sheesh, it's a wonder he survived.
-Hooray, Ron's return!! And lots and lots of new questions, about who would have a doe Patronus and why they couldn't just appear and say, "Here's the sword." Quite the intense moment with Ron confronting the Riddle in the Horcrux, but of course he prevailed. If I were Hermione, I would have kissed him then, but I guess she already revealed her vindictive side in the whole Canary Incident, so it shouldn't have surprised me. :P
-Potterwatch - excellent. I hope Lee continues in broadcasting; it suits him. ;)
-Not much gained from Godric's Hollow except Voldemort getting the picture of Grindelwald, not much from Xeno Lovegood except the knoweledge of the Deathly Hallows, which only serves to distract Harry from the Horcrux hunt. On the contrary, a huge, huge pile of information and such from the Malfoy Mansion, which they only reach because of Harry's Taboo blunder and getting captured, rather than going there voluntarily like the other two places. Still, a terrifying point where it seems like they won't escape, and then a miraculous rescue. Oh, my, Peter. I'm not sure how I feel about his death. His mercy killed him? Was that Voldemort's doing, did he design the hand that way, or -? I think I would have like a little more exposition, but that's three Marauders down, one to go. *sob*
-Dobby, Dobby, Dobby. My hero. I was quite honestly teary-eyed. And yet very relieved to see that Harry's grief brought him back to his senses. No more Hallow hunting, Horcruxes are the key.
-Gringotts, just plain cool. Edge of the seat again. Hermione was incredibly lousy at being Bellatrix, but it hardly mattered, since their cover was pretty much already blown. A blind, too-long-imprisoned dragon, not a preferred means of escape, but they did Hagrid proud. ;) And then a pretty darn convenient glimpse into Voldemort's Horcrux list, but hey, we all knew it would have to be Hogwarts, right? And I already knew it was the Diadem from Luna's earlier mention of it. Alas, I had forgotten about the silver tiara, so I didn't see that coming. I was almost certain it would be in the Chamber.
-Yeah, the Hog's Head is run by Aberforth, Harry, brilliant deduction. ;) He sent Dobby, but not the Patronus. Hmm. At last the full tale of Ariana comes out, which I most definintely did not see coming. I like that her portrait guards the entrance to the Room of Requirement.
-Neville! :inarticularte gushings of glee: I always loved him, poor dear with his Remembrall, but here he is positively huggable, leading an underground rebellion, rallying all of Dumbledore's Army.
-Heh, Ginny still has lingering envy about Cho? I liked Luna taking Harry, in any case - loved, loved the knocker for the Ravenclaw common room.
-Snape flies! Weird. Voldemort, I wasn't too startled by it, but for some reason, Snape!
-The Grey Lady - the Bloody Baron - definitely not expecting their stories, or that they would be entwined. Wow.
-Ron spoke Parseltongue - wonders never cease. Would have liked to have actually seen Hermione destroy the cup, maybe have a bit of her own run-in with a Riddle Horcrux, but I guess Harry's viewpoint can only take in so much. He got to be there to witness the Big Kiss, though, which was a gleeful moment. Of course it would be a defense of House-Elves that finally gets Hermione to grab him. ;)
-Who knew Crabbe would turn out so brutal? Killing Curses, yikes. I think on Draco's side, judging from his behavior at the Manor, he's more interested in getting his family safely out of this. Potter's the way to do that, he thinks, but it's not really a strong grudge against Harry. What do you know, Malfoy family loyalty beats out the Dark Lord.
-The Battle!! Wow!! I never would have thought I could have swung so rapidly between sheer exhilaration and glee to utter devestating grief and right back again. Neville and the Mandrakes, hooray! Fred, sob!!!! McGonagall leading the charge of animated objects!! Lupin and Tonks, noooo!!! I'm not sure if Teddy, left alone with Granny Andromeda, makes their deaths less painful or more so. All the Marauders gone!! Sob.
-The Elder Wand stuff sure threw a monkey wrench into everything. I do think it was best for the narrative and for the drama of Snape's character to have him give his memories to Harry as he dies, rather than droning on relating it to him. At last we know. Snape is Dumbledore's man, through and through.
-Lily and Snape. I had been bugged by that theory, because it seemed one of those "Everybody lurves Lily-Sue" things, with Snape longingly gazing at Lily from a distance like so many other lovelorn boys, blah blah blah blech. This I found much more palatable. They were, in fact, good friends. He obviously had more romantic desires toward her, but she was most definitely his friend. He introduced her to the magical world; she really did like him. It was just the undeniable fact of his Death Eaterish tendencies, Dark Arts and Muggle-hating. It makes his "Mudblood" toward her much more painful. I doubt that, had he managed to ditch his unsavory friends and abandon the Dark arts, Lily would ever have seen him in a romantic light, but their friendship might have endured. As it was, Snape was left to watch her marry the man he hated, living a life far apart from her. I have to say, though, that while Lily was his reason for turning against Voldemort, I think that over time he did change and come to hate his old ways. You notice him snapping at Phineas for saying "Mudblood," and he means it. No, he could never let go of his childish grudges against James and unfairly judged Harry by them, but when not dealing with the Potters, Snape actually turned out to be a courageous and loyal person. And thank you, Harry, for recognizing it, telling it to Voldemort's face, giving Severus as a middle name to his son, and finally, finally acknowledging that Slytherin is not just a training ground for evil people!! I was disappointed when the Slytherin table was totally empty as they evacuated non-fighters before the battle. All the houses have to unite, listen to the Sorting Hat!!
-Whew. So Harry actually does have a piece of Voldemort's soul. I was leery of that theory too, because it inevitably meant death for Harry, when he was perfectly innocent and couldn't help the fact that a nasty bit of Tom Riddle had attached itself to him. But what a fantastic thing it turned out to be, a little limbo-ish pre-afterlife place where Dumbledore could finally explain stuff and Harry could prepare himself for the true showdown. Gee, a man dies to save everyone and then comes back to life....what does that resemble? Nice metaphor; it will of course fly right over the heads of the "Christians" who decry the books as promoting witchcraft and such nonsense.
-Narcissa, awesome. Completely doesn't care about Voldemort anymore, it's all her family.
-Poor Hagrid, carrying Harry just like he carried Dumbledore at the funeral.
-Neville!!!! More hugs and squeals. Sword of Gryffindor. I think I literally stood up and cheered at that point.
-Good grief, Mrs. Weasely! Should have known that someone who has managed to run a household of nine has some pretty impressive magic up her sleeve. Though I wasn't expecting a showdown between her and Bellatrix, that's for sure. Probably better if Neville's not bent on revenge, after all, too busy being the most awesome Gryffindor since Godric himself!!! Sorry, can't stop Neville fangirling.
-Yay, Harry, calling him Tom Riddle!!
-Ah, so that's how the Elder Wand really works. Heh, what do you know - Harry's good old trademark move, beating out everything else. I love that. Disarming charm, meet Avada Kedavra. That's the third time that Voldemort has been struck by his own killing curse. And thank goodness, the very last.
-And then good bye to all the Hallows but the Cloak. Good for you, Harry. Master of Death, definitely.
-Epilogue!! Couldn't possibly have satisifed every fan's questions unless it had been an all-out index with every character's name, their profession, who they married, and what job they had, but it was enough for me. Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermione, each with a gaggle of kids. Professor Longbottom!! It took me a second to realize Teddy was snogging Bill and Fleur's daughter, hence the French name. Heh, everyone's a Weasley.
Well, that's that. Whew. I'm pretty overwhelmed now. Honestly, every dream I remember from this past weekend's scanty nights of sleep was Potter-related. I am one freakishly obssesed fan. And now that all seven books are out, I expect I'll start churning out enough fan fiction to smother a Hippogriff. No more canon contradicting; it's all here, and I'm going to dive right in. But....maybe I should first take a nice long nap.
Before I go off into a disjointed ramble on my reflections regarding the book, I'll just mention that the midnight bookstore party was a blast. The majority of attendents were kids, but there were still plenty of die-hard adult fans, including a group with fantastic costumes for Umbridge, Trelawny, and Hagrid (complete with a pink umbrella!). They had an arts and crafts thing to make your own wand, a guy performing Muggle magic ;) a costume contest, and of course The Great Snape Debate. I was amused to note that when we went to our respective sides, nearly all the adults ended up on the "friend" side (including a man in a very convincing Snape costume). Honestly I wasn't sure either way; I could see arguments for and against Snape's goodness, but I wanted him to be good, so I went on that side. The adults (including my very enthsiastic husband) had cogent, convincing arguments for Snape's innocence. The kids on the other side mostly argued, "But he's mean to Harry!! He takes points from Gryffindor!" Heh. There's plenty of deeper reasons to suspect his guilt, but for an eight-year-old, a mean teacher is bad and there's just no other way to see it. Anyway, we didn't reserve our copy in time, so we had the purple standby wristbands, but they assured us early on that there was no shortage, that everyone would certainly get a copy. And we did, albeit a little later than most other attendents, whom I watched enviously as they walked away with fat orange books clutched in their hands. At last, at last, we got our copy, and read the first chapter before the drive home. We read two more chapters before going to bed around 2:30 (my husband had work the next morning; otherwise we might not have slept at all). Then I waited restlessly all Saturday morning, my mind full of the first three chapters' contents, until my husband came home and we tore into the book again. We only paused to sleep, eat, and oh, right, pay attention to our children. No, we didn't neglect them....too much. Emma certainly knows the phrase Harry Potter now, though all she knows is it's something that keeps her parents very, very busy. :P We finished last night a little past midnight, and had to restrain ourselves from staying up for another hour or two just discussing it. So much to think about....
Wow. Let's see. First off, so different from the previous books. No classes at Hogwarts and events like Quidditch games and Halloween to keep track of the year. And big, climatic scenes of being captured/pursued and then escaping smattered all throughout the book, even one right near the beginning, whereas the other books tended to have a few small scrapes through most of the story, reserving the main climax for the end. Not that the enormous exciting climax at the end of this one wasn't absolutely thrilling! - but I'll get to that later. Anyway, it just made for a very different pacing, even more so than the Triwizard tasks in the fourth book. Harry's life really is in danger every single second of this book.
At the end, I actually felt as if I had read three or four books rather than one - not that it felt disjointed by any means, but just that so much happened. I wouldn't really want the task of adapting this to a two hour movie; what in the world could you cut? So many meaty details bearing so much importance on the plot, so that it took three or four chapters of almost sheer exposition near the end just to resolve most of those details. I'm still musing over it, trying to see how it all fits together. But like I said, I have a general satisfied feeling, I don't feel like there's dozens of loose ends dangling around. It's just - so much to take in.
Okay, I'll just start listing things as I think of them:
-Opening chapter - appropriately spooky, still leaving Snape's role amibiguous. Lots of foreshadowing, which I noted once I skimmed through the chapter again after finishing the book. Oh, and yay Lupin and Tonks being married!
-I was really, really surprised to discover that this book was going to bring up Dumbledore's backstory. Like Harry, I mistakingly believed that we already knew him pretty well, but surprise surprise - he has quite a few skeletons in his closet! Interesting how we're first introdued to it rather favorably from Dodge's obituary; his father's crime, his mysterious sister. Of course I was inclined to disbelieve Rita's take on it, just like most of the characters, but it was Harry who was right in wanting to know the truth, however terrible. Whew! In some ways it makes me admire Dumbledore more for knowing the weaknesses and misdeeds of his past, because it means he's worked long and hard to change himself for the better and not succumb to those weakenesses again. And even near the end, he still makes mistakes, but I can't hate him for it - he's human, and he's still better than Grindelwald or certainly Voldemort could ever hope to be.
-Really liked the Dursely's departure, though I would have like to have heard something about them in the epilogue or something. Good for you, Dudley! For someone who's been raised to be pigheaded and self-absorbed, it takes a lot of guts to stand up and say, "I don't think Harry's useless; he saved my life."
-The escape from Privet Drive - hair-raising, and so early on in the narrative - it was then I knew just how many people were going to fall, if we were already losing them this soon in the story. Meeting the Tonks parents at last! and just as quickly leaving them behind. Alas, Moody. I confess being a teensy bit relieved when his death was revealed, not at all because I wasn't sad to see him go, but simply because knowing who it was relieved the tension of that darn chapter title "Fallen Warrior." Once I knew, the worst was over.
-Nice for Harry to have something of a break at the Burrow, if only for a few days - I love, love the trio so much. Ron and Hermione, going to such extremes to help Harry and protect their own families - eep! And hee, I loved Ron's renewed, slightly less befuddled attempts to woo Hermione. I wasn't sure how I felt about Ginny - she's a strong fighter, and having her just kind of hanging around the home front seemed kind of a waste, though of course Harry wouldn't think so....but that worry turned out to be unnecessary.
-The wedding, exactly as Harry thought of it in the sixth book - one last happy day with Ron and Hermione. Krum gets a cameo, the first mention of Grindelwald, yay! And then we have no chance to breathe before everything really falls apart. Eep! I confess I hadn't thought of the Ministry actually literally being taken over by Death Eaters, but of course that fits. It makes the stakes so much higher. Harry is on the run. Muggle-borns terrorized, tyranny taking hold in every facet of the magical world. Snape running Hogwarts, hmmm....Wasn't sure what to think about that.
-I love Hermione's bottomless bag! It's just one of those marvelous fun magical things. I noticed that while Harry always has to Summon stuff out of it, Hermione seems to know exactly where to look for everything.
-Thank you, Harry, for putting the pieces together as soon as you saw Regulus's full name. After that, everything moved so quickly, with Kreacher revealing some pretty startling stuff. Yay, Kreacher! Dumbledore was right about treating him kindly; it made all the difference in the world. Oh, that poor house-elf, left to die in the cave....then having to leave his master to death, and unable to complete the task he gave him...and then Master Harry never comes back for his steak-and-kidney pie. Sigh. Obvious now why Kreacher had to be in movie five, even just a teensy cameo.
-I was a bit surprised to see Harry getting into Voldemort's mind again, but it makes sense in the big picture. First off it introduced the whole Deathly Hallows thing. Very nice, putting the Hallows and the Horcruxes next to each other. Seems to me it was pretty silly for people to complain or rave about the title before any of us had any idea what the Hallows were...but anyway.
-Luna and her daddy! I'm so glad we got to see them in spite of the action taking place away from Hogwarts for most of the book. Gnome saliva, hee.
-Lupin and Tonks having a baby! I guessed it, earlier, from her being described as "radiant." Heh. Oh, I was exceedingly anxious for Lupin to come to his senses about hsi family.
-The caper at the Ministry. Loved the way Hermione prepared for it like an exam. I was on the edge of my seat throughout, knowing it wouldn't end neatly. Grrrr, how I despise Umbridge even more than before. Grrr! We don't get to see her get her ultimate comeuppance! I'd like to assume that one of Kingsley's first tasks as interim Minister is to sack her, put her under arrest, maybe punch her toady face into the bargain, and put her in an underwater cage in a mermaid village. :P
-Rather convenient of Ted and Dean and Griphook to come within hearing distance of the Trio's camp and offer oodles of eavesdroped information. But that's just part of writing a mystery, I guess; sometimes the hero just stumbles upon what he needs. Phineas Nigellus, heh. Yes, in fact, he was spying on them for Snape, and thank goodness.
-The next part of the book was hard, so hard. That darn locket Horcrux, turning them all so horrible, but Ron especially. I knew it had to be the Horcrux that really made him go bonkers and leave, and that he only didn't come back because he couldn't find them, but it was so hard seeing the Trio disintegrate! I had to keep reminding myself that he was on that book cover with the other two atop a dragon, which clearly hadn't happened yet, but right in the middle of that was when we had to stop reading to go to bed on Saturday night. Argh!
-Godric's Hollow. A poignant scene, a nice counterpart to Harry's first Christmas in the books, when he sees his parents in the Mirror of Erised. The next chapter with the dead Bathilda, though - yikes. And knowing now that he had not one, not two, but three Horcruxes on him before he started into that prolonged vision of his parents' death - sheesh, it's a wonder he survived.
-Hooray, Ron's return!! And lots and lots of new questions, about who would have a doe Patronus and why they couldn't just appear and say, "Here's the sword." Quite the intense moment with Ron confronting the Riddle in the Horcrux, but of course he prevailed. If I were Hermione, I would have kissed him then, but I guess she already revealed her vindictive side in the whole Canary Incident, so it shouldn't have surprised me. :P
-Potterwatch - excellent. I hope Lee continues in broadcasting; it suits him. ;)
-Not much gained from Godric's Hollow except Voldemort getting the picture of Grindelwald, not much from Xeno Lovegood except the knoweledge of the Deathly Hallows, which only serves to distract Harry from the Horcrux hunt. On the contrary, a huge, huge pile of information and such from the Malfoy Mansion, which they only reach because of Harry's Taboo blunder and getting captured, rather than going there voluntarily like the other two places. Still, a terrifying point where it seems like they won't escape, and then a miraculous rescue. Oh, my, Peter. I'm not sure how I feel about his death. His mercy killed him? Was that Voldemort's doing, did he design the hand that way, or -? I think I would have like a little more exposition, but that's three Marauders down, one to go. *sob*
-Dobby, Dobby, Dobby. My hero. I was quite honestly teary-eyed. And yet very relieved to see that Harry's grief brought him back to his senses. No more Hallow hunting, Horcruxes are the key.
-Gringotts, just plain cool. Edge of the seat again. Hermione was incredibly lousy at being Bellatrix, but it hardly mattered, since their cover was pretty much already blown. A blind, too-long-imprisoned dragon, not a preferred means of escape, but they did Hagrid proud. ;) And then a pretty darn convenient glimpse into Voldemort's Horcrux list, but hey, we all knew it would have to be Hogwarts, right? And I already knew it was the Diadem from Luna's earlier mention of it. Alas, I had forgotten about the silver tiara, so I didn't see that coming. I was almost certain it would be in the Chamber.
-Yeah, the Hog's Head is run by Aberforth, Harry, brilliant deduction. ;) He sent Dobby, but not the Patronus. Hmm. At last the full tale of Ariana comes out, which I most definintely did not see coming. I like that her portrait guards the entrance to the Room of Requirement.
-Neville! :inarticularte gushings of glee: I always loved him, poor dear with his Remembrall, but here he is positively huggable, leading an underground rebellion, rallying all of Dumbledore's Army.
-Heh, Ginny still has lingering envy about Cho? I liked Luna taking Harry, in any case - loved, loved the knocker for the Ravenclaw common room.
-Snape flies! Weird. Voldemort, I wasn't too startled by it, but for some reason, Snape!
-The Grey Lady - the Bloody Baron - definitely not expecting their stories, or that they would be entwined. Wow.
-Ron spoke Parseltongue - wonders never cease. Would have liked to have actually seen Hermione destroy the cup, maybe have a bit of her own run-in with a Riddle Horcrux, but I guess Harry's viewpoint can only take in so much. He got to be there to witness the Big Kiss, though, which was a gleeful moment. Of course it would be a defense of House-Elves that finally gets Hermione to grab him. ;)
-Who knew Crabbe would turn out so brutal? Killing Curses, yikes. I think on Draco's side, judging from his behavior at the Manor, he's more interested in getting his family safely out of this. Potter's the way to do that, he thinks, but it's not really a strong grudge against Harry. What do you know, Malfoy family loyalty beats out the Dark Lord.
-The Battle!! Wow!! I never would have thought I could have swung so rapidly between sheer exhilaration and glee to utter devestating grief and right back again. Neville and the Mandrakes, hooray! Fred, sob!!!! McGonagall leading the charge of animated objects!! Lupin and Tonks, noooo!!! I'm not sure if Teddy, left alone with Granny Andromeda, makes their deaths less painful or more so. All the Marauders gone!! Sob.
-The Elder Wand stuff sure threw a monkey wrench into everything. I do think it was best for the narrative and for the drama of Snape's character to have him give his memories to Harry as he dies, rather than droning on relating it to him. At last we know. Snape is Dumbledore's man, through and through.
-Lily and Snape. I had been bugged by that theory, because it seemed one of those "Everybody lurves Lily-Sue" things, with Snape longingly gazing at Lily from a distance like so many other lovelorn boys, blah blah blah blech. This I found much more palatable. They were, in fact, good friends. He obviously had more romantic desires toward her, but she was most definitely his friend. He introduced her to the magical world; she really did like him. It was just the undeniable fact of his Death Eaterish tendencies, Dark Arts and Muggle-hating. It makes his "Mudblood" toward her much more painful. I doubt that, had he managed to ditch his unsavory friends and abandon the Dark arts, Lily would ever have seen him in a romantic light, but their friendship might have endured. As it was, Snape was left to watch her marry the man he hated, living a life far apart from her. I have to say, though, that while Lily was his reason for turning against Voldemort, I think that over time he did change and come to hate his old ways. You notice him snapping at Phineas for saying "Mudblood," and he means it. No, he could never let go of his childish grudges against James and unfairly judged Harry by them, but when not dealing with the Potters, Snape actually turned out to be a courageous and loyal person. And thank you, Harry, for recognizing it, telling it to Voldemort's face, giving Severus as a middle name to his son, and finally, finally acknowledging that Slytherin is not just a training ground for evil people!! I was disappointed when the Slytherin table was totally empty as they evacuated non-fighters before the battle. All the houses have to unite, listen to the Sorting Hat!!
-Whew. So Harry actually does have a piece of Voldemort's soul. I was leery of that theory too, because it inevitably meant death for Harry, when he was perfectly innocent and couldn't help the fact that a nasty bit of Tom Riddle had attached itself to him. But what a fantastic thing it turned out to be, a little limbo-ish pre-afterlife place where Dumbledore could finally explain stuff and Harry could prepare himself for the true showdown. Gee, a man dies to save everyone and then comes back to life....what does that resemble? Nice metaphor; it will of course fly right over the heads of the "Christians" who decry the books as promoting witchcraft and such nonsense.
-Narcissa, awesome. Completely doesn't care about Voldemort anymore, it's all her family.
-Poor Hagrid, carrying Harry just like he carried Dumbledore at the funeral.
-Neville!!!! More hugs and squeals. Sword of Gryffindor. I think I literally stood up and cheered at that point.
-Good grief, Mrs. Weasely! Should have known that someone who has managed to run a household of nine has some pretty impressive magic up her sleeve. Though I wasn't expecting a showdown between her and Bellatrix, that's for sure. Probably better if Neville's not bent on revenge, after all, too busy being the most awesome Gryffindor since Godric himself!!! Sorry, can't stop Neville fangirling.
-Yay, Harry, calling him Tom Riddle!!
-Ah, so that's how the Elder Wand really works. Heh, what do you know - Harry's good old trademark move, beating out everything else. I love that. Disarming charm, meet Avada Kedavra. That's the third time that Voldemort has been struck by his own killing curse. And thank goodness, the very last.
-And then good bye to all the Hallows but the Cloak. Good for you, Harry. Master of Death, definitely.
-Epilogue!! Couldn't possibly have satisifed every fan's questions unless it had been an all-out index with every character's name, their profession, who they married, and what job they had, but it was enough for me. Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermione, each with a gaggle of kids. Professor Longbottom!! It took me a second to realize Teddy was snogging Bill and Fleur's daughter, hence the French name. Heh, everyone's a Weasley.
Well, that's that. Whew. I'm pretty overwhelmed now. Honestly, every dream I remember from this past weekend's scanty nights of sleep was Potter-related. I am one freakishly obssesed fan. And now that all seven books are out, I expect I'll start churning out enough fan fiction to smother a Hippogriff. No more canon contradicting; it's all here, and I'm going to dive right in. But....maybe I should first take a nice long nap.
