It's not like I'm going to be talking about anything but Deathly Hallows...
Postman arrived at about 11.03am, I started reading at 11.04am and finished at 6.07 pm. I am...emotionally exhausted.
I loved it. I did.
I think the first word that springs to mind to describe it is clever. There were so many loose ends, so many throwaway lines that came together and worked, and I loved coming across each one and realising where it fitted in its setting. I think I must have squeaked "Oh, yes!" and "Of course!" at least half a dozen times.
One of my favourites is that Snape knew Lily in their pre-Hogwarts days, which is something I hadn't guessed; as soon as I reached that point in the playground I ran for OotP to check Aunt Petunia's line about that awful boy who told Lily about Dementors. It had always struck me as odd, because Lily disliked James for the first five or six years of their acquaintance, and it was extrmely unlikely he would ever have spent time with Lily and Petunia-but that it was Snape is brilliant...actually, I loved all the Snape-ness. I know I said that Snape loving Lily never appealed, but their friendship and his unrequited love did work after all (wow, all the people who wrote school-era Snape/Lily about eight years ago are going to be feeling pretty pleased with themselves!) and his exchange with Dumbledore about the Patronuses just...well, I never expected to cry over Snape. And he kept the letter with her signature! *bawls* It makes his turning from Voldemort make so much more sense, and oh! gives the reason why Voldemort did give Lily a chance-and Harry had Lily's eyes, so Snape became the most reluctant guardian Harry could have had. He was wrong, after all, those times when he said the last of his protectors was gone. Oh, and Harry named the child with Lily's eyes after Snape =) (Little bit disturbed, actually, that they called all their children after dead people, but hey, their choice. I would have expected James and Lily to be middle names, that Harry would have wanted to keep them as primarily his parents' names.)
I loved the irony that Harry had been tossing not one but two Horcruxes around without knowing what he was doing; I was waiting for the R.A.B./locket revelation, but the diadem was completely unexpected. That ghost of the young woman with the long hair had been cropping up quite a bit recently, so it was nice to see where she (and the Bloody Baron, oh yes-if that doesn't become a fanfic pretty soon I'll eat my Sorting Hat) came from.
As soon as I saw Gregorovitch I started another of those squeaking sessions that must have irritated David, considering that he was probably about 200 pages behind at that point. Ditto for Peverell.
What the potion made Dumbledore see, and who it was he didn't want hurt. Brilliant.
Okay, will do the rest next week, brain dying.
my guesses have, usually, been good...
Well, alright, not great-but it was too good not to use!
1) My gut feeling was that Snape was Dumbledore's man. Turns out he was more Lily's man, but I liked how JKR handled it. Will probably have a lot more to say on this once the other 78% of my brain starts going again, but I loved that Snape refused to let anyone know about the best of him.
2) We did get something good about Harry's parents. Well, his mother, anyway. Also that they were born in 1960, which puts them a year younger than I thought. Lily was older than James =)
3) Voldemort both concealed a Horcrux at Hogwarts, and attacked it. Was glad that the last battle was there; on the one hand, it showed that nowhere is safe, but on the other hand, we got all those noble-teacher-and-pupil moments, and Harry was able to go back to Gryffindor Tower with (presumably) a Kreacher-made sandwich when it was over. I'm not saying properly what I mean, but maybe it'll come.
4) The DA form a resistance. I'm so looking forward to fanfic on this. (With all the facist-state! Wizarding world, and muggle-born hunts, and Yaxley getting a character, as well as the Hogwarts stuff, I may even have to write some.)
5) The GoF smile was enormously relevant to Harry's blood, in that it allowed him the possibility for survival. Also got a good reason for why Dumbledore couldn't finish Voldemort himself...although, given the machiavellian-and-very-grey! Dumbledore we now have, I imagine he could have killed Harry if there was no other choice. But, yeah, his way=better.
6) Harry did need some help getting at the Horcruxes-in the shape of Kreacher, Griphook and Helena Ravenclaw. They coped on their ownyowns better than I thought, however...loved how efficient and scarily ruthless Hermione was (want an expanding handbag. Need an expanding handbag.)
7) A Weasley died. Woez. And I was getting to love Fred so much in DH-so many great one-liners, and he took Percy back straight away and...damn.
8) We did get to find out why AD had the Cloak, where Sirius' motorbike went, why Lily's eyes are so important, who the enormous blonde Death Eater was and when Ron got a clue. Excellent.
9) Something happened at the wedding.
but my mistakes tend to be correspondingly huger
Oh, did they ever.
1) Snape did love Lily after all. Well, I suppose in the vast morass that is fandom, there had to be some good guesses.
2) Harry was a Horcrux. But he was made one involuntarily (unstable soul, nice) and he did have to kill himself to finish Voldemort, although he had a nice way around that little difficulty, so I'm feeling okay about it all-problems arose, ensued and were overcome, which is fine.
3) No Dursley magic. But Dudley appreciated Harry, and Harry called him by name, which was practically as good.
4) No Neville/Bellatrix face-off. Ah, well, I liked the ultimate scenarios well enough to be reconciled =)
Pettigrew...kind of died for Harry, in that his unexpected moment of mercy was what provoked his own death. Also, the Malfoys weren't exactly redemmed, but they weren't on Voldemorts side, either, by the end-and it seems Draco didn't get Azkabaned for his part in it all. Not for long, anyway.
things I didn't like...
...pretty much boils down to why, why oh why did she have to kill Remus and Tonks? Why? That's my biggest hate, although I don't think I cried much. Okay, I flicked forward. Not right to the end-but I did catch the page where Fred's and Remus' and Tonks' bodies are laid out. I think I was numb for a while after that, and I still can't take it in that their deaths are canon. On the other hand, as soon as the advent of young Teddy was announced (which, as far as I was concerned, was at the wedding, when Tonks was radiant and Remus was having another fit of the glooms) I started to get that sinking feeling regarding their ultimate survival. At least they didn't kill the baby-Andromeda was really not having a good few months. Incidentally, it was good to see the Tonkses, if only briefly-what are the odds that Andromeda's light brown hair comes out of a bottle? (Or the end of a wand, whatever.) I reckon she started out black, like Bellatrix, but at some point the amusement factor in being mistaken for a Death Eater wore off and (possibly getting the idea from her multi-coloured daughter) she decided to change it.
Anyway. Remus' period of complete wussiness over fatherhood annoyed me, but I suppose it was in character enough, although I was hoping he'd have got over it.
Still in denial about their deaths...AAA!!! Why was that necessary? They could have lived!
Also didn't like that Hedwig died. That got the tears started, I think, and Fred got plenty-as did various random points where there wasn't even anyone dying-but I think the most went to Dobby. I mean, he annoyed me like anything half the time, but he was great. I think it was the posthumous dressing that got me the worst.
Didn't like Fred dying at all, although I think any other Weasley would have been worse. How's that for alliteration? No He was my brother songfics now, though...
Also-Hagrid is turning into Frodo. Not many resemblances between a half-giant and a hobbit, I'll grant you, but the pair of them keep pretending to be dead. Not funny.
and the parts I loved
Sooo much.
Dumbledore having a backstory, and a dubious one at that. Aberforth being the eye looking out for the Trio.
The RoR being on the DA's side, and everyone ending up in there (would love to see that explained a bit more, too.)
Dean being on the run.
The awesomeness of Neville, whom Harry chose as his back-up, and who helped run the resistance, and who killed Nagini and became a teacher (oh, got that one right, too) and was greatgreatgreat. The awesomness of Neville's gran, who put Dawlish (poor guy, he never gets a break) in st. Mungo's and went on the run and came ot fight and finally realised just how wonderful Neville is.
Percy coming back, and doing it in style, admitting to everything and making a joke and refusing to leave Fred. (AAA!!) And yet he was still Percy, Harry's boring brother-in-law. I wonder if that part of the epilogue was from ages ago. I suppose, anyway, that it's too much to expect a complete change of tune.
Hermione appreciating Ron, and Ron very nearly admitting that he loves Hermione, and them both being brilliant and carrying piles of Basilisk fangs and kissing in the middle of a war. The pair of them, generally...Ron catching on (even with the help of a book) and knowing how to comfort Hermione, and wanting to teach her his family tree to protect her, and crying at the though tof losing her and...yeah.
Also, Harry's "She's (practically) my sister!" moment.
Fleur making everyone beautiful at her wedding, instead of showing them up.
Mrs. Weasley coming over all unexpectedly good at duelling and not getting flattened and taking out Bellatrix Lestrange. And "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"
Voldemort's spells not working because Harry gave his life.
The DA fighting (must admit, I was surprised at their success rate. Apparently Death Eaters not trained all that well after all.)
Oliver Wood! I liked that the old Quidditch team came back, but it seemed a little unrealistic...why only they, out of all the students? I wonder what happened to the girls, and Harry classmates-I reckon we could get them all out alive quite canonically.
The verse on the Dumbledore women's tomb. Bitter reminder for Albus, indeed.
The many Harrys, and Fleur not wanting Bill to look at her because she was 'ideous.
I liked that the first thought of both Lucius and Narcissa was their son, and that she was instrumental in the victory. Intriguing family, that.
The taboo on the name-all along Dumbledore have believed calling him by his name is the right thing to do, and Hermione spent large parts of HBP telling Ron not to be pathetic and to stop whimpering at the sound of it, but in the end he was right.
Ginny comforting the girl in the grounds. With all her faults, I do love Ginny. It reminded me of the end of HBP...the girl was most likely older than Ginny, and Fred had just died, but she was out there doing something.
Bill and Fleur calling their kid Victoire. Personally, I like the idea that se was born in March 1999, but not sure that would work with the nineteen year gap. Oh dear, maths. Werewolf, Metamorphmagus and veela...would love to see the kids of that one.
Kreacher! He loved Regulus and ended up respecting Harry and cooking him treacle tart! And he can wield a frying pan!
On a side note, also liked Regulus being a Seeker and not making Kreacher drink the potion. Oh, the tragicness of the Blacks! Let's hope that Teddy and young Scorpius are good value.
I like Teddy existing, although I've heard a lot of people don't. Liked the Sirius/Harry and Harry/Teddy parallels-him being made godfather gave me some hope for him, but removed any I had for Remus and Tonks. Both their fathers died in an atempt to protect their families, both their mothers could have lived...although I got the impression that Tonks was killed because she preferred to fight and die with Remus than hide and live for Teddy. But Teddy will get the chance to live with Harry-one of the things I thought while thinking was that Teddy must have lived with them before he went to Hogwarts, but now Lily has his old room. Maybe when he was little, he metamorhped himself to look like a Potter. Ooh, enter the plot bunnies in their ravenous hordes.
Sirius and Remus and Lily reunited in ghostie-land, especially since Sirius has reverted to young-and-handsome! Sirius. Wherever that resurrection stone ended up, I am there. Which reminds me, loved that it was a children's story that was the key to it all...quite fitting that I was reading about Tolkien and fairytales this morning =)
Harry not dying! After reading the verses at the start I was feeling pretty pessimistic, but it was okay! That whole chapter, and the way she organised Voldemort's demise, and Harry's family coming back to help him...loved it all, but need to think about it more. Those few paragraphs, when you realise what Dumbledore is telling Snape, and it all goes into one of those brightly lit, fuzzy sound moments-amazing. In retrospect. At the time it was a period of major oh noes. But, yeah. The woman is smart.
the bits that cracked me up
because I remember laughing...
Perhaps just one more, Master Harry, for luck?
check whether the thing glaring at you's got legs-and the rest of the Potterwatch broadcast
McGonagall and her charging desks. Similarly, Trelawney and her orbs. Who would have guessed they have a use, or that Trelawney was Navratilova in disguise? Very good disguise.
Tom Riddle ships Harry/Hermione. Last nail in the coffin, I reckon.
Another Weasley? You breed like gnomes.
Are you a wizard, or what?
So-'ow eez leetle Teddy?
Right, half ten, have to go to bed. I'll sleep, or I'll lie and think about DH. Or I'll just read it again. One of them. Anyway, I'll be back =)