HP7 questions and reactions
Some questions
♠ Hermione says on pg. 96 that she modified her parents' memories (which I'm quite horrified about!) but later on pg. 167 she says that she's never done a Memory Charm before. So this means she didn't use Obliviate on her parents, but some other kind of memory charm...?
♠ What did they do with Mundungus? Did they let him leave just like that? Seems kind of dangerous to let him walk out. (222)
♠ The Elder Wand. Was it Draco's wand (the one Harry used for a good section of the book) or was it Dumbledore's wand, the one Voldemort took from his grave? I thought it was Dumbledore's wand, but I think some people thought it was Draco's wand.
Reactions to stuff
♠ Hermione's insight. Her beaded bag...packing stuff beforehand...where would Harry be without Hermione and Ron?
♠ RAB. I'm sure everyone already guessed it. I was hoping for more of Regulus...but getting more of Kreacher was pretty nice too. Poor Kreacher.
♠ Regulus played Seeker! :O (187-188)
♠ The trio had to flush themselves down the toilet to get into the Ministry. That totally reminded me of Kyou Kara Maou. (241)
♠ The locket and how it affects the wearer. (around 307) That reminded of the knife in the HP fanfic The God of the Lost. Bringing out the worst of them while they're stuck in the wilderness...
♠ Hermione, Ron, and Harry each think a different Hallow is more useful. (414) I felt that it was very true to their character what they chose. I think I'd want the Cloak too, like Hermione, over the others.
♠ Heh, Remus is using Romulus as his alias on Potterwatch. (441) Knew that name had to come up sometime.
♠ 'Voldemort' becoming Taboo. I thought that was pretty awesome. Reminded me of novels like The Giver and 1984 where you're not allowed to say or do certain stuff or else you'll get penalized. And people have ways of finding out that you've said it. (445)
♠ Aberforth. Knew he'd play a part too. Goat patronus. *laughs*
♠ Harry=Horcrux. Was pleasantly amused to see it come true. I've seen it explored somewhat in Lost: Small Boy, Answers to Harry.
Other general Reactions
I quite liked the book. Having it set away from Hogwarts meant that it was packed full of action right from the start. Though, the part where Ron left was terribly boring; I fell asleep for an hour or so when I was trying to get through that part. I cheered when he came back, especially since he saved Harry when he came back. I was frustrated at Harry for being obsessed with the Hallows. When he uttered Voldemort and got them caught, I wanted to smack him. Truly.
I did not expect that the Death Eaters would take over the Ministry AND Hogwarts, that everyone would be forced into hiding. Just wow. I totally thought that Snape would be in hiding for killing Dumbledore, and there he is, Headmaster of Hogwarts in broad daylight.
The Ministry part was brilliant, especially how they all got separated from each other. The Gringotts break-in was equally exciting, and I finally got what one of the cover illustrations was about! Getting captured at Malfoy Manor...their escapes...
The book had a lot of articles...some of them got a bit long. All that information thrown at us. >_> But it was a good way to get away from Harry's POV. Harry's visions...for once, Harry used his link with Voldemort to his advantage. Dumbledore's past was well-woven into the story...it made him all the more human, and it made the Hallows more than just items that could help Harry.
Snape's memories...Snape, in love with Lily. Seems like the fans were right again. I easily accepted that. Loved mini!Severus with mini!Lily. I would never have thought that they knew each other before Hogwarts. Lily, calling Snape 'Sev'! I quite adored the glimpse of Petunia too. Snape's memories...I gleefully took in his meeting with James. A canon moment of the meeting of James Potter and Sirius Black! Finally! (Though I wish we could've seen Remus and Peter too). I did feel that Snape didn't sound much like the Snape I know from the previous books. He's much more of a softie. So very different. His love for Lily is so intense, it's scary. I do wish that he turned away from the Death Eaters because of moral enlightening...but well, I guess 'love' is good too. >_>
I loved it when the DA gathered together. I loved Neville's transformation. Neville was beyond awesome in this book, all the way until the end. Luna was quite awesome too (perhaps some Luna/Dean will result from this book?) Luna and Ollivander make a great eccentric pair.
The final battle was truly a great one. King's Cross was just brilliant. Harry circling Voldemort...figuring everything out...having the entire school watch him...
I disliked it whenever Harry was thinking of Ginny...I really hated it when Ginny wasn't allowed to do anything. Her part in this book was pretty pointless other than being the love of Harry's life for him to return to after everything's over. *snorts* I guess she keeps him going! It's just like how Tonks, who was a wonderful and strong Auror, got reduced to a mopey Tonks in Book 6 and we never again got to see her awesome Auror abilities.
The epilogue. Happily ever after? It feels ominous. Draco's wife's unnamed. Heh. The epilogue tells us nothing at all except that they're married and have lots of kids and I still don't see why Remus and Tonks couldn't have survived and this brings me to my next point.
Remus and Tonks (which means ranting on my part)
Tonks and Remus's marriage was so...sudden. Especially since we learn about it from the Death Eaters, and the moment we hear about it the DE are already hating on them. I was not expecting them to get married, not since I thought their romance from the previous book was sudden! The moment Remus let the trio know that Tonks was pregnant, I started dreading Remus's death, since why else would JKR rush their marriage so much, if not to make it so that the parents are expendable?? Since, they won't be truly gone, not with their child still alive...all that nonsense.
Once their kid turned out to be a boy (and Harry's named the godfather. Godfather!)...I wondered...surely history's not going to repeat itself again? A couple married during wartime giving birth to a boy...(I even thought, maybe Harry's going to die too and then young Teddy will become the new Boy Who Lived!! Bwahahaha...ahem.) Here was a good chance to have things turn out differently than how it turned out for James and Lily...here was a good chance for Remus to break out of the death, betrayal, distrust, prophecies and all that junk that surrounded the Marauders, Lily, and Snape. Here was a good chance for THEM TO SURVIVE TO RAISE THEIR KID IN PEACEFUL TIMES!!!
I believed Remus and Snape to be survivors. And yet, in the end, none of those from Harry's parents' time survived. That's just...ugh. What was the point to Remus's death? Was the point that there's no point at all? It was an off screen death as well...he and Tonks were just lying there. I even missed the fact that they were dead the first time I read it...I thought they were tired and resting. Shows how much my mind was trying to trick me!!! Other characters got death scenes. Hedwig and Dobby and heart-wrenching death scenes!! Harry felt like the world ended when Fred died. Moody...Harry even got his eye back. Snape...with famous last words. But Remus and Tonks...Tonks' death was even more pointless. If JKR just wanted to kill off all those from the MWPP era, Tonks could've been left out of that! I mean, it's not like she even appeared when Harry summoned his parents with the stone.
Some people seem to be thinking, "Well, at least Remus got to be reunited with Sirius." But no. No. That's just...Remus was finally able to move on, start a new life...his new life barely started!! Life isn't fair, but this is like annihilation. Only the new generation get to live. Sirius got stuck in prison for so many years. He finally escapes only to die. Remus has been shunned his entire life...he finally gets a family of his own and he dies. Severus hasn't even been able to live his life for himself. It isn't until after he dies that he's redeemed.
I'm annoyed. I feel that having Remus and Tonks survive would have had a great impact. It's Lily and James with the happy ending. Why can't any of the people from the MWPP era have a truly happy ending? I feel that they were killed only to have them conveniently out of the way, for Harry to be without any living adult support at all from the ones closest to him. At that point, I was evilly hoping that Harry would die too. I was kind of mad at him. ^^
*sigh*
This kills all post-war Remus fics that would have ever existed. (Well, except for fics set in the afterlife, but that's just not the same). And that makes me really depressed. I loved post-war Remus fics. ):
But yeah. Overall, I liked the book. It was a fitting ending and drew on a lot of stuff from the previous books, which is pretty awesome. I almost can't believe it's over...and really, I could've done without the time jump at the end. I'm not too fond of time jumps. I saw a spoiler online before I started reading and the time jump was part of it and I was scoffing at it!!
It's finally...over. I never thought I'd like HP so much.