Harry Potter Characters Will Die
Well, Duh! JKR mentioned in an interview that two characters not previously slated for death are now headed for the morgue (and one other has escaped his or her deadly fate). So, I thought I'd share my thoughts on who should be investing in some life insurance. BTW, the headline on the article I first saw incorrectly stated 'Two characters will die' and I was puzzled, since I'm positive the body-count is going to be much higher than that.
Each character is only mentioned once, in the first category that applies to them. Each character gets zero to five skulls, ranking how likely they are to die.
Core Trio
Harry Potter I think he'll make it. He's the hero, and doesn't seem the type to expire nobly on the battlefield. He's more a candidate for noble angst and moody reflection on how much his life really sucks, esp. if Ginny (his one true love) dies tragically. I give him 1 1/2 skulls
Hermione Granger There's a bit of a taboo against killing girls, and while JKR has shown she is willing to break it, Hermione has too much screen time to be a victim. 1/2 skull
Ron Weasley Also a likely survivor. Not that he won't throw himself in front of something for Harry, but he's got some really good plucky sidekick vibe going. 1 skull
Weasley Family
Arthur Weasley Arthur is a goner. JKR likes killing fathers too much, and he's part of the old guard. As a matter of fact, anybody in the original Order of the Phoenix is living on borrowed time. 5 skulls
Molly Weasley Playing the gender card (see Hermione above) might save her, but being a part of the original order cancels that. The angst of her surviving Arthur is her best shot at survival, but it is by no means a sure thing. 2 skulls.
Bill Weasley and Charlie Weasley are as close as the Weasleys come to 'extras' There's too many of them for all the younger generation to survive. 2 1/2 skulls
Percy Weasley It's a toss-up for Percy; either he'll die nobly to atone for being a prick, or he'll live, to have his face rubbed in the fact that he's been a prick. I'm leaning toward the latter, but it's going to be close. 2 skulls.
Fred Weasley and George Weasley are completely safe. Comic relief is too important for them to be killed off, plus they're important to the rebuilding era. Zero skulls
Ginny Weasley Unfortunately, she can't play the gender card. Killing her off to torment Harry would be too much fun to pass up. 3 skulls, maybe 3 1/2
Hogwarts Staff
Headmistress McGonagall Female, important to the rebuilding and continuity of Hogwarts, an animagus cat, the list goes on. Another safe one. She is on the front line, though, as well as an original Order member, but still I'm only giving her 1/2 skull
Hagrid You know, I was convinced he'd die before now; I was positive he was a goner in OotP. But if he's made it this long, I think he'll go the distance. Unless Harry dies, of course. There's no way Hagrid is going to outlive Harry by more than a chapter. 2 skulls
Professor Flitwick, Madame Hooch, Madame Pince, Madame Pomfrey, Professor Sprout, Professor Vector, Professor Sinistra Extras, and probably pretty safe ones. If Hogwarts is attacked, they're probably at risk, but otherwise not. 1 skull each.
Professor Trelawney, Professor Binns, Filch, Professor Firenze They may be more interesting than the other extras on staff, but but that doesn't change their chances. Also 1 skull each.
Order of the Phoenix
Professor Snape Another goner. He's a git, we've always hated him. He's going to die nobly to save the world, and we'll all regret not loving him and trusting him more. Right. He's still a git. 4 1/2 skulls
Remus Lupin I think he'll make it. He's got that 'oppressed minority' thing going for him, and he's cool. I think he'll be a good father figure to Harry and Ron. (Let's face it. Hagrid isn't a father figure. No way.) 1 skull
Alastor Moody I'm torn. On the one hand, he's seriously used up all his luck surviving this long. On the other, if there's any character in the books that's too mean to die it's Mad-Eye. I think the original Order mojo is going to do him in, though. 3 1/2 skulls.
Tonks She's too interesting; not in a 'we care about what she's doing' way, but more of a 'let's make the readers care before we kill her' way. 4 skulls
Mundungus Fletcher Arabella Figg and Other OotP members Extras, but in a high-risk slot. 3 skulls each.
Death Eaters
Voldemort Duh. He's dead. Dead dead dead deady dead deader deadest dead. Pushing up daisies, run down the curtain, dead. The parrot's got more life in him. 5 skulls.
Lucius Malfoy Also dead. He's got to die in order for Draco to live and be redeemed. Not that I think Draco will ever be nice, but at least he won't be evil. 4 1/2 skulls
Peter Pettigrew Also dead. Peter owes Harry his life, and Peter's going to repay that debt. Gruesomely. 4 skulls
Fenrir Greyback Yes, I know, he's an extra, but he's a werewolf, so I'm giving him special mention. Also, Remus might have a grudge to settle. And he might survive to be a sequel villain (yes, I know JKR isn't planning to write sequels, but that doesn't stop the internal logic of saving a sequel villain.) 4 skulls
Crabbe Sr., Goyle Sr., The Lestranges, and other Death Eaters extras, albeit evil ones. 3 1/2 skulls, with the rest going to Azkaban.
Other Students
Neville Longbottom I honestly have no idea. He's supposed to be a lot more important than we think he is (that whole prophecy business, you know). I'm pretty sure he's going to have a major role, but I don't know if it's a fatal one. One thing, if he dies, Harry won't. I'm going to say 2 1/2 skulls
Dean Thomas Another character with some unknown importance. 2 1/2 skulls
Draco Malfoy He's going to be a very unhappy camper in book 7. Death is too good for him! He's got to live to suffer. 1 skull
Blaise Zabini, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, and other Slytherins extras, with a lot of petty evil. 2 skulls
Seamus Finnigan, Colin Creavey, Luna Lovegood, and other non-Slytherins extras. 1 1/2 skulls.
Oliver Wood, Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson, Cho Chang and other former students extras again. I just wanted to list all the quiddich players. 1/2 skull
Well, I probably missed several, but that's who I can think of. I'm not going to make bets on this. (But wouldn't it be fun?) Anyone want to disagree with me?
Alex
Each character is only mentioned once, in the first category that applies to them. Each character gets zero to five skulls, ranking how likely they are to die.
Core Trio
Harry Potter I think he'll make it. He's the hero, and doesn't seem the type to expire nobly on the battlefield. He's more a candidate for noble angst and moody reflection on how much his life really sucks, esp. if Ginny (his one true love) dies tragically. I give him 1 1/2 skulls
Hermione Granger There's a bit of a taboo against killing girls, and while JKR has shown she is willing to break it, Hermione has too much screen time to be a victim. 1/2 skull
Ron Weasley Also a likely survivor. Not that he won't throw himself in front of something for Harry, but he's got some really good plucky sidekick vibe going. 1 skull
Weasley Family
Arthur Weasley Arthur is a goner. JKR likes killing fathers too much, and he's part of the old guard. As a matter of fact, anybody in the original Order of the Phoenix is living on borrowed time. 5 skulls
Molly Weasley Playing the gender card (see Hermione above) might save her, but being a part of the original order cancels that. The angst of her surviving Arthur is her best shot at survival, but it is by no means a sure thing. 2 skulls.
Bill Weasley and Charlie Weasley are as close as the Weasleys come to 'extras' There's too many of them for all the younger generation to survive. 2 1/2 skulls
Percy Weasley It's a toss-up for Percy; either he'll die nobly to atone for being a prick, or he'll live, to have his face rubbed in the fact that he's been a prick. I'm leaning toward the latter, but it's going to be close. 2 skulls.
Fred Weasley and George Weasley are completely safe. Comic relief is too important for them to be killed off, plus they're important to the rebuilding era. Zero skulls
Ginny Weasley Unfortunately, she can't play the gender card. Killing her off to torment Harry would be too much fun to pass up. 3 skulls, maybe 3 1/2
Hogwarts Staff
Headmistress McGonagall Female, important to the rebuilding and continuity of Hogwarts, an animagus cat, the list goes on. Another safe one. She is on the front line, though, as well as an original Order member, but still I'm only giving her 1/2 skull
Hagrid You know, I was convinced he'd die before now; I was positive he was a goner in OotP. But if he's made it this long, I think he'll go the distance. Unless Harry dies, of course. There's no way Hagrid is going to outlive Harry by more than a chapter. 2 skulls
Professor Flitwick, Madame Hooch, Madame Pince, Madame Pomfrey, Professor Sprout, Professor Vector, Professor Sinistra Extras, and probably pretty safe ones. If Hogwarts is attacked, they're probably at risk, but otherwise not. 1 skull each.
Professor Trelawney, Professor Binns, Filch, Professor Firenze They may be more interesting than the other extras on staff, but but that doesn't change their chances. Also 1 skull each.
Order of the Phoenix
Professor Snape Another goner. He's a git, we've always hated him. He's going to die nobly to save the world, and we'll all regret not loving him and trusting him more. Right. He's still a git. 4 1/2 skulls
Remus Lupin I think he'll make it. He's got that 'oppressed minority' thing going for him, and he's cool. I think he'll be a good father figure to Harry and Ron. (Let's face it. Hagrid isn't a father figure. No way.) 1 skull
Alastor Moody I'm torn. On the one hand, he's seriously used up all his luck surviving this long. On the other, if there's any character in the books that's too mean to die it's Mad-Eye. I think the original Order mojo is going to do him in, though. 3 1/2 skulls.
Tonks She's too interesting; not in a 'we care about what she's doing' way, but more of a 'let's make the readers care before we kill her' way. 4 skulls
Mundungus Fletcher Arabella Figg and Other OotP members Extras, but in a high-risk slot. 3 skulls each.
Death Eaters
Voldemort Duh. He's dead. Dead dead dead deady dead deader deadest dead. Pushing up daisies, run down the curtain, dead. The parrot's got more life in him. 5 skulls.
Lucius Malfoy Also dead. He's got to die in order for Draco to live and be redeemed. Not that I think Draco will ever be nice, but at least he won't be evil. 4 1/2 skulls
Peter Pettigrew Also dead. Peter owes Harry his life, and Peter's going to repay that debt. Gruesomely. 4 skulls
Fenrir Greyback Yes, I know, he's an extra, but he's a werewolf, so I'm giving him special mention. Also, Remus might have a grudge to settle. And he might survive to be a sequel villain (yes, I know JKR isn't planning to write sequels, but that doesn't stop the internal logic of saving a sequel villain.) 4 skulls
Crabbe Sr., Goyle Sr., The Lestranges, and other Death Eaters extras, albeit evil ones. 3 1/2 skulls, with the rest going to Azkaban.
Other Students
Neville Longbottom I honestly have no idea. He's supposed to be a lot more important than we think he is (that whole prophecy business, you know). I'm pretty sure he's going to have a major role, but I don't know if it's a fatal one. One thing, if he dies, Harry won't. I'm going to say 2 1/2 skulls
Dean Thomas Another character with some unknown importance. 2 1/2 skulls
Draco Malfoy He's going to be a very unhappy camper in book 7. Death is too good for him! He's got to live to suffer. 1 skull
Blaise Zabini, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, and other Slytherins extras, with a lot of petty evil. 2 skulls
Seamus Finnigan, Colin Creavey, Luna Lovegood, and other non-Slytherins extras. 1 1/2 skulls.
Oliver Wood, Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson, Cho Chang and other former students extras again. I just wanted to list all the quiddich players. 1/2 skull
Well, I probably missed several, but that's who I can think of. I'm not going to make bets on this. (But wouldn't it be fun?) Anyone want to disagree with me?
Alex