HP and the HPB
So, uh, has JKR been reading ff.net lately?
The Harry/Ginny seemed a little unexpected. (Oh noes, there is a great, clawing BEAST inside him that yearns for Ginny's sweet, sweet lovin'.) And on the one hand, there shouldn't be lots of Harry/Ginny lovin' (although thankfully there was far more "and then they all hung out together and talked about classes and Malfoy" and fewer lovey-dovey interactions that Ron and Hermione got.
One of these days we'll have a likeable Slytherin. *sigh* At least Slughorn was just an annoying status-seeker. He wasn't horribly mean or evil; he gave points to Gryffindor; he really did feel bad about having given Tom that information.
Penseive scenes: "Oh shit, I've only got one book left after this and I haven't really told you much Voldemort backstory, have I?" (Although those Horcruxes? Are a sweet idea. Too bad one isn't an egg. [Neverwhere joke.])
More Luna! (Whom I love. Seriously. Make her Quidditch commentator every time and I will gladly read a hundred Quidditch games.)
Have I read too much that when I first read that Aragog was sick I wondered if he was actually a she and she was having babies?
Really, seriously, that ff.net question. Because Draco is weeping in the bathroom as Moaning Myrtle comforts him. (Wonder who'll write the first Draco/Myrtle story?) Not that I didn't like things like him looking sleep-deprived and nervous and depressed as he works on his plan, but the weeping worries me. I'm afraid he might break out leather pants next.
Snape is so OBVIOUSLY not a bad guy. C'mon. All of Dumbledore's insistence that he KNOWS he can trust Snape. Dumbledore's "please." "I AM NOT A COWARD!" And remember Dumbledore was the one who never quite trusted Tom Riddle and saw through his ways. DD put the body bind on Harry so that he couldn't get in a fight with Draco (which would most likely escalate into forbidden curses), because DD knew he could talk Draco down. And DD knew Snape made an Unbreakable Vow that if Draco couldn't kill DD, he'd do it himself. DD doesn't want a child to have that on his conscience, and he doesn't want Snape to die in his place. (And if Snape died Draco likely might have really gone to the Dark Side.) Also, quite possibly that poison in the cauldron was fatal. I mean the guy is a nasty-tongued piece of work who still can't get over highschool enimities, but he is not evil.
For all that I love Dumbledore, I didn't cry when he died. Although when I saw the chapter title and illustration for Ch. 30, I got this mental image of the burial mounds at Rohan, covered in their white flowers, and that was what got me. I think I just don't feel cheated by DD's death (although I am with Harry at feeling cheated about the Horcrux.)
R.A.B. The only person offhand I can think of whose initials might match is Regulus Black, Sirius's cousin (I think), a former Death Eater who was killed by Voldemort.
I think I'll be rereading this soon. There was far less angst and caps lock abuse, and for all the wartime atmosphere I didn't feel like I had to put on my emo soundtrack. But did it feel short to anyone else?