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No. And yes. It depends on which part. The entire plot, I thought, kind of sucked. I mean, what was up with Dumbledore and Harry finding out that Voldemort had split up his soul into seven parts and could only be defeated if these parts were destroyed? It was just so...unexpected and random. The entire book seemed like a huge, convenient coincidence. If you compare HBP to the others, it's completely different. For one, when Dumbledore asks Harry if he wants to accompany him on finding the Horcrux, it seemed like it was straight out of a bad fanfiction. Harry went into planned danger. With Dumbledore. Plus, that whole thing with Professor Slughorn and the 'Slug Club' was ridiculous. Also, it was totally awesome that Blaise Zabini became a real character, but I think we all know that JKR only made it that way because all of the speculation. Why did he suddenly become Draco's sort of 'friend' after never being mentioned before? I had no idea what to make of Crabbe and Goyle taking Polyjuice to become girls...??? Same goes for Narcissa 'Cissy' Malfoy. I don’t know what to think of Snape, whether he’s really bad or whether JKR has plans for him. Did he kill Dumbledore only because of the Unbreakable Vow? Now, as I read it again, it seems like he’s really turned, but we’ve all been misled in books 1-5, so it could happen again.
Anyway, moving on to the characters. I absolutely LOVED Draco in HBP. JKR gave him dimension, and depth, and feelings, and he was amazing. If I loved Draco before reading it, I now worship him. That crying scene...it was incredible. I was practically sobbing as I read it. My hands were absolutely throbbing. When Harry cursed him, I seriously stopped breathing- all I could think was, "Oh my God, Draco's going to die, Draco's going to die, Draco's going to die!!!" And he couldn't kill Dumbledore...he so has to turn good in HP7. Plus, Harry feels sorry for him, so either he'll die, or he'll turn good.
Now, onto Harry. Harry changed also, but I think in a good way. He wasn't overly hung up on Sirius, which I was afraid of, and he seemed more mature, more calm. He wasn't completely obsessed with Voldemort. He was more obsessed with Draco, it seemed. Slashers rejoice! His relationship with Ron and Hermione also seemed different somehow, but I can't really put my finger on it. The worst thing about Harry's character in HBP was Ginny. Can you say random? I guess it's somewhat expected, but it took Harry two years to kiss Cho Chang under mistletoe, and he suddenly works up the courage to kiss Ginny in the middle of the Gryffindor common room? I think not.
On the topic of Ginny, she became the clichéd "hottest girl at Hogwarts" that's so commonly found in fanfiction. And how did she suddenly become all confident and mature and womanly? It wasn’t bad, per say, it just happened too quickly.
Ron...Ron was still icky. The whole thing with Lavender was taken completely out of fanfiction. People always use Lavender as 'Ron's girlfriend that he only has because he's trying to make Hermione jealous' because she's conveniently there, and that's how I felt JKR used her, too. I like him okay as Harry's bff, but I cannot stand R/Hr…it’s so gross, I mean, Hermione needs someone intelligent, although her characterization in this book would lead me to believe that Ron is perfect for her.
Now, Hermione. She was simply…terrible in HBP. She punched Draco in third year. Why is she suddenly all girly and jealous? She dated a different guy to make Ron jealous. That’s like, the most un-Hermione-like it can get. In previous books, we could see her use her intelligence to help Harry against Voldemort, but in this one, her jealousy of Ron was way too overplayed. Hermione, I think, was the worst change in character. She’s the favorite character of so many people (including me, after Draco, of course), because of her intelligence and maturity. Plus, she would have never hexed someone so Ron could keep his Quiddich position in any other book.
I think I’m done ranting now, now that I’ve had two days to muse. The only thing I want from the seventh book is a Draco turned good. Hermione turning back to her original character would also be nice. So would both of them realizing their love for each other. Hey, a girl can dream, right?