SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT
To quote Harry and the Potters, This book is so awesome. Man, seriously intense, so scary, I had to take breaks. I don't know if I'll be able to do a full reread right away.
First off, things I was right about:
-Snape was good (ok, obvi)
-Hermione and Ron smooching (ditto)
-More specifically, that Snape and Dumbledore had The Plan BEFORE Snape made the Unbreakable Vow, rather than the plan to kill Dumbledore being the RESULT of the vow
-The mirror was important
-Mundungus Fletcher stole the locket from Grimmauld Place (props to Michelle!)
-Mundungus Fletcher sold Aberforth Dumbledore something he stole from Grimmauld Place, and that turned out to be important
-One Weasley twin died but not the other
-Harry lived
-Harry ends up with Ginny (I didn't specifically predict "married" cuz I didn't think we'd see them at that age). I in fact made this prediction after book 4--that Cho would be his first kiss, but that he'd end up with Ginny. I figured it'd end in marriage, whether or not we saw that, cuz he had to marry into the Weasleys, the only family he'd ever known.
-Voldemort interviewing for the job was related to making a Horcrux
-Probably other stuff I can't remember
Things I was wrong about:
-Aberforth didn't have the Horcrux
-Harry WAS a Horcrux
-Harry died, sort of
-We didn't get to see the surviving twin freak out over his twin's death, which I think robbed it of a lot of its impact
-Neville didn't defeat (or even confront) Bellatrix
-Draco never fully helped the Order
-Dumbledore was right about there not being another Gryffindor artifact
-There was a "Six Feet Under" ending (I'd told Katey I thought there would not be)
-Other stuff I can't think of
Other thoughts:
1) When Dobby died, and was burried, I seriously wept. For 10-15 minutes. It was unbelievable. I think I got a little teary somewhere towards the end, but Dobby's death was the only one that really had impact. Hedwig was also really sad. It was hard to be sad about Moody when we'd barely even met the REAL Moody.
2) As I posted on Nat's LJ (uh, basically verbatim), these were the two best battles in the book:
2nd place: Molly vs. Bellatrix
YES YES YES. Molly comes out of the kitchen. It was wonderful realizing she's a formidable witch who fought in the first war, and to see her do important things, rather than just making dinner for the people who do important things. Did Bellatrix ever actually hurt a Weasley, though?
1st place: McGonagall vs. Snape
This duel was so amazing, in part because, like Molly, we sometimes forget that McGonagall is one of the most powerful wizards or witches in the books (as she says to Harry, "We teachers are rather good at magic, you know"). And you know these are two awesome warriors who have known each other forever and now suddenly they clash. But ALSO it's one of the few duels in the whole series where we actually know what's happening--usually it's just that they're "throwing spells" at each other and the only mental image we get is a lot of sparks flying. Here, you could follow the action step by step. So, yay! I hope they keep it in the movie.
3) Snape. Well, fine. I thought it was a little lame that it was ALL about Lily. It felt kind of like reading fan fiction, honestly. Though I now remember a part (I think in Book 5, but we don't have that in the apartment at the moment), when Petunia is talking about Lily learning magic and refers to "that boy", and Harry says something like, "Who, my father? Why don't you call him by his name?" but she doesn't listen--I guess she meant Snape! Also, no WONDER what Harry saw in the Penseive was Snape's Worst Memory--not because he was humiliated by James and Sirius (no way that was the only time), but because that was when he lost Lily forever, by calling her a Mudblood!
It's hard to imagine, though, that this basically-good Snape was allowing students to be tortured so horribly. It's possible that he didn't have that much control over it.
Also, the conversation!!! The one that Hagrid overhears between him and Dumbledore that I kept going on about!!! We actually got to see it!!!
4) I don't quite get the Deluminator, but whatever.
5) Also, uh, why did Dumbledore want Harry to find the Deathly Hallows? Was it just that he knew Voldemort would want the wand? Did that even really matter? If the whole wand thing had been cut, would it have made a difference? Is that why the killing curse finally rebounded on Voldemort at the end? I think I've sorted out most of the wand business, but it was all kind of confusing--how much of Voldemort's defeat was due to the wand, and how much was due to Harry's sacrifice?
6) So how DID Snape fool Voldemort all this time? Is he just THAT good an Occlumens?
7) Did Slughorn stay and fight, or not? I know we saw him at one point, being "overtaken" by Charlie Weasley, whatever that means, but did he man up? Did Slytherin House in fact contribute to the victory, as Phineas Nigellus claimed?
8) I got a little tired, by the end of the books, of the Room of Requirement. It started to feel like every generation at Hogwarts must've found it eventually. And it's ludicrous for Voldemort to have thought that no one else had found it, unless he was actually the first to hide something there, and everything else stashed in the room came afterwards. Which makes sense, I suppose--Voldemort wouldn't toss his Horcrux on a pile of junk.
9) What was Oliver Wood doing there??? He graduated well before Dumbledore's Army was formed--who contacted him? Maybe he married Angelina Johnson.
10) Who's this Anthony Goldstein kid? Who let a Jew into Hogwarts???
11) It was so annoying that Ron and Hermione kept insisting there was no Horcrux at Hogwarts when there was SO OBVIOUSLY a Horcrux at Hogwarts. It was so obviously Rowling delaying their return in order to keep it climactic.
12) So, Harry and Voldemort really were related, weren't they? They were both descended from the Peverells! A distant relation, but a relation nonetheless!
13) I was thinking, in the middle of the book, how they wouldn't be able to do the part at the end where Dumbledore sits down with Harry and explains everything. How wrong I was!
14) WHERE on Tottenham Court Road is there a late-night coffee shop? Where in all of LONDON for that matter? I would've very much liked going there when I lived there. The book does take place in 1997--maybe it was gone by the time I got there.
15) Anyone else notice that at no point in any of the books does Lupin express any love for or interest in Tonks?
I'll surely think of more things to discuss.
First off, things I was right about:
-Snape was good (ok, obvi)
-Hermione and Ron smooching (ditto)
-More specifically, that Snape and Dumbledore had The Plan BEFORE Snape made the Unbreakable Vow, rather than the plan to kill Dumbledore being the RESULT of the vow
-The mirror was important
-Mundungus Fletcher stole the locket from Grimmauld Place (props to Michelle!)
-Mundungus Fletcher sold Aberforth Dumbledore something he stole from Grimmauld Place, and that turned out to be important
-One Weasley twin died but not the other
-Harry lived
-Harry ends up with Ginny (I didn't specifically predict "married" cuz I didn't think we'd see them at that age). I in fact made this prediction after book 4--that Cho would be his first kiss, but that he'd end up with Ginny. I figured it'd end in marriage, whether or not we saw that, cuz he had to marry into the Weasleys, the only family he'd ever known.
-Voldemort interviewing for the job was related to making a Horcrux
-Probably other stuff I can't remember
Things I was wrong about:
-Aberforth didn't have the Horcrux
-Harry WAS a Horcrux
-Harry died, sort of
-We didn't get to see the surviving twin freak out over his twin's death, which I think robbed it of a lot of its impact
-Neville didn't defeat (or even confront) Bellatrix
-Draco never fully helped the Order
-Dumbledore was right about there not being another Gryffindor artifact
-There was a "Six Feet Under" ending (I'd told Katey I thought there would not be)
-Other stuff I can't think of
Other thoughts:
1) When Dobby died, and was burried, I seriously wept. For 10-15 minutes. It was unbelievable. I think I got a little teary somewhere towards the end, but Dobby's death was the only one that really had impact. Hedwig was also really sad. It was hard to be sad about Moody when we'd barely even met the REAL Moody.
2) As I posted on Nat's LJ (uh, basically verbatim), these were the two best battles in the book:
2nd place: Molly vs. Bellatrix
YES YES YES. Molly comes out of the kitchen. It was wonderful realizing she's a formidable witch who fought in the first war, and to see her do important things, rather than just making dinner for the people who do important things. Did Bellatrix ever actually hurt a Weasley, though?
1st place: McGonagall vs. Snape
This duel was so amazing, in part because, like Molly, we sometimes forget that McGonagall is one of the most powerful wizards or witches in the books (as she says to Harry, "We teachers are rather good at magic, you know"). And you know these are two awesome warriors who have known each other forever and now suddenly they clash. But ALSO it's one of the few duels in the whole series where we actually know what's happening--usually it's just that they're "throwing spells" at each other and the only mental image we get is a lot of sparks flying. Here, you could follow the action step by step. So, yay! I hope they keep it in the movie.
3) Snape. Well, fine. I thought it was a little lame that it was ALL about Lily. It felt kind of like reading fan fiction, honestly. Though I now remember a part (I think in Book 5, but we don't have that in the apartment at the moment), when Petunia is talking about Lily learning magic and refers to "that boy", and Harry says something like, "Who, my father? Why don't you call him by his name?" but she doesn't listen--I guess she meant Snape! Also, no WONDER what Harry saw in the Penseive was Snape's Worst Memory--not because he was humiliated by James and Sirius (no way that was the only time), but because that was when he lost Lily forever, by calling her a Mudblood!
It's hard to imagine, though, that this basically-good Snape was allowing students to be tortured so horribly. It's possible that he didn't have that much control over it.
Also, the conversation!!! The one that Hagrid overhears between him and Dumbledore that I kept going on about!!! We actually got to see it!!!
4) I don't quite get the Deluminator, but whatever.
5) Also, uh, why did Dumbledore want Harry to find the Deathly Hallows? Was it just that he knew Voldemort would want the wand? Did that even really matter? If the whole wand thing had been cut, would it have made a difference? Is that why the killing curse finally rebounded on Voldemort at the end? I think I've sorted out most of the wand business, but it was all kind of confusing--how much of Voldemort's defeat was due to the wand, and how much was due to Harry's sacrifice?
6) So how DID Snape fool Voldemort all this time? Is he just THAT good an Occlumens?
7) Did Slughorn stay and fight, or not? I know we saw him at one point, being "overtaken" by Charlie Weasley, whatever that means, but did he man up? Did Slytherin House in fact contribute to the victory, as Phineas Nigellus claimed?
8) I got a little tired, by the end of the books, of the Room of Requirement. It started to feel like every generation at Hogwarts must've found it eventually. And it's ludicrous for Voldemort to have thought that no one else had found it, unless he was actually the first to hide something there, and everything else stashed in the room came afterwards. Which makes sense, I suppose--Voldemort wouldn't toss his Horcrux on a pile of junk.
9) What was Oliver Wood doing there??? He graduated well before Dumbledore's Army was formed--who contacted him? Maybe he married Angelina Johnson.
10) Who's this Anthony Goldstein kid? Who let a Jew into Hogwarts???
11) It was so annoying that Ron and Hermione kept insisting there was no Horcrux at Hogwarts when there was SO OBVIOUSLY a Horcrux at Hogwarts. It was so obviously Rowling delaying their return in order to keep it climactic.
12) So, Harry and Voldemort really were related, weren't they? They were both descended from the Peverells! A distant relation, but a relation nonetheless!
13) I was thinking, in the middle of the book, how they wouldn't be able to do the part at the end where Dumbledore sits down with Harry and explains everything. How wrong I was!
14) WHERE on Tottenham Court Road is there a late-night coffee shop? Where in all of LONDON for that matter? I would've very much liked going there when I lived there. The book does take place in 1997--maybe it was gone by the time I got there.
15) Anyone else notice that at no point in any of the books does Lupin express any love for or interest in Tonks?
I'll surely think of more things to discuss.