this is the deathly hallows post
I just want to say, right up front, that Neville continues to be my hero.
OK, so how did I do on my predictions? (Emailed to myself on Thursday.) Not all wrong, but a lot of things half-wrong. Really, though, the fact that I could not predict it just made the whole book better. Being surprised, and surprised well, was a good thing. I was astonished that Voldemort essentially won the rule of the state and took over Hogwarts - I just did not expect it to go that far, but wow, it really worked.
> biting it:
> Hagrid (Lucius) WRONG
> Snape (Voldemort) CORRECT!
> Bellatrix (Neville) HALF! - Knew she'd die, got the killer wrong.
> a Weasley (Lucius or Voldemort or Bella) Well, this was sort of a Duh! moment. But a lady at Perfectus predicted this one spot on, saying that one of the twins would die. It was a random Death Eater, though.
> Voldemort (Harry, duh) CORRECT - although I totally didn't see the Voldemort-kills-Harry-then-Harry-comes-back-to-kill-Voldemort thing. That she did it without pissing me off shows that JKR is, in fact, good at her job.
> Pettigrew (Remus or Harry) - HALF! - again, didn't expect the Voldemort angle there, but it was a nice touch, and I was hoping that Pettigrew's life debt to Harry would come into play.
> someone from the DA who isn't Neville, Luna, or the Trio (some Death Eater) - CORRECT! Poor Colin!
>
> Harry is not a Horcrux, but his death was supposed to create one; he
> survives the final battle at great cost. (because JK really won't
> kill him. see below, re: Snape)
>
Oh, I was so wrong. :) I just couldn't imagine she could pull it off without also killing Harry.
> Tonks is under Imperius or has been dosed wituh potion.
>
WRONG! And happier for it, really. Even though she was rarely on-screen, as it were, I liked the way that her story and Lupin's played out with Harry as a godfather to an orphaned son of a Marauder.
> Dumbledore is dead. Fawkes does not return.
CORRECT.
>
> Snape is proved Dumbledore's man, sacrifices himself to keep Harry
> alive, as usual; McGonagall has questionable loyalties or is under
> duress.
Well. Snape is Dumbledore's man, and thank goodness for it. Again, the lady at Perfectus who predicted that a Weasley twin would die got this one, too. She predicted that Snape was the "strange boy" who told Lily about the Dementors and Azkaban. I'm very happy to be proven wrong about Minerva - it would have been so depressing to see her breaking under pressure.
Snape's death depressed me, more because it seemed so utterly pointless, after all his hard work, to be killed for so little, and with so little return. The transfer of the memory, though, would not have been possible without the lingering death of the bite, so that, at least, was necessary. It does play up the nature of Snape's courage, though, in that he had to have been expecting something like that for months, and likely had no expectation of being able to share the memory, only dying still believed a traitor.
>
> Hermione and Ron get together. CORRECT.
> Ginny waits for Harry, but Luna keeps him sane. Surprisingly, I think this one could probably be counted as CORRECT. I don't know that Luna keeps him sane in the sense that I had in mind, but she was a much larger presence in the book than I expected, and she did help Harry out a lot. The bit at the end where she helps him escape the Great Hall is a case in point - she groks things much better than people believe. And Ginny trusts her with Harry.
>Neville confronts Snape in battle. WRONG. But my boy Neville pulls the sword of Gryffindor from the hat and takes out Nagini, and baby, that was awesome.
>
> Draco is redeemed to Harry's side. possibly dies. (Lucius or Voldemort) Sort of. WRONG on the death, and he doesn't actually join Harry's side, but his role is such that he is not, in the end, a villain, and in fact survives to live what appears to be a good life. his parents' survival is a nice touch that I found not unbelievable, as well.
> other possible deaths:
> Kingsley (Death Eater) Nope.
> Remus (Pettigrew, Greyback, other Death Eater) CORRECT - Damn it! And of course, it's just a body in the Hall, not even a death in battle that we actually witness.
> Lucius (Snape) WRONG.
Greyback (Remus) I don't have any idea here - did he die? Ron and Neville fought him, but is it ever specified?
> more Death Eaters (Order, DA, Harry) I guess so.
> McGonagall (Snape or Order) WRONG (and so happy to be.)
> any of the faculty (Death Eaters) Well, do we count the Muggle Studies professor? I didn't catch news of any of the others... Do we count Moody even though the one that died was never really a professor? No, I don't think so.
Alas, poor Dobby! Didn't see that coming, either, but I loved the way his death affected Harry and his decisions.
I was really, exceptionally surprised. I think I need to read the entire series again now, but on the whole, my first impression is good.