It's ALL spoilers here!

[vulgarweed]

Comments

[quantum_witch]

I was intrigued by how many people were doing Unforgivables. Even McGonagall! W00t to her. And when she was kicking Snape's ass, and he didn't even fight back... Love him

[vulgarweed]

I had mixed feelings about them using the Unforgivables so freely - but then, to not do so would be like bringing a knife to a gun fight. I just wish there'd been more acknowledgment about the moral difficulties of necessity. Totally agreed about that particular fight...hmmm, is that the sound of my Snape/McGonagall muses stirring in their sleep? :D

HEDWIG! That WAS a total gut-punch. Ouch. I took that wayyyy harder than Moody's death (you knew he was going to go out fighting, it was just a matter of when).

I did find it a bit odd that we didn't get anything about Snape afterward...he didn't appear as a ghost to Harry looking young and fresh just like Anakin in the retcon, no portrait, no funeral, etc. There was a real lack of closure there that's a bit of a stiffing to readers and a bit of a gift to fanwriters. ;) It always makes me furious that Harry needs a lot of death to really get it about people he underestimated--this goes for Dobby too--but that's totally in-character for him, isn't it? He means well but he can be so, so

[quantum_witch]

In a time of war, morals can get in the way more than they help. Of course, none of them killed without provocation. And even Harry didn't precisely kill Voldemort - his own rebounding curse did that. Poetic justice.

Perhaps she deliberately left Snape to the fans. We do love him so. Maybe Harry would have found him distracting at that moment - too much snark, not enough luuurve.

[montelukast]

Totally forgot about Hedwig! OMG... *sniff*

[dreya_uberwald]

I enjoyed it too (though over half of the fun came from being bitten by a thousand ravenous plot-bunnies as I was reading). Especially the bits with Neville and Luna (I had my doubts about either of them making it). I was fully and willing spoilered beforehand (I didn't download the Carpet Edition myself but I read the epilogue and all the summaries on spoil_me_dh), but I still found it an entertaining read (though I have to say that I do prefer the first four books in the series to the final three - but that's probably because the earlier stories had a slightly pratchettesque air about them that the later ones don't

[vulgarweed]

I am so, SO glad both Neville and Luna made it, and their stories were so cool. (I got a little misty over Luna's kindness to Ollivander and his response. Awwww)

I had managed to mostly avoid spoilers, which is an achievement in itself, but none of the major deaths surprised me really. "If you are prepared..." well, I was. It surprised me how dismissive Remus's and Tonks's deaths were...bzuh? The Snape/Lily angle, I was surprised by how much emphasis it got. It turned into quite a moving story, I thought--that they knew each other as kids, before Hogwarts, wow.

I LOVE the fact that there are two communities devoted to AS/S already. OH, fandom, is there anything you can't improve on? :D

[quantum_witch]

that they knew each other as kids, before Hogwarts, wow.

Believe it or not, saw that one coming.

[montelukast]

I thought Lily was very mature all the way, right down to her breaking up with Snape because of the company he kept.

I don't think she ever felt for her husband what she felt for Snape. James didn't have the history with her, he was merely some cocky kid bordering on being a jerk. Actually, I'm surprised she didn't fall in love with an marry Lupin. She seemed best matched to his temperament, out of the four Marauders.

[finmagik]

Yeah, I admit I was wrong about Snape, thankfully. I was wrong.

[vulgarweed]

It's interesting to hear this point of view, because I live in such a Snape-centric bubble fandomwise. :D

[espresso_addict]

It's hard to be sure, but I think I've seen Severus/Lily since reading the mudblood scene and before reading any HP fanfiction (I only started reading fanfiction back in November 2005). And totally with you on the Epilogue -- what was she thinking?

[vulgarweed]

There's something about an inevitability effect at work here that's really the result of effective foreshadowing and attentive readers picking up clues, I think. I read from some interview somewhere that she'd written the Epilogue long ago--it kind of reads that way, doesn't it?

[espresso_addict]

Ah, I hadn't heard that. It would explain why it reads as if it belongs to a different novel...

[_silverfox]

Dobby's death was the first thing that caused me to shed a few tears as well. Odd, because I never liked him.

[vulgarweed]

I think it was Harry's response to it. That was really powerfully written, I thought.

[_silverfox]

Probably yes. I was completely over it a few pages later in any case.