Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (spoilers!!!)

[DarthTex]

Erm, actually you weren't wrong. According to Rowling in another interview he is an auror. I assume that he helps George out in his spare time...

I saw that same thing. Is Ron an Auror, business partner with George, or both?

[Darth_Rob]

Maybe he started out with Ron, then became an Auror (since George needed him earlier in life than later, after he gets married).

 

My other question is whether or not they all had to go back to Hogwarts for their 7th year, or if, based on their actions, it was a sort of "honorary" 7th year.

[DarthTofu]

I had the same musings. It kind of reminds me of the end of Ender's Game, where the "children" have all acted as adults and, indeed, better than most adults likely would have, yet in the end they suppose that they probably will be forced to return to school to recieve an education that they no longer really need.

[Darth_Rob]

Now I have a question. Did anyone believe that Harry would die? I was kind of assuming that he had to die in order to defeat Voldemort. I mean, he did die (technically), but I thought it would be more...permanent. So I was surprised that he survived. Did anyone else expect Harry's death?

[DarthTofu]

I specifically avoided forming expectations for what would happen as much as possible so far as who would live and who would die. Pettigrew, Snape, and Voldemort were on my list from the start, and couldn't be removed no matter how hard I tried to erase them from my slate of characters I was sure would fall.

 

Midway through the book, however, I got that really hopeless feeling that Voldemort would win in the end, and started to think that Harry might die.

 

Lupin was one of the characters that I was most afraid for, and in the end my fear was warranted; being the last marauder, I was fairly certain he would fall.

 

Harry, though, my ideas of whether he would live or die floated up and down with each chapter; come The Forest Again I was almost certain he'd die, even though there were still two more chapters and the epilogue left in the book. I was terrified pretty much from the start of the Battle of Hogwarts on out that people would die, and was pained with each death, though surprisingly enough, it was more of a dull "damn" when Lupin and Tonks fell. Collin Creevy was another one of those dull thuds of deaths as well.

 

But I've strayed well away from the question; I never knew if Harry would live or die, and read the book through so fast that I didn't even try to determine if he would live or not.

[DarthTex]

Now I have a question. Did anyone believe that Harry would die? I was kind of assuming that he had to die in order to defeat Voldemort. I mean, he did die (technically), but I thought it would be more...permanent. So I was surprised that he survived. Did anyone else expect Harry's death?

Well, my views on Harry's fate (live or die) were influenced by outside events. Rowling stated there would only be 7 books, no more. Which lead me to believe she was going to kill him off and let the wizarding world "die on the vine" so to speak. Then she wouldn't be pestered by anyone asking about the next book/story, etc. Then again, should Harry live, she could "license" the rights to some publisher with final say on events/material done by other authors, and rake in even more money (like she doesn't have enough).

 

I really liked the story line and the characters, etc. and really hoped that Harry would survive. But I really expected him to be killed off. When he did die with a couple of chapters left, I was totally confused on how this was all really going to end. I actually had to stop reading at that point because my "break time" at work was over. I had to wait until the next day to finish that last bit left. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Harry survived, and shocked that Fred Weasely, Lupin and Tonks were gone. The epilogue was very good, though "brief" about some of the other characters and stuff. But overall, very enjoyable.

 

Now, this brings me to a question: When Harry was entering the Forbidden Forest and had the Resurrection Stone, his mom & dad, Lupin and Sirius appeared and "escorted" him past the dementors. These were the people he loved in life and "brought back" for his final battle. Why weren't Dumbledore, Mad Eye, Fred Weasely and Cidric Diggory there as well? Harry was constantly wondering why Dumbledore never told as much as Harry wanted, this would have been a great chance to do that (which he got to do a little bit further on in the book: King's Station). Mad Eye & Fred were probably just as important as Lupin in Harry's life, & Cidric's death weighed heavily on Harry ever since (although Harry did get to "talk" to Cidric during his battle with Voldemort at the end of Goblet-of-Fire). Just wondering

[Darth_Rob]

I was thinking that maybe he just wanted his family with him. Harry felt that he was walking to his death, and wanted the ones he loved with him for support as he marched to his certain demise.

[DarthTofu]

Sirius was his Godfather, his parents were, obviously, his parents, and Lupin was a link back to the time of his parents; all four were family or close enough to be as much, and when Harry called them back, he treated them as such. I think Mad-Eye and Fred and Tonks were just good friends of his and such. As for why he didn't bring Dumbledore back; he felt betrayed by the old headmaster. Dumbledore had essentially led him to the slaughter, and Snape put it, thus Harry wouldn't have had much comfort from seeing him.

[Darth_Rob]

As for why he didn't bring Dumbledore back; he felt betrayed by the old headmaster. Dumbledore had essentially led him to the slaughter, and Snape put it, thus Harry wouldn't have had much comfort from seeing him.

 

Agreed. Even though he cared for Dumbledore, he was still upset with him, and at the time he needed the people he totally loved and cared for. While Dumbledore's presence would have been a comfort, it would also have led Harry's mind astray into all the things he wanted to shout at Dumbledore for. He didn't need that as he walked to his death.

[Bruja]

There were "I KNEW IT!" moments and "ARE YOU SERIOUS??" moments, but overall it felt a little anticlimactic. So far all the books have been ... well I thought each was pretty damn good piece of literature. But with this one she seemed to 'overdo' her trademarks a bit. people's names and spell incantations, and a little of the dialog just wasn't up to par with what I'm used to with Rowling. It didn't all flow well the way it usually does.

 

That's not to say I didn't like the book, it was AMAZING, but I think she could have done better. So I'm going to say that 95% of the book was fantastic and 5% was awkward moments of unnaturalness.

 

I completely lost it when DD said that Harry was a horcrux, because I was hardcore thinking that it was impossible. I was also hardcore believing that Snape was never in love with Lily Potter. Strike two.

 

my favorite quotes:

 

"I'll join you when hell freezes over ... Dumbledore's Army!"

 

"Maybe he is, maybe he isn't, but the fact remains he can move faster than Severus Snape confronted with shampoo when he wants to..."

 

 

"And that's the second time we've saved your life tonight, you two-faced bastard!" Ron yelled.

 

NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH!

 

give it up for molly weasley!

 

"Death's got an Invisibility Cloak?" Harry interrupted again.

"So he can sneak up on people," said Ron. "Sometimes he gets bored of running at them, flapping his arms and shrieking..."

 

HERE LIES DOBBY, A FREE ELF

 

I burst into tears when i read this, no joke

 

"So why in the name of Merlin's saggy left-"

~ Ron

 

We did it, we bashed them, wee Potter's the one. Now Voldy's gone moldy so let's all have fun! ~ Peeves

 

... but Percy lay across Fred's body, shielding it from further harm, and when Harry shouted, "Percy, come on, we've got to move!" he shook his head.

[Darth_Rob]

That was another thing that was sad about Fred's death. Its like just as Percy rejoins the family after being on the outs with them for years, he loses his brother.

[DarthTofu]

Still, it could have been worse. Percy might have arrived just in time to watch Fred die... Jeeze, I still can't believe that she killed Fred... Fred!

[Bruja]

i think it's a good indicator of skill on her part. she's not going to save somebody just because it's horrible. she's not off in lala land where only marginal characters die in a war. people die. usually they're the greatest people you ever met.