Why did she do that? - loadsaspoilers!

[Guest]

[allender]

It's true that it was Jo who said Dumbledore was "definitely" dead, while it was Dumbledore who told Harry that Sirius was definitely dead. So it could well be that Albus had a reason to misdirect Harry.

I think that Sirius is only "sort of" dead just because the mirror he gave Harry was so heavily set up. So I assume that there will be (at least) some communication across the veil.

I also think the cryptic message was from Regulus, but if Sirius was involved it does add some intriguing possibilities. Perhaps one of the brothers fiddled with the locket (assuming it's the same locket as the one pulled from the cave), and Voldemort will try a new spell to recover the horcrux piece of himself, and it will backfire and return Sirius instead. That would give us a mechanism for the reprieve. ... Plus it would explain why Harry is wearing the locket so prominently in the book covers!

Now, I'm still trying to decide which Weasley brother is the best candidate to be an unregistered dragon animagus that the trio is flying away on. I guessed that it was related to the dragons that guard Gringott's vaults, my assumed location for several other book covers. Bill works there and was my first choice, and Charlie's occupational interest in dragons could have been due partly to his brother's animagus. But Charlie seems to be mysteriously absent pretty often, and that could be because he has special duties that can be done only in another form. And I might have expected to see a hint of an earring on the dragon in the book cover if it were Bill. 

One further prediction: Draco will be saved from death due to the intervention of Cissy, much the same way a mother's love saved Harry. That would be a neat little reprise of the theme.

[Sharon]

I really, really hope that Sirius makes a return but I don't think it will happen.  JKR has said on numerous occasions that he is truly dead, he is no more, he is an ex Marauder  .  The mirror Harry had bugged me at first but having re-read that bit I have now discounted it.  When Harry throws it back in his trunk it shatters and I think that is the last we will hear about this.

Remember Fudge calling him Voldemort's most loyal follower and that Sirius went mad

I actually don't think Sirius was ever an undercover Death Eater (no I am saying this very quietly  ).  I think the comments about him being Voldemort's loyal servant all sprang from the false conviction and Peters betrayal.  I did find something else semi interesting though.

I had assumed the whole horcrux thing was a secret, that Dumbledore had only really discovered what he was up to in HBP (maybe a little earlier) and certainly not when he was in power before.  However in the graveyard at the end of GOF, Voldemort implies that all of the Death Eaters were fully aware of what steps he had taken to cheat death.  Now this would mean that Snape knew and explain how Regulus knew to go for the locket.  So three possibilities/questions

1.  If Dumbledore knew Voldemort had bits of his soul scattered near and far which could bring him back to life why did he wait so long to track them down?  Wouldn't it have made more sense to get them before Voldemort got his powers back.

2.  Again if Dumbledore knew, why didn't he tell the Ministry that Voldemort could and would come back - at that time they were bound to have believed him

3.  Or if none of the above is true why didn't Snape tell Dumbledore about the horcrux .  Oh I hate this, I am finding more and more reasons to doubt Snape 

[allender]

As to the mirror, we'll get a week's worth of a hint if they keep it in the OOTP movie. In the book, it seemed so unnecessary to the plot that I figured it had to be a setup for something later. But Jo probably had things peppered through the books that the thought she _might_ use later.

I think Sirius won't "really" come back, nor will Dumbledore, and Hagrid will "die" too. It's just too neat a sequence of the three stages of alchemy, Black, White (Albus), and Red (Rubeus). If Harry dies, they can all get together as the wizard-pop group "Harry and the Alchemists".

I think the weight given to Harry's statements that "There wouldn't be a Hogwarts without Hagrid" means the school won't survive, or else Hagrid would have to be named temporary Headmaster so that he can have his own portrait. But that's why I concluded Hagrid wouldn't die in Book 5 or 6.

But then again, I was sure it wasn't a coincidence that an anagram for "Severus Snape" is "Perseus Evans" (because so many wizards are named after stars). It's lots of fun increasing the level of speculation when it will be so soon when we're all proven wrong. 

[Sharon]

But then again, I was sure it wasn't a coincidence that an anagram for "Severus Snape" is "Perseus Evans" (because so many wizards are named after stars).

Ooo I never knew that  .  Actually it would have fitted better if Draco's mum had been Andromeda then instead of Narcissa  .  But Perseus did slay the Gorgon ...........    Yay he is good again 

Yes I think you are right, if the Mirror plays a big part in the film we can assume it is important.  But then again I always thought the House Elves were important and look what happened to them.

One thing I would like some peoples opinions on.  I thought Andromeda was burnt from the Black tapestry for marrying a Muggle.  In fact Tonks herself comments on how some Muggles are very tidy (the Dursleys) but that her Dad isn't.  However whenever Ted Tonks is referred to he is described as Muggle born.  I was under the impression a Muggle born was a witch/wizard whose parents were Muggles but they themselves were not a Muggle.  This isn't in the least bit important I just thought I would ask 

[rosewhite]

I'd always thought the same as you Sharon (your first assumptions).

Another idea - could the one who "has left me forever" been a reference to Regulus Black?
After all, "RAB" did nick that Horcrux that Harry and Dumbledore went to look for. I assume Voldemort wouldn't have been too happy with Reggie...

I think that Regulus found out that Voldemort was only 1/2 blood. I believe that he was furious to learn that he had been following someone not pure-blooded, and that people were calling him "the most renowned wizard of all time." He knew that Voldemort had made a Horcrux but I think he probably thought there was only one. Since it is so hard to make one, it would be unthinkable for anyone to have as many as Voldemort has. I think he found and destroyed the Horcrux and thinking it was the only one he would have thought that now he could also destroy Voldemort the man who had deceived him so horribly. I think after the Horcrux was destroyed he either threatened Voldemort or tried out right to murder him.  At this point I believe that Voldemort out of contempt for such a "weak" wizard had one of his followers kill Regulus in front of him, so as not to "dirty" his hands with a traitor.

But this is just my humble opinion. Thank you for giving me the place to give it.

[allender]

I agree with most of this, or at least I don't disagree with the details. I think Regulus retrieved the Slytherin locket from the cave with Kreacher's assistance (you need two folks to do it, and only one can be an adult wizard, more or less). Kreacher would have happily supported a Death Eater in the Black family.

R.A.B. might have contracted a fatal condition in doing so, thus was "killed by Voldemort". We might have seen a similar decline in Dumbledore.

I love the fact that we're all going to turn out to have been so very wrong about some of these things, so very soon. 

[rosewhite]

It seems that I don't know how to quote someone. I was trying to quote FTY Sorry I screwed that up.

Anyway I thought that it had to be at Least ONE wizard in the cave at a time. Not ONLY one wizard.  I mean Harry is still not an adult but he is a pretty good wizard for his age.  I may have misread this but that is the way I understood it. Please let me know what you think.

[rosewhite]

  I am posting twice but there is something that has been bothering me...In every book except the first so far she JKR has introduced or talked about the House elves.  In CoS we meet Doby, we learn that Doby's magic is strong enough to knock Lucius Malfoy back, in PoA Winky,who's magic is strong enough to bind BCJ to her. in GoF again "Doby" (not Neville) helps Harry out with the Gilly weed, in OoTP we meet Kreacher who even if he has to punish himself helps out the enemy, by lying to harry. in HBP Doby and Kreacher spy on Draco for Harry. Is it hard to "make" the house elves in a movie? do they get an actor or are they computer generated? I don't remember. any way if the author of the books thinks they are important, then why do the directors keep cutting them out of the movies? I always Thought that the house elves would be somehow important (especially with Hermione trying to free them with "SPEW") and all.  Does anyone else feel that the house elves are getting short changed?

[allender]

Anyway I thought that it had to be at Least ONE wizard in the cave at a time. Not ONLY one wizard.  I mean Harry is still not an adult but he is a pretty good wizard for his age.  I may have misread this but that is the way I understood it. Please let me know what you think.

From page 564 (US edition):
      Dumbledore chuckled.
      "Voldemort will not have cared about the weight, but about the amount of magical power that crossed his lake. I rather think an enchantment will have been placed upon this boat so that only one wizard at a time will be able to sail in it."
      "But then --?"
      "I do not think you will count, Harry: You are underage and unqualified. Voldemort would never have expected a sixteen-year-old to reach this place: I think it unlikely that your powers will register compared to mine."

Of course, you could have argued that the amount of magical power that Dumbledore held was greater than a half-dozen ordinary wizards. 

[allender]

And yeah, I agree that the house elves are getting the "short" end. But so are the Marauders, almost all of Sirius in GOF, the whole logic for priori incantatum, Rita Skeeter as an animagus, "Weasley Is Our King" and then entire 5th-year Quidditch season, and Percy's first estrangement. They've got to chop out whole subplots to turn 700 pages into a movie.

The house elves do cost some graphics money, but I guess we learn from the World Cup that Winky isn't going to be a major player later ... and maybe you couldn't tell her story properly without lots more special effects for the kitchen. Winky was a major part in the whole Barty Sr and Barty Jr history, which was cut almost entirely and sent in a different direction. I guess we can conclude that S.P.E.W. won't be a major force in Book 7.

I think it was a big mistake to eliminate Dobby from the GOF movie, partly because it makes it look like Neville's been robbing Snape. He wouldn't have had the guts (yet).

All in all, the cinema is not a complete replacement for the books. 

[rosewhite]

Anyway I thought that it had to be at Least ONE wizard in the cave at a time. Not ONLY one wizard.  I mean Harry is still not an adult but he is a pretty good wizard for his age.  I may have misread this but that is the way I understood it. Please let me know what you think.

From page 564 (US edition):
      Dumbledore chuckled.
      "Voldemort will not have cared about the weight, but about the amount of magical power that crossed his lake. I rather think an enchantment will have been placed upon this boat so that only one wizard at a time will be able to sail in it."
      "But then --?"
      "I do not think you will count, Harry: You are underage and unqualified. Voldemort would never have expected a sixteen-year-old to reach this place: I think it unlikely that your powers will register compared to mine."

Of course, you could have argued that the amount of magical power that Dumbledore held was greater than a half-dozen ordinary wizards. 

Thanks alot I  guess I missed that part.  I read fast and now I see I missed some really important parts! now I have to reread but thats okay I like rereading too!

[Sharon]

I missed the house elves in the films as well  .  My guess was that the reason they were left out had less to do with money and more to do with Lord of the Rings.  No I haven't gone mad  .  Dobby was compared very unfavourably to Golum and to be fair there was no comparison - Dobby did look very poor.  I think they were not able to compete with Mr Jackson and so thought they would just dump house elves altogether.  I agree they will be very important in book 7 and the picture of Kreacher does look very good but only time will tell how well he is animated.