Post Deathly Hollows discussion - MASSIVE SPOILERS - Read only when finished!

[Guest]

[ferdinand_the_yak]

So what did we all think?

I picked it up at 10:30pm and finished it at 6:30am (no break - who needs 'em? )

I reckon it's the best one she's written yet. I couldn't put it down, it was like tialessa said, non-stop action all the way through. Very, very dark. I'd say not one for the kids, if I could

The carnage was depressing, because it began early in the story, it set the tone for the whole book. I kept expecting people to die. I can't believe she killed Fred!! And Lupin and Tonks

I KNEW Snape wasn't evil What a way to go for him though. I thought it was cool how the importance of Lily's eyes (as hinted by JKR) was because of this relationship. And Narcissa saving Harry was surprising. And Kreacher's "conversion" was sweet. Yay for Regulus! I knew he had it in him! I assume Kreacher lied to the Death Eaters who then spread the rumour he was killed by them.

That scene at the end with Dumbledore was very interesting. What a complex character Dumbledore was. Not as perfect as we thought, but as flawed as any normal wizard could be.

It's amazing how many of these things people have suspected before though, when I used to frequent Mugglenet a bit, there was a Lily-Severus relationship discussion.

I have to read it again, very slowly, but I have one question to start off with: Who was the old man whom Voldemort sought out and killed when searching for the Elder wand? The one in the castle who mocked Voldemort saying that "I never had it". I thought it was Grindelwald, but that doesn't make sense. He definitely had the wand.

[mcgonagall]

yes but they spectualate that he lied in the end to voldermort because  he was sorry in the end about dumbledores sister and that was him trying to make up for it in his way .

well that is the way it came acroos to me anyway .

I love the book it was fantastic and i was sad that we also lost hedwig abut the way she pulled it all togethere  ways fantastic and i loved the fact that she went 19 years into the future it is all so cool .

and who would have guessed Neville a teacher and that the Malfoys would be so useless in the end and  what a bout mrs Weasley she rocked i can just pictured her in that scene  screaming no my daughter and fighting wwooohhoo

[Geek Boy]

Hedwig, Moody, Dobby (can't believe that a: Dobby made an appearance & b: he died), Crabbe, Fred, Tonks, Lupin, Creevy - we shall remember them 

Not sure I understand Dumbledore's explanation to Harry about how his wand reacted to Voldemort in the escape from Privet drive though.  What event was he referring to when he said Harry's wand was imbibed with power from Voldemorts wand?

And Snape was a good guy afterall - albeit grudgingly!  And he loved Lily.  Awwwww...

Ended on a rather cryptic note though - 'his scar hadn't hurt for 19 years - all was well'  Yeah, for now!  I feel another book in the offing.  And what do they all do for a living?  She only lets on about Neville.

[ferdinand_the_yak]

I thought the epilogue was lacking, it wasn't necessary. It's true that she only talked about the "big three".

If my parents called me Albus Severus, I'd have a thing to say to them, famous Headmasters/Boy who lived or not

I forgot to mention Dobby and Colin Creevey... Potter's elf/man to the end

I did expect Draco to do something a bit more heroic in the end.

Geek Boy, perhaps the Priori Incantatem connection that formed in the graveyard fight was what Dumbledore meant? Something could have travelled from Voldemort's wand to Harry's when Harry "won" that duel.

[Geek Boy]

I thought the epilogue was lacking, it wasn't necessary. It's true that she only talked about the "big three".

If my parents called me Albus Severus, I'd have a thing to say to them, famous Headmasters/Boy who lived or no

I forgot to mention Dobby and Colin Creevey... Potter's elf/man to the end

I did expect Draco to do something a bit more heroic in the end.

Geek Boy, perhaps the connection that formed in the graveyard fight was what Dumbledore meant? Something could have travelled from Voldemort's wand to Harry's when Harry "won" that duel.

I think the epilogue was an excuse to write more books if called upon to do so!  You know, the intervening years - 19 years is a long time, a lot has happened...

Yeah Draco was a bit of a wimp really wasn't he?  Typical school bully, all mouth, no trousers, crumbles when he's on his own!

As for the wand, I had to read those paragraphs a couple of times.  At first I thought he was referring to the time Voldemort tried to kill Harry but of course he was a baby and didn't have a wand.  Then I thought he might have been referring to the escape from Privet Drive but Voldemort didn't have his own wand when he attacked Harry.  So yes, I guess the only logical confrontation was in the graveyard.

[kbmum]

I just finished the book about five minutes ago.  I think I went through half a huge box of tissues!  It's going to take a little while to digest it all, and like tialessa said in another thread, I want to read it again in about a week.

[tialessa]

Geek Boy, perhaps the Priori Incantatem connection that formed in the graveyard fight was what Dumbledore meant? Something could have travelled from Voldemort's wand to Harry's when Harry "won" that duel.

I'm pretty sure that Voldemort didn't want to risk ANOTHER Priori Incantatem with Harry.  He just wanted him dead without delay.  That's where he got obsessed with the Elder Wand - had to beat Harry at all costs.

The whole wandlore confused me - I'll have to read up on it from other sites & pay more attention to Ollivander when I reread Book 7.

May I just say I was SHOCKED at Dudley at the beginning.  Who knew he actually cared about Harry?

I'm pretty annoyed at the NY Times with that review.  If I'd read it I would have HURT someone severely.  It revealed WAY too many plot points and could have waited to be published ONE MORE DAY...

[allender]

So, who was the person who picked up magic later in life?

Just finished, and on the whole it works for me as a fitting conclusion. Not as much carnage as I expected, though. There were a *lot* of plot threads that weren't set up in any of the earlier books, but still quite a few so that we can talk about what we expected to happen that didn't (or did!). There were some nice touches where objects didn't do what we expected them to, but came back in a different important way, like the G sword.

I really expected Hagrid to snuff it, based on the three stages of Alchemy, but it would have required Hogwarts being destroyed. ("There is no Hogwarts without Hagrid.") As it is, everything is too easy for a sequel.

I thought all along that Snape was "that awful boy" whom Tuney referred to.

Draco looked like he was going to be a bigger player at the end, yes indeed. It seemed to be in the process of being set up but that idea disappeared in a couple of paragraphs. It would have been cool if a different person had destroyed each of the horcruxes and then Voldemort, but having six for the six horcruxes was a nice surprise. Crabbe gets to go down in history as hero!

I thought that either Molly or Cissy would die defending one of their kids, as a reprise for Lily's sacrifice. Close but not quite. Mother's Love still played a role. I thought Molly would be saving Percy, who indeed redeemed himself; it would have been a trio of mothers/sons. And Arthur won't be Minister of Magic right away.

Long ago the diadem had seemed like an obvious choice for one of the horcruxes, but it fell off of my list when I was counting Harry as one of the six.

I'm sure other people came up with the idea that Dumbledore was dying from the ring's causing the withered hand, and that's why Snape was asked to do the honors, but I can claim to have reached that conclusion independently.

Maybe the next sequel should be "Travels with Charlie." I kept feeling we were being set up for him to have a major role, because he was always off somewhere. I was hoping he was an animagus dragon that the trio flew off on, after seeing the book covers.

I wonder what happened to Umbridge. I wanted Madame Rosmerta to show up because I wanted to see Julie Christie again in Movie 7.

I still want to know the whole story about Aberforth and the goats.

Shed a tear for Peter Pettigrew. Too bad his silver hand didn't take down Fenris, like I was hoping.

I figured that Sirius' mirror wouldn't play a role because they cut it from the OOTP movie, and I'm confused about how it got into Aberforth's hands. But the locket wasn't in the movie either, so no doubt we'll have a shorter explanation on how it later shows up, probably without Umbridge at all.

If Neville is Professor of Herbology, has he taken over Sprout's leadership of broom learning and Quidditch? The mind boggles.

I hope George and Luna go into business together. More speculation on what might happen in the future will come as we absorb what happened in the past!

[tialessa]

If Neville is Professor of Herbology, has he taken over Sprout's leadership of broom learning and Quidditch? The mind boggles.

I didn't think Sprout had anything to do with Quidditch, that was Madame Hooch...

[Morningangel-Iola]

Well... was very good that God Harry lived afterr dieing DR gets his wish for a death scene. Also getting his kit off a lot good job he's had the practice. I was very upset she killed two of my favourites Lupin and Tonks sniff and of course pour Dobby that was so sad.

And Snape was on the side of good yay I am so glad.

I would like to remind people that I was certain Harry was horcrux and it would lead to his death Thank goodness it was perminant. I thought Neville would be the herbology teacher. Where did he get Grifs sword from.

What was Luna up to 19 years later? And how did George manage with out Fred Is Ted a Werewolf? Who did he grow up with when he was orphened

[Geek Boy]

And who did Malfoy marry?  Pansy?  And what do Harry, Ron & Hermione do for a living?  Posts within the Ministry?  Is Harry an Auror?  How did Hogwarts get rebuilt?  Did the three of them go back to finish their studies?  And yes, how did Neville get the sword - unless it's the fake?  Maybe the Goblins have changed their views on ownership of Goblin created artifacts.  All questions to be answered...

I thought Harry might have lost his scar.  I also thought Draco would die.  I thought Voldemorts torture of Ollivander was odd.  Did Voldemort get to him before Harry got his wand - seeing as he was controlling Quirrel at the time?  Did he go to Ollivander after he failed to defeat Harry in the graveyard?  In which case, Ollivander could have backed up Harry's story about the return of the dark lord.

I also thought the locket was very..... Lord Of The Rings didn't you think?  An object that altered the state of mind of whoever was wearing it.  That had a sense of it's own mortality.  That left marks on the body if it was worn for too long.

[Morningangel-Iola]

Mr O was kidnapped in HBP.

[kbmum]

Neville pulled the sword out of the Sorting Hat (Voldemort placed it on Neville's head and set the hat on fire), just as Harry did to defeat the basilisk.  Draco probably did not marry Pansy, because the book would have mentioned her name, not just "wife."

JK certainly left room for a sequel.  The Elder Wand could be retrieved from Dumbledore's grave, Harry has the invisibility cloak, and the resurrection stone is somewhere in the Forbidden Forest where it could be found.  I don't understand why Harry didn't want to retrieve it and destroy it.

[Geek Boy]

Mr O was kidnapped in HBP.

This is why I need to re-read HBP.  And OOTP.   

Neville pulled the sword out of the Sorting Hat (Voldemort placed it on Neville's head and set the hat on fire), just as Harry did to defeat the basilisk.

Ah.  So he did.  I was tired, I'd been reading all day, one or two things must have slipped by    I bet Griphook isn't happy then...

I did feel the book dragged a little in the middle with R/H/H moving aimlessly from place to place, trying to figure out the Horcruxes and Dumbledore's gifts.

I can see some nice trading cards for the final movie though.  Dual auto's of the happy couples, a five part auto of the Potter family, a piece of the Resurrection stone perhaps, bits of the Elder wand...

[Morningangel-Iola]

Ahhhh I missed that big time with the sword thanks.

[tialessa]

Is Ted a Werewolf? Who did he grow up with when he was orphened

While Tonks' father was killed, her mother was not.  Harry also mentioned that Teddy came over 4 times a week for dinner so it seems that he certainly hasn't forgotten Teddy's parents sacrifice.

I also thought the locket was very..... Lord Of The Rings didn't you think?  An object that altered the state of mind of whoever was wearing it.  That had a sense of it's own mortality.  That left marks on the body if it was worn for too long.

Well, it DID have part of Voldemort's soul in it... Look what the diary could do - especially when it was able to start stealing Ginny's life...  The ring was cursed otherwise it might have affected Dumbledore in a similar way had he worn it.  The other horcruxes weren't worn so we don't know if they would have also done something similar...

[mcgonagall]

i missed that bit i thought that harry had given neville the sword as his back up for killing the snake

[kbmum]

I was very upset she killed two of my favourites Lupin and Tonks sniff and of course pour Dobby that was so sad.

I was, too, but I was more upset over the way Lupin was portrayed in this book.  He had always appeared to be calm, cool, and collected (as a human, anyway).  He didn't seem the type to marry if his heart wasn't in it, and it seemed out of character for him to walk out on Tonks when she was pregnant.  That whole scene at Grimmauld Place when he got violent with Harry just felt so wrong. And then, he showed up at Shell Cottage to announce he was a father and stayed there drinking instead of being with his wife and new son?  If my husband had done that to me after our kids were born, he wouldn't have been a very happy camper after I was able to get out of bed.   I hope she talks about this in the interviews that are coming up.

[ztaylork]

And then, he showed up at Shell Cottage to announce he was a father and stayed there drinking instead of being with his wife and new son?  If my husband had done that to me after our kids were born, he wouldn't have been a very happy camper after I was able to get out of bed.   I hope she talks about this in the interviews that are coming up.

I just went back and re-read that part, as it made me wonder, and it really didn't seem like he stayed in the cottage that long, maybe a matter of 10-15 minutes at most, but maybe I missed something.  And with being able to pop in and out instantly that really isn't too bad, especially as I don't think Lupin had much family other than the ones in the cottage (but then I am a guy and my perspective might be off )   

[tialessa]

I was, too, but I was more upset over the way Lupin was portrayed in this book.  He had always appeared to be calm, cool, and collected (as a human, anyway).  He didn't seem the type to marry if his heart wasn't in it, and it seemed out of character for him to walk out on Tonks when she was pregnant.  That whole scene at Grimmauld Place when he got violent with Harry just felt so wrong. And then, he showed up at Shell Cottage to announce he was a father and stayed there drinking instead of being with his wife and new son?  If my husband had done that to me after our kids were born, he wouldn't have been a very happy camper after I was able to get out of bed.   I hope she talks about this in the interviews that are coming up.

I thought the whole agony of Lupin was typical of a person who'd just found out he was going to be a dad.  Unless a pregnancy is completely planned (and often even when it IS planned) it's still a shock to find out - I'm pregnant!  It seemed to me Lupin was a little more in shock than most dads-to-be because while they're all "I'm not ready to be a father.  There's no way *I* can be a good dad. etc." he had the whole "I'm a werewolf and I don't want my son to be one too." going.  Harry's fight seemed to wake him up and we went back to Tonks - with luck she never knew about his doubts.

The whole Shell Cottage scene was celebrating - what parents don't do that?  If he'd been out all night carousing, then yeah, I'd be mad about it too, but if Tonks could have come with Teddy to show off the baby, I'm sure she would have.