July 21

[filkertom]

Even I, on the road and with limited internet, heard that the release date for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is just after midnight on July 21, 2007.

Okay.

What do you want to happen in the book, besides the obvious: [a] Voldemort be defeated, [b] the Dursleys get some kind of comeuppance, and [c] Harry survive relatively intact? (Oh, and [d] we find out what the heck a "deathly hallow" is.)

Go for best-case scenario here. It is the last book in the series, after all. For myself, I'd be very happy if:

• Ron and Hermione live
• Harry and Hermione discover they like each other romantically
• Hogwarts survives all this noise
• Hagrid lives
• Bill and Fleur live
• Fred and George either live, or both die in a spectacular maneuver that takes out dozens of Death Eaters and/or leaves Voldemort vulnerable (e.g., they destroy a horcrux)
• Harry and Snape reach an understanding
• Lupin and Tonks live
• Neville gives Voldemort at least one really good scare, up to and including making him think that perhaps Voldie picked the wrong kid to fit the prophecy and should've defended against the other one
• Harry tells off Dumbledore's portrait, and McGonagall agrees with Harry
• Hermione gets back at Dolohov

Your thoughts?

Comments

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

I've said it before--Longbottom attempts to take out Belle L'estrange, but his spell clumsily goes wrong, probably destroying his wand and leaving him helpless. Then, while L'estrange is gloating and taunting him about what she did to his parents and now intends to do to him, the aftereffect of Longbottom's attempt destroys her in a deliciously ironic way.

Longbottom then pulls himself together, stammers, "I meant to do that", and then breaks down in Luna's arms. When we see him next, several chapters later, he's still waving happily at L'estrange's remains, the way Vir waved at Morden.

Oh. And I want to see Arthur Weasley become Minister of Magic. Preferably with a position of direct authority over any surviving members of the Malfoy clan.

But please, skip the House Elves' treetop-village victory song.

[aiela.livejournal.com]

But please, skip the House Elves' treetop-village victory song.

*dies laughing*

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

Ron and Hermione live

Yup.. I'm good with that

Harry and Hermione discover they like each other romantically

No, don't think so. They have a different level of relationship.

Hogwarts survives all this noise

Agreed

Hagrid lives

Probably

Bill and Fleur live

Don't care. She's could die and I wouldn't care.

Fred and George either live, or both die in a spectacular maneuver that takes out dozens of Death Eaters and/or leaves Voldemort vulnerable (e.g., they destroy a horcrux)

The both might not survive, but they'll have a big scene, something major where their devilment skills will save the day.

Harry and Snape reach an understanding

Absolutely. I think once Harry knows it was all a set up between Snape and Dumbledore, he'll see Snape in a new light.

Lupin and Tonks live

Absolutely, and we'll get the "old" Tonks back. Perhaps Lupin can be "cured".

Neville gives Voldemort at least one really good scare, up to and including making him think that perhaps Voldie picked the wrong kid to fit the prophecy and should've defended against the other one

If not more. Neville has a major part to play still.

Harry tells off Dumbledore's portrait, and McGonagall agrees with Harry

I'm thinking he'll get a chance to tell him off face to face, so to speak. (Wouldn't mind seeing him come back as a ghost).

Hermione gets back at Dolohov

Quite likely.


What else?

Voldemort's death will be VERY public, and will send a wakeup call through the magic community to stop burying its head in the sand, and cause a major shake up at the Ministry.

Arthur Weasley will end up Minister.

I can't help feeling Harry will not survive, but would be pleased if he did.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

If Fred and George die, they have to kick Peeves out and become the new Hogwarts poltergeists. They've earned it.

[rebeccax.livejournal.com]

Ron and Hermione are a couple. They're Molly and Arthur all over again. Harry will defeat Voldemort and the curse on the DADA teaching position will be lifted and he will return to Hogwarts to fill it. Also, I think one of the remaining horcruxes is in the Room of Requirement.

[aiela.livejournal.com]

I agree that I don't want to see Harry and Hermione together. I think we need more examples of male/female friendships, and they've done a good job at this one so far.

I do like the idea of Harry becoming the DADA teacher.

[killernurd.livejournal.com]

Hrmm... let's see... if I wanted to be happy with this book (after the messes that were Flaming Flamingo and Half Baked Plothole):

* Harry dies.
* The Lord of Cheesy Anagrams dies.
* Snape dies.
* Dumbledore stays dead.
* Hermione lives, and offs Dolohov with Snape's spell (she's too damned cute to die).
* Hogwarts will stand until the end of time, just 'cause it's Hogwarts.
* Fleur remembers that, despite being engaged, she's still intelligent, instead of the ditz she was in Flamingo and Plothole.
* Tonks remembers what it means to be a real person, instead of the ditz she was in HBP.
* The twins make a huge bang (whether the live or die).
* Neville makes red mist of Bella Lestrange.
* Scrimgeour grows a brain and a conscience.
* Kingsley Shacklebolt gets more screentime (I like him :).
* Luna lives; someone's gotta get the truth out in print.

Likely, since this is a 'children's' story, Harry will live, but frankly, he doesn't deserve to. In fact, an awful lot of characters need to die. But that's just me. Perhaps I'm feeling a bit extra-bloodthirsty this morning.

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

-Harry survives and has some sort of resolution in which he stops needing to be pissed off at everybody all the time. It isn't that I don't understand it, I'd just like him to have opportunity to settle down a bit.

-Dumbledore ends up, either as picture or ghost, as a major continuing factor in the life of the school.

-McGonagall gets a chance to verbally demolish one of the Ministry bureaucrats (or Skeeter), sending them slinking away from Hogwarts with their tail between their legs.

-Harry either actually does graduate from the damn school, or goes back after all the chaos and is on track to graduate, even if it's a year late. I don't want him to just be permanently done with it after six years because the other stuff got in the way.

-Ginny gets to do something really impressive, despite Harry's stupid efforts to stuff her in a back corner.

-Snape gets visibly emotionally shaken on-camera, then rallies to be effective but meantime the kids who hate him have seen part of him that isn't oozing nasty confidence. (An alternative I'd be happy to see, if one presumes the Snape who was working both sides for himself rather than working honestly for Dumbledore even though he ended up killing him, would be for Snape to be actively involved in the destruction of Voldemort and the rest of the Death Eaters, thereby finally convincing the Good Guys that he is one of them... and then turning around to fill the evil power gap Voldemort left behind, which was his plan all along.)

-Hedwig dies heroically getting a vital message through.

[laurel-potter.livejournal.com]

-Harry either actually does graduate from the damn school, or goes back after all the chaos and is on track to graduate, even if it's a year late. I don't want him to just be permanently done with it after six years because the other stuff got in the way.

I like this, too, and if he does go back, he'll be in the same year with Ginny (assuming she finishes her sixth year) and they'd have classes together.

Hedwig dies heroically getting a vital message through.

Ooo, that would be so sad!

[ladystarblade.livejournal.com]

Oy, it's to the point I have no idea what's going to happen...ever get the feeling JKR is kicking back and laughing at us as we run around and theorize?

--Definitely agree on the twins.

--Never really cared who hooks up with whom...though Harry and Ginny are too darn cute. And Harry and Ron are brothers in spirit...why not brothers by marriage? Assuming Harry survives, that is.

--On Harry biting the dust...why not both? He croaks, but comes back somehow. There's too much phoenix imagery floating around...someone's going to be "reborn."

--If Snape, Lupin, or Neville goes down, I'm gonna be pissed. I still say Snape is the character who got JKR's "reprieve."

--And I'm starting to wonder if a muggle angle might pop up...might a muggle hold the key to defeating the V-Boy? The muggle world has always been tuned out in the books, so it'd be a twist for muggledom to play a role at the end. Imagine...Pugsley Dursley, the Savior of Us All! LOL!

Aw hell...I guess this means I'm staying up late on the 21st. I managed to hold out against Potter-Mania for so long, but now I just gotta know.

[allandaros.livejournal.com]

I'm not a Harry Potter fan BECAUSE the mundane world got ignored in the books. If Rowling brought it in, I would not only buy the book, but be very happy about it.

[ladyoceanstar.livejournal.com]

I think that Harry's scar is an accidental horcrux. I think he'll find out, and have to die in order for Voldy to go down.

[joshbrown.livejournal.com]

Wait a minute ... you mean it isn't being called Harry Potter and the Unwanted Pregnancies? The way that all of them were going at it in Book 6, I wouldn't be surprised if there is something along those lines in it...

[gypsylady.livejournal.com]

YOMANK!

Seriously, though, the one thing I want to see happen is for Harry to be down to his last gasp of energy, his last chance to strike at Voldy, his closest friends lying drained of all power around him, and Ginny shows up, saves Harry, turns to him in triumph and says, "There is no way I'm letting you die, Harry Potter! I'm not giving up my child support payments just like that!" Okay, no, that's not entirely what I was thinkng but now that you've planted it in my mind there's no way it's gonna leave. I was really hoping it would come down to Harry and Neville against the Dark Forces and suddenly someone (Ginny seems the best choice IMO) shows up, joins them, and defeats the bad guys. I'm not sure what I want to see happen to Snape yet, but something BAD has to happen to the Malfoys. At least to the evil Malfoys. I figure there has to be a Fifth Columnist in THAT family...

[laurel-potter.livejournal.com]

Ron and Hermione live

I really, really think they will.

Harry and Hermione discover they like each other romantically

Tom, you're one of the few people I'll feel bad for when this doesn't happen.

Hogwarts survives all this noise

If the final battle takes place at Hogwarts, it would sustain some damage, I'm sure. Maybe fixing it back us could show some wizarding unity, if you get what I mean.

Hagrid lives

I hope so, too. I can't see Grawp taking his place as groundskeeper, LOL.

Bill and Fleur live

They're supposed to be getting married, so that would be really sad if one or both of them died.

Fred and George either live, or both die in a spectacular maneuver that takes out dozens of Death Eaters and/or leaves Voldemort vulnerable (e.g., they destroy a horcrux)

I hope they survive, but I think they'd like going out that way.

Harry and Snape reach an understanding

Yes, but I think Snape will die. Hopefully, in a way that will make people feel more kindly towards him.

Lupin and Tonks live

Yes.

Neville gives Voldemort at least one really good scare, up to and including making him think that perhaps Voldie picked the wrong kid to fit the prophecy and should've defended against the other one

That would be sweet.

Harry tells off Dumbledore's portrait, and McGonagall agrees with Harry

I don't want Harry telling off Dumbledore's portrait; it would be disrespectful. Show some frustration and regret, but not total anger. I do hope he talks to it/him.

Hermione gets back at Dolohov

That would be good, too. Perhaps with the same spell, only done better, as we know she can? Go, Hermione.

I hope that no part of Harry is a horcurx, although I haven't 100 percent decided against it. I hope Ginny does something amazing. I hope Percy does something amazing. I hope Neville and Luna each do something amazing. I hope Molly and Arthur both survive, although I think one of them may be killed.

I hope Harry and Ginny live happily ever after.

[mneme]

Most of my desires are coming from my reading of what the text demands. Which doesn't mean I think Rowling will go through with any or all of them -- the text demands contradictory things!

-- Harry survives, ends up on track to being an Auror, and "with" Ginny. But fails to destroy Voldemort -- sorry, right prophesy, wrong hero.

-- Dumbeldore remains part of the plot due to his many, many pictures.

-- Sirius returns in a suitably dramatic fashion. His "death" was just too lame to be believed, and that kind of disapearance deserves a splashy entrance.

-- Ron and Hermione survive, and don't have their budding love destroyed by a comet.

-- Snape is pulled further into Voldemort's group, but betrays him at the end. Snape should either die at the end or end the book as a fugitive from justice.

-- At least one of the strong female characters (Ginny, Hermione, etc) get to do something impressive, despite Rowling's authorial efforts to make them -all- (more or less) into damsels in distress, etc. Not textually inevitable, more's the pity, but still important to the integrity of the works.

-- Neville, Harry's failure immediate and bitter, takes up wand (maybe Harry's Phoenix feather wand?) against Voldemort, and defeats him! Yay, hero of prophesy!

[darkwolf69.livejournal.com]

I'm just hoping that this doesn't turn into The Legend of Potter. I mean, he's already having to hunt down pieces of the Triforce horcruxen in order to defeat Ganon Voldemort...

[darkwolf69.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah- and if there are Octoroks, I'm throwing the book away.

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

A "Hallow" is a revered or sacred object, something that is hallowed. This might refer to the Horcruxes. Horcruces?

Does anybody besides me realize that Dumbledore ate'nt dead? The way Snape kept going on about not warning one's opponent by speaking the name of a spell being cast, even while chasing Harry. How big a leap of logic is it to speak the name of one spell while actually casting a different one? The only people who saw the "body" were very trusted insiders like McGonnagall, then he's shut up in a sepulchre and his portrait is "asleep". Trust me, we have not seen the last of the headmaster.

[tony-goldmark.livejournal.com]

I WOULD agree with you, except J.K. has already stated in interviews, for sure, that Dumbledore IS definitely dead. And though she's no stranger to red herrings, it's just not like her to flat-out lie.

Sigh...

[tony-goldmark.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'm going to TRY to only say this once. I doubt I'll succeed, since it's never sunk in before, but here goes...

HARRY HAS TO DIE.

Harry is a martyr for the cause of getting the Dark Lord permanently eradicated. Dumbledore always knew this. That's why he hesitates to tell Harry until the end of Book 5, and why the mere IMPLICATION of the brutal truth brings a tear to his eye.

Here's how I predict it will happen (JUST a prediction, NOT technically a spoiler): Harry, somehow, will overpower Voldemort. Maybe Snape will pull a Darth Vader and help him do it at the last minute, I don't know. But it will happen. Voldemort will die. Now, Harry's scar stings whenever Voldemort feels an intense emotion, right? And Voldemort worked for decades upon decades to develop immortality, right? So what would make him angrier than actually dying? This will make Harry's scar burn so much that it literally splits open at the seam, Harry's soul will escape through it, and he will move into the great beyond.

It doesn't have to be a cruel death. I would not rule out a Frodo-esque tearful goodbye scene, or a pre-mortem portrait of Harry made as a wedding present for Ron and Hermione (Yes, I said it. Get OVER it, will you please?) or even a reunion scene between Harry, Sirius, Dumbledore, Cedric and Harry's parents in some sort of Wizard Heaven. Either way, though, Harry will die a hero. Painful as it might be, I know J.K. Rowling is capable of writing a poignant, beautiful, tear-inducing-but-not-in-a-bad-way death scene for him.

I could be wrong, but I hope not. There have been innumerable clues from all these books that Rowling intended it to happen. But of course, she planned for it in the days when maybe three people even knew or cared for her creation, and if she turns around now and changes for the sake of "not disappointing her fans" then she will have officially embraced celebrity over literature, and I for one will respect her severely less.

Just a sidenote, this date is two weeks - TWO WEEKS! - off from a 07/07/07 release date. Knowing how important the number seven is to the series, not to mention how easy it is to publish a book two weeks earlier if you write enough checks, it just seems...stupid. Maybe Warner Bros wants the Phoenix movie to build up to the Hallows book, and not the other way around (under the reasoning that there's just no contest)? If so, it depresses me that such synergy must rule the day.

Re: Sigh...

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

I've agreed with that all along. Harry, or maybe Neville, has to die to fulfill the prophecy. It would be quite the sassy commentary on "celebrity worship culture" if it turned out that Neville was really the Chosen One after all, yesno?

Obviously the movie and book release dates had to be co-ordinated. They need to get as many movie tickets sold before the inevitable "downer" final book is released. Warner Bros. really bought "a pig in a poke" where this "charming children's series" was concerned, as dark and mature as it got in the later volumes. I often reflect that Disney was smarter than Warners, because there was no question about how the Narnia books ended.

[brianh]

I don't particularly want Harry to die, but I am in the camp that believes that he needs to get a comeuppance of SOME sort. He's been an arrogant, intolerant little swot-- admittedly, with some reason to be distrustful at first-- but it's gotten worse and worse as time goes on. In many ways, he's becoming the same sort of Auror as Miko Miyazaki was a paladin. Quick to make judgments and ill inclined to think about them afterwards.

Frankly, I think the best sort of comeuppance would not be death, but collecting all of the horcruxes and having _Snape_ be the one to destroy them or the last one, possibly at the cost of his (Snape's) own life. It might be enough to jar Harry into actually thinking about the world in terms other than black and white-- which, if you think about it, are the same terms that people like Voldemort, Harry's aunt and uncle, and the Malfoys view the world with.

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

Well of course he is an arrogant little swot. He learned his modes of behavior from Uncle Vernon. Dumbledore didn't think about the kind of home and role models to which he was exposing baby Harry, did he?

[signy1.livejournal.com]

Given that the term 'Hallows' in Arthurian mythos is often used to refer to the four sacred objects-- cup, sword, wand and dish, like Tarot suits-- I'm guessing that the 'deathly hallows' are the horcruces. They're probably more-or-less sacred to Lord V.

And on the subject of horcruces, I'm willing to bet that the last one isn't Harry's scar or the snake-- I think it's the Sorting Hat. It tells us itself that it once belonged to Gryffindor, that it was given life by a concerted effort of the four founders (shades of Pandora,) and it obviously thinks for itself... but can we see where it keeps its brain? It's pretty much the Holy Grail of Hogwarts memorabilia. Riddle would have to want it.

Besides, it's been the one single artifact that has the most influence on what happens to each and every student in Hogwarts history. Makes sense that, corrupted inside the last fifty years, it's been skewing the school dynamics. It's really not likely that an entire quarter of the school chronically goes bad and nobody in authority notices the pattern.

[tony-goldmark.livejournal.com]

That's honestly the best Book Seven theory I've ever heard.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

What I'd like to see (regardless of probability):

• Neville comes to terms with his newly manifested strengths and destroys one or more of the Malfox/Lestrange clan. Bellatrix would be nice. Daddy Malfoy would be even better, but I suspect that he's someone else's meat. (Unless he's kept around to the end for a trial.) At the end, for Neville to become the DADA teacher at Hogwarts, breaking the curse and moving into line for the Headmastership.



• One or more of Luna's (and her father's) weirdnesses turns out to be a critical truth that leads to the destruction of a Horcrux and/or the saving of a key player.



• Hagrid survives. As unlikely as this is, it would make my day. Especially if we got to see him wield the pink umbrella a few more times.



• Ron wises up and realizes how much he feels for Hermione before she has to see Viktor Krum die saving her, losing any attraction to Ron in the process.



• We learn something about Macgonnagle that explains why her support for Harry et al, while wholehearted, has been so generally faint through the first six books. She's holding something back, and I want to know why, and to get it fixed.

Note that these are not predictions of what I believe will happen (except for Krum dying for Hermione and us finding out something critical about Macgonnagle), but what I'd like to see.

Let the countdown begin!

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

Truth to tell, after Hair-Brained Plot, I'm going to read Book 7 just to complete it and see what deus ex machina she comes up with to fix everything. Clean and tidy and happy ending for everyone? No. I only have one deal-breaker, and that's if something terminal happens to Luna. That's when I slam the book shut and fling it out a window. Other than that... I hate saying this, but I can't make myself care anymore. Personally, I think she lost her way somewhere between OotP and HBP, and I can't think of a rational way to get it back on track in one final book.

I leave open, of course, the possibility that she's got something up her sleeve that will blow me completely away. I'm just not counting on it.

[morpheus0013.livejournal.com]

I'm glad someone else feels this way. I miss the way the announcement of a new HP book used to feel exciting; now it feels like something I have to do.

Though I'm not sure how I feel about Luna. Not that I dislike her, but I can't decide if that's a deal breaker character for me.

[gpeefalt.livejournal.com]

Harry becomes demented and sexually obsessed with centaurs.

Oh wait...

[kshandra]

WIN.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

Towards the beginning of HP7, Pettigrew (who was captured over the summer) is tried and convicted before the ministry, and sentenced....to be the Hogwarts Defense Against Dark Arts teacher!

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"

"And we --heh, heh-- all know what happens to Defense Against Dark Arts teachers, don't we!"

"Noooo! Mercy!" *grovel, grovel* "Anything but that!"

"Here's your red shirt...PROFESSOR."

[tandw.livejournal.com]

BWAAAH HAH HAH HAH!

That's truly evil.

[daundelyon.livejournal.com]

There has GOT to be some kind of resolution with the Draco situation. At this point, I'm not sure I actually care what kind of resolution. Whatever it is is going to have to be drastic. I mean, the nasty little Prince Of Slytherin was crying in a bathroom, for heaven's sake! Either he's redeemed or he goes down, one or the other.

[droewyn.livejournal.com]

I think I want to see Draco redeemed... but I *don't* want to see him suddenly become friendly or likable. He's a little shit and he should remain a little shit, he's just a little shit who can't stoop to murder. That doesn't make him a good guy, it just makes him not *that* evil.

And I do want to see Neville turn out to be the prophesized hero.

[morpheus0013.livejournal.com]

Hrm. I'm not sure I actually want a, b, and c to happen, but...I'm mostly excited to see Snape revealed to have NOT been a turncoat and the whole killing Dumbledore thing was a plan.

I'd also like Harry to stop being so whiny about everything and actually act like an adult instead of bitching to everyone "I'm a grown-up, let me play!"

I'd also be pretty unhappy if every main character survives, because I think that's fairly unrealistic, but I do hope McGonagal makes it out alive.

My desires...

[lizard-sf.livejournal.com]

Sorry, not an H/H shipper. Too obvious.

Who was Dolohov? I swear, I've read the books umpty-zillion times and I don't know who that is or why Hermione wants payback....

Harry lives.
Snape is shown to be on the side of good, which is NOT the same thing as being a good guy.
We learn something more about Petunia and her relationship with Lily.
Luna lives.
Neville kick's Draco's ass.
Dumbledore stays dead.
Tonks lives. (Don't care so much about Lupin)
Sirius stays dead.
James and Lily Potter stay dead.
Snape doesn't die, or, if he does, dies doing something heroic, ideally while cursing Harry for his stupidity at the same time.
We learn why Dumbldore trusted Snape.
(Yeah, I'm a Snape fanboy. Shoot me.)
Mr. Weasley becomes MoM.
Percy Weasley become Persona Non Gratis and ends up needing a job cleaning goblin spittoons at Gringotts for the rest of his wretched life.

[smoooom.livejournal.com]

Harry and Hermione? Oh is this one of those 'ship things?

I think it would be really cool to see Harry and Snape reach and understanding. This assumes the fact that Snape is still on the side of good. I'm not to sure about that right now. I know what I want to happen, but I'm not convinced that Snape is still a good guy.

I wonder if I should count the days, I am looking forward to this.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

I'd be happy if Harry, or anyone really, just for once realizes that waving wands around and chanting is all very well but it takes time! And while Moldy Wart or Drag-o is flicking their wand around, just say to hell with it and thwacks them before they finish the spell!!

[pyrephox.livejournal.com]

What I'd like to see is:

* Someone, ANYONE, on the 'good' side actually pay attention to what Dumbledore said about uniting all four Houses against Voldemort. The Slytherins are not /all/ Death Eaters in training, are they?

* Draco and Harry fighting together, if only for a brief moment.

* Tonks and Lupin to live happily ever after. I think they're a cute couple.

* Neville and Luna to kick some Death Eater ass. Singularly or collectively, I don't care. Just let them kick ass.

* Snape gets a chance to explain. Don't care if the explanation is "Mwuahaha, I always wanted to do it!" or not, but I'd like to know if my theory is correct, and for that I need the slimy git to talk. :P

* One of the Trio to die. It's dramatically appropriate, and I don't care which one.