Harry Potter Book 7 *SPOILERS*

[LuvN~Travel]

The bold is mine, and I think you're right - Voldemort was weak since the Horcruxes were destroyed, taking most of his soul away from him.

The battle between Harry and Voldemort was just too short - one spell and BOOM! V's dead. Too easy.

But, in a way this reminds me of what Harry tells Ron in the forest after finding the sword. You think it's going to be glamorous when you are fighting/rescuing etc, but it's not. After all the kids had already done their homework so to speak, the hard part of destroying the horcruxes had been done, Voldemort's death now should be easy. No glamorization there. Just 'doing the job'.
Kim

 

[moviegirl11]

I don't think Lily loved Snape. I don't even think she particularly liked him after the Mudblood incident.

I hadn't even made the connection about his hate for Sirius! I think it was a double whammy...Sirius was James' best friend AND Sirius was supposed to be the Secret Keeper.

Very true! And it adds meaning to his extreme disdain for Wormtail at the beginning of Half-Blood Prince.

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

I heard on the Mugglenet podcast yesterday that the American cover is actually supposed to be Harry in the Gringott's vault and the red eyes behind him are the dragon's. I'm not sure where they got this info though.

I wonder if they're thinking of the UK cover, since it is in Gringotts?

 

[Twingle]

Good question!

I'm wondering if Hermione sent him off to Australia with her parents, to protect him?

Crookshanks was at the Burrow - don't remember the exact chapter/page, but when Ron, Hermione and Harry are talking in Ron's bedroom, Crookshanks is there and rubbing around their legs.

Might be in the "Ghoul in Pajamas" chapter?

 

[LuvN~Travel]

I finished it last night. I agree that the epilogue was a bit cheesy. I liked that we saw them in the future, but wished we knew more about their lives, the lives of their friends, etc. I really think there should have been a chpater between the fight and the epilogue. It just leaves no closure with so many characters (a la the Sopranos ending) - like the Weasleys, Hagrid, Luna, etc.

I have a couple of questions:

Why did Dumbledore only have a year to live? I know he put the ring on and it had a spell/curse on it, but none of the other horcruxes had spells/curses cast upon them that led to death, did they? I was confused by that.

Doesn't it seem that in the epilogue Harry's own kids wonder why people are staring, and Ron makes up that it is about him. Are we supposed to think that Harry's own kids don't know that their father saved the entire wizarding world? Even if Harry and Ginny tried to keep it from the, other kids would surely be talking about it. Just doesn't make any sense.

I don't have the book in front of me, but the very last page also confused me. It said something about Albus looking around to see people staring and then Ron makes the comment. Was Albus looking out the window and Ron makes the comment as the train was moving? It really seemed that Albus was standing right next to them, how else would he know that eveyone was staring at them and not saying good-bye to their own parents. And wasn't Lily younger than Albus, but did it say she was on the train with Rose and Hugo. It was late, I need to reread that part.

I still don't get how Neville gets the Sword. So when the Sorting Hat is on fire on his head he manages to pull it out? If that is it, it certainly wasn't explained at all.

In the end, very good book. I new Harry wouldn't die. I was right that Snape was ultimately good, but wrong that Dubledore wasn't really dead (I just tought it was an elaborate faking of his own death). The movie will never do it justice.

The answer to why DD only had a year to live is in Snape's memories. When Snape is helping him with his hand, he tells him that the curse is only contained. And that it will eventually spread, as it will only get stronger. DD asks him how long he has and Snape tells him about a year.
Kim

 

[Ariel Wanna-be]

Crookshanks was at the Burrow - don't remember the exact chapter/page, but when Ron, Hermione and Harry are talking in Ron's bedroom, Crookshanks is there and rubbing around their legs.

Might be in the "Ghoul in Pajamas" chapter?

Yep, you're right - I just went and looked.

 

[N&B'smom]

Anyone else get the Deluxe edition? It has a different cover on it. The cover has the dragon on it with Ron, Hermione and Harry riding on it's back. When you open up the actual book the inside of the front and back cover have the picture from the standard book's cover.

Shelby

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

The answer to why DD only had a year to live is in Snape's memories. When Snape is helping him with his hand, he tells him that the curse is only contained. And that it will eventually spread, as it will only get stronger. DD asks him how long he has and Snape tells him about a year.
Kim

I loved this, because a) I suspected in book 6 that the dead hand was containing an upcoming death, and b) It brings us full circle to book 1 when Snape says he can teach them how to "put a stopper in death".

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Anyone else get the Deluxe edition? It has a different cover on it. The cover has the dragon on it with Ron, Hermione and Harry riding on it's back. When you open up the actual book the inside of the front and back cover have the picture from the standard book's cover.

Shelby

What else does the deluxe edition have? I considered it, but then in the rush of the moment, forgot when it was time to buy!

 

[moviegirl11]

I still don't get how Neville gets the Sword. So when the Sorting Hat is on fire on his head he manages to pull it out? If that is it, it certainly wasn't explained at all.

In Chamber of Secrets Harry pulls the sword out of the sorting hat and uses it to kill the basilisk. The concept is the same here. The hat shows up for Neville, Voldemort sets it on fire. Neville breaks through the freezing charm, rips the hat off his head and the sword comes out of it just as it did for Harry in book 2.

In Chamber of Secrets dumbledore explains that only a true gryffindor would've been able to retrieve the sword from the hat. Neville was a true Gryffindor - his bravery more than proved that.

I thought the whole scene made perfect sense. It is EASILY one of the best moments in the whole book

 

[WaltD4Me]

You know what I'm wondering????????

Is/was Harry ever/still a powerful wizard on his own or was he only so
powerful/accomplished (doing things very advanced for his age)
because of that piece of Voldemort's soul inside hime .... and now that it's gone from him...is he just a normal wizard? Like I wonder if he can still speak Parseltongue now?

In the epilogue, the kid's wonder what everyone is staring at on the train platform and Ron says "Me, of course, I'm a famous wizard" or something like that...like the kid's don't know about Harry...like he didn't go on to be anything very exciting....I mean, maybe Harry became "normal" and he just took over the Muggle Artifacts office for Mr. Weasley or something?

 

[JoyG]

I'm done and I'm so sad. I envy people who aren't finished yet. I am really going to miss that gang.

I haven't read the whole thread yet but here is what I came away with...

1. Not enough Hogwarts action. I loved the final chapters there, but I went far too long without Neville and the rest of the gang.

2. Can I just say how much I love Neville and his Gran!? I was LOL at them!

3. LOVED Dudley's goodbye to Harry. Perfect!

4. I wish Harry had a chance to talk to Snape before he died and realized how much he'd done for him through the years. I had hoped Snape and Harry would have had a moment like Dudley and Harry did.

5. I wished there was more Ginny/Harry interaction.

6. I got choked up at the Epilogue, knowing that Harry named his son after Snape.

7. Although Mrs. Weasley's "Get away from my daughter, B***" had me LOL, I was shocked it was in a "kid's book". I don't really view HP as a kid's book though, but many people do.

8. Overall, I was highly satisfied.

 

[MerryPoppins]

As far as the length of time that Harry was camping in the middle of the book. I thought it seemed to sort of drag on a little and I missed hearing about their friends and families. But it would have been unrealistic to expect him to figure out all he needed to learn overnight. I think she wanted to show their isolation and the changing of the seasons showing the passage of time. It was effective if you look at it that way.

What I missed was more time with the group at Hogwarts at the end of the book. I wanted Harry to be reunited with Ginny and to hear what was going to happen at the school.

But nothing kept me from loving the book. It's a keeper.

Has anyone heard if JK plans to write a different series? A friend told me that she suspects she's just going to relax and enjoy the money she's made off the HP series, but I'm hoping she has plans for something new.

 

[MyGoofy26]

The cup burned you and then multiplied,

I think that was a protective measure of the vault - other items were multiplying and burning before they found the cup. My head's so foggy remembering details so I could be wrong, but I thought it was explained (by Griphook?) that everything touched will burn and multiply so that if you dropped it, you couldn't tell which was the real item. Something to prevent theft.

 

[N&B'smom]

What else does the deluxe edition have? I considered it, but then in the rush of the moment, forgot when it was time to buy!

It comes in this really hard cover-like thing it fits into. It has all the illustrations in the back of the book, they are full size instead of just small pictures.

Shelby

 

[BostonTink85]

Lupin was a marked man from the moment we met him but I wish she'd let Tonks make it for the baby.

When Harry was named godfather of their son and then when both Tonks and Lupin showed up to fight I kinda had the idea that they both wouldn't survive. It parallels Harry being left with no one but a godfather. I'm not sure if someone already said this because I haven't read all the posts, but that's just what came to mind while I was reading the book.

 

[MerryPoppins]

I think that was a protective measure of the vault - other items were multiplying and burning before they found the cup. My head's so foggy remembering details so I could be wrong, but I thought it was explained (by Griphook?) that everything touched will burn and multiply so that if you dropped it, you couldn't tell which was the real item. Something to prevent theft.

You may be right. But either way Voldemort knew it was well protected. I suspect he felt the ring was more vulnerable.

 

[TDC Nala]

JKR obviously likes to use flowers for girls' names: Lily, Petunia, Pansy, Fleur . . . so Rose isn't a stretch for her. I wonder if Hugo might be a nod to someone in her personal life.

She has won a Hugo Award.

 

[Ride Junkie]

I just remembered something else that got me. How at the very end, after everything Harry had been through, he couldn't wait to get back to his 4-poster bed in their dormitory. Such a simple wish. ((sniff))

 

[piglet too]

You know what I'm wondering????????

Is/was Harry ever/still a powerful wizard on his own or was he only so
powerful/accomplished (doing things very advanced for his age)
because of that piece of Voldemort's soul inside hime .... and now that it's gone from him...is he just a normal wizard? Like I wonder if he can still speak Parseltongue now?

In the epilogue, the kid's wonder what everyone is staring at on the train platform and Ron says "Me, of course, I'm a famous wizard" or something like that...like the kid's don't know about Harry...like he didn't go on to be anything very exciting....I mean, maybe Harry became "normal" and he just took over the Muggle Artifacts office for Mr. Weasley or something?

I took that as Ron being the goof that he is. The kids all know who Harry is, they just don't see the big deal about it.