HARRY POTTER SPOILERS! I'm done!

Yay someone else who is done and I don't have to worry about spoilering!


EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Wasn't it good? I was worried it wouldn't be good- I really didn't like HBP much and wasn't too impressed with OOTP either, so...

Ron got his personality back! And I was right about Snape nto being evil AND that he'd die.

I loved it. She tied up all the important loose ends, and there were several spots when I think my heart stopped from shock! I am so glad she "dealt with" Snape the way she did. Yes he wasn't evil, but it would have disappointed me to see him and Harry become best friends or something.

I was right about Lily's eyes, too. But completely wrong about Sirius really being alive, and wrong about Molly Weasley dying.

OK, so not a Potter fan - although I love that kids are reading more
What the heck is a Horcrux?

A Horcrux is the result of performing an incredibly dark piece of magic. It is an object (usually) that holds a fragment of a wizard's soul. The spell to create a Horcrux can only be performed just after the wizard has committed a murder.

Edit: Voldemort created Horcruxes in an attempt to make himself immortal. The wizard who has a Horcrux cannot die, until the Horcrux he has made has been destroyed.

I was right about a few things... Snape for example and the agreement he had with Dumbledore... I was right that we would find out more about his past and his family and who Grindelwald was..... I was right that someone in the Weasley family wouldn't make it but I was wrong about who it was (I was sure it would be Mrs Weasley)  I was wrong in thinking Hagrid would die.  I was right in thinking that we would find out how the Baron got covered in blood (although I was more HOPING for that than expecting it... been curious about it ever since I read Philosophers Stone)
 
I don't know about you guys, but Hedwig was a total shock to me!!!!!!  When it was done I realised JKR sort of had to do it.... if Harry had to go into hiding she would have been a bit conspicuous.  After that I guessed who would be next and I was miffed about it but loads of things that happened after that that were a surprise.
 
The major thing I'd got completely wrong was that I was so convinced Harry COULDN'T be a Horcrux.... some people claimed V. made him one by accident and I pooh poohed the idea, thinking it would take some seriously complicated Dark Magic to work the spell that you couldnt just do by accident.  Errrrr..... (looks sheepish)
 
I was confused about the Kings Cross chapter.  What happened there?  Did Harry die and come back or was he just knocked out or what?  I thought NOTHING could bring back the dead?  Oh so confused.  The only bit I was really disappointed in was the epilogue for some reason..... this was no way my favourite HP book (by a long way, 3 and 4 were my favourites!) but it was good.  Loads of suspense and loads of loose ends tied up.
 
Another thing that confused me:  Who was the person who did magic in later life?  (JKR said there would be someone but I must have missed that having zoomed through it so fast.)

Not to derail this -- but just to comment generally
 
I think the biggest 'YES!!!!!!' I get from the whole thing is that it has made "books" generally a 'good thing' again.  Anything to stimulate kids, adults, ANYBODY ***TO READ*** I think is a major victory in the world.  Yes, a ton of this was HYPE, but you know if even all the threads on this board gets ONE person to pick up a real life BOOK it's a wonderful thing.
 
Reading is fun.  It's healthy.  It's stress-relieving. 
 
Anybody ever explore the GuttenbergProject.org????  Anybody ?????  Anybody ever read "Beautiful Joe" or other good old animal books??  Free -- there for the reading.  (try "Frankenstein" and a bunch of others ... )  books books books
 
But seeing parties in SE Asia and Italy and kids standing in the rain all over the world to get their hands on a book??  Ms. Rowling you did a VERY good thing!!
 
And yeah, I'm lurking in a 'spoiler' thread and I haven't read it yet, but you bet your sweet pumpkin juice I'm GONNA!!!!!!

ORIGINAL: Chuffy

I was confused about the Kings Cross chapter.  What happened there?  Did Harry die and come back or was he just knocked out or what?  I thought NOTHING could bring back the dead?  Oh so confused.  The only bit I was really disappointed in was the epilogue for some reason..... this was no way my favourite HP book (by a long way, 3 and 4 were my favourites!) but it was good.  Loads of suspense and loads of loose ends tied up.

Another thing that confused me:  Who was the person who did magic in later life?  (JKR said there would be someone but I must have missed that having zoomed through it so fast.)

The King's Cross chapter. That I think was some kind of near-death experience...Harry "went towards the light" as it were, had a talk with Dumbledore and then chose to come back. It was both in his head and real at the same time.

The magic in later life...was that not Dumbledore's mother, who was a Muggle?

I was madder than a box full of grindylows that she killed off Hedwig.

As much as Snape turned out to be good, in his way, he was SELFISH to his last dying breath. I hate Snape more now than I ever did.

The King's Cross chapter. That I think was some kind of near-death experience...Harry "went towards the light" as it were, had a talk with Dumbledore and then chose to come back. It was both in his head and real at the same time.

 
[] Thanks.  I get it now.
 

The magic in later life...was that not Dumbledore's mother, who was a Muggle?

 
Um, don't know.  Will have to re-read at some point.  Next time I can read it slowly, at my leisure, without having to worry about spoilers.  Oh so many bags of revels will be consumed.
 

As much as Snape turned out to be good, in his way, he was SELFISH to his last dying breath. I hate Snape more now than I ever did.

 
Why?
 
[]

Woo! I just finished. 2 1/2 hours of sleep, and I only succumbed to them because at that point I couldn't read more than 3 words without my head flopping onto the book. LOL! 
 
In a way, I'm kind of disappointed with how predictable the end was..but I think I would have been way more unhappy with any other ending. I cried a lot..I'm such a crier for these books, it's bizarre. I cried when Snape died, and got a million goosebumps and a stupid grin when Harry said "Albus Severus!" and the bit about "bravest man I've ever known." I think I've always wanted to like Snape, or have liked Snape, no matter what evil things he seemed to do.
 
Oh god, I think the biggest shock to me was Lupin and Tonks. It took several pages for that to sink in. After Sirius died, I really though Lupin at least would be around.. Sigh...
 
Besides that though, I don't think much in it really surprised me. Even Harry being a horcrux. Not to say I predicted it, I just didn't have much opinion on whether he was or wasn't.
 
I had the oddest feeling through most of it that I'd read it before (Okay, 2 1/2 hours sleep, ignore me..). I found myself knowing the exact wording of things a page or two before they happened. Guess after reading her other 6 books so carefully, I just know her style well? It was funny though, in my tiredness (I haven't gotten enough sleep in several days, and knew I was gonna have a rough time of it last night), I kept wildly checking the cover to make sure it WAS the 7th book, and not an older one.
 
Definitely need to read it again. I'm sure I missed hidden details and explanations galore.
 
I'm not nearly as depressed as I thought I'd be about it being over. She did a good job closing it.

I will NOT say whether Harry lives or dies.

 
oh god please tell me PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ! i dont read harry potter but i want to know (my parents dont want me to and i dont think it is that interesting) but i really need to know! will someone PM maybe? i'm dying to know!!!!!!

ORIGINAL: Chuffy

As much as Snape turned out to be good, in his way, he was SELFISH to his last dying breath. I hate Snape more now than I ever did.

Why?

[]

I posted this on an HP forum, I am pretty much going to quote it verbatim here.

Because as far as I can figure out, the "deep significance" of Harry's eyes was that although Harry was the spitting image of James, his eyes (the proverbial windows to the soul) were Lily's. They served as a constant reminder to Snape of what he had lost at Voldy's hands, and thus why the struggle against Voldy must continue. Snape spent the better part of 6 years trying to make Harry's life a misery because he was jealous that Harry was not his own son. That he felt he had the right to die looking into the eyes of the woman he loved (although they were Harry's) after he had spent so long being horrible to the son she died to protect struck me as being INCREDIBLY selfish.

Well, none of us are perfect eh! []
 
I can kind of forgive him for that, what with him risking life and limb for Harry and the Order.  He was certainly not a NICE man.  A brave man and a "good" man (ie, on the "good side") but definately not nice, not anyway you look at it.  I love that character.  JKR excelled herself when she invented him.

ORIGINAL: Benedict

ORIGINAL: Chuffy

As much as Snape turned out to be good, in his way, he was SELFISH to his last dying breath. I hate Snape more now than I ever did.

Why?

[]

I posted this on an HP forum, I am pretty much going to quote it verbatim here.

Because as far as I can figure out, the "deep significance" of Harry's eyes was that although Harry was the spitting image of James, his eyes (the proverbial windows to the soul) were Lily's. They served as a constant reminder to Snape of what he had lost at Voldy's hands, and thus why the struggle against Voldy must continue. Snape spent the better part of 6 years trying to make Harry's life a misery because he was jealous that Harry was not his own son. That he felt he had the right to die looking into the eyes of the woman he loved (although they were Harry's) after he had spent so long being horrible to the son she died to protect struck me as being INCREDIBLY selfish.

 
Sorry, I disagree with this interpretation that he was trying to somehow be with Lily as he died and that is selfish.
 
I can see this different ways: he was looking one last time at something worth dying for, he was seeking reassurance and forgiveness even though he failed to protect Harry---because he's dying and leaving Harry unprotected--- or maybe he's seeing success at keeping Harry alive so far.
 
Yes, Snape loved Lily. Loving Lily saved him from becoming a totally evil follower of Voldemort. He spent all of Harry's life trying to insure that Harry would live. Was he angry that Harry wasn't his own son? Yes. Did he also dislike Harry's father who was no boyscout and rather mean to Snape? Yes. Quite honestly I think James could be rather nasty as a boy at Hogwarts. The split between Lily and Snape happened as a result of James and friends doing something mean to Snape, right?
 
Plus, Snape is a spy. He can't exactly publicly embrace The Boy Who Lived, now can he?
 
Okay---that's the background. Bottom line:
 
Snape has spent 16+ years trying to protect Lily's son.
He risked horrible, horrible, torture and death on a daily basis for years to keep Harry safe.
His patronus is a what???You know what I am talking about[]
 
Snape is dying and he cannot be sure Harry will be safe. All that he has lived for, risked for, and now will die for could be lost. Has he failed?  (After all, he failed to keep Lily safe.)
 
Was it all for nothing? The answer is in Harry's eyes.
 
Call if selfish if you want but NO ONE risked more or gave up more for Harry than Snape. Living a double life he was totally alone and isolated with no one but Dumbledore knowing the truth. He had no real friends and couldn't make any real friends or have any relationships because of his dual life. Emotionally he gave up everything. We all know the physical risks of betraying Voldemort---compound that by having information Voldemort wants and the result is never-ending torture.
 
Throwing youself in front of someone to protect them and dying in a split second is brave and noble. Throwing yourself in front of someone to protect them on a daily basis is dying painfully by inches and just as brave and noble.
 
Snape didn't die in an instant like Lily and James, but when she died he gave up his life in every sense of the word.
 
So did he have the right to die looking into Harry's eyes? By saving Harry he also saved the wizardly and muggle worlds, so I think he earned it a hundred fold.

I CAN see that interpretation of it, but...

When Snape found out that Lily was marked for death, along with James and Harry, he asked Dumbledore to help. Not to save them all, but just to save Lily. Dumbledore basically told Snape that he was disgusted by this, and Snape said "fine, protect them all then"...not because he wanted them all protected, but because it was his only shot at keeping Lily alive. The only reason Snape spent all those years trying to preserve Harry's life was because he had to hold up his end of his bargain with Dumbledore..helping him in return for Dumbledore's attempts to save Lily..not because he actually cared about Harry. Of course I agree that he could not be seen to be Harry's best friend, but he was needlessly nasty to him.

I LOVE Snape as a character. He was brilliantly written...maybe the best, most "real" character in any of the books. But I do think he was selfish.

Part of the beauty of these books is that we are all going to take something different away from them. From the ending of the book, it is obvious that Harry himself forgave Snape.

ETA: I am not for a moment saying that Snape did not do the RIGHT thing. He did, of course he did...he protected Harry.....but he would not have done the right thing had it not originally been for his own self-serving motives.