OOP my first thoughts (SPOILERS)

[SprSun]

Everyone gets to rant a bit right?
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Harry: He was so thick and unfair to other people at times and he 
made terrible mistakes, but under the circumstances, we forgive him. 
And he's learning to be a leader.

Hermione: Love her. But was she a bit too wise? She could read 
between lines and was right about almost everything and understood 
everyone's complciated feelings as well. Take the DA group--it was 
her idea and it proved to be useful. She also worried that it might 
be reckless and that turned out to be true as well since it resulted 
in Dumbledore's leaving. But what did she write to Viktor Krum? And 
what happened to Karkaroff?

Ron: Still adorable, but I wish he could have a more significant 
role, such as the big chess he played in PS.

Sirius Black: Fortunately I'm not a huge fan of him. Always thought 
he was unfair to Snape and always annoyed that he didn't seem to 
regret setting Snape up. I feel sorry for him. He's a good man but he 
had this fatal habit of overlooking apparently insignificant 
people/creatureDIt costed him his best friend's life and it costed 
his own life. Poor padfoot. Didn't saw his death coming. Thought it 
would be Hagrid or Neville.

Remus Lupin: Too little about my favourite character, but he's 
consistently great in every scene he was in. He still had the ability 
to settle an argument. He was still good at comforting people. And he 
could still remain calm under greatest distress. It must've been 
painful to lose his best friend for a second time! His hair kept 
greying throughout the book -- if he survives book 7 his hair will be 
completely white just like Dumbledore's. We also see his flaw -- his 
fear of losing the trust and friendship of those who were important 
to him. He failed to tell Dumbledore about Sirius being animagus in 
book 3, and now we see he failed as boy to keep his friends in line 
even though he knew they were doing something wrong. He could speak 
Voldemort's name without flinch but he didn't have the courage to 
stand up to his friends -- Neville beat him in this respect. On the 
other hand, he and Dumbledore are the only two characters who calmly 
admit their mistakes. Pity his chance of getting the headmaster job 
is pretty thin.

Severus Snape: I couldn't believe that Harry and Hermione forgot that 
they could go to Snape after Harry had the dream about Sirius being 
tortured. Compared with James and Sirius, his image in OOP appears to 
be pretty decent. If only Harry could trust him a bit more! I hope he 
overcome it in the future.

James Potter: Well it's a big shock seeing him showing off and 
bullying Snape. I think we need a reconciliation, for Harry and for 
us. I don't need him to be hero figure but what was he really like? I 
wish Lupin would have a good chat with Harry in the next book.

Albus Dumbledore: Loved it when he called Voldemort Tom, loved it 
when he admitted his mistakes to Harry while retaining his dignity. 
He was terribly angry several times in the book, but didn't show much 
his sense of humour, which is a great pity. This alone is enough to 
make me consider book 5 the darkest in the series. I'm so relieved 
that he didn't die though! If he does then the next book will be too 
dark, I think. Still no hint about his famous triumphant look in GoF 
though.

Hagrid: I thought he was making a fatal mistake by bringing his half-
brother back, what with the injuries and Firenz's warning, so the 
scene of Grawp asking "Hermy" where is "Hagger" blew me away. Wonder 
how this will develop in the next book.

Percy Wesley: I can't forget his pale face when he embraced Ron in 
GoF after Ron was saved from the lake. He *has* to be spying for 
Dumbledore or something!

Aunt Petunia: She took me totally by surprise. Hope there'll be more 
about her in the next book. It seems she does want to keep her 
sister's child alive. Why was she so hostile to Harry? Was she 
jealous of her sister?

Sybill Trelawney: Never dreamed that one day she would be predicting 
Harry's long life and 12 children, LOL!

Fred and George: Always loved the twins but the quidditch practice 
where they accidentally made Katie's nosebleeding dangerously worse 
was a little shock to me. Hermione's right (again), they were a bit 
irresponsible in their actions.

Tonks/Luna Lovegood: Both characters seem a bit awkward imho. They 
were not fully developed characters but they were not merely 
background characters either. Amusing as they are, I found these two 
a bit pointless. Hopefull Rowling will develop them better in the 
next book.

Dolores Umbridge: I wish she wasn't so unredeemable. It was because 
of her that Sirius said that words of wisdom: "the world isn't split 
into good people and Death Eaters." But Umbridge is just too 
disgustingly bad to be in a grey zone. She comes out much worse than 
Fudge.

The Occlumency lesson: Did Lupin talk to Snape about his stopping the 
lesson? Why didn't Dumbledore do anything after he learned about it, 
since it's so important? Did he know that Voldemort could feed Harry 
false images and if so, why didn't he warn Harry?

The Prophecy: The part about Harry having the power to vanquish 
Valdmore is predictable. The part about only one of them can live 
wasn't a big surprise. But I didn't forsee that Neville could have 
been the chosen one, so to speak. Revealing the prophecy didn't look 
like a big deal to me, but Harry most likely didn't catch the 
significance of Dumbledore's words about Trelawney's *two* real 
predictions, so I guess it probably was a shock to him.

The Relationships: Ron and Hermione reminded Harry of the Weasleys. 
One couple seem to have been settled. And Ron wanted Ginny to date 
Harry. I guess the one-big-happy-Weasley-family theory is most likely 
to be right in the end.