Past and future speculations -- and a bug

[starbug_56]

No: HPFGUIDX 43435

Disclaimer:  I'm new here and haven't read all 2 years of 
messages :-), but have read the last several weeks' messages 
before posting for the first time, so please forgive me if any of my 
speculations on the past or future of the characters are already 
old hat.

First, my speculations on the past:

*  James Potter's ancient (?) wizarding family will turn out to have 
been descended from both the Gryffindors and the Slytherins.  
I'm fairly convinced he shared not-too-distant ancestry with Tom 
Riddle (another possible explanation for Harry's being a 
Parselmouth, aside from Dumbledore's explanation that he may 
have acquired some of Voldemort's power when he survived the 
killing curse).

*  Some of the Slyther-ier members of the Potter family may not 
have been happy about a match between James and the 
Muggle-born Lily, and were a factor in their being targeted by 
Voldemort.

*  Alternatively, perhaps the Slytherin/Riddle descent is on Lily's 
side, and her family consisted of both wizards and Muggles.  
Perhaps her real "strangeness" within the family was not that 
she was a witch but that she was reputed to be kind.  After all, we 
don't know *why* her parents were so happy to have a witch for a 
daughter.  (Yeeeeshh, Petunia, Toon or not, has the personality 
of a Death Eater.  She chose a cruel husband and raised a cruel 
son, and was clearly jealous of Lily.  The Dursleys may be 
Muggles, but money is their Voldemort.)

And, my speculations on the future:

*  If a Weasley is slated to die before this is all over, my bet 
would be that it's Molly.   She's one of my favorite characters -- 
well, next to Fred and George -- so I really hope they all survive, 
but Molly would clearly risk anything to protect her children, and 
she's all but adopted Harry as one of her sons anyway.

*  Other characters who might die?  Well, Neville, Cho, either of 
the Creevey brothers (whose roles I think will grow), and for 
some reason Draco Malfoy come to mind, in what I think is a 
decreasing order of likelihood.  Neville has moments of 
surprising bravery, and I could see him taking great risks to 
protect his friends and avenge his parents' torture.  Draco Malfoy, 
on the other hand, might just become a victim of his own 
impulsive cruelty, whether he's truly evil or just a bullying 
windbag.

*  I don't see JKR killing off Harry.  I've wondered if his destiny
is to become a professor at Hogwarts (perhaps they'll finally get 
that long-term committment from a Defense Against the Dark 
Arts teacher?)

*  I'd love to see more of  -- don't laugh -- Gilderoy Lockhart, and
I won't be a bit surprised if he turns up in the future, as comic 
relief if nothing else.  

And, as for the bug:  Fie on Mary Grandpre for illustrating Rita 
Skeeter as a beetle with *eight* legs (in the last chapter of GOF), 
unless it was a deliberate, sly dig at Rita's competence as an 
Animagus, or Animaga as the case may be.  (I'm an entomology 
geek in real life; I'll suspend my disbelief in magic all right, but 
not my pickiness about insect anatomy!)  :-)

Julie 
(starbug_56)