So much for spoilers

[Devika]

No: HPFGUIDX 56013

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Dicentra spectabilis" 
<dicentra at x> wrote:
> I found this on Book Magazine online
> (http://www.bookmagazine.com/archive/issue10/potter.shtml)
> 
> It was written in May/June 2000, right before the release of GoF.  
At
> the end of the article there are a bunch of "spoilers."  Check 
these out:
 
 
Me:
This is great!  I've always thought that we should make a record of 
all of the rumors and serious speculation about OoP so that we can 
check it afterwards to see how much of it actually came true the way 
we thought it would.  At the very least, I think it would be 
entertaining.  I had forgotten a lot of the speculation for GoF, so 
I'm glad you found this.


><snip> 
> * Harry turns fourteen, and the Hogwarts pupils begin to notice the
> opposite sex, as hormones kick in. J.K. Rowling wants it to be true 
to
> life, so they all fall in love with the wrong people. Harry will not
> date either Hermione or Ginny though.
> 
> I guess this is true enough, but does this apply only to GoF or to 
the
> whole series?  Is this the demise of H/H and H/G?
>

Me:
I'm not even going to go there.  No SHIPs for me, thank you very 
much.  I'm keeping my feet firmly planted on dry land :)

 
<snip some more> 
> * The first truly evil female character makes her debut.
> 
> Would this be Rita Skeeter?  She's a pain in the anatomy, but "truly
> evil"?  I don't think so, unless we're going to find out more later.

Me:
I remember this clue.  After reading GoF, I thought it was the woman 
in the Pensieve.  Many list members seem to think that she is Mrs. 
Lestrange, and I see no reason why that can't be true.  I'm not so 
sure Rita is truly evil, but we'll see what she does with the juicy 
information she has after the end of GoF.  I shudder to think of 
it...Rita definitely makes me nervous, even if she isn't evil.
 
> 
<snip>
> 
> * There will be a number of deaths, including that of one character
> readers have grown to love. Rowling has said Voldemort will be shown
> not as a mere pantomime villain, but as a truly evil entity. Only by
> the killing of someone that readers care about, she says, does one 
get
> a sense of how evil it is to extinguish a human life.
> 
> Cedric Diggory was a decent enough fellow, but someone readers have
> grown to love?  Hardly.  And "a number of deaths"?  We had Cedric's
> and Crouch Sr's.  As far as Voldemort not being a mere pantomime
> villian in GoF, the jury is still out on that.
> 

Me:
I'm pretty sure Cedric was the character mentioned here.  We may not 
have loved him, but we were at least a bit upset that he died (at 
least I was), and I seem to remember JKR saying that it was the way 
he died that really showed just how evil Voldemort was.  He had no 
regard whatsoever for Cedric's life.  To Voldemort, poor Cedric was 
just a "spare" that had to be eliminated.
As for the "number of deaths," I agree with the person who mentioned 
Frank Bryce and Bertha Jorkins, as well as Crouch Sr.

 
> * Harry is in contact with Sirius Black.
> 
> True.
> 

Me:
<vbg>  Hopefully he has even more contact with Sirius in OoP, i.e. 
hopefully Sirius gets more page time :)

<snip> 
> 
> * We learn why Voldemort is who he is . . .
> 
> Not really.  We learn what happened to Voldemort post-Harry and how 
he
> got back into his body.
> 

Me:
We sort of hear about Voldemort's childhood.  That doesn't exactly 
explain why Voldemort is who he is, but it at least gives us some 
more information about him.

> * The book's ending will be very frightening indeed. 
> 
> Not as frightening as the Yule Ball. :D
>

Me: 
I did find the end of the book rather frightening.  I can't wait for 
the next one!  It is supposed to be much darker...



> So you see, whatever spoilers we've read so far about OoP might or
> might not be true, or at least not true in the way we might imagine.
> 

Me:
Very true.  That's why I think we should keep track of what we 
thought would be in future books, not only OoP.  Just so we can all 
gloat (or laugh at ourselves) later. 


> --Dicentra, who hopes that all the predictions, spoilers, and
> speculations are dead wrong.  Just for fun.

Me:
Well, I wouldn't mind if some of the SHIPs were proven wrong...oops, 
I've gotten my feet wet.  I'm going back to shore ;)
As for the rest of it, anyway, I would just like to be able to go 
back to it after reading OoP and think about how funny it was that I 
completely misinterpreted the spoilers we have now.  It is more fun 
to be surprised, after all.

Devika, who is reaching the end of the semester and will soon have 
more time to reread HP for the umpteenth time :)