OOP: Thoughts about Book 5 (SPOILERS)

[kittiesarenice]

No: HPFGUIDX 61870

I finished Book 5 in the wee hours of the morning and have been 
digesting it and reading posts throughout today. Some thoughts 
expounding on others' ideas and a few new ones of my own:

1. The Prophecy - Am I the only one that thinks that perhaps DD did 
not tell the truth? Or, if he did, that he knows more about the 
meaning of the prophecy than he let on? Sibyl's prophecy as DD 
presented it, while earthshattering at the time, has become all but 
meaningless now. 

2. The Weapon - When Harry arrives at the Ministry, noone is on 
guard (either Ministry or Order). While any guards could have been 
eliminated by DE's, perhaps the prophecy wasn't what the Order was 
protecting throughout the book hence their absence and the delay in 
their arrival.

2. Harry - His angst and anger are realistic given what he has been 
through. It doesn't excuse his behavior, but it is understandable. I 
remember 15 - it felt a lot like this. His use of the unforgivable 
curse was believable but it had me gasping out loud and in shock. I 
forsee a lot of pain for him in the coming summer as he comes to 
grip with his actions, and lack therof, and their consequences. A 
lot of what we're seeing in this book isn't an expansion of JKR's 
world, it is an expansion of Harry's worldview and his understanding 
of it.  

3. Sirius - His actions in this book are explainable either by his 
going stir crazy, being drugged by the House Elf, or just immature 
brashness - take your pick. Even if a result of being drugged, they 
were still consistent with what we've seen of him before and that 
could explain why noone else in the Order thought much about it. 

4. Snape - The group's treatment of him in the pensieve memory is 
inexcusable and more serious than most give it credit for. I can 
understand why Snape removed this memory. To those who say this 
isn't a horrible enough memory to be one of his worst, I say you are 
wrong. Public humiliation can be torment worse than a Cruciatus 
curse, and leave emotional scars that last a lifetime. Snape has 
surely seen, or even done, horrible things in his time as a DE - but 
that isn't the point - the point is the pain from Snapes POV and 
that is why he blew up at Harry. 

5. Snape/Harry - Snapes refusal to continue the lessons was wrong. 
But so was Harry's refusal to apologize. Sure, Snape is the adult 
but Harry is also old enough to know better. And it seems to me that 
Harry was looking for an excuse to skive off the lessons - and 
wasn't taking them seriously to begin with. After seeing into 
Harry's memories, Snape seems to regard Harry with more compassion 
and possibly even respect. It will be interesting to see whether 
Harry grows up enough to do the same. 

6. Ginny - Oh, Ginny! Our perceptions of her in the earlier books 
were limited. Now we get to see just what kind of woman she is 
becoming, having grown up with a dominant mother, 6 older brothers, 
and her posession by Tom Riddle. And she's impressive and demands to 
be taken seriously. I love it!

7. The Death - Sirius's death happened so suddenly, it barely had 
time to register. I think this was deliberate and was reminiscent of 
Cedric's death. I don't think we're meant to read a lot into they 
why's and wherefore's... he died because the DE's are ruthless 
murderers and neither Harry nor the Order were in a position to stop 
it. Deaths happen in war.

Ack. Now we wait for the next book. Let the fanfics and speculation 
begin!