Hermione's career (will she survive?)

[Richard]

No: HPFGUIDX 81033

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, udder_pen_dragon <udderpd at y...> 
wrote:
> <snip>
> I have snipped everything because I am far from certain
> that she will survive book 7.
> <snip>

to which I (Richard) reply:

JKR has repeatedly stated that Hermione is based upon HER, which 
makes me really wonder if JKR will be ... or ever has been ... 
willing to kill a character that isn't just nearest her heart, but in 
a real sense IS her heart.  True, JKR has said that the deaths will 
continue, and that there is a death in the future that will REALLY 
make her cry, while she writes it, but there are several other 
characters that are near and dear to her, including Dumbledore, 
Hagrid, Ron and (of course) Harry, among others.  (I suspect she has 
a special place in her heart for McGonagall, too.)

My top candidate for closest dead friend is Ron, not Hermione.  As 
things stand, it would hit Harry harder to see RON dead than 
Hermione.  Remember, in one passage of OotP, when Harry is worrying 
about who might get killed, he thinks first of Ron, then Hermione.  
Time and hormones might well change that order, but for now, it is 
Ron that I am more concerned about.

As for your belief that Harry cannot survive facing Voldemort alone, 
you have a canonical problem.  He already HAS faced Voldemort alone, 
and lived to tell the tale, or (in the case of the Godric's Hollow 
encounter) have others tell him something of it.  Further, we know 
from the prophecy that he has the power to vanquish Voldemort.  
Whether he does in fact face Voldemort alone in their final encounter 
is an open question, at least until JKR tells us about it, but saying 
that Harry CANNOT face Voldemort alone and survive misses much.  The 
question is really one of circumstance.

It is interesting to note that Harry has faced the AK curse several 
times, now, and none of them have killed him.  The reasons for this 
are several.  We still don't have the definitive tale of what 
happened at Godric's Hollow, but Lucius Malfoy tried to use it on him 
in the CoS movie, being interupted by Dobby.  Voldemort has taken two 
other shots at him that I can think of, one in the graveyard in GoF, 
and one in the Battle of the Ministry in OotP.  In the former, he 
avoided it by leaving, and in the other a statue took the shot.  All 
this leaves open a very interesting question: will ANY AK curse work 
on Harry, particularly one from Voldemort?  I suspect yes, but there 
may be a reason why JKR has all these potshots being taken at 
Harry ... and missing.  We may be being set up for the big duel, when 
we find out that, thanks to Harry's power (that LV knows not), his 
mother's sacrifice, or whatever, that Harry is IMMUNE to the AK.  
This would certainly set Voldemort back on his heels in shock, giving 
Harry a beautiful opportunity to return the favor ... or curse, in 
this case.