loose ends to tie up in HP 7

[oiboyz]

No: HPFGUIDX 136403

I think a big loose end is the room of Requirement-- how does it work 
and why couldn't Harry always get in?  JKR spent a lot of page time 
on this in Book 6 and never resolved it.  Malfoy's Vanishing Cabinet 
was in the same storeroom where Harry put the Prince's textbook and 
where Trelawny wanted to hide her sherry bottles.  They all visited 
the same place, but they could only find it when they wanted the room 
for its own sake.  Harry couldn't find it by asking to go where 
Malfoy had been or see what Malfoy had been doing, and he couldn't 
get in while Malfoy was already in there.  But *Trelawny* could walk 
right in on Malfoy when she needed the place for other purposes, and 
wasn't just trying to catch him.

This is the Mirror of Erised concept again.  The way the magical 
object performs depends not on what you want it to do or on how 
powerful you are, but on your intentions.  That's why Harry was able 
to beat Voldie way back in Book 1, and we're about to come full 
circle.  Check out this quote from the end of the "Horcruxes" chapter:

'You are protected, in short, by your ability to love!' said 
Dumbledore loudly.  'The only protection that can possibly work 
against the lure of power like Voldemort's!  In spite of all the 
temptation you have endured, all the suffering, you remain pure of 
heart, just as pure as you were at the age of eleven, when you stared 
into a mirror that reflected your heart's desire, and it showed you 
only the way to thwart Lord Voldemort, and not immortality or 
riches.  Harry, have you any idea how few wizards could have seen 
what you saw in that mirror?  Voldemort should have known then what 
he was dealing with, but he did not!'

I can already see it coming-- the climactic battle at Hogwarts 
between Harry and Voldemort (and the Order and the Death Eaters) in 
which all the magical objects and quirky properties of Hogwarts that 
we've learned about in the first six books will come into play.  
Dumbledore talked about Voldemort's attatchment to Hogwarts, 
that "stronghold of ancient magic", and of course Harry is attatched 
to the place too, so it's reasonable that they'd both choose to make 
their stands there.  And though Harry can't even begin to match 
Voldie's power in the magic arts, I bet he knows even more than 
Voldie about Hogwarts, after years of exploring, mischief-making and 
using the Map.  That will be one advantage Harry has over LV, and 
another will be his purity of intention, which will make objects like 
the Room of Requirement and the Mirror work for Harry and against 
Voldemort.  Harry's going to kick some serious Dark Lord butt and I 
can't wait to read it!

   -oiboyz