HBP: My thoughts *SPOILERS*

[ericoppen]

No: HPFGUIDX 133402

So much to take in...and so much activity on the group!  Who'd'a 
thunk it?  *grin*

One thing I will say I really liked was how Fleur, toward the end, 
reared up righteous and gave Molly Weasley a quick talking-to.  I 
mean, I can understand how other women resent Veelas and their effect 
on men, but of all the people to accuse of being primarily interested 
in their partner's looks, a part-Veela would have to be LAST on the 
list!  Fleur, of all people, would have to be well aware that looks 
have little to do with the person inside!  While Fleur wasn't 
perfect, if I'd brought my intended home and my mom and sis were as 
rude to or about her as the Weasley womenfolk were, There Would Be 
Words.  

Snape struck me as being like some of the great Irish heroes, caught 
in conflicting _geasa_ and destroyed.  The Unbreakable Oath sounds 
very like a voluntarily-entered-into _geas_ to me, and if D'dore had 
already extracted an Oath from him to "protect your cover, no matter 
what," and then "Cissy" extracts another Oath from him, the two Oaths 
might have forced him to AK D'dore even if he really, really didn't 
want to do it.

As for D'dore's appearance post-mortem, I've seen pictures of people 
who've had fatal falls from great heights.  Even if falling from far 
higher up than the tower, often the only sign of the fall is that 
limbs are at unnatural angles---there's very little blood to be seen.

Being devoutly ship-agnostic and Along For The Ride, I wasn't as 
disappointed with the book as some folks I know were who had huge 
amounts of emotional energy invested in, shall we say, non-orthodox 
interpretations.  

--Eric Oppen, who would have loved more Luna and was surprised that 
the DA didn't continue.