Wasn't Anyone Else Disappointed? / Occlumency question.

[Auria]

No: HPFGUIDX 133855

Richard Jones:
> Maybe it's just postpartum depression after all the wait, but I 
> thought HBP was disappointing.  It lacked the imagination of the 
> earlier books.
 <big snip>
> All this does not bode well for what we can expect in Book 7.  I, of 
> course, still look forward to Book 7, but not with the excitement I 
> had anticipated before reading HBP.  I'll reread it next month and 
> maybe my opinion will change.
> 



Hey Richard, I have to half agree with you.  I say half because 
although I did have some disappointment with this book (which I will 
go into later) I still absolutely thoroughly enjoyed reading it.  
There were a number of things which made me laugh (the wine glasses 
hitting the Dursleys over the head for one; Luna Lovegood's 
commentary another, plus many more) and it was good to get more 
background info on LV.

But some things I felt JK Rowling didn't make the most of.  Rufus 
Scrimgeour - what was the point of introducing him?  From the initial 
discription of his appearance it seemed that he might deliver where 
Fudge had failed.  Yet apart from two attempts to persuade Harry to 
support the Ministry, nothing else involving him occurred.  Seems a 
waste of a potentially interesting character.  Being a former auror 
he surely would have been far more active in fighting LV and the 
DEs?  Oh well, maybe he plays a bigger part in book 7.  And after all 
the intrigue around Draco Malfoy's secret mission and the identity of 
the Half-blood prince, it lacked the final clever plot twists that 
were so grippingly good in the earlier books.

One thing that really didn't make sense to me was how come after LV 
discovered at the end of book 5 that Harry was linked to his mind 
through his scar,LV didn't continue to take advantage of this?  Harry 
didn't manage to learn Occlumency very well so was still vulnerable.  
So why didn't LV continue to attempt to use this or trick Harry again 
via the power of the mind? And how come Harry's scar didn't hurt any 
more?  I was a bit disappointed that LV didn't even make an 
appearance in HBP (apart from all the memories in the pensieve that 
is.

Also, we didn't get to find out any more about Neville's mother and 
the gum wrappers....is this just a red herring or again saved up for 
book 7?  And what about Aunt Petunia?  I'm sure JKR mentioned 
something in an interview that there is more to Aunt Petunia - but 
not much more was said in HBP.  

I don't want to sound all negative and I say again that I LOVED 
reading it!  But it left me not only feeling very sad and depressed 
about Dumbledore's fate, but with a slight frustration that this book 
didn't quite live up to its full potential.

Rita