HBP contest predictions

[lifeavantgarde]

No: HPFGUIDX 130882

All of the following (except for for #5!) will be defunct after 
7/16. All in good fun :o)


1. Who will be the most major character to die?
   I wish it were Hagrid (yes, I'm evil and horrible, I know), but I 
feel that there's a strong chance that it could be McGonagall (which 
will make me die). Her whole being stunned in OotP and the emphasis 
places on her age and ability to recover made me quite, quite 
nervous. The thing about Dumbledore dying is that Harry is 
ridiculously unprepared to fight right now and I hope that he'll 
take up teaching Harry occlumency and any number of other cool Jedi 
master tricks. I don't doubt him kicking it in the last book, 
however. McGonagall dying would be more of a spur to the rest of 
Hogwarts. The rest of the school doesn't have the same relationship 
with Dumbles as Harry & Co. do. Her dying would be more of a 
personal shock to students and would create a line of demarcation -- 
also, Harry has gotten by a lot of things because of her 
interference: Quidditch, the Nimbus 2000, her taking up of the Make 
Harry An Auror crusade -- how will he fare out from under her 
protective wing? Head of Gryffindor house dead, will the house 
members (and her students in other houses, for that matter) regather 
and cling closer to Harry's leadership characteristics? Will the 
Gryff/Slyth divide become more pronounced? Would Harry become even 
more distrustful of Snape? Even if that all isn't dealt with right 
away, I think that her death would be appropriately devastating and 
inciting.

2. Who is the Half-Blood Prince? (If "The Old Lion Guy," describe 
more.)
     Salazar Slytherin...maybe. There's too much that was mentioned 
in the second book that was never mentioned again, and I think (like 
many others) that the story of the founders will play a more 
important role in this book (as it does seem that it could've been 
expanded on in CoS, but was kept to basics to stick with the Chamber 
storyline)

3. What is Lily's big secret?
     That she had green contacts after all. Oh dear. This is really 
the thing I have the least inkling on. If the basin on the HBP cover 
is a pensieve, and is hers, than we're looking for something that 
she would've had in her own memories. That doesn't entirely rule out 
something about her heritage (as the memory could be someone telling 
her), but I'd venture to guess that the secret which we'll find out 
first hand from her pensieve has something to do with Halloween 1981 
at Godric's Hollow -- JKR has said that the first chapter of HBP was 
something that has been written since the beginning...I can see this 
having to do with Lily.

4. Who will be the new DADA teacher?
     Not Snape, Not McWhooziwhat...I'd love to see Bill step up, or 
Kingsley for that matter -- I want to believe that the DADA teacher 
this year will not be evil, but will, along the lines of Lupin, help 
prepare Harry for his impending battle. A seasoned Auror could teach 
him a lot...but I wouldn't put it past Dumbledore to have something 
entirely unexpected up his sleeve. (I feel like the "cursed" aura of 
the job is lessened a bit after Umbrage...granted, she probably will 
never be able to take a peaceful walk around the horse-and-buggies 
of Central Park South, but she was a terror and I can see a bit more 
of an applicant eagerness to avenge her general stupidity.)

5. With whom will Harry have a romantic relationship?
     I believe that overall in the series, Harry and Hermione will 
be together. Whether it happens in this book or the next is a damn 
fine question. The thing I feel about this book is that this is 
where Harry will undergo the "apotheosis" stage of the hero's 
journey where he must embrace something which he is not in order to 
become more complete ('divine') and thence be prepared for the final 
battle. I believe that Hermione is the compliment to his character: 
her logical/female vs. his emotional/male...they aren't opposites to 
the point where they aren't in frictional opposition, but their 
traits, when combined make for a wholeness which was foreshadowed 
with the forming and running of Dumbledore's Army. I believe that 
this book will mark the beginnings of the impetus to their 
relationship -- on the back cover of the UK HPB jacket, the boat 
seems to be banked next to a steep stone wall which I feel indicates 
the space pictured as being the inside of a cave. Apotheosis in the 
hero's journey takes place in a symbolic womb (as the hero must be 
reborn into his completeness) which is usually depicted as a deep 
water, a temple or a cave. I don't believe that Hermione will be in 
the room with Dumbledore and Harry (as it seems they are looking 
over the same basin in the US cover as is pictured in the UK), but I 
believe that the whole book will be Harry's preparation, his 
training, his becoming more complete. A burgeoning relationship with 
Hermione would fall into this theme.

6. Who will be the new Minister of Magic?
     Amelia Bones -- she's been a minor character but with just 
enough oomph to be featured (i. e. Cho in PoA, Cedric in PoA). With 
the hints we've been getting of a book which is not as dark as OotP, 
a cooperative and competent Ministry would really go a long way in 
making Harry's preparations more viable. Jo's done the 'incompetent 
government' thing in OotP; I know she's said that things will get 
worse for Harry, but I believe that those 'worse things' will be 
more personal while his public life will become more smooth.

7. What is that bowl-thing on the green U.S. HBP cover?
     Pensieve seems the logical answer, and if it is, it's Lily's. 
The canon-picker part of me wants to see it as some kind of 
receptacle for Dumbledore teaching Harry about the potent magic of 
Dragon's Blood, but I'm being rather far-fetched there.

8. Will Harry take Advanced Potions?
     Yes -- perhaps one of the last 'favors' he receives from McG? 
If he's in Advanced Potions, I would most certainly venture to guess 
that it was a push by McG.

9. Will Neville take Advanced Potions?
     Yes -- and he will have earned it on his own. I can most 
certainly see Neville blooming in this book...there area couple of 
things which could unfold in his storyline: finding out about his 
role in the prophecy, finally getting the reassurance he needs from 
a fantastic Potions O.W.L. score and doing quite well in Snape's 
class...

10. How many OWLs did Harry get?
     How many classes did he take? 9? The only OWLs I can see him 
failing are Divination, and possibly Astronomy and History of Magic 
(quite extraneous circumstances, yes?) So I'm going for at the most 
8, and at the least 6.


Predictions (0-10 points each):

1. Parseltongue will make a reappearance. We haven't seen any of it 
since the second book, and for this link between Harry and Voldemort 
to simply be used as a one-time plot point instead of being 
mentioned again is rather curious.

2. The DA will continue and the DADA professor may even be 
cooperative and help out a la Lockheart's dueling club with a lot 
less stupidity.

3. We will find out about Snape's timeline in relation to what he 
knew and when (i.e.: Did he find out that Peter was the spy while 
they were both in the Death Eater inner circles the year before the 
Potters' death (as the rest of the DEs in Azkaban did)? If so, why 
did he implicate Sirius in the Shrieking shack?)

4. Hogwarts function as a place of refuge will be made clear 
(Dumbledore hires Trelawney right after she makes the prophecy; 
Dumbledore hires Snape roundabouts the time he was revealed as a spy 
at Karkaroff's trial; Dumbledore hires Firenze after he is shunned 
to the point of threatened death by the other centaurs...)

5. Harry will not grieve over Sirius in the beginning of the book, 
but will be too busy (shortest stay at Privet Drive) to actually 
mourn for him, and will at some lull in action be very forcefully 
confronted with his grief.


Longwindedly,
Stefanie