HP Conventional Wisdom Watch, HBP Edition

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 139339

Okay, it is time for the fabulous, the expected, the awaited, first 
post-HBP HP Conventional Wisdom Watch!  As always this is a 
compendium of my observations from several boards, not just HPfGU.  
Also, as I can't do nifty arrows a la NEWSWEEK, I'll 
use "Rising," "Falling," and "Mixed."

HARRY POTTER - Rising.  What can I say, he's the Hero and it's almost 
time for his Big Moment.  Things now are moving swiftly forward 
toward the triumph, however that will be managed.  The only question 
is whether Harry will live to join the celebration.

ALBUS DUMBLEDORE - Falling.  I know some don't think he's dead, but 
frankly, I think he's as non-living as the proverbial door nail.

SEVERUS SNAPE - Falling.  I know, I know, it obviously should be 
Mixed.  But the fact is that Severus almost certainly sealed his fate 
on the Astronomy Tower.  As Gilbert and Sullivan would say "His Doom 
is Nigh, His Bell has rung."  Whether good, evil, or somewhere in 
between, even Guido and his leg breakers in the back alley won't give 
odds on Severus still being on stage when the curtain comes down.

DRACO MALFOY - Rising.  Who knew the kid had it in him?  He actually 
managed 2 and 1/2 dimensions in HBP.  Whatever he manages in the last 
book, he's already overcome expectations.

RON WEASLEY - Falling.  Great expectations for his blossoming met 
mostly disappointment in HBP.  Instead of the great strategist and 
possible Head Boy many had predicted, he receded once again well into 
Harry's lengthening shadow, settling comfortably back into the role 
of loyal, lovable, funny but not terribly competent sidekick.

HERMIONE GRANGER - Falling.  SPEW was forgotten and her intellectual 
skills mostly seemed to find vent in unattractive, if amusing, 
jealousy.  Loyal and loving as always, and not the shrill nag of 
OOTP, but also manifesting a widening streak of hypocrisy as she 
complained about Harry's potions book while confounding Ron's rivals.

GINNY WEASLEY - Rising.  Let's see a show of hands of those who think 
that she and Harry are through.  I thought so.  Little Ginny seems 
sure to play a major role in the final book, although what particular 
role is yet to be determined.  Whatever one thinks about the JKR's 
skill in developing her character, she seems to be fearlessly 
stationed at Harry's "side" against all comers, including even the 
formidable Hermione Granger.

NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM - Falling.  The Boy Who Might Have Been continued 
to be just that, in almost every particular.

LUNA LOVEGOOD - Mixed.  She was not present as much as many had hoped 
and predicted, but her appearances made up in quality what was absent 
in quantity.

REMUS LUPIN - Falling.  Unfortunately, all of Remus' bad traits have 
been on display the last two books as he cruised through two years as 
a poster boy for passivity and emotional repression then lapsed into 
near-hysteria.  One hopes the last book will give him a chance to 
display his strengths once again.

NYMPHADORA TONKS - Falling.  From a confident, competent, if somewhat 
clumsy Auror, she lapsed into a mousy-haired, love-lorn romance-novel 
cliche incapable even of dealing effectively with standard Snape 
nastiness.  Like Remus, let us hope her strengths return in the last 
book.

PERCY WEASLEY - Falling.  Poor Percy, he just can't seem to do 
anything right.  Let's hope mashed tubers are the bottom floor of his 
humiliations.

LUCIUS MALFOY - Falling. Most had confidently expected him to be out 
of Azkaban early in the sixth book.  I hope he has a harmonica to 
pass the time.

NARCISSA MALFOY - Rising.  So, Cissa has a spine, does she?  And 
those baby blues seem to have quite an effect on a certain potions 
teacher.

BELLATRIX LESTRANGE - Falling.  Poor Bella.  She would do better if 
she could just keep her mouth shut.  First it's baby talk at the 
Ministry, then she turns into a verbal punching bag for Snape.  Sigh.

VOLDEMORT - Falling.  Voldy, Voldy, Voldy.  How incompetent are you, 
let me count the ways.  You have evidence that Harry Potter's mind is 
open to you, and he isn't learning Occlumency.  So you just 
say, "That love hurts!" and forget the whole thing.  You have a tool 
at hand in Draco Malfoy, and so rather than have him try and kill 
Potter, which might have worked well, you waste his action by hurling 
him against Dumbledore and thus lose your spy inside Hogwarts.  Well, 
what can you expect from the degenerate and genetically evil progeny 
of a poisoned and inbred bloodline?


Lupinlore