HP fans are so smart!!! + tidbits that went nowhere + dead basilisk

[allies426]

No: HPFGUIDX 174174

Now that it's all over, I just wanted to congratulate everyone.  The 
Harry Potter fan base is incredibly impressive in its sleuthing 
abilities.  I guess it's just because we obssessively read and 
rearead and nitpick the series, but so many key points were actually 
suspected by fans that it actually took something away from my 
enjoyment of the last book.  (Since very little came as a surprise, 
more like a confirmation of what people were suspecting.)

To name the pre-suspected details that I can remember (and please 
add to the list if anyone thinks of more):

- the barman at the Hog's Head is Dumbledore's brother (JKR had 
confirmed this prior)
- Harry is a Horcrux (some people went as far as to say that it was 
accidental!)
- Snape loved Lily
- Snape's Worst Memory was "the worst" because he called Lily Evans 
a Mudblood
- RAB = Regulus Black (this is the only one that I got on my own, 
lol)
- Kreacher and Regulus went to the cave and stole the real horcrux 
locket
- THE locket was the one they found in 12 GP when they were cleaning 
it out
- Mundungus stole the locket from 12 GP
- Snape is DD's man
- DD was dying from the curse on the ring
- DD planned his own death with Snape
- the last horcrux is the tiara that Harry placed on top of the bust 
in the Room of Requirement when he was hiding his potions book 
there, it belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw (HOW anybody figured that one 
out is beyond me)

Little clues and things that didn't amount to anything more:

- Neville's Mimbulus Mimbeltonia (I really thought this was going 
somewhere)
- Socks
- Clocks
- Time Turners
- Trevor's frequent bids for freedom


And as an aside, since I don't think it merits an entire post, was 
anyone else disgusted that there has been a dead basilisk rotting in 
the Chamber of Secrets for the last 5 years?  Dumbledore didn't see 
fit to clean it up?  (Maybe he knew that Harry & co. would need the 
venom to destroy the Horcruxes five years later
)

Allie