Percy instead of Fred

[hickengruendler]

No: HPFGUIDX 175233

JennyPenny:
 
> Percy should have been the one who died not Fred. Reason being, 
Percy had only recently made ammends with the Weasleys and was 
forgiven. His death would have been the ultimate sacrifice for his 
years of traitorous abandonment.

Hickengruendler:

IMO, Fred is just the right victim, if any of the Weasleys has to die 
at all. What would be the point in killing of Percy, other than half 
(or maybe more) of the readership saying: "Yeah, that's what he 
deserves". I always rather liked Percy, but he is not very beloved 
among the fans, and in the last two books (prior to DH, I mean), he 
was portrayed mostly in a negative light, so his death would not have 
much impact. On the other hand, he hasn't done anything truly evil, 
like Voldemort or Bellatrix, so that one could feel some real 
satisfaction about his death. IMO, killing off Percy would have been 
a pretty easy way out for JKR and not achieving much, killing one of 
the Twins is a much more daring move. And for me, it was a pretty 
logical end to the end. I can not give any specific reasonings for 
this, except that I was emotionally satisfied with the end of the 
Weasley-rift storyline, in a way that I was not with all of the 
subplots, (even though I really liked this book generally). But I 
also would have found Percy's death (especially in a sacrifical 
manner) more cliché than anything else. People often say, that JKR 
uses many clichés, and she probably does, yet when she goes against 
the clichés (for example in not having Percy or Snape die trying to 
save a Weasley or, in Snape's case, Harry, many fans seem 
dissatisfied as well).  
 
JennyPenny:
 
> Neville should have been the auror NOT Harry because it truly would 
have shown the depths or rather leaps and bounds Neville made as he 
grew into a fine young wizard. His parents were aurors and Neville 
never thought he measured up but he did didnt he!?

Hickengruendler:

And he found a very well respected job in the biggest Wizarding 
School of the country. Neville is my favourite character, and I was a 
bit afraid, what she was going to do with him. And I really liked it 
in the end, mostly because we don't see Neville doing any spectacular 
bits of magic. He got better than he was in the first books, of 
course, but in the end he succeeded not because of any magical 
abilities, but because of his ability not to give up and continue to 
fight, even when everything seems hopeless. This is how he stood up 
against the Carrows and this is, why he had the opportunity to kill 
Nagini in the end. In fact, I think the only time, when he is 
mentioned doing some actual magic in the book, is when he defeated 
Greyback, together with Ron. (At least I assume "floored" meant they 
used the STunning Spell, or something similar.) And in this regards, 
I find it fitting, that Neville found his own place, and did not go 
the same professional route as his parents, but instead ended up 
teaching the only subject, he was said to be good at since 
Philosopher's Stone.  

I snipped the next three examples (about the Trio's careers), because 
I generally find "Character X should have ended up like this instead 
of that" to be a rather problematic argument. All that it means is, 
that your opinion differs from JKR's, but that does not make any 
opinion less valid, nor does it make the books weaker fron any 
objective point of view. 

JennyPenny: 

> Draco...I was dismally disappointed that Draco did not commit some 
unfathomable act in his father's eyes that helped the trio out in 
their moment of need. He did help and I won't point out all the 
examples because you all know but it wasn't direct enough for me. 

Hickengruendler:

Yes, that is discussed here a lot, less about Draco's redemption as 
an individual, but more about how much she succeeded showing good 
sides of Slytherin house in general. I *mostly* liked Draco's 
characterisation in Deathly Hallows. I thought it was pretty 
realistic, and it also was the first time since Philosopher's Stone, 
where I found him all in all sympathetic. But I, too, thought after 
HBP, that she went a step further in redeeming him. Nonetheless, the 
only scene, that I did not understand at all, is why he cornered 
Harry in the RoR. Both his behaviour in Malfoy Manor and his reaction 
towards Crabbe and Goyle seem to indicate, that he did not want the 
Trio back. So why stay back to hand them to Voldemort? Was it merely 
a Pretext, so that he didn't have to join Voldemort, and did he 
think, he could convince Crabbe and Goyle to lay off of Harry pretty 
soon? I'm not sure, but I do find this one of the moments, where JKR 
sacrificed character development a bit for plot development. She 
needed the Malfoy Trio to be there, so they were, ignoring a bit how 
Draco was potrayed prior to this scene in this book and also 
afterwards.