My last-minute predictions and hopes

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 172123

Having just read my own response to Miss Vassy, I realize that I'm
currently incapable of composing a coherent counterargument. (My
apologies to anyone who was confused by that post!) 

So instead, I'm just going to list what I think happened and/or will
happen, just to have a record of what I believe in case I'm right on
even one point. I'm not supplying canonical evidence, just pure
opinion on all counts.

Godric's Hollow and Horcruxes:
No one was present with Voldemort except Wormtail watching the action
in rat form (which explains why James didn't see him and how he could
return Voldemort's wand. Voldemort's "Stand aside, silly girl" had
nothing to do with Snape and everything to do with his desire to
murder Harry and only Harry. He did not have an object with him that
he intended to make into a Horcrux; the soul bit from murdering Harry
would have been reserved for the Sword of Gryffindor, which he
intended to steal after having murdered Harry and becoming, in his own
mind, invincible. DD would be killed after the sword was made into a
Horcrux. His soul bit, however significant, would have been
superfluous as LV would have his quota of six Horcruxes (with the
seventh bit in himself as the main soul anchored by the soul bits).

Neither Harry nor his scar is a Horcrux. Voldemort wanted him dead and
would have used the soul bit to create a final Horcrux, but he didn't
have the object yet and the spell was never cast. Harry has some of
Voldemort's powers in his scar (which was created by the AK bursting
outward thanks to Lily's accidental Love magic) but not a soul bit.
(One of those powers is probably possession, which Harry may discover
and use against LV in DH.) Nagini is a Horcrux and will be the last to
be destroyed (with the Sword of Gryffindor) before the final
confrontation with Voldemort.

Snape (who is DDM!) was not present at Godric's Hollow because he was
at Hogwarts. He rushed to inform DD that his Dark Mark was fading just
at the point when Dumbledore, alerted to the Potters' danger by the
broken Fidelius Charm (he remembered where the Potters were hiding)
realized with the aid of the silver instruments in his office that
they were dead. DD sent Snape to tell Hagrid to hurry to Godric's
Hollow (or help him get there using side-along Apparition) and then
Snape returned to DD to help him prepare the blood protection and
possibly some other protective charm or potion that we'll learn about
later. We'll find out about all this through Hagrid or a Pensieve
memory in relation to the Missing 24 hours.) The Fidelius Charm was
broken when Peter broke faith with the Potters and betrayed their
hiding place to the Dark wizard they were hiding from.

Dumbledore and Snape:
Dumbledore, having defeated Grindelwald by destroying his Horcrux in
1945, suspected long before CoS that Riddle/Voldemort was making
Horcruxes. Riddle/Voldemort's changed appearance during the DADA
interview confirmed this opinion, as did the murder of Hepzibah Smith
and the theft of the locket and cup. DD had begun collecting memories
related to his murders before the death of Morfin Gaunt. The theft of
the ring in connection with the cup/locket theft led him to believe
that all three had been made into Horcruxes. The action of the diary
and its destruction confirmed the multiple-Horcrux theory but DD still
did not know how many Horcruxes there were, which is why he wanted
Slughorn's memory. (BTW, I don't think Tom Riddle knew how to create a
Horcrux at that point. The diary, though "written" with the memories
embedded in it to prove that he was the Heir of Slytherin, was not yet
a Horcrux.)

Dumbledore has a true "ironclad" reason to trust Snape (not an
Unbreakable Vow, which DD would never perform) and has trusted him
with more information than any other Order member or colleague (he
wasn't a member of the first Order; he worked for DD along). He either
knew or suspected the existence of LV's Horcruxes from GH forward and
he knew when he "stoppered" the ring Horcrux curse that the ring was a
Horcrux. I predict that he'll help Harry find and destroy at least one
Horcrux (though Harry may not know that it's him). He has been working
since SS/PS to protect Harry and killed DD on DD's orders or at his
request. (See my multitudinous earlier posts on this topic.)

Dumbledore knew that he was dying as a result of the Ring Horcurx
curse, which could only be slowed, not cured. He planned to give Snape
the DADA post even before Snape told him about the UV (all three
provisions) for a variety of reasons that I've already specified. (He
intended for Slughorn to take Snape's place as both Potions Master
and, after the DADA curse struck, HoH of Slytherin.) The argument in
the forest involved Snape's willingness to kill DD if the
circumstances they were both working to prevent fell into place. "You
take too much for granted, Dumbledore" means that DD thought they
could prevent DEs from getting into Hogwarts to back up Draco or
something of that sort. Snape didn't want to kill DD; DD said that he
had promised and must go through with it if they could not protect
Draco any other way.

Predictions:
Harry will forgive Snape and Snape will either be exonerated or given
a light sentence such as charity work for St. Mungo's. He will have
the chance to do the research he's so intellectually and magically
qualified to do, either as a textbook writer or an Unspeakable. He
will not return to Hogwarts as either a teacher or headmaster, but he
will live. If he's still infamous, he'll shrug it off, caring only
about his research. Maybe, just maybe, he'll get an Order of Merlin
for saving Harry from the DEs and getting them out of Hogwarts (or
some more conspicuous act of bravery in DH). Okay, that part is
wishful thinking.

HRH will survive. Harry and Ron will go back to school after the
defeat of LV and become Aurors. Hermione will have already completed
school (as Head Girl) and will become Head of the Department for the
Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, instituting all sorts of
liberal reforms (hopefully taking the house-elves feelings into
account rather than freeing them against their will). Ron and Hermione
will marry but wait to have children (probably only one), and despite
their contrasting personalities will be happy. Harry will marry Ginny
but will not have twelve children or become Minister for Magic (I
hope). He will lose only the powers in his scar and retain those he
was born with. He and Ron will bore Hermione to tears discussing
Quidditch but will not play professionally.

Neville will also survive and become (yeah, I know it's boring) the
new Herbology teacher, Professor Sprout having been killed in the
Battle of Hogwarts.

Wishful thinking: No Weasley will die and Percy will be reconciled to
his family after saving Ron from, erm, Rufus Scrimgeour? Seriously, I
hope all the Weasleys will survive but fear that at least one will die
as foreshadowed by Mrs. W's Boggart and the Weasley clock (which is a
*grandfather clock* and could not have been carried around by Molly
easley in her laundry basket, and what's the point of doing so if all
the hands are already pointing to Mortal Peril)?

Carol, who thought that this would be a short post and has knots in
her stomach worrying that what she'll find in DH will not at all
resemble what she anticipates and hopes for