First impressions

[k12listmomma]

No: HPFGUIDX 172358

The epilogue was too shallow. The kids we grew up with, sure we knew they 
would all have kids, but that's not whom we wanted to know about, really. We 
wanted to know the bigger picture- how the Wizarding world had changed, what 
kind of jobs they ended up having. I wanted to see the larger picture- 
redemption and change and rebuilding. You can tell that was the chapter that 
was written all those many years ago, and frankly, I would have rather 
Rowling tossed it out and wrote a new one in her mature writing style that 
fit the rest of this book, and with the expectations of all the fans in 
mind.

The scenes I loved:
- The teacher's revenge- Trelawney throwing Crystal Balls and Sprout with 
the Mandrakes (two things I hope they keep in for the medium which shall not 
be named, just because they were such great visual images)
- Harry's admonitions to Ron and Hermione to "break it up" because there was 
a war going on.
- Kreacher beating up Mungdungus with a sauce pan.
- Neville's brilliance with the Room of Requirement, and his later courage 
with Nagini
- Molly's great line to Bellatrix. It was wonderful to see her go off on 
someone other than her own children.

Scenes I hated:
- The death of Hegwig just cut to my soul. One, because she was so innocent, 
and two, because I knew if Rowling could kill off her, she could kill off 
anyone. From that moment in my mind, no character was safe, and it 
frightened me. I thought for sure Hagrid was dead, and later, Hermione. Even 
at the scene with Molly, I thought she would get off her one kill and then 
herself be slain. I knew Lupin would die, yet I never expected Tonks too, 
considering the recent birth of their son.
- The naming of Albus Severus- after the two best headmasters- and Severus, 
the bravest man he had ever known? PLEASE! I just find that passage really 
hard to believe, like there are obvious things missing that should have 
helped us to see that Snape was something other than this love-sick teenager 
who never moved on from his first crush (but never had the balls to change 
one iota about his life to go get her!) and who couldn't see Harry for 
anything other than James whom he hated. We have to accept that this man 
didn't grow up, yet was this wonderful sacrificer that Albus put his full 
trust in??? It's just really a leap to me to see how Snape goes from this 
awful git who abuses Harry at every moment to someone that Harry is drooling 
over with respect. Rowling must think that those of us who were not 
Snape-Lilly shippers would just hit our heads on a rock and get amnesia over 
everything bad we've ever read about Snape. There is a transition missing 
there. He was a terrible headmaster. Snape's memories, handed to Harry with 
his last breath, were not enough. I could not forgive him, let alone worship 
the man enough to name a son of mine after him.
- Ron is just able to pick up a word of Parceltongue all on his own? It 
doesn't make sence- the Chamber was only supposed to open for the "heir", 
and it was piece of the "Harry is a horcrux" theory, because while a part of 
LV's soul was part of Harry, the Chamber would recognize that part. If was 
just Parceltongue, then surely Dumbledore or Crouch Sr with their gift of 
languages would have found it in Book 2, especially since Dumbledore 
actively searched for it.

Shelley