Deathly Hallows thoughts etc.

[elync64]

No: HPFGUIDX 172795

Lyn:
Wow, so many posts to catch up on - just going to throw some brief
snips of several out there with replies for now and hope they are not
too repetitive of things that I missed or have not caught up on yet.

First off, I really enjoyed DH, no, it's not perfect, but it was a
jolly good ride. :)

Geoff Bannister wrote: "We lost a lot of good people... I wonder
whose loss affected you most?"

Lyn:
For me, it was Dobby, partly because I was always fond of Dobby, and
also because it happened at a point in the story where it was
possible for the other characters (and the readers) to dwell on it
more. Digging the grave, the funeral - putting clothes on him for
burial, *sniff* - the epitaph... I found that all very moving. That
was the first time I cried reading the book. And I'm sure having just
watched CoS earlier that morning was a factor too.

Mindy wrote: "Harry used so much relatively simply magic throughout
the book to slip from the Death Eaters such as Accio, Expelliarmus,
Stupefy, Imperio... I'm surprised none of the Death Eaters ever did
that... a simple "accio harry" or disarming him would've helped their
cause a lot"

Lyn:
I'm wondering if the "Accio" only works on things, not people... did
we ever see anyone "Accio" another person to themselves? I would
think that being able to use that spell to cause another person to
fly right into your grasp would be akin to Apparating uninvited into
someone else's house. It would be like a violation of another
person's will/space/autonomy if you could just use a spell that
simple to make them come to you whether they like it or not. I wonder
about it too, because Harry tries it in desperation after Hagrid
falls off the bike in the escape from Privet Drive, and it doesn't
bring Hagrid to him.

I also thought it was telling, I guess, that LV never thought to use
a simple Expelliarmus on Harry before trying to kill him, I guess he
was just so convinced of his own greatness that it never occurred to
him. In retrospect, I'm not sure it would have made any difference in
the final confrontation, since no matter what spell or curse he used
he'd still be trying to make the Elder Wand work against its true
master.

eggplant107 wrote: "let me ask even the most loyal members of the I
love Snape club something, wasn't there a time when reading the book
you thought I must be wrong, Snape really is evil?"

Lyn:
I was always on the fence about Snape, never quite sure he was 100%
DDM, altho I certainly wanted that to be the case - for one thing, it
made things more interesting. After HBP, though, I was 99.99999999%
sure that Dumbledore's "murder" was prearranged between the two of
them if for no other reason than to protect Draco. That wouldn't have
made it impossible for Snape to still be ESE, but I thought that
would have made things far too convoluted plot-wise.

Once I got into DH, though, I really started to think that Snape
*was* ESE and became more and more sure that he was, right up until
he kept asking LV to let go and find Harry for him. So I give major
props to JKR for keeping me guessing and second-guessing for so long.

clio44a wrote: "What happened to 'the power the dark Lord knows not'?
Does Harry defeat L.V. with something unique in any way?"

Lyn:
Oh, absolutely, IMO. The power the dark lord knows not seems to me to
be the power of voluntary self-sacrifice for something or someone you
love more than you love your own life. It's what saved Harry as a
baby, it's what allowed him to walk into the forest and get AKed in
order to kill the bit of LV that was part of him, it's part of what
made it impossible for LV to do any significant lasting harm to
anyone other than Harry in the battle after "King's Cross." LV would
never sacrifice himself in that way, and would think anyone who did
so to be weak and foolish, so that kind of "magic" was unavailable to
him.

prep0strus wrote: "That's what I get from draco getting control of
the wand from dumbledore, and then harry
getting it from draco. But the part I have a difficult time with
is... why didn't voldemorte gain control when he 'killed' harry?"

Lyn:
In the forest? Because Harry went there intending to die. He was
going to his death voluntarily, not having his life taken from him
against his will. Even if LV had succeeded in killing him there once
and for all, he wouldn't have been defeating Harry by doing so -
rather fulfilling Harry's own intention, in the same way that Snape
was fulfilling DD's wishes by killing him in HBP. LV never actually
defeated the master of Elder Wand - he never even knew who the true
master was, until it was too late.

"I also didn't like Dumbledore knowing to give ron his gift - i do
think it shows a lack of faith in ron"

Lyn:
Hmm... I don't know. Maybe the Deluminator, the book, and the Snitch
from Harry's first Quidditch match (hiding the stone) were the three
most useful things he had to leave them. The Snitch had to go to
Harry because of the "flesh memory" thing, and only Hermione would
figure out how to make proper use of the book, so Ron got what was
left over. :)

k12listmomma wrote: "- Kreacher beating up Mungdungus with a sauce
pan."

Lyn:
Perhaps just one more, Master Harry, for luck?

Possibly the biggest laugh for me in the whole book. Especially with
the visual of this gnarled old elf holding that pan high over Dung's
head, his wizened arms shaking with the weight of it, his eyes
imploring Harry to let him do it just one more time, "for luck."

allies425 wrote: "But how did Portrait Dumbledore even **KNOW** the
escape date? He was dead months before Harry's 17th birthday, and I
doubt the Order had planned which particular Saturday they were going
to take Harry so far in advance."

Lyn:
We don't know how many portraits of DD there are in other places in
the WW. It seems likely that the one at Hogwarts is not the only one,
given DD's many activities and achievements. If there are other
portraits, DD can move between them and pick up information from
elsewhere, just like Phineas Nigellus does, no matter how dead he is.
I can't imagine the OotP would not have access to a portrait of DD
somehwhere outside Hogwarts, I would think DD would have arranged for
this all along since he was already planning to be dead by the end of
Harry's sixth year.

seanmulligan2000 wrote: "It seemed that Rowlings
was confirming stereotypes of Slytherins as the Death Eater House,
although I don't remember if she said that none of the Slytherins
fought for Hogwarts. Some of them might have fought for the light and
were but they were just not mentioned."

Lyn:
She does say that all the Slytherin students evacuated the Great Hall
before the battle started, even the older ones who were given the
option to stay and fight for the school. The only Slytherin who is
mentioned coming back to help is Slughorn, the head of the house.
Since it would have been a big deal if Slytherin students had
actually stayed or come back to fight the "good fight," I have to
believe they also would have been mentioned by name, or at least as a
group, i.e., "Much to Harry's surprise, a small group of Slytherin
students had returned with the reinforcements from Hogsmeade." Or
something to that effect.

sdeepthi wrote: "Yeah, the unforgivable curses from Harry were sad.
Getting to Molly, how else was she supposed to get rid of Bellatrix?"

Lyn:
I'm not entirely sure Molly AKs Bella, I don't think the text
specifies this, only that Molly's final spell hits Bella right over
her heart (which she has left "open," like a martial artist not
protecting his/her center-line). It could have been an extremely
powerful Stunner or something else entirely.

Lyn