Things that you wish were in the Harry Potter novels

[Geoff]

No: HPFGUIDX 192020

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214" <dumbledore11214 at ...> wrote:

Bart:
> > There are a number of things that I really wish that JKR had included in 
> > the Harry Potter novels which, for whatever reason, she didn't. I'll 
> > mention a couple, and, more importantly, why I think that it was a mistake.
> ><SNIP>

Alla: 
> Fun topic. I dont really have any which I thought was a mistake - there were definitely things which I disliked or wanted to go other way, but thats just me wishing for fulfilment of certain wishes, anything JKR did, I mean major plot turnss anyway, made sense for me if I think about it in a grand scheme of things in her story. Again, not that I *liked* everything, quite the contrary, but I think she was pretty consistent in executing her story and her characters.

> And I cant believe I am saying  it, but as much as I hate Draco Malfoy, looking at it from the distance and not picking up books for about a year, I really do think that Tower was all for nothing and his character development which supposedly occurred in book 6 pretty much dissappeared in book seven.

Geoff:
Alla, I do believe that, unusually, we disagree. I seem to recall that you are 
something of a Snape supporter whereas I have never worked up a sweat 
about him either pro or con. He is a character about whom I am ambivalent; 
I suppose honestly that deep down I just don't like him as a person whether 
he was on the good side or not.

Where I think we disagree is that I have always had a sneaking sympathy 
for Draco. An only child with very few, if any, real friends and effectively 
subjected to brainwashing by his father and family. I mean, how would 
you come out of several years of "training" by Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix 
Lestrange?

What I had always hoped for was some measure of rapprochement between 
him and Harry. OK, both of them had been pretty nasty to each other,
culminating in Draco treading on Harry's face and the latter using a totally 
unknown spell clearly marked "for enemies" on him. To counter that, Harry 
was saved first by Draco's refusal to positively identify him at Malfoy Manor 
and then by Narcissa's deception towards Voldemort in the Forest while, in 
turn, Draco was saved from the Fiendfyre by Harry in the Room of 
Requirement.

I suppose the only hint for me was when, in that wretched epilogue, Draco 
nods at Harry - interestingly not vice versa. Perhaps something lies behind 
that. It has certainly created a lot of speculation in fanfic circles. I don't 
expect them to be singing "Old Lang Syne" on New Year's Eve with their 
arms around each other's shoulders in an English pub - but at least an
acknowledgement of each other's existence without fisticuffs would be 
encouraging.
:-)