HBP First impressions - SPOILERS within!

[fhmaneely]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "Amy Z" <lupinesque at y...> wrote:
> --- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, Catherine Coleman 
> <catorman at y...> wrote:
> > I
> > 
> > L
> > 
> > O
> > 
> > V
> > 
> > E
> > 
> > D
> > 
> > T
> > 
> > H
> > 
> > I
> > 
> > S
> > 
> > B
> > 
> > O
> > 
> > O
> > 
> > K
> 
>  
> > Just as in OoP, the last few (very cinematic?) chapters were 
> extremely painful to read,
> > particularly the potion drinking scene
> 
> Oh man, wasn't it?
> 
> > Theories are already being posited about Dumbledore pleading with 
> Snape to kill him, that it could
> > have been a mercy killing, that Dumbledore was already dying.  
> 
> A major flaw in these theories is that Dumbledore struggled so hard 
> to get to the castle and specifically to get to Snape.  All of that 
> just to be killed?  Why not just say to Harry, "I'm sorry, I'm 
dying, 
> I can't hold on any longer," and perform a suicidal curse on the 
spot 
> (you know they must exist)?  He needs Severus, he keeps saying.  So 
> there is something to be done that only Snape can do.  That could 
be 
> killing him, not healing him as we're led to expect, but that 
brings 
> me to the second big flaw:
> 
> The Freezing Charm he put on Harry, forcing him to stay and witness 
> the event when he had specifically told him to go get Snape.  What 
> was that all about?  I hope it has a reason and wasn't just a very 
> feeble plot device by which JKR kept her "narrator" on the scene.  
It 
> makes it mighty hard to believe that Dumbledore was about to offer 
> himself up as a sacrifice.  And if he was, and Snape was the one 
who 
> had to be the high priest, then why freeze Harry rather than 
letting 
> him do what he told him to do?  Why increase the risk that Draco 
will 
> be the one to kill Dumbledore?

I see this as DD making the sacrifice to add protection to Harry as 
Lily did. If DD did not freeze Harry, Harry may hve gone off to help 
in the castle.  Harry had to be present for the protection to work...

Also will be very sad if Hogwarts is no more. 
So is Sluggy the "good" Slytherin?  Was Blaise Zambini thrown in for 
us?

Regards,
Fran