There's not much to go on

[Barry Arrowsmith]

For all the theorising, deduction, reading of runes, pawing over the  
entrails of Jo's cryptic (and I suspect more often than not  
deliberately misleading) 'leaks' or outright wishful thinking on our  
part, we really have little idea of what to expect when, after what  
seems like an interminable wait we finally get our hot, sweaty little  
mitts on HBP and crack it open to Chapter One.

I'm purposefully setting the bar high here, 'cos there have been  
occasions in the past when expectations were sadly dashed. (I'm  
particularly thinking of the time herself opined that we'd learn  
something very important about Lily in OoP. Didn't seem that way to  
me; interesting maybe, but important? It more or less showed Lily in  
a light that most readers had already accepted as inevitable IMO.)

So what are we left with that isn't open to multiple meanings?

1. Harry spends shortest time yet in Privet Drive, and it's not  
unpleasant.
2. Harry is going to realise that he must get his act together.
3. There will be a new Minister for Magic and it's not Arthur.
4. The war really gets going (but wasn't that one of Jo's hints for  
book 5?).
5. One or more of the characters dies.
(We all assume it'll be a main character, but even this isn't  
confirmed absolutely -  see Madam Scoop's Rumours section. Somebody  
dies, but their importance is as yet unknown. Mind you, nobody  
believes it'll be an obscure beater from the Hufflepuff Quidditch team.)

Not a lot, is it?
How many other statements/comments can you come up with that are  
close to cut and dried definitive?

Lower down the scale of certainty there're quite  a few bits and  
pieces that have quickened the blood or kicked imaginations into  
overdrive, but they seem so non-specific that they could be designed  
to get us running around like clockwork mice - "... learn more about  
Sirius/Snape/Longbottoms" is all very well, but we would only be  
surprised if we *didn't* find out more about them. Similarly the  
clutch of chapter titles we've been given - they whet the appetite  
but don't enlighten.

Mind you, I'm particularly interested in her hints about the Chamber  
"holding very important clues to the ultimate end of the series with  
crucial information in book 6" but as an ardent Possessionist with a  
vested interest in that mysterious bit of architecture and its true  
purpose, I would be, wouldn't I? On the other hand, we've been told  
there's a graveyard at Hogwarts - but is it important in and of  
itself? Or is it merely an atmospheric setting for a bit of Harry- 
sneaking-out-at-night hanky-panky?

One non-specific really gets my juices flowing - that at one point in  
the writing of HBP she was rubbing her hands with fiendish glee.  
Sounds good, that. But whether it be the explication of previous  
clue, red herring, plot twist or revelation we're not told. It's  
unlikely to be something new in terms of the continuing themes ("time  
for answers, not more questions") but it could be something solely  
concerned with the sub-plot specific to HBP.

Exaggeration and rumour have played their part, too. Remember back  
towards the end of '03? There was mention that Jo had allowed that  
Harry would get a new pet. A fair amount of speculation ensued on the  
HPfGU board - but it turns out that the oracle was much vaguer than  
that - "Harry might get a new pet at some point, but I won't say more  
than that." Still, it was enough to get the fans off and running.

But in one way the lack of information is a relief, and I'll be even  
more relieved if the answers provided in book 6 are few in number and  
minor in importance. Otherwise what will we have to speculate about  
until book 7 arrives?

Kneasy