That kid with the lightning scar

[batyatoon]

*takes off her NO SPOILER ZONE button, tosses it into the drawer*

Well, I'm back.

Rapid-fire, heavily spoilery reactions to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows behind the cut-tag.

THE GOOD

Redemptive moments for two of the three people I'd hoped -- Dudley Dursley (minor but significant) and Percy Weasley (pretty well complete). And the third, Draco Malfoy, gets to grow up.

Snape's true colors.

Aberforth Dumbledore, as a character.

Dobby's death and burial. Wah. But so beautiful.

Kreacher's turnaround. And ARMY OF HOUSE-ELVES. YES. Oh god yes.

What little we saw of what the kids have been up to at Hogwarts. I wanted more of that.

Brief insight into goblin concepts of ownership and sale. More of that too.

Harry/Ginny; Ron/Hermione. I'm not that vehement a 'shipper, I wouldn't have been too bent out of shape by anything different, but this was very satisfying. (Sorry, filkertom.)

The epilogue. *hugs wee Albus* (*also, may have cracked up at wee Scorpius's name*)

THE BAD

Pacing problems all through this book. The fact that we're not at Hogwarts anymore means we don't have the structure of the academic year to help us keep track of when we are, and nothing took its place. While this was probably an accurate reflection of our protagonists' state of mind, I found it a touch off-putting.

The issue of how wizards treat Muggles has been pretty much abandoned. Likewise, for the most part, that of how wizards treat sentient magical creatures. I'm pretty disappointed, especially since it has seemed like the series was leading up to a breakthrough of some sort on that front. But no; we're still hiding from the Muggles and messing with their minds as it suits us. Phooey.

...Guess they were just kidding about Imperio and Crucio being Unforgivable, huh.

Speaking of unforgivable: the death of Fred but not George Weasley. And worse, the fact that we don't see George afterwards. At all. Lady, if you're going to do something that brutal, show us the aftereffects.

CALLED IT

Dumbledore choosing his own time to die.

Snape's motivation: a combination of unshakable loyalty to Albus Dumbledore and love for Lily Evans. (Damn I have to finish "Lily's Eyes".)

Snape's death at the hands of Voldemort -- though I was wrong about why it happened.

The nature of the green stuff in the not-Pensieve at the end of Book 6.

R.A.B.'s identity. Of course, that wasn't hard.

The nature of the childhood relationship between Lily and Petunia.

CALLED IT WRONG

The Chocolate Frog cards. *pout* I liked my theory about the Chocolate Frog cards.

As mentioned above, the breakthrough in wizard-Muggle relations. I really thought that was coming.

The fate of Lucius Malfoy (and by extension, the Malfoy family). I thought for sure Voldemort would swat Lucius pretty early, thus providing motivation for Draco to switch sides; the motivation ended up going the other way, and without anyone getting killed.

All the other deaths. All the people I was most worried for -- Hagrid, Neville, Ron, Percy, the Weasley parents -- survived. I was saddened but not shocked by Moody's death, tough old survivor though he was; but Dobby I didn't see coming. And all the deaths that happened (or that we learned about) after Fred's: damn. That was merciless. Remus and Dora I didn't see coming. Colin Creevey was a gutpunch. Damn.

NOT SURE WHAT TO THINK

The Dumbledore family history. I need to reread that sequence. (This time without the character-bleed, please.)

Albus Dumbledore himself. Flawed, and very aware of his flaws ... or is he?

The status quo of the wizarding world seems to have been restored. And ... is that it, then? Shouldn't this kind of thing change a society in some irrevocable ways? I feel like we cut to the epilogue too soon -- but possibly I was just reading too fast, by that time.

Overall: Do I have complaints? Yeah. Did it make me happy anyway? Yeah.
It's been a fun ride, and I'm glad I came.


ETA: I missed most of your reactions, O my f'list, and I don't think I can search back and find them all. If you would care to reply here with links to your own Initial Reaction (or Later Discussion) entries, I'd be very pleased.

Comments

[vivien]

*happy sigh*

I pretty much concur with most of what you wrote (in the Good and the Bad). I think a few big loose ends were left undone, but I was thoroughly pleased with what we got.

You know, the more I think on it, the more I really love the flawed Dumbledore we now have. I so did not call that, though I did call a bit of the manipulative side of him. I knew he was pulling strings like a crazy man.

But yeah, the treatment of Muggles - even Hermione's memory mod of her parents for their safety - is kind of... unsettling, I guess the word is? Maybe things got better with the next generation. :-P


Here are some DH memories for you I've been collecting.

[skygiants]

I loved the flawed Dumbledore too - just because Dumbledore's manipulativeness has been bugging me for the past six books, so it's nice that the books themselves actually acknowledged it. I liked him a lot more as a flawed character trying very hard to be good than as the Really Good Character Who Did Everything For Your Own Good Even If It Meant Acting Like An Ass At The Time, Do Not Question.

(What did bug me? The Grey Lady's story. Not that there's anything wrong with it in and of itself, just . . . why is it there?)

Anyways, reactions: here for me, and here for the rest of my family.