(no subject)

[amberdulen]

I have some substantial willpower but no self-control: so over the last few days I've read through chapter 20. I want to register my crackpot theories so that a) I remember them and b) I can claim awesomeness if by some miracle I'm right.

I didn't quite know what to make of Draco disappearing from the map; it seemed obvious that he was getting out of the school via some unknown secret passage. But then we saw him coming down the hall with two disgruntled-looking girls, and immediately I thought: Crabbe and Goyle? And then I thought, Polyjuice Potion. (Slughorn had some earlier in the year.) And then I thought, now why would he need his thugs to be girls? Perhaps to get into a girl's bathroom? Which may contain a passageway to a certain secret chamber that isn't marked on the Marauders' Map? I don't know how he's getting in, but there has to be a way....

That's my most logical theory. The rest are weird.

I have this nagging belief that Dumbledore is actually Riddle in disguise, and that he's telling Harry all this about himself so he doesn't have to waste time doing it at the end, when he kills him. That would be why he wants the Horcrux information so badly--maybe Slughorn didn't actually give it to him the first time, and he's using Harry to get it now. Why would the things that Slughorn told Riddle matter so much to Dumbledore? If Slughorn knows it, someone else should too. Dumbledore's pretty smart. He sounds like himself most of the time, but thousands of excellent fan fiction writers can tell you that he's not all that hard to fake, you know what I mean? And laying his guilt trip on Harry, getting exasperated over Trelawney: that's unexpected from Dumbledore.

Just because the book was printed fifty years ago, Harry, doesn't mean that's how old the scribblings are. It just means they can't be any older. I have a long list of people around in the Riddle era, and none of them seem really up to the task.... She said it wasn't Voldemort, and since she's been using "Voldemort" interchangeably with "Tom Riddle", I am going to be pretty pissed if it's Tom. If it were Slughorn, he'd be passing on all these gems to the students, or have written his own textbook by now. Hagrid was expelled by 6th year, Myrtle was dead, Olive Hornby never seemed that bright, we known nothing about Lestrange and Avery. It could be Dumbledore--but by that time, he would seem too old for that kind of scribbling. My best guess is that it's actually Lily (and the SS in Princess is just obscured) or Snape (whose heritage we still don't know). But Snape didn't go in for foolish wand-waving, etc etc. And it doesn't seem to have his tone, either. *sigh* A cast of hundreds, and we're supposed to pick out one of them.

I am not ruling out the possibility that Draco's working for Dumbledore, or someone else that's not Voldemort. Right now I see him with two jobs: one for the Dark Lord (chapter 2) and one for someone else (Knockturn Alley).

I think the person who gave Katie the opal necklace is a girl--maybe Bella?

Percy's exit after Christmas was so hasty that he's going down on my "people to die" list. Dumbledore and Snape are going up--assuming Dumbledore's even still alive, see above. There's very little of McGonagall or Hagrid, they're going down. Ron had his brush with death so he's going down. Neville and Luna are going up--how tragic would that be?? Ginny's down, down.

Speak of the devil, it astonishes me that Percy kept his job. It certainly makes a case for his competence, doesn't it? Surely Scrimgeour had the right to change junior secretaries if he wanted.

Horcruxes? There's a "cross" root word in there, but I'm not sure how "horticulture" or "horklumps" could fit with that.... (That was a joke.) Could it be the method of creating Inferi? Or could it be a step towards immortality? A way to cross himself with something undying?

I've revised my theory on Tonks to think that it involves werewolves somehow. They've been quite a thread running through the book and I'm interested in how it'll become important. We had better see Fenrir Greyback in person--er, in wolf--in the flesh?--before the end.

Not sure where Slughorn stands. He does like his comfort, he does have connections everywhere, so he seems willing and able to switch sides at a moment's notice. It's hard to keep in mind that he's supposed to be phenomenally powerful.

(As if this isn't obvious by now, I only ever solve mystery novels by sheer chance. I'll never be Poirot.)

Quick Fangirling

Romilda Vane, you shameless thing!

The Slytherin Quidditch team looks good...I was hoping she wouldn't pull the same Flint twice.

The nice thing about shipping Canon is that you are almost always RIGHT.

I loved Luna's commentary.

A vampire! Finally! *huggles JKR* Solid Canon makes me so happy.

No Montague! *grrr*

Pygmy Puffs are pretty awesome. I really want one. I bet I could make one pretty easily.

You know, I really like MacLaggan.

Twelve Galleons for the apparation class! That's steep! I enjoyed the class though.

The dementors were breeding earlier in the book, what happened to that?

Kreacher's Christmas present to Harry. Is hilarious.

For future note: Harry still has Felix Felicitas potion and some of those exploding distractions from the twins.

Nonverbal spells, that's awesome. It doesn't quite touch the wandless question but is very nice to see.

I cannot like Morfin because I can't read his name without thinking of the Mighty Morfin Power Rangers. I love Riddle's mother though. The lazy eyes, that's just perfect.

I can't wait to get this done and read everyone else's squees and theories, and go back to the Leaky Cauldron, and poke in all the spoilery places. By the end of the week, for sure.

I'm liking this a lot more that OotP, which I think is the weakest of the six. I still have a soft spot for GoF but this is rapidly climbing my rankings. And it's already 2/3 of the way over!