"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows": Afterthoughts
As promised, here are my two Knuts on the seventh, and final, book in the "Harry Potter" series. I don't know if these afterthoughts are going to be coherent, as I have other things to do.
- The first chapter built up my interest. I mean, the first chapter, and we already get a glimpse of the Death Eaters and what they're up to? Oh yes. I love the Death Eaters, even though I wouldn't want to meet them in reality. Loved the scene where Narcissa holds Lucius' wrist. That just proves that the Malfoys do care about each other, so that puts an end to all those misconceptions about Narcissa being a battered trophy wife.
- Speaking of Narcissa, I loved her in this book. I've always wanted to know more about her fascinating character, but I only got bits and pieces of her personality before HBP and DH were released. In HBP, I admired her love and devotion to her son, and to her family. In this book, I loved how she seemed to take charge of the family. It was as if Lucius and Draco turned to her for advice - Lucius even looked at her before surrendering his wand. And her love for Draco was most impressive - she had the guts to lie to Voldemort, just to save her son! The Malfoys not bothering to fight - screaming for their son and huddling together after Voldemort's defeat - was touching, too. The Malfoys may not be morally upright, but DH just proved that they were, after all, human. They did care for one another, and in the end, they abandoned their loyalty to Voldemort - and all for the sake of their family and themselves!
- Ginny Weasley. ARGH. Need I say more? I dislike her. And I dislike the Harry/Ginny romance. It just sounds so contrived. No offense to H/G fans, okay? I really can't stand it. I thought that Harry/Cho was bad enough, but H/G was worse. In retrospect, I think Harry/Cho was even more tolerable. H/G is just sappy. It felt odd to be reading about Harry reminiscing about their trysts in the dark corners of Hogwarts while there were more important things to think about. At least Ron and Hermione, while developing their romance, did not forget about the bigger picture. And Ginny being jealous of Gabrielle and Cho? So petty. It wasn't as if Cho and Harry could have time to snog while searching for the diadem of Ravenclaw. And Gabrielle was just a kid! If Harry was truly in love with Ginny, then there would be no reason for her to get all insecure and jealous. I also felt nauseous when Ginny offered herself to Harry as a birthday present. Urgh.
- Ron/Hermione is still cute. I love their love-hate relationship. Glad to see that they finally acted on their oh-so-obvious feelings for each other. A helpless Ron sobbing for Hermione while she was being tortured in Malfoy Manor made me feel sorry for both of them.
- Luna Lovegood. Still an endearing oddball! If Luna existed, I would love to meet her. She's weird, and not afraid nor ashamed to be so. It was sweet of her to paint pictures of Harry and company on her ceiling, with "friends... friends... friends..." linking the drawings together.
- Minor nitpick: Hermione Jean Granger? I thought that JKR confirmed Hermione's middle name to be Hermione Jane Granger?
- We finally get to meet Ted and Andromeda! Pity they didn't have much scenes, but I'm still glad that I got a glimpse of them. I felt sorry for Andromeda, though. Losing your husband, daughter, estranged sister, and son-in-law is too heavy a blow. She may have Teddy Lupin, but still, she suffered a lot of losses. I wonder if she and Cissy had some sort of reconciliation in the end? I like to think that they started speaking to each other - perhaps not as close as they were in their childhood days, but at least, treating each other civilly. Now, that's something that I think the epilogue should have addressed.
- I love Bellatrix! I know that lots of people are going to disagree with me, because the majority of the HP fans believe that Bella is an evil, psychotic bitch. I am fully aware that she is deranged, and I am not going to make any effort to defend her morals, but I like her character! She's delightfully wicked. DH kind of made Bellatrix/Voldemort canon, especially during that one scene where she was saying "My Lord... my Lord" as if speaking to a lover. Throughout the book, she was like a little girl in love, begging for Voldemort to notice her, trying her hardest to win back his favor. She really does seem to love Voldemort from the bottom of her twisted heart. Shame, though, that Molly had to finish her off. I loved the line, "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!!!" I was shocked that JKR actually used the B-word, but it was awesome, nonetheless. I was kind of pissed that Bellatrix was killed off, but it was inevitable - if JKR wanted to end HP on a happy note, there could be no way for Bella to survive. Oh well. Perhaps Bella and Voldemort are busy bullying people, and making them more miserable, in the afterlife.
- I couldn't stand Kreacher in the previous books, but I finally warmed up to him in this book, now that his disposition had changed for the better. :) Harry even looked forward to Kreacher's cooking! XD Kreacher had his brief moment of glory when he led the house-elves to fight the Death Eaters - and all for Regulus's sake.
- Regulus doesn't seem so bad. I don't think that he was a wimp; it was noble of him to sacrifice his own life just to make sure Voldemort (or at least a part of him) was destroyed. I think that I admire him, now that I know the full story behind his demise.
- "That's the second time that I've saved your life tonight, you bastard!" - Ron Weasley to Draco Malfoy. LOL!
- Where the heck is Rodolphus? For those of you who don't know who Rodolphus is, he's Bella's woefully underused husband. We hardly get any mention of him. Bellatrix never even talked to him in any scene! I was hoping that JKR would shed light on him in this book, but I was wrong. I wonder what happened to him after Bella's death? I think that he was submissive to Bella, and that he loved her even though she truly loved Voldemort (yes, JKR confirms that Bella's one true love was Voldemort - see her interview on Mugglenet.com.)
- Using "Voldemort" as a tracking device was an idea that never crossed my mind before. Haha. It reminds me of those spam filters, that declare an e-mail as spam if they see certain words commonly used by spambots.
- The Muggle-born Registration Act eerily reminded me of the Holocaust. I felt sorry for all the Muggle-borns who had to withstand the unfair discrimination against them.
- The return of Dolores Umbridge. After two books, she still hasn't changed in the least. She's still horrible as a toad. But even if I dislike her, her return kind of made me happy - hopefully, Imelda Staunton will give us another fantastic portrayal of Umbridge in the seventh movie!
- Where did Malfoy's backbone go in this book? He seemed too much of a wimp here. Malfoy being one of my favorite characters, I wish that he could've shown a bit more courage here. If there's any consolation, he was sort of redeemed in DH. I doubt that he will be warming up to Muggle-borns after the war, but I think that he's going to be less of a bully. *hugs imaginary Draco*
- Lupin/Tonks. The random romance that seemed to be created out of nowhere. Why was Tonks' character reduced to being a ghost of her former self? She used to be cool and confident, but in Book 7 she hardly got to do anything, except, well, get pregnant and give birth to Teddy Lupin. And Lupin - does JKR want us to hate him? I was shocked when Lupin volunteered to join Harry and company just because he was having second thoughts about being a husband and a father! Whoa. That seemed out of character to me. And then, both of them die, without even a mention of how they died, or who killed them (JKR only mentioned their killers in a post-DH interview - apparently, Dolohov and Bellatrix killed them). Shame, shame.
- Slytherin pride! I don't know why, but I have an affinity for Slytherins. The next time I post more of my DH insights, I'm going to rant about JKR's portrayal of Slytherins. Anyway, does anyone know where I can get a Slytherin shirt? I mean, a shirt that has the Slytherin seal imprinted on it? I would like to have one for myself. That would be nice. :) Haha.
- And while we're talking about Slytherins, I hate the way JKR portrayed them. It's like all Slytherins are one or more or all of the following: A) Death Eaters/Death Eater wannabes, B) bullies, C) ugly and D) cowards. Despite what JKR says about not all Slytherins being evil, she doesn't seem to portray them in a redeeming light. Why did she have all the Slytherins leave during the battle? Why did McGonagall say, "The time has come for the Slytherins to show their loyalty", or something along those lines? It's like the Slytherins are always evil, as if they aren't a part of the Hogwarts houses. Everyone seems to dislike them by default, and even in the ending, Harry's kid has qualms about being sorted into Slytherin. I hate the anti-Slytherin tendencies in the HP books. It seems that Gryffindors are always holy and perfect, that they can do no wrong. Or wait - they CAN do wrong, and get away with it!
- Okay. Regarding the Gryffindor bias. They're supposed to be the good guys, but what annoys me is how blatantly obvious JKR favors the Gryffindors. It's something that's been bothering me for a long time, even before book 7 was released. Gryffindor seems to be the default for all the good characters. Gryffindor exudes goodness. Slytherin is the epitome of EEEVIL. And as for the other houses, they're hardly even given their chance to shine. It's either they side with Gryffindor, or else they aren't good guys. Somehow, when Gryffindors act as bullies, it's justified. Okay, this isn't about book 7 now. I'm going to go off a tangent and rant about Gryffindor double standards in previous books. For instance, Lee Jordan can make biased commentaries, but in HBP, Zacharias Smith makes saucy comments, and Ginny crashes into him on purpose. Fred and George loudly boo when a boy is sorted into Slytherin. [sarcasm] Oh yes. That's a great way to welcome an eleven-year-old boy, huh? [/end sarcasm] Ginny breaks up with Michael Corner because he was upset about Gryffindor winning. Because obviously, you have to support Gryffindor and not your own house. Most of the Slytherins in Harry's year are described as being physically ugly. Ginny casts the Bat-Bogey Hex on Zacharias Smith for irking her and asking too many questions, and she gets invited into the Slug Club, but if a Slytherin did that, he or she would probably earn detention. James almost feeds Snape to a werewolf, but he doesn't get expelled for it! And Harry casting Sectumsempra on Malfoy is justified, but if it were the other way around, Malfoy would probably be expelled. Okay, I'd just like to clarify that I do not hate all the Gryffindors. Hermione, Neville and Ron are pretty much okay to me, and I find Fred and George funny - when their jokes don't go too far. But still, I can't stand the very, very obvious partiality towards Gryffindors.
- Snape. He has always been one of my favorite characters, because I've always found his character to be intriguing. He's complex, and hard to understand, since he hardly shows any emotion. I guess Alan Rickman's portrayal of Snape also drew me closer to Snape's character. Haha. He is kind of sexy, you know? I'm serious! XD That said, I mourned for his death. It was anti-climactic, and sad. I wanted him to survive this book, but unfortunately, he didn't. :( RIP Snape... Anyway, lots of people loved Chapter 33, "The Prince's Tale". And I'm sure that Snape/Lily shippers must have squealed in joy when the Snape/Lily unrequited love was confirmed as canon! Am I the only one who retched at it? I mean, sure, it was cute and all - their being childhood friends. But for some reason, even though it started out as fluffy and ended tragically, I didn't like it. Please don't hurt me, Snape/Lily fans! I just don't like it. Maybe it's because I don't like Lily Potter. I liked Snape better in the previous books, when he was seemingly distant and detached from everyone else. That was the Snape that I knew and loved. I don't love his character any less, but still... I wanted to see more depth to his character! It seemed kind of weird to me - the fact that everything he did for the past few years was all out of guilt and unrequited love for a childhood friend. Oh, come on. Yeah, yeah, it was tragic and "Wuthering Heights"-like, but spare me. Again, my apologies to Snape/Lily fans. I can't explain clearly why I dislike Snape/Lily, but I just don't. Wah. Does that make me a deviant? And am I the only one who dislikes Lily Potter? She's too perfect. Too angelic. Reminds me of someone I know and dislike. Ugh.
- Nagini residing in Bathilda Bagshot's body, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike - whoa! Didn't see that coming!
- This book shattered Dumbledore's perfect image. Not that that's a bad thing. It actually made him more human, more understandable. I've always thought that it was hard to relate to Dumbledore, because he seemed to be above everyone else - an eccentric, sage-like character with wisdom beyond his years. But in this book, I got to see that he, too, had his flaws - that he wasn't perfect. At first, I thought that Rita Skeeter's book was pure and utter crap, filled with nothing but fabrications. But it turned out that there was some shred of truth in the things that she wrote, after all. I felt so sorry for Ariana - I wonder what happened to her? It was disturbing to think about what the Muggle boys did to her. Some people speculated that it might have been rape. That was the first thing that crossed my mind, but I refused to accept it, perhaps because I found it disturbing. When Aberforth was relating the story about his family, I felt that I was beginning to dislike Dumbledore. But during the scene at the ethereal King's Cross station, when Dumbledore acknowledged his mistakes and felt regret for them, I began to accept Dumbledore again. I thought that it was touching when JKR mentioned in an interview that if Dumbledore looked into the Mirror of Erised, he would see his family, reunited and happy.
- Aberforth Dumbledore! I liked his character. :) Despite being frank, laid-back (in the sense that he thinks that it's futile to fight) and gruffy, he was of help to Harry Potter and his friends. Ariana's portrait serving as a link to the Room of Requirement was cool! XD And I think that Aberforth had a point when he said something that basically boiled down to courage being different from stupidity. True, true.
- The epilogue - or, as many people call it, the crapilogue. Ugh. Don't even get me started on it. I disliked it, as it was cheesy and unrealistic. Are we supposed to believe that everything is resolved in the end, just like that? It felt like a crappy fanfic, where everyone but the bad guys is happy in the end, and the romantic couples all end up marrying and having kids. Kids with awful names, I must add. A better epilogue would tie up loose ends. I would've liked the epilogue to show what happened to the wizarding world after the war - are Muggle-wizard relations better? Who is the Minister of Magic? How are the survivors coping and dealing with the loss of their loved ones? What are the careers of the main characters? Is everything really peaceful in the wizarding world? What about the Death Eaters - surely not all of them died during the war, so what happened to the remaining DEs? Are they in prison? Did they receive the Dementor's Kiss? And how did Hogwarts rebuild itself? Yeah, I think that the epilogue should've answered questions like those, and maybe more than those. It should've showed us even just a tiny glimpse of what happened to the wizarding world in general, instead of skipping relevant questions and showing Harry and company, as well as their respective families. Harry and Ginny have no taste in names. James 2.0? Lily 2.0? Albus Severus? Creepy. Also, why is it that almost every character marries a Weasley in the end? Is marrying a Weasley the only way to happiness? To quote Aunt Muriel, "Another Weasley? You breed like gnomes!" Haha. Don't mind me. I'm just making random comments. And... did JKR really have to mention Draco's receding hairline? I hate it how she always tries to point out that the "bad guys" aren't that good-looking. And Scorpius is not a very nice name - though it's not surprising that Draco would go for a Latin-sounding name, considering that his father is named Lucius. If there's any consolation, Draco seems to have changed, since he and Harry are, apparently, civil to each other. Just curious, though: who is his wife? Richmond jokes that maybe JKR didn't name the wife, so all the fangirls out there can imagine that they are married to Draco. Haha. Maybe I'm his wife? XD Just kidding. If I were, I wouldn't have named the kid Scorpius.
- LOL for the sexual innuendo in this book! I don't know if they were intentional, but I loved them. For example, "Oh, Harry, you're tastier than Crabbe and Goyle!" (not the exact words, as I don't have my book with me)... Lucius and Voldemort comparing wand lengths... etc...
- The first chapter built up my interest. I mean, the first chapter, and we already get a glimpse of the Death Eaters and what they're up to? Oh yes. I love the Death Eaters, even though I wouldn't want to meet them in reality. Loved the scene where Narcissa holds Lucius' wrist. That just proves that the Malfoys do care about each other, so that puts an end to all those misconceptions about Narcissa being a battered trophy wife.
- Speaking of Narcissa, I loved her in this book. I've always wanted to know more about her fascinating character, but I only got bits and pieces of her personality before HBP and DH were released. In HBP, I admired her love and devotion to her son, and to her family. In this book, I loved how she seemed to take charge of the family. It was as if Lucius and Draco turned to her for advice - Lucius even looked at her before surrendering his wand. And her love for Draco was most impressive - she had the guts to lie to Voldemort, just to save her son! The Malfoys not bothering to fight - screaming for their son and huddling together after Voldemort's defeat - was touching, too. The Malfoys may not be morally upright, but DH just proved that they were, after all, human. They did care for one another, and in the end, they abandoned their loyalty to Voldemort - and all for the sake of their family and themselves!
- Ginny Weasley. ARGH. Need I say more? I dislike her. And I dislike the Harry/Ginny romance. It just sounds so contrived. No offense to H/G fans, okay? I really can't stand it. I thought that Harry/Cho was bad enough, but H/G was worse. In retrospect, I think Harry/Cho was even more tolerable. H/G is just sappy. It felt odd to be reading about Harry reminiscing about their trysts in the dark corners of Hogwarts while there were more important things to think about. At least Ron and Hermione, while developing their romance, did not forget about the bigger picture. And Ginny being jealous of Gabrielle and Cho? So petty. It wasn't as if Cho and Harry could have time to snog while searching for the diadem of Ravenclaw. And Gabrielle was just a kid! If Harry was truly in love with Ginny, then there would be no reason for her to get all insecure and jealous. I also felt nauseous when Ginny offered herself to Harry as a birthday present. Urgh.
- Ron/Hermione is still cute. I love their love-hate relationship. Glad to see that they finally acted on their oh-so-obvious feelings for each other. A helpless Ron sobbing for Hermione while she was being tortured in Malfoy Manor made me feel sorry for both of them.
- Luna Lovegood. Still an endearing oddball! If Luna existed, I would love to meet her. She's weird, and not afraid nor ashamed to be so. It was sweet of her to paint pictures of Harry and company on her ceiling, with "friends... friends... friends..." linking the drawings together.
- Minor nitpick: Hermione Jean Granger? I thought that JKR confirmed Hermione's middle name to be Hermione Jane Granger?
- We finally get to meet Ted and Andromeda! Pity they didn't have much scenes, but I'm still glad that I got a glimpse of them. I felt sorry for Andromeda, though. Losing your husband, daughter, estranged sister, and son-in-law is too heavy a blow. She may have Teddy Lupin, but still, she suffered a lot of losses. I wonder if she and Cissy had some sort of reconciliation in the end? I like to think that they started speaking to each other - perhaps not as close as they were in their childhood days, but at least, treating each other civilly. Now, that's something that I think the epilogue should have addressed.
- I love Bellatrix! I know that lots of people are going to disagree with me, because the majority of the HP fans believe that Bella is an evil, psychotic bitch. I am fully aware that she is deranged, and I am not going to make any effort to defend her morals, but I like her character! She's delightfully wicked. DH kind of made Bellatrix/Voldemort canon, especially during that one scene where she was saying "My Lord... my Lord" as if speaking to a lover. Throughout the book, she was like a little girl in love, begging for Voldemort to notice her, trying her hardest to win back his favor. She really does seem to love Voldemort from the bottom of her twisted heart. Shame, though, that Molly had to finish her off. I loved the line, "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!!!" I was shocked that JKR actually used the B-word, but it was awesome, nonetheless. I was kind of pissed that Bellatrix was killed off, but it was inevitable - if JKR wanted to end HP on a happy note, there could be no way for Bella to survive. Oh well. Perhaps Bella and Voldemort are busy bullying people, and making them more miserable, in the afterlife.
- I couldn't stand Kreacher in the previous books, but I finally warmed up to him in this book, now that his disposition had changed for the better. :) Harry even looked forward to Kreacher's cooking! XD Kreacher had his brief moment of glory when he led the house-elves to fight the Death Eaters - and all for Regulus's sake.
- Regulus doesn't seem so bad. I don't think that he was a wimp; it was noble of him to sacrifice his own life just to make sure Voldemort (or at least a part of him) was destroyed. I think that I admire him, now that I know the full story behind his demise.
- "That's the second time that I've saved your life tonight, you bastard!" - Ron Weasley to Draco Malfoy. LOL!
- Where the heck is Rodolphus? For those of you who don't know who Rodolphus is, he's Bella's woefully underused husband. We hardly get any mention of him. Bellatrix never even talked to him in any scene! I was hoping that JKR would shed light on him in this book, but I was wrong. I wonder what happened to him after Bella's death? I think that he was submissive to Bella, and that he loved her even though she truly loved Voldemort (yes, JKR confirms that Bella's one true love was Voldemort - see her interview on Mugglenet.com.)
- Using "Voldemort" as a tracking device was an idea that never crossed my mind before. Haha. It reminds me of those spam filters, that declare an e-mail as spam if they see certain words commonly used by spambots.
- The Muggle-born Registration Act eerily reminded me of the Holocaust. I felt sorry for all the Muggle-borns who had to withstand the unfair discrimination against them.
- The return of Dolores Umbridge. After two books, she still hasn't changed in the least. She's still horrible as a toad. But even if I dislike her, her return kind of made me happy - hopefully, Imelda Staunton will give us another fantastic portrayal of Umbridge in the seventh movie!
- Where did Malfoy's backbone go in this book? He seemed too much of a wimp here. Malfoy being one of my favorite characters, I wish that he could've shown a bit more courage here. If there's any consolation, he was sort of redeemed in DH. I doubt that he will be warming up to Muggle-borns after the war, but I think that he's going to be less of a bully. *hugs imaginary Draco*
- Lupin/Tonks. The random romance that seemed to be created out of nowhere. Why was Tonks' character reduced to being a ghost of her former self? She used to be cool and confident, but in Book 7 she hardly got to do anything, except, well, get pregnant and give birth to Teddy Lupin. And Lupin - does JKR want us to hate him? I was shocked when Lupin volunteered to join Harry and company just because he was having second thoughts about being a husband and a father! Whoa. That seemed out of character to me. And then, both of them die, without even a mention of how they died, or who killed them (JKR only mentioned their killers in a post-DH interview - apparently, Dolohov and Bellatrix killed them). Shame, shame.
- Slytherin pride! I don't know why, but I have an affinity for Slytherins. The next time I post more of my DH insights, I'm going to rant about JKR's portrayal of Slytherins. Anyway, does anyone know where I can get a Slytherin shirt? I mean, a shirt that has the Slytherin seal imprinted on it? I would like to have one for myself. That would be nice. :) Haha.
- And while we're talking about Slytherins, I hate the way JKR portrayed them. It's like all Slytherins are one or more or all of the following: A) Death Eaters/Death Eater wannabes, B) bullies, C) ugly and D) cowards. Despite what JKR says about not all Slytherins being evil, she doesn't seem to portray them in a redeeming light. Why did she have all the Slytherins leave during the battle? Why did McGonagall say, "The time has come for the Slytherins to show their loyalty", or something along those lines? It's like the Slytherins are always evil, as if they aren't a part of the Hogwarts houses. Everyone seems to dislike them by default, and even in the ending, Harry's kid has qualms about being sorted into Slytherin. I hate the anti-Slytherin tendencies in the HP books. It seems that Gryffindors are always holy and perfect, that they can do no wrong. Or wait - they CAN do wrong, and get away with it!
- Okay. Regarding the Gryffindor bias. They're supposed to be the good guys, but what annoys me is how blatantly obvious JKR favors the Gryffindors. It's something that's been bothering me for a long time, even before book 7 was released. Gryffindor seems to be the default for all the good characters. Gryffindor exudes goodness. Slytherin is the epitome of EEEVIL. And as for the other houses, they're hardly even given their chance to shine. It's either they side with Gryffindor, or else they aren't good guys. Somehow, when Gryffindors act as bullies, it's justified. Okay, this isn't about book 7 now. I'm going to go off a tangent and rant about Gryffindor double standards in previous books. For instance, Lee Jordan can make biased commentaries, but in HBP, Zacharias Smith makes saucy comments, and Ginny crashes into him on purpose. Fred and George loudly boo when a boy is sorted into Slytherin. [sarcasm] Oh yes. That's a great way to welcome an eleven-year-old boy, huh? [/end sarcasm] Ginny breaks up with Michael Corner because he was upset about Gryffindor winning. Because obviously, you have to support Gryffindor and not your own house. Most of the Slytherins in Harry's year are described as being physically ugly. Ginny casts the Bat-Bogey Hex on Zacharias Smith for irking her and asking too many questions, and she gets invited into the Slug Club, but if a Slytherin did that, he or she would probably earn detention. James almost feeds Snape to a werewolf, but he doesn't get expelled for it! And Harry casting Sectumsempra on Malfoy is justified, but if it were the other way around, Malfoy would probably be expelled. Okay, I'd just like to clarify that I do not hate all the Gryffindors. Hermione, Neville and Ron are pretty much okay to me, and I find Fred and George funny - when their jokes don't go too far. But still, I can't stand the very, very obvious partiality towards Gryffindors.
- Snape. He has always been one of my favorite characters, because I've always found his character to be intriguing. He's complex, and hard to understand, since he hardly shows any emotion. I guess Alan Rickman's portrayal of Snape also drew me closer to Snape's character. Haha. He is kind of sexy, you know? I'm serious! XD That said, I mourned for his death. It was anti-climactic, and sad. I wanted him to survive this book, but unfortunately, he didn't. :( RIP Snape... Anyway, lots of people loved Chapter 33, "The Prince's Tale". And I'm sure that Snape/Lily shippers must have squealed in joy when the Snape/Lily unrequited love was confirmed as canon! Am I the only one who retched at it? I mean, sure, it was cute and all - their being childhood friends. But for some reason, even though it started out as fluffy and ended tragically, I didn't like it. Please don't hurt me, Snape/Lily fans! I just don't like it. Maybe it's because I don't like Lily Potter. I liked Snape better in the previous books, when he was seemingly distant and detached from everyone else. That was the Snape that I knew and loved. I don't love his character any less, but still... I wanted to see more depth to his character! It seemed kind of weird to me - the fact that everything he did for the past few years was all out of guilt and unrequited love for a childhood friend. Oh, come on. Yeah, yeah, it was tragic and "Wuthering Heights"-like, but spare me. Again, my apologies to Snape/Lily fans. I can't explain clearly why I dislike Snape/Lily, but I just don't. Wah. Does that make me a deviant? And am I the only one who dislikes Lily Potter? She's too perfect. Too angelic. Reminds me of someone I know and dislike. Ugh.
- Nagini residing in Bathilda Bagshot's body, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike - whoa! Didn't see that coming!
- This book shattered Dumbledore's perfect image. Not that that's a bad thing. It actually made him more human, more understandable. I've always thought that it was hard to relate to Dumbledore, because he seemed to be above everyone else - an eccentric, sage-like character with wisdom beyond his years. But in this book, I got to see that he, too, had his flaws - that he wasn't perfect. At first, I thought that Rita Skeeter's book was pure and utter crap, filled with nothing but fabrications. But it turned out that there was some shred of truth in the things that she wrote, after all. I felt so sorry for Ariana - I wonder what happened to her? It was disturbing to think about what the Muggle boys did to her. Some people speculated that it might have been rape. That was the first thing that crossed my mind, but I refused to accept it, perhaps because I found it disturbing. When Aberforth was relating the story about his family, I felt that I was beginning to dislike Dumbledore. But during the scene at the ethereal King's Cross station, when Dumbledore acknowledged his mistakes and felt regret for them, I began to accept Dumbledore again. I thought that it was touching when JKR mentioned in an interview that if Dumbledore looked into the Mirror of Erised, he would see his family, reunited and happy.
- Aberforth Dumbledore! I liked his character. :) Despite being frank, laid-back (in the sense that he thinks that it's futile to fight) and gruffy, he was of help to Harry Potter and his friends. Ariana's portrait serving as a link to the Room of Requirement was cool! XD And I think that Aberforth had a point when he said something that basically boiled down to courage being different from stupidity. True, true.
- The epilogue - or, as many people call it, the crapilogue. Ugh. Don't even get me started on it. I disliked it, as it was cheesy and unrealistic. Are we supposed to believe that everything is resolved in the end, just like that? It felt like a crappy fanfic, where everyone but the bad guys is happy in the end, and the romantic couples all end up marrying and having kids. Kids with awful names, I must add. A better epilogue would tie up loose ends. I would've liked the epilogue to show what happened to the wizarding world after the war - are Muggle-wizard relations better? Who is the Minister of Magic? How are the survivors coping and dealing with the loss of their loved ones? What are the careers of the main characters? Is everything really peaceful in the wizarding world? What about the Death Eaters - surely not all of them died during the war, so what happened to the remaining DEs? Are they in prison? Did they receive the Dementor's Kiss? And how did Hogwarts rebuild itself? Yeah, I think that the epilogue should've answered questions like those, and maybe more than those. It should've showed us even just a tiny glimpse of what happened to the wizarding world in general, instead of skipping relevant questions and showing Harry and company, as well as their respective families. Harry and Ginny have no taste in names. James 2.0? Lily 2.0? Albus Severus? Creepy. Also, why is it that almost every character marries a Weasley in the end? Is marrying a Weasley the only way to happiness? To quote Aunt Muriel, "Another Weasley? You breed like gnomes!" Haha. Don't mind me. I'm just making random comments. And... did JKR really have to mention Draco's receding hairline? I hate it how she always tries to point out that the "bad guys" aren't that good-looking. And Scorpius is not a very nice name - though it's not surprising that Draco would go for a Latin-sounding name, considering that his father is named Lucius. If there's any consolation, Draco seems to have changed, since he and Harry are, apparently, civil to each other. Just curious, though: who is his wife? Richmond jokes that maybe JKR didn't name the wife, so all the fangirls out there can imagine that they are married to Draco. Haha. Maybe I'm his wife? XD Just kidding. If I were, I wouldn't have named the kid Scorpius.
- LOL for the sexual innuendo in this book! I don't know if they were intentional, but I loved them. For example, "Oh, Harry, you're tastier than Crabbe and Goyle!" (not the exact words, as I don't have my book with me)... Lucius and Voldemort comparing wand lengths... etc...