Predicting what we'll know very soon!
Final Predictions for Deathly Hallows (plus a couple of pet theories)...
Again, like the Quiz, there no book 7 spoilers behind the cut, just speculations. Same warning applies though: if you are further behind and don't want heavy hints at what books 1-6 hold, I suggest you don't click..
So after a lot of changing my mind and convoluted meanderings, here we go!
Short Predictions
Snape will be ambiguous throughout, but his final action will be good.
Deaths: Hagrid, Luna and Ron will die. Snape will die. Lucius and Voldemort will die.
Harry will vanquish Voldemort, but it will be a long drawn out confrontation
heavily involving Harry's scar, and Harry will be severely weakened and will nearly die.
Harry will need Peter Pettigrew's help to get to his parents house in Godric's Hollow.
Sirius will communicate somehow; the two way mirror will be important.
Horcruxes: 1) Riddle's Diary, 2) Marvolo's Ring, 3) Hufflepuff's Cup 4) Slytherin's Locket 5) Something of Ravenclaw's 6) Harry's scar still connected to - 7) Voldemort.
Each Horcrux will facilitate the journey and challenge of the next one.
Arabella Figg will do magic.
Neville will teach Herbology at Hogwarts.
Two Little Pet Theories
1) On Founder Horcruxes
This one's fairly straight forward. We know that each of the Hogwarts Houses correspond to an element; Fire (Gryffindor), Air (Ravenclaw), Earth (Hufflepuff) and Water (Slytherin). During my last reread of Half Blood Prince, I found it interesting that water was crucial in uncovering the supposed Slytherin Horcrux. It was in a place surrounded by water, the lake in the cave was water, it was submerged in liquid potion, Dumbledore demanded water after drinking the potion...etc.
Thinking back to Chamber of Secrets, there's also a heck of a lot of water significance surrounding another Slytherin Horcrux, Riddle's diary. Harry finds the wet diary in the washroom. Ginny had thrown it into a toilet, and prior to that, Lucius had thrown it into a cauldron (both water recepticles). And the final showdown occurs in the Chamber of Secrets which is obviously very wet since it's dealing with plumbing.
So...I'm predicting that for those Horcruxes made of Founder relics, the element of that House will come into play in finding it and destroying it. For example, I think we pretty much know for sure that Hufflepuff's cup is a Horcrux, so I'm sure the challenges surrounding it are Earth-linked, etc. etc. Ravenclaw's relic will probably require a lot of flying and/or dragon-hopping to get to.
2) Lily's Eyes and Harry's Scar (aka Is Harry a Horcrux?)
Until just a little while ago, I found the idea of Harry being a Horcrux to be downright laughable. After all, it totally goes against the neither can live while the other survives" prophecy since Voldemort cannot die until all his Horcruxes have been destroyed, which means that Harry would not be around to kill him.
But...I've been thinking a lot about Lily's eyes lately, and that's something we all know is enormously significant (I mean there's got to be a reason why it's been referenced so many times, and even Jo has said that it is significant). And based on that, my tentative and wacky sounding theory is that Harry's scar, but not Harry himself is an unintentional Horcrux. *Steps up onto the soap box...*
My gut feeling is that the a Horcrux is created at the moment of the killing. The object that is to become the Horcrux has to be near at hand, and that there's likely some complex spellwork involved before the killing that prepares the soul for splitting and the object for receiving it. In my mind's eye, I see the green spurt of light coming out of the wand, the loosened soul wrenching itself apart to fly forward with the curse, and then transfering itself into the Horcrux from there.
Obviously this didn't quite work in Harry's case, but I am sure that Voldemort was trying to use Harry's death to create a Horcrux since, as Dumbledore said, he seemed to reserve that for important deaths. And I think that even if the killing was not successful, something would still happen to the part of the soul which was anchored to the attempt.
Now back to Lily's eyes. What if Lily in death somehow managed to fuse into Harry and somehow block the brunt of the curse? In the books, its said a few times that the curse "rebounded" off Harry and hit Voldemort, which could certainly suggest such a thing. If this were true, wouldn't it make sense that she might leave a physical imprint on Harry, say her eyes? And...perhaps the reason Voldemort experiences such agony when trying to possess Harry is that some vestige of Lily is still there.
On the flip side, the bit of Voldemort's loosened soul that is departing has to go somewhere when the killing curse fails, and because we know that Voldemort transfered some of his power to Harry, I think it's pretty likely that the piece of his soul was transfered in the bargin, but not to where he had intended it. However, I am suspecting that because Harry did not actually die, the soul didn't split itself properly, which could explain why Harry's scar is so in tune with Voldemort's whereabouts and moods.*. And if this is all true, Voldemort's burning passion to kill Harry personally might stem from the fact that his soul is now indirectly attached to Lily's love which isn't evil, so he needs to vanquish it.
*As an aside, I don't think Voldemort was connected to his other Horcruxes in this way because it's implied that he doesn't know when they were destroyed. Book 6 talk about Lucius telling Voldemort what happened to the diary, with Voldemort's anger being "terrible to behold." It's also implied because there'd be no reason for a note if Voldemort already knew the locket had been replaced with a fake.
So in sum, I think that Harry's scar is a Horcrux, and that some aspect of Lily is still around to protect him from harm. Now how this will get resolved I have no idea, but it could possibly involve a Dementor sucking out that bit of Voldemort's soul through Harry's scar oO. Err...or not :P
I also like this theory because it satisfies my desire to have at least one Horcrux from each of the Founders, just to be complete, and I somehow don't think the Sorting Hat or the Sword could be a Horcrux.
So there we have it! Also, if anyone's planning to go the release party at Bay & Bloor, keep a look out for me! I'll be there with agent_maxine and in black with Gryffindor colours!
Again, like the Quiz, there no book 7 spoilers behind the cut, just speculations. Same warning applies though: if you are further behind and don't want heavy hints at what books 1-6 hold, I suggest you don't click..
So after a lot of changing my mind and convoluted meanderings, here we go!
Short Predictions
Snape will be ambiguous throughout, but his final action will be good.
Deaths: Hagrid, Luna and Ron will die. Snape will die. Lucius and Voldemort will die.
Harry will vanquish Voldemort, but it will be a long drawn out confrontation
heavily involving Harry's scar, and Harry will be severely weakened and will nearly die.
Harry will need Peter Pettigrew's help to get to his parents house in Godric's Hollow.
Sirius will communicate somehow; the two way mirror will be important.
Horcruxes: 1) Riddle's Diary, 2) Marvolo's Ring, 3) Hufflepuff's Cup 4) Slytherin's Locket 5) Something of Ravenclaw's 6) Harry's scar still connected to - 7) Voldemort.
Each Horcrux will facilitate the journey and challenge of the next one.
Arabella Figg will do magic.
Neville will teach Herbology at Hogwarts.
Two Little Pet Theories
1) On Founder Horcruxes
This one's fairly straight forward. We know that each of the Hogwarts Houses correspond to an element; Fire (Gryffindor), Air (Ravenclaw), Earth (Hufflepuff) and Water (Slytherin). During my last reread of Half Blood Prince, I found it interesting that water was crucial in uncovering the supposed Slytherin Horcrux. It was in a place surrounded by water, the lake in the cave was water, it was submerged in liquid potion, Dumbledore demanded water after drinking the potion...etc.
Thinking back to Chamber of Secrets, there's also a heck of a lot of water significance surrounding another Slytherin Horcrux, Riddle's diary. Harry finds the wet diary in the washroom. Ginny had thrown it into a toilet, and prior to that, Lucius had thrown it into a cauldron (both water recepticles). And the final showdown occurs in the Chamber of Secrets which is obviously very wet since it's dealing with plumbing.
So...I'm predicting that for those Horcruxes made of Founder relics, the element of that House will come into play in finding it and destroying it. For example, I think we pretty much know for sure that Hufflepuff's cup is a Horcrux, so I'm sure the challenges surrounding it are Earth-linked, etc. etc. Ravenclaw's relic will probably require a lot of flying and/or dragon-hopping to get to.
2) Lily's Eyes and Harry's Scar (aka Is Harry a Horcrux?)
Until just a little while ago, I found the idea of Harry being a Horcrux to be downright laughable. After all, it totally goes against the neither can live while the other survives" prophecy since Voldemort cannot die until all his Horcruxes have been destroyed, which means that Harry would not be around to kill him.
But...I've been thinking a lot about Lily's eyes lately, and that's something we all know is enormously significant (I mean there's got to be a reason why it's been referenced so many times, and even Jo has said that it is significant). And based on that, my tentative and wacky sounding theory is that Harry's scar, but not Harry himself is an unintentional Horcrux. *Steps up onto the soap box...*
My gut feeling is that the a Horcrux is created at the moment of the killing. The object that is to become the Horcrux has to be near at hand, and that there's likely some complex spellwork involved before the killing that prepares the soul for splitting and the object for receiving it. In my mind's eye, I see the green spurt of light coming out of the wand, the loosened soul wrenching itself apart to fly forward with the curse, and then transfering itself into the Horcrux from there.
Obviously this didn't quite work in Harry's case, but I am sure that Voldemort was trying to use Harry's death to create a Horcrux since, as Dumbledore said, he seemed to reserve that for important deaths. And I think that even if the killing was not successful, something would still happen to the part of the soul which was anchored to the attempt.
Now back to Lily's eyes. What if Lily in death somehow managed to fuse into Harry and somehow block the brunt of the curse? In the books, its said a few times that the curse "rebounded" off Harry and hit Voldemort, which could certainly suggest such a thing. If this were true, wouldn't it make sense that she might leave a physical imprint on Harry, say her eyes? And...perhaps the reason Voldemort experiences such agony when trying to possess Harry is that some vestige of Lily is still there.
On the flip side, the bit of Voldemort's loosened soul that is departing has to go somewhere when the killing curse fails, and because we know that Voldemort transfered some of his power to Harry, I think it's pretty likely that the piece of his soul was transfered in the bargin, but not to where he had intended it. However, I am suspecting that because Harry did not actually die, the soul didn't split itself properly, which could explain why Harry's scar is so in tune with Voldemort's whereabouts and moods.*. And if this is all true, Voldemort's burning passion to kill Harry personally might stem from the fact that his soul is now indirectly attached to Lily's love which isn't evil, so he needs to vanquish it.
*As an aside, I don't think Voldemort was connected to his other Horcruxes in this way because it's implied that he doesn't know when they were destroyed. Book 6 talk about Lucius telling Voldemort what happened to the diary, with Voldemort's anger being "terrible to behold." It's also implied because there'd be no reason for a note if Voldemort already knew the locket had been replaced with a fake.
So in sum, I think that Harry's scar is a Horcrux, and that some aspect of Lily is still around to protect him from harm. Now how this will get resolved I have no idea, but it could possibly involve a Dementor sucking out that bit of Voldemort's soul through Harry's scar oO. Err...or not :P
I also like this theory because it satisfies my desire to have at least one Horcrux from each of the Founders, just to be complete, and I somehow don't think the Sorting Hat or the Sword could be a Horcrux.
So there we have it! Also, if anyone's planning to go the release party at Bay & Bloor, keep a look out for me! I'll be there with agent_maxine and in black with Gryffindor colours!