23-Skiddoo.

[mike_smith]

I had planned on getting to this one a lot sooner, but I had the week from hell at my job this week, so things didn't go as planned. Among the highlights of this are

Comments

[c2t2]

It's like he's gone to some strange planet and let an aging purple elf dance around him for five hours to awaken his latent idiocy.

*snerk*
I had completely forgotten about that. That part of the show was about as much filler as the whole book you're reading.
Meh

[unluckylasers]

Just a fun fact for you: the Gryffindor sword actually turned up while Harry was defeating the diary-Horcrux back in Book Two, so if Voldemort's been looking for it, it's only been for about five years.

Keep up the awesome recapping! You're almost there!

[jim_smith]

As implied by the memory Slughorn provided, Voldemort most likely split his soul into seven pieces. Stupidly, Harry interprets this to mean he created seven Horcruxes, which requires Dumbledore to stop and explain that he'd only need six, with the seventh part still in his body.

I swear, if Voldemort is any kind of halfway competent villain, he's split his soul into eight pieces, in anticipation of Dumbledore looking for seven and only seven pieces. Then if Harry's any kind of Chosen One, his willingness to think outside the box is what saves the whole world or whatever.

[pacoman]

Or just having Voldemort create another Horcrux to replace the diary; that might also ruin Dumbledore's big Take Down the Evil Overlord plan.

[jim_smith]

Yeah, that'd be my plan. Apparently it's a bitch to keep splitting your soul, but that obviously doesn't bother Voldemort, and there doesn't seem to be an upper limit established, so why not make more Horcruxes as you go along?

[seductivedark]

Sounds like a lousey week. I've had a few of those recently. Don't let anybody tell you that unloading the truck and moving in is the end of it. You still have to deal with new schools, new doctors, new VA officials, new directions. I think they decided to get rid of two of the directions here, north and east. No matter which way I'm going, it feels like south and west.

Yeah, this chapter was pretty well on track. It's getting near the end, so they actually have to stop being teen-agers and get to the quick. I would include Dumbledore in that statement, but he's been short-tempered for him, and much more on-target the entire year. I guess getting your hand destroyed makes you grow up and become grumpy.

[merenwen_81]

Dumbledore is probably right about what the horcruxes are (though I probably wouldn't put my faith in a snake that can be killed much too easily and is there for everyone to see). There are all sorts of theories on the horcruxes. One that is quite beliavable IMO is that Harry has seen one of them in every book so far, but hasn't realised it. One is that Harry is one of the horcruxes, because Voldemort fucked up when trying to kill the 1-yo Harry and accidently put a piece of his soul into Harry making the boy a parseltongue in the process, but I hate that theory.

[merenwen_81]

One is that Harry is one of the horcruxes, because Voldemort fucked up when trying to kill the 1-yo Harry and accidently put a piece of his soul into Harry making the boy a parseltongue in the process, but I hate that theory.It's so obvious and boring that I'm pretty sure it's what JKR will do. After reading CoS, I remember thinking that Voldemort might have put his soul into other objects, but dismissed the theory, because surely this would have occurred to Dumbledore back then? But no, he's just that dumb and readers aren't supposed to think of anything that the characters haven't. So not only do I think that Harry is the last horcrux, but that he'll have to get the Dementor's Kiss in order for that part of Voldemort to be destroyed. After hearing Slughorn go on about Lily being great at Potions, I'm also pretty sure that the big secret about her is the extraordinary lameness of Snape being in love with her and turning to the dark side when she hooked up with James, a theory that's been around since 1999 or so. Yet when this comes

[merenwen_81]

It would be even worse if the reason Snape came back to Dumbledore was that he loved Lily and...I can't say what, because it's supposed to be a surprise. Rowling said in the summer that just about every guy with a pulse had a crush on Lily so I'm a tiny bit worried.

I still have some trust that JKR wouldn't do any of the things we have mentioned here. Maybe I'm just dumb, but nearly all the big surprises in the books have come as surprises to me and I hope Rowling will avoid the most obvious paths now.

[t0ra_chan]

Sadly I think that unrequited Snape/Lily is exactly what JKR is going for. None of her other pairings were a surprise (except Remus/Tonks and that sucked).

Just look at all the evidence: DD telling us that Snape felt remorse when he found out who Voldemort was targeting, JKR telling us in the interview how every man of course loved Lily, how she didn't rebuke Snape/Lily while doing so for Remus/Lily, how great Lily was at potions etc..

Bet you that we'll get something in book 7 seven where it is revealed that Snape became a DE because Lily wouldn't love him, turned spy when he knew she was in danger and some line about how he always hated Harry because he has James face but Lily's eyes.