With 38 days until Harry Potter (7) Deathly Hallows comes out, I've finished re-reading all the Harry Potter books so far and finished book 6 (Half Blood Prince) last night. I have some thoughts on what might happen in book 7. Possibilities rolling around in my mind if you will.
Dumbledore: When HBP (book 6) came out I was in denial that Dumbledore was dead. I thought there must surely be *some* way that he would come back. However time and rereading HBP has caused me to fully understand that he is now dead. Though I don't think this is going to hinder him *communicating* his thoughts to Harry.
There is the Pensieve. I believe that there are many more of Dumbledore's memories corked in little bottles left in his office, and there is Dumbledore's portrait in Dumbledore's, um, make that McGonagall's (or whom ever becomes Headmaster/Headmistress) office. I believe there are ways Dumbledore can help Harry without actually being alive and being there, but because he is dead they are very limited.
Harry: I do not believe Harry is going back to Hogwarts, at least not initially, maybe not at all (as a student, I mean after you kill Lord Voldemort what is it that Hoqwarts can teach you?).
I do believe after Harry goes back to Privet Drive and then to Godric's Hollow (I believe there is a lot to be found here) and visits his parents graves, attends Fleur and Bill's wedding that he will reside in twelve Grimmauld Place (where else has he got to go). I don't know that it will be used as the headquarters of the OOP, but Harry is going to grow and mature there and find lots of "things" that will help him. I believe he will hang a portrait of Dumbledore in twelve Grimmauld Place and the Dumbledore in the portrait in the Headmaster's/Headmistresses office will go back and fourth between places and give Harry bit's of information about what's going on at Hogwarts.
I believe that at some point in the DH book that Harry too will become accomplished in Legillimency/Occluemency.
I also believe that Harry will keep Kreacher as a house elf and possibly set him free or maybe Kreacher will die at some point, but I do not believe Harry will keep Kreacher longterm as per Hermione's views about house elves being slaves and the fact that Kreacher can't be trusted. I also believe that Dobby will come and work for Harry of his own accord. Dobby being a free elf now, will choose to work for Harry Potter and Harry will pay him. I believe that Dobby and Kreacher will work together (think the assignment Harry gave both of them to watch and report on Draco Malfoy in HBP) for Harry.
Ultimately Harry might become and Auror, he might teach (Defense Against the Dark Arts) at Hogwarts (and become head of Griffindor House if McGonagall is headmistress) or even at some point become the youngest Headmaster at Hogwarts.
Hagrid: This is one reason that I think Hogwarts will reopen or maybe remain open. Where would Hagrid go, what else would he do?
Hogwarts: I don't know if the school will reopen in the first part of DH or not. I do believe Hogwarts will reopen at some point though, possibly after Lord Voldemort's death. Hogwart's will go on.
R.A.B.: So who is R.A.B.? I believe Harry will discover the answer to this in Sirius' family tree at twelve Grimmauld Place.
Snape: Snape IS a good guy. I believe so because Dumbledore trusted him fully and completely. As I believe, Draco said, "He's a double agent", but ultimately he is on our side.
So why did Snape kill Dumbledore? Dumbledore wanted him to. Snape got to the top of the tower and found Dumbledore in bad shape. I believe Dumbledore knew he was dying (from drinking the green liquid when he and Harry went to get the Slytherin locket Horcrux. I believe the liquid was poisoned by R.A.B. thinking Voldemort would come back for it, possibly it being Voldemort's last bit of soul and Voldemort then being human, would drink the liquid and die because the bit of soul that was in the locket would already be destroyed by R.A.B.). When he got there Dumbledore said "Severus -- Please" (not "Severus -- NO," not "Severus -- Don't") Dumbledore was not begging him to let him live, he was begging him to kill him, Dumbledore knowing a) there are worse things than death b) who else would do it? Not Harry, not McGonagill, not Hagrid, who else could do the job. Snape is an accomplished Legillimens and could therefore read Dumbledore's mind if Dumbledore wanted him to (if Dumbledore were not practicing Occlumency). There was no time to say the words out loud.
I do believe at some point in DH that Snape will help Harry openly, after all, Harry is going to need help and who else is a powerful enough wizard to help Harry? By Snape helping Harry defeat Lord Voldemort he will prove he is good to the world. Will Harry and Snape become friends... hmmm, maybe, maybe not. Who else does each of them have that truly understands their attraction for the dark side?
However it turns out I believe that Harry and the (wizarding) world will know Snape is a good guy in the end.
I believe Snape will be vindicated as a "good guy" and be reinstated at Hogwart's as the DADA teacher after Lord Voldemort's death.
Or... Snape may be killed.
3 comments:
(just got around to reading this post)
Something worth remembering, as far as Snape killing Dumbledore goes, is that Snape made a vow to "finish the job" is Malfoy couldn't/didn't, and it was a vow that would cost him his life if he broke it. Dumbledore must have looked at everything very carefully and foreseen an instance where it may become necessary to sacrifice himself because of this.
It wouldn't surprise me if Snape is killed, but I think he'll still be vindicated. And I think Harry may find some peace within himself over the way Snape has always treated him.
Something you said a while back about Paw Paw being a bit like Dumbledore... I think that's part of why Dumbledore's death upset me so much. And yes, he is dead. People don't come back in these books. Harry's parents are dead. Sirius is dead. Cedric is dead. But I also think you're right about Dumbledore still being able to contact Harry. Even though people don't come back, they're never really gone, either. I do wonder what will become of Fawkes, though. There's evidence to suggest he was also Godric Gryffindor's familiar, and that makes me wonder if he'll come back. It would be more than a little silly for an immortal creature to only serve one or two masters. I wonder how Hedwig would take to having a phoenix share the perch...
I hadn't considered Harry moving into the Black family estate, but that makes sense.
Whatever happens, I expect it to be very exciting, very emotional, and very sad when it ends. This is the last chapter in a whole phenomenon, not just a series of books. You remember the "Charlotte's Web" incident when I got to the end of the book. Now multiply that by... heck, I can't think of a number that big.
Hmmm, yes, the "Charlotte's Web incident"... only to be out done by the "Frosty the Snowman incident(s)"
Sorry I'm so late getting to this, but things have been chaotic here...and I wanted to wait until I had time to think and write. :-)
Yeah, Dumbledore's dead, really dead and he's not coming back. When I first read the book I believed he was really dead, but after talking to so many people over the years who believe that he might come back, I had allowed myself to be open to that possibility. No more.
In preparation for the new book coming out I listened to all the books again on audio and then reread both OOP and HBP (the last 2). There's no doubt about it: Dumbledore is dead. He had to absolutely DIE or Snape would've died as a result of the unbreakable curse. I don't think such powerful magic could be "fooled" by a fake death. Nor do I think Dumbledore will come back from the dead. The Minister said something like, "Not even Dumbledore..." Voldemort used powerful, terrible, magic to cheat death and come back. From all we've read, it's clear that this is the only way someone can come back once their body has died.
I agree with you that Dumbledore has more that he has to communicate with Harry--the idea of the Pensieve and the protraits would be an excellent way of doing it.
I think Hogwarts may be closed as a result of what has happened. Hagrid made it clear that he would stay there whether it was open or not and I think the governors would allow Hagrid (and maybe Filch) to remain even if the school were closed because it would still need someone on premises to look after things, though I suppose the grounds could be magically sealed. Professor Trelawny should also stay: Dumbledore would not let her leave in OOP---even when she said she would go. He spoke to her very sharply. In HBP he said even more plainly that he thought she would be in a great deal of danger outside the protection of the castle. (She doesn't know she made the prophecy, but Voldemart does.)
I agree that I think Snape is ultimately a good guy. I do think he hates Harry, but I also think he is working on the side of good---which is why Dumbledore sacrificed himself. At some point Harry will find out the reason Snape is working for the good guys. I think it likely that Snape will help Harry, though feeding info to the Order will be pretty much impossible now that everyone thinks he's gone back to being a Death-Eater. No one thinks he's a double agent now, so I'm not sure how he's going to be able to help. I suspect that Snape will die, will sacrifice himself in some way, but I'm hoping that he will live.
I think Harry will return to 12 Grimmauld Place, but I just can't see him living there or staying for more than a day or two. It's too painful, he hates the place---even when Sirius was alive he didn't much like it. He only wanted to live there because Sirius was there. After Sirius' death, he said he never wanted to go back. I think the search for the horcrux will take him back there.
As for what the post-Voldemort future will hold for Harry. He's got it in his head that he wants to be an Auror, that this is the only thing he'd be any good at, but that's not true and it's not the future I'd choose for him. The thing he is absolutely best at is Quiddich. His playing is already at a professional level. I'd like for Harry to be a professional Quiddich player, win the World Cup for England and when his Quiddich playing days are over return to Hogwarts to teach Defense Against The Dark Arts and eventually become Headmaster. :-)
I have a lot more thoughts about all this buzzing around in my head, but I'll stop here, for now. ;-)
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