Anyone else finished Harry Potter 6 yet?

[MiaOne]

Julie is right, I stayed away from this topic from the first intial posts after Justin said something about Quidich, I didn't want to have it spoiled for me. A friend's coworker almost ruined it for me.

I do have to say this though. SPOILER

[spoiler]The death at the end of the 4th book was a complete and utter shock. I know he was a very background character but the sudden abruptness of it just made me bawl. The death at the end of the 5th book had so much hype that I wasn't as affected when it happend, which was unfortunate as I did like the character. The 6th book's death, while not entirely suprising, I didn't guess who would and how it would happen, because I find no joy in guessing as I feel it ruins the surprise for me. This one disturbed me not so much because of the people involved but the circumstances :\ He trusted Snape through and through... often as I have put my faith in people who have let me down in a much less fatal way.... I didn't cry as hard as I did when Cedric died... but this one has depressed me.[/spoiler]

Yeah...

[spoiler] I was actually incrediably shocked when Snape performed the unforgivable curse and killed him. I really thought...even from reading the beginning of the book and learning that Snape was in contact with Voldemort and the Death Eaters that there would be some weird twist in the end where Snape saved the day. I think I actually sobbed when I read the words "Avada Kedavra" coming from Snape. I actually l iked Snape...and there's nothing that makes me cry in a book more is that when a character you like does something unforgivable to you. I still think...from all the foreshadowing in the other books that there's something about Snape...and Dumbledore was right to trust him[/spoiler]

[Ruby]

Um, Hm, I just got the book late night Sunday and finished it this afternoon... so.. here's what I thought..

[spoiler]Personally I think there still is something about Snape. Given the kind of orders Dumbledore gave Harry I don't find it hard to believe that he would give Snape orders to kill him if he had to, and Dumbledore was willing to do lots of harm to himself in order to stop Voldemort. Still, I guess we'll have to wait another two years to find out.[/spoiler]

[LuciaOne]

[spoiler]Okay, why again couldn't they have just seized Time Turners to turn time back to right when Harry and Dumbledore came back? Harry and Hermione could have saved the day again, by hexing Malfoy RIGHT before he disarmed Dumbledore. I guess it would make the series seem repetitive, and seriously damper ANY credibility to the series. But still, I think JK should have mentioned someone bringing up the idea, and then having someone else shoot it down..

I knew Snape was gonna kill Dumbledore =[ Dumbledore's sickliness-with-aging has been mentioned in all of the books, greatly foreshadowing that he was going to die sometime (at least in the series). Plus, with Snape making that pledge to Mrs. Malfoy at the beginning of the book, we knew he wasn't going to be on the right side. Also, Dumbledore said that because of Voldemort that it wasn't even possible for someone to hold the position of D.A.D.A teacher for more than a year. So, by Dumbledore putting Snape there, I think he knew that Snape would die trying to help the right side, or, unlikely, help the Death Eaters and leave the school (they could never end the book with Snape dying yet- that would have been too nice!).[/spoiler]

[Ruby]

[spoiler]Okay, why again couldn't they have just seized Time Turners to turn time back to right when Harry and Dumbledore came back?[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Because as they explain earlier in the book that the Ministry's stock of time turners was destroyed in the battle at the end of book 5. Thus there are no time turners to be had by anyone.[/spoiler]

[MiaOne]

Um, Hm, I just got the book late night Sunday and finished it this afternoon... so.. here's what I thought..

[spoiler]Personally I think there still is something about Snape. Given the kind of orders Dumbledore gave Harry I don't find it hard to believe that he would give Snape orders to kill him if he had to, and Dumbledore was willing to do lots of harm to himself in order to stop Voldemort. Still, I guess we'll have to wait another two years to find out.[/spoiler]

[spoiler] Yeah, I agree. I can see Dumbledore giving the order for Snape to kill him. The more I think about it...the more that it seems plausable. I mean after doing in Dubledore Snape would be Voldemort's favorite person, no doubt. His betrayal to the Dark Lord would be very surprising indeed after a stunt like that. And maybe...just maybe when Dubledore was saying "Sevirus Please..." That he was actually begging Snape to do him in, even though Snape didn't think that was the best of ideas. AND when one of the Death Eaters tried to attack Harry, Snape got really upset and then said: "He's for the Dark Lord himself" A bunch of cadswallop if you ask me

I still hold out hope for a good Snape. [/spoiler]

[Sonic#]

[spoiler]I think a Snape that doesn't truly align himself with Voldemort is a fair possibility, but in interviews, J.K. Rowling has said that she doesn't understand why people like Snape. I still think he's a callous person, and that part of the thing of the books is that there are many people who are on the "good" side, but who aren't necessarily good, flawed in some degree or another. (Umbridge, Snape, Crouch, Fudge, Mundungus, etc.). And the same with the bad people. Peter Pettigrew becomes someone to be pitied, really, so evil as he is, not by his choice, but by his lack of it. As for me, I simply find him interesting.

And I think that even if the time turners weren't smashed, they would be honor-bound not to use them. The Ministry kept tight hold on them to keep them from being misused. Such misuse would open paradoxes and alter future events, often in worse ways. What if Malfoy was hexed? There were still several other death eaters. Likely, Harry would've gotten into the fray, been unprotected by the Felix Felicitis, and been hexed himself. Worse, he could've died. There are so many things that could've happened, had that not happened, and part of the thing that people who use the time turners have to see is that... the immediately perceived good done could give way to a worse or similar situation.

Dumbledore understood this, I think, because he knew when to meddle, in the third book, but also knew just how much to do so. How he knew to use the time turner is something mind-spinning. He probably already saw how the events turned out properly, by its use.

I try not to think about changing time too much. It's a spinny subject. [/spoiler]

[Ruby]

[spoiler]I don't really like Snape, just he seems too obvious a choice in my mind. For five books we've always been lead to believe that Snape is the evil one behind something but then he turns out not to be. Now in book six we're actually given a book where he looks to be the one behind the evil that's going on. But I expect redemptiion in book seven simply because, once again, it's just too bloody obvious. It seems to me that it'd be so lame to finally have him turn out to be evil after all the other times.

Also, some people might like Snape because they identify with him. He is really badly treated by Harry's father in school.[/spoiler]

[Alunissage]

Just a peripheral reply to Sonic's post: I wouldn't classify Umbridge as being on the "good" side -- hers (and Fudge's at the time) was a third side, since they didn't acknowledge the existence of Voldemort's. She herself was simply a controlling, power-hungry sadist, only slightly different from Bellatrix. I imagine she'd enjoy her cushy position with the Ministry too much to actually go over to Voldemort, but I don't think she can be considered to be on the good side at all.

[LuciaOne]

Okay, I have a question. Are there for sure only going to be 7 books in this series? I mean, yeah, there are seven years at Hogwarts, but...

[spoiler]Harry said he isn't returning to Hogwarts, which completely changes this series. Normally the books follow a kind of template, corresponding with the schoolyear, but now there isn't going to be a schoolyear. Plus, there is SO MUCH TO DO now in just one book to actually finish off Voldemort, and I really don't want it all to be crammed in one book... Anyone else feel this way or is I crazy?[/spoiler]

[MiaOne]

I hate Umbridge. So much. She's my least favorite character in all the books. I loathe her most.


[spoiler] Ruby is right. It just seems too obviously for Snape to be evil. AND if I remember they kept on alluding to the fact that Dumbledore knew for a FACT that Snape was not evil...like something about him. Am I right? I'm more or less intruiged by the character of Snape than liking him...he has a lot of mystery to him...and I want to find out what was Dumbledores reason for trusting him.

Alayna...I thought about that took and I think that well, it's very plausable that Hogwarts will be closed after the attack for one. Secondly, I think that Rowling is going to comprise a seventh year, not based on their school year, but rather the year that it takes them to gather forces and face Voldemort. Makes sense to me...I guess. I also heard that Rowling is going to be doing books after that of the 7 under different alias', has anyone else heard this? [/spoiler]

[LuciaOne]

Oh dude Julie I'd crap myself if you are right about more books. Yes, crap myself, right here and right now.

[Alunissage]

Yes, I've heard that Rowling will be writing other (non-HP) books under pseudonyms. Can't blame her. Also, as I recall she had the whole HP series outlined before she even started the first, so I doubt she plans to do more than the 7 she's said, at least as main books.

[MiaOne]

Oh dude Julie I'd crap myself if you are right about more books. Yes, crap myself, right here and right now.

Start craping.