I went with my son to a birthday party across the street yesterday and all any of the adults wanted to know was “Does he die at the end?”

For the past week I’ve been immersed in Harry Potter – reading the old books, waiting for the new book, taking phone calls and e-mails from friends where we whispered and hinted about the Deathly Hallows, careful not to accidentally ruin a plot point for someone else.

The children were playing down the sidewalk and the adults at the party weren’t going to read the book so I answered the question. I stood on a street in broad daylight and told people whether Harry Potter lived or died.

No Death Eaters appeared, wands drawn. No one shouted obliviate and took the memory away.

The spell was over.

Harry Potter was over.

J. K. Rowling wove her world very thick, and the minutia will keep the hardcore fans happy and dressing in Gryffindor robes for a while, with or without a new book.

I’ve already found myself in conversations about whether a Patronus has to be a real animal. Who wouldn’t want a Smurf for a Patronus?

But take away the magic wands and the imagined creatures and Harry Potter wasn’t much more than the story of an aristocracy in crisis. Elite families who knew each other for centuries and sent their children to the same private boarding school find their world in crisis, while purebloods worry about their children interbreeding with the common “muggles.”

In any other context we would have wanted the world of Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic to collapse into rubble. Instead, people lined up at midnight to buy the book, to see who lived and died and whether the magical world survived.

Harry Potter, as a character, had extraordinary and humble beginnings at the same time. He was famous since he was an infant but lived in a cupboard under the stairs. Somehow he represents the best of a divided world – like King Arthur or any number of fairy tale princesses he came from rags and proved he was nobility.

Or maybe he was a boy wizard with a scar on his head who kept me entertained for seven books. Either way, the story is over and I enjoyed it.

 Chaney says it’s not exactly Rowling’s finest hour, and may be a Potter tome that will make a better movie than book. Plus, she’s not wild about the baby-heavy epilogue.

 More after the jump …

Harry Defeats Evil, Rises from Dead, Wants a Sandwich

I’ll get right to it. This is not a bad book. Nor is it a good book. It is a highly inconsistent book, with some astonishingly beautiful and moving passages (like Dobby’s death and burial) countered by gross negligence of the rules and regulations that held her magical world in tact. 

Most folks who do not regularly troll the web for Potter Info or post on sites like The Leaky Cauldron or Mugglenet will be perfectly satisfied with this book as a final installment of a none-too-literary guilty escapist pleasure, perfect for rainy days or afternoons on porch swings reading something whose merit falls wildly between OK! Magazine and The Brothers Karamazov.

But to those hard core fans who’ve spent years writing essays, theorizing in web forums, and poring over every interview J.K. Rowling ever gave (which is considered “cannon” by this large base of “fandom”), the ecstasy of the final book is diminished by its lack of a sense of completion and by the blight of what feels like both overzealous and under-meticulous editing.

In short, it smacks of carelessness and hyper urgency to “finish.” It feels like a working draft whose lingering plot holes and general inconsistencies could be easily ironed out to create the truly epic and classic work that it wants to be, and, considering the unrivalled literary and financial resources available, ought to be. We would have gladly waited years for a complete, polished volume that brought a satisfying sense of closure to the tale, a book that did not have so many breaches of continuity and muddy answers to pointed questions.

For instance, when Harry failed to die the second time (i.e. when he willingly went to his death in the chapter, “The Forest Again”), how exactly did he NOT die? Was it because of the blood protection in Voldemort’s veins? That Harry could not die while Voldemort lived? Was it because Harry was unknowingly master of Voldemort’s wand (the Elder Wand?) and the wand would not kill its own master? OR, was it because Harry was in possession of two of the Deathly Hallows, hit with a spell by the third, and by their unification he somehow became “Master of Death?” Evidently it is a little of all of those things, a confluence of magic and metaphor that ensures Harry’s survival with a bundle of magical back up protection. To say this is confusing is an understatement, particularly when the climactic finale scenes are interrupted for long bouts of otherworldly exposition and explanations from Dumbledore that leave you asking “Huh?”

There are plenty more “Huh?” moments in the book. Like how Hermione explains that, to ensure her family’s protection from Voldemort, she modified her parents’ memories to think that they didn’t have a daughter and that they always had a burning desire to visit Australia, where they remain for the entirety of the book. Not a few chapters later, Hermione is asked to use a Memory Charm on a Death Eater and she claims to have never done a Memory Charm before, but tries anyway.  So what did she do to her parents? Whack them over the head and hypnotize them?

Or how about Secret Keeping. A FAQ on jkrowling.com about what happens to secrets when its Secret Keeper dies is in direct and blatant violation to what she describes in the book.

The book is rife with such contradictions that may seem nitpicky to some, but are major continuity stumbling blocks for fans who’ve spent years devoted to defending and researching the rules of Potterverse.

A lot of fans are further disappointed that alleged promised information never made it into the books. For almost a decade now folks have been speculating the answers to questions and hints that JK had given in interviews. Someone was supposed to do magic later in life. We were supposed to find out what Dudley saw when he was attacked by Dementors. The spell that Dumbledore used in the Ministry of Magic in book five was supposed to be important. The occupations of James and Lily Potter were to be crucial to the plot. There are many, many more instances of JK making claims about “answers” that were to come in the final books that never made it. That is, to me, much more forgivable than violating the very rules that make it possible to suspend our disbelief in Potterverse.

Perhaps the most unforgivable gaffe for me is that this book doesn’t give us a sufficient denouement. Harry kills Voldemort, there are a few paragraphs of aftermath, and then, after rising from the dead, defeating the most evil wizard of all time, and talking to Dumbledore’s portrait (which is inconsistently more intelligent and engaging than portraits ought to be because they are said to be merely “imprints” of people and do not have all of their knowledge, etc.), Harry just wants a sandwich. A sandwich! And then the book ends. Are you telling me I’ve read thousands of pages over and over only to have my hero end up wanting a sandwich and muttering a corny line about having had enough trouble for one lifetime? Yuck yuck, wink wink.

The following “19 years later” cheesetastic epilogue is sorely short on wrap-up information. We only learn what happens to six characters (they get married and have babies, whee!) and there is no wrapping up after the big battle like there are in the previous books. Is there no funeral for the fifty plus dead? Is there no resolution to the many character conflicts? No, there is just Harry, his imaginary sandwich, and a future full of babies.

Perhaps what hurts the most is that it could have been a truly amazing work. The Deathly Hallows plotline is pretty intriguing, though at times it feels tacked on to the end of the series. There are some amazing moments of adventure, discovery, and occasional beautiful resolution. Snape’s death, for instance, is particularly poignant.

Yet, it would take careful editing (or perhaps careful adding, because one can’t help but get the feeling that some key passages had been ruthlessly cut) to make this book feel like it is anything more than really good fan fiction. 

Oddly, it is the one book that will probably make a better movie than a book.

Finished, and wow!

            I seem to have sensed correctly when the action was going to ramp up.  From the moment of the raid on Gringott’s, the action is mostly relentless.  Wands blazing, cast first, ask questions later.  As the action finally returns to Hogwarts and the senior faculty gets involved, the descriptions of the individual duels become quite spectacular.  There’s a rule somewhere that says the student is never allowed to outshine the master, and the puffs of smoke and beams of light attributed to Hogwarts students through the entire series are revealed to be rather… well… elementary.

            But let’s tear into this a little bit.  On with the SPOILERS!

            A popular theory has been that one of the Weasley twins will die in this book, serving the dramatic purpose of stiffening Harry’s resolve as he approaches the final duel with Voldemort.  I admit I thought we had avoided this when George’s ear was cut off in the chase toward the Burrow at the beginning of the book.  Alas, poor Fred, I was mistaken.  The dramatic purpose was certainly served, though.

            Being the sucker for dramatic thrills that I am, the moment when Harry reveals himself to the Hogwarts student body and declares, “We’re fighting,” put a huge smile on my face.  Also, the escape from Gringott’s on dragonback made for stunning imagery.

            After “Half-Blood Prince,” the last thing I really wanted to read about was Harry taking another trip through the Pensieve.  Yes, it was well-written, and it was highly important – I note with some glee that it validates my belief on Snape’s heroism.  I just didn’t want a Pensieve scene stuck in the middle of an all-out wizards’ war, is all.  I would have preferred to see Snape manage to impart the information to Harry in person, I think.  Before he died.  Either “he.”

            Speaking of dying, Harry’s scene with Dumbledore – who remained dead but still had a part in the story, so I’ll take half-credit for that – was really good, even if it removed us from the action a little longer than I would have liked.  For all the doubt cast on Dumbledore’s character through the book, I think he comes out even more admirable in the end than he had been in the beginning.  I rather doubt this is on accident.

            Seeing the Malfoys humanized at the end – Draco as an arguable redemption story; half-credit again – was a nice bookend to the scenes with the Dursleys at the beginning.  We could spend time arguing that Draco was actually trying to help Harry and crew in the Room of Requirement, and he lost control of Crabbe and Goyle.  More on that in a moment.

            I felt cheated that Neville Longbottom never got a final confrontation with Bellatrix Lestrange.  This had been building up for the last three or four books, and Lestrange comes between Molly Weasley and her children before the conflict can be resolved.  I understand war is messy, but still….

            Nitpicking aside, though, I’m pleased as punch with this book.  Driving action, sound payoff on years’ worth of character investment, and magic that really seemed magical.  Then there’s the epilogue, which emphasizes the cyclical nature of these family relationships, and how the way I feel sending my kids to school will almost certainly be the way my parents felt sending me to school.

            Perhaps Ms. Rowling will decide to return to the well later and tell us how Scorpius Malfoy, Slytherin House’s best prospect in a decade, struggles to prove Draco’s rebellion against Voldemort and restore honor not only to the Malfoys, but to all the Slytherins.  I’d read it.

What I liked: 

Questions answered. There were a lot of loose ends about the Prophecy, Dumbledore, Snape, even Harry and Voldemort’s connection that were answered neatly and in a sensible way.

Trio love. I adored the amount of time that the series spent focusing in on the dynamic between Harry, Ron, and Hermione. How the three of them grew up, and were able to realize that they all needed each other. Ron had some issues he had to work through, and I think the destruction of the Horcrux was a nice summary of his new spurt in maturity, and Hermione’s scenes alone with Harry went a long way to establish their friendship, I thought.

The importance of non-humans. I thought that the goblins and house-elves really stepped it up in this book, and I was gratified to see them so richly characterized. Formerly ignored or belittled characters like Kreacher and Griphook were given the chance to really talk, and be listened to as individuals in their own right. I think Griphook was really able to address some of the issues that magical creatures had with wizarding folks, and it was an interesting added dimension to the discussion of pure blood. I also appreciated that Dobby had his funeral. The House-elves of Hogwarts rocked in that final sequence, lead by Kreacher, which was a nice touch. The centaurs also had a brief mention or two in the final battle, as did Grawp versus the evil giants, but I wish they had a bit more time, as they would have increased the focus of the narrative on non-humans even more.

Minor characters getting their moments in the sun. I adored that briefly mentioned or alluded to characters such as Ollivander, Abelforth, and even Luna’s father, got pages and pages of dialogue. It was unexpected, and I was gratified that they each had their vital part in the story. It was also nice to see Hogwarts students and alum step it up a little — Dean got a bit more attention this time, and Lee Jordan was able to have his radio broadcast and join in the fight, and Ernie and Seamus also got to play their part in helping to save the Trio with their patronuses.

Neville and Luna. Two of my favorites, and oh, how they shined. Both characters have been portrayed as being the butt of jokes, and unpopular to the point of ostracism at times, and to see them come into their own and be respected for it by others was quite nice. Both were given a short shrift in Half-Blood Prince, but their roles in this story made up for it in spades. Luna had some fabulous interactions with Ollivander and Dean, and her scenes with Harry were brilliant. Neville made me so very proud. He’s always struck me as having his own type of bravery, but he seemed to be held back by self-doubt. In Order of the Phoenix, we got a glimpse of steel and grit, and we got to see that all grown up here. Leading the DA resistance, organizing the final fight pretty much single-handedly through notifying people with Galleons, and then, like the true Gryffindor that he is, pulling the sword out from the hat and slaying Nagini. How wonderful. And he even got his mention in the epilogue! This was far better than I expected for him, but exactly what he deserved. Thank you for Neville, Mrs. Rowling.

The Humanity of Albus Dumbledore. After six books of frustrating half-answers and mysterious winking, we finally got to find out that Albus Dumbledore was human after all. Oh, sure, he’d made mistakes in the previous books, but he was always so noble about it. “I thought it for the best. I didn’t want to cause you any more pain.” etc. etc. He tended to frustrate me, because he was always such an enigma. And no matter what, he always kept as much to himself as possible. Even supposedly when he was “completely honest” with Harry in Half-Blood Prince, he still kept Harry in the dark as to the way to destroy Horcruxes, his suspicions about Harry’s scar and the Voldemort connection, the list goes on. We know now that he knew he was going to die, and yet he still held tightly to his secrets. In this book, however, we got some answers. We learned more about his motivations, his past connection with Grinewald, his family dirt, and he got a chance to explain himself a little more as well. Finally, we not only got some honesty from the man, but we also got to see some of the dirt under his robes. I’m glad he wasn’t a saint.

The unbelievable set pieces. The opening escape, the bank robbery, and the final battle were heartpounding, full of excitement and action, and very well-written. I enjoyed thorougly.

My favorite line. “NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!” I was still crying at this point, but I laughed out loud when Molly Weasley said this.

What I didn’t like:

The Lack of Snape. Sure, we got a lot of backstory, but the troubled man had little to no presence in this book at all. He did get his redemption, though, which is something. A minor complaint, but I like his ambiguity and bile, and wished I could have seen more. It’s interesting to have a character who is a good man, but deeply flawed, and he didn’t get as much time as I thought he would.

The villainization of Slytherin. The Sorting Hat has been talking for the past three books about the importance of unity. And yet, when it comes to the final battle, an entire quarter of the student body is summarily dismissed. I’d hoped that Mrs. Rowling would let at least a few Slytherins stay, but to paint them with such a broad brush is distressing. We got the redemption of Snape, and Slughorn did stay and fight, but this part did not sit well with me at all. I didn’t expect Draco to turn face, and thought it fitting with his character that he could be both unhappy with Voldemort and still a bit of a git… but come on. To have all of Slytherin missing from the final battle saddened me. Slytherin = The Evil is far too easy. Snape is allowed to be redeemed but none of his students are. How disappointing.

Misuse of Unforgivables. Harry uses “Crucio” on Carrow when he attacks him from under his Invisibility cloak. I didn’t like that one bit. Not only was it a sneak attack, so any other defensive spell would have worked, but it was in response to Carrow insulting McGonagall, not a more dire situation. Unforgivables shouldn’t be so easily thrown about, and, up til now, Harry has used a fairly basic (but effective) stable of spells to get him out of situations. I don’t see why he had to come out shooting with an Unforgivable here, and it doesn’t feel right to me.

The treatment of Remus Lupin. We only got a few scenes with him, and I didn’t like how he came off at all. I don’t know if it’s because I care for him, but his confrontational scene with Harry seemed remarkably out-of-character. His Potterwatch scene was okay, as was the birth of his son, even if they were only brief mentions, but then he had to go and be killed. My first issue was his death to begin with. He is man who has faced discrimination and poverty his entire life, and has had extensive personal tragedy in the death of all of his close friends. He finally gets his happiness, in the form of Tonks, and isn’t allowed to even enjoy it until the last possible moment — he is finally not only loved, but married and a father, and is able to smile about it, and at that moment, he is killed. How monumentally unfair. My second issue deals with the way his death was treated.  We only knew he was dead after we saw him layed out beside Fred. We didn’t get to see him die, we didn’t get to say our good-byes, it was just an abrupt recognition of his death. And to have this realization come so soon after Fred’s death robbed it of any resonance at all. Fred’s death made me weep. It was a hard death. Remus Lupin’s death felt like an afterthought — a way to increase the body count — without any glory, poetry, or impact. If you’re going to kill a man at the height of his happiness, for god’s sake, make it mean something.

The Epilogue. Unnecessary. Clichéd. I understand the impulse to cap it off thoroughly, to show a True Ending, but to set it nineteen years later with tons of babies was an odd authorial choice. There’s such a difference between letting the story fade to black at an appropriate time and extending it unnaturally. Having the future of the characters set down in print rather than being able to imagine it for myself makes me feel slightly robbed. You can end a book with a promise of future happiness, with the possibility of a relationship, and there are still interesting potential paths the future can hold. Harry doesn’t necessarily have to end up with Ginny, even if he is happy with her right now. Goodness knows what would happen if we all married the people we were madly in love with at seventeen, but that’s another issue altogether. The point is, the epilogue felt forced, and while I do like a good ending, I don’t think the epilogue was an example of that. I’d much rather think up my own future for Harry and his friends after the battle rather than have it dictated to me.

 What I was surprised by: 

Fred. I didn’t think she’d be brave enough, honestly. One of the worst things I could think of would be to separate identical twins by killing one off and leaving the other behind. I respect her for doing that, but good lord, it was hard to read, and my heart went out to George.

The language. I need to re-read the other books to make sure, but Rowling’s language seemed to be different in this book, much more epic and weighty. I need to think on this some more, but it did seem to me as if her choice of words and descriptive passages had a good deal more lyricism and poetry to it, whereas her earlier books seemed more simple and straightforward.

Overall opinion. I laughed, I cried, and despite some rather significant issues, I enjoyed myself. A good end to an interesting series. Two thumbs up.

For the Boy Who Lived, the time has come to be a man.

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final chapter in J.K. Rowling’s sprawling coming of age tale, Harry is taken away from almost everything in his life that comforted and protected him through the first six books. Gone is the protection from his mother’s sacrifice, the safety of Hogwarts, his mentor Dumbledore. Even the memory of Dumbledore is poisoned, as troubling questions arise about the venerable wizard’s past, and his motives for sending Harry to kill the evil Lord Voldemort.

And so it is that Harry finds himself isolated, questioning himself and his mission, and often reluctant to take on the mantel of leadership in the underground resistance, even as Voldemort gains a stranglehold on the wizarding world. It’s a grim place to be, and it gets grimmer.

As with all final installments, the action is more explosive, the body count higher, and revelations about long-hidden secrets come thick and fast. Of course, it’s not all Die Hard–in several places the story slows to a crawl while Harry tries to figure out his next move, and Rowling rather overemploys her favored method of info-dump (making Harry read excerpts from newspapers and Rita Skeeter’s Kitty Kelly-esque tell-all book about Dumbledore). But overall, the pacing feels just about right.

Better still is the way the author weaves in themes of remorse and redemption–often from the last characters readers would expect it from. Though this book is probably not appropriate for small children, tween and teen readers can glean valuable lessons about honesty, loyalty and mercy. Most of all, Deathly Hallows provides keen insight into the profound power of love, both romantic and familial.

But love can be a motivator in more sinister ways, too; younger, more idealistic readers may understand for the first time how totalitarian regimes can so easily gain a toe-hold in society by observing the tactics of Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

It’s not just propaganda, controlling the press and telling people it’s for the greater good: when wizarding folk protest the government take-over, Voldemort simply kidnaps their children or kills their loved ones. People who are misinformed and scared for their families are easily controlled. And those who refuse to be cowed into submission often pay the ultimate price, including some very popular characters.

Besides her allusions to world history (especially Nazi Germany), Rowling also enriches the plot with references to mythology, Greek epic poetry and Arthurian legend, and even more importantly, wizarding lore she’s invented on her own.

This is not to say it’s a marvel of literature: a few loose ends and rivalries never gain resolution, and the deus ex machinas sometimes strain the credibility of the plot, but overall it’s a fine read that brings satisfying closure to the series.

As a friend of mine remarked the other day, “J.K. Rowling may not be a great writer, but she makes up for it by being a spectacular storyteller.” It’s just a shame that this particular story, as all stories must, has come to an end.

My wife still hasn’t finished Deathly Hallows.  She’s in chapter 33 and something horrible just happened because she’s been sniffling for the last half a page.

We tried to talk about the book earlier but my 2-year-old daughter interrupted.  She insists that the word is “Snake” not “Snape” and if we can’t get the word right then we aren’t allowed to talk.

Then when she overheard that Snape was killed by a snake she danced around and sang “Snape…  Snake…  Snape… Snake…” until we gave her a carrot to eat and she stopped.

Now that I’ve finished the book, I keep thinking of the bad guys.  This book was about Harry Potter and his friends, but Deathly Hallows to be as much about the villains – they were complex, tangible, misunderstood, and broken.

Snape finally had his moment of redemption at the end – an entire chapter’s worth of exposition that explained who he was and why he did the things he had done.

The Malfoys may not have had redemption but they were never unsympathetic.  My brother pointed out in an e-mail that Lucius Malfoy had his wand destroyed at the beginning of the book and couldn’t take part in the battle at Hogwarts.  Lucius, Narcissa and Draco Malfoy all made it through the chaos at Hogwarts without killing anyone.

Even Voldemort inspired some sympathy – the sniveling creature that represented his soul made you pity the soulless, lost monster that he was.  Harry offered him a chance to feel remorse and redeem his soul but he refused.

Bellatrix Lestrange was completely evil, though and I couldn’t see any reason to let her character escape unpunished.  If I were going to randomly drop a spoiler and ruin someone’s day, I think it would be “Mrs. Weasley kills Bellatrix.”  It has a nice sound.

Here we are, at the last 200 or so pages of the book. There’s some tricky twists here that I’m not sure I’ll be able to do justice, but I’ll do my best. There are, once again, tricky bits that don’t make sense unless explained, so this one is long too.

So, after a brief struggle, we see the Carrows overpowered and Severus Snape fleeing Hogwarts as the older students, staff, alumni, and Order members gather together for the final fight, including Percy, who turns out to be not so bad a git as first suspected. The rest of the students evacuate to safety. Unfortunately, here, the book made its first misstep for me — the entire house of Slytherin leaves. None stay to fight. I talk about this a good deal in my final blog, but it was disappointing to say the least.

We have a sequence with the Grey Lady, the Ravenclaw Ghost, who tells Harry about the Diadem. Harry figures out, through fairly quick thinking (a little too quick, really) that Voldemort must have hidden it in the Room of Requirement — the place where things are hidden. And then he remembers that tarnished tiara he put on the bust of a statue to mark the place he hid his book in the Half-Blood Price. That was another one of those nice touches — that the diadem was there, under our noses, only we didn’t know what it was at the time. Ron and Hermione haven’t been slacking either — they managed to get back down to the Chamber of Secrets and destroy the Cup of Hufflepuff with a tooth from the Basilisk. (And how did Ron’s “hissing” manage to open up the chamber? A bit of a cop-out here, too, I’m afraid.) Oh, and when Ron shows some concern about the House Elves in Hogwarts, Hermione makes out with him. For five minutes. It’s really cute.

They go to the Room of Requirement, and are met by Crabbe, Goyle, and Draco, who hope to stop them. Crabbe sets the room on fire, and dies once it gets out of control. Harry, Ron, and Hermione rescue Goyle and Draco and nab the diadem in the process. The diadem is destroyed in the fire as well, leaving Nagini the snake as the final Horcrux to be destroyed.

And then, all hell breaks loose. There’s an explosion, and Fred Weasley is killed. At this point, I burst into tears, and didn’t stop crying for the next fifty pages or so. I’ll say more on this later, but it was incredibly sad and tragic and the first death with real impact on me. There’s more fighting, with Trelawney throwing crystal balls at people, and Giants, and Giant Spiders, and there’s chaos everywhere.

Then, Harry et al. head to the Shrieking Shack, where Voldemort is camped out and Nagini is heavily protected. Harry sees Voldemort encounter Snape about the Hallows wand he took from Dumbledore’s grave — apparently the wand hasn’t been working as well as it should. Apparently, the wand’s ownership is determined by the person who wins it in battle — Dumbledore beat Grinewald, so the wand passed to him, and Voldemort thinks that because Snape killed Dumbledore, that the wand technically is Snape’s. He sics Nagini on Snape to “fix” the ownership of the wand to himself so that he can now use it properly against Harry. It’s a sticky point, but it’s coming up again, so I wanted to make sure that it made sense (at least a little).

As Snape dies, Harry comes up to him, and Snape starts leaking memories out of his mouth, nose, and ears. No, I don’t mean blood… although he’s bleeding too… I mean he leaks memories out of his mouth, nose, and ears. Yeah. So Harry and Hermione collect the memories in a flask, and Harry runs back to the castle to look in a pensieve to see what these memories are. Along the way, he discovers that Lupin and Tonks are both dead. As you can expect, I weep yet again, but I’ll talk about that in greater detail later.

We find out in the memory sequence that Snape loved Lily (!!!), that he became Dumbledore’s man to save her (!!!!!), and has basically been Dumbledore’s man the entire time. Dumbledore did indeed ask Snape to kill him; he was dying anyways after his encounter with Marvolo’s ring that left his hand all blackened in the Half-Blood Prince, and only had a year tops to live anyways, and, apparently, this was a way for Draco to fulfill his quest, therefore not being killed by Voldie, while not having his soul tarnished by taking a life. Yeah, I don’t understand Dumbledore’s logic entirely either, but Snape agrees to kill him. Oh, and Snape’s Patronus? A Doe. Cause he loved Lily. So he was the one who helped out earlier.

Then, there’s a final thing revealed in the memories. Dumbledore tells Snape that when Voldemort turned the killing curse on Harry that fateful night and the curse rebounded, that a part of his soul actually split off and went into Harry… making Harry the Seventh Horcrux! This means that Harry has to die, otherwise Voldemort will just keep coming back. So, Harry hightails it to Voldie’s location, fully prepared to die. He encounters Neville, and tells him to kill Nagini. Then in a touching sequence, opens a snitch that Dumbledore willed him to reveal the Hallow’s stone — Marvolo’s ring. His parents, Sirius, and Remus, in semi-ghost form, walk with him to his final confrontation with Voldemort. He asks Sirius if it hurts to die. I cry some more.

He goes up to Voldemort, who is in a clearing with all the other baddies, and takes off his cloak. He doesn’t even draw his wand. Voldemort triumphantly thinks Harry has given himself up, says the killing curse, and we fade to white…

This next bit is a little surreal. Harry’s in a big white room, sans glasses, and nekkid. The room also has a small bloody child with flayed-looking skin curled under a bench and crying. (Voldemort’s humanity, perhaps? They really don’t address it, and I’ll be damned if I know. All I know is it’s freaky.) Harry imagines himself up a robe… and Dumbledore comes along. They have a nice long conversation about all sorts of loose ends that need tying up, and I’m still not sure I understand all of them, but hear me out.

Apparently, Harry isn’t really dead. He’s in the Deathly Hallows. The part of him that Voldemort killed was actually the bit of Voldemort’s soul, so Harry is now no longer a Horcrux. The reason he isn’t completely dead, however, is because Voldemort took some of Harry’s blood when he regenerated in Goblet of Fire.

We also learn some more about Dumbledore — he tells Harry that the reason his hand was all black and icky in the sixth book wasn’t due to his destroying the Marvolo Ring Horcrux — it was because he was trying to use the Hallows Stone to bring back his sister and parents, but because it had become a Horcrux, it nearly killed him instead. Or something like that. So, I guess it isn’t too far of a stretch to have the other Horcruxes destroyed by the Trio, but still… I think it was a bit too easily done. Anyhoo, after this moment with Dumbledore, Harry decides it’s time to go back and take care of business. I have no doubt that this scene will spawn a thousand essays and re-readings, and, like I said, I’m still not entirely sure of the ins and outs of it, but those are the main points.

He awakens on the forest floor, and pretends to be dead. In a rather neat sequence, Mrs. Malfoy checks to make sure he’s dead, but leans down and whispers, “Is Draco alive?” When Harry affirms that he is, Mrs. Malfoy reports to Voldie that the Boy Who Lived is now the Boy Who Is Dead. Voldie, Nagini around his neck, makes the captured Hagrid carry Harry out to a clearing, where he reveals to Hogwarts that Harry is dead. Everyone is horrified and sad. Hagrid, dense to the end, does not notice that Harry is still breathing.

Then, in the most kick ass sequence of all, Neville runs forward, wand drawn, to defy Voldemort. Voldemort disarms him, says he’s brave, and says he’d make a fine Death Eater. Neville defies him again. Voldie Summons the Sorting hat, stuffs it on Neville’s head, and LIGHTS THE HAT ON FIRE. The Good Guys rally, and get ready to storm the baddies, and Neville pulls the hat off once Voldemort is distracted. Once he pulls the hat off, the sword of Gryffindor is in it, cause Neville is the Bravest Gryffindor Ever, and he pulls the sword out of the hat and BEHEADS NAGINI!!! Neville is officially the awesomest person ever, and wins at life.

The House Elves, lead by Kreacher, and the Centaurs join in the rally against the Baddies, and Harry slips away from Hagrid and covers himself with the cloak, unnoticed. Molly Weasley kills Bellatrix in a rather awesome moment, screaming (and I kid you not), “NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!” (!!!) Voldemort is fighting people in the Great Hall, and Harry throws off his cloak and is all “I tricked you! I’m still alive! And you’re an idiot!”

So, it turns out that when Harry nabbed some spare wands when they busted out of Malfoy Manor, that the wand he took for himself was Draco’s. And, it turns out that at the end of Half-Blood Prince, before Snape killed Dumbledore, Draco disarmed Dumbledore. That means that the Hallow’s wand chose Draco as its owner, not Snape. And… since Harry disarmed Draco earlier in the book, HE is actually the owner, not Voldemort. You follow me? I’m not sure if I followed myself. So, anyways, Voldemort tries to kill Harry as simultaneously Harry tries to disarm Voldemort. Voldemort’s wand is won over by Harry’s logic, goes to Harry, and Voldemort is killed by his own spell. The world rejoices.

Then, there’s an epilogue nineteen years later with everyone you’d expect married and oodles of kids running around. And Harry’s named his youngest son Albus Severus. Not the prettiest name, but still fairly touching.

That’s the end! More on my thoughts in the final installment.

            Dobby’s fate genuinely shocked me.  Every time Dobby appeared in the books, insane, impossible things – adjectives not chosen carelessly when discussing a book about wizards – happened all around him, and they usually ended up being important as well.  I won’t go into the details, except to say that what happened was astonishingly mundane.  I’m sure there’s a t-shirt to tell you what happened if you don’t feel like reading it.

            The entire scene at Malfoy Manor played up two important points for me.  First, all the Death Eaters persist in underestimating Harry and his friends.  Second, Draco Malfoy is a redemption story in process; I’m just as sure of it now as I was when he didn’t kill Dumbledore.

            Questions still linger from the last book.  We’ve seen so little of Snape in this book that it’s next to impossible to determine whose side he’s on.  Personally, I’m still convinced he’s the hero of the series, even in the face of the evidence.  We’ll see if this conviction stands in another 240 pages.  Also, are we actually done with Dumbledore?  He’s been so closely tied to phoenix imagery through the series that I refuse to believe he’s not coming back until I close the last cover and he still hasn’t come back.

            The focus on Harry, Ron, and Hermione has been really great, but I’m starting to itch for a better idea of what Ginny and Neville and the “good guy” faculty at Hogwarts have been up to.  There’s been mention of a student uprising against Professor Snape, and Luna turned up at Malfoy Manor, but all of that has happened in vague backstory terms.  We know that Voldemort is at the school, though, with his spiffy new wand, so the action will have to return there at some point.

            Somehow, even with repeated “weeks passed” passages, the tension stays high.

            Social commentary keeps rearing its head in this book as well.  Gender equality, issues of class and race, the role of government in daily life, all these things are being considered alongside some muddier issues of personal morality.  The brilliant thing about that is that none of it detracts from the story. 

            And now, the assault on Gringott’s!  And, hopefully, Hogwart’s!  Where’s my popcorn?

“Dobby actually gets quite a touching burial by Harry, who feels responsible, and everyone gets a little R & R at Bill and Fleur’s house. Harry questions the goblin about the Lestrange vault (he suspects there is another Horcrux there), and questions Ollivander about the Hallows wand. May I just say that I am filled with glee that Ollivander gets an extensive scene in this book? I have always found him interesting, and I’m pleasantly surprised he got his moment. And hoorh for Luna, taking care of him and Dean, and generally being wonderful. Unlike her father. Oh, and Dumbledore had the Hallows wand? So Voldemort engages in a little grave-robbery to get it back? Well, he IS evil, you know. And Remus has his baby, and he’s all happy and so am I

“Then, the threesome make their way to Hogsmeade, where they encounter Aberforth — who turns out to be the blue eye Harry saw in the mirror, so not quite as Deus ex Machina as originally thought — and he spills the beans on the death of the younger sister. An accident while he, Dumbledore and Grindelwald were fighting. We also find out how Aberforth, despite preferring goats over people, has actually been helping out Hogwarts students because he’s got a passageway to he building that they can use. So Aberforth ends up rocking. … And we get to see Neville … who is the leader of a group of student resisters. (CHERYL TRUMAN’S NOTE: NEVILLE?) They are currently camping in the Room of Requirement. I think that having the Trio away from Hogwarts left a void, and Neville’s filled it admirably. (TRUMAN: NEVILLE. WELL, ALRIGHTY, THEN.)

The next bit happens really fast, but all of a sudden, people start pouring through Aberforth’s passage from the Order, and Luna and Dean come along too, all on Neville’s behest, and everybody’s getting ready for a Final Showdown while Harry has to run and find the Ravenclaw Horcrux, which is apparently her tiara. He and Luna go to the Ravenclaw’s Common Room — and how awesome is it that instead of a password they have to come up with a reasoned response to a philosophical question? We leave the chapter — and this update — with their discovery by Alecto Carrow, a Death Eater. Oooooooh.”

“Torture! Dragons! Bank robbery! Neville and Luna being awesome! Back to Hogwarts to fight! Exciting! Very!

” … This is all I wrote at the time, because it was 5:20 and I was so very close to finishing that I just didn’t bother writing a thing and plowed through to the end. I then finished at 6:30, took a two-hour nap, and here we are. So, here’s a bit of an expansion. More than a bit, actually, as the parts that are exciting are also quite plotty, and require a bit of background. I’l be racing through this, because this next 200-odd pages really cover a lot of ground.

“Xenophilius tells ‘em about the Hallows legend, which involves 3 pieces — a powerful wand, a stone that can bring back the dead, and a really top-notch invisibility cloak. Which Harry has already. And has had for 7 years now. Hmmm … I always find it fascinating when Vital Plot Pieces have been around for years. Like Scabbers. So this is interesting, indeed.

“And then, Luna’s dad betrays them because Luna’s been captured and I really was quite disappointed in this. He seemed like enough of a rogue and an individual to not have this opinion or principles swayed — just like Luna — but he was weak. They escape, though they destroy Luna’s house in the process. Ouch.

“Harry gets all focused on the Hallows while Hermione and Ron argue for the Horcruxes. Listen to your friends, Harry! You aren’t going to be able to kill Voldemort, even with that powerful wand, if he’s still got little bits of his soul left! … speaking of Voldemort, apparently saying his name out loud triggers a Tracing spell or something. Harry says it and they are surrounded, and his wand is broken. Oh noes! How incredibly stupid!

“Oh, and the Potterwatch broadcast was nice, because it provided a little redemption for dear Mr. Lupin, who appears to have regained his sense.

And now we get the scene in Malfoy manor. Harry’s months and months on the run apparently have left him with stubble and longish hair, and Hermione hexed his face to make it puffy, so he’s hard to recognize. Hah! I can’t wait to see long-haired Daniel Radcliffe in the movie. Draco seems not very happy to be there, and neither are his parents. I suppose having their home be the new headquarters for torture and murder looks good on paper, but can be rough on the tapestries. Anyways … we get the requisite torture sequence with Hermione in Grave Peril, and down in the Manor Dungeons, Ron and Harry run into Ollivander (!!!!), Luna (!!!!), Dean and a goblin. Harry takes out his two-way mirror and calls for help when he sees a mysterious blue eye in it, and Dobby appears to save the day. I call Deus ex Machina!

He manages to get everyone to Bill and Fleur’s, and in the process, Harry nabs some spare wands, and Bellatrix stabs Dobby, who dies.

MORE SHORTLY ….