Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows **Spoiler** thread

[harper]

With a lot of people reading the new Harry Potter book, I thought you might like to have a thread where you can discuss the contents of the book.

Feel free to include any spoilers you want now that the book is out. If you don't want spoilers, then stay out of this thread.

[Sock Full of Boiled Dimes]

So I've read the entire book (yes in the span of two days) and I will say that I'm kind of shocked how disappointed I was in it. I enjoyed the book a lot, but it just didn't fill me with the sense of enjoyment and excitement each time I've read every other Harry Potter book.

This one was so much more darker and different compared to the others. Was it to symbolise that finally Harry Potter was an adult? Dunno. What I do know is that the insert of so many random deaths into this book just kind of made me feel numb. I was already upset (not at the point of tears) that a few people died. Now, of course, so many people died that I kind of just expected it now. There was really no more shock into it. By the time Remus and Tonks died I wasn't all that shocked.

Despite its faults and the overtly look part where Harry, Hermoine, and Ron were stuck and no idea what to do anymore seemed to drag on too long. This was a good book. Not a spectacular finish for the Harry Potter series, but good enough.

It just could have been so much better.

I think I say that because of the ending. Which felt extremely rushed. Then the epilogue just felt like something out of a lame happily every after. We really don't know what happens in 19 years. What we do know is the Ginny and Harry married and had three kids. He (lamely) named them after famous people and people he loved. That part sort of felt a bit hokey to me. You don't really know what Harry is up to besides the fact that he is probably the most famous wizard ever.

It was nice to know that it was all over. That the line was continuing with his children and that he was seeing them off where it all started for him. The ending just felt like it came at me way too fast.

There was a short calibration and just no real afterwards. Just...that's it and 19 years later.

I WAS SO SO right when I guessed that Harry was a Horcrux. They inserted that nicely. The whole life and times of Snape was a nice dramatic effect knowing that he loved Lily Potter. This, however, was guessed by the fans as well.

With the world shattering apart. Them constantly under attack by Death Eaters. The overall depression set in and dramatic change in kind of story this just doesn't feel like Harry Potter. It feels like a distant echo that reminds everyone what Harry Potter is.

To compare this book to average standard I would compare it to Return of the Jedi.

My rating...and I thought this through very very hard is a 7 out of 10.

NOTE: It could feel like the Harry Potter universe could go on forever. His story really could still be told, but probably not very interesting anymore. The way the book ends makes you kind of glad its over. I think that's why she chose an ending like that. To really let you know that Harry Potter's story is over.

[harper]

I thought it was fairly predictable, but that didn't matter much to me. Dobby's death kind of hits you though, since I wasn't really expecting it.

One thing I thought was kind of dumb, though, was that Harry, Ron and Hermione insisted on wearing the locket, even though they knew it was affecting their mood. Just carry the damn thing. If the cup can go in a pocket or bag, so can the locket.

[Sock Full of Boiled Dimes]

I honestly thought of Lord of the Rings when that happened.

Well, it was really just used to cause tension inside of the tent and between friends. Rowling, I guess, decided to say that Harry was parinoid about losing it so everyone could wear it.

[SoulPlay]

I'm wondering, were you aware of what was going to happen in the end? did you read the spoilers?

[Sock Full of Boiled Dimes]

No clue whatsoever. I kept away from spoilers as much as possible and the whole book was a surprise for me.

[Ivor's Tinfoil Bandana]

Well, I really liked this one, much, much more than the 5th or 6th (which were complete crap imo). At least in Deathly Hallows you don't want to slap Harry every 2 pages.
As it would be too long to recap what I liked, I'll just list a few points I didn't...
- Random deaths. I had the feeling "OMG they're fighting the DARK LORD! Some have to die.../roll a dice. Okay it's you, you and you."
- Rushed Ending. Voldemort is dead, and 10 pages later the book is finished. And I would have taken an epilogue about the evolution of the wizard's world over Harry's life 19 years later anytime. I guess it's only a story about Potter and his friends in the end...
- Snape's story was overkill.

I'm a bit sad it's finished...Not really because Harry Potter's adventures are finished for good, but more because I really like the universe...

[erbiumfiber]

I read the book as fast as I could with no surfing on the Internet to avoid inadvertently seeing any spoilers.

The whole middle section on fruitless searching for Horcruxes was just too long and filled with bickering among friends.

I liked the ending, he got to both die and live.

But I thought it was kind of a cheap trick- "Oh, Harry, you had to die because of that little piece of Voldemort's soul. Oh, now that you're kind of partly dead, good news, that piece of soul got blown away because of your willingness to die (?). So you can go back now to the real world."

And the whole thing about wands not killing their owners, knowing who their owners are, etc.

And, in the midst of wrapping up about 8 million little details, I really didn't feel like learning NEW details that needed wrapping up- the deathly hallows. So there had to be A LOT of explaining at the end. Felt a little forced.

Sorry, don't mean to be so critical, I did enjoy the book. But I still am VERY GLAD that the series is over because it was getting a little exhausting waiting for each new installment...

[Unknown]

After reading this last book, I became disappointed that Harry seemed the least interesting out of most of the characters. I think I would have like the stories better if someone like Snape was the main character.

[Dead Sexy Vocab]

Rushed down here before I got a quick glimpse of the spoiler(s)... DAMN IT, DOBBY'S DEAD?

I've bought the book this afternoon, and it's about 3:07 right now in the morning... just started reading it at 12am, LOL.

I'm on "The Goul With Pyjamas"...

Awww... Mad-Eye's dead? He was the coolest.

[Karthak]

This book gets a 4/10. It would get a 10/10 if it wasn't for the fact that Rowling killed absolutely ALL of my favorite characters!:bang:

[Roxie]

I loved it. It was some what predictable. I agree with Harper on the locket. I kept saying "JUST PUT IT IN YOUR PURSE, HERMOINE!!"

Dobby's death was SO heartbreaking and the funeral touching! But I only cried a little when Fred died.

Isn't it funny that (according to this book), Harry is born in 1980, so this is supposedly taking place in 1997, but the epilouge doesn't take place till 9 years from now? ha!

[Black fist]

So they killed doby but they cant make me happy and kill harry potter? Fucking J.K rowling don't know how to throw a twist in a story.

[Roxie]

Yes she does! Keep reading!
I don't know how they're going to make a movie out of this.

I did love Snape's story and I shocked to pieces that Headwig died.

[Black fist]

I wanted his ass to stay dead.

[Roxie]

well you're just cracked. I knew there was no way he was going to die and stay dead

[Black fist]

I kinda knew but if you're gonna end a series you need to kill the main character or somebody close to him for that real heart breaking feeling.

[Sock Full of Boiled Dimes]

Maybe everyone could push aside what they were expecting of the book and take it for what it is.

It's a good book (In my opinion), but with a rushed ending like that and the constant plodding and bickering in the beginning was annoying.

Maybe Rowling was going for that when they were hopeless and bickering. That she wanted us to feel as annoyed as they were.

[Roxie]

Yeah, I agree.
I was annoyed at Hermoine (stop bugging him about occulmency for the 457th time!), annoyed at Ron (omg Ron, come up with an idea for ONCE). But I do think it was the needed push and pull for them to grow up.

[harper]

I don't think the ending was rushed. Once Voldemort is dead, that's pretty much the end of the story. You see a little bit of the immediate aftermath, but there was no need to see about changes in the ministry or what happens to Hogwarts or whatever.

I didn't mind the middle section of the book. I think the frustration and endless searching was the point. They had no clues to go on. I think they should have gone to Godric's Hollow or to the Lovegoods sooner, but I can understand the reluctance to go to Godric's Hollow since it was pretty likely to be watched.

[Ivor's Tinfoil Bandana]

I don't think the ending was rushed. Once Voldemort is dead, that's pretty much the end of the story. You see a little bit of the immediate aftermath, but there was no need to see about changes in the ministry or what happens to Hogwarts or whatever.

I absolutely disagree...The world Rowling created deserved much more than this ending.

[Roxie]

I think they should have gone to Godric's Hollow or to the Lovegoods sooner,

Ha, I was thinking that too! They should've suprised Dean and the gang in the woods and gone to Lovegoods sooner!

[Roxie]

I was expecting a little bit more to be made of the parallel with Tonks and Lupin dying and leaving an infant son who has Harry as godfather, though.

The budget for the special effects in the movie for this one will be huge!!
Oh and I adore Mrs. Weasley now...some how her last few lines made me understand her better (??)

I was kind of upset Harry did not tell his kids that he is famous and they may get flack or question about that...but perhaps that's too much realism? Also, how the hell can Malfoy still be a total asshat? How many times does Harry have to save his life?

[Pengy737]

I really can't believe that everyone seems to think that Harry died and came back to life. He was never dead, sry2say. Dumbledore even said he couldn't die then, and that he was not dead. It was all pretty clear. That sequence where he was talking to Dumbledore was confirmed to be in his head. Or, I guess, it could be seen as some sort of spiritual experience, where he briefly conversed with someone who was dead.

J.K. Rowling had always said that someone can not be brought back to life, so I'm suprised so many people think he pulled a Jesus in this book. Even the stone, which was said to bring people back to life, really only brought back the spirits of people.

[seiji]

I was kind of disappointed in Harry's "resurrection" too...until the revelation of the Elder Wand's passage through Draco. At the moment of his "death", Harry was technically the rightful master of all three Hallows, which gave him mastery over death. As Dumbledore said, he could've chosen to die then. He chose to continue living. I thought that made much more sense than "oh yeah, uh, Voldemort accidentally made you immortal. Yup."

As for the epilogue, I think we could've done without it. It just felt tacked-on. For one thing, the introduction of all the new characters was so confusing I had to keep flipping back and forth to figure out which children were whose. Also, I still dislike Harry/Ginny. Sorry. :(

Still, the epilogue overall was brought even lower by the last line: "The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well." I mean, come on! Cheesefest much? Harry's scar didn't hurt for the first decade of his life, and all was definitely not well. It really should've ended at "He'll be all right"/"I know he will," if not nineteen years earlier. That extra line just feels like a sorry attempt at justifying future books.

Anyway, fangirl moment: OMG NEVILLE ROX SO HARD!!!! DARING NERVE AND CHIVALRY YAY! That is all.

[Soli]

The epilogue was so cheesy. XD Haha, there was no creativity in their kids' names.

But who was Victoire?

[Keoje]

One of the Weasley kids I think

[seiji]

^Yeah, but whose? Ron doesn't seem disturbed by the thought of her snogging, so she's probably not his. I'm guessing Bill and Fleur's, 'cause who else would pick Victoire over Victoria?

...In which case, what happens when two part-werewolf people have a kid? :watson:

[Keoje]

Definately not Ginny's. I think I read Rosie and Hugo for Ron/Hermione's kids. So that leaves Bill, the living twin..forgot the name...percy...? or did he die..? i read a fanfic with percy dead so...i forgot...but most likely Fluer and Bill tho

[D-pad]

...In which case, what happens when two part-werewolf people have a kid? :watson:


Black fist gets off.

http://members.activecom.net/~cybercat/furry/jenmoon.JPG

[Keoje]

...In which case, what happens when two part-werewolf people have a kid? :watson:

Erm...I read it till 2am so I can't remember...Lupin's son? Ted?

[seiji]

^There's no mention of whether or not Teddy has any wolfish traits, but what happens if he and Victoire get together (assuming she's Bill's)? Some kind of metamorph-were-veela?

Fanfic, anyone?

[Keoje]

^ I always believed if you were, in this case, a werewolf and had kids with a non-werewolf you would get a semi-werewolf? Like...maybe partially go werewolf

[seiji]

Maybe being half-werewolf is like being half-bitten, like Bill: extra body hair and a craving for bloody meat.

Mmm, sexy.

Or maybe the metamorphmagus powers mix with the werewolf powers into something like a natural animagus. Who likes steak.

[Keoje]

Lol /shrug. I like this ending more than stupid pile of crap fanfic I read that ended with Dudley murdering his parents and becoming obsessed to dark magic =/

[erbiumfiber]

Definately not Ginny's. I think I read Rosie and Hugo for Ron/Hermione's kids. So that leaves Bill, the living twin..forgot the name...percy...? or did he die..? i read a fanfic with percy dead so...i forgot...but most likely Fluer and Bill tho


Bill's not the twin- it's Fred and George who were the twins. See, all the details get confusing, there should be a list of characters like at the beginning of a play....

Yeah and we never find out if Teddy is a werewolf or not...

[Keoje]

Bill's not the twin- it's Fred and George who were the twins. See, all the details get confusing, there should be a list of characters like at the beginning of a play....

Yeah and we never find out if Teddy is a werewolf or not...

Ops that's what I meant except I typed it out pretty badly.

[Roxie]

But who was Victoire?
SHE IS BILL AND FLEUR'S
Although I don't understand why she didn't explicitly say so, but the French spelling and Ron saying that if they marry it'll "really make him part of the family"

[Roxie]

OH And I think the revelations of Dumbledore's past only made him that much more of a great wizard~

[Sock Full of Boiled Dimes]

lol I knew someone had to do this even though it wasn't real spoilers. I was tempted to do this, but just giving out fake spoilers.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=THKngDe-5J8

"Ha ha you like Harry Potter and your wieners are little!"

This is also funny: http://youtube.com/watch?v=lTz6m1p-DG4&mode=related&search=

[Roxie]

I don't understand why people do that kind of bullshit.

[Sock Full of Boiled Dimes]

Schadenfreude.

[seiji]

I followed my fiance's family home after we all got our books at the midnight release. His little brother (world's most violent fanboy) ran straight into his room to start reading, while the rest of us sat in the living room and chatted about the best costumes we saw, how gross the unwashed masses smell, what we wished we'd done to the jackass who claimed to be "security" but really just wanted to shove people around and cuss at little kids...

Eventually we started discussing hypotheses and such. Now, none of us had even opened the book yet, so we were just pulling this out of our asses: "I think Neville might die because that would push Harry over the edge" or "I hope Ginny dies because I hate that couple" or whatever. Mister Fanboy Supreme starts shrieking down the hall at us to shut up with the spoilers, and we're all like wtf? So we start making up the most random things we can think of, like Ron is an evil robot sent from the future to destroy humanity, but he was reprogrammed by Hagwig (child of Hedwig and Buckbeak) to be Harry's mentor and help him save wizardkind.

Then we were drowned out by really loud, crappy music.

:bwitch:

[Masa the Masta]

SNAPE MOLESTS RON.

This is fact.

[stsparky]

Um.

Kinda sad that Harry ends up with who he does. I wondered about if it was because of what went down in HP2. I did want him to learn about Chinese girls but it was never my story to tell ...

[Roxie]

You wanted him to end up with Cho?

[stsparky]

You wanted him to end up with Cho?
Yes, because the Wizard world of her UK is so freaking white. And it isn't. We never met a smoking hot Jamaican teen.

[Sock Full of Boiled Dimes]

I never really thought about it. I never liked Cho. Then again I never really thought about Harry's romantic interests except for the legions of fans who swear Harry is in love with Hermoine and would love to see that happen.

Which is honestly weird for me.

Well, whatever anyway.

[Nights_into_dreams]

I never really thought about it. I never liked Cho. Then again I never really thought about Harry's romantic interests except for the legions of fans who swear Harry is in love with Hermoine and would love to see that happen.

Which is honestly weird for me.

Well, whatever anyway.

Harry/Draco is where it's at. :yes:

[Sohym]

Yeah. Or Draco/Harry. Or Snape/Draco. Or other weird pairing I don't even wanna mention.

[phenyl]

For all south park fans, somewhat impolite language...
Math Problems (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Z8mvrFHcgsc)
Ginger Kids (http://youtube.com/watch?v=n4yvY6vqFO0)
Cartman's Problem (http://youtube.com/watch?v=gllIS3I6K9s)
Cartman gets his comeuppance (http://youtube.com/watch?v=oTAIqLnSosQ)

and of course

Eric von Lilienthal (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiDzwUP_v68&NR=1)

[jindojim]

The book was entertaining enough to spend most of Sunday reading. I felt that there were just too many random deaths though, that by the time Fred died, I didn't really care. I wanted to ask though, where do Tonks and Lupin get killed? I remember reading their names on the list of the dead, but I couldn't remember where they actually died.

The book ended pretty predictably though. Probably the moment of biggest shock for me was when Mrs. Weasley called Belatrix a bitch.

[SoulPlay]

Well, the cover of the book shows the biggest spoiler. As you can see, Voldemort is falling and Harry is extending his arm to catch the Elder Wand. Yeah, it was predictable... :)

[seiji]

I wanted to ask though, where do Tonks and Lupin get killed? I remember reading their names on the list of the dead, but I couldn't remember where they actually died.
That was the point: we never saw them die because Harry had to leave the battle to face Voldemort alone. He had no idea how the battle went until he counted the bodies.
Well, the cover of the book shows the biggest spoiler. As you can see, Voldemort is falling and Harry is extending his arm to catch the Elder Wand.
Are you talking about the US version? Because Harry's also wearing the locket. :P

[The Divine Comedy]

Finished the book in about five hours and must say that it's the best yet. I didn't like the previous two books that much, but she pretty much redeemed herself with this one. Of course there were wtf parts (like how the hell did Harry, of all people, reason out that Draco was the true wielder of the Elder Wand?), but all in all, good. I was very sad that a lot of my favorite characters died, though. :(

[SoulPlay]

In book 6 perhaps, when Draco confronts Dumbledore, dumbledore surrenders to draco but tries to reason with him...when dumbledore surrenders he was defeated...I guess?

[Masa the Masta]

Yes, because the Wizard world of her UK is so freaking white. And it isn't. We never met a smoking hot Jamaican teen.

Not unless you count Lee Jordan... :knockout:

[Roxie]

Angelina and Dean Thomas are also black...plus the Patel twins...but you've got random ppl in the movie, like that kid who looks like biggie small's clone (who in Azkaban says, "it's like trying to catch smoke....trying to catch smoke with your bare hands")

[seiji]

Not unless you count Lee Jordan...
*swoons*


amirite?? :D

And didn't Draco disarm Dumbledore (alliteration wtf) when he was supposed to kill him? If I recall: Dumbledore froze Harry under the cloak; Draco disarmed Dumbledore; Dumbledore tried to talk Draco out of killing him; Snape arrived, etc.

So Draco was master of the Elder Wand because he took it by force, though he never used it.

[erbiumfiber]

Hey, thanks for explaining that because I was not following Harry's explanation too well.

There were just too many explanations at the end, my brain hurt.

Uh, who was the baby crying in King's Cross or wherever they were when Harry was dead/not really dead? They kept saying they couldn't help him- was that supposed to be Voldemort? Or the little piece of Voldemort's soul that got blown away?

Am I the only one having trouble following all of this? I read really complicated technical stuff for a living, I guess I just don't want to read complicated stuff for pleasure...maybe I'm not reading carefully enough.

[Lea]

For all south park fans, somewhat impolite language...
Math Problems (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Z8mvrFHcgsc)
Ginger Kids (http://youtube.com/watch?v=n4yvY6vqFO0)
Cartman's Problem (http://youtube.com/watch?v=gllIS3I6K9s)
Cartman gets his comeuppance (http://youtube.com/watch?v=oTAIqLnSosQ)

and of course

Eric von Lilienthal (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiDzwUP_v68&NR=1)

Ha! Brilliant!

And I thought the ending was alright. I loled when the werewold wanted to take Hermione all for him self. Lols. It was so weird. Same when Molly Weasley screamed "BITCH" at the end.

Also, the ending sounded almost like fanfic. Especially Albus Severus. Seriously... for real? HA!

[seiji]

Uh, who was the baby crying in King's Cross or wherever they were when Harry was dead/not really dead? They kept saying they couldn't help him- was that supposed to be Voldemort? Or the little piece of Voldemort's soul that got blown away?
The blistery red lizard-baby description is exactly the same as Voldemort's pre-resurrection form, so it's definitely some form of Voldemort. I didn't really consider it being his little Harry-horcrux piece, though I guess that makes sense, since that's what it was in book 4. I'm still not sure why it was in limbo with Harry, though. Was that just the lingering effects of Lily's protection? As I said, I think Harry being "master of death" makes more sense than "uh, well, your being a horcrux sort of gave you horcrux powers, I guess." Maybe that double-blood-bond thing Dumbledore was rambling about did drag the horcrux along into limbo, but they couldn't help it because it didn't really belong there.

[ramblerambleramble]

[Roxie]

Ok. the lizard baby was the horcrux that Voldy left behind slowly dying.
Harry being the master of death and still under his mother's protection didn't die.

[Dead Sexy Vocab]

Just finished the book... wow, pretty blown away by all the deaths.

More sad about Fred's death, though, that was out of the blue.

And I did get irritated by the random bantering between Harry and Voldemort.

V Diddy: "Shieeeeet yo, I've got tha one wand to rule y'all bitches!"
Scar Head: "Nu-uh! 'Cuz yo mind iz WHACK, n---a dunno 'bout da TROOF: 'dis shit I be holdin' iz da REAL DEAL, MUTHAPHUKKA! Dray-co-sizzle's da real killa of Profesa D!"
Errbody: "OOOOOOHHHH SNAP!"

[Akelexre]

--Rowling's prose is still mediocre. She's not a bad writer in terms of word choice, images, etc., just not a good one.

--Harry/Ginny is lame. WTF do they see in each other again? What real, deep and sustained interactions have they had? Rowling NEVER sold them to me as a couple.

Personal aside, I always thought he and Luna would make a good couple. She can provide a serenity and levelheadedness to Potter that he honestly could have used over the last few books. They have the experience of losing parents in horrible ways at an early age. Not much, but at least it would be a starting point to develop something. Unfortunately Rowling was usually too busy making Luna's character into an empty-headed, hippie laughing stock while only providing hints of her intelligent and empathy. I always felt that Rowling thought Ginny was the, "safe" choice option for a Potter romance; a normal, uninteresting, and unhatable character for the posterboy who won't be at risk to overshine the books main star in terms of personality, background and character development.

Luna was the one woman in this series I LIKED. Everyone else was either annoying (Hermoine, Mrs. Weasly), an unlikable villan (Beatrix) or too irrelevant and/or underdeveloped to care about (Tonks, Ginny).

--Harry playing possum was gay. One of the best wizards mankind has ever produced (Vol) can't figure out someone is still fucking breathing? Your BLOOD enemy who has stood in your way for almost 2 decades and you're not going to DOUBLE CHECK to make he's dead before you go take over the world? The fuck outta here.

--I liked the chaos at the end of the book. That was fun. I was expecting more in terms of magic, however. I recognize the magic system in the HP universe isn't nearly as deep as a, "Real" fantasy series (for example, see Robert Jordan's, "Wheel of Time" series, or L.E. Mondesitt's, "Saga of Recluse" series, or even for the sheer mystery and wonder behind it, George R. R. Martin's, "Song of Ice and Fire"), but I was expecting a few more tricks and surprises then the same old combat spells we've seen in the previous 6 books.

--We deserved more in the epilogue. A hell of a lot more then the boring, predictable, cheesy summary that we were given.

[Soli]

I think my favorite character in this book is Neville. :D He was awesome in the end.

[SoulPlay]

--We deserved more in the epilogue. A hell of a lot more then the boring, predictable, cheesy summary that we were given.

Agreed. I want to know if Harry became an AUROR GODDAMMIT!!

[Dead Sexy Vocab]

I agree with y'all. I wanted to see where they all ended up, more information on the other minor characters (does George still sell merchandised Weasley's Wizard Wheezes? Who becomes Head Master at Hogwarts? Is Draco now less of a prick? DOES LUNA ROMP NEIVILLE, DEAN OR SEAMUS?)

[Soli]

Exclusive: Author gives details on events after the book’s final epilogue

NBC News video

Exclusive: J.K. Rowling on final 'Potter'
July 26: J.K. Rowling talks to TODAY's Meredith Vieira about the final "Harry Potter" book and the aftermath of certain characters.
Today show


By Jen Brown
TODAYShow.com contributor
Updated: 4:38 a.m. PT July 26, 2007
Spoiler alert: This story reveals some key plot points in the final Harry Potter book. So if you've haven't finished the book, J.K. Rowling asks that you not read this story.

If you found the epilogue of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” rather vague, then J.K Rowling achieved her goal.

The author was shooting for “nebulous,” something “poetic.” She wanted the readers to feel as if they were looking at Platform 9¾ through the mist, unable to make out exactly who was there and who was not.

“I do, of course, have that information for you, should you require it,” she told TODAY’s Meredith Vieira rather coyly in her first interview since fans got their hands on the final book.
Ummm … yes, please!

Rowling said her original epilogue was “a lot more detailed,” including the name of every child born to the Weasley clan in the past 19 years. (Victoire, who was snogging Teddy — Lupin and Tonks’ son — is Bill and Fleur’s eldest.)

“But it didn’t work very well as a piece of writing,” Rowling said. “It felt very much that I had crowbarred in every bit of information I could … In a novel you have to resist the urge to tell everything.”

But now that the seventh and final novel is in the hands of her adoring public, Rowling no longer has to hold back any information about Harry Potter from her fans. And when 14 fans crowded around her in Edinburgh Castle in Scotland earlier this week as part of TODAY’s interview, Rowling was more than willing to share her thoughts about what Harry and his friends are up to now.

Harry, Ron and Hermione
We know that Harry marries Ginny and has three kids, essentially, as Rowling explains, creating the family and the peace and calm he never had as a child.

As for his occupation, Harry, along with Ron, is working at the Auror Department at the Ministry of Magic. After all these years, Harry is now the department head.

“Harry and Ron utterly revolutionized the Auror Department,” Rowling said. “They are now the experts. It doesn’t matter how old they are or what else they’ve done.”

Meanwhile, Hermione, Ron’s wife, is “pretty high up” in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, despite laughing at the idea of becoming a lawyer in “Deathly Hallows.”

“I would imagine that her brainpower and her knowledge of how the Dark Arts operate would really give her a sound grounding,” Rowling said.

Harry, Ron and Hermione don’t join the same Ministry of Magic they had been at odds with for years; they revolutionize it and the ministry evolves into a “really good place to be.”

“They made a new world,” Rowling said.

The wizarding naturalist
Luna Lovegood, the eccentric Ravenclaw who was fascinated with Crumple-Horned Snorkacks and Umgubular Slashkilters, continues to march to the beat of her own drum.

“I think that Luna is now traveling the world looking for various mad creatures,” Rowling said. “She’s a naturalist, whatever the wizarding equivalent of that is.”

Luna comes to see the truth about her father, eventually acknowledging there are some creatures that don’t exist.

“But I do think that she’s so open-minded and just an incredible person that she probably would be uncovering things that no one’s ever seen before,” Rowling said.

Luna and Neville Longbottom?
It’s possible Luna has also found love with another member of the D.A.

When she was first asked about the possibility of Luna hooking up with Neville Longbottom several years ago, Rowling’s response was “Definitely not.” But as time passed and she watched her characters mature, Rowling started to “feel a bit of a pull” between the unlikely pair.

Ultimately, Rowling left the question of their relationship open at the end of the book because doing otherwise “felt too neat.”

Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom: “The damage is done.”

There is no chance, however, that Neville’s parents, who were tortured into madness by Bellatrix Lestrange, ever left St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies.

“I know people really wanted some hope for that, and I can quite see why because, in a way, what happens to Neville’s parents is even worse than what happened to Harry’s parents,” Rowling said. “The damage that is done, in some cases with very dark magic, is done permanently.”

Rowling said Neville finds happiness in his grandmother’s acceptance of him as a gifted wizard and as the new herbology professor at Hogwarts.

The fate of Hogwarts
Nineteen years after the Battle of Hogwarts, the school for witchcraft and wizardry is led by an entirely new headmaster (“McGonagall was really getting on a bit”) as well as a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. That position is now as safe as the other teaching posts at Hogwarts, since Voldemort’s death broke the jinx that kept a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor from remaining for more than a year.

While Rowling didn’t clarify whether Harry, Ron and Hermione ever return to school to finish their seventh year, she did say she could see Harry popping up every now and again to give the “odd talk” on Defense Against the Dark Arts.

More details to come?
Rowling said she may eventually reveal more details in a Harry Potter encyclopedia, but even then, it will never be enough to satisfy the most ardent of her fans.

“I’m dealing with a level of obsession in some of my fans that will not rest until they know the middle names of Harry’s great-great-grandparents,” she said. Not that she’s discouraging the Potter devotion!

“I love it,” she said. “I’m all for that.”

I'm sure there will be more like this in the future. :)

[Dead Sexy Vocab]

Sounds great... will really look into buying the encyclopedia in...

ZE FYOO-CHAR.

[SoulPlay]

Yay hes an auror!

[Soli]

I want to find out who Draco Malfoy married. :watson:

[seiji]

V Diddy: "Shieeeeet yo, I've got tha one wand to rule y'all bitches!"
Scar Head: "Nu-uh! 'Cuz yo mind iz WHACK, n---a dunno 'bout da TROOF: 'dis shit I be holdin' iz da REAL DEAL, MUTHAPHUKKA! Dray-co-sizzle's da real killa of Profesa D!"
Errbody: "OOOOOOHHHH SNAP!"
rite fanfic plx. :D

[jihei18]

I really liked this last book. Although Harry, Ron and Hermione taking turns to wear the horcrux was plain stupid, it did highlight their personalities, and the nature of their friendship. The death of Dobby hit me the hardest, it brought me to tears (yes, I get emotional over books) I loved the final showdown, but not the epilogue, some ends should be left loose. I suppose she did it to say "This is definately the last book, get over it, people! And Mrs. Weasely giving Bellatrix the beat-down was plain awesome!

[Dead Sexy Vocab]

rite fanfic plx. :D

Right, or write? :D

[Roxie]

Some GREAT Harry Potter Vids I found on YT.

This Ain't Harry Potter's Hogwarts! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqmM1uzg7I0)

Harry Potter Intervention (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmnyWlQDnns)

Harry Potter In Da Hood (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuBm0dvIzcc)

[phenyl]

Haha they are excellent. 'Hedwig -> spicy wings' made you owe me a new keyboard though.. :-D

[Jay]

Brilliant! :rofl:

"Technically I'm the Grand Wizard, but some of the black students had a problem with that."

[harper]

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/badjon/Nevillecopy.jpg

[phenyl]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XKJn-V42F0

Go to 0040, Dumbledore's excellent performance.
At 0240 we learn interesting things about Hagrid. (I love Monty Python's flying circus, this made me lol)

[seiji]

Right, or write? :D
Wright. :rofl:

[Roxie]

Omg, how much did I love the kids though, at the end?

"Mom, you can't give a professor love!"

[Soli]

^ I liked that part too. XD It's so nice to see them all carefree and happy.

[mawande]

By the time Remus and Tonks died I wasn't all that shocked.

??? Tonks died? I don't remember that.

I WAS SO SO right when I guessed that Harry was a Horcrux. They inserted that nicely. The whole life and times of Snape was a nice dramatic effect knowing that he loved Lily Potter. This, however, was guessed by the fans as well.


Actually, it never occurred to me that Harry was a Horcrux. So, that was fun. I've largely avoided HP fanfiction for the very honest truth that most of it is pathetic.

And a great many people were probably dreadfully disappointed to read that Snape did not fall in love with James. Slashers!

[Roxie]

They died, like, in the same sentence.

You didn't have to read fanfic, just listen to pottercast (http://pottercast.the-leaky-cauldron.org/)

[mawande]

No way, Toxic. Maybe now I might check in to such things, but before I was too afraid of getting burnt out on my fellow fans.

[Roxie]

Ah well. I find them non-annoying. I listened to their "book 7" cast (http://pottercast.the-leaky-cauldron.org/episode/show/141) and it's REALLY good. It's the discussion I've been wanting to have! I recommend you check it out. It's free and you don't need an ipod/itunes to listen.

[mawande]

You do if you're me.

[Roxie]

my av is hawt.

[Dead Sexy Vocab]

"NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"

*fights to the death*

[Televisions_Nick]

Wizard People, Dear Reader > Harry Potter and the Whatever

Imagine music, dear reader, the kind of which fill the hallows with deathliness, a sort of strum-a-dum-humming. The white whisps of withered wonder cover King's Cross, and our HP, that badass ghost of a undead soul that he currently is, peeps into the personage of one Fully-Dead Dumbledore. Dumbledore, currently embroiled in a Remain Unliving spell, looks up to Master P. Suddenly, every joke Dumbledore ever made about death seems utterly hilarious to Harry Potter. Harry, badass new spirit, breaks down in chuckles.
Dumbledore pierces those self-same chuckles with a rather angry snort. "Val-Mart killed you. You're fucking dead, Harry! Fuck! Half-Dracula, and all you did is take it in the chest!"
Harry contemplated this fact, and the facts of all the cliches in fiction, and myth, and mythological fiction, and love, and fathers. "Yes, my father, that snake-loving Dracula himself, did strike me down, Dumbledore, but I have a plan."
"Your plan, Harry Potter, is what?"
"Life Be Back spell, Dumbledore. Time to go rule the fucking school."
And with that Harry vanished, a halo of golden crickets singing an epic lullaby of power in his wake. Harry, for whom death was not but a fucking sip of water from a fountain of inconvinience, sped towards relife. He thought quickly of the wretched Harmony, her face like a newly-formed scab. He thought quickly of Ronnie the Bear, whose strength and courage rivaled his own. Harry made a mental note: after killing his useless Dracula father, the Bear would have to be dealt with. Harshly if necessary.