Finally finished HBP

[fenchurch]

rackham and I have been reading the book concurrently... leapfrogging each other through the chapters, until a few days ago, when we both ended up in the same spot and stayed there. Well, last night Rackham got back to the book and read to the end... and then came down, thrust the book at me and told me, rather desperately, to finish it (I suspect he wanted someone to talk about it with).

I wanted to get some thoughts about the book written down before I start going back and reading what everyone else has written on the subject. I'm likely not saying anything that hasn't been said before... it'll be interesting to see if I'm on the same page with the rest of fandom.


I don't think that Snape is actually evil... and I think he's going to be important to the good guys winning later.

I also think that Snape was in love with Lily, and *that* is why Dumbledore trusted his change of heart (because Snape was devastated over having caused her death). I suspect that Snape and Lily were friends, and that he helped her with her Potions studies (thinking, in particular, of Slughorn commenting that Harry had inherited his mother's ability in the subject).

So, why did he kill Dumbledore? Because he had to. He made an unbreakable vow. But, in the end, this will also put him in position to be very helpful to Harry and company.

And poor Draco (which is not something I thought I'd ever say). I liked him as a character before this, and even sympathized with him a few times (I thought his home life was likely to be fairly abusive, and that had a great influence on how he acted at the school), but I finally feel secure that we're actually supposed to be sympathizing with him. I was never sure, before, because it seemed a little too subtle and I worried I was reading too much into it.

Wacky theory #1: I'm wondering if perhaps Dumbledore was able to put something of his essence in the locket before he died.

Wacky theory #2: I'm also wondering whether Harry is the final horcrux containing a piece of Voldemort's soul. It would make sense... since he would be something that "belonged to Griffindor." When Voldemort attacked Harry as a baby, he would have just killed again, enabling him to split off a bit of his soul. It would also explain why Harry knows Parseltongue, why the Sorting Hat thought he might also be good in Slytherin, and why he could tell what Voldemort was thinking before he was blocked out.

Comments

[ww1614.livejournal.com]

I think Snape is an Auror, just deep undercover. Aurors have to be good at Potions and DADA, no?

I wouldn't be surprised to see Dumbledore again. I wonder if he left any memories for him in the Pensieve.

Btw, I am sitting at my dining room table, with Eric just a few feet away watching Caillou and eating vegie turkey. Mruniverse (my wireless connection) is going strong. :)

[elsaf]

So, why did he kill Dumbledore? Because he had to. He made an unbreakable vow. But, in the end, this will also put him in position to be very helpful to Harry and company.

I think he made the unbreakable vow because Dumbledore told him to. Snape knew that Draco's mission was to kill Dumbledore (though we were supposed to believe it was to kill Harry). So, unless he had prior orders from Dumbledore, making the vow would make him evil.

However, since Snape was Dumbledore's healthcare provider, I think both Snape and Dumbledore knew Dumbledore was dying of the injury that withered his hand. So Dumbledore wanted to make it count. Furthermore, I keep coming back to the scene where Dumbledore forces Harry to make him drink the weakening potion. Harry has had as much hand in Dumbledore's death as Snape. I think that's significant. I think at some point in book 7, someone will point out that what Snape did wasn't much different from what Harry did.

I think you may be right about Snape and Lily.

[blond-bear.livejournal.com]

Harry as a Horcrux? What a good theory...I didn't even think of that...and it makes total sense.

And I totally agree about Snape...Dumbledore was dying from the potion he'd ingested, he said so himself...which is why I think that look between the two men held a lot more than we were seeing through Harry's eyes. They were both skilled Legilimens so it would make sense that there was a conversation (quick though it was) between the two men involving, Dumbledore instructing Snape to kill him to a)save Malfoy from doing it since he would have to or be killed by the Death Eaters himself and he is just a boy, b)allow Snape to fulfill his Unbreakable Vow while keeping up the ruse of Snape being a follower...since Dumble dore was dying anyway, it makes sense. Wow...can I babble or what?

[mirandaflynn.livejournal.com]

I agree that Snape isn't evil, but I doubt he and Lily were friends. He called her a mudblood, remember, back when James and Sirius were bullying him.

[rosiewook.livejournal.com]

I like the theory about Harry being the last horcrux. Intriguing!

You must head over to TheLeakyCauldron.org to read the JKR interview. Very interesting!

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

Wacky theory #2: I'm also wondering whether Harry is the final horcrux containing a piece of Voldemort's soul. It would make sense... since he would be something that "belonged to Griffindor." When Voldemort attacked Harry as a baby, he would have just killed again, enabling him to split off a bit of his soul. It would also explain why Harry knows Parseltongue, why the Sorting Hat thought he might also be good in Slytherin, and why he could tell what Voldemort was thinking before he was blocked out

Wow, not so wacky. It makes perfect sense. Their bond always seemed inexplicable to me -- I used to just attribute it to the idea that Harry was Voldemort's equal. But the only thing I can think of that would belie this theory is that horcruxes must be inanimate objects. But that wasn't established conclusively, was it?

And yeah, I think Snape was/is working for Dumbledore, although I do think he'll be dead meat in book 7. Unfortunately I still think Draco is awful -- I think his inability to kill Dumbledore was more through Dumbledore's manipulation and his own basic weenie-ness than anything else. JKR is always careful to show us what a cowardly bully he is -- after all, he did break the helpless Harry's nose in a particularly brutal way at the beginning of the book. I think he'll be dead meat as well by book 7, but not redeemed -- in fact, my theory is that he'll be JKR's Gollum.

[rahirah]

I think, also, that in the end Dumbledore was asking Snape to kill him--both because he knew of the Unbreakable Vow, and possibly for reasons of his own.

[desoto-hia873.livejournal.com]

I think you're pretty in synch with everyone else, from what I've read. I think Dumbledore is gone, myself. J.K. Rowling has been pretty firm about the characters she kills staying dead. Though I wonder how much the portrait of him in his office is going to appear in the next book. The other portraits seem to have retained the memories and personalities of their subjects. Maybe he can dispense some advice that way?

I felt for Draco too. He wants to be the bad boy, but cold-blooded murder is a pretty big step. I'm glad that Rowling had him unable to do it and I hope he proves to be redeemable in the next book.

Harry as Horcrux is an interesting idea. Though Voldemort was intending to kill Harry as a baby - do you suppose a dead body could be a Horcrux? We'll have to wait and see, I guess.

I wish we'd seen more of Sanguini - it would have been interesting to learn about vampires in the Potterverse.

[emmaco.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting, as I just finished the book as well, and desperately logged on here searching for other people's ideas. I agree about Snape, although I hadn't thought about the Lily link before (I think I'd have to re-read the previous books for clues).

Re Harry as horcrux, if it's so important to have a whole soul, surely it would be bad to have someone else's piece of soul residing in you, which makes me think that if it was possible Dumbledore would have checked it out. Plus wouldn't Harry be showing more corruption in his character by now?

I'm not sure about the finality of Dumbledore's death, I immediately thought he was gone forever, but now don't know...

[sisiphus.livejournal.com]

Here's hoping you deleted the comment because you realized I was being sarcastic, but just in case you didn't, I was totally joking, and Kevin knows that, too. :)

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Heh! Yep. I saw your reply, rolled my eyes, typed something up and hit send... and then realized "D'oh! Kidding!" And then felt really, really stupid. ;-)