ramblings, random musings, fascinations, rants, raves and revelations

I have long been reading Harry Potter. I have avoided as much as I can to hear stories of how it ended. Thanks to Jc for lending me both the 6th and 7th book.

I know it’s quite late already. The mania has already faded but who cares? It took me a while to buckle down and write about my reaction to “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” I could have done it as soon as I finished it—I was still wide awake at that time—but I honestly couldn’t make up my mind on how I felt about it. I still can’t, actually, but July draws to a close and so does my Harry Potter month. At least I hope I don’t end up writing an epilogue later on.

After making making”tambay” at Kiko & Jc’s haven, I got home, ate lunch, and proceeded to bulldoze my way through the novel until 3ish AM.

Like I said, I am still undecided on how I feel about it. To make things easier, I will just pull out stuff from my head one by one. You can pour them all in the Pensieve when I’m done. I’m thinking about incorporating “pensieve” to my own blog domain.

I am sure most people have read the book by now, but just in case YOU have not read it, please do not proceed if you don’t want to know what happened.

Alright? You have been warned.

The Deathly Hallows: I am not too happy about that storyline. I was looking forward to seeing more of the Horcruxes so I was a bit annoyed that my attention was being drawn to yet another convoluted tale. I know, I know… it’s in the title of the book so I should not complain about it.

Ron hissing: What the hell was that? Granted that we can all mimic sounds and Ron displayed a talent for it, I still thought it was lame.

The Epilogue: Rather cheesy, in my opinion, but I guess the fans would have been very upset if she didn’t include it. I know some people who wanted at least another chapter full of updates. Puh-leez.

Names of the children: Okay, why didn’t he name any of his kids Serius? Or is the other one James Serius?

The locket: It reminded me of the One Ring. Sorry, I can’t help it.

Death 1: I was shocked that Hedwig got the ax! It was necessary, though—they would have used him [her? I don’t remember] when they were camping around Britain. It was good that he was killed fast, though. It was cruel, but Rowling had to make a statement that nobody was safe. Well, at least she wanted us to feel that way.

Death 2: Fred, Fred, Fred. That pissed me off. She should have killed Molly instead.

Which brings me to Bellatrix: Why Molly?!?! I would have been more thrilled if Tonks [ah, she was already dead by then] or Lupin [ditto] did it. Her husband would have been a better choice as well.

I knew Lupin had to die at some point after he asked Harry to be the Godfather of his child. Stupid move, man.

Poor Creevey.

Did Fenrir Greyback bite Lavender Brown or was he about to when Trelawney stopped him? Did she turn into a werewolf or not? Hey, wouldn’t it have been cooler if Trewlaney killed Bellatrix? Hehehehehe.

Dobby: I never liked that character, but that was one of the deaths that I took hard. A bit sappy, but I felt so bad for him.

The Dursleys: I didn’t like the idea that Diddy liked Harry in the end. I wanted Harry to go to war irritated.

The Malfoys: The had to be redeemed, I figured, because J.K. was determined to have a very, very happy ending for the series. I hate that. It really didn’t make sense.

When Draco appeared in the Epilogue and she described him and said that he had a receding hairline, I thought—wow, he didn’t inherit his father’s lovely locks after all! Hehehehe.

The Elder Wand: I am still confused as to how Harry became the true master of the wand. He didn’t physically take it away from Draco! It was another wand, right? You mean if you take one then you get ownership of all of your opponent’s wands?

The Patronus spell: JK Rowling went crazy with that one. All of a sudden everybody was using it left and right. Too much, too much.

The Doe: I knew it was Snape’s! I knew he was good so who else would have been clandestinely helping Harry?

Snape: When Dumbledore said “Please” to him in HP6, I knew Albus was begging him to keep his end of the deal. He’s still my fave along with Serius.

Snape again: I didn’t like the whole chapter with the Pensieve. Couldn’t she have explained Snape’s story in another way? It sounded to me like an after-thought or a rushed job. And the “I love Lily” was already clear to me from Book 5. I was expecting more.

Lily’s eyes: Rowling said before in one of her interviews that it was important that other people noticed that Harry had his mother’s eyes because it would play a big part in the ending and the series. I guess it served as a reminder for Snape not to throttle Harry too much.

Dumbledore: There was too much Albus in this one. I thought I had seen the last of him in HP 6. I am not exactly a fan of his as you can see. Fine, she wanted to show that he was “human” and fallible, too. I still don’t like it.

I wanted more Voldy—past and present. More blood and gore! More soul splitting! hehehe. The snake coming out of that poor lady was cool, though.

I really wanted Hagrid to die. Why didn’t he die???

Tunnel to Hogwarts: To think poor Draco had to fix that stupid cabinet for one whole school year! I thought this was lame.

The camping scenes: I guess it was essential to let Harry, Ron, and Hermione bond, but it took them a ridiculously long time to get their act together. Zzzz… Why did she have to follow her “one school year” formula again? It reminded me of HP4—Barty Jr could have handed Harry over to Voldy at the beginning of the year. Did they have to wait for the stars to align or something? I guess I have to check the book.

Special appearances all around: Even Krum was there. I thought Lockheart was going to waltz in at some point. heh.

The locket, again: I remember asking a friend why it was not included in the HP5 movie. I thought it was a horcrux and I thought it was important that they show that Harry and co found it and threw it away.

Speaking of Horcruxes, I knew Harry was one, too, that was the reason why I was so convinced that he was going to die. He did… for a chapter. How disappointing. Lame, lame, lame. We got another “Dumbledore-Harry-heart-to-heart-talk” in the end. I really thought he was going to die.

Happy Ever After: I guess JK Rowling really didn’t want a tragedy in her hands. The series, no matter how dark and serious it got in the end, was still for kids. She wanted to give them a nice and clean ending. I wanted something else. Oh well…

Well… I can’t think of anything else to say. It’s funny how I’ve spent so much time mulling on this. I had a Harry Potter week!!! And to think I was such a lapse-fan of the series.

Anyways, all in all, I think that this book was tailor-made for the fans. I can’t help but wonder if JK would have written the series the same way if she didn’t have a very strong and imaginative and vocal fan base.

I still don’t know how I feel about it, though. Maybe I should just read it again.