chapter 1
 

• OMG REMUS AND TONKS GOT MARRIEEEEEDDDD!! *dies of happiness* mrs. jo, at the moment i feel nothing but love for you and i thank you very much for the pink haired little wolf cubs i know are to come in the future. i just sent my best friend a text message-- remus is her favorite character, you see, but i don't know if she's pro- or against remus/tonks. i think she's pro. how anyone can not like that couple is beyond me. THANK YOU MRS. JO!!

• i am completely convinced that nagini is a hyena in disguise. snakes don't eat dead stuff unless they've killed it themselves. i know your secret, nagini! you can't fool me!

• they're at malfoy manor. seriously? and nobody thought of looking there?

• peacocks! xD lucius' cute hair ribbon thing has just gained a whole new meaning to me.

• awww, he had a sister! how sad is that :(

• i think old elphias doge might have given me back my love for dumbledore. that obituary was so sweet. i'm still a bit resentful, though.

• oh my. did she seriously mention through rita the possibility of harry's relationship with dumbledore being "sinister"? wow. and they say these books are for kids?

• it cracks me up every time vernon calls voldie some name xD

• AWWWWW!! DUDDY WUVS HIS WIDDLE COUSIN! how cute was that? ^.^ here's to all the people who thought it'd be petunia who would have a sentimental moment-- she almost did, but she didn't.

• "ooh, you look so much tastier than crabbe and goyle, harry." asdfñlkj! muchluffforfanservice! xD oh my gawd. thank you, mrs. jo. thank you.

• i love the twins. they shall rule the world, they shall.

• OH MY GOD SHE KILLED HEDWIG!!!!!!!!! *cries disconsolately* who'd've thought i'd be crying over an owl? :( poor little thing.

• hagrid's alive. hagrid HAS to be alive...

• as for the rest... i don't know if i should be depressed that it's official: mrs. jo writes action so much better than i ever will-- or if i should just say "wow." i have a feeling this movie's going to make me feel very dizzy. and i thought OotP was dizzying; no, i did not know the meaning of the word prior to this chapter.

i won't even attempt to comment on this one. it was a bit overwhelming. all i'll say is: thank god hagrid's alive. george has taken on a whole new light for me. i'm so proud of ron. and moody's death didn't hit me as hard as expected-- maybe i'm just still grieving over hedwig.
 
 

chapter 6
 

• oh, the return of H/G. i'm still shuddering. here's to hoping the farewell scene isn't completely soapish-- but no, i just saw the chapter image for chapter 7. i'm doomed.

• i loved the R/Hr parts! oh, it's so cute! it was about time ron figured out that pulling pigtails doesn't equal love, wasn't it? oh, i love him. who'd have thought he'd be so... i want to say romantic but he's not yet-- that he'd be so understanding. comforting. he's grown up, and that's just what he needed to do. the ghoul trick was pretty clever, as well xD i wuv my ronnie.

• and we're back to what i like the most about these books: information. heaps of it. with much trio luvv in the background ^.^ i loved this chapter.

• who would've thought it'd be so easy to steal from dumbledore's office. heh, funny.

• hah. of course ron's newfound sensitivity had a trick to it ^^;;; but it's cute that he's trying, at least.

• aw, man. *much shuddering* i figure you understand what i'm talking about. ginny's got harry turned into such a girl... *sigh* can they just leave on their quest-- like, now?

• loved ron doing the protective brother bit xD

• remus is being kind of... weird, isn't he? *suspicious*

• *kicks scrimgeour* JERK! oooohhhh i can't wait until the movie comes out and i can yell that at him on-screen...

• NORBERTA! ZOMG ASDFÑLKJ! xDDDD *dies*

• loved the little discussion about muggle/wizarding kiddie tales. though i don't expect harry to know much about those, after all, i doubt the dursleys were the kind of guardians to read to him. i even doubt they read to dudley. i expected him to have some sort of comment about that, but he didn't.

• the sword! i knew that was going to play a part in the end-- i almost used it in chapter seven of "somnium" instead of harry's wand (you'll understand if you read it), but i figured dobby might find it a bit too heavy to carry. but i'd thought it'd be important.

• xenophilius. what a great name for luna's dad. lover of the strange? genius.

• harry totally gave luna a once-over! xD

• auntie muriel reminds me way too much of aunt marge. and that's a flashback i did not want to go through.

• VICKY!! *squee* i love that guy, i was sooo waiting to see him. funny that he's got his eyes set not only on hermione, but also ginny. slick guy, he's slicker than he seemed in GoF. next thing we know, he'll end up married to luna or something ^^;;;

• hermione and harry were looking at each other when "i declare you bonded for life" happened ^.^ okay, i'm reaching, i know. come on, throw me a bone here, mrs. jo! at least a small one...

• "she's great, isn't she? always good value." oh, he loves her. deep, deep down, they're just made for each other. i know. *nods*

• i really want harry to catch ron and hermione snogging right now. call it a craving, i just do. i don't know why that just popped into my head.

• nevermind chapter 2. i think i still resent dumbledore. and that's not going away anytime soon. maybe the original idea i had for "all's right" will actually come true! hmmm...

• finally! they're on their way. my part of the book's definitely coming up xD

• i'm loving this new, take-action side of ron. it was about time that he stepped it up, show what he really can do. and i thought i couldn't love the bloke anymore than i already do ^.^ so wondeful, my ronnie.

• when moody's voice came out as they arrived at grimmauld place, for a second there i really thought he wasn't dead or something similar. not that i'm on pins and needles waiting for him to come back from certain death, but i just thought it.

• this chapter felt very much like something out of a suspense movie. i can't give you any particular names at the moment, but that's what it felt like. the scene at the all-night cafe, before the commotion started, reminded me a lot of those scenes in movies where the good guys go into some run-down diner in the middle of nowhere, caps lowered over their faces so those who are following them cannot recognize them, sneakers on their feet so they can get away at a run if necessary... it had that sort of feel to it, didn't it? and the three just move together so well, like a well-oiled machine. i really, really liked this chapter, it was very evocative.

• THEY FELL ASLEEP HOLDING HANDS ZOMFG TEH CUTENESS!!! *MUCH LOVE FOR MRS. JO!* ^__________________^ *squee*

• is it weird of me that i felt more like crying while reading lily's letter than with all the deaths that have happened so far? it was so-- just so everyday, what she described. i mean, they had a cat! chibi-harry almost killed the cat! OMG how much sadder can the moment GET? *cries* they were so happy, it's so unfair. how were they to know that in three months the happiness would be no more? not for them, not for harry... *sigh* that's the true tragedy of this series.

• WORMY? WTF. >.<

• okay, so things happened exactly like they have in every single fanfic i've ever read since HBP came out, and all at the same time-- RAB was indeed regulus, it was insanely easy to figure this out, hermione and harry seem to have a photographic memory concerning the locket (and why didn't ron join in to the melee of deduction, i wonder? he had to have known as well), kreacher had indeed nicked it back in and then dung had indeed stolen it back out. see, i told you they should have included regulus and the locket in the OotP movie. what are they going to do now? i sure hope the predictable part of the book is over...

• kreacher is still alive. gosh darn it. i was really hoping the thing had crawled into a hole and died over the course of the last book. yes, as much as i like dobby and tolerate winky, i do not share hermione's views about house elves-- their environment may influence them a lot, certainly, but like humans, they are not all inherently good, you know. there IS such thing as a nasty house elf, and kreacher is the example. but well, i guess he was useful for something...

• i was expecting tonks to be pregnant. i was expecting remus to freak out about it. i wasn't, however, expecting harry to blow up at him like that! though i think he was in the right, of course, i'm more with ron and hermione on this one-- he should've kept his temper down. i don't think alienating his friends will do him much good.

• i had missed dung. i hadn't said this in previous chapters, but i did like the guy as a character, even if he's a crook. he's funny. and i liked how he was all afraid of kreacher xD mwahahaha. that was hilarious! you gotta love the trio going all scarface on him. really good.

• i found this chapter a bit unremarkable, if you ask me. other than the three being completely badass when interrogating dung, the whole other part just dragged on and on. maybe i'm becoming a bit too used to the action. it's 'cause i can't write it that i admire it so much, i tell you.

• man, dan radcliffe really needs to lose that wide-eyed "why is this all happening to me?" air about him before this movie, he really does. it's like seeing a completely different harry right now.

• *GASP!* SNAPE'S HEADMASTER?!?!?! i take it back, ma'am, i take it back! you're not predictable, no you aren't! that was a stroke of genius.

• okay, so they really did miss the express. i know many people still harbored hope that they'd go back. i'd rather they'd be away from hogwarts by themselves, if you ask me. the mission's just too big to be encased in that big old castle, as sentimental as we all are about it.

• i certainly did NOT need to see (read) dolores umbridge ever again. man!

• seemed like another one of those "filler" chapters. i liked the ministry descriptions, though. it's fun to try and remember just how different it was the last time we saw (read) it...

• ooohhh, i liked the escape from the ministry. it was fun! xD stunning umbridge, walking out with the patronuses in the middle of a mob of dementors like they're the coolest people in the planet... two regs ^^ it was certainly an entertaining. it seems that it's always harry and hermione who are left to fight off twelve thousand dementors by themselves, haha.

• the dumbledore thing is seriously starting to bore me. it was cool at the beginning, because it was almost like confirming the suspicions i've been having since book 5, but by now it's just a bit blah. i'm sure it'll come to a point when i'll have forgotten all about it, and then something huge will happen, and i'll go all "oooohhhhhh, right, dumbledore. so THAT'S what really happened!" like i did all through HBP.

• "why are you wet?" "water." --> lmao ^-^

random comment: so all my friends have taken it upon themselves to leave me messages through MSN saying that harry dies in the end. lol. i know that's what i've been thinking since the fifth book, and i'm ready for it if it happens, but i won't believe them until i read it myself. haha. seriously, don't they know that when someone is "away," it's very likely that he/she doesn't want to be messaged? immature people ^^;;; it's just funny. i'm not dignifying them with an answer xD

• "hermione was watching ron fret over the fate of the cattermoles, and there was such tenderness in her expression that harry felt almost as if he had surprised her in the act of kissing him." that was entirely sweet, which made me squee. it was also entirely foreboding, which made me freak out. oh please, don't let mrs. jo kill ron... i've got this shudder running up my spine, and my gut is telling me whatever she meant with that phrase is NOT good... please don't let her kill my ron... *breath catches in her throat* please...

• i liked the description of the horcrux, that it was pulsing... that was good.

• "it seemed to harry as he sat there trying to master his own fear and exaustion, that the horcrux against his chest was ticking away the time he had left... stupid idea, he told himself, don't think that..." --> well, we can rule out the theory of harry being suicidal! that counts for something, isn't it?

• there's a missing h/hr scene begging to be written somewhere in this chapter. i have no idea what it could contain, but i'm sure my shipmates at portkey are already setting the wheels in motion for this one. i'll wait for it eagerly.

• okay, so harry's memory is freakin' eidetic when it comes to recognizing a random locket he'd seen once two years ago and never even thought about again, but he can't remember who this blonde thief is? i bet it's one of the dumbledores. i thought aberforth when i read it, but if i really think about it, it would make more sense for it to be albus, wouldn't it? but i don't know, all i know is that it's gotta be one of them... harry should remember, really...

oh, this chapter was fabulous! many things to comment, but i can say with absolute certainty that it's my favorite chapter so far. i'll go by parts:

• the first half of the chapter was pretty dull. other than us knowing that ron was getting cranky (i don't blame the guy-- you can't freaking go on like that eating only berries and mushrooms! sacrilege i tell you. i certainly wouldn't want to be them. i would've been biting everyone's head off 24/7 too, maybe even worse with PMS...), there wasn't much there.

• the conversation between the guys and the goblins was very informative, of course. i liked the fact that they brought back the idea of hogwarts. the trio might not need to be there, but hogwarts is a fixture of the magical world, it's really kind of weird for the stuff to happen without mention of it. i also liked the little gleam we gained into snape as headmaster. that office seems entirely too easy to get into, doesn't it? it didn't seem that way when dumbledore was headmaster, but as soon as umbridge came into the picture, and now snape, the post just seems to have lost its luster. i guess that was the point, wasn't it?

• i liked that she mentioned that we don't really know whether dean is muggleborn or not... she said she would. i'm sure she'd been trying to fit that in for a while. i wonder how seamus is fairing without his friend, though? maybe his "mam" didn't let him go back as well...

• the DA lives! i knew those three were going to stir up trouble-- the DA was really the only place where neville and luna were truly accepted, and really it was all thanks to the trio, right? and of course ginny would be desperately trying to help harry. i'm glad they're not just floating down the current, else they wouldn't be the characters i've grown to love so much.

• well, they have the answer now, they need the sword to destroy the horcruxes. harry hasn't remembered that the thing nearly took dumbledore's arm off, but i expect he will soon. and that'll be a whole other round of brainstorming.

• props to xeno lovegood and the quibbler! i'd been waiting to hear that line: "you want the facts, try the quibbler." and it was just so awesome when i did read it. thanks, mrs. jo! i can't stop grinning now xD

• oh, i'm such a bad person. when harry remembered that dean was ginny's ex-boyfriend as well, i couldn't help but think: "yeah, because there's like 30 of you, you know!" oh, i'm so bad >.< i seriously don't think that way. i like ginny a lot, and so what if she's had a couple of boyfriends? she's a normal girl, it happens. not everybody is a nerd like hermione or a loony like luna, she's a perfectly normal, pretty and popular girl. of course she'd have boyfriends. it doesn't make her promiscuous. and she really cares about harry anyway-- i may not like their relationship, but i gotta admit at least ginny's side of the feelings are true. it's harry's i had a bit more trouble believing.

• when the pumpkins were throwing out their ideas about the sword, it occurred to me suddenly that there they were, the head boy and head girl doing their job. i don't know why i thought that, but it then led me to think that they never received their hogwarts letters. did professor mcgonagall know they weren't coming back? i know with snape at the helm there was no way either of them would be named head boy/girl, but i expected mcgonagall to have something to say to them regarding not going back to school, or at least to hermione. and all of this leads me to thinking: is draco at hogwarts? gosh, where is draco? i can't believe i'm starting to miss him, must be because i just saw tom felton in the OotP movie and i can't get the visage out of my head.

THE RIFT BETWEEN THE TRIO (yes, this is the part where i rant. run away now!):

yes, i assume this is the part where everybody starts hollering that ron is such a dick and how could he do that? yes, it is. i, for one, was expecting him to react exactly this way. in fact, i thought it'd be a bit earlier-- when he got splinched and started asking harry & herm not to call voldie by his name, i thought that was it for ron, he was going to blow up. i was expecting him to, and so it hasn't changed the way i view him at all. i still love him very much. in fact, i think i would've reacted the same way. family is a huge deal to me, as it is to him, and he's worried-- he's had no news and he's never been away from them for so long. not to mention that he's really the one who's had it worse; two of his brothers have been severely hurt so far, his father's being followed, he had to deal with the guilt of that family in the ministry, he got splinched. about the food, i rather think that was big at first but not after a while. if it were me, i would've been dying of starvation a long while ago. you see, if there's one thing i'm not and will never be, is a vegetarian. i'd rather eat dirt than get by with berries and mushrooms, so they're lucky he eats anything, i would just have refused to eat point-blank. add to that the fact that harry and hermione are doing their freaky "finishing each other's sentences/communicating with their eyes" thing and he's done nothing but gotten hurt, of course he's going to feel excluded, jealous of their connection, and i bet he felt completely useless as well. what was the point of him being there at all? he was away from his family and he wasn't even helping at all. there was no point. even more so when harry's as lost as lindbergh's child, and you gotta admit, it DID seem at the end of HBP that harry sort of had an idea of what he was going to do; he was all in a hurry to start the journey by himself, after all. ron has always looked up to him... he did grow up hearing harry's name all around, and while that's not the reason he's harry's friend at all, he's bound to have some expectations, which harry cannot, and will not fill. the whole thing, then, looks dismal in his eyes, and his two friends can't see the point at all. harry thinks ron's using him as his personal newspaper and hermione can't bring herself to speak up at all. hermione starts denying she ever told him anything ill of harry, and harry starts distrusting them both, and then accuses him of being a coward? he's lucky ron just walked out on them, i would've punched his lights out. the difference is-- i would've stayed away out of sheer pride; ron will come back.

i think this whole rift had to happen, and it's been coming for a long while. the trio had problems all through HBP, and they've had fights in the past, and they've given each other the silent treatment, but that's not enough. the problems are never really solved because they don't talk about it. they patch things up, but it's just that-- a patch. underneath the thin scrap of fabric there's still a hole and if they don't talk about it, it'll never be completely mended. hermione's protego spell separating them was more significant than it seemed, it was a huge deal-- a physical representation of the fact that there are barriers between them, as much as they love each other there are barriers, and they have to deal with them now, rather than wait until it's too late. i think this might be the start of that, or at least i'm hoping it will be.

so was ron wrong? yeah, he was. at the moment the wizarding world comes first. was that the worst moment ever for him to explode? probably. does that make him an awful person? not at all. i've been saying this since PoA, that ron is the primary representation of a true human character in these books. harry's the reluctant hero, a fixture in literature without a doubt, as dark and brooding as he is, and as normal as he believes he is, the fate of the world is on his shoulders and he won't think for one second of ditching that fate, not with all that's riding on his killing voldemort. as long as he moves forward with his mission, it doesn't matter if he messes up because the greater good must be accomplished. laudable way to act, but highly idealistic. most people in this world aren't like that, and it doesn't make us awful. i know that i would never understand what goes through his mind sometimes, i couldn't ever be the hero, i don't think, at least not in a conscious fashion. and speaking of unreal, hermione's so great at times, that she's almost like a cartoon. hadn't mrs. jo said she'd come up with that name because not many people had it, and then little girls wouldn't be teased at school if they had the same name as her? ron, on the other hand, exemplifies the kind of people that are led by their hearts. ron is pure feeling, he is. and if he's not feeling good about something, why not be vocal about it? it's the way he feels, it should be out in the open. just because the other two can put away their feelings and focus on their homework so easily does not mean everything else is unimportant, and ron's leaving serves to remind us of that.

sucks for poor hermione, though. she really believed they were getting somewhere.

i love him very much. and he'll think about what happened, and he'll be back. if he doesn't, it's most likely because he'll die. which he won't. i'm in denial. ron's not dying in this book, because i say so. period. she wouldn't do that to me. now, onto chapter 16.
 
 

chapter 16
 

• my shipmates will have a field day with this chapter, i know. this is the bone we were expecting her to throw us, it is! oh, i smell missing scenes...

• lily's older than ickle jamesie xD i just thought that was hilarious.

• i don't blame harry, i didn't understand the inscription on their graves either O_o so by passing and "living beyond death" you destroy death, and that was your very last problem. and afterwards... what? seems kind of an empty promise to me. if it had mentioned something about what happens after that barrier is destroyed, i might've felt better about it. *shrugs*

• aww, my eyes seriously teared up when harry saw his parents' grave. you know i'm not someone who cries much, even if i say i'm crying, like i did with hedwig and with lily's letter and such. in this scene there were almost tears, though. it was so beautiful. and i'm glad at least hermione was there with him-- i would've liked ron to be there too, but i guess then it wouldn't have been as deep as it was. harry really needed someone at the moment, and hermione was that one, and i'm glad. it was beautiful ;_; (oh, that scene's going to be fantastic in the movie... *sigh*) my sad heart flutters. still like chapter 15 better, though xD

• ZOMG. not much else to say. the part where nagini just came out of bathilda's throat was... gruesome. i felt a bit sick just imagining it. i can't think how it'll look on-screen, that's going to be one hell of a scene to reproduce.

• harry's flashback: everything happened so... fast. i knew it did, i guess, but i still feel a bit, erm, let down. i really want to see it from the potters' PoVs now, maybe get a feel of what was going through their minds before voldemort arrived? poor people.

• harry dropped the picture. he DROPPED it. i could KILL the boy! *shakes harry* i know he couldn't help it, he was too busy saving himself and his best friend, but i'm just impatient as hell right now >.<

oh, another one of those "informative" chapters that i love! i really guess there's nothing much to say about this chapter other than get to the dumbledore thing.
 

• see? everytime i think i've got her figured out, she pulls the rug out beneath my feet. GRINDELWALD? seriously? i was sure it'd be aberforth. grindelwald sucks, though, because he's, like, dead. pardon my descent into valley-girlese, but i'm feeling rather lost at sea at the moment. so grindelwald stole something from that wandmaker that's not ollivander (i keep forgetting the name)-- so how old is the wandmaker guy? if he was already making wands by the time grindelwald was 17, that would make him a good couple decades older than dumbledore, and dumbledore was like 150... doesn't that seem a bit farfetched, even for a wizard? i'm confuzzled @_@ and anyway, whatever grindelwald stole, it'll be a bitch to get back because, as i said, he's DEAD! and so is dumbledore, so just-- i just don't get it. this is one of the moments where i just go with the flow and stop thinking, just letting her tell me eventually.

• for the record, as much as i've resented dumbledore, i do think he loved harry a lot. i think he saw harry as a way to make up for all his mistakes, maybe. a glimmer of hope, if you please. even if he spent the last couple of years being a complete jerk-off. for all i know he's evil, and the mastermind behind the whole grindelwald-voldemort conspiracy (reluctant to believe rita as i am, it's a big possibility), but i do think he cared. if he was good, that was his one redemption; if he was evil, that was his biggest mistake. and believe me, he made a lot of those, whether he was a good or a bad person in the end. all i can say is, whatever his intentions, he messed things up too much for me to like him altogether anymore.

• as you know, i'm a firm believer in that harry has to let out his feelings before they blow him up and he goes barmy. i'm glad he did that in this chapter, at least a bit. and i'm glad hermione didn't freak out at the yelling at it often happens. that boy seriously needs some comfort, and she's gotta be there for him.

INSERT SECOND RON RANT OF THE WEEK HERE: okay, when i read the title of the chapter and looked at the chapter image i was mentally preparing for a sapfest. and that's partly what it was at the beginning, kinda cheesy, with harry following the doe and all the introspection of it and the cliche of the sword being in the pool (arthurian legend much?) but now... oh, i'm just so insanely happy that i could care less. you know how i highlight the passages that i like most in my book? i might as well just highlight the whole chapter.

OMG RON IS BACK!! *does happy dance* my hands are shaking. i was covering my mouth all through the horcrux scene, and my mom came in to tell me something about the yankees game that's on and i totally ignored her. and then she was all like "are you crying?!" and i wasn't, not at the time, though i am now. i'm just so happy, it's crazy! so happy, i didn't even wait to finish the chapter to go out and SCREAM, but i did, in fact, stand up at several points in the chapter (which i never do because i always read the chapter through before i allow myself to react) and dance, cheer, kick and generally be crazy before remembering i wasn't done and running to continue reading. i went outside and hugged my mom AND my brother, they kept asking who died and i kept grinning like mad, telling them everything was a-ok.

oh my god, not only is my ron back, but he destroyed the horcrux! oh, this is better than when he won the quidditch cup, so much better!! and oh, how the soul jumped at him, playing out on all his insecurities, yet he still managed to get over himself, fight his fears and destroy the thing... OMG that was just perfect. you have no idea how elated i am right now, it's a good thing i'm typing this because i really can't speak at the moment. i cried-- REALLY cried, this time around-- when ron stabbed the locket, and it was a good thing by then i'd managed to go back to my room and keep on reading, so nobody saw me (and i'll deny it fervently if anyone asks, BTW xD) i was so excited that i gave in to temptation and just called my best friend to squee out loud to someone who actually understands what i'm going through-- she's still on chapter 10, and she made me tell her just EVERYTHING that's been happening, and i really feel as agitated as if i'd just run a marathon.

and the thought will be forever etched in my mind-- "only a true gryffindor could have pulled that..."-- because RON IS A TRUE GRYFFINDOR! A PROUD SON OF GODRIC! A HERO IN HIS OWN RIGHT! (oh, i have to make myself an icon of ron and that quote...) and it was wonderful of harry to let him know that, that it was his moment now, that he was the one who had to do this, it wasn't harry, it was ron. man, please let ron's character poster for the seventh movie be holding gryffindor's sword? pretty please? *puppy eyes* oh, SOMEONE PLEASE JUST DRAW FANART OF THAT SCENE RIGHT NOW!! i would if i could draw anything other than crooked stick figures... this was just too bloody wonderful. thank you, mrs. jo, thank you!! *kneels and bows in respect* forget chapter 15, this one totally blew the top of my head off! *vvvbg*
 

• in the reencounter with hermione... well, call me a hopeless romantic, but i was really waiting for the heidi-like scene, of them running towards each other, deviating on her jumping him and kissing him like it was their last moment on earth. in fact, i really wanted that to happen, so much. however, looking back i'm glad it didn't happen-- it doesn't sound much like hermione, does it? and it'll only make it better for later ;) her reaction was priceless, though. i was expecting oppugno to make a reappearance xD lol, you gotta love those two.

• and speaking of kissing, though not in support to my ship at all (quite the opposite, in fact), i do hope they keep the horcrux!h/hr kiss in the seventh movie. i would die for a moment of dan and emma kissing, you know how many icons i could make out of that? priceless moment.

• wow, that's some nifty craft you got there, dumbledore. gotta love that deluminator...

• i'm still expecting the silver doe to bring in a major cheese factor in the future. it'll turn out that it was ginny's patronus or something, and i will gag myself with a spoon. but oh well, not much i can do about it if that's the case... funny, this whole "harry pining for ginny" thing reminded me of a line from sabrina the teenage witch; quite possibly the only line i remember from that series, but it is, for me, a universal truth: "it's ALWAYS true love at sixteen." even if harry's 17, it's the general idea what counts. so yeah, of COURSE he would pine for her... still... *shudder*

• was this chapter really short, or was that just me? O_o

• excuse me while i go squee some more at ron's excitement about going to the lovegoods'. *squee squee squee* oh, she spoils me, she does. she's too good to me. i'll be nothing but a pile of mush by the time this book is over xD give me two of my ships in one paragraph-- "all's fair in love and war, and this is a bit of both. cheer up, it's the christmas holidays, luna'll be home!" xD xD xD how does she manage that? my god, i love her. and then, of course, luna lives in a place that looks like a chess piece. suspicious much? and later on-- "cowardly old wart. luna's got ten times his guts." yes she does, ronnie xD i can't wait for luna to actually get there...

• "he must've known i'd run out on you." "no, he must've known you'd always want to come back." --> awwwwwwwwwww SOMUCHTRIOLOVETHNXMRS.JO!! *sniffle*

• okay, so we all knew that the sign didn't really have much to do with grindelwald, didn't we? not a huge shock.

• oh, man! not luna! anyone but luna! ;_; boy, this is going to SUCKKKKK...

• okay, so we know what the "deathly hallows" are now. another strike of genius of her part, IMHO. so far, i don't think they have anything to do with gryffindor or ravenclaw, and we've no sign of hufflepuff's cup as of yet, but i think it's obvious why voldemort would be looking for them, isn't it? i guess that's what he was trying to get from that wandmaker, the wand perhaps-- or the stone, since it was supposed to be something so small that harry couldn't see it. maybe that's what grindelwald stole from him (WAS it grindelwald? i'm still not convinced...), and i think it's cool that the trio at least have one of them at hand.

• "it's just a morality tale, it's obvious which gift is best, which one you'd choose--" "the cloak." "the wand." "the stone." --> this might just become one of my favorite HP quotes of all time. it just represents the trio in my mind: three different answers for three different persons who think in three completely different ways; but like the hallows, they complement each other in such a way that in the end, they're the only ones who can defeat the worst enemy of all-- death (flashbacked back to the potter's grave, didn't you? i sure did!). i especially liked the sign of the deathly hallows: the straight line representing the wand, the circle representing the stone and the triangle representing the cloak, it was very evocative. i do believe-- i haven't checked yet for fear of being spoiled, but it'll be the first thing i do when i finish the book (besides crying my heart out, of course)-- that it'll become a symbol for the trio, at the very least in the fandom. and i couldn't agree more. that's another icon i'll have to make for myself...

• the painting of the DA in luna's room just broke my heart. what is it with these books and lonely orphans? ;_;

• it just came to me a second ago: where WAS luna taken? was she at home? was she at hogwarts? if so, what about neville and ginny? i assume ginny's okay, else bill would've known and so ron would've known, but i can't help but think it's fishy...

• i miss remus.

• well, harry came to basically the same conclusions i did, peverells notwithstanding (see, how can he have such photographic memory for such elusive details, but not freakin' ace every single OWL he took? seriously, it's unreal...). so the ring dumbledore destroyed is the stone, they have the cloak, and the wand is what voldemort's after. i have to say i agree with him, but then again, i've been wrong before-- i usually am in these books anyway, and so is harry, too. he better not let his delusions of grandeur ("possessor of the hallows"-- hah!) take the lead. something tells me this is going to be bad... he really should listen to hermione, though. she might be wrong in thinking that the hallows really exist, but she's right in that he shouldn't forget the horcruxes. after all, what use is a super-powerful wand that will enable him to blow voldemort's body to bits if there's still three other pieces of his soul laying around? the hallows aren't enough. harry should know by now, always listen to hermione, there's a very good chance she's right.

• mrs. jo seriously spoils me. she's giving me everything i want. "harry could not help but notice that ron seemed to be taking charge. [...] ron was the one now encouraging and exhorting the other two into action." OF COURSE HE IS! i knew he'd be like that, it's just how he is-- steps up when it's required of him. it takes him a while, but he finally gets it, really. the chess scene in PS/SS, anyone? my lovely ronniekins. i love you, big bro, i do. *hugs*

• FRED! i mean, rapier xD "this new idea that you-know-who can kill with a single glance from his eyes. that's a basilisk, listeners. one simple test: check whether the thing that's glaring at you has got legs." --> hilarious! oh, i missed the twins... and REMUS! haha, if i'd known as i was reading last chapter that he'd reappear so soon... it was good to hear (read) him.

• said and done: harry screws up again >.< it really makes me want to kick him when he does stuff like that.

oh man. oh MAN! this chapter seemed inordinately long to me. or maybe it was just that so much stuff happened, and i read it so fast... i found myself having to read back a couple of times, because i'd skipped something important, but i couldn't help it. there was just so much going on! all in all, an excelent chapter.
 

• i feel bad because, when hermione was being tortured, i was focusing more on what ron must have been feeling. oh, i'm so bad :( poor hermione, i know, but i couldn't help it. to imagine him bellowing like that for her, it just broke my heart into itty bitty pieces. it hit me so very hard. i'm sure, when time goes by and i think back to the whole malfoy mansion thing, that's what i'm going to remember-- ron's suffering. it was just terrible to read, for me.

• so glad to see luna and dean are okay! especially luna, though. for a sec there i thought she'd stay with them, but i should've figured harry wouldn't let her. it's enough that hermione's being tortured because of him; and i'm sure he counted ron in because he just can't imagine ron not being there, but i'm sure he's scared as hell that something might happen to him, too. harry wouldn't want anyone else suffering because of him, so of course he'd send luna away.

• wormtail's death was incredibly lame. sorry mrs. jo, but i just can't picture it being that easy O_o what, is harry some sort of jedi now, that he can make people do stuff even against their will? he reminded wormtail of the life debt and he stopped, then his own hand started to attack him? was it some sort of booby trap from voldemort that was set up to kill wormtail if he ever betrayed him? i don't know, it all happened too fast. this is one of the passages i had to re-read, actually. too fast and too easy. only part of the chapter i didn't like. but oh well, at least he's dead now! yay! ^^ i've been waiting for this since book 3...

• draco is acting weird. well, he was acting weird. he should've recognized harry immediately, really, even with the bloating. and how come lucius didn't recognize him? he's seen him enough times, i bet... it shouldn't have been THAT hard... but anyway, back to draco. the fact that dobby came in right after he left, that's what i noticed. he was acting too weird. i'm not saying he'll turn around and become goody-goody friends with harry or anything, but his fear might have gotten a hold of him, and at least he knows harry won't kill him in a sudden fit of rage, like voldemort would. i think he had something to do with it, but i can't be sure.

• i KNEW dobby would do something like this. I KNEW IT! read somnium 7 if you don't believe me. i had the notion that he would, because death eaters tend to ignore house elves and so they wouldn't give a crap what dobby was doing, and he'd have a chance to help. house elf magic is also more powerful than they're given credit for, so it was expected that something like this would happen. i'm sad that dobby died, i quite liked him, but i'm not broken up about it, though. again, it makes me feel bad that i can read it and feel nothing worse than a twinge in my heart, but like i said, ron screaming his head off took priority for me, whether i wanted it to or not. anyway, RIP dobby. you shall be missed, little one.

haha, my best friend just called me to let me know how she's doing. she hasn't read much new stuff (finals, as i said before), but now she's properly informed of dobby's death, and wormtail's death. she said she had to go back and re-read moody's death because she hadn't caught it the first time 'round. she's more broken up about hedwig, to be honest, though dobby hit her hard. haha. we were discussing the second chapter, and just how was it that snape knew when harry was going to be moved. in the book it's all been left behind, but it's ever-present in my mind, that there can easily be a traitor still among the order...
 

• well, i almost had to read this chapter all over again because i didn't have time to write this as soon as i finished... dinner was ready, and then my mom and my brother wanted to go get ice cream, and how could i refuse? xD by the time i came back an hour later, i couldn't really remember what had happened. but the chapter itself wasn't very eventful, it was more of those informative chapters that i like so much. so basically, our suspicions are proven correct in that voldemort is looking for the elder wand, gregorovitch had it, grindelwald stole it, and as a natural conclusion, dumbledore had it with him when he died. good. now voldie's got it-- what's next? =3

• to be sincere, i'm more worried about the horcrux that apparently is in gringotts. surely i can't be the only one that keeps thinking that with 260 pages to go there are still three more horcruxes missing? they have to find them, pronto!

• it freaks the hell out of me when harry starts saying stuff about voldemort without us being given proper flashback scenes. like when he said voldemort was at hogwarts? no italics there, it was just mentioned so casually. i imagine this is how ron and hermione must feel all the time. it's freaky.

• again, rather unremarkable chapter, but awwww, teddy!! ^.^ how cute. i really want to see him now...

• am i the only one who's getting dean/luna vibes? i shock myself.

• this chapter was pretty boring up to, like, two pages before it ended xD sorry, i don't care much for gringotts, or bellatrix lestrange, or the imperius curse. i liked it from the dragon on, though xD xD xD gosh, i sound like such a guy ^^;;; betcha hermione's having a BLAST flying of on that thing!

• "she tasted disgusting, worse than gurdyroots! okay, ron, come here so i can do you..." --> hellooooo from gutterville! *lmao*

• "there. how does he look, harry?" "well, he's not my type, but he'll do." --> oh yeah, remember harry has a thing for redheads? he loved ron much more when he was himself ;) lol

• GRIPHOOK! THE NASTY LITTLE BUGGER! see, i told you, not because he isn't human does that make him good. no, disgusting treacherous pigs are also born to other races, as well. bastard! >( so what, no horcrux and no sword now?

• ooohhh, this one i liked! it always takes either information, ron or the trio to lure me in, doesn't it? ^-^

• ah, they did have the cup. nevermind. must read last chapter again.

• raise your hand, those who knew the last horcrux was in hogwarts! *raises hand* no, i really did! check somnium 7 if you don't believe me, it's in print (pixels)! haha, sorry, i'm just so glad that i had actually seen something like this coming! i've been fighting a losing battle with mrs. jo ever since snape turned out to be quirrell and i'm feeling immensely proud of myself that i'm not as useless with my predictions as i thought i was...

• "how could lord voldemort not have known, if he, himself, most important and precious, had been attacked, mutilated?" --> WTF. i seriously expected him to break out in song after he thought this, it was just that incredibly cheesy. almost... legally blonde-ish, if he had been dressed in pink instead of black. lol, i mean, honestly, man, i know you love yourself, but this is stretching it...

• "as for the school: he alone knew where in hogwarts he had stowed the horcrux, because he alone had plumbed the deepest secrets of that place..." --> wait, he didn't-- OH, COME ON! HOW CAN HE NOT SAY-- he's thinking to himself, he should-- oh, this is RIDICULOUS! JUST TELL US ALREADY!! *flails arms* ...no, wait, i just thought of something. plumbed? he alone? *GASP!* the chamber! it's the chamber, dang it! harryyyyyyyyy...!!! O________O

• well, at last! we know the story! so at one point dumbledore was pro-wizard domination, because his sister had been attacked by muggles, but he got so into it that he even forgot his sister for a while there. of course, this is all coming from the resentful younger brother, so it might be a little biased, right? still, it doesn't give me back my old respect for dumbledore. i think my suspicions that he was evil have been appeased, yes, but it doesn't take away the fact that he's a jerk who purposedly withheld vital information from harry and just messed everything up royally, so i guess i'm still quite miffed at him. is it awful of my part that i like aberforth better than albus? he kind of reminds me of ron a bit, that might be it. he's brutally honest, but at least he IS honest, which is something i appreciate very much. i'm like that very often, and i know it's not the best thing to be (lack of tact and insensitivity accusations all around), but i really identify with that attitude.

• i didn't understand the whole thing with ariana's picture but hey, we have neville now! ^____^ that's enough to make me grin, at least until the tearful reunion of harry and ginny comes and the shudders start all over again...

• "brains like that, you could be a death eater, son. haven't i just proved my patronus is a goat?" "oh. yeah... well, i'm hungry!" --> oh god, it's so uncanny. that was one of my favorite excuses for when i did bad on a test when i was in school. my mom would just sort of glare at me and expressly forbid me to stop missing lunch to go off on some extracurricular or other. i didn't think there could be another similarity between me and ron, but voilà! there you have it. freaky, huh?

• haha, when i saw the chapter image i thought it was mad-eye moody come back to life ^^;;; it was neville, though. how hilarious xD

• and speaking of neville... wow. he might have just gained a new fangirl in me! i loved him from before, he was cute and sweet and a bit sad, but now... now he's HOT. i could picture him grinning when he was talking about his gran, and it was soooo attractive. bet the girls are all over him now! he's like rugged. manly. roar. xD kidding, but he did make me see him in a whole new light. how awesome is he? quite clever, with the whole room of requirement stuff and just organizing the whole uprising. amazing job, nev!

• glad to see the DA back together, i knew neville and luna would keep it up-- it was their little niche in a community that didn't understand them, after all. and they want to help, oh so much, and harry's a complete blokehead if he doesn't let them!! they'll fight whether he wants it or not, i know it. it's just how they are: brave, loyal, determined; and that's whether they're gryffindors or not. i liked the bit about harry not wanting to get them into this by hiding stuff from them, though, because he didn't want to end up like dumbledore; and that's the way it should be: harry shouldn't let himself fall into that nasty net of deception dumbledore wove. it's never good.

• "i went through and met aberforth. he's been providing us with food, because for some reason, that's the one thing the room doesn't really do." "yeah, well, food's one of the five exceptions to gamp's law of elemental transfiguration." --> xDDD i love ron. but did that strike anyone else as a very "luna" thing to say? kind of a random comment when nobody was expecting it-- and they obviously weren't expecting it from ron. yeah, it reminded me a lot of OotP luna.

• okay, so there was no mushy reunion between harry and ginny, which makes me feel a bit relieved (i still feel it coming, though!). and there even was a bit of jealousy from ginny's part, which is about the only part of H/G that i can stand... hah, sat you down forcefully, didn't she, cho? xD

• oh MY! this chapter was WICKED! watch out, voldie, the cavalry is here! mwahahahahahaaaa... *insert a few more lines of insane laughter*

• how awesome was it that harry actually used the cruciatus curse on someone to defend professor mcgonagall? "potter, that was foolish!" "he spat at you." --> oi, call up the fans, i bet those paticular shippers are throwing a party now ^^ and how double awesome was that minerva mcgonagall, madam "stick to the book" herself, used an unforgivable curse on some death eather prick to help harry? BLOODY EFFIN' AWESOME, THAT'S HOW! GO GRYFFINDOR! that's why it's my house, without a doubt! *waves red-and-gold flag* excusez-moi, i think i'll go and join the mcgonagall fanlisting now...

• i'm thinking that snape's leave was... terribly easy as well. i would've thought he could take on mcgonagall and the heads of house in a duel. i obviously gave him too much credit. or did i? for all i know, he's actually a good guy... hmmm, that hasn't been cleared up yet, has it?

• there were several instances in the chapter where everything felt almost cartoonish-- but i quite liked it. it made the chapter lighter, funnier. like professor mcgonagall pointing to "the snape-shaped hole in the window" (looney tunes, much?) and lupin whipping out little teddy's picture in the middle of the weasley's family reunion (maes hughes has come back to me in the shape of a lycan!). lol, that was just hilarious.

• and speaking about the weasleys... percy's back! they may have forgiven him, but he'd better watch out-- fred and george will be putting firework charms under his pillow every night, because forgiven is not forgotten... and i expect ron to have a few choice words for him when they meet up. i'm not mad at him, not anymore, after all i was expecting this to happen, because he's stupid but he's not a death eater, see. in the end, the weasley blood pulls harder, really. though i don't really like him still, he's always been kind of a jerk in my eyes, no matter what side he's fighting for... but at least he's not on my shit list anymore.

• and more about the weasleys (how can i help it? i love them)... molly really needs to let up on this whole underage thing. all it's going to do is make ginny want to get out and fight even more and she'll get herself killed! we do not want that, molly! i know she's just worried, but it really irks me right now. let the girl fight, dammit! she wants to help!

• dean and luna. HAH! I TOLD YOU, I DID! wow, i amaze myself. *pats self on the back* *vbg* ...now, should i really be celebrating a ship i don't particularly support? i'm weird.

• yes, harry, the BATHROOM. as in MOANING MYRTLE'S bathroom. because that's where the entrance to the CHAMBER is. CHAMBER OF SECRETS, REMEMBER? THAT'S WHERE YOU'LL FIND THE STUPID HORCRUX!! THE CHAMBER! *flails arms some more*

• *sneaks a peek at the next chapter's title* haha, now we really HAVE an official "battle of hogwarts." what's everybody going to call the last battle of HBP? part 1? lol.

weird note. i haven't finished reading the chapter yet, i'm halfway through but... IS HARRY STUPID?? GOSH, if he doesn't have ron and hermione near him he falls to pieces!! WTF?? your mind can fly off to the himalayas when it's about the hallows, but you can't freakin' remember the place where voldemort already ALMOST KILLED YOU FIVE YEARS AGO???? DAMMIT, someone kill me now. i can't stand the idiocy. i just went out and screamed my irritation with harry to my mom and brother... my mom laughed... my brother yelled at me to get out and not tell him anything of the ending... i even just sent my best friend a very irritated text message. but FREAKIN' HELL, how can i stay STILL when he's being this THICK? where's the unbelievable memory when he most needs it?? it's painful just to go back and read now if he's going to just wander 'round the castle all wide-eyed like a MORON... *gives ol' scarhead potty a good kick in the behind*

a while later, after having actually finished the chapter...
 

• THAT IS IT. this book should be renamed "ronald weasley and the absolute amazingness of his being." SERIOUSLY! let the man take all the credit, he's become the leader AND the brain in this book! oh, isn't he absolutely MAGNIFICENT?! HE IS! OMG i love him to bits and pieces. not only does he get the brilliant idea to go and look for a basilisk fang, but he also figured out how to open the door to the chamber! who would've thought you could learn and replicate parseltongue even if it wasn't an innate (or passed on) thing? only ron. OMFG genius. this is so what he deserved. let's just hope it stays that way and she doesn't decide to do something... drastic.. to him... oh, please don't... (i am acutely aware now that i'm about five chapters away from the ending).

• okay, so the horcrux wasn't in the chamber-- but there WAS something in the chamber, alright. lucky for harry, ron's hidden genius decided to break forth today. not the first time my bubble is burst, yet i feel a bit vindicated because even harry didn't remember the chamber, not even when he was told that they'd said something about a bathroom. but yes, i forgive harry for not thinking about that, only because the photographic memory came back, regarding the tiara in the labyrinth-room-of-requirement thingie. it's one of those things that i certainly never would've noticed. which reminds me that i really need to go back and re-read HBP because i've forgotten a bunch of stuff, apparently.

• oh my gaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwddddddddddd she kissed him! and oh my GAWD it was perfect! i almost fell off my chair. laughed so hard, i think maybe it was more like shrieking, really. almost fell off my chair, and then i stood and did a little dance and everything, book fell to the floor and i almost lost my place but i couldn't stop freakin' LAUGHING MY HEAD OFF. it was exactly how it should have been, just so... so ron and hermione, i couldn't have imagined any better in any single r/hr fanfic out there and just-- OH MY GAWD, MRS. JO, I WORSHIP YOUUUUUU! THANK YOU, THANK YOU! and that little bit with harry going all "uhhh, you guys, saving the world here?" was... oh, how many synonyms for PERFECT are there?! can't think of any right now! ooohhhh, how soon can the seventh movie be ready, oh mighty producers that be? tomorrow, perhaps? i really, REALLY need to see that scene on-screen... oh, rupert is going to FREAK... *dances some more* xDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

• who would've thought crabbe would destroy a horcrux? ^^;;;

• see, i told you draccie-poo couldn't be that bad. he's not evil, just a cowardly snake. of course, when faced with certain death, he would help anybody who could get him out of it, even harry. because he did hesitate to kill harry, and he did save him later on, didn't he? or tried to? he was pulling him out, i seem to remember... gosh, need to re-read this chapter. everything happened too fast...

• ginny's going to get herself killed or at the very least captured. mark my words.

• and then, mrs. jo goes and makes me feel like a complete schizo. one second i'm laughing excitedly over ron & hermy snogging, the next i've been left paralyzed by fred's... oh god, fred is... oh gosh, i really want to cry right now. i want to, but i think i'm too wound up to. i'm just... in shock. you know, the twins were one of those pillars of the books for me, representing laughter and the will to live, and i kinda read through the series thinking they'd always be there, ready for a good laugh... and now fred's gone. i can't quite believe it, it hasn't sunk in yet. oh, it couldn't have been percy, could it, mrs. jo?! no, it HAD to be fred... *sigh* gosh... i'm so depressed right now. this sucks so badly, it's not even fair =(

some of you might remember how in my review for HBP i believed the subtitle for that book should be "oh my gaaaawwwwwdddddd" because that's the reaction i had all through it? well, this was definitely the "oh my gaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwddddddddddd" chapter in the book for me. pardon my language, but HOLY FUCKIN' SHIT. those are the three words that are circling my head right now. i'll have to wait a while before actually writing anything that makes sense...

okay, so now that i've sent a text message to my friend and have been spinning in my chair for a few minutes, i think i'm good to go.
 

• the whole thing with malfoy was just hilarious xD i wonder if the little bastard will actually make good on that life debt and actually help them? who knows. i noticed goyle wasn't with him, though, did he die? (please say yes!). ron punching him as they passed was just a classic. i had a cute flashback to their brawl in the quidditch pitch stands back in first year... xD i love ron. and yes, i quite like malfoy, even if he's a bloody pussy. it's the character we all love to hate, really. and tom felton doesn't hurt my opinion any ;)

• what, she wants me to think that lucius actually-- *GASP!*-- LOVES his son? no, it's too much. brain going into overload... he's only worried that the family name will not be carried on, i'm sure... *looks around, disbelieving*

• wow, even trelawney's helping! never would've thought... how funny...

• hagrid's not dead. come on, he's not. she left that scene all ambiguous, he can't be dead... killed by the very spiders that owe him their life? nah, he'll come back, probably bringing moody with him or something... i couldn't help but smile weakly at the umbrella, i'd missed that umbrella...

• there were moments in this chapter, regardless of all the action, that i found to be unbelievably funny. one example would be when grawp appeared to help them fend off the other big guy: "only now did harry realize that grawp was, indeed, an undersized giant." hilarious! xD only harry would think such a thing at such a moment.

• for a second, when they mentioned ernie, the first thing i thought was: "ernie prang? WTF?" ^^;;; yes, i'm just weird. took me a little bit to figure out that it was actually ernie mcmillan. i amuse myself to no end xD funny, i would've thought seamus' patronus would be something more... irish. of course, i've never studied irish fauna, so for all i know every irishman lives with 3.5 foxes as pets and i had no idea. *shugs* i may have hallucinated it being a leprechaun or something...

• LUNA! SHE RULES! "that's right, harry... come on, think of something happy... we're all still here. we're still fighting. come on, now..." --> she is UH-MAZING. i knew there was a reason she was my second favorite character in the series. she should be crowned queen of the world, seriously. and hey, her patronus was a rabbit, after all! (ok, "hare", same difference!)

• RON'S JACK RUSSELL TERRIER ZOMGLUVLUVLUV ♥♥♥ have i mentioned it's my favorite breed of dogs? no, seriously, it was that even before i knew what harry potter was, i swear!

• "are you a wizard, or what?" --> oh, my beautiful PS/SS. so much love. thanks, mrs. jo ^.^

• "harry, we're coming, just get in there!" --> need i state all over again how much i love the trio? yes i do. I WUV MY TRIOOOOOO!! *hugglez*

• and then there was snape. OH MY GAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWDDDDDDDDDDDD!! this is is the part where she grabs me by the hair and starts twirling me around her little finger. tell me, HOW does she come up with these things?! has she made a pact with the devil or something? i WORSHIP joanne kathleen rowling. don't believe me? i will build her a shrine. i'll fly to london and freakin' stalk her. heck, i'd have her babies if i could! she is amazing. never in a MILLION YEARS would i have thought that voldemort would FREAKIN' KILL SNAPE to win over the rightful ownership of the wand! i'd completely forgotten about that, anyway! i was completely blindsided by it-- i thought he'd ask snape to give it to him or something, but not sic the snake on him! holy shit, i seriously underestimated the guy, he's worse than i ever thought! and ooohhh, he was so bleedin' ARROGANT about it, too! "no, i have performed my usual magic. i am extraordinary, but this wand..." ooohhhh, slimy bastard! it made me want to bite his nose off, if he had one, and then spit it out over the stupid snake. at one point i thought he was saying all that to uncover snape as a traitor-- but he just killed him, just like that! and crap, we didn't even get to find out the truth behind his actions, though i'm sure we will later. because he's obviously not completely for voldemort's side, if he gave harry... something... whatever it was that he got. i've heard that "silvery substance" before. a memory, perhaps? but through the neck? that's a feat. and HOW does hermione KNOW to carry flask around with her in the middle of the GREATEST freakin' BATTLE of the DECADE?! yes, i know that's the most ridiculous question i could come up with, but i'm still a bit in shock here.

• uh, i just saw the chapter image for the next chapter. we're DEFINITELY getting the whole story soon...

chapter 33

okay, if chapter 32 was the "OMG" chapter, this one was definitely the "I KNEW IT!" chapter. for all the excitement the last time 'round, i read this one through, eerily calm and collected. no screams, no squees-- well, almost. at some points i couldn't stop myself ^^;;;
 

• oh, lupin and tonks... i seriously did not expect her to kill remus, i didn't believe she would, he was the last marauder... it hasn't quite sunk in yet, much like fred's death hadn't. oh, my best friend is going to cry her heart out until next week, she loved remus =( poor teddy, he's an orphan now. hopefully his godfather will survive to take care of him...

• so, we all knew snape was in love with lily, right? *hears chorus of aye's all around* and we all knew he wasn't evil, right? that dumbledore had ASKED him to kill him? *more aye's* and we all at least had a very strong suspicion that harry would end up being a horcrux, right? *more aye's* and we all knew that petunia was insanely jealous of her sister being special, thus the reason she scorned her, right? *more aye's still* none of that was terribly surprising.

• seriously speaking, though, all this coming from dumbledore doesn't make me feel very sure. since he was purposedly withholding information for harry for his own purposes, as i'd though since a couple books ago, his fallibility seems more obvious than ever, in my eyes. he doesn't have some sort of soul x-ray vision-- for all we know, all this thing about harry being an accidental horcrux might just be conjecture on his part. though it would explain why voldemort can't kill him. and harry can't kill voldemort, as well. so that leaves only two ways for voldemort (or both of them) to die: the hallows (turning out to be super-powerful when combined), or the muggle way. physical wounds, poking holes into each other with pointy objects and such. i want her to go muggle-- it would be the ultimate irony for voldemort to die that way-- but i don't really believe she will. i wonder where the sword is, BTW?

• one thing i didn't expect: sevvie knowing lily since before hogwarts, much less them being best friends. but it wasn't too much of a stretch, either. i also didn't expect the doe to be snape's patronus-- looking back i feel quite dumb (then again, that's normal come the end of a harry potter book), i should have put two and two together, really. but no, she always gets the best of me. i think that's why i love these books so much ^___^

• things i really wanted to see: lily and james actually getting together. oh, couldn't snape have snuck up on them when they snogged for the first time or something? crush his heart a little bit more in the process? i'm itching here! and second, why the heck was wormtail sorted into gryffindor?! i'm sure there was not an ounce of bravery in that dirty little rat, how could he be sorted into the house 'where dwell the brave at heart'? speak to me, sorting hat: were you on crack that day? seriously.

• sadly enough, i still think dumbledore cared about harry. i think he did, it's just that the motto "FOR THE GREATER GOOD" hung over his head for the rest of his life after what happened to his sister-- and i think he really believed that, in a true machiavellian fashion. i don't think his affection was a ruse, but i think his goal was always at the forefront of his mind, no matter what he felt.

• now harry's going to go off to be "noble"-- of course. pardon my plagiarizing ginny's words.

chapter 34

well, there you go. i was a little disappointed that his last thoughts ("inexplicably"-- what a strange adjective to add there, really) were of ginny, as you can imagine-- but bah. i was mentally prepared for this. no tears in my horizon. NEXT!
 
 

chapter 35
 

• aaahhh, so harry lives. sneaky mrs. jo, you wigged out on us! *waves a finger at her* should've killed him, the ending of chapter 34 was a very good ending as far as i'm concerned. but then again i'm glad you didn't kill him, because do i love harry, after all ^_^

• "was he in some great room of requirement?" --> lol, in the category of synonyms for heaven, that might just win the prize, you know...

• so there we have it: dumbledore wasn't evil, he was just heavily messed up. and he did care, like i said previous. i still can't bring myself to like him as much as i did in the first four books, though, even if his mistakes do make him a terribly human character, a characteristic that i otherwise feel brings me closer to other characters such as ron, or draco. i think by now my resentment of dumbledore is simply instinctual-- i can't really explain it. perhaps it is the fact that i knew from the beginning that he was being dishonest... and that's something i just can't forgive. knowledge is important, and the fact that he chose to keep harry from it bothered me to no end. ron is honest overall, and everybody knows draco for the nasty piece of work he is, so why be dishonest at all? but that's where dumbledore differed. maybe that's why. i really don't know, and i shouldn't analyze this to the ground.

• i seriously did not understand how voldemort taking some of harry's blood-- and lily's charm with it-- suddenly worked out so well. i thought the charm only held until harry turned 17? or no, wait, that was the charm dumbledore placed on the dursley's home, wasn't it? it's all messed up in my head now. someone be hermione to my ron here, i'm confused @_@ her explanation wasn't terribly clear. too many three-dollar words thrown around... *sigh*

• HAGRID'S ALIVE! I KNEW IT! *dances* ^________________^

• dumbledore didn't kill grindelwald? ...gosh, did i skip a chapter? when did they say that? #_#

chapter 36

ah, we're back to the action. me likes.
 

• gosh! turns out, the malfoys really DID love their son. blimey! i seriously didn't think they would, or at least not lucius. talk about unexpected...

• "i'll join you when hell freezes over." --> OMG NEVILLE UREAWESOMESOMUCHLOVEKTHNX!! ♥ i seriously say, he's gained a fangirl in me today. not quite as obsessive as i am about ron, but he's definitely gone up a few places on my list. and then he pulled the sword from the hat because, i have to say this again, "only a true gryffindor could have pulled that out of the hat..." WALK FORWARD AND WALK BRAVE, SONS OF GODRIC! *waves red-and-gold flag around some more* oh, i love these boys. who would've thought neville would be the perfect rebellion leader? and the way he slashed the serpent, it was perfectly biblical. completely awesome. i tell you, the night before that battle was the last night that kid spent as a virgin. he SO did get laid with like four girls after THAT stunt. *nods*

• wait... didn't griphook have the sword? ooohhhh, he'll be pissed... HAH! *blows raspberry @ griphook*

• molly weasley rules, annoying overprotectiveness and all. just reading the word "bitch" come out of her mouth made me feel SO pumped up xD

• *takes a deep breath* okay, let me see if i understood this right: draco took the elder wand from dumbledore before he was killed, he disarmed him. the wand chose him as its rightful owner from that moment on. when snape killed dumbledore, it wasn't considered a defeat at all, because it was planned, and the wand remained draco's, even as voldemort, in all his normal arrogance and stupidity, stole it from the grave. meanwhile, harry was disarming draco at malfoy manor and gaining ownership of it, even if it was in voldemort's hand now. okay, i got that at last, though i had to go back and re-read that chapter in HBP. so voldemort could not kill him with the elder wand because it wasn't his to use and would not kill its rightful owner? so harry would be able to defeat it even with draco's wand and a disarming spell, because the elder wand was his by the wand's choice? geez, this part is tricky! @_@ and it belonged... where? in dumbledore's grave?

• it was kind of weird, having harry speak so much before coming to blows with voldemort. voldie's usually the one that rattles on and on, harry just wants it to be the hell over. i guess i can see why it was different in this case-- it's a bit of that "bad guys always reveal their plan before they kill the good guy" syndrome, only backwards. it was more for the benefit of the audience, both us and the one that was watching the duel right there, at hogwarts. it felt weird to me because i was reading it out loud (british accent and all, lol), but i can see why it was necessary to have them prattling about wands and such. the nerd in me liked it, though.

• i loved that harry never did use the killing curse. bloody fantastic ^.^

• "...and the first to reach him were ron and hermione, and it was their arms that were wrapped around him, their incomprehensible shouts that deafened him." --> *melts* that's about the part that really made me want to cry. same as this one: "...and finally, he saw the two whose company he craved most." --> thank you for that, mrs. jo. you're hereby forgiven for that whole "harry's last thought before he died" bit. i knew you wouldn't let me down that way, not when it really came down to it.

• did i catch oliver wood in there somewhere? o.o

• i've been waiting long to hear voldemort called "voldy" xD thankies, peeves. though i spell it with an "ie" instead of a "y", but to me the effect is the same. lol ^^;;;

• the epilogue beckons. "nineteen years later"! ooohhh, sounds ominous...

epilogue

okay, we all knew that harry would name his kids james and lily, right? *yet again, the chorus of aye's*

that was good. felt a bit fanfiction-like, but ron made it all up to me xD the kids are the cutest thing ever-- i rather liked james the best. but then again, i always rather liked james potter the first, and little james reminds me a lot of him. i'm glad that harry gets a family, the one he's always wanted, at last. even if it IS with ginny. *shudders, then shrugs* i almost gagged at albus' middle name, though. i don't think i can get over my resentment of snape, no matter what happened in the end. so who was teddy lupin supposed to have lived with? should i assume harry and his family until he was of age? and i am insanely curious as to who the hell married draco. pansy parkinson, perhaps, if the bitch wasn't trampled over by a giant while she was leaving hogwarts? and gosh, scorpius? poor kid. must every malfoy heir have a horrid latin name? other than that, it was a perfectly fine ending.
 
 

personal conclusions
 

• notice how nobody from the trio actually died? expectation's a bitch xD *hugglez ronnie*

• i really liked the idea of the hallows, i think even more than the horcruxes. there was something about it having nothing to do with voldemort, or the founders, really appealed to me. after HBP, the whole horcruxes thing left me a bit... overwhelmed, dizzy i guess, but the same did not happen with the hallows; in fact, i feel almost vindicated at the moment. it's the trio lover in me, that liked the three hallows of death so much, i guess. the fact that it was all cleverly taken from a fairy tale made it a bit more attainable in my eyes, though i'm sure she meant to produce the opposite reaction, but i've always stuck to the idea of a fairy tale being more based on reality than some made-up rumor. not to mention that the fairytale itself was really clever, what with death and the brothers, and the way they thought and the way they believed they would escape the fate of every human. it was good because that's what voldie was looking for, more than harry, more than anything-- immortality. and he would never gain it because he was blindsided by his own greed, like the first two brothers. great morale to the story, i think. really complex, though. no wonder she's been thinking about this thing for more than ten years...

• i can definitely say this has become my new favorite book out of the whole series, though i do still like PoA just as much, they could perfectly be tied in first place ^_^ i just feel like i had a bit of everything without being overwhelming. the first few chapters were a bit less interesting, and they dragged on a bit, but really, that's how it always went. then, from chapter... oh, thirteen or so, and on, everything snowballed. as soon as the idea of the hallows appeared, everything happened really fast, for me. that has a good and a bad side. bad, the fact that i had to go back and re-read so often because in my haste to know what happened, i often missed important details. the good side, was, of course, that i couldn't stop reading ^^;;;

• how cool was it that draco, inadvertedly, had a big part in the whole saving-the-wizarding-world thing? unbelievable. i knew he wouldn't actively fight with the death eaters, but i didn't think he'd be so instrumental in the defeat of voldemort. it was cool. it is also cool that ron still upholds the weasley/malfoy rivalry even after nineteen years xD if they'd become buddies, i would have FUH-REAKED.

• RONALD, my dear long-lost twin brother, you truly shined. you are FANTASTIC, and this book simply cemented my belief that you're the best character ever. you'll always be my favorite, there's no doubt about that. i love you, big bro ^-^ thanks for being who i always knew you were: a hero, in your own right.

• my next layout for GAW will be one of the trio. and that's not just any phrase, it's a promise. i love those three to bits and pieces.

• RIP hedwig, mad-eye, dobby, fred, remus and tonks. and sirius, though you died a long time ago. you shall all be missed so much, i can't believe they're gone... snape, you rest, but i won't miss you. wormtail, you can burn in hell for all i care. and i hope voldemort meets up with you there and tortures you for all eternity, you scum-faced little vermin.

• moments where i cried (real, honest-to-god, bawling-my-eyes-out tears): i think i only did when ron came back and destroyed the horcrux. those were tears of happiness, though. my eyes watered when ron left the trio, when hedwig died, and when fred died, with luna's painting of the DA in her room, with lily's letter, and when harry and hermione were at godric's hollow visiting the graves...

• moments where i cheered the loudest: refer to aforementioned horcrux-destroying moment. the r/hr kiss. when neville slashed nagini.

• moments where i almost choked on my own tongue: nagini leaping out of bathilda. snape getting killed. harry saying the rightful owner of the wand was draco.

• favorite moments overall: the destruction of the locket, everytime ron did something amazing (and there was a lot of that! ^.^). every single trio moment there was. when harry and hermione visited harry's parents' graves at godric's hollow. the r/hr kiss.

• favorite chapter: oh, this one's a toughie... 19. then 15, then 16. actually, that whole block from chapter 13 to chapter 23 was my favorite part of the book, because it was all about ron and the trio ^^ i also liked chapters 30-32 a lot, for the shock factor.

• regarding shipping: well, obviously i'm a little sad that my main ship didn't come to fruition. actually, most of my ships didn't happen in canon, except perhaps remus/tonks... and y'all saw how THAT ended. but still, harry & herm had many lovely moments there (i'll never forget that she was there for him at godric's hollow... that was huge...! ^.^) and their bond, that deep friendship and mutual understanding that is what made me like them so much in the first place, and which was all but gone in HBP-- i definitely saw that here. and anyway, for me, ron by himself, and the trio, always came before any ship and i think she gave me that, and then some. i have no complaints. and in the end it was, more than anything else, pure r/hr, which i quite like as well, as you probably saw (i can hardly contain my grin when i think about it ^^). that kind of reduced the... shuddering, if you know what i mean... to a minimum. lol. *vbg* all in all i can't whine about anything, i liked the ending as it is. and, of course, there's always fanfiction ;)

• and as a last point... oh god. it's really over. the last page has been written and published, and can't be taken back. it's almost unbelievable, it feels a bit surreal. harry potter's been part of me for more than seven years now, and it feels like that last page is a page of my life, and it's passed now. we're moving onto other new things. to be truthful it hasn't quite sunk in yet... i'm sure it won't, not competely, until the movies and such are finished, but it's a bittersweet moment nonetheless. i'm feeling rather melancholy now-- and i think we're all entitled to mourn a little, for something precious to us has ended. yet harry and his adventures will always be a part of me, and of all of you, i'm sure; it'll always be there to look back at, with a smile. so thank you, mrs. jo, for giving us the best you had, and for making us laugh, and cry, and bite our nails and our eyes shine with excitement over the last ten years. thank you for allowing us to grow up with harry and learn from him as he did from hogwarts, and from life. thank you for making us all believe in magic again, it's been a hell of a ride. thank you.