Jennie's B(ook)log

Title: What Will Happen in Harry Potter 7?
Author: Schoen, Spartz, Gordon, Stull & Lawrence
Published: 2006, Ulysses Press
Category: Nonfiction

The Harry Potter fever is upon me. I'm one of those people who go wait in line on the night the books are released. I'm already planning my July around #7's release. (Yes, that's a little dorky but I don't care because I love Harry.) I can't wait!

I saw this book on jmc's blog and I made some comment about wanting to read it, so she sent me hers! Woot! Cuz I love some speculatin'. I read Mugglenet.com occasionally and am always impressed by the amount of info there, as well as the quality of the editorials. I think it's the biggest Harry Potter fansite and the people who run it certainly know more about Harry Potter than anyone else--both what has happened in all the books and every single word J.K. Rowling has ever said about them.

So what do they think happens? Here are the most important theories (and what I think about them):

***Obviously huge spoilers here for the first six books. If you haven't read them--what the hell are you waiting for??!! :)

Is Dumbledore really dead?
Mugglenet says: Long story short--he's dead. Rowling herself has said, "Definitely dead."

I say: Agree. It would be completely corny to go back on something like that. It hurts, but I've accepted it.

Luuuurve
Mugglenet says: Ron + Hemione. Harry + Ginny. This is fairly obvious from HBP and has been confirmed by Rowling.

I say: Woohoo! Yes! I love Ginny. Harry might have manfully put her aside at the end of HBP to keep her safe, but Ginny's not going to stand for that. I think she's going to play a huge part in helping Harry destroy Voldemort.

Who is R.A.B and what did he do with the missing locket?
Mugglenet says: It's Regulus Black (brother of Sirius). His name is the only one that fits, and Rowling wouldn't have dropped that hint if we didn't already know the character, however briefly. He was a known DeathEater, though we know little else about him. He had a ready sidekick in Kreacher, who would have been the perfect person to go with him to get the locket (we know from Voldemort and Harry's adventure that two people were needed). If the locket that Harry and the rest find when cleaning out Grimmauld Place (in OotP) really is the horcrux locket, Regulus being R.A.B. explains why it would be there.

I say: Agree. This makes perfect sense. Regulus is almost surely dead, but Kreacher is still around to provide some answers.

Voldemort's Horcruxes
Mugglenet: We know from the books that Voldemort planned on making six horcruxes so that his soul would be split into seven, the perfect magical number. Two are accounted for and already destroyed: Tom Riddle's diary and Slytherin's ring. Two others are certainly the locket stolen by R.A.B. and Hufflepuff's golden cup. Dumbledore thinks the 5th is Nagini, and who are we to argue with that? The 6th is probably an object belonging to Ravenclaw.

Mugglenet thinks that Harry Potter himself is a 7th horcrux. Voldemort meant to create another Horcrux the night he went to kill Harry. When the spell backfired and all that magic flew around, the spell Voldemort had prepared went off and he wasn't even aware of it. They argue that this is the reason that some of Voldemort's power was transferred to Harry--part of his soul now rests in Harry. It also explains why they are sometimes able to see what the other is thinking and why Voldemort seems to have ordered his henchmen not to kill Harry at the end of HBP.

I say: The "Harry is a horcrux" theory is a good one--one I hadn't thought of--but I'm not buying it. I could be wrong, but we've seen how Voldemort's evil is the opposite of Harry's goodness. I don't think that part of Voldemort could be in Harry without anyone (Harry himself or at least Dumbledore) realizing it.

Will Hogwarts close?
Mugglenet says: No, but Harry probably won't spend much time there in book 7.

I say: The school year has formed the structure each book, and the seven years of education has formed the structure of the entire series. I think Harry's going back to Hogwarts. He may have to travel around a lot to find Horcruxes and whatnot, but he'll still spend a lot of time there and finish his education. Otherwise, what's he going to do? Get the wizarding equivalent of the GED? No way.

Snape--good or bad?
Mugglenet says: He's good. They think he was carrying a torch for Lily Potter and his knowledge that he was the cause of her death (by telling Voldemort of the prophesy) was what made him turn over to the good side. Snape took an Unbreakable Vow to "carry out the deed [kill Dumbledore] that the Dark Lord has ordered Draco to perform." They think that Dumbledore and Snape had an agreement that he should kill him if it became necessary. He was old; he'd trained Harry as best he could and now it was up to the rest of them.

I say: Eh, I don't know! I was firmly in the "Snape is eeeee-vil" camp, but they make a good argument. Rowling has said that we find out more about Lily in book 7, and what else could it be? But on the other hand, HE KILLED DUMBLEDORE. People argue that he had to do it in order to not be found out as a spy, but I say what's the point of him still being a spy if he's just killed Dumbledore? Dumbledore was the only person who trusted Snape. Snape could come back to the Order of the Phoenix and give them step-by-step, easy instructions of how to destroy Voldemort and they wouldn't believe him. They'd probably kill him.

Which characters aren't going to make it out alive?
We know Rowling's not afraid to kill important characters. I was shocked when Dumbledore was killed. At first I thought, NO WAY! Then I cried. Rowling has said there will be deaths in 7---they are at war. She also said in an interview that in writing book 7, "One character got a reprieve, but I have to say two die that I didn't intend to die."
Mugglenet says: Characters most likely to get the ax--Voldemort (obviously), Bellatrix, Pettigrew, Draco, Molly and Arthur Weasley, Hagrid, Snape, and probably Lupin.

I say: Noooo, not Lupin! I love Lupin, and he's just found Tonks. He is doing a dangerous job and he leads a rather cursed existence anyway, but I really hope he makes it out alive. I also think that Draco will survive (see below). I wish all the Weasleys would survive, but that's probably too much to hope for. And I've never been a big fan of Hagrid, so I won't be upset if he dies. And as they say, his role in the books has been getting smaller with each one.

The Ultimate Showdown
Mugglenet says: Snape will sacrifice himself to help Harry kill Voldemort.

I say: I still think Snape is bad. (Maybe? AHH! I don't know.) I think that Draco will have a change of heart and end up helping Harry. (Mugglenet surmises that he will run back to the Death Eaters and be killed.) There was all that talk in GoF of the four houses working together--Harry may have to be the one to kill Voldemort, but I think there is going to be an upsurge of help from all the rest of the students to help him get to that point. Maybe I am being overly optimistic, but I hope that's the way it happens. People working together and being able to change and all that--a good message to end the series with.



Okay, this turned really long. Sorry. I can get a little carried away. Because I loves the Harry Potter soooo much. I'm going to start rereading the series now so that I finish HBP right before #7 comes out. In only 76 days!!