Over at Sword of Gryffindor, they are talking about a list of prediction topics. I decided to weigh in here and then go over there and post the link to this post. That way I can save my post and come back if I find I just can't finish the typing in one sitting.
So here's the list:
- Snape’s Allegiance: I think Travis had the right idea about this one. Snape is, for some reason we will learn in book 7, loyal to Dumbledore. Whether that means he's also willing to help Harry remains to be seen. He's definitely a very bad man, though, as evidenced by the way he treats his students. This is way up at the top of my list of questions I must have answered, all of Snape's backstory.
- Petunia’s Secret: I think she was friendly with Snape. Well, maybe not friendly, but they knew each other, had some sort of relationship. I think Snape is "that awful boy" she mentioned in the scene at the beginning of OoP, the one she heard telling Lily about the Dementors (though, the "her" he told may not have been Lily . . .). I once wrote a fan fiction where Petunia developed magical powers and didn't want them and she used an owl (one that turned up bringing a letter to Lily) to send off a request for help getting rid of the powers and the owl happened to go to Snape (in my story, Petunia wasn't really sure who would receive it, someone at Hogwarts). And Snape, with his hatred of Muggles, was only too willing to help a Muggle-born suppress her magical ability. I'm sure that's not how Jo will write it, but I wouldn't be surprised if Petunia knows more about the magical world than we suspect. And I also think she has something still to tell and/or give Harry, something she's saved since he was a baby, either something Dumbledore left with him or something from Lily (or both).
- Will Harry Pass Through the Veil? I've thought a lot about this. I don't think we'll see behind the veil, as I said in my post about the 5 questions they're asking on Pottercast. I think Harry may appear to die, or actually die and be brought back by a healer, and I wouldn't be surprised if the Veil has a part in the 7th book, but I just think it would be too strange to actually see what's back there. It's meant to be left a mystery, I think. Here's a fan fiction story I wrote involving the Veil. I apologize, it was written awhile ago and Fiction Alley has since upgraded something in their software that turned all of my quotation marks and apostrophes into question marks. It hasn't been high on my list of priorities to resubmit my fics. It's still readable if you understand what the problem is.
- Will Harry die? No. I totally agree with what Travis said, that Jo has let it slip enough times that she'll never say she'll never write another Harry Potter book. The interview recently on BBC was particularly telling, I thought (though read my post about the objectionable content before you go watch it). And the Pottercasters have been saying for awhile that many years ago, before every word she ever spoke in public was permanently indexed on the internet and she didn't know how careful she had to be, Jo made an appearance at a bookstore in Chicago where someone asked her if the trio would live and she said yes.
- What are the 6 horcruxes? I won't begin to guess. I'll definitely be wrong.
- How is a horcrux destroyed? I can't remember where I heard this theory, so I apologize to whoever first came up with it, but it makes sense to me so I'm repeating it. Harry de-Horcruxed the diary using the venom of the Basilisk, which is deadly. So maybe you have to do something that would be deadly to a human (or wizard) to get the soul part out of the Horcrux. I agree with Travis, though, that Voldemort's Horcruxes are protected by other magic and that might be more challenging than the de-Horcruxing part. And finding them might not be so easy, either, even if he knows what they actually are.
- How did Harry get his scar (or what is its nature)? I once did a search through all of the books for the word scar. It's repeated a surprising number of times that Harry is famous for his scar. I've long thought that the last line of book 7 will be that Harry famous for something else now (like ridding the world of the Dark Lord, or some new mark (disability? disfigurement? surely not another scar!) that he acquires as a result of either the Horcrux hunt or his final duel with Voldemort) and no longer famous for his scar, or something along those lines. But as to how he got the scar -- the scar is central to the book, there's more to be learned about how he got it, but I can't possibly try and guess something this central to the plot of the whole septology. I'd almost certainly be wrong.
- Which characters will die? :::::sigh::::: I heard someone (Rupert?) blurt out something they'd heard on the internet on some TV talk show last week. Fortunately, I was half awake at the time and I found later that, not only could I not remember who said it, but I can't remember what they said! I'm trying very hard to keep from hearing or reading spoilers. This morning I was watching Fox and Friends and one of the hosts started to say something about an internet rumor. It sounded like he was going to blurt out what the rumor was, so I simultaneously grabbed the remote to hit "mute" and shouted "NO! NO" at the top of my lungs. My kids, who weren't in the room, thought I was loony. I don't want anyone to die. I do see how people can think it might be Hagrid. And I've wondered if Jo had Harry get together with Ginny in book 6 because she's going to die in Book 7 and otherwise they'd never have had the chance, but I really hope that's not what happens. I wonder if it will be either Seamus or Dean or Lavender or Pavarti -- or Neville, but I hope it's not Neville. Or Susan Bones or Ernie Macmillan (I know I've spelled that wrong, sorry). Or maybe Flitwick or Sprout. People I wouldn't mind seeing die: Filch, Malfoy (anyone with that surname qualifies), Crabbe, Goyle. I was going to type Snape but I guess I'd miss him if he died, though I wouldn't be surprised at it.
- Who else was at Godric’s Hollow? Peter Pettigrew is too obvious. He may have been there, but someone else more surprising will have been there as well. Snape is a good candidate. I think the key is, how did Dumbledore know so much, when he talked to McGonagall at Number 4 Privet Drive less than 24 hours later? But if Dumbledore was there, why didn't he stop the Potters from being killed? I'm not sure I agree with the time travel theory (they're talking about it on Pottercast, the idea that Harry gets some method of magical time travel more efficient than a time turner and goes back in time himself, but that he can't stop his parents' murder because then he wouldn't have the chance to defeat Voldemort and save the Wizarding world. That he goes and tells Dumbledore what happens, thus allowing Dumbledore to know that Harry will live at least as long as till the point where he went back in time, and he gives Dumbledore the invisibility cloak.) The main problem with that is that Dumbledore specifically said Harry's father left it in Dumbledore's possession. Though the line, "It's time it was returned to you." (emphasis mine) is interesting. This is another key scene, but I haven't come up with a good theory as to who was there and what they were doing.
- Who is Gryffindor’s heir? I don't think this is going to matter. This whole heir thing annoys me. Okay, yes, maybe there can be only one heir (being an heir is more a matter of legality than genealogy anyway) but there will almost always be lots of descendants. For example, there were just over 100 passengers on the Mayflower, and half of them died in the winter of 1620-21. Yet, there are a huge number of people who can trace their genealogy directly back to one or more of them, including myself. The reason for this is that a couple has a number of children. Let's just say 2, though my Pilgrim ancestors had a good many more than that. So those two children grow up and they each get married and have two kids each. Now you've got 4. They each get married and have 2 kids, now you've got 8. They each get married and have 2 kids and you've got 16. Each generation increases. So unless the Founders each themselves didn't have kids (which stops the whole thing right there and leaves no descendants, which can't be true of Slytherin at least since there is an heir of Slytherin currently still around) -- well, it's just strange to think that the family could continue for over 1000 years and then just be left with one descendant. One heir, yes, but not one descendant. Jo hasn't studied genealogy or she wouldn't have written it like that.
- Did Snape love Lily? I think this whole story line smacks of fan fiction to me and I hope that Jo doesn't even bring it up.
- Did Lily love Snape? See my answer to number 11 above.
- What is Snape’s Patronus? I think the bat idea is the best bet. She repeats this too many times for there not to be a reason. Now, the reason may just be a red herring, trying to make us think Snape's a vampire, but it's not there by accident. Lacking a better idea, that's my guess.
- How will Wormtail fulfill his life debt to Harry? I think he's going to realize, as he sits stewing at Spinner's End and is once again the outcast and the not-very-popular one in the bunch, that he made a mistake and feel guilty about it. Maybe we'll learn why he was put in Gryffindor in the first place, since so far we haven't seen any evidence that he belongs there.
- Why does Snape have a “soft spot” for Draco and Narcissa? Or does he? I tend to lean toward the explanation that acting like he was their friend furthered his deception that he is remaining loyal to Voldemort, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.
- Will Fenrir Greyback die, and who will kill him? I don't really care as long as he's good and dead as soon as possible.
- How will Voldemort die? I've talked about this before. I think Harry will kill him but not with the AK. I'd love to see a scene where love genuinely kills Voldemort, but I can't quite come up with one.
- Why did Snape AK Dumbledore? I think Dumbledore knew more about that green potion than he let on, and I think the potion would have killed him. "There are some poisons without antidotes," Hermione tells us early on in HBP. I think Dumbledore had pre-arranged with Snape that he would kill him when the time came. Though how Dumbledore would know ahead of time he'd have to drink the green potion or now he comunicated to Snape that it was time, I don't have a clue.
- Will anyone who “died” return? No
- What is the meaning of “Deathly Hallows”? I like Secret Treasure of Death. Sort of a relic of a person who lived in the past. In this case, I think they're the Horcruxes.
- Which minor characters will become major in Book 7? No
- What will happen with the house-elves? They will fight on the side of Harry and be helpful in the battle.
- Other: What other issues need answering, and what are your predictions? I have a list of these. I'm hoping to have time to post this on Friday afternoon, before I set off for the bookstore. So check back then. I have a bunch of things, most of them probably won't be answered, they're stuff I've been wondering about since back in Prisoner of Azkaban. And I just found a new one while re-reading HBP.
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