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[Mnementh]

Placeholder for discussion after we read the book.  I'll open it saturday around noon.

I finished the book about a half hour ago.  I couldn't make it the whole way through before falling asleep, hence the delay in opening this thread.  I seemed to have missed where Tonks and Lupin died  .   I paged back, but couldn't find it.

[HeyBickley]

Is Snape dead? *whimper*

[yelley]

i finished about an hour ago...

i was lucky enough to have someone post on my lj a list of serious spoilers, so i knew who was going to die.... which sucked, but honestly detracted little from the story since i found it so compelling. i was happy to see that my expectations - yes, dumbledore really is dead, yes, there really was reason to trust snape, yes, harry really does need to die in order for voldemort to be killed - were correct, for the most part. really not sure how i feel about harry's resurrection... in a way it seemed like a sort of cop-out to save the beloved title character. but we'll see how i feel about it after i've re-read the book and had more time to think about it. the whole deathly hallows plot line... i thought was brilliant and a complete surprise to me.

this is the second book to ever make me cry while i read it (the first was the ending of the grapes of wrath by steinbeck, for the curious). not just cry, but sob audibly when fred died and through most of the last 2 chapters.

i could have done without the epilogue though... yeah yeah harry and ginny, ron and hermione, we know. all those names and dialogue confused me a bit... not sure who was saying what for a while, but that might have just been because my eyes were so full of tears still that i couldn't see properly...

[Mnementh]

The epilogue wasn't necessary, but I don't feel that it detracted from the rest of the story.

I'm actually glad she went the Dallas-esque route with Harry, I feel like killing him off would have been rather cliched in many ways, and I don't think he was a tragic enough figure for it to have felt right.  As far as the rest of the story, I'm happy that most of my expectations were right.  Harry was the last Horcrux, Snape was Dumbledore's man the whole time.  I'm really the saddest about Tonks dying I think, though I was surprised about Madeye.

I think that, in retrospect, Draco's character was underdeveloped throughout the series.

This really amused me for some reason: When Ginny takes Harry off alone on his birthday and then Ron walks in.  I think it was artfully worded enough to go over the heads of the younger part of audience, but the more I think about it, it was a cliched yet horribly subversive allusion to sexin'.

[sandysmilinstrange]

I was right about Snape! HA! (Not that anybody on here was arguing with me, but I've defended him so much to my meat life friends that I go blue in the face)

I didn't mind the epilogue. What does the world have against happy bordering on sappy endings? After the last few books, I could have handled a hundred pages of nothing but good stuff happening.

Things I loved:

"NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"

Ron's moment with the locket.

Percy's return (even though he has been a total toolbox throughout the past two books, I actually ended up forgiving him as quickly as Mrs. Weasley)

Narcissa's exchange with Harry (Loved, loved LOVED that her son was most important to her, even though it could have cost her).

Kreacher's story/redemption.

I'll have more to say later, I'm sure, but right now I feel a little drained.

[yelley]

i've reread the last few chapters, and i agree with you dan. no way should she have killed off harry. especially since these are, i feel i forget sometimes, children's books. and draco had almost no part in this book... book 6 looked promising for his character, but really i think throughout the series there could have been more done with him. especially towards the end of this book after they save him twice...

i also really liked kreacher's redemption and ron's destruction of the horcrux.

some wtf moments for me.... hedwig's death (was this necessary?), madeye's death (i really thought he'd be there at the end), dobby's death (was this necessary?), both lupin and tonks dying unceremoniously (really i think bigger characters like this deserve something more than a brief mention that can easily be missed, and why both of them?), wormtail's magic hand killing him (serious wtf moment)

especially with hedwig and dobby... i don't understand the point of killing off these characters that could easily be brushed aside for the remainder of the story instead. hedwig stays at the burrow. dobby goes back to the hogwarts kitchen and fights with the elves in the last battle. why kill these minor characters with the cutesy fan following? it just seems cruel.

[Mnementh]

I don't think they're children's books anymore.  I think she was assuming that the audience was growing older along with the characters when she wrote them, hence the fact that they got so much darker and longer.  I think that unnecessary killing off of characters like Dobby and Wormtail and Moody was to create a sense that it really was a war and that plenty of people were dying on all sides.

As someone else on another forum said: "Rowling's a bloody-minded murdress, isn't she? I don't think I've seen a body count of main characters that long since Hamlet."

[yelley]

i know it's been something like 10 years since the first book came out, most of the people who read them then are nearing their 20s now, but that doesn't change the fact that a lot of the readers are still children. i saw plenty of sleepy looking 7 year olds with their parents waiting to get their copies at midnight. i knew that the book would be fraught with death, but i think she should have spared the deaths that would have more of an impact on children. does that make sense? i realize the need to make it seem like a real war with lots of death on both sides, but i think more little kids would be sad about the death of hedwig and dobby than the death of, purely for example, professor flitwick or sprout.

[ThePQ4]

I have never before cried while reading a Harry Potter book...but this one, I totally broke down like four times. I'll write down my feelings propperly after I've a bit time of mull it over...

[Ozymandias]

I didn't hate the epilogue at all.

I think ending at the headmaster's office would've been lame. It needs an epilogue to say "and they all lived happily after after" and it made me much happier to read it.

I loved it. Cover to cover. I didn't expect her to have the ability to close the book and not leave me wanting more while also not just being horribly disappointing.

She did. I'm monumentally impressed.

[Mnementh]

Indeed, she is wealthier than the Queen, and has been since 2003.  In fact, she was then the 122nd richest person in Britain.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2979033.stm

[KharBevNor]

I seemed to have missed where Tonks and Lupin died  .   I paged back, but couldn't find it.

yeah U did that. I was akll like WAIT TONKS AND LUPIN?! it is like one sentence. you do not even see them die 'on screen' as it were.

Of cours e hedwig had to die thjey couldn't have lugged the fucking owl around for thw whole book. Kill the cute characters i say!











I cried about dobby and during snapes memories

[Ozymandias]

Yeah, I wish Tonks and Lupin had gotten a bigger death scene.

And that Tonks had survived.

And, yeah. Snape's redemption made him an even more tragic figure than I was expecting. Poor dude loved Lily his whole damn life. Right up until his dying breath, everything he did he did because he loved her.

[Caiphana]

Questions I have:

Um, wasn't Harry Teddy's godfather? Kay, who raised Teddy?

Where was Crookshanks.. he was mentioned briefly near the whomping willow, but, uh, where was he the whole book?

I thought the sorting hat was destroyed... well, it was lit on fire, and Neville threw it off his head onto to the ground. I doubt anyone would have been bothered to put it out when, you know, Lordy Thingy was there and Harry was "dead". Why was Harry's son so worried about where it would place him, then? I assumed at first that it was because they had done away with the sorting the traditional way, and it was just random (like many have predicted in fan fics), but Harry tells him that the hat gives you a choice.

I have more little "....what about ____?" questions, but I'm being pestered to get off the computer.




Oh, but I like it. Thought it was great. I got a lot of things right, and that happified me. However, to me, it read like a fan fic. A GREAT fic, but a fic. It didn't sound like JKR basically the whole time.

[Ozymandias]

Andromeda Tonks probably raised Teddy.

Crookshanks was probably with Hermione's parents.

Maybe they made a new one.

[Caiphana]

That's possible.

I can't recall for certain, but I think he was at The Burrow.

....mkay. I thought the whole cool thing about the hat was that it was Gryffindor's hat, and the founders had all bewitched it together.

[ThePQ4]

Okay, now that I've had a bit of sleep...

Crookshanks was, I am fairly certain, left at the burrow. He was mentioned towards the beginning of the book, I think.  And as for the Sorting Hat: Just because something starts on fire, doesn't mean it's destroyed. The hat was ragged to begin with --or perhaps it is someone else's hat with a new sorting enchantment. We'll never know, I guess.

I liked the epilogue --the names of their children (well, Harry and Ginny's) were a little cliche, and I was left wondering who Victoire was? (My Mom and I thought Percy's daughter perhaps?), and it does kind of mean that it is really over. J.K. can finally rest, and she doesn't have to write anymore. She's closed it, and it's done with.

And, while I am not typically an emotional person --I will admit I cried several times while reading, with each death after Dobby's, particularly after Fred's, and then subsequently after you "see" that Remus and Tonks have died. Tears for Severus (though he's my favorite), didn't come until the end of The Prince's Story --which I think is my favorite part of the book. I didn't cry when Harry "died", obviously (I knew he'd live having seen a peek at the epilogue), and I liked Dumbledore's parting words, "Of course it's happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?" It made me laugh.

--And that's the other thing I loved about the book --inparticular of the Weasleys. They always could find the humor (case and point: George looses his hear, and can joke about it with Fred) and attempt to lighten the spirits of those around them, and Ron does the same thing, such as when he says, "If we die saving him, I'm going to kill you," to Harry when he attempts to save Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle in the Room of Requirement.

Anyway, I best stop while I'm ahead, or I could go on about it for hours and no one wants that, but let me add a big "I concur!" about Mrs. Weasley and her, "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" line. Classic.

[TrekkieTechie]

Victoire is Bill and Fleur's daughter.

The only time I came close to crying with this one was Dudley's farewell. Which was kind of disappointing, as four through six all had me break down. Dumbledore still gets me in OotP with his "I rather thought you had enough responsibility to be going on with" line... Though I am deeply impressed with JKR for pulling off the Concerned!Dudley.

[Eris]

It took me a few goes to read this one. I seemed kind of slow at the start, plus I kept getting interrupted. Dudley saying "He's not coming with us?" was so sweet, it really shows how naive he is. I went "oh no!" a few times throughout the story when people died, but didn't get emotional, which surprised me, as Fred was one of my favourite characters, dammit. I reckon CmonMiracle's ideas would have worked really well as the last book, and probably would have preferred reading them. I still enjoyed it but it was obvious that I've moved on and am nowhere near as interested in Harry Potter than I was for OotP.


The only thought I had about Albus Severus is that it is a stupid name. Really obvious (even without people's spoilers around here), which made me groan. I understand that the epilogue worked, (and was probably needed) but it still seemed clichéd to the degree that it made me wince. I could imagine how it would be in the movies, with the soppy music playing, which trivialised it. If I read it again I probably won't read that part again.

[Caiphana]

Oh, I noticed something as I was re-reading the book... when they're all at the Burrow just after Mad-Eye died.... there were thirteen of them. When thirteen dine together, the first to rise will be the first to die. Lupin left first (with Charlie) to recover Mad-Eye's body.

[E. Spaceman]

I think this was my favourite book off the series. Overall i enjoyed the darker mood and the flaring of emotions and tempers. I was not too surprised by the deaths and rather enjoyed the way they were presented; not every death is going to be dramatic, in reality most won't be. Specially in a situation like that (the good ol' fashioned "Final Showdown"), when people start dropping like flies the time devoted to each should be brief, i am quite impressed by Rowling's not turning the thing into a sob fest. The whole denouement felt a bit pointless and corny (which up until that point the book had avoided pretty well) to me, but i guess it makes sense for the kids. Of course, if i had it my way, Nagini would have been disposed earlier (maybe by Snape) and the book would have ended at the end of chapter 34, with maybe the following chapter as an epilogue (with some modifications of course)

[LeeZion]

So many great moments in the book and a few weak spots. I was disappointed in the epilogue for all the questions it didn't answer. For example, whatever happened to Umbridge? Now that Kingsley Shacklebolt is in charge of the Ministry, presumably she got chucked out unceremoniously. But we don't get to see it. She deserved her disgrace, and that would have been fun to read.

Also, what has Potter been doing for the past two decades? Presumably, he has chosen a quiet life, but doing what? Does he get fan mail? How many people call on him for assistance?

Have the elves been emancipated? Did Kreacher choose to stay with Harry or live at Hogwarts? What happened to Winky?

What did Malfoy choose to do with himself? What lessons did he learn?

I guess Rowling is saving all that for her next book.

On another note, this is my 500th post. Yay!

[Lines]

Ok. This book was awesome. I was completely shocked when she killed Hedwig, Mad Eye (well, that she did it so early), Fred, Dobby, and Tonks. Especially Fred, as he and George are my favorites. What bothered me more though was how little she said anything about George's reaction (unless I missed that). I'll probably re-read it though, because I probably missed some things due to being so excited about actually reading it.

Things I liked: The whole plot and adventure, with horcruxes vs. hallows. We finally found out about Kreacher and his transformation. The radio show. Narcissa lying about Harry's death for her son. Mrs. Weasley calling Bellatrix a bitch. (Hell yes.) Snape's memories. Aberforth. The whole tone of it - much darker and downright scary at moments. Dudley's change towards Harry.

Things I didn't like: Some of the deaths I felt were a little pointless, like Hedwig and Dobby. I didn't really get Lupin's behavior in this book. The epilogue didn't really help anything other than to show people got married and had kids and leaves it too open, considering she doesn't want to write any more books. The epilogue also doesn't tie up any loose ends, like what happens with the Dursley's, Hermione's parents, et cetera. Umbridge - I wanted to reach through my book and punch her she was so disgusting. (She was well written, but I hate her so much. Stealing Moody's eye, ew.)

[jeph]

It sure was a Harry Potter book!

Reading the whole thing in a day felt like the mental equivalent to eating six Big Macs in one sitting.

[Ally]

Okay, I'm about to get really cheesy here.

I really liked it. I've been reading these books since I was about 7, I think, so they hold a special place in my heart. And while I stood there completely unamused while lots of people were rocking out to the terrible music of Harry and the Potters on Friday night (they just don't do it for me), nostalgia and the sense of excitement really worked for me. And right now it feels good to remember my 11th birthday and like, actually waiting for the letter, and having my dad imitate Hagrid's voice for me when I was in second grade, and years and years of debates with my friends about which house we'd be in.

So Daniel, I disagree, it still felt like a kid's book to me. But I still feel like a kid (Jeph you are way old, don't deny it). Uncle Tom's Cabin is glaring at me from my dresser and junior year honors English fast approaches, and a satisfying end to this era was what I needed.

[Ally]

Wait, how did Neville get the sword?

EDIT: Oh, that makes sense.

[TrekkieTechie]

See, I don't think it read like the other books. Her style changed too much for it to feel like anything other than a well-written fanfic.

And I wondered about that too, Ally. Apparently the Sorting Hat can summon the sword from wherever it is at the moment -- I had always assumed it was stored somehow inside the Hat. The look on Griphook's face must have been priceless when it disappeared...

[axerton]

As you can probably get from the avatar I loved it.

Am I the only one who found house elves going postal with carving knives laugh out loud funny.

I found the dragon escape a little over the top, and I also found the "we're wandering around with one horcrux and no ideas" very very boggy.

As for the epilogue, I get the feeling that JK really likes the amount of fan fiction around so she had to leave a lot of stuff uncannoned so that it could continue. The only two things I disliked it for was that it didn't show Luna's future and there was nothing about how George was coping without his twin.

I was really worried that having planned an entire 7th book fanfiction and written  70, 000 words of it I would dislike the book if it didn't stick to my storyline. But it went pretty damn far from it (I placed horcruxes in the orphanage and in the tomb of a once great dark witch and put the locket into the department of mysteries, leading to a confrontation with Voldemort there and Harry's eventual success by luring him into the room of love and he dies like quirrle did)  But I still loved it.

As for tears, I only cried when dobby died and got a bit teary when Mrs Weasley went up against Bellatrix because that seemed to be when fred's death really hit me.

Oh, I noticed something as I was re-reading the book... when they're all at the Burrow just after Mad-Eye died.... there were thirteen of them. When thirteen dine together, the first to rise will be the first to die. Lupin left first (with Charlie) to recover Mad-Eye's body.

Unfortunately Fred died before Lupin.

[Elizzybeth]

I'm probably outnumbered, but I actually feel that J.K. Rowling's writing has improved over the course of the series (and, in particular, that her internal dialogues have become less clunky).

I was pleasantly frustrated by the last chapter.  Though the chick-flick-and-romance-novel-loving part of me was spinning in happy little circles, the rest of me was shouting, "What?!  'All was well'?!  She might as well have said, 'And they all lived happily ever after!'  At least I coud have chalked that down to irony..."

I didn't cry during any of the books.  Does that make me less of a woman?

[TheFuriousWombat]

I agree with that. The writing is definitely a lot better than it used to be. This is probably my favorite book in the series (perhaps second behind number three). I was pretty surprised by the darkness of this book. I know a lot of readers are older but a lot are also little kids and they aren't going to take well to the deaths of such lovable characters as Hedwig, Fred, Lupin, Tonks, and Dobby. Of course it's good that LeStrange and Pettigrew died but it's still very dark. When you have people getting ears blown off or tortured while their soon to be boyfriend screams in distress, you know you're not really reading a kids book anymore. On top of that the swearing, while obviously realistic, also surprised me. I liked it because it made the books feel more accurate but again, I can imagine a lot of parents bitching about it b/c of how it's "corrupting" their poor children. I really enjoyed the book. Sure the resurrection at the end was a bit of a cheap trick and kinda shows a lack of great writing ability and the epilogue was pretty cheesy but that didn't make much of a difference. This is probably the best and by far the darkest and most intense book in the series which, for me, was a very good thing. I'm just dreading going to work at camp this week because it's full of little kids.

[Ernest]

I am ridiculously unsatisfied with this book.  The rhythm that was present in the previous books was absent in this one.  They spend the first half of the book basically not doing anything, and when the story finally picks up, it's too late to adequately wrap up all the loose ends, so we come out with some stupid deaths and some really quick explanations.  I have to admit, though, the King's Cross chapter was quite good.  And the epilogue was not nearly as long as it should have been.

[TheFuriousWombat]

That's not unfounded actually. They did seem to repeat themselves a lot and the writing did the same. We didn't really need so much aimless wandering. A couple of scenes, maybe a chapter or two, of randomly getting no where and bickering would have sufficed. I think a good chunk of pages from this section could have been cut out and I wouldn't have really missed them.

[TrekkieTechie]

I'm a little bemused by everyone talking about how "this one isn't a kiddie book. The series began with a double murder, and someone's died in every book since GoF.

I'm also having a hard time understanding how people could enjoy JKR's new writing style. For me at least, that was half of the Potter series' charm.

Oh, I noticed something as I was re-reading the book... when they're all at the Burrow just after Mad-Eye died.... there were thirteen of them. When thirteen dine together, the first to rise will be the first to die. Lupin left first (with Charlie) to recover Mad-Eye's body.

Unfortunately Fred died before Lupin.

Except, since we never see Lupin die, we don't know that he died second. axerton, where are you hosting your fic?

[Ernest]

I think a good chunk of pages from this section could have been cut out and I wouldn't have really missed them.

Those pages should have been spent doing things that actually fucking mattered, like finding out what was up with the veil or something.

[LeeZion]

Harry Potter slashfics I'd like to see:

1) Voldemort/Bellatix.
2) Crouch/Winky.
3) Draco/Polyjuiced Goyle/Polyjuiced Crabbe.

All of which are theoretically possible based on what we know of the Potter universe. And if any of these made you say, "Ewww," these are no worse than some of the other Potter slashfics out there.

Just sayin'.

[Ally]

If this thread degenerates into a list of slashfics that people would like to see I will be one unhappy chica.

Although at the beginning, when Harry was reading the article about Rita Skeeter's book, and she was like "yeah I totes wrote a chapter about Harry/Dumbledore because that shit is hot" was anyone else like " wtf?"

[IronOxide]

Am I the only one who appreciated how Lupin and Tonks died in the book? I had to read the page twice to make sure that I read into what was being said correctly, but that affected me. It makes it more realistic in the way it was presented. If you're following Harry through the whole battle (and the entirety  of the books), then it makes sense that some people would die when he didn't see them. The brief way that they presented their death left me to think about their kid for a minute before I kept reading.

I also join the ranks of people who were sad as hell when Dobby died. That was some depressing shit.

[Mnementh]

If this thread degenerates into a list of slashfics that people would like to see I will be one unhappy chica.

Yes, please don't encourage it.

[0bsessions]

I was also pleased with Tonks and Lupin's impersonal deaths, and that's saying a lot considering that Lupin's one of my favorite characters (Fred too, god Rowling is a bastard). Harry can't be everywhere at once and the sting of coming back and seeing all these dead and thinking "I should've been there, maybe..." is so much worse than watching them die.

Am I the only one that was seriously saddened by Colin's death? He was, overall, a footnote to the series as a whole, but he was always one of the most innocent seeming characters. Well played, throughout.

In terms of the questioning of where Teddy Lupin ended up, I get the feeling it's obvious that he was raised by Harry (Likely with help from Andromeda Tonks and the Weasleys). Harry was Teddy's godfather and one must remember that he was born about midway through the year of the book, and would thus have been close to two full years out of Hogwarts by the timeframe of the epilogue.

One thing I'm wondering: Rowling said that a non-magic character would perform magic late in life. I never saw this occur. Did I miss this?

[Dimmukane]

I think she was implying through the flashbacks that Petunia had some magic...

[TheFuriousWombat]

Not that series is continuing with Harry as a main character, but Lupin and Tonks both died fighting against Voldermort and his forces. Harry's parents also died fighting against Voldemort. Both were infants at the time of their parents' demise. Anyone else seeing the potential for a spin off here? I'm not saying it's going to happen or even in the works in any shape but the parallels are interesting at least.

[0bsessions]

The statement was that someone would outright perform magic and I recall reading that she specifically stated it would not be Petunia. It'll take some work to track it down, as it was cited on Wikipedia, but all the prerelease speculation articles are gone now.

[TheFuriousWombat]

There really aren't many non-magical characters. Did Filch do anything in the battle at Hogwarts? I didn't see this happen but he is a squib. I can't really think of anyone else it might be...

[Caiphana]

Oh, I noticed something as I was re-reading the book... when they're all at the Burrow just after Mad-Eye died.... there were thirteen of them. When thirteen dine together, the first to rise will be the first to die. Lupin left first (with Charlie) to recover Mad-Eye's body.

Unfortunately Fred died before Lupin.

I'm not so sure about that. I don't have my book with me at the moment, but they were around the room of requirement, and Tonks asked if anyone's seen Remus. Someone said that the last they saw him, he was fighting Dolohov, and she runs off to find him. We see Dolohov later, so it follows that Dolohov killed Remus. I can't remember exactly where Fred died, but if it was after Tonks running off, looking for Remus, Remus died first. I'll check the book when I get home.

[StaedlerMars]

Neville made me really happy.

EDIT: I also really want to see the final showdown on a big screen. If that is well done, that is going to be the coolest thing ever.

[axerton]

Am I the only one that was seriously saddened by Colin's death? He was, overall, a footnote to the series as a whole, but he was always one of the most innocent seeming characters. Well played, throughout.

I was shocked to find him alive at all. I assumed he'd be in azkaban or dead because of the anti muggle born laws.

One thing I'm wondering: Rowling said that a non-magic character would perform magic late in life. I never saw this occur. Did I miss this?

All she said was that there would be a late bloomer and I think that was Neville really stepping up to take over the DA, then killing Nagini.
Speaking of Nagini I was hoping that she would become the new master of the Eldar wand because she had killed Snape thus forcing Voldemort to chose between his horcrux or the wand. 

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2690781/1/Harry_Potter_and_the_Tomb_of_Libitina There's the fic I referred to earlier if anyone's interested, it was aborted a few months ago with only 11 chapters written (up finding the first horcrux).

[Ernest]

I'm thinking about writing an epilogue and mailing it to Rowling. 

[TrekkieTechie]

That would be awesome.

[Caiphana]

Oh, I noticed something as I was re-reading the book... when they're all at the Burrow just after Mad-Eye died.... there were thirteen of them. When thirteen dine together, the first to rise will be the first to die. Lupin left first (with Charlie) to recover Mad-Eye's body.

Unfortunately Fred died before Lupin.

I'm not so sure about that. I don't have my book with me at the moment, but they were around the room of requirement, and Tonks asked if anyone's seen Remus. Someone said that the last they saw him, he was fighting Dolohov, and she runs off to find him. We see Dolohov later, so it follows that Dolohov killed Remus. I can't remember exactly where Fred died, but if it was after Tonks running off, looking for Remus, Remus died first. I'll check the book when I get home.

Checked the book. I remembered correctly. Page 626, American version, Tonks asks Aberforth if he'd seen Remus. Harry says, "They'll be alright," 'though he knew they were empty words.'

Page 636, Fred dies.

[Joseph]

As usual with Harry Potter, the story was fun, the writing was fairly dreadful.  I found it also crammed too full of useless things.  The wandering at the beginning lasted far too long; Rowling's writing it's strong enough to get her through periods where there isn't a ton of excitement.  The narrow escapes from Voldemort also happened way too often.  One or two would've been nice, but they just kept on happening, which was rather annoying.  I'm happy overall that she didn't kill Harry though, it just wouldn't have fit with how she set the books up to this point.  And I agree with Daniel, Draco needed a ton of development.

Oh, and the last half of the book was far too cluttered.  I think the length was about right, just used poorly.  I had fun reading it though.