I did think giving Draco a receding hairline at thirty-six was a little spiteful.

Heh. But I have friends (shit, *I'm* 36, and I haven't learned one single spell!) that age who already have receding hairlines. Not, like, slightly, but rapidly fleeing.

Just finished. Am spent. I cried when all the dead were laid in the Great Hall, and the Weasleys were around Fred, and then Harry noticed Lupin and Tonks. But then I pulled myself together, but then Harry left, and asked Neville to kill Nagini if no one else was able to, and I started up again, and then when Harry used the Resurrection Stone, I pretty much sobbed until not!dead naked Harry woke up in...well, in his own brain, I suppose.

And I got teary again at the very end, just because....it's over.

More to say later.

Jilli - it's "One Big Happy Weasley Family", it basically means an ending with Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione.

Huh. Go fandom and its acronyms for everything, then! I'm okay with the notion of OBHWF, because it satisfies my not-so-secret addictions to happy endings.

I was thinking about Snape's death, and it dawned on me that his asking Harry to look at him as he died was so he could see Lily's eyes one last time. Oh Sev, you poor poor thing.

it dawned on me that his asking Harry to look at him as he died was so he could see Lily's eyes one last time.

I just replied to your comment about this in Fay's LJ -- that didn't even occur to me when I read it, but OF COURSE.

And the thing is, Snape felt all betrayed when he found out that he was helping keep Harry safe *seemingly* to be sacrificed, and then Harry got to pull an Aslan and come back, and Snape never even knew that Lily's son made it after all.

Poor Snape.

But I have friends (shit, *I'm* 36, and I haven't learned one single spell!) that age who already have receding hairlines.

Oh, me too. But, you know, Ron didn't have a receding hairline, Ginny didn't have extra baby weight left over. Or maybe they did, but Rowling didn't find it worth mentioning. I'm not really upset about it, just thought it was a bit mean. Funny, but mean.

Poor Snape.

See? This is what I'm saying! He doesn't even get to know they won, or anything! Dammit.

Well, presumably in whatever afterlife we get to see Dumbledore et al in, Snape gets to find out that it did all work out OK.

I liked the observation that Draco had a receding hairline. The story is still being told from Harry's point of view, and that's exactly the kind of detail Harry would notice and feel smug about. There are aspects of being in high school that you never quite recover from.

Instead of it all feeling predictable, it was more like everything snapping into place. I guess she really set it all up properly, so they were payoffs instead of obviousness.

This.

Yes, it dragged in parts, but honestly? How much can I complain about dragging when I couldn't stop reading? Loved it.

And very much this.

I've been feeling crappy since Friday and didn't manage to get my copy until yesterday afternoon, but I sped through it. I cried at a number of points, especially during Harry's walk to the woods. It reminded me very much of how I felt about Frodo when I finished LotR.

And I think it says a lot about Rowling's talent that she could take a character I loathed (Dobby) and make me sad about his death.

I haven't gotten much sleep for awhile. I traveled out of town, had to hunt down the book at Borders at midnight and I couldn't go to sleep until I read at least the first chapter. I share a lot of reactions with many of you:

The whole first 300 pages was just meh. And then the last half rocked.

But honestly, it could have been 200 pages shorter. The whole first 300 pages was just meh. And then the last half rocked.

I completely agree with this. But then too, I felt a really serious send of doom that I didn't really have in the latter half of the book. I don't know some of their searching process couldn't have been cut back some.

I surprised myself by sobbing when Ron but the socks on Dobby. I had a few moments when I almost believed Harry would die. What kept me from really believing it was that she wouldn't leave Tonks' and Remus' child without a godfather.

I can't believe I felt so for Dobby - of all people. That was a surprise for sure. The socks part turned me out. I also thought it removed some of the tension in the story to have Harry be the godparent. I also *knew* Hermione and Ron were going to make it after that passionate kiss. Ain't no way Rowling was going to kill either one off as a result.

Ultimately, I kind of liked that the adults Harry was in awe of (or afraid of) were just weak individuals whose obsessions/passions brought them down. Snape ended up being so pitiful in the end (not unexpectedly) and Dumbledore was wise, but also flawed. It all seems pretty appropriate to me.

OH!

While I wasn't surprised that Snape loved Lily, I was surprised that Lily was genuinely fond of Child!Snape and that they were very close. I thought that during the failed Occulemency lessons when Harry saw the memory of his dad picking on Snape that Lily was angry because she was a Defender of the Abused. But in reality, I like that she was actually fond of Snape based on a friendship and not just based on pity.

I knew that there would be a redemption of Snape, but I didn't think it would extend to Harry naming his middle child after him (at least his middle name).