was there an explanation for the Centaurs' change of heart?

I believe it was Hagrid shaming them into action as he carried away Harry's body. But that is my own interpretation. I don't think anything was explicitly stated.

And I got confused...Aragog's children fought on which side?

Voldemort's. The Death Eaters wrangled them into the fight.

I love Neville. He as been my fav. character for a long time now and I am so glad he got to have his Big Damn Hero moment. I agree with others who said they want some stories about Neville the Resistance Leader.

When Harry realized that he had to die, and was wondering if it would hurt, how many people immediately thought, "Prophecy Girl!"?

I can't help seeing all the Buffy parallels, man.

I can't help seeing all the Buffy parallels, man.

Me, either!! When the school all rallied to fight, it was Graduation Day all over.

My DH, who has now also finished, mentioned that he thought Viktor Krum would appear later in the book and he was sort of disappointed that he didn't.

When Harry is in "King's Cross" talking with Dumbledore, I took the mis-shapen baby thing to be the piece of Voldemort that got stuck on Harry. My DH took it to be (what's left of) Voldemort after some of the Horcruxes have been destroyed. I think I'm right because of the fact that everyone gets to make his or her own choice -- Harry chooses to go back, but he can't choose for Voldemort so that thing has to just be a piece of Voldemort. Maybe.

Sparky, I agree. I thought it was the physical manifestation of the bit of soul that made Harry the horcrux.

I can't help seeing all the Buffy parallels, man.

Totally, and what ChiKat said about Graduation Day, and I totally thought of the Series finale when Harry was encouraging Ron to have his moment and smash the locket. But it was when everyone was streaming into the room of requirement that I thought, "JK Rowling soooooooo watched Buffy."

I thought it was the physical manifestation of the bit of soul that made Harry the horcrux.

That's what I assumed too.

I agree with what everyone else is saying, basically--it dragged a bit in the middle, was great fun at the end, was fabulously grey in parts, yay Neville, etc, etc.

Also agree that Fred would make a fabulous ghost, either at Hogwart's or the joke shop...

What everyone has said, especially including all the "Neville, BDH!" and "Fred, noez!" "Harry can't die now that baby Ted has no mummy and daddy!" and "'what a wonderful payoff' as opposed to 'obvious'" and the bit about the middle dragging a bit: I didn't mind the length of the "wandering lost", just the breadth of the repetitive squabbling about the same things. I just think something more interesting could have been done with that tension and feelings of futility, instead of simply "Ron is a git, triplefold with the locket".

I will mention that I was actually expecting rather a higher bodycount, which may be my adult inclinations foisting themselves upon what is still really a children's story. I did feel the "Oh crap, all bets are off" once Hedwig went down. But then JKR seemed to pull back and put the kid gloves back on. I really wanted to see our kids really come to face with the "kill or be killed" of it all, maybe some moral dilemnas involving "but they're under the Imperius curse, and aren't committing these acts of their own volition". Maybe just have someone they merely stunned or disarmed come to and a chapter later come back and kill a student.

Hmmm, what? Wrong book? Oh.

It's interesting reading all the reactions (both locally and afield).

Some folks think it's too fan-ficish.

Others (like on P-C's LJ) are trying to sort out the wandlore order of Elder Wand succession.

Most people dislike the epilogue. Which is a little weird since that kind of flash forward is usually very satisfactory (see: American Graffitti, World According to Garp).

Even though Ron is one of The Trio, his big moment seems kind of small compared to Neville's Big Moment. Plus Ron was, once again, a git.

Offing Remus and Tonks offscreen was kind of lame. People were more moved by Dobby's death.

Lots of resonance with: Buffy, Narnia, LotR. (Name your heroic mythic cycle.)

Teddy Lupin does kind of remind one of Teddy Ruxpin.

Teddy Lupin does kind of remind one of Teddy Ruxpin.

Thanks for that image!

Others (like on P-C's LJ) are trying to sort out the wandlore order of Elder Wand succession.

I just got back from watching HPatOotP (finally) and I was trying to remember if the wand battle b/w Dumbledore and Voldemort is the same in the book. If so, that sort of screws with the whole Deathstick theory.