See what trouble not using the serial comma can get you into?

Trouble? Or the hidden truth?

Okay, that's so much better than the parents, god and ayn rand quote.

Just finished and feeling drained. I totally skipped to the end of this thread so I haven't read other observations but I have to say that I was tense all the way through the book and am unbearably sad that none of the Marauders made it out alive and to a happy ending or that the Weaselys lost their Fred.

And wow -- folks are so smart to figure out the Harry is the last Horcrux thing.

And wow -- folks are so smart to figure out the Harry is the last Horcrux thing.

Really? I thought that was very common speculation.

Actually, I think just the scar is the Horcrux. Maybe I'm wrong about that. They are all intermingled with the blood and whatnot.

Harry and Voldermort both have Summers blood....

Harry and Voldermort both have Summers blood....

Really? Voldemort always struck me as more of an Autumn.

What? Are you saying that Harry is Dawn?

One thing I noticed - does Harry ever kill anybody? Do any of the Order of the Phoenix? (Besides Snape killing Dumbledore.) I don't remember from the previous books, but it seems like in this one the good guys used a lot of spells that petrified or controlled the bad guys, or knocked them out or whatever - did I miss any actually killing?

Gah. I'm still not in a state where I can put together coherent thoughts on this.

But, like everyone else said, poor Snape. Life just couldn't cut him a break, ever. But, on the other hand, he made stuff pretty complicated for himself, too. I found all the interaction between Sirius and Snape in Order of the Phoenix fascinating because, really, it was two men who, for various reasons, had never gotten beyond their school years. They were still driven by the relationships and grudges from then. Sirius antagonized Snape because he always had, and for the same reasons he antagonized Kreacher. Snape hated Sirius for his and James's humiliating him all through school, and for Lily choosing James over him. And this totally defined their relationship as adults. Sirius had been in Azkaban, Snape had been basically brooding for years, and neither of them got a chance, or allowed themselves a chance, to break out of that pattern.

Would things have gone differently if Snape had allowed himself to see Harry as Harry, rather than as an echo of James and a reminder of Lily's loss? The kids would have trusted him much more; the Occlumency lessons may have gone better; Harry would have gone right to him, rather than trying to rescue Sirius himself, in OotP. But I also keep flashing back on that image from the movie of Prisoner of Azkaban, when Remus has just changed into the werewolf, of the three kids cringing back while Snape shields them. There were a bunch of times when Snape was the voice of, "Of course you can't do that; you're a child," when many other adults in Harry's life were much more indulgent in "Well, he's survived, so yay!" And that "you're a child" voice is probably one that Harry really needed, in the midst of all the "You saved all our lives! Again!"

Are you saying that Harry is Dawn?

And Voldi is Glory. Or maybe Buffy.