I liked the HEA epilogue just because it demonstrated that life goes on, even for heroes who save the world. It reminded me a lot of the end of LotR, which gave Sam that happy ending. But, it left a lot of open questions, which I liked better than having a bow tied around the finale and gift-wrapped for the reader.

Then again, I was a fan of the "what happened to Hester Prynne" ending of The Scarlet Letter, so at least I'm consistent!

I didn't much care for the epilouge. Would have cared more if it had answered the burning question of where Luna ended up.

In spaaaaaaaaace.

I sort of hope that Luna is the Care of Magical Creatures professor, and that she's telling the students all about how to avoid nargles.

It makes sense to me that he was the easier target for the Horcrux.

Then too, his sister Ginny already fell before a previous horcrux, so it could be something that runs through the Weasley family that makes them more likely to be targets than not.

I sort of hope that Luna is the Care of Magical Creatures professor, and that she's telling the students all about how to avoid nargles.

Oh, I love that idea.

All told, I did expect WORSE from the deaths.

I think in the end, the bodycount was 50, which seemed rather low, considering the Deatheaters were flinging about killing curses (or maybe I'm just assuming they were).

wonders outloud

Whatever happened to Fawkes?

I think in the end, the bodycount was 50

Closer to 60, as at least 50 nameless students died in the Battle of Hogwarts alone.

considering the Deatheaters were flinging about killing curses (or maybe I'm just assuming they were).

Yeah, so was I. It frightened me, since it's a fucking one-hit kill.

Whatever happened to Fawkes?

A circle has no beginning.

A chart of major characters who die is here:

[link]