And yet, you still don't get that when Clovis rules the world, we won't be sharing with you? You get to be #1 minion, and that's it.

If that's true (which I don't believe for a minute), then that "we" had better be a typo. IJS.

Um... typo. Fixed now.

Pfeh, I'll be lucky if I'm #100 minion.

Actually, the Elder Wand connection makes sense to me--I didn't find it handwavey at all. It's all dependent on who has mastered the wand(s) of its master, right? I don't remember how Grindelwald gained mastery over it (he didn't just steal it from Gregorovitch, did he?), but Dumbledore got it from Grindelwald in an unnamed but definite way that didn't require him to kill Grindelwald. Then, Draco gained mastery, but failed to realize it and take the wand, when he expelliarmused it from D's hand in HBP. Voldemort took it from D, but failed to gain mastery by defeating/acquiring it from the current master, Draco, but Harry did by defeating Draco and getting his wand. I think that if Draco had been using a borrowed/stolen wand, the connection would have been much looser, but since it was his own wand, used for nearly seven years, "the wand had chosen the wizard" and the Elder Wand recognized that Harry had mastered Draco's wand (no slashing intended!) and acknowledged Harry as its master.

Perfectly logical!

I don't think Neville killed the penultimate Horcrux. I think he killed the last one. I think Voldemort actually killed the one in Harry when he first zapped him in the forest and that's what caused Voldemort to crumple.

I don't understand what you mean. Who said Neville killed the penultimate Horcrux? Nagini was clearly the last remaining Horcrux. Harry repeated that fact multiple times on the way to his death and after his lack of it. There's no "thinking" that Voldemort killed the one in Harry: that's what happened. Dumbledore said so.

Finally, I realized that he was catching the Elder Wand, and that made me realize that the shot of Voldemort on the back wasn't him trying to reach Potter before he completed some action, but that Voldemort was actually falling backwards dead. Really, brilliant misdirection in that cover.

Oh, wow, neat!!

Yes, Grindelwald just stole it.

I totally understand the logic of it all, but it's just a stretch that the wand recognizes harry as its master since he has Draco's wand.

I was still fine with it, it was just one of the more tenuous parts of the tale.

he didn't just steal it from Gregorovitch, did he?)

Yes, yes he did. Also, apparently Draco was the first person ever to disarm Dumbledore, even briefly. Which I wouldn't find so unlikely if it were someone other than Draco. What I do find unlikely is that the Death Eaters apparently left the wand behind? How strange.

Oh, I remember what's been bugging me! What horcrux did Voldemort use to come back to life in GoF?

I don't understand what you mean. Who said Neville killed the penultimate Horcrux? Nagini was clearly the last remaining Horcrux. Harry repeated that fact multiple times on the way to his death and after his lack of it. There's no "thinking" that Voldemort killed the one in Harry: that's what happened. Dumbledore said so.

It's mentioned a couple of times a little up-thread, and again even earlier when people started counting off who destroyed which Horcrux in sequence and it always ended with Neville at 6 and Harry/Voldemort at 7.

Oh, I remember what's been bugging me! What horcrux did Voldemort use to come back to life in GoF?

He didn't come back to life. He wasn't dead, he was just sort of in a larval stage. No horcrux, just a rather nasty spell involving the bones of his father, Harry's blood, and Pettigrew's hand.

What horcrux did Voldemort use to come back to life in GoF?

Effectively, Harry, though he may not have realized it.

Draco was able to diarm Dumbledore because Dumbledore was poisoned on top of the curse that had been eating at him. He was nearly dead.