I thought it was mentioned later that Grendelwald was lying when he said he's never had the wand.

And I hadn't noticed Grendelwald stunning Gregorovich. I guess I can accept that as "beating" him.

I'm looking for that, Polgara, but I can't find it.

Harry tells Dumbledore "grindelwald tried to stop Voldemort goinf after the wand. He lied, you know, said he never had it." Dumbledore nods, but Dumbledore's nods are not always assent. Sometimes they're just, "Ok, think what you want. I just told you about the damn things. Prat."

Cool! So Grindelwald stuns Gregoravitch, Dumbledore kicks Grindelwald's ass, Malfoy disarms Dumbledore, Harry disarms Malfoy, and no handwavey stealing.

Now can someone explain why Voldemort's blood saved Harry in the forest, 'cause I think the wand/master theory works much better so far.

The best way I can explain it is to say "Summer's blood". Kind of worked like how Buffy was able to stop the world from ending by jumping in the hole instead of Dawn because when Dawn was made, they made her out of Buffy's blood.

Voldemort remade himself out of Harry's blood. Which, by extension, was Lily's blood that she shed to save Harry.

I think I need to reread that chapter, 'cause that's whacked.

I misspoke when I said "penultimate." (But let's face it, penultimate is a cooler word than last, and who cares about meaning?) I meant to say that Neville rocked the prophecy by taking out the last Horcrux.

I couldn't figure out the cover at all. The color choice was very strange at first sight, and I kept thinking Harry was on a broomstick in a coliseum. After finishing the book, I was so glad the artist chose to capture the new dawn sunglight over everything, and put Harry's victory over Voldemort on the cover.

(Another scene it could have been was the burning gold in the Lestrange vault, with Harry reaching for the goblet...or I guess the RofR with the Fiendfire.)

I think D&D needs a spell called Fiendfire. In much the way it doesn't need a spell called Expectorate Patron.

I'm wondering why Rowling chose the name Gellert for him. The association that I have for that name is Welsh mythology -- Gellert was Llewellyn's dog. Gellert killed a wolf that was trying to steal Llewellyn's son. When Llewellyn found his son gone (he'd ended up under the bed, or something), and the bed and Gellert's mouth stained with blood, he thought that Gellert had killed the baby, and so he killed Gellert, and only then realized that the baby was still alive and there was a dead wolf in the room.

It really seems like exactly the wrong name for that character.

I think D&D needs a spell called Fiendfire. In much the way it doesn't need a spell called Expectorate Patron.

The Hellfire in Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells might be a reasonable analogue.

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the potter celebration we put on at my library

DH missed that there is a picture of me