I didn't take the "all was well" to imply anything beyond Voldemort specifically having stayed gone -- it doesn't really tell us anything about the wizarding world at large.

That said, I wish that line hadn't been there. I still think the epilogue reads like bad fanfic especially compared to the rest of the book (BABIES FOR EVERYONE YAAAAAAY!!!!), but cutting out that one line would have improved it immensely. Because it's just so clunky and random. As if JKR realized at the last minute that she forgot to tell us what happened to Harry's scar and couldn't be bothered to work it into the story organically.

What Jessica said. That's what I meant, but she phrased it better.

I loved the epilogue. I thought it was beautiful and necessary.

(um not bright enough right now to defend it but just had to put it out there.)

I loved the epilogue. I thought it was beautiful and necessary.

Me too. I loved Harry telling his younger boy that he didn't have to accept what the Sorting Hat said. Not only did Harry say no to Slytherin, he didn't go through everything just to let people be ruled by someone else's destiny.

I found the epilogue clunky but I also loved it. I would have been very disappointed without it.

I'm enjoying the Rowling interview on Dateline.

I'm also one who would really rather have learned what the immediate aftermath of the big battle at Hogwarts entailed, how the wizarding (and witching) and magical community at large reacted and were affected. The funerals, the changes, if any, in the wizarding and muggle societies.

So, yeah, I wanted "The Scouring of the Shire" as well as "The Grey Havens".

It's almost the same jolt I got watching the end of Serenity, where you go from "funerals and grief" to "all better, moving on" and I didn't have the same time that the characters must have had to adjust to this new frame of mind to end the story.

I guess, while it was indeed a nice way to end the story, the emotional flow wasn't there for me. JKR forgot to take me with her after the battle.

And, what Juliebird said. Actually, that's an issue I have with a lot of current fiction--it doesn't give me enough denouement. The story just STOPS. I want to see the repercussions, the mourning, the celebration. That's one thing I really like about Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel books--she gives me enough closure after the climax. The characters don't just win the battle, they win the battle and have a masked ball in the palace to celebrate, with just enough solemnity to mourn whoever died along the way.

I am not afraid of cows, but neither do I dismiss them.

I can't see cows anymore. I just see tractors going moo.

One thing from the Dateline special is that JK said if she had to go back and change anything, she would re-edit Order of the Phoenix, because it was too long. I was like, "Amen to that." Then I realized that I'd rather see a re-edit of Goblet of Fire.