Sue, I don't know if it answers your question, but the Scholastic Edition is different from the Bloomsbury (UK) edition.

I did know that, but from what I understood, mainly those changes are English vs. US language things, and are generally pretty minor. I'm wondering if the US editors do a big edit, or if they just do those "translate into American English" edits.

She didn't make Harry choose whether to trust Snape. She made Harry choose whether to trust Dumbledore. Which was brilliant! Taking the one character who had his faith without any reservations - Harry led "Dumbledore's Army" in "Order of the Phoenix", he kept saying how he's Dumbledore's man, through and through, and then, to crack this faith

Yes, I love this! And then your discussion of triangles made me think of this moment when Harry is about to enter the forest to die and he sees Ginny comforting a young girl who wants to leave the battle and “go home,”

"He wanted to shout out to the night, he wanted Ginny to know that he was there, he wanted her to know where he was going. He wanted to be stopped, to be dragged back, to be sent back home...

"But he was home. Hogwarts was the first and best home he had known. He and Voldemort and Snape, the abandoned boys, had all found home here..."

This is one of my favorite passages, because in my mind, Dumbledore=Hogwarts and I think of all the characters, only three, the triangle of Tom Riddle, Severus Snape, and Harry Potter needed both Hogwarts and Dumbledore's approval so tremendously. I don't think it was only Dumbledore's abilities that made Voldemort fear him - this was the man who told Tom that he was a wizard, that he would be going to Hogwarts, and who later denied his request to teach there. He had a power over Voldemort that no one else had – the power to deny him his home. Hogwarts is also where Snape found forgiveness and was given a second chance, and where Harry felt loved for the first time. And all of that was bound up in Dumbledore for each of them.

And then Harry learns that this man, who represented home to him – lied to him for the greater good. And he’s not entirely at peace with this when he enters the forest, but he does so anyway. Dumbledore asked Snape to protect Hogwarts and its students and that’s what both Harry and Snape do – even when they learn that Dumbledore used them, and even when they know it will lead to their deaths.

Ngah.

God, Nilly - bless your heart. I actually had to stop reading your review quite early on, because it's very embarassing weeping in a small internet cafe full of gamers. Um. But - yep. What you said.

(Also - OMG, love, I just read Will the Vampire People Please Leave The Lobby, and the Bring-Nilly-To-America campaign fucking KILLED me all over again. Buffistas, how much do you rock?)

Also - welcome to the board, Tod!

Nilly, what a wonderful post. I had not considered the shifting priorities from the interiority of Hogwarts to the exteriority of the world. I was just irritated because I missed teh structure of Hogwarts.

You've given me something to ponder.

Nilly, you made me love the book (and the series) more than I already did. How did you do that?

I keep thinking about spirals and circles.

You see so much, notice so much, feel so much, of the big picture and all the little details the creator puts in and then wonders if anyone else will ever notice. Seriously, Nilly, yours are the eyes and ears that storytellers dream of.

What JZ said. I'm so amazed at all the little things you pick up on, Nilly. I hope that there continue to be television shows and books that inspire you to write multiple post essays so that I can continue to read them and enjoy them.

If analysing the text in English Lit had been more Nillyesque--well, we'd not have gotten through as many books, but we'd have enjoyed it a lot more.

Lisah, Thanks for deciding not to kick my nube behind yesterday- much appreciated. Nilly, I hope it didn't seem insulting when I said you write like a twelve year old (you say in your piece that you ARE twelve, right?) because nothing could have been further from my intent. The fact that you are twelve (I hope, lest I put my foot ever more deeply into my mouth) just makes the absolutely angelic and inspired outpouring of your heart and mind that much more dazzling. Long may you wave!