Some interesting stuff has happened in my last commute. Harry is still kinda upset that Dumbledore kept so much from him and has made it so hard to complete the task of destroying the horcruxes.

Harry and Hermione do a bit of traveling, and then something interesting happens. The doe patronus has to be Lilly's except for the problem of Lilly being dead. Not sure about how that works, but since there is a hint just a bit latter that there was somebody there is a real live person involved.

Then the doe leads Harry to the pond with the sword (where are sword flinging watery tarts when you need them) and Harry has to dive in to get it. Ron comes out of nowhere to save Harry, which I wasn't expecting. Here is where the clue to the patronus is dropped. There was someone there, I'm pretty sure it has to have been a person. Can someone choose the form of a patronus? There has been no hint that it is possible. Of course then there is the question of how they were found, but Ron found them so there may be a clue coming up. They are carrying Finnius around with them, so it could maybe be Snape but he didn't have the real sword. That brings up the question of who had the real sword, a true Gyriffindor? Not sure about this one. Maybe I'm totally off and it is a manifestation from his mother's protection and she is the true Gyriffindor. Don't know.

Then there is the whole matter of destroying the locket. I liked how evilly the locket tried to prey upon Ron's insecurities, Horcruxes are nasty things. That was a good bit.

I sat in my car until Ron actually smashed the locket, so I left off there. I'm looking forward to the story of how Ron found them, which I hope doesn't get skipped. Suddenly with Ron back, the sword found, and the locket destroyed makes everything less bleak. I'm looking forward to Harry breaking all the good news to Hermione who has slept through all the big events.

There was someone there, I'm pretty sure it has to have been a person. Can someone choose the form of a patronus?

okay this made me a little weepy.

Gud, remember how Tonks' petronus changed in the last book?

The doe will be a mystery for a while, but when JK tells you what it means...wow.

I also liked the inclusion of the British "white stag" legends. Interweaving things like pookas and boggarts but giving them a twist is one of my favorite Rowling tricks.

After 4 listenings to Deathly Hallows...and several repetitions per of certain segments...I'm starting over with Sorcerer's Stone.

I'm amused that Dumbledore has a scar above his left knee that is a complete map of the London Underground and yet he doesn't use it to figure out that he and Harry are at King's Cross Station ! Then again, I suppose since it is in Harry's mind and HE doesn't have a handy mapscar that makes sense.

Did we ever get any backstory on what Lupin did in the years between the Potters' deaths and Prisoner of Azkaban? The battered briefcase with the "Prof. R.J. Lupin" tag would seem to mean that he's been teaching for a while, and in the classroom scenes he certainly seems like an experienced teacher, but where has he been teaching? We've only ever heard of three wizarding schools, though it seems like there ought to be more.

I've assumed that it was private families and the like. Of course, not for much more than a month or two, poor boo.

Like a tutor? Would that earn him the title?

Perhaps he's been out forming boys bands.

(This joke would work better if Tonks were a librarian.)

We've only ever heard of three wizarding schools, though it seems like there ought to be more.

nods

Yeah, iirc canon implies that the three schools in the Triwizard Tournament aren't the only ones - although possibly the only ones in Europe.

(In my mental Potterverse, there's one in Egypt which presently goes by the name of Madrassa, and it includes the Library of Alexandria, which wasn't really burnt. And the Ancient Egyptian Gods were in fact Animagi. And...yeah, I've got a whole thing mapped out. I think it's also safe to assume that there's a school in Salem.)

It's frustrating that there's no explanation of how people get higher education, isn't it? Because JKR insists there's no University in the Wizarding World - and yet we have all these professors. How the hell is that supposed to work? Hopefully she'll shed some light on it in her Encyclopedia.