But why does Voldemort want Harry, back, unkilled, so badly? And did something change over the course of the books for that to be the case?

Personally, I have no horse in the race of Snape being a triple agent or whatever, but I kinda hope he's not. Just because all of the sympathetic fanfic out there. More likely, though, Snape and Draco will be redeemed.

I think I hate that word.

But doesn't a previously selected murder split the soul? Harry survived the murder attempt. Dumbledore states that Voldemort has killed enough people to create an army of Inferi, so it can't be any old murder that splits the soul. Yes, he killed Harry's parents, but it's DD's theory that Harry's murder was going to be the one for the final split.

But why does Voldemort want Harry, back, unkilled, so badly?

I think this supports this theory Maybe if Harry dies, especially at another's hands, V. looses that portion of his soul.

But doesn't a previously selected murder split the soul? Harry survived the murder attempt. Dumbledore states that Voldemort has killed enough people to create an army of Inferi, so it can't be any old murder that splits the soul. Yes, he killed Harry's parents, but it's DD's theory that Harry's murder was going to be the one for the final split.

Maybe DD miscounted, or didn't know about another major death?

This would be the aesthete influence. The lapidary prose style.

Or else that it is told in such a cynical voice that everything is shot through with experience and amusement.

People like Baudelaire, Wilde, Huysmans, Walter Pater. The Pre-Raphaelites precede it but definitely had a similar lotus-eater vibe.

Oh, so basically my favorite writers and stylists then. Fair 'nuf. Thanks for the wikipedia link.

I had a really long HP6 post written out (like, "Firefly" thread posts long) and it was eaten up by the computer and I don't have the energy to re-write, especially since y'all probably already read everything I could think about at least 3 times, including explanations as to why it's wrong. So I won't. But I really liked the book.

Some staff did lose momentum on occasion, but I was totally immersed in the story despite that. I liked the characters, I felt for them, I *love* how everything that has anything to do with Snape can be interpreted in at least two ways (lots of what was eaten up was about this). The plot that gave the book its name wasn't that important , but I loved what she did with Draco (I *did* feel sorry for him, I don't care what anybody says), I love how she keeps the friendship in the center. She created some amazingly beautiful pictures - the cave and all that happened there, the lament of the phoenix, all the conversation between Draco and Dumbledore on the tower, the child Tom , just to name a few. I love how there are so many parallels, you know? Like pretty much every choice (and choice is such a big theme, here and in CoS, and I *love* it) is echoed is somebody else's choice. Almost all of my embarrassingly long post was about that.

I'm still too much "in" the book to start playing with speculations, but I love it that there can be so many. Also, that despite the computer's obvious forces of darkness, I managed to post a few words. Some even in whitefont, which I never get to do. Now to catch up.

Someone was brilliant enough to provide an index page to the varied kerfuffles over HBP.

Some of you may get a kick out of my friend Angelo's predictions for Book 7 while reading Book 5. There are no spoilers, and some are funny even if you've never read the books.

I really really think that Harry is the Horcrux. In OotP (I think), DD tells H that when V gave H the scar, a part of V became a part of Harry.

Also, when I first read The Prophecy, my first interpretation was that neither V nor H could survive.

I kinda like that Harry could die .

I predict that Harry figures out he's the final Horcrux, lets Draco take him out, Neville finishes off V, therefore still fulfilling The Prophecy . And then, Spike becomes the Shanshu .

I really thought Harry was going to be the death in this book.