I feel differently about Snape this time. I guess without thinking I was, I took Harry's view.

If I'd only read the books and not the reactions to, I'd be perfectly happy with Snape being a hateful good guy. I just ... I just want people to be Jossed, I suppose.

I could be nicer.

Go away, Perkins.

connie, that's always been one of the main reasons why I like Snape.

Rereading the book I kept noticing all these details about Harry and Snape's relationship. Several times someone either compares Snape to Harry, or Harry thinks about how much he's learned from the HBP, etc. In a weird way, I think Snape has sort of become another father figure for Harry (although Harry would never admit or even realize this).

Maysa - That is brilliant, because, as we all know, a father is not always a good thing (at least, not until you have more perspective than Harry has, so why should a father FIGURE be?

I've been surprised with Harry's father being showed to be a mean-spirited bastard, more of the theme of "the good guys can be real jerks sometimes". Harry has to come to terms with that, plus his near-gutting of Draco.

I think Dumbledore wanted Harry to see Draco not wanting to kill DD as well. There was the note that Harry feels a bit of pity for Draco now, which means he's stopped automatically categorizing Draco, at least, as "bad guy, not worth caring about." Once you see the bad guys as people, it's hard to demonize them. It's all being muddled up into shades of grey, which is an amazing thing in a "kids' book". No wonder people get antsy about it, it shows life isn't neat.

Between Harry's dad's actions in the Pensieve in OotP and Ron's thoughtlessly cruel comments being not only shown but commented on, I've been rather pleased at the demonstration that being a good guy doesn't always = being good.

Well, I sat there convinced that Dumbledore would be back ANY SECOND and the bitca faked me out several times. Grrr. I am clinging to the notion that Snape was acting under Dumbledore's orders because I was more upset the headmaster had been WRONG than that he was DEAD.

I have a pet theory (that I don't actually believe at all) that Snape IS Harry's father. I enjoy looking for "evidence" of this. It is my own personal "Paul is Dead." Every time someone mentions Harry looking like James I'm all "it's a glamor! it's a glamor!"

I think Dumbledore will likely stay dead, but I don't think it's necessarily a betrayl of the readers or bad storytelling if he does not. There is all the phoenix stuff. And there is the offer to fake Draco's death. And there is the fact that it would be marvelous strategy for Voldemort to think that Dumbledore is out of the picture while he is, in fact, even more able to battle all the darkness.

I enjoyed the increasing parallels between Voldemort's life and Harry's and that but for that flicker of love in Harry they could have gone on the same path. Harry is at last going to be tempted to go along that path -- Ron and Hermione SAY they'll stay with him no matter what, and Harry is happy that he'll have "one last golden day of peace left to enjoy with Ron and Hermione" but he doesn't ACCEPT their offer to stay with him. He may well be turning his back on all the people who love him (and he's never been particularly convinced that it is love which has kept him good). I'm convinced this is key and am eager to see how it plays out.

Oh, and the ring still exists even though the sliver of soul has been removed -- if Harry IS a horocrux he doesn't have to die to destroy the bit of soul. I also wonder if he might have become one accidentally.

Go away, Perkins.

Cries.

"I concede that there might have been some scheming going on between Dumbledore and Snape, although in part I think the theory comes from a place of Snape-worship. (Ducks.) "

Wow, that's a difficult comment to address. I find it quite difficult not to be offended by it too, which isn't very constructive of me, and I'll try not to let that colour my response.

I really don't think that I'm guilty of leaving my intellect or critical faculties at the door out of a particularly passionate attachment to, or idealisation of, the character of Snape. I think he's one of the most interesting characters in the series*, because despite being intelligent, talented and passionate about his own stuff he's also quite clearly petty, mean-spirited, emotionally immature and a spectacularly bad teacher. (Let us keep in mind that I'm a primary teacher myself, and that Snape, along with Hagrid, makes me itch to send a Wizarding Ofsted team swooping down on Hogwarts to summarily dismiss half the staff, starting with them.)

I think that JKR loves misdirection, and that she has shown that in every single book in the series. For her to include Chapter 2 if Snape IS indeed working for Voldemort is indeed pointless and flabby writing that undermines the impact of the last chapters. For her to include Hagrid's overhearing of fragments of a conversation between Dumbledore and Snape, and for the trio to leap to the assumption that this backs up their suspicions of Snape, if Snape IS indeed the villain, is clumsy and slap dash and the very opposite of what JKR has done in all the previous books. If, on the other hand, she's feeding the trio red herrings - well, that fits right in with her writing in all the previous books. I wish I had my texts to hand so I could pull out a list of citations - but this is what she does.

I also think that the message that all that is gold does not glitter is a good one, and a damned sight more interesting than 'the ugly, greasy, mean-spirited guy IS evil'. The introduction of Slughorn (and indeed JKR's words in her interviews) back up the notion that her Wizarding worldview is more complex than Slytherin=Villain.

"But, nope on the second chapter. Not saying the first chapter was strong, but as Fay said, it's in keeping with the other books."

Sorry, sorry, I expressed myself badly if you've understood me to be saying this. I think that Chapters 1 and 2 both mark a big step away from the other books. Each book so far has started out with Chapter 1 re-introducing us to Harry Potter in his miserable life in Privet Drive, generally on his miserable birthday. It's been rather comforting and Roald Dahlish. OotP, although my least favourite book in the series, definitely made moves towards taking the HP series away from the traditional children's school book setting. HBP leaps even further by having the first chapter NOT from Harry's POV, NOT introducing us to him on his birthday at Privet Drive. It pulls the rug out from under the reader's feet, confounding expectations by showing us the big picture from an outsider's perspective. Instead of another reassuring summer holiday of discontent, we see some of the chaos errupting into the Muggle world.

"The second, on the other hand, was uncharacteristically clumsy and heavy-handed misdirection, if misdirection it was."

But why do you think this is clumsy and heavy-handed? It seems that your reading experience was not "Oh, please, like I'm going to fall for that!"

*I don't know that I'd say my favourite, at least pre-HBP, because there are lots of her characters I really enjoy. Post HBP, though, he really is, on the basis that (by my understanding of the text) he's doing something really interesting and heroic, despite not being an obviously heroic character.

Didn't GoF start with Voldemort's (or Wormtail's--can't remember which) murder of the old Muggle man in Little Haggleton?