rionaleonhart | So It Would Seem.

The American edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is one of the most beautifully put-together books that I have ever seen. I almost want to buy another copy and keep it in a glass case. It does spell 'cosy' with a 'z', though, which throws me off every time I see it, and it doesn't give the names of magical creatures capital letters, which is rather confusing when I'm so used to reading 'Dementors' and 'Veela'. ALSO, CAPITALISING THE FIRST WORD AFTER EVERY COLON IS ODD.

Did anyone else intone 'the greater good' every time the phrase showed up?

Overall, I thought it was good, and it was certainly very gripping, but it didn't really feel like a Harry Potter book to me. It was so thoroughly bleak and depressing, and the bodycount was insane; nine or seven years ago, who could have imagined that the finale would be like this? I fear that the little children we saw in the bookshop (the bookshop was amazing; I've never seen so many people dressed as wizards before, and I couldn't stop grinning at how enthusiastic everyone was) may be rather traumatised.

HARRY/SNITCH FOR EVER. '"Exactly," said Harry, and with his heart beating fast, he pressed his mouth to the Snitch.' 'Harry pressed his mouth again to the Snitch, kissing it, nearly swallowing it, but the cold metal did not yield.' YOU KNOW IT'S TRUE.

Luna is the most adorable person ever in the world. When we saw her bedroom ceiling, I just wanted to hug her a lot. She is far too lovely. And she could recognise Harry when he was Polyjuiced! From his expression! I loved that!

My favourite thing about the book was so insanely, ridiculously awesome that I fear I may have imagined it out of sheer desperate need for it to happen: Phineas Nigellus became their travelling companion. Seriously, how fantastic is that? I hope you're already writing fanfiction about The Adventures of Harry, Hermione and Phineas Nigellus (And Sometimes Ron).

(The Harry/Hermione fans are going to love this one, aren't they?)

Ahahaha, I loved that Ron was basically an insane Internet theorist. 'Maybe Mad-Eye isn't really dead!' 'Look, how can we be sure that Dumbledore died?'

I thought that the way Kreacher became fond of them was lovely. Happy Kreacher is bizarrely adorable!

Sympathetic Malfoys: awesome. Aberforth: awesome. Snape: so awesome. Poor man. As

cmshaw observed:
snape's worst memory wasn't being bullied by james. it was calling his best friend a mudblood and never recovering the friendship from it. that is awful.
Bless him.

At the final encounter between Harry and Voldemort: describing them as 'wrapped in each other'? All that business about how they are bound closer to each other than any others have ever been? Good Lord, there's going to be a lot of slashfic.

On a vaguely similar note, did Lupin, at any point, show any sign that he had married Tonks for any reason other than to stop her moping? If the seemingly random pairing was Rowling's attempt to persuade people that Lupin was not gay for Sirius, it has backfired spectacularly; I came away from the book far more convinced of it than I had been before. (NOOOOOO LUPIN WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DIE?)

I was quite sad that my 'one Horcrux introduced in every book' theory didn't hold, because it would have tied everything together so beautifully. First book: Harry. Second: Riddle's diary. Third: none (alas!). Fourth: Nagini. Fifth: Slytherin's locket. Sixth: the ring and the goblet (STOP HOGGING THE HORCRUXES, HALF-BLOOD PRINCE). Seventh: Ravenclaw's diadem. It would have been so perfect!

Speaking of Ravenclaw: the way of getting into the Ravenclaw common room is awesome (if not entirely secure) and further proof that Ravenclaw is clearly the best house. (I always wondered how on Earth the Gryffindors learnt the new password when it changed, because Harry often seemed to need to be told by random students. Any ideas?)

I can't believe that the entire trio survived! I was certain that Ron was going to die, so I was ridiculously pleased that he didn't, although I knew from the moment of Fred's death that Rowling wouldn't have the heart to kill more than one Weasley. (ONE WAS STILL TOO MUCH. YOU CANNOT KILL ONE OF THE TWINS. I do sort of wish that we could have seen George finding out, even though it would have been horribly distressing.) And Neville (WHO WAS, BY THE WAY, AWESOME) survived! And Luna!

I really didn't like the epilogue; it all felt a bit twee, and I would have been a lot happier without it, really. This may be because it dashed my hopes of Harry, Ron and Hermione all living together for ever. Possibly with Neville and Luna, who would be adorable and sometimes hold hands. And Phineas Nigellus up on the wall. And every few months they would go on adventures, and it would be glorious. They'd somehow absorb Draco Malfoy into their happy little family at some point, too. WHY COULDN'T THIS HAVE HAPPENED?

ALSO: PERCY. LOVE. Maybe the entire Weasley family could be allowed into the House of Awesome. INCLUDING FRED, AS HE WILL OBVIOUSLY HAVE BEEN RESURRECTED SOMEHOW, RIGHT? HE FAKED HIS OWN DEATH AS A HILARIOUS PRACTICAL JOKE, RIGHT?

I can't believe it's all over! These books have been a part of my life since I was ten years old! Well, at least there are four hundred thousand fanfics to read if I feel the desperate need to return to Hogwarts.

Oh, and why hasn't the Internet exploded yet? Am I just looking in the wrong places?

So It Would Seem.

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