clo_again

A little- wow. No more Harry Potter. Can't help wondering what the UK will seize on as their next national craze and if it'll spawn anywhere near as many entertaining sweets or internet ship!wars.

A few thoughts before I head over to see how fandom_wank is coping so far:

I enjoyed it, I really did. It wasn't like the fifth that I read fast simply to find out who kicked the bucket or the sixth that I kept trudging through in hopes it'd switch to Draco's clearly more interesting story sometime soon. For all that it was an- odd book, I guess, because it was nothing like the structure of the others - I missed Hogwarts but as least it wasn't as dull as the majority of HBP because they were out-and-about - I liked it better than any of them apart from Azkaban and Goblet. Which doesn't change the fact that it was weird to suddenly abandon Hogwarts at the last hurdle and have to muster enough liking for Harry out in the world, instead of tolerating him because he inhabited such a crazy awesome place. I only rolled my eyes every other chapter instead of OOtP's every page though, and I lovedlovedloved seeing more of characters like Luna and Neville and Bill.

I still think that Rowling struggles with the concept of 'necessary character death'. Dobby's death was excellent (and right, because his appearance was enough of a deus-ex-machina as it was. He needed to go before they could utilise his too-convenient magic any more.) Hedwig, though I loved her and who was mentioned shamelessly infrequently throughout the rest of the book (she was your pet for six years you heartless bastard Harry. I'd be in pieces over Casper and all he does is sleep and bite me) would have weighed them down.

But Remus and Tonks... you gave them a baby Rowling. You made it a huge thing that Lupin went back and then you killed them. It was needless cruelty for the sake of making Harry 'heartbroken' enough to get himself killed. Lupin, yes. I get that. It made sense to kill Lupin (though not offstage, really.) But Tonks? I don't even like Tonks but the *baby*. There are *unspoken rules*. You wanted to kill them, cut the (needless) baby plot. Their sacrifice could've been for each other; that could've been the resolvement of Lupin's issues with marrying Tonks. Or kill Lupin after he'd made his peace with his marriage to Tonks, because all the other Marauders were dead and it makes sense. Rowling loses so many, brownie points with me for doing it the way she did.

Fred... I would've preferred Percy, because for all his 'redemption', he has been a git for most of the books and I'm all for fitting literary punishment for misdeeds. Not to mention we got nothing of George afterward. No love for that, Rowling. None at all. But I'll take Fred's death over Lupin and Tonks'. I thought Ginny would be added to the list when everyone was making such a fuss about her staying out the way but apparently not (my thoughts on the last chapter in a minute) but it was another red herring. There seem to be a lot of those. It was starting to get really annoying, like Lost's polar bears and unanswered mysteries were fun until a season later, they really weren't.

Snape's seemed... surprisingly brief but then this book barrelled along peculiarly during the important scenes and lingered in the slow ones, like Shell Cottage and the opening hundred pages. Maybe it's echoing the way things seem in real life. It just meant, I thought, some major scenes like Harry "dying" and the destroying of the cup and diadem lacked some impact.

But Draco and the diadem scene... I loved that his first word was "Crabbe?" Shades of fanon!Draco surfacing and though I would've liked to see him again later, to see what he did with the knowledge that the decision to stay behind had killed his friend, I'll take what I can get and it was more than enough that he became such an integral part of the book, even when he barely showed his face. That Narcissa saved Harry and Draco could exchange nods with them at the end was a tiny consolation for the inexcusable treatment of the entire Slytherin House. Because these are children. At age eleven I was a completely different person to who I am now. Dumbledore himself mumbled about Sorting too early. How can you condemn a entire house - which is effectively the message I got from the last third of the book - before most of them are old enough to even know better? I was hoping Rowling would at least have the decency to redeem some of them, to show that cunning and pride don't necessarily add up to 'evil' and I guess the Malfoys showed that a little but only just. Disppointed in that.

I liked the tricksiness of the Elder Wand plot. The plot in general really; for all there were convenient escapes at the last moment a few times, the reveal about Harry 'needing' to die at the end was fantastic. And the duel was totally worth the wait.

Mmmm. Will ruminate some more over dinner. I should relaly reread the whole series this summer because I've forgotten canon and mixed in fanon. Mmmmm.

edit: Oh and epilogue? Bzuh? You kill half the cast then write an epilogue like that? "Oh I killed characters but it's okay because the ones who're left spawned enough to replace them!"

Fail, JK. Truly fail.

Though maybe a little bit of win for the sheer WTFuckery of 'Scorpius'. Dude. Scorpius. I *want* the bizarre Farscape crossovers that could've caused that.