It's Over: Book Seven Has Been Completed

It hasn't really completely sunk in yet that I'm finally done. I'm not going to go to bed tonight and read eagerly for an hour or so before I go to sleep. I'm not going to get to the climax of a book at the most inconvenient time so that I'm up until 4am because I can't tear myself away. And I'm not going to write another blog post following the completion of such a compelling story. It's all come to an end. No more predictions, no more shielding myself from any extra knowledge that I may not have read yet. I know it all.


Now, I must start off by saying I remembered a whole lot from the seventh movie. Despite my attempts to sleep or space out during the film, I came away with a good amount of information that I did not know before. I hoped that time would steal away some of these memories, but unfortunately, they pretty much stayed put. I find it incredible that I can see a movie like Tron at midnight in December, actually pay attention to the whole thing, and still when I go back and try to recount it, I can remember more from seeing Harry Potter at midnight in November while trying to block everything out.


Anyway, the first half of the book was surprisingly like the movie. When I realized they were in a certain place or were talking to a person, I could picture that very scene in the movie quite clearly. It was a little disappointing that I knew a lot of what would happen in the first half, but I dealt with it.


So, if you recall, I had produced a list of people that were absolutely not allowed to die in the seventh book. Just a refresher, here it is:
Neville, Professor McGonagall, Lupin, Gilderoy, Fang, and Luna.
I regret to say that my request was not completely heeded. Lupin, as I feared, died. Everyone else was spared, although I had some close calls with Neville and Professor McGonagall that had me quite worried.
That said, I think it's time to go into further detail about the things that stood out to/bothered/interested me most about this book.

Lupin and Tonks. What were you guys thinking? Why get married so fast? I was counting on my predictions being wrong because I didn't think you would have time to get married and have a baby! But, no, page ten, freaking page ten of the seventh book informs me of your marriage. Then, you both start acting all weird and I know you must be having a freaking baby.
Do you realize that your baby is now an orphan? Huh? If you're gonna have a baby, stay alive to take care of it. Children benefit from having proper parents, otherwise they start snogging people all over the place. Rock solid evidence right there.

Speaking of dying parents. I was struck while reading the last couple of books with an insane amount of sadness about Harry's parents' deaths. I was almost angry that they had to die and not see how great their son grew up to be. The story of James and Lily intrigued me, and I found myself craving more and more information about their lives before they died.
In fact, the only time that I cried in these books was—not Dumbledore's, Sirius's, Dobby's, Fred's, or anyone's death—but when Harry uses the Resurrection Stone to talk to his parents and Sirius and Lupin. I cried then because it was so touching.


Now, let's talk about Snape. Oh, old tricky Severus. You were really good the whole time! You remember all those things that I said about you before, you know, how you were mean and you broke my trust? All is forgiven.
Not! Ugh. I still don't like you. You are still mean. And you're still shady. And creepy. And you toyed with my trust too often; I tired of it. So I don't care about you anymore.
You were in love with Lily?! That's unsettling. She was happily married with a child and you still held on. Your Patronus is a doe?! A doe?? A freaking female deer??? I'm sorry, but that's like the wimpiest Patronus you could possibly think of. A goat is better than that. A doe is rather effeminate, Snape, and I don't want to get into accusations or analyses or anything, but it's just weird. Your Patronus is Bambi's mom.
Anyway, I think I made my point clear. My trust...you still don't have it. And now you're dead. And I did not cry.


Okay, I would like to point out that I had a third of R.A.B.'s identity pegged. Black. Yeah I got that right. What.


I was not quite so lucky with my relationship prediction. Yeah, I knew that Harry and Ginny got married and had kids at the end and so did Ron and Hermione. But my hope that Neville and Luna would get together never came to fruition. Granted, the book does not explicitly say that they didn't get married or that they married other people, but it gives no indication as to whether they did marry each other.
So I'm using my right as a reader to make up stuff and believe it to be true of the story. Neville and Luna get married. It happens.
My friend told me that Rowling gave an interview in which she says that Neville marries Hannah Abbott and Luna marries someone else, but she didn't put that in the book. While this thought is tempting for me to believe, seeing that I identify with Hannah Abbott and I love Neville, I refuse. Neville and Luna forever. That's how it is.


But oh how I do love Neville. You've probably gotten tired of me gushing about him during every post, but I love him so so much and I'm so proud of him! My opinion of him went from "he doesn't even do anything super special" to "HE IS A HERO AND SAVES EVERYONE!" Okay, so he just destroyed one Horcrux, but it was incredibly brave and oh my gosh I love him, Luna is such a lucky woman.
When Neville stepped forward out of the crowd at the end and started talking smack to Voldemort, I freaked out. I was convinced that Voldemort would smite him where he stood at any second, so I had my hand over my mouth and I was whispering "no no no no no no" without stop because I was so afraid for his life. I am so glad he is alive. I definitely, definitely would have cried if he had died.


Another character that I grew to love over the course of this book was Kreacher. I can't really explain why I like him, but the thought of him caring about Harry and Ron and Hermione and cooking for them and then fighting Death Eaters in the end makes me feel all warm and happy. I like him so much better than Dobby. I'm sorry, but I really could care less about Dobby. If anything, he is just annoying. It was sad he had to die, but not nearly as sad as other deaths. Some of you probably hate me right now. I'm sorry.


Well, I think I've wasted enough space with my worthless opinions. I can now take Harry Potter quizzes on Facebook without being paranoid of spoilers, and I can look forward to the second part of the seventh movie just like the rest of the planet! Hooray! Mission accomplished.
But did I meet my goals?

1. Do not get obsessed. Um...to be honest, I actually did a pretty good job keeping things under wraps while reading these books. My family and close friends can attest to the fact that I'm downright annoying once I latch on to something. I relate every single thing to my obsession and won't let it go until a new one comes along. I didn't really do that this time around. Not to say that everything didn't remind me of Harry Potter, but I kept my mouth shut when it did. Only during the last two books did I lose some of my self control. But I'd give myself a pat on the back even though this goal was nowhere near accomplished.
2. Finish before the very last movie. Success. I reached this goal with flying colors.
3. No buying shirts, dressing up, or anything of the like. Okay, so I won't buy a shirt or like a wand or anything. So far. The opportunity has not really presented itself yet. But I find myself looking forward to dressing up for the final movie, so this goal won't really have been accomplished either. Oh well.

My, my. Well, it's been a thrilling journey. Thank you, if you are still reading this, for following me through this and giving me your feedback and helping push me further and further into obsession. I really do appreciate that people have taken the time to read these things.

All right. I think all has been said. This is farewell.

I daresay I will be revisiting these books in my future, like any good Harry Potter fan.

So, on to the next book! Now that it's begun, it will never end.

Want to see my other posts about the series? Right here.