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I admit that most of this is nitpicking but I wanted to reach to previous posts, now that I've had a chance to read them.
Supporting Cast:
Neville and Luna are awesome. But I was hoping to see more significant action from Gawp, the house Elves, Krum, Hadrid's girlfriend, the Dursleys, and others. But then I realized that the book was just too crowded as it was. She crammed in a lot. Some of these folks could have helped during the quest.
Loved the Bagshot chapter!
Hedwig:
How can the death of Hedwig carry so much weight? I know people's pets are important to them but when you and all your best friends are about to die at the hands of death eaters then by comparison it just doesn't worry me much. (I'll probably get labeled as an animal hater for this comment.)
Snape:
I felt sure that Rowling would redeem Snape. It seemed obvious from Harry's previous view of Snape with Lily that Snape was in love with Lily. But after Snape shot off George's ear I thought that possibly Snape wasn't good but just set on revenge against Voldemort or was just trying to usurp the Dark Lord's power. I thought she did well with Snape. Flawed but brave. The only thing disappointing about his death was that he didn't fight back. He seemed too smart and too quick to not react. And since Voldemort had killed many of his own followers how could Snape be caught off guard?
When Harry went in the Headmaster's office I was hoping to see a new portrait of Snape hanging on the wall, sneering at him.
Kreatur:
I loved Kreatur's "Redemption" It was one of my favorite parts of the book. But as someone else mentioned, I expected a few more people to switch sides. Which leads to . . .
Another wrong prediction:
I really thought that there would be a traitor to Harry, like Peter Petigrew was to James. I really feared it would be Ron. When Ron took off I was afraid he'd be captured by Death Eaters and turn. When he smashed the locket I felt a huge sense of relief. I thought "Ron's passed the test. He'll be okay now." After that I wasn't as concerned about a traitor.
Voldemort:
Considering what the sorting hat did the last time Voldemort encountered it, Chamber of Secrets, why would he summon it? Seems pretty stupid. Or does he have no memory of that because it was a Horcux that did it? In any case the act of putting it on Neville and setting it on fire seemed juvenile. I'd expect that from Malfoy or Crabbe but not Voldemort.
And I half expected Harry to tell everyone that Tom Riddle's father was a Muggle. That would have been an excellent scoop for the Quibbler.
The Elder Wand:
If the wand works as it apparently did, being taken from Malfoy because Harry disarmed him, then Harry's comment that if no one takes it from him until he dies is not correct.
My son was making up new names for books and threw out the title "Dean Thomas and the Elder Wand."
How could that happen?
Here's the beginning of my outline for my first Harry Potter fanboy fiction.
Dean Thomas, as professor of Defense against the Dark Arts, invites Harry to Hogwarts to demonstrate dueling. Harry doesn't try hard because he doesn't want to show off or disgrace the teacher in front of his students. Dean disarms Harry. (If what Harry did to Malfoy counts then why wouldn't this?) This means that the Elder wand now belongs to Dean. How does Dean find out? While sailing on the lake by Hogwarts his boat tips and he drops his wand into the lake. He borrows someone else's wand and says "Accio Wand." Instead of summoning the wand that's sinking to the bottom of the lake it calls the Elder Wand, which bursts out of Dumbledore's tomb and flies to him.
That's the long way of saying "I don't buy Harry's little sermon about removing the power of the wand."
Question:
I thought that when Harry and Ron were in Slytherin's dungeon disguised as Crabbe and Goyle that Malfoy mentioned that his dad had stuff hidden under the floor of the Malfoy mansion. Did that ever show up latter in the series?
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But on the whole I must bow before Rowling's genius. Harry Potter is a marvelous creation. I had a blast reading the books. Still I think The Prizoner of Azkaban is my favorite.
