A different Deathly Hallows game

[dolorous_ett]

Everyone is doing the Deathly Hallows meme, and doing it surpassingly well. I'm so impressed by all the pithily expressed theories and charming turns of phrase that I'm convinced that there's nothing I can say that hasn't been said far better by at least one member of my flist.

So - I suggest a different Deathly Hallows game. 

Reply to this post with a question (or more than one if you like) about my thoughts on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I will reply with the answer, and give you a question in return.

Comments

[tree_and_leaf]

What are you most looking forward to?

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

I'm most looking forward to reading brand new Harry Potter by the real author!

If you mean "what thing do you most want to read?", I'm most looking forward to the thing I didn't expect - I always get most pleasure out of being completely surprised.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Oops - forgot to ask - will Ron do something no-one else can do in order to help win the day? If so, what?

(sorry - I really feel I should have phrased this more clearly...)

[tree_and_leaf]

I hope that we'll see Ron using his much vaunted tactical skills, as in the chess game in PS.

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

What role would you like Grawp to play in the book (assuming that it can't be identical to his role in "Furious Wielder of Storms"?)

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

What? Are you suggesting that "Furious Wielder of Storms" is not canon? *storms off in a furry*

*comes back*

Good question, actually. I would like Grawp to be able to talk, have a proper speaking part and for it to be an important part of the plot because he has information vital to the Cause.

Though I suspect he'll just be useful muscle. And probably cannon fodder, alas.

I just want more Grawp - he could be so many exciting things! (Also, is it very wrong of me to want to sit back and enjoy the Grawphate wank when (OK, if) he appears in the book and is useful and important and sympathetic?)

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Argh! Forgot your question! I'm an idiot!

Which fanfic (or series of) have you read that you think is likely to contain the most accurate predictions for Book 7?

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's really hard -- I've just realized that I haven't read all that much Book 7-style fanfic. I'm going to go with "Something Better than This" by persephone_kore (who really needs to go ahead and finish the story, by the way!) because I think we will see time travel and Founders background, although perhaps not quite in the way she sets it up.

[aerama.livejournal.com]

*has totally missed that meme*
Oh well, I'd started the Last Paragraph meme with the aid of minnow_53!!! *claim to fame*
*muppets burst into applause*

Question:
What kind of part, if any, should Crabbe and Goyle be given in the last book? Copious amounts of owls can be included.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

I would love copious amounts of owls to be the fate of Canon!Crabbe, but I realise that would be asking too many favours of JKR!

I think that now they're on their own and are forced to think for themselves, you may see some wavering of loyalty to the Death Eaters - or completely unrelated aims. At any rate, if they appear I suspect (and hope) we'll see them as more individuals, with separate loyalties and ambitions that don't always match.

If a guinea pigg appears in Book 7, where will it appear and what will be its role?

[aerama.livejournal.com]

If a guinea pigg appears in Book 7, where will it appear and what
will be its role?

Right at the last battle, of course!

Guinea pig: *wanders onto field of Last Battle* My, there sure are some good eats around here!
Pigg: *commences eating*
Harry: *comes perilously close to pigg whilst fighting Voldemort*
Voldemort: *comes perilously close to pigg whilst fighting Harry*
Pigg: Huh. Wonder what they're doing. Ooh, look at that patch of clover!
Harry: *executes stunning defense block on Voldemort*
Pigg: Bit windy around here all of a sudden. My, this clover in good. *munch munch munch*
Voldemort: *makes spectacular leap over Harry*
Pigg: Gosh, you guys are noisy. Yum! This clover is exactly what I wanted! *munch munch munch*
Harry: *trips over pigg and lands on pigg's patch of clover*
Voldemort: *trips over Harry and lands on pigg's patch of clover*
Pigg: THIEVES! ATTACK! *SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAK!*
Voldemort: *disintegrates*
Hermione: Of course! A high-pitched sound generated at an angry frequency from a low point on the ground will always shatter an evil being who has Horcruxed himself!
Pigg: *is still pissed off*
Harry: *is out of a job*

THE END

[themolesmother.livejournal.com]

Ron and Hermione. Happily Ever After? Or not?

MM

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Too early to say. We don't usually decide our whole lives at 18. If I'd been forced to marry my boyfriend of 18 I dread to think what my life would be like.

In the short term, they'll probably get together.

Do you think we'll get to see Tracey Davis take a bigger role in Book 7?

[themolesmother.livejournal.com]

I doubt it, though JKR does have a habit of bringing in new characters with each book.

I don't know what I'd do if she did. I've got very fond of my Tracey.

MM

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

What fairly common fandom theory/desire for DH strikes you as utterly implausible never ever going to happen?

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

What fairly common fandom theory/desire for DH strikes you as utterly implausible never ever going to happen?

I've seen this twice on my flist in the course of the meme - does it count?

The theory is that Hagrid is marked for death for reasons of alchemy associated with the colour red. It obviously makes sense to someone, but I can't see it myself - quite apart from the fact that I don't want Hagrid to die (which I admit is not relevant), there's no evidence that I can see that alchemy's a part of JKR's world - I do realise there's a Philosopher's Stone, but people who crave alchemical or Crowleyite "magickal" elements in the books are always disappointed. I don't see why things should be any different this time.

Now my question: What plot device from the last book is just a whopping great red herring?

[tunxeh.livejournal.com]

I'm not nineveh_uk, but I have an answer to that question: love potions! Not so much a red herring as they actually appear in the book with the amortentia, Ron poisoning scene *uses Romilda icon*, and Merope, but they have become as big a red herring as invisibility cloaks and time turners in fandom's wacky theories about other people who might have used love potions.

[greenwoodside.livejournal.com]

Peter - will he change sides, and why will he/won't he?

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

I don't think Peter will change sides - why bother, if his reward would be being sent straight to Azkaban?

I do think he might end up helping Harry's cause,and possibly quite a lot - but it will be for reasons of his own, not out of a hope to come over to the cause of good and right - rather like the way Wormtongue took out Saruman.

Do you think quidditch will be important in Book 7?

[tunxeh.livejournal.com]

Where is JKR going with the subplots involving the corrupt and ineffectual government of the wizarding world, the secrecy act, oppression of non-humans, etc.? Will the wizarding world be destroyed and the magic lost, continue as it was before Voldemort, merge with the Muggle world, or something else?

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

I hope it won't be destroyed - and it seems to me unlikely that the magic gets lost.

I also think it unlikely that they'd come out to the Muggles - there's altogether too much resistance to that in Wizarding society. Even if they were exposed by something quite huge I think they'd find a way to weasel out of it - not necessarily a terribly Muggle-friendly way either!

I think we'll see some very shaken people revaluating some of their old certainties - and probably a big shake-up in the way the Wizarding world is goverened. But I don't expect anything more than that. This is a story about a boy who kills an evil wizard, not The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - that work is waiting for fandom to write it!

Your question: Who would you like to see more of in DH? Do you think you're going to get your wish? Why (why not?)

[snorkackcatcher]

Do you think that the actions against the Muggle government/introduction of PM as a character/Kingsley's presence in his office are significant for anything in DH, or just a one-time backgrounder?

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

I suspect just a one-off. I don't think any of the HP books have anything more than the haziest connections to Muggle life.

Though now I do have a sudden urge to write a Yes Minister crackfic featuring Bernard!Kingsley - all your fault!

Your question: How much do you think DH could affect your fanfic? And will you continue to write fanfic once it comes out?

[dbassassin.livejournal.com]

In an interview just after the release of OotP (and in response to all the "OMG she killed Sirius!!!" wank) JKR mentioned that we wouldn't see him "alive" again in the story. In view of that (assuming it wasn't one of her plethora of red herrings) which do you think is more likely:

1) Harry manages to find a way to communicate with Sirius, or
2) Harry takes a trip to the underworld/afterlife, a la Orpheus, and meets up with Sirius and/or his parents?

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

On the whole I think 1) - 2)would take a lot of time to set up, and we've no foreshadowings about the wizarding afterlife.

If he does communicate with Harry, I think it's more likely to be via a portrait. Or by letter. (unless he's somehow managed to make a horcrux out of Kreacher... no, that wouldn't work, would it?)

Your question: Who do you think is going to be the Unlikely Hero(ine) of the Hour?