And it ends....

If you have NOT read Deathly Hallows you are about to be spoiled:







I just finished my 2nd reading and I am even happier with the book then I was on my 1st reading.

I will admit that the only thing I did not like in the book was the use of "Sev" in the Prince's Story. That annoying nickname is now canon.
Ugh.

To me the deaths, even Snape's are all about the randomness of violence and how even after you have devoted your life to something you just might get screwed in the end and die alone and unloved, but I'm pretty cynical that way.
He was always gonna die. Would I have preferred a more glorious one for Snape?
Well sure.
But he was a man who never grew up, who could not get past his horrible childhood nor his 1st love or his childhood rivals.
He was not even close to being a nice person.
He was a bitter git who was ruled by his insecurities and petty hatreds.
Which is what makes him so compelling...plus he could fly.

I like Dumbeldore much more now that we know his shades of gray could be quite dark.
There is a nice tension between Dumbeldore growing and learning from his insight into his flaws whereas Severus never could.
He could not see why Lily turned her back on him, he could not see why it was NOT ok with her that he did not think she was a "mudblood", but all the rest of the muggle borns were, he could not understand that he was making the wrong choices that she could no longer support.
Tough love, eh.
He only turned aganist Voldemort because of his obsessive love for Lily he could care less about Harry or even the fight between the dark and the light.

Though I did like how he told Phinius not to call Hermonie a "mudblood".

I like that JK makes it clear in her interview that he was "immensely brave" but not really a hero. I also like it fits in with the whole "don't judge a book by its cover" theme that runs though out the books.

BUT she does throw us a bone in that we do not have a funeral or a headmaster’s portrait on the wall.
No one will ever make me believe Snape was not prepared for Nagini ...well at least until she says "he is dead" or puts a date of death in her encyclopedia.

While I wish Neville had killed Bella (and really he could have never beat her and in the end he was a hero by killing that damn snake) I thought Molly was made of awesome and deserved to seek retribution on those who had decimated her family.
Plus one of the main themes of the books was what love, a mother's love, could accomplish.
It turned Narcissa into a traitor (and how much I love the fact that in the end the only thing the Malfoys really cared about was Draco), made Molly a warrior and saved Harry's life.

On a forum someone was upset that Molly "who has not done anything for the Order" all of a sudden turned out to be this bad ass and that she did not deserve the glory of killing Bella.
I disagree that what Molly was doing was not useful to the order.
She provided a warm place in a cold world for order members, a place to meet, a place to find sustenance and companionship and proved once again that there is no such thing as "just a housewife".

Of course all the deaths made me weep.
Though I think Dobby's was the most unexpected and tragic....but we should have known Bella liked to play with knives. I actually cannot think of Fred without tearing up.
War is cruel.
I could go on and on...I feel drained and happy to see that Harry goes on to live a life of joy with the family he always wanted.