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He'd better stay dead. An underlying theme in the books which has been under fire by well-meaning parents is that it deals out death & destruction. Well duh. Bad things happen and cannot be undone. If Dumbledore isn't really dead, or is reanimated or something, that is at least as annoying as Shadow's revival, if not more so.

I may be an evil person, but I'd go for Harry & Voldy killing each other in some cataclysmic confrontation (uh-oh, the alliteration begins - my signal that I've been watching way too much Darkwing! biggrin ). It may be a little cliched, but it would be less so if they both stayed dead and one didn't turn out to have survived by some miracle.

I'm gonna have to remind myself what happened in Half-Blood Prince mind you - haven't read it since it came out (although in my defence I did read it through twice when I was supposed to be revising smile ).

DW

Yes, Harry and Voldemort will probably take each other out, but I think it's more likely to do with Harry being the last horcrux and not having a choice. I wouldn't even be surprised - after all this angst - if Harry goes berserk, goes too far, gets Voldemort's power somehow and taking him down is a mercy.

Although all we do know really is that it's got something to do with him having Lily's eyes and something wizards can do with 'em. Even Rowling's said that much.

I've been more inclined to see Neville as the one who's going to kill Harry ever since OotP. Theory on request.

Snape will probably die trying to help/save Harry - the por guy's been so maligned that only a grand and tragically permanent gesture will do.

She may not do cross-book foreshadowing, but randomly mentioning things in one book that become important two books later she did do, particularly in the early ones.

"I borrowed this motorbike from young Sirius Black" springs to mind...

Oh and Nuala, please consider me to have requested your theory smile

DW

Well, my theory follows exactly what you just said about minor, random things becoming important later.

Remember back to OotP - specifically, to the end of the big climactic battle, when everyone is turning to head home.

That entire scene ends on Neville fretting, worried that his grandmother's going to be angry with him for breaking his wand, because it was his father's.

Think back to book one, and what Mr. Olivander said about a wizard never being able to achieve their best results with another wizard's wand.

Yet Neville was the one who came on furthest in the DA (once he had a bit of confidence and a bit of help), and was suddenly at least as good as the rest of the group?

It doesn't add up.

Something tells me that Neville's got a far bigger role and far more power behind him than we've actually seen yet.

T'would make a lot of sense.
His parents were powerful/talented, after all.

No one's mentioned the new title finally revealed: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Wonder what it is that is sacred? Are we talking Hallowe'en (All Hallows' Eve) here? Or is the final battle on hallowed ground? Another graveyard? Lindisfarne or Whitby Abbey would be cool places, but potentially a little far south of Hogwarts smile

No release date yet published, as far as I can tell. Nothing on the publisher's website (Bloomsbury.com) or Amazon, anyhow.

Also, a random wander onto WB's Harry Potter website shows a UK release date for the film version of Order of the Phoenix: 13th July. Have I gone mad, or is that around Harry's birthday? Or was it later on in July? I'm feeling lazy, or I'd go dig out my books and look it up.

DW

Has anyone else seen the trailer for Order of the Phoenix yet?