Missing portrait

(spoilers ahead for all you people from Mars who still haven't read the book)

I now have another query - on 'HP & DH" of course.

Everytime you read the book, new things strike you. At least, they do strike me.

Ok, the question is, why was there no portrait of Snape in the Headmaster's study when Harry, Ron and Hermione go in there at the end?

Harry, of course, goes in to check with Dumby on what to do with the Hallows. But at the end of book 6, there was a new portrait of Dumby in the room as soon as he died. So why was there not one of Snape, as he had been the Headmaster and had died by then? (Hopefully, Harry would have been humane enough to bury Snape next to Lily).

Also, very conveniently for Harry, he starts reading Voldy's moods again throughout this book. How did this change, from Book 6, when Voldy was employing Occlumency against Harry so he could not read his thoughts? I guess Voldy had other things on his mind in this book...

I am very nearly obssessed, need to get off Potteritis soon... anyway, answers anyone?

And hopefully, no one will still want me to put up spoilers now... but maybe I should, just in case...

HP & Deathly Hallows - thoughts from second reading

I still don't get why Dumby had to be downsized in stature - he was such a towering impressive figure in all the other books. Maybe just so Harry would find everything harder and still triumph in the end? And also to fit in the Deathly Hallows etc?

And if Marvolo (Voldy grandpa) was a Peverell and Harry is also the last of another Peverall line, does this mean Harry and Voldy are distantly related? Is that why Tom Riddle felt there was a strange likeness between himself and Harry ? (Book 2)

And I noticed just now that Harry does not kill even one Horcrux in this book, although he did start the process in Book 2. Funnily enough, even Crabbe (or is it Goyle) gets to kill one (unknowingly of course) using Fiendfyre.

I was thrilled to see I had guessed right about three things,after finishing Book 6:

1. That RAB would be Regulus Black and that he may not have destroyed the Horcrux.
2. That Dumbledore's photo in the principal's study would play its part in helping Harry.
3. And that Snape wasn't as bad as he seemed to be - and he's probably one of the best characters Rowling's created. So effective and after being such a heel to Harry in all the books, he still earns our sympathy when we get to hear his true story. Truly, I ended up feeling he may have been a better man than James Potter. Although Rowling did her best to confuse us by showing Snape making the Unbreakable Vow, killing Dumby etc, so that we wouldn't figure out where his loyalties lay.

The last chapter was a lost cause. I could and did work out that Victoire was Bill and Fleur's daughter, but how on earth was 19-year-old Teddy Tonks on the Hogwarts train? Don't students finish with Hogwarts by the time they are 17? And too many kids and too many names in this chapter. I liked the bit about Albus Severus, though.

Also not sure how Kreacher, whom we last saw in 12 Grimmauld Place, turns up to join all the other house elves in the Battle of Hogwarts.

Pettigrew's death was a loser and Dobby's death was terribly sad. Bellatrix's end was satisfying, although I would have loved it if Neville or Lupin (before he died) had been the ones to kill her.

But what a wonderful way in which Rowling has fitted all the charaters together. What a read. What a read!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Stayed up way past midnight on Saturday (July 21)to finish reading this one.

Maybe I should put up a spoiler alert before talking any more about it.

The good news for me is that Rowling kept deaths to the minimum - if even so many didn't die, You-Know-Who kind of loses his scare appeal, doesn't he? Some of the deaths are really, really sad. And again, there are soemtimes sections of the book that are very depressing (unlike the previous book). This one's a bit like 'Order of the Phoenix'.

And JK being JK, almost all the loose threads from the previous books are neatly tied up, thanks to the ever-convenient Pensieve and a chance encounter Harry has, titled 'King's Cross'. I say almost, as I am still not sure about a couple of them. Will revise the book to see if I have missed it...

I wished she hadn't painted Dumbledore in so many shades of grey - but I guess the end justifies the means.

And the biggest surprise is how Harry manages to destroy the Horcruxes (come on, you knew that this book was only about how Harry manages to do that). Hermione and Ron actually get to destroy one each. And unbelievably, Neville destroys one more. And the last one is destroyed by none other than You-Know-Who himself....hard to believe? But that is the truth. Hats off to Rowling for that one.

And for all of you out there, if you still haven't read it, do. It is well worth it.

There, a review without giving away too much of what really happens.

More than 100 hits in two days and not one comment!! So what does that tell me? It tells me that I've successfully managed to do something to vanish the comments section ...have to work on this...

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Saw HP and the Order of the Phoenix last night. And actually, I found it well-made and quite crisp. Enjoyed it. It was as good a movie can be when you take out the 1000 extra details that can figure only in a book.

Can hardly wait for Book #7.