Poor Ron

Many of my friends who have blogs have sidebars listing the books they're reading. If I were to do that, I'd be posting Harry Potter 7 this coming Saturday ... and be deleting it from the list by Sunday evening. Yes, it's true; I'll devour Deathly Hallows in a day. Sad. But there you have it.

But Rowling's cloak of secrecy seems to be holding, permitting fools like me to make their predictions now ... so you can laugh at me on Monday.

Harry remains the boy who lives. Voldemort dies (remember, only one of them can live, and there's no way Rowling will let nasty old Tom live while Our Hero dies). Poor Ron; he gets it, too. Heroically, I suspect. But fatally, just the same. There may be some others for whom the bell tolls, like Wormtail and Sirius's charming cousin, and maybe Draco's old man, too.

Dumbledore stays dead, by the way. He can't come back; one of the recurring themes of the series is that death isn't the worst thing. Indeed, the epitome of evil is he-who-is-afraid-to-die. So the Book 6 farewell to Dumbledore was for real. But, hey, at least we still have his animated portrait.

What happens to Snape? He'll be revealed to have been acting in concert with Dumbledore throughout, and he and Harry forgive and reconcile -- remember, the other overarching theme is forgiveness. A corollary is the theme of redemption, and that'll save Draco ... although he and Harry will always be hostile and mutually suspicious, and undoubtedly carry that animosity into adulthood.

What happens with Harry and Ginny? C'mon, can we really wonder? They'll ride off into a passionate sunset ... incidentally healing the wound left bleeding by Ron's demise.

Hermione will have to get by without Ron, or Krum, for that matter. That's okay; she's destined to be the preeminent witch of her time, and will ultimately succeed McGonagall.

Neville will play a key role in a final struggle, come into his own, win respect and hook up with Luna. Lupin and Tonks will get together, too.

And no, this is NOT the final book. However, we may not know this for years. For that matter, Rowling may not know this for years. But sooner or later, she's going get tired of being merely rich and famous, and will have to deal with Harry as an auror, papa and house-husband, and with Hermione as the talented and fascinating intellectual leader of tomorrow's witches and wizards. She'll be the headmistress of the Hogwarts of the future, while Harry and Draco will continue their life-long rivalry whilst teaching Defense against the Dark Arts and Potions, respectively. I'm not sure about Ginny, but she certainly isn't her mother.

Okay, start laughing.

Note: this was originally posted on ketches, yaks & hawks 17 July 2007