Building the Hype... as if she needed to

Taking a break from politics, since everything's boring me right now. (Gee, are we surprised that the Treason Times leaked a government secret? Are we surprised that a CIA person's identity who hadn't been undercover in 6 years is supposedly a terrible leak needing a full investigation and indictments, whereas leaking methods our government is using to fight terrorism and keep us safe is no big deal?) Yawn. Personally, if we want to find out what N. Korea's up to, I'd set up a NYT office there and tell them that the leader's name is Kim Jong Bush. We'd know all of his secrets in no time...

So back to this political break. I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan. As in read the books about 6 times. They are fabulous --if anyone still thinks they're just "kids' books," you're crazy and are seriously missing out on the work of an ingeniously talented writer. She derives names from Latin, from stars, from historical figures, people theorize she bases plots and storylines on alchemy, etc., she draws social parallels to racism and our current fight against terrorism. Not to mention that they're incredibly enjoyable to read --you literally do get lost in them.

As if Book 7 won't already be the most hyped literary event the world has ever seen, J.K. leaked some tantalizing info. in a recent interview. She's had the final chapter of book 7 written since before she wrote book 1 and she told us that she recently went back and gave a character she was going to kill off a reprive, but in their place is killing off two others. (she hinted they would be main characters) Not sure what the Vegas odds will be... I will confess, this is all I can think of since I've heard about the interview.

I thought I had it all figured out on my way home from work yesterday --Ron got the reprive and instead Fred and George will die (2 for 1, and you can't expect all of the Weasleys to make it through alive). After talking this over with some other Potter fans, I'm less sure of myself. After all, Fred and George are great, but they're not exactly main characters.

Clearly, Voldemorte is going to die. I'd wager Hagrid and Lupin will also kick it. I think Neville will likely die --who knows, though? He has some scores to settle, that's for sure. (All I can say is that Neville or Lupin better take Bellatrix with them!) Also think Draco will go.

In regards to Snape --I believe he's actually still on the good side --we still don't know the real reason Dumbledore trusted him. (I have my suspicions there's more about Lily and Snape we don't know...) And there was one small section of book 6 in which Hagrid overhears Snape and Dumbledore arguing where Snape demands of Dumbledore something like "how do you know I still want to do it/go through with it?" I think Dumbledore knew he was a goner throughout the entire book and knew about the unbreakable vow and wanted Snape to be the one to kill him if it came to that. So I do think Snape will do something valiant in the end, maybe even die in the act of saving Harry or others. (though that would be very un-Snapelike, as we know he serves himself above all others...)

Though I do think that Harry is the 6th Horcrux, which leaves open a potential ending of him having to kill himself to rid the world of Voldemorte forever, I just can't see him dying at the end of the series. Who knows, though --JK is capable of anything. And she did hint in that interview that sometimes its a good idea for authors to kill off their famous characters so there can never be shoddy sequels written in the future by other authors...

The one person I would bet money on won't die is Hermione. I think she'll be OK.

Well, I could go on and on, talking myself into a number of scenarios. But for the record, I will stick to my original prediction that Ron got the reprive. If there are any Potter fans out there with more insights, please comment!