Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

[thescarletwoman]

Number 32nd to get my book and got my picture taken a TON of times last night. :D the suggestion to go as Trelawney was absolutely brilliant.

Also? I TOTALLY cleaned up during the great Snape debate. I even got the girl who was running it, who thought he was evil to agree with me.

Start time: 12:49
End time: 7:49

Seven Hours on the dot and two pots of tea later... Also got through the soundtracks of all 5 movies once and am halfway through CoS as we speak.

Really -- hard to imagine that we now have closed canon. Really, really hard to imagine. I'm just... very depressed. Not because of the deaths, but because -- that's it. This is the end and there will be no more midnight book releases to stand in line for. I just feel... like I've lost a huge 'thing' when I closed the book.

I will say? I liked it. Overall it was good. Still doesn't read like JKR's writing style to me though.

All that's in here right now are my initial reactions. I'm a 'speed' reader, but I still took my time as I didn't want it to be over in just 4 hours. Over the next couple of days I want to re-read to really get my thoughts down on each chapter. But right now -- the first initial thoughts.


I'll start with the most important thing.

REEEEEMUS! *SOB* *WHIMPER* *SOB* *FLAIL*

I feel like I've been punched in the gut repeatedly. I was txting jateshi while reading it and she warned me near chapter 33 that she was sobbing. I hit the end of 32 into 33? I was a fucking wreck. Still am, actually.

I've RPed him for 5+ years. It's like losing a best friend, no matter how silly that sounds. At least I still have my current RPGs. Thank fucking god.

My thoughts are going to be so incoherent right now as I'm basically running on about 3 hours of sleep.

I'm still so depressed that Remus is dead. Really, really, really depressed. I knew he was marked for death but still. WOE. And not to go off against the Remus/Tonks shippers... it's still the way it was handled. Besides, you know the slashers are going to jump on his reluctance to mention that he was married or the pregnancy and everything else.

Snape's death: Okay, this I was happy with. Well, not happy that Snape is dead of course, but happy that he wasn't killed to sacrifice himself for Harry. I sobbed for a solid five minutes after I read his death. Then Remus' about 5 pages later? Yeah, Lia was (and still is) a wreck. And then the memories 'leaking' out of him? Um... If that's the case, why doesn't EVERYONE bleed memories like that when they die?

Molly Weasley = FTW. Molly gets the gold star in this. Seriously.

Percy: ZOMG Percy! I'm actually glad to see him back and redeemed.

Snape's innocence: I love that I nailed EVERY reason as to why he was good -- save that he did it all for Lily. It's one of those theories I've agreed with for a while just, didn't exactly expect it in the book. But that he did something to make Dumbledore believe him good. To the merciful death. To everything. It was the reason I cleaned up during the Great Snape Debate. Right down to Dumbledore asking him because he knew Severus would give him a merciful death.

The Hallows: I actually liked this chapter and the whole thing surrounding it. I thought it was a cool story and LOVED the wandlore that came with this book. Being the geek for that side of things I absolutely loved it.

The Deaths: Okay -- seriously. This was like Rocks fall, everyone dies. I swear so many of the main and majorly loved characters kicked the bucket so there couldn't be any more books. I will admit, I only teared up a little bit with Fred's death. Dude, though, doing the whole godfather thing with Harry and then her killing of my baby and Tonks? *shakes head*

Voldemort: TOTALLY pwned. And I cannot fucking WAIT to see Ralph play this. ZOMG.

Malfoy Manor: Peacocks. Dude. Just... yes.

Aberforth: I LOVED that he had so much time in this too. And the goat. And the goat patronus for the win.

Dumbledore!backstory: I liked seeing into this side of him. And I suppose the 'articles' were slightly better than always seeing the Pensieve. Maybe.

The Epilogue: If I wasn't so totally against destroying books, I'd rip it out. When I first read those scanned copies of the epilogue floating around I would have SWORN it was a hoax. The writing is so juvenille. And Jesus H Christ on a Cracker: Albus Severus? Kids named Lily and James? That's the shit I stay AWAY from on the Pit of Voles. Fucking hell.

Comments

[idleleaves.livejournal.com]

*WAILS* ._. Yeah, I pretty much needed BOXES of tissues.

it's still the way it was handled.

Yep. The parts we saw of it were just... off. But I don't think JKR is that great at writing adult romantic relationships, so I choose to fill in the blanks with things that make the canon make more sense.

The epilogue--the part that proved to me that this is still a book for kids. I facepalmed.

[thescarletwoman.livejournal.com]

I'm STILL sniffing about it and I read the deaths 2 hours ago. *needs to write happy, smutty pre-DH-era fic*

But I don't think JKR is that great at writing adult romantic relationship
I don't know if that's it or not. There were just parts that seemed so off and so... blech-ish. Remus' death notwithstanding.

[idleleaves.livejournal.com]

I think it's probably part of it, but I can't put my finger on what the other part is.

Although, I did think the bit with the stone was wonderful, and I'm glad she at least gave him, after all of what he'd been through, some happiness before the end.

*flails*

*flails more*

*flails a LOT*

And on a completely different note, I never though I'd feel sorry for Snape, but I do.

[thescarletwoman.livejournal.com]

I might put my finger on it when I'm not... running on about 6 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours.

I have always been a fan of Snape (even if I couldn't write him in smutty fanfic for the longest time) After RPing and writing Snupin for the past 2 years, I have grown to love him very much.

*is in mourning*

*flails with you*

*sobs on your shoulder*

[idleleaves.livejournal.com]

... Possibly more sleep might do it, yeah.

I've always been intrigued by Snape, although I don't think I could call myself a fan. Now, though. Yes.

*offers shoulder*

*wails*

[sinspired.livejournal.com]

I think the memories only leaked out because Snape wanted them to... Memories had to be given.

I am very happy with my Thought-XP batting average on this book, though. :)

[thescarletwoman.livejournal.com]

It just seemed odd and suddenly there to serve a purpose, you know? A "oh, must tell Snape's story so let's have him leak all his memories to Harry!"

I was happy with mine as well. Save the doing it all for Lily I nailed EVERY reason why Snape was still good. Along with the Horcruxes too -- though I really didn't want to have Nagini and Harry be ones.

[caretta.livejournal.com]

I think it was to tell Harry about being a Horcrux. I have a feeling he was trying to tell him during the book (when he was trying to get McGonagall to tell him Potter was there and trying to get Voldemort to let him go after Harry), but he was never able to get a hold on him. I'm not sure why he leaked those other memories; perhaps he finally thought it was time for people to understand him. Who knows?

[sinspired.livejournal.com]

Well... Memories can be faked, right? So why would Harry have believed him if he didn't tell the whole truth?

Not to mention, no one else would know...

Harry was there.

[kerryblaze.livejournal.com]

I was on a serious avoiding spoilers and a friend told me about the leaked epilogue because she was and then so was I so sure it was a fake. I feel the same way that you do.

[thewlisian-afer.livejournal.com]

I just gotta say, I've been doing the happy dance for days over the way Remus acted/reacted to his entire relationship with Tonks. Because it means that I've been completely unable to write Remus/Tonks with Froda without feeling like it was completely wrong because that's how he reacted according to the person who created him. And now that I know that this is because I'm writing him correctly instead of because I can't write him for shit, unless her Tonks muse fizzles, Froda and I will now be able to go back and write all the off-screen Remus/Tonks stuff that we've been trying to write for ages! I'm kind of excited. :D

However, I'm also totally depressed. haha. Earlier in a comment, I explained to someone exactly what it meant that I had been preparing for Remus' death since he showed up in PoA:

Sweetheart, "prepared" for Remus' death just means I've bee imagining it and crying over it for years. I read the leaked copy of the book, sped through the five stages of grief in one day, and then reverted back to the first one, going back into denial and hoping that the leak was a fake. When I got my book at midnight and flipped through to see if it was the same and discovered it was, I was devastated all over again. At one point on the way home I had to pull the car over to cry a little bit. And now as I'm reading it over, I'm finding that I have to take breaks every now and then to curl up and close my eyes and relax myself again. At the moment, I'm just checking my flist and email before going back to reading after slightly more than an hour of thinking and sniffling and trying desperately not to sob thanks to Harry and Remus' argument.

I can't imagine what I would be like right now if I hadn't been getting ready for this for years and if I hadn't been spoiled and had that buffer time of hoping against all hope that it wasn't real.

I freely admit how unhealthy this is.

[thewlisian-afer.livejournal.com]

P.S. I think I'm going to buy another copy of the book, remove the epilogue, write "FAIL" in large red letters over every page, and mail it to JRo.

[thewlisian-afer.livejournal.com]

P.P.S. because I can't keep track of my thoughts well enough to combine them into one comment, apparently...

remus_lives

[mad_maudlin]

I think the problem with Remus/Tonks is that there's WAY too much character stuff going on there, and it's way too far offstage. I swear Remus is bipolar in this book, because it seems like every time Harry sees him he's either OMGYAY or OMG RARR over something, and to fill in the blanks she either has to dump exposition or just throw things at us out of the blue.

And for what? What does it really add to the story? Well, it gives us tiny bits of information about Merope Gaunt, and Tonks's Patronus changing foreshadows the revelation about Snape's. And, of course, it allows her to PILE ON THE ANGST. Teddy Lupin has no signficance except as a source of angst for Harry, and a vague suggestion of parallelism between Harry-Sirius and Teddy-Harry that's never borne out. It's really the only element of the book I felt she screwed up, but man, she screwed up bad.

[sinspired.livejournal.com]

I was suspicious that he was under an Imperious curse, actually. That might have been the point.

Remember, the beginning of the relationship was off screen as well.

[mad_maudlin]

Yeah, I had that suspicion as well, especially when Lupin was all, "I wanna come with you, Harry! Let's be a gang!" But it just turned out he is crazy. And now he is dead. And there can be a weird Blackcestual threesomes in the afterlife. :-D

[r-grayjoy.livejournal.com]

Just a drive-by note here. Do NOT be upset about Remus. I just got back to the hotel after spending the most AWESOME day at Sectus -- which included the Snupin 'State of the Ship' Meeting that I held (as well as a similar meeting for Snarry). Initially I was pretty pissed off at the treatment Remus got in the book, and was fairly worried about the future of the Remus or Snape or Snupin fandom. I'm not anymore. We found SO MANY positive ways to view the progression of his character in DH, and SO MANY ways to continue writing him. I can't wait to see the new Snupin dynamic in action. I won't go into a lot of detail right now, but we'll talk soon. I am SO EXCITED.

P.S. - The general concensus is that the epilogue sucks rocks. I think we've all agreed to pretend it doesn't exist... since technically, it hasn't happened yet... :D

[thescarletwoman.livejournal.com]

I still am though. You know JUST how much he is my baby and all my feelings about him. *still is sniffling*

When you have a chance (and omg -- I can't WAIT to talk to you about how London/Sectus is going), send me an email or we can actually talk about the ways to view his character post-DH. I haven't lost the muse or the desire to write him at all just because he's dead in case you were concerned about that. But in any case, yes we really do need to talk.

I really feel like writing some fluffy Snupin set in book 7 as to WHY he's all muttery about Tonks being preggers. *shifty*

PS- DUDE. You have come up with the perfect answer as to why no epilogue. I ♥ you, you know that? :*

[katling73.livejournal.com]

Just a bit of a drive-by...

I figure that the reason Severus (Yes, I call him Severus because I play him in an RPG) was leaking all those memories is because he truly wanted Harry to know about them, to take them and to watch them. He needed Harry to see them, for many reasons. They were kind of his "deathbed confession" and his last chance for any kind of absolution from people.

[avengangle.livejournal.com]

Finished in 4 hours 'cause I'm a snot. :)

Molly Weasley totally rules everything. She wins.

I also loved Aberforth, and Dobby, and etc. so forth.

The epilogue was kinda silly, but it made me feel a little better. I think she wrote the epilogue about 7 years ago and didn't feel like revising it. I was also irked with the kids' names. Albus Severus is going to be beat up every day of his elementary school life.

But whatever. :) TTYL!!!

[kimby77.livejournal.com]

And then the memories 'leaking' out of him? Um... If that's the case, why doesn't EVERYONE bleed memories like that when they die?

I thought he was consciously letting them go to Harry, but yeah, I dunno.


The Hallows: I actually liked this chapter and the whole thing surrounding it. I thought it was a cool story and LOVED the wandlore that came with this book. Being the geek for that side of things I absolutely loved it.

Omg, I just... loved how fairy tales fit into things. And the wandlore. It was a deeper side to the way magic works than we had seen before, I think. And just.... fairy tales being something so common... that parents read to their kids before bed... and then turning out it's real? SO AWESOME.

Voldemort: TOTALLY pwned. And I cannot fucking WAIT to see Ralph play this. ZOMG.

Omg how AWESOME will this movie be??? Can you just imagine. The whole thing was just, nonstop!!

..The epilogue left somethign to be desired. :/ Except for the Draco bit. :D

[jouez-moi.livejournal.com]

For the most part, agreed all around.

I am not sure that I want to live in a world without Remus, but then that is what MWPP games are for I suppose. I was never a big Remus/Tonks fan. I've seen it done right, but I'm more of a Remus ended up shagging his lover's cousin kinda girl. She is a metamorphagas. *sigh* It seemed rushed and artificial, always has.

Snape... turned out better than I thought when I read that the epilogue in all of its Albus Severus badness was real. OMG *twitch* I can't even... I just can't. But I was going to be really upset if Snape did a 180. It was obvious he was going to be good/trustworthy et al. But some warm and fuzzy "I love you man" was going to make me vomit. He got an honorable death, even if JKR seemed to suddenly let all of her creativity drain out of her like so many suddenly expelled random memory goops. Yea. Fucking weird that but one makes plot move how one must. And really, it would have been a cold day in hell before Sev sat down and explained that all to Harry.

So many deaths... so much to change. I do think I may need to embrace MWPP for a while while I figure out where to go. I'm not in love with the Snape loved Lily notion. I too thought it likely but hoped not. C'est la vie. It will be the one thing that makes MWPP a bit hard, as I often play Severus.

I did LOVE the fact that Malfoy loyalties belong basically to Malfoys. Bottom line, they are just good parents that love the spoiled little shite. And it kills me that they keep getting away with this shit.

Must sleep <3

[froda-baggins.livejournal.com]

I liked the Remus/Tonks. I'm devastated she killed them off. I loved the book to bits, otherwise.

[neshel.livejournal.com]

Ok, I liked the epilogue.

The whole Albus Severus bit was a really great way to show how, after all those years of loathing Snape, Harry truly appreciated and respected all his sacrifices.

And James and Lily? Duh, I'm not surprised there at all. A lot of people get named for grandparents, etc. And in this case its even more, say, expected because of their sacrifice, and the fact that Harry never got to grow up with them.

*shrugs* To each their own, I guess, but I thought it was nice. And it only showed their kids really, nothing on their, or anyone else's life after the war. So you can leave most of it to your imagination.

[aylaranzz.livejournal.com]

I really disliked the whole Remus/Tonks thing. It was just so out of nowhere and was just done poorly. Even if I wasn't such a diehard Sirius/Remus shipper I still wouldn't have liked it.

I loved that Percy came back! I cried cuz I was so happy that he returned and that the family accepted him back. OMG! It toally broke my heart when Percy wouldn't leave Fred's body. I loved that Molly killed Bella! That was awesome!

I was dissapointed with Snape's death. I always thought he'd die in some bigger way. Something more redeeming then getting bit by Nagini. I always knew he was on Dumbledore's side though.

The epilogue really annoyed me. That just didn't feel like it fit with the rest of the series. And what was with those names? JK has come up with so many weird/interesting names through out the series and she chooses those names? That was lame.