When I heard the release date for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" I planned to write-up some predictions of what would happen in this final installment. Of course I kept putting it off and putting it off, July 21 always seemed like the distant future. Yesterday I saw a sign at a bookstore reminding me that only six days remained until the release. So I guess I'll have a high school flashback and crank out a paper the night before it's due with a complete lack of supporting research.

Let's get these out of the way.. yes, I'm a fan of Harry Potter books. Go ahead and make fun of me. Also, chances are some of these predictions are on other sites or "what will happen in Harry Potter 7" books. I'm not intentionally lifting any material. I think given the clues in the books it's reasonable that readers will draw similar conclusions.

Anyway, here are the predictions - when I finish the book I'll go back and review how close/off I was on these:

• Snape is not evil, sure he's a jerk but not evil. Not only that but he'll be the one to finish off Voldemort. A decent amount of time has been spent establishing that Harry is neither powerful enough nor dark enough to cast an "unforgivable curse". In about one second it was established that Snape clearly can. Sure, by destroying horcruxes Harry will contribute to Voldemort's demise but won't be able to seal the deal. I'm picturing a scene late in the book where Snape (still assumed to be evil) is interrogating Harry about which horcruxes he's found.



• By the end of the book Harry will no longer have magical abilities. J.K. Rowling has made it apparent that she does not wish to continue the Harry Potter story after this book (or have it continued after she's gone - think of J.R.R. Tolkein). There are two ways to accomplish this 1) kill Harry or 2) make him not a wizard. Baring some incredibly lame Dallas-esque dream ending, I think Harry has to sacrifice his magical abilities to defeat Voldemort (maybe eliminating Voldemort's in the process). He'll go on to lead a happy, normal life.
  • Yeah so why won't she just kill him, it sounds easier? There are a few reasons why I think Harry will be alive and well at the end:
    • J.K. Rowling is planning a book tour in the US this fall, do you think she wants to confront an endless line of angry fans?
    • If she has any intention of these books living on then Harry needs to survive. My daughter's not old enough to read yet, when she is I'd like to pass along the Harry Potter books. I'd be less likely if they had some horrible ending; I imagine the same goes for all parents.
    • Harry is based off her own son (the name at least). It seems unlikely she'd kill of a character she presumably cares for.



• Hogwart's will be open and Harry will go back. He's not going back out of a strong desire to complete his education of course. There's Dumbledore's pensive and collection of memories he needs access too. He'll also want to talk to Slughorn about hocruxes and Hagrid about the night his parents were murdered, Hogwarts seems like the logical place for these conversations. There will be plenty of time spent away from Hogwarts too. Once Harry turns 17, and the protection on his aunt & uncle's house expires, he'll travel to Godric's Hollow. Over Christmas break he'll also leave campus after uncovering the location of another horcrux. He'll skip exams and have the big final confrontation at the end of the school year. 



• The identity of "R.A.B." is Sirius' younger brother Regulus who is mentioned in books 5 & 6. This seems like a no-brainer. The missing locket is, or at least was, in number twelve Grimmauld Place. Either Kreacher or Mundungus took it though so there will be some effort to find it. I think it's most likely that Kreacher stashed it somewhere in his closet.



• Book 7 will be a bloodbath, the following characters are dead for sure:
  • Voldemort
  • Wormtail
  • Lupin - it's a "passing of the guard" thing, the last "marauder" unfortunately has to die
  • Bellatrix Lestrange (or at least locked away in Azkaban again)
  • Kingsley Shaklebolt - at least one major auror goes down in the action, he seems most likely to go because he's the most high-profile one, plus there's the matter of payback for the battle at the Department of Mysteries 



• On the other hand, the following characters have virtually no chance of dying:
  • Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville, Luna - I think the core group will survive more or less intact
  • The Dursleys
  • McGonagall
  • Fudge, Percy, Umbridge or any of the beaurocrats that we'd all be happy to see go
  • Draco - at the end of "Half-Blood Prince" he's almost sympathetic, someone in way over his head, I can even see a scenario where his mother sacrifices herself to save him



• Anyone else not listed above has about a 50/50 chance of dying during the course of Deathly Hallows. Despite the body count I think this will be a thoroughly enjoyable book. I'm pretty excited to (hopefully) see Harry and his friends stand triumphant at the end. I also expect to see some pieces from all the previous books connected in ways that seem genius, yet obvious. There will be a lot of "duh, how did I miss that!?" moments. 

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