Ten Bold Predictions: Number Four

I have a little over two weeks to go, so I figure I had better step it up in the whole "predictions" ring, especially since an early release of the novel sold at auction a couple of weeks ago for $18,000+ (I think that was the news I heard whilst driving to Indiana). I wouldn't want people to think I had an extra $18,000 to blow on early release Harry Potter editions. Because, you know, I wouldn't buy a new car or pay off my credit cards or put a down payment on a fairly nice house or anything like that. I'd go right for the children's lit section.

Prediction Four: Harry got the reprieve!

When I first figured out that Harry was the last horcrux, I immediately wondered if he would have to die. In my world, where I write the endings to books, he would die. And, for a long time, I'm pretty sure J.K. Rowling was in the same boat. She had said that there was absolutely no way that there would ever be any more Harry Potter books (being that she's a multi-billionaire at this point and wants to work on different stories, I tend to believe her). And, honestly, the way I see things working out, I don't blame her. She's written seven books now all about one kid growing up (okay, so it's three kids...four if you toss in Neville Longbottom), so why not make that series about a magical raccoon who shoots spells out of his butt?

[That's an obscure Robot Chicken reference, just in case you didn't get it (thus making it obscure).]

Anyway, it would make sense. Harry (and his friends) manage to pull the magical upset of the century and they beat Voldemort and send him on his merry way after completing the Triforce destroying all the horcruxes (except Harry) and squaring off against dark lord Gannon the dark wizard Voldemort. Then, in order to make sure that Voldemort doesn't sneak back, because Hermionie will have figured out the true nature of the scar, Harry makes sure he gets killed--probably at the hand of Wormtail, Peter Pettigrew. After all, Wormtail does owe Harry a bit of a favor, not to mention, that whole business with betraying Harry's parents.

However, a few months back, John Irving and Stephen King both went on a campaign to beg JKR NOT to kill off Harry. Evidently, they saw the finish of the story the same way I did, and that Harry had to die in order to really wrap things up. I think lots of other people saw it that way, too, and there was an outcry (I don't know if that's really the right word, but it fits) to save Harry from the fans.

A few months after that, J.K. Rowling came out and did an interview in which she stated that one of her characters got a "reprieve". In stead of the original plans to kill off two major characters, she would only kill one (which one? See prediction number two, forthcoming). The one who got the reprieve, I originally thought, was Dumbledore (though she claims he's really dead, ha, we all know the truth!). Then I realized that popular pressure had influenced her and she changed it to young Mr. Potter. So, instead of killing off Harry and one other, it's just the other--but his (or her) death is still tied to Harry.

But what of the scar? How to take care of that? We've heard for a long time now that the last word of the last book (Deathly Hollows) was "scar". How to get rid of Voldemort's soul from Harry's forehead without harming Harry?

Again, we'll have to leave this one up to Hermione, as she's the clever one. She'll be the one that realizes that the Dementors are the key to releasing Harry from Voldemort's curse. The Dementor's Kiss sucks the soul out of a person. So, if you have an extra piece of someone else's soul, one would think that that would go away, too. Harry will then have to allow himself to be "kissed" by a Dementor (they will be at the last battle, anyway, since Voldemort has gathered unto himself all of the non-human magical creatures of the world) just long enough for Voldemort's soul to be released from Harry's body. Then Ron will pop in, create a patronus, and scare off the Dementor, leaving Harry to recover with all the chocolate he'd ever want to eat.

How to know that the Dementor's kiss worked? The scar fades and disappears. Simple as that. The last line of the book will read something like "When he looked in the mirror, for the first time in his life, he did not see the scar. The End." Or some such. I won't pretend to know exactly how she'll word it, but that is probably pretty close. And that concludes prediction number four.

Spoiler-Free Harry Potter Post

I was reading this today about Helena Bonham-Carter's portrayal of dark witch Bellatrix Lestrange in the latest Harry Potter flick. At first, I thought it was the same ho-hum story about yet another bigger-named actor in one of the Potter flicks (especially since Bellatrix isn't all that involved in this episode).

But then my pretty little eyes lit upon this part:

"At first they thought, `Oh, we'll just put her in a sack,'" Bonham Carter said. "But I said, `There's no way I'm going to wear a sack. I've got to be a sexy witch.'"

"I wanted a sort of bodice thing to give me a shape," she said. "There is a bit of the warrior about her Bellatrix means warrior. She's the right-hand Death Eater to Voldemort.

"I also wanted everything to be splitting at the seams and a bit of `Sunset Boulevard' disintegration to be going on, because she's been in prison for so long. She has a very posh, aristocratic carriage, because she's pureblooded, but at the same time she's completely divorced from reality."

Oh hell yeah. It's not that I think Helena Bonham-Carter is hot, but she is fairly attractive and most definitely sexy. Especially with the accent. So, to hear she'll be filling a bodice to the utmost, well...sign me up. Especially with dark hair. Mmmm...talk about Witch-alicious.

Maybe I'll start rooting for the bad guys after this...

Ten Bold Predictions: Number Three

Here we come down the final stretch. I'm sad to say that I haven't yet seen the new movie, but I believe we're planning to catch it maybe next weekend after the crowds die down a little bit. From what I've read, I'm in for a treat.

Today's prediction isn't really startling news. I believe in an interview shortly after Half-Blood Prince came out, J.K. Rowling alluded to this prediction. However, she did not go into great detail, so that's where I come in. I guess this is only like a half prediction then. But, it sets up the next two prognostications, so there. It maybe be a half of a prediction, but it determines the fates of several characters.

Prediction Number Three: Voldemort was Not Alone!

For most of the books now, we've all been suffering under the distress of thinking that Voldemort acted alone when he went to Godric's Hollow lo those many years ago to kill James Potter and to horcruxify Harry. It just so happened that Lily Potter got in the way was killed. I don't believe that she was the main target, but a sort of collateral damage that came about after the dark lord's attack.

If Voldemort wasn't there by himself, then who was with him? Peter Pettigrew was probably there, and once the deed was done he went tearing off into the night to hunt down Sirius Black and frame him for Pettigrew's own duplicity and assisting Voldemort in slaying the Potters. This is not much of a stretch at all. I still don't think this accounts for all of the wizards there that night.

Voldemort knew that Dumbledore would be ready to protect the child in the prophecy and that he commanded the Order of the Phoenix. Of course, Voldemort would then seek assistance from some of his own Death Eaters in case there was any sort of battle that would ensue. It's not like Voldemort is a dummy; he's not going to stumble into a situation where he can be offed. Sure he has the safety net of the horcruxes, but why use them unless he really needs them?

So, who went with him? For one, Severus Snape went along.

We know that Snape had a crush on Lily Potter. We also know that Voldemort went to Godric's Hollow only to kill James Potter. My guess is that he was going to try and convert Lily to the Death Eaters, only because of Snape's feelings for her. Up until that point, Snape had been a loyal Death Eater, and Voldemort would trust him inherently. And perhaps Voldemort thought that Severus' presence would help to bring Lily to the Dark Side. However, we know that their efforts were for naught and she ended up dying and Harry was "scarred". None of this is too surprising.

The second name will probably stir some controversy. It was Regulus Black.

All of the pieces fit for Regulus to have been there: he was "running with the Death Eater's", he comes from a powerful, pureblood family, and we know that Regulus figured out that Voldemort was making horcruxes. Not to mention his surname, Black...perfect for one of Voldemort's trusted cohorts. Sure, his last name doesn't implicate him at once, but it does help make him all that much more sinister.

We also know that Regulus got in deep with the Death Eaters, but "didn't go all the way" as Sirius put it when talking about his brother's fate in Order of the Phoenix. Something happened to change his mind about wanting to hang with Voldemort, and my guess is that either seeing him attack a defenseless infant or seeing him form a horcrux is what turned Regulus away from the Death Eater's. However, he had seen too much, which is why Voldemort sent the other Death Eater's after Regulus with orders to kill him. Sirius passed this off as not being important enough for Voldemort to snuff out himself; I believe it was because Voldemort was too weak and/or preoccupied with dealing with infant Harry to take up matters with Regulus personally. I see it as something like Regulus telling Voldemort that he can't do such things, he's a monster, yada yada and then running from the room or the house (or apparating). And then Voldemort screams to the other Death Eaters hanging around "Kill him. He must not be allowed to live!" or some other silly villain speech.

I think the same things turned Snape, or at least the attacking infant Harry. The straw that probably did the most damage to the dromedary was Voldemort killing Lily. Snape is also familiar with all sorts of dark magic, and so I'm certain that if he saw a horcruxing spell, he would recognize it for what it was. I'm sure this is how Dumbledore got turned on to the notion that Voldemort was making horcruxes; he just needed Slughorn's memories to confirm everything. Remember, he had already been out hunting and destroying horcruxes before Harry discovered what they were and what they did (Dumbledore did seem awfully laid-back in those memories alongside Harry for finding out that Voldemort was nearly impossible to kill).

So, there it is. Voldemort wasn't alone, and Snape and Regulus were both there to witness his attacks on Harry. These also help lay the foundation for the next two predictions.

And because I feel like it, here's a couple of fanciful predictions I came up with.

7g. Hogwarts will be closed at the beginning of book 7, only with promises to open again at the end of book 7 when the good guys have won.
Nothing surprising here. Parents pull their children from the school when monster snakes roam the hallways killing people. The board shuts them down when dark wizards threaten. Dementors roam the grounds when evil escapees from Azkaban come to town. With Voldemort on the return and Harry's attachment to the place, yeah, it'll be shut down.

7h. MacGonagal is the new Head Mistress at Hogwarts.
Again, not much of a stretch. Mostly because MacGonagal (and Maggie Smith, by the way) kick major ass. Even if she does have a proclivity toward cats.

7i. A fifth house opens at Hogwarts called "Dumbledore" in honor of the last head master; it is symbolized by a Phoenix and the traits for being placed in Dumbledore will include honor, leadership, compassion and forgiveness.

This is a real stretch. I admit it. It probably won't happen, but if I were writing the book, that's one of those last little tidy-ups that I'd put in.