My Potter Predictions

For two days I've discussed what J. K. Rowling really said about characters dying in her seventh and last Harry Potter novel, and why Harry Potter will not die, all leading up to my predictions about what will happen in that book when it comes to the matter of death.

Whereupon my phone/DSL line got muggled up, and I spent the whole day keeping my mother company through pyramiding medical appointments. It may have looked like I was building suspense, but of course that's not my job. Using Blogger's ability to backdate entries, here's what I'm betting will occur in Harry Potter and the Whatever Whatever, the seventh in the series.

1. One of Harry's dead father figures (his father, Sirius Black, Dumbledore) will be resurrected in a form that lets Harry have a meaningful conversation with him, if only to say goodbye.

2. Harry will have the chance to kill one of his worst enemies (Voldemort, Snape, a Malfoy, a Death-eater he learns was directly responsible for his parents' deaths), but will refrain from doing so because, he realizes, he's better than that.

3. Another of those worst enemies (not including Voldemort) will refuse to kill at a crucial time, also showing that he's better than that. His refusal will most likely cost him his own life (that's where Voldemort comes in), but by saving a good person's life he will redeem himself.

4. A major enemy will die as a consequence of his own or another enemy's actions, giving Harry (and us) all the satisfaction of seeing him die but none of the guilt. Because we want to see the bad guys die, but have to believe that we're better than that.

5. Harry will believe that one of his closest friends has been killed, but either that will turn out to be a mistake or the friend will be magically resurrected in a process that proves crucial to the outcome of the overall conflict.

For a grand slam, run-the-board perfecta, Harry will:

• believe a very close friend has been killed,
• attack Voldemort in a fury and subdue the villain,
• refrain from killing Voldemort because of a conversation with a resurrected father figure,
• see Voldemort counterattack and die anyway because of his own or a disciple's action, and
• then learn that his close friend has not died after all.

I tend to read Harry Potter novels a few months after the rest of the world, so I'll rely on you folks to tell me if any of my predictions are accurate. See you in a year!