Testing the Predictions

To my surprise, since I hadn't asked for special shipping, my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was waiting on my porch this morning.

I have yet to find the easy-open tab on the special packaging, and I'm in the middle of three other books now, so I won't start to read this one for a while.

However, slightly over a year ago, I made the following predictions about what would happen in this book, based on my reading of the previous six and opinions about genre fiction:

• "HARRY POTTER WILL NOT DIE."
• "HERMIONE GRANGER WILL NOT DIE."
• "RON WEASLEY WILL NOT DIE."
• "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."
• "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."
• "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."
• "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."
• "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."

Finally, I wrote:

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.

So how did I do?