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"I always think I'm right, but I don't think I'm always right."

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"You have been chosen, and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have."
Gandalf to Frodo, 
LOTR i.2

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"Oh, miracle -- thus to be able to give what we ourselves do not possess, sweet miracle of our empty hands!"
Diary of a Country Priest

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"This is not pleasant to you, Emma--and it is very far from pleasant to me; but I must, I will,--I will tell you truths while I can; satisfied with proving myself your friend by very faithful counsel, and trusting that you will some time or other do me greater justice than you can do now."
Knightly to Emma

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My writing is like Shakespeare's.  At lease in the sense that I use many of the same words.

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One of the interesting things about Harry Potter is that his gifts are generally so unremarkable.  He's not that great a student, he's not much at potions, or a standout in any other subject.  Contrast to Tom Riddle, who, by all accounts, was the most gifted and advanced ever.  Okay, Harry's good on a broom, and he can conjure a patronis, but all in all, he's not that much better than ordinary.  And at the end of book 6, we have no doubt that he's nowhere near being a match for Voldemort.  Snape can block all Harry's best stuff with almost careless ease.  

Of course, this all reminds us that the whole point about Harry is not that he's gifted but that he's chosen; not that he's a great warrior, but that he lived because somebody who loved him died.  So in book 7's final confrontation with Voldemort, Harry will not win by fighting.  I fully expect him to win by dying after some pretty intense humiliation and suffering.  His skill on a broom will count for nothing.  His patronis is really just an aspect of his deep connections with sacrificial love.  He is brave enough and certainly loyal to those he loves, but he's never had much success in the sheer exercise of his wizarding power against his enemies.  That's not where his final strength lies.

At one point a few days ago I said something about Harry needing to get his act together so that he is ready in Book 7, like Luke Skywalker was finally a confident and powerful Jedi when he walked into Jabba's lair.  But while I can imagine Harry with a more mature confidence and resolve, I find it very hard to imagine him as a powerful and unstoppable wizard on a mission.

Or how about this:  In book 6, Snape, mole at Hogworts, takes an Unbreakable Vow to see that Malfoy, Harry's counterpart, is successful in the climactic confrontation with Dumbledore.  In book 7, Snape, mole in Voldemort's camp, is under some kind of continuing vow to see that Harry is successful in his last confrontation with Voldemort.  (And THATS why Dumbledore has trusted him so completely.)

Well that was certainly unexpected.

First, Dumbledore is wrong about Snape?!!  That completely changes the world.  The best that can be said is that this is an essential part of Harry's maturation: viz., as long as Dumbledore is always there and always right, Harry will be a child; but when Dumbledore is wrong and removed, then Harry must grow up.

Yeah, maybe that.

Second, Snape is reduced to the role of a pure villain, and that just does not play to form, especially after we had been carefully shown the complexities of his history and made to hope for his redemption.  When Snape took the Unbreakable Vow in chapter 2, I was convinced that there was either a Loophole or a Greatness ahead.  Like an Agatha Christie where the murder victim has been discovered in a room locked from the inside, it would be a puzzle that would be solved.  A Loophole -- like deeper magic from before the beginning of time.  Or a Greatness.  Snape knew that breaking the unbreakable vow was punishable by death, and so at the right time, Snape would take the death willingly, like Darth Vader throwing down the Emperor. 

But he didn't.

I have such strong denial tendencies, I invent all kinds of alternative futures that make Dumbledore not really betrayed and Snape not really a traitor.   

• So maybe Snape had told Dumbledore about the Unbreakable Vow and Dumbledore nods knowingly saying, "then of course you must kill me.  I'm an old man anyway and you, Severus, are the only one whom we can expect to be on hand when Harry faces Voldemort at the end.  Nothing else is important.  Not my life.  And not yours."

• Or maybe there's something about that stuff in the cave Dumbledore drank, which seemed to be killing him anyway, that would actually resurrect him under the right conditions.  Dumbledore and Snape both knew the only way to survive the drink was to be killed before it killed you, in which case, the stuff in your belly would work backwards and seven days later, (or whatever), you come back. 

• Or ...

The problem is, we end up with Harry hating Snape more than ever.  Harry has made some progress, but he is still a hotheaded, impulsive kid.  When Harry chased Snape in his blind rage, he was no match for Snape.  Dumbledore has shown Harry how to be calm at every point.  So somehow Harry needs to walk in to book VII under control.  He can't be an immature juvenile forever.  He's going to have to step up and be as cool as Skywalker in Episode 6, walking into Jabba's lair with cold confidence.  Or rather, as serene as Dumbledore.  He's finally got to learn that thing about love, not rage, and one hopes also, that it's about dying for those we love, not killing those we hate.  Harry: what would your mother do?  You've got Lilly's eyes.  See with them!

R.A.B. is one of the Blacks, and now that Harry owns the house, one or more of the horacruxes will be found there.  Kreature will have something to contribute.

Buckbeak was wasted in this story.  I expect good stuff from him in VII.

Neville has a big role yet to play.

So far, JKR seems more like Charles Dickens (who spends a lot of Christian capital without being a particularly Christian author) than she does like CS Lewis or JRR Tolkein, whose stories are more explicitly formed by their faith.

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