It's getting harder and harder to find books written in the third person.

What on earth is up with all the first person stuff? I can manage first person with a few writers, but really, I mostly avoid books (fiction, that is) written like that.

Over and over I'll check out a new (to me) author only to find the pestilential "I" strewn over the first page.

Does everyone else really like books written in the first person?

Rowling has an incredible knack for characterization.

Especially Bad Guys! She's absolutely wizard when it comes to Bad Guys.

I'm rereading Chamber of Secrets, and once again am longing to pound that pestilential Gilderoy Lockhart right into the ground. He's the most annoying person in the entire series, I'm thinking.

Showing I can grumble about teeny-tiny matters...

...let me ask y'all this: Am I the only one who thinks the British term "snogging" sounds really unpleasant?

"Snogging"?

Yuckers.

How long until the HP series is taught in college?

It's really pretty funny, reading the intensely serious posts and commentary at various Potter-riffic blogs and sites. I mean, for crying out loud, this ain't exactly Shakespeare here. Or Holy Writ.

Bet it'll be a course at Oxford or Cambridge sometime next year. ;^)

So what did Harry wind up DOING when grown up?

Neville Longbottom became Herbology professor at Hogwarts, but his is the only major character's career that's mentioned.

You know, I liked the idea of the epilogue but I wish she'd provided more info regarding what on earth happened to everybody. Harry had a couple of ambitions during the series, but we're not told what he decided upon. I'd have expected Hermione to be a professor at Hogwarts, but obviously she's not. So, what did a brainiac like her become? Heck, I'd like to know what Draco Malfoy does for a living, come to that.

Did Hermione's family return from Australia after Voldemort's demise? Did Harry ever reunite with his own Muggle family? After all, Dudley allowed as how he didn't consider Harry to be a "waste of space". Considering all that had gone on before, it was akin to a sloppy display of affection on his part.

Maybe this stuff'll be covered in the forthcoming encyclopedia?

FRED? She killed Fred? :^(

That broke my heart, imagining George without his twin. And what was up with neither Ron nor Harry naming one of their sons after him?

The Weasley twins have been prominently featured from the first book; when one of 'em dies, I'd expect more fall-out than what was provided.

Also wish there'd been more about Draco. Did he get his wand back from Harry? Isn't that right? At one point wasn't Harry using Draco's wand?

What happened to people like the Malfoys after Voldemort's demise? Were they allowed to just rejoin wizard society, even though they'd fought for him and killed the resisters? Yet there was Draco on the train platform with his son, Scorpius. Nothing about Lucius and Narcissa. When Voldemort disappeared after killing Harry's parents, those who had supported him insisted they'd been bewitched, but surely that wasn't going to work a second time.

Snape having been a double agent all those years was a surprise to me. His unwavering love for Lily Evans Potter, and his turning against Voldemort when the latter killed her, was sweet.

Y'know, in the series I never warmed to James Potter much. He came across as rather an arrogant, unpleasant jerk. The way he treated the young Severus Snape over the years at Hogwarts never jibed with the "dear James!" comments that would come from Hagrid, Dumbledore, etc.

So according to Rowling, two will bite the dust?

Hmmmm......I wonder which two it'll be?

You know, it wouldn't stun me out of a year's growth were Dumbledore to be shown to be alive only to die for real in the end of the new book. That way Rowling gets a two-fer from the same character's death.

I refuse to believe she'd be such a jerk as to off Harry himself. All those children who read the series! It'd be like killing Nancy Drew or one of the Bobbsey Twins.

So I'm thinking Dumbledore will die for real, and maybe Snape. My fondest wish is for the despicable Draco to croak, but I suppose that's hoping for too much.

My brother pointed me to a site....

.....dedicated to the proposition that Dumbledore is not dead.

Some people, one, take this stuff waaaay too seriously, and two, have far too much time on their hands, but still the site author makes some darn good points, IMO.