HBP predictions

So, like everyone else in fandom, I am going to put down a few thoughts on HBP.



Fist order of business:
Snape is not evil. NOT FOR A SECOND! I would bet my life Dumbledore wanted Snape to kill him, and the two of them had it planned out from the beginning. In book seven at a crucial moment Snape will betray Voldemort and help Harry to victory.

Now, I know I'm biased, but let's think:

1) Dumbledore is not an idiot, and has yet to be wrong about anyone's intentions. Yes, we are told he makes mistakes, but Harry TELLS him about an unbreakable vow. I doubt that Dumbledore would let something like that go if he hadn't heard of it before.
Dumbledore: So, Severus, what is this I hear about an Unbreakable Vow?
Snape: Oh...um...I've sworn to never allow the other children to make fun of Draco for still sleeping with his stuffed elephant, Toofules. That's Narcissa for you...ha ha...paranoid.
Dumbledore: Jolly good, carry on.

2) Hargid mentions hearing them (Dumbledore and Snape) arguing at the beginning of the book. They assume that it's about Malfoy and what Dumbledore wants Snape to do about him. It probably is. I think it's about what Dumbledore wants Snape to do in the way of KILLING HIM FOR DRACO'S SAKE.

3) the two of them are described as stopping and looking into one another's eyes in the middle of a battle. They are both skilled in Occlumency. Snape looks angry and disgusted. This is because Dumbledore is begging him to take his life and Snape doesn't want to do it, not because he hates Dumbledore

4) Snape flips the fuck out when Harry calls him a coward, looking hysterical and full of pain. This is likely because Snape just killed a man he counted as a friend and superior on the same man's orders, in which case being called coward would rather piss him off.

5) Even when Harry is coming after him Snape defends and continues to teach him, deflecting Harry's spells rather than casting any of his own. He reminds Harry not to use Unforgivable curses, he keeps the other DEs from doing anything to Harry, he get's everyone out of the castle before they can kill anyone in the Order/students. Yes, he mentions that they have been ordered not to kill Harry, but I can't imagine that such orders would stop evil!Snape from putting Harry under the Crutacious at the very least. His shouting helpful advice makes him more than suspect of secret goodness, I think. Snape doesn't care for Harry, but he's still good and will not hurt him because Dumbledore has told him not to.

6) It is unlikely that Dumbledore would have taken Harry with him on a highly dangerous mission if he had not known that he was going to die soon (not to mention his telling Harry everything he knew about Voldie), it is also unlikely that Dumbledore would have given Draco the advantage like he did by stunning Harry first. There was no reason he couldn't have defended himself and THEN gotten Harry, unless, as I said, it was all planned. He clearly planned to die and planned that Harry would see it.

7) Why would Snape stun Flitwick and tell Hermione and Ron to stay put if he were evil? He would blast them to pieces and eliminate future problems. He was probably trying to keep them out of danger by doing what he did.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way

The missing locket: So in the possession of Regulus, who fetched it in a last act of heroism greater than anything his hothead brother has yet been capable of, and proving once and for all that Slytherins are cooler. (There is mention of a locket "that none of them can open" in the cleaning up of Gimmauld Place in OotP, but it's probably been hawked or tossed by now.)

Harry: Likely a horcrux. From what I've read elsewhere, people have mixed feelings about this. The main argument against seems to be "Voldemort wouldn't be that insane and put that much power in the hands of his enemies." My question - is he? If Harry is supposedly the only one who can destroy Voldemort, and the only way to destroy Voldemort is to destroy all the horcruxes, and Harry IS a horcrux, that would rather mean he has to kill himself, wouldn't it? And Voldemort, who fears death more than anything, would probably be arrogant enough believe that anyone who could match him magically would also be like him in other ways. I wouldn't be surprised if Voldemort is banking on Harry not being willing to sacrifice himself in order to destroy him, and it isn't a bad bet. When JKR says she's not afraid to kill off Harry, this might just be what she means, and having Our Boy jump into the fires of Mt. Doom to destroy the one ring himself would be an epic and very final end to the books. We'll see.

Also, I havn't seen anyone come out and say it, so I will: Ginny, I hate you you big canon sue!
I can buy Harry having feelings for someone he didn't notice before. I can buy Ginny having layers. I can buy her being pretty (so pretty even really good looking and selective slytherins take notice of her hotness), OR exceptionally good with charms and curses (so even the twins fear and respect her mad skillz), OR great at Quidditch (enough to lead Gryffindor to victory as seeker!), OR more outspoken and rebellious (to the point that she ignores Harry to the point of rudeness and is obnoxious to her mother for no good reason.),OR funny (the hilarious jokes Harry goes on about, that we never actually get to hear), OR better at standing up for the little people (read Luna and Neville).
All at once? Not only does it make her seem forced into an unnatural transition as a character, it made me quite literally wish she was the body on the floor Draco mentions during the fight. I wanted her DEAD she bugged me so much. Sure, Ginny has always been obnoxious, but she was a quiet obnoxious fangirl who stepped to the sidelines before. Now she is a loud, obnoxious, "independent woman" of infinite perfection, and we are treated to endless odes by various characters to her SPESHULness. She's like a hideous fusion of Molly and Lily, which, now that I think about it, makes me REALLY question Harry's mental health, as he seems to have strong sexual attraction to a sort of next-generation combination of his two mother figures. Great.



On a lighter note, Joining Snape, Lucius, Viktor, Draco, Voldemort, and Lupin are Blaise, Fenrir, and (snerk!) Rufus (mock me not - glasses? lope-y grace? silver-streaked hair? businesslike manner? rawr, baby!) for my OMG hott! book six picks.

Now if we could only get some more awesome female characters up and running so Bellatrix and Hermione don't have to bear all of my weird femslash obsession.

Ahh! All in all, and even with the endless teen dating nonsense in the middle of this book, I loved it.
And Snape! He was so cool and perfect and shiny! <3
Anyone else, any thoughts, arguments or additions?