So with the distraction of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and one of my betas in the midst of moving prep, my next chapter of If I Can’t Dance will be delayed – but just till tomorrow!! It’s just awaiting the final beta so will definitely be posted asap tomorrow! :D

So, since I mentioned HP that may have tipped you off that I have also been sucked into the HP void. Before I put my thoughts (which are spoilery) behind a cut, I must note – in a completely non-spoilery way - that I had a lovely reading experience! The buying of the book was not as easy as I had thought – I’d planned to pop over to the supermarket right near my apartment and pick it up, but no luck. I ended up taking the subway up to Yonge-Eglinton (only 2 stops from my place so no big deal) and getting it from the Indigo there. The store was nice and quiet at 9:30am and then I dashed home to shower and do some errands before my friend came over. He and I had agreed to read HP7 together so we could react and discuss.

Well, he called me and admitted that he’d gotten drunk the night before and read the first three chapters so I should start while he picked up some food. Of course that just gave me more time for non-HP activities, so I’d barely started (I opened the book at 11am exactly) when he arrived. And, omg, he brought all this amazing and yummy freshly made food: Spanakopita and Tyropita (spinach and cheese pies respectively), Loukoumades (Greek style donuts), mango coucous AND chilled mango cucumber soup. My taste buds were delighted and I know the delicious food inspired my reading. Of course, I’m still a slow reader so I didn’t finish till 1:30am – my friend finished about an hour earlier and he’d taken breaks to pick up our pizza and to watch “Once More with Feeling” while I kept reading. I basically only took breaks for the washroom, getting beverage/food from the kitchen and IMing with my girlfriend – it was an intense reading experience.


SPOILERS FOR HP7: My probably random thoughts

Disclaimer: HP makes me happy. HP7 made me happy, well except for the parts where I was sobbing or sniffing or biting my fingernails or sitting on the edge of my seat, and that made me happy too! Despite closely reading the books (multiple times), I’d rather focus on what makes me happy, so these will be almost entirely positive reactions to the book.

- Hermione!! How wonderful was she? Seriously, she’s fucking scary – and I mean that as a compliment. This is such a lovely moment: Wendell and Monica Wilkins don’t know that they’ve got a daughter, you see. And her bag!!! I love how prepared she was. It was heart-breaking when she was tortured. And I loved her kissing Ron!

- Ron!! I loved him even when the horcrux got the better of him and he took off. Because it was so awesome when he came back, saved Harry and destroyed the horcrux. It was also wonderful to see his growth around the house elf issue and how much his magic has improved. It was awesome that he and Hermione got together (oh yeah, I totally love Ron/Hermione). So much love for Ron.

- Oh Harry! I’m so proud of you and love you! It was wonderful to see how you’ve grown up and taken on these struggles and tried so hard. I mourned along with you about Dobby, and sobbed when you walked into the forest to face Voldemort prepared to die. When I think of all you’ve been through, all you’ve lost, it’s so rewarding to know you finally got a happy ending and a family (yeah, I do agree with comments about the epilogue being sorta like bad fanfic but it is nice for Harry to have a happy ending and I totally understand JKR wanting to ensure that she doesn’t have to write any sequels).

- It was wonderful that Harry, Hermione and Ron worked together throughout the book, and that it was Hermione and Ron who Harry went to at the end of the book. I love the trio!!!

- Neville!!! Oh, I just LOVE Neville and was so delighted to see how much he stepped up with the trio gone. He was so tough and brave when we reunite with him. And Neville being the sole person to stand up to Voldemort and then kill the snake is one of my favourite moments in the book! And how cool is his Gran? I love that she defeated two Aurors sent to capture her. It was lovely to see her proud of Neville.

- Luna continues to rock! I was sooooo relieved that she was in the Malfoy’s basement and seemed alright. And when she stunned that Death Eater? Awesome!!! I kinda wish I knew what happened to her, but then again it’s wonderful to imagine all sorts of wacky things that she’s up to.

- I adored how many characters reappeared at various points in the book, like Dean Thomas and Lee Jordan on the radio and Ollivander and Aberborth aka Hog’s Head bartender! And, of course, I LOVED how everyone came to Hogwart’s for the finale battle!! Even Slughorn and Trelawney fought! I continue to love McGonnagall, she rocks (and I’m relieved she wasn’t evil – I’d read some intriguing speculation about that).

- Snape. I was very very pleased that my faith in him was correct. And it was awesome to get his backstory. It’s a great twist that he didn’t just love Lily but that he’d been her friend for years. And I’m very pleased that his memories provided Harry with the key information needed to kill Voldemort.

- It was very cool to get intriguing backstory about Dumbledore. It made many of his actions make so much more sense. And I loved Rita Skeeter telling it – JKR was clearly having a blast writing that!

- I’m pleased that no one (other than Harry) came back from the dead, I feel that’s the way it should be. And I’m very sad about the characters who died but feel it’s important for there to have been deaths to show how high the stakes were. Poor Mad-Eye, Hedwig, Dobby, Fred, Remus, Tonks and Colin. I cried the most for Dobby and Fred, the other deaths felt kinda surreal although the description of how small Colin was really gets me.

- I love that the first chapter showed us just how bad and scary things are under Voldemort, and how even the Malfoy’s aren’t happy. I’m also thrilled by how the Malfoy’s were portrayed – there’s a lovely ambiguity to them especially Draco and Narcissa (loved Draco saying he wasn’t sure it was Harry and Narcissa lying to Voldemort).

- Oh man, just how creepy was the new regime under Voldemort? Such chilling parallels to Nazi Germany especially with the statue at the Ministry of Magic, Muggle-Born Registration Commission, people going into hiding and faking their family trees. And I’m impressed with the making of Voldemort into a Taboo.

- So I just realized that I’ve randomly rambled on about characters but didn’t address the plot and pacing: I thought it was excellent. The story moved along at a good pace and was very compelling. There were some good breaks from the action but I never felt like things slowed down, more like a lull for us all to catch our breath and even in those lulls there was often key exposition told or lovely character moments. As may be guessed from the shape my comments have taken, I’m more about the characters and as long as stuff has some logic to it (which I thought the story did), I’m happy.

- I’m pleased that in this book JKR addressed that difficult transition from child to the adult world and all the challenges that come with it.

- I’m sure I’ve forgotten a zillion things, but will end my scattered thoughts with another favourite moment of mine, Mrs Weasly saying to Bellatrix: NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH! Brilliant! I clapped when I read that and her comment about Bellatrix not hurting their children ever again.

In conclusion: I am happy with the book. And am rereading it gleefully now. Thanks to JKR for 7 books that have delighted me and reminded me how much I used to love reading before my English degree sapped much of that enthusiasm from me. I think this is a great ending to the series (and also a fitting one for something that is a children’s series despite the very dark themes and issues).