The White Lily (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thewhitelily) wrote2007-07-19 06:47 am
thewhitelily) wrote2007-07-19 06:47 am
Entry tags:
End of an Era
Just to get this out of the way, apparently there's a spoiler going around for Deathly Hallows. I didn't want to read too closely on absolutely anything unless I accidentally got hit with it. Nobody comment/talk to me about it, please, not even to say it's rubbish or say what it's about. I've been waiting avidly for almost exactly seven years (how's that for awesome?) for this moment, so I hope you understand if I'd rather find out about twelve hours after I buy the book rather than spoiling it on the home stretch.
That said, I've been rereading everything in the leadup to Saturday, and... wow.
It's been a while since I've picked up the original books, and I'd forgotten how awesome a writer Rowling is. In particular, the details that bring every sentence to life without needing to come out and say what she's actually saying, and the tiny TINY details she bothers to weave through. Beautiful. As for her characters... well, it's all been said before, but wow. She's just really good.
It's also very strange to be rereading with the knowledge that the next time I read these books, I will know how it all ends. I'm still totally, totally psyched about the next book, but... I'm certainly not rushing my rereading, even though I'm running out of time. I might actually spend the first few hours after I get DH finishing my reread of HBP. However much I want to read the next book, I still just don't want it to be over.
When Deathly Hallows is out, I'll still be in fandom. I'll still read AUs of earlier years, I'll still have a secret weakness for awful powerful!Harry fics, and I'll be shattered if certain of the WiPs I'm following are discontinued. But... it will be different. It will be finished. We'll know the right answers - or at least all the answers we're ever going to get.
I'm not sure I'll ever be ready for that.
But here's a quiz meme nicked from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
the_zaniak regarding the events of the last book. (Of course, Mozzie's just filled it out, too, and said it originates from Mugglenet. *tips hat in their direction*)
1. Hogwarts will be closed for the entire year: False
2. Harry will enroll in Year 7 classes at Hogwarts: False
3. Ron will enroll in Year 7 classes at Hogwarts: False
4. Hermione will enroll in Year 7 classes at Hogwarts: True
5. Harry will take N.E.W.T. exams: False
6. Ron will take N.E.W.T. exams: False
7. Hermione will take N.E.W.T. exams: True
8. Harry will be Head Boy at Hogwarts: False
9. Ron will be Head Boy at Hogwarts: False
10. Hermione will be Head Girl at Hogwarts: True
11. Harry will teach Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts: False, however much I want him to
12. The DADA teacher at Hogwarts will be: No one we know
13. Harry's scar is a Horcrux: True
14. Nagini is a Horcrux: True
15. Slytherin's locket is a Horcrux: True
16. Hufflepuff's cup is a Horcrux: True
17. The locket that nobody could open at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place is a Horcrux: True
18. Harry will keep his Horcrux quest secret from the Order of the Phoenix: False (or at least not for the entire book)
19. R.A.B. = Regulus A. Black: True
20. R.A.B. has already destroyed the locket-Horcrux: False
21. Voldemort already knows (by the end of Half-Blood Prince) that R.A.B. took the locket-Horcrux from the cave: False
22. Voldemort already knows (by the end of Half-Blood Prince) that Harry is seeking his Horcruxes:Not necessarily know for certain, because Harry isn't even doing it at this stage. But he'll know it's the obvious next step he needs to protect against and that Harry knows it is. False, after the reread
23. Albus Dumbledore is really dead: True
24. On top of the "Lightening-Struck Tower," Dumbledore was asking Snape to kill him: True
25. Dumbledore gave Snape the DADA position because he knew Snape would be leaving Hogwarts at the end of the school year: True
26. Dumbledore will communicate with Harry through his portrait in the Headmaster's office: True
27. Dumbledore will communicate with Harry through the Pensieve: False
28. Harry will use the Philosopher's Stone: False
29. Harry will return to the Chamber of Secrets: True
30. Harry will be a Prisoner of Azkaban (or at least go there): He may go there, but not be imprisoned
31. Harry will use the Goblet of Fire: False
32. Harry will join the Order of the Phoenix: False, or at least not officially in any way he hasn't been in it before
33. Harry will (intentionally) join forces with the Half-Blood Prince: Only at the very last minute
34. Harry will visit a place called the Deathly Hallows: True, in the sense that I think he will need to do something dangerous with the veil to dispose of the scar horcrux, and that's what I'm guessing this is.
35. One of the Dursleys will learn to do magic: False
36. Petunia will (intentionally) give Harry vital information before he leaves Privet Drive: False
37. Ron and Hermione will be a couple: True
38. Harry and Hermione will be a couple: False
39. Harry and Ginny will get back together: True (or it will at least be implied that it will happen post-story.)
40. Ron and Hermione have already kissed "off-screen" by the end of Half-Blood Prince:True (or at least we won't find out that this is incorrect) False, after finishing reread
41. Sibyll Trelawney will make another real prophecy: False
42. Rufus Scrimgeour will be Minister of Magic at the end of Deathly Hallows: True
43. Harry will use the Mirror of Erised again: False
44. Harry will use the sword of Godric Gryffindor again: True
45. Harry will use the Sorting Hat: False
46. Harry will use a Time-Turner: True (or there will be time-turner use as a major plot point)
47. Harry will use the two-way mirror that Sirius gave him: True
48. Harry's knowledge of Muggle artifacts will save him from imminent danger: False
49. Grawp will (intentionally) save Harry/Ron/Hermione from danger: False
50. The Weasleys' - now wild - flying Ford Anglia will play a significant role in saving and/or transporting Harry/Ron/Hermione: False
51. Aside from James, Lily, Harry, and Voldemort, there was at least one other person present at the Potters' house the night James and Lily died: False
52. Bill Weasley will become a full werewolf: False
53. How did James and Lily Potter acquire their small fortune? Inherited/never specified
54. Snape is an Animagus: False
55. We will learn more about the relationship between Lily and Snape: True
56. A current member of the Order of the Phoenix will betray Harry: True (if you count Mundungus, that is, who's nicked off with at least one of the horcruxes)
57. The Death Eaters will attack Privet Drive: False
58. The Death Eaters will attack The Burrow: False
59. The Death Eaters will attack during Bill and Fleur's wedding: False
60. The Death Eaters will attack Hogwarts: True
61. The Death Eaters will attack Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes: True
62. Draco will abandon the Death Eaters: False, or at least not unless it's the path of least resistance
63. Peter Pettigrew, aka Wormtail, will abandon the Death Eaters: Any act of redemption will be purely momentary, ie. a split second decision that kills him.
64. Snape will be openly allowed back into the Order of the Phoenix: False
65. Snape is truly loyal to:
(a) Dumbledore
(b) Voldemort
(c) Neither
66. Dumbledore trusts Snape because:
(a) Snape made a heartfelt apology
(b) Snape made an Unbreakable Vow (which is in some way associated with having let James die and thereafter having to protect Harry or break it)
(c) Snape passed crucial secret information to the Order about Voldemort/Death Eaters
(d) Dumbledore had no hard evidence, he just wanted to give Snape the benefit of the doubt
(e) None of these, but we'll find out in Deathly Hallows
(f) We'll never know
67. Snape began working as a double agent for the Order:
(a) Before the prophecy was made
(b) After the prophecy was made, but before James and Lily died
(c) The night James and Lily died
(d) After James and Lily died
68. Harry will use, or attempt to use, an Unforgivable Curse: True
69. Harry will use, or attempt to use, the Avada Kedavra Curse on Voldemort: False
70. Someone other than Harry will actually finish-off Voldemort, even though Harry will have done most of the work (i.e. Darth tosses the Emperor, Gollum falls in with the ring.): False (But if it does, it will be with the literal use of Harry's hand.)
71. The U.S. edition cover-art for Deathly Hallows, portrays the final showdown: True, or at least part of it
72. The U.S. edition cover-art for Deathly Hallows, portrays Harry and Voldemort reaching for a Horcrux: True (at least it shows Harry reaching - it might be the DE he's fighting against to get it)
73. Harry will destroy at least one Horcrux by sending it through the Veil: True (and I'm hoping it's the scar)
74. The Deathly Hallows is:
(a) at Hogwarts
(b) in Godric's Hollow
(c) a graveyard
(d) beyond the Veil
(e) another name for Horcruxes
(f) none of these, but depicted on the US cover
75. The final showdown will be at:
(a) the Deathly Hallows
(b) Hogwarts
(c) Azkaban
(d) Veil/Ministry of Magic
(e) Godric's Hollow
(f) The Underground Lake/Gringotts
(g) somewhere else
76. Harry will survive. True
77. Ron will survive. False
78. Hermione will survive. True
79. Ginny will survive. True (But if it's not Ron, it's her)
80. Neville will survive. True
81. Luna will survive. True
82. Hagrid will survive. True
83. Lupin will survive. False (But if not him, then Hagrid. I doubt it would be both.)
84. Tonks will survive. True
85. Molly and Arthur will survive. True
86. Fred and George will survive. True
87. Bill and Fleur will survive. True
88. Percy will survive. True
89. Voldemort will survive. False
90. Snape will survive. True
91. Peter Pettigrew will survive. False
92. Bellatrix will survive. False
93. Lucius Malfoy will survive. True
94. Narcissa Malfoy will survive. True
95. Draco Malfoy will survive. True
96. Harry will become an Auror. False (that is, at least not until after it's all over)
97. Harry will become a professor at Hogwarts. False
98. Ron will become a professor at Hogwarts. False
99. Hermione will become a professor at Hogwarts. False (that is, at least not until it's all over)
100. Neville will become a professor at Hogwarts. False
101. The final word of Deathly Hallows will be "scar." True (even if she'd wanted to change it, she's said it will be, so she'll make it happen)
After the release of Deathly Hallows, score your results as follows:
Correct Points = Grade
0 - 20 pts = Troll
20 - 40 pts = Poor
40 - 60 pts = Acceptable
60 - 80 pts = Exceeds Expectations
80 - 101 pts = Outstanding
Weasley is Our King
I'm predicting Ron to die out of the trio, because I think it's more powerfully tragic for Hermione and Harry and the Weasleys to go on without him than the other way around. He's a glue character between a number of peripherals, and thus his death would strike more of the major characters harder than anyone else except Harry. (Who's out of the question, unless Rowling wants to go into witness protection.) Harry's had all his mentors knocked out from under him as he's gone along - now it's time for him to lose the thing he values most. :'( This is totally set up in GOF by seeing how lost Harry is without Ron, and in the first book where Ron sacrifices himself on the chess board (which you can't tell me is anything but metaphorical/foreshadowing)
Speaking of which, I'm a total devotee of the Knight2King (Dumbledore=Ron in a time loop) theory, for a great many reasons. (Yes, I know Rowling has specifically said it's not the case. I still think it would have worked brilliantly.) It is the one theory that has convinced me in so many different ways during my reread, from their uncanny physical resemblance, to both of their offhand comments or seeming foreshadowing - from Ron's dual role in the chess game, to Dumbledore's seeming omniscience and apparently coincidental interventions - from Ron's being particularly rubbish at History of Magic so he wouldn't have to worry too much about foreknowledge contaminating the timeline, to the consistent imagery throughout OotP of Ron as a king (yes, there's more than the song). My personal favourite, which wasn't discussed on K2K, was Trelawney telling everyone in third year that the first to rise from a table where Dumbledore was seated would be the first to die (it was unclear whether Harry or Ron rose first). Of course, Trelawney's a fraud, but she does have a habit of seeing the right things (ie. the Grim), even if she can't interpret them, and this is the only occasion I'm aware of where a specific prediction of hers has been incorrect. I've read absolutely nothing all the way through that has contradicted it or hasn't made me wish for it more and more.
It's the literary power that gets me most of all. Ron sacrificing all his family and friends to go back and prepare the way for Harry to succeed - to become a person who was already dead before the point he went back. It's got all the powerful tragedy of him dying mixed with all the wonder of already knowing that Ron had/would acheive everything that he'd ever wanted in life (to stand alone as a figure of respect and admiration), while sacrificing everything he'd never appreciated ("the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them"). To see him in Philosopher's Stone looking into the mirror and seeing himself holding a pair of (Molly's maroon hand-knitted) socks when once again he's been given only books for Christmas, and remembering what his younger, foolish self had once seen in the mirror. And since Ron would go presumably back for a specific purpose to ensure the victory, probably just before the end, he would never, in all his life, know whether it had all worked out, whether it had all been worthwhile at all. Now that's the ultimate sacrifice.
Tell me that's not more powerful than Ron merely dying. (I stand ready to be corrected in Deathly Hallows. :P)
Extra Predictions/Theories/Hopes:
The prophecy will be extremely literal about "at the hand". In this sense, I think it's interesting (although not necessarily relevant) that Dumbledore lost a hand trying to destroy a horcrux.
Neville will provide crucial information - perhaps on the location of a horcrux - he's known something without necessarily realising it all his life from the night the Lestranges attacked his parents, but was memory charmed to forget it. I'm not sure whether Bellatrix will cruciatus him until the charm breaks or Hermione will lift it.
I think the final showdown will be at the ministry, and both the Veil and the Room O' Lurve in the Department of Mysteries will be utilised in the final showdown.
I'd love it if either Harry had a talent for Legilimency or Ron had a Seer gift, as has been widely theorised with a great deal of various support - or of something, at least, was made out of the seventh-son (or seventh-child, for Ginny) legend. I'm not really expecting all of these to be true, though, so I'm classifying them more as "Hopes"
Things that will be important, though I don't know exactly how:
The Weasley twins' fake wands Edit: not as sure of this after finishing the reread.
The room full of time-turners in the DoM
Not being able to Apparate inside Hogwarts. (Haven't any of you read Hogwarts: A History?)
And there it is. I haven't finished my reread yet, so some answers may change, but...
My goodness, this feels strange.
That said, I've been rereading everything in the leadup to Saturday, and... wow.
It's been a while since I've picked up the original books, and I'd forgotten how awesome a writer Rowling is. In particular, the details that bring every sentence to life without needing to come out and say what she's actually saying, and the tiny TINY details she bothers to weave through. Beautiful. As for her characters... well, it's all been said before, but wow. She's just really good.
It's also very strange to be rereading with the knowledge that the next time I read these books, I will know how it all ends. I'm still totally, totally psyched about the next book, but... I'm certainly not rushing my rereading, even though I'm running out of time. I might actually spend the first few hours after I get DH finishing my reread of HBP. However much I want to read the next book, I still just don't want it to be over.
When Deathly Hallows is out, I'll still be in fandom. I'll still read AUs of earlier years, I'll still have a secret weakness for awful powerful!Harry fics, and I'll be shattered if certain of the WiPs I'm following are discontinued. But... it will be different. It will be finished. We'll know the right answers - or at least all the answers we're ever going to get.
I'm not sure I'll ever be ready for that.
But here's a quiz meme nicked from
the_zaniak regarding the events of the last book. (Of course, Mozzie's just filled it out, too, and said it originates from Mugglenet. *tips hat in their direction*)1. Hogwarts will be closed for the entire year: False
2. Harry will enroll in Year 7 classes at Hogwarts: False
3. Ron will enroll in Year 7 classes at Hogwarts: False
4. Hermione will enroll in Year 7 classes at Hogwarts: True
5. Harry will take N.E.W.T. exams: False
6. Ron will take N.E.W.T. exams: False
7. Hermione will take N.E.W.T. exams: True
8. Harry will be Head Boy at Hogwarts: False
9. Ron will be Head Boy at Hogwarts: False
10. Hermione will be Head Girl at Hogwarts: True
11. Harry will teach Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts: False, however much I want him to
12. The DADA teacher at Hogwarts will be: No one we know
13. Harry's scar is a Horcrux: True
14. Nagini is a Horcrux: True
15. Slytherin's locket is a Horcrux: True
16. Hufflepuff's cup is a Horcrux: True
17. The locket that nobody could open at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place is a Horcrux: True
18. Harry will keep his Horcrux quest secret from the Order of the Phoenix: False (or at least not for the entire book)
19. R.A.B. = Regulus A. Black: True
20. R.A.B. has already destroyed the locket-Horcrux: False
21. Voldemort already knows (by the end of Half-Blood Prince) that R.A.B. took the locket-Horcrux from the cave: False
22. Voldemort already knows (by the end of Half-Blood Prince) that Harry is seeking his Horcruxes:
23. Albus Dumbledore is really dead: True
24. On top of the "Lightening-Struck Tower," Dumbledore was asking Snape to kill him: True
25. Dumbledore gave Snape the DADA position because he knew Snape would be leaving Hogwarts at the end of the school year: True
26. Dumbledore will communicate with Harry through his portrait in the Headmaster's office: True
27. Dumbledore will communicate with Harry through the Pensieve: False
28. Harry will use the Philosopher's Stone: False
29. Harry will return to the Chamber of Secrets: True
30. Harry will be a Prisoner of Azkaban (or at least go there): He may go there, but not be imprisoned
31. Harry will use the Goblet of Fire: False
32. Harry will join the Order of the Phoenix: False, or at least not officially in any way he hasn't been in it before
33. Harry will (intentionally) join forces with the Half-Blood Prince: Only at the very last minute
34. Harry will visit a place called the Deathly Hallows: True, in the sense that I think he will need to do something dangerous with the veil to dispose of the scar horcrux, and that's what I'm guessing this is.
35. One of the Dursleys will learn to do magic: False
36. Petunia will (intentionally) give Harry vital information before he leaves Privet Drive: False
37. Ron and Hermione will be a couple: True
38. Harry and Hermione will be a couple: False
39. Harry and Ginny will get back together: True (or it will at least be implied that it will happen post-story.)
40. Ron and Hermione have already kissed "off-screen" by the end of Half-Blood Prince:
41. Sibyll Trelawney will make another real prophecy: False
42. Rufus Scrimgeour will be Minister of Magic at the end of Deathly Hallows: True
43. Harry will use the Mirror of Erised again: False
44. Harry will use the sword of Godric Gryffindor again: True
45. Harry will use the Sorting Hat: False
46. Harry will use a Time-Turner: True (or there will be time-turner use as a major plot point)
47. Harry will use the two-way mirror that Sirius gave him: True
48. Harry's knowledge of Muggle artifacts will save him from imminent danger: False
49. Grawp will (intentionally) save Harry/Ron/Hermione from danger: False
50. The Weasleys' - now wild - flying Ford Anglia will play a significant role in saving and/or transporting Harry/Ron/Hermione: False
51. Aside from James, Lily, Harry, and Voldemort, there was at least one other person present at the Potters' house the night James and Lily died: False
52. Bill Weasley will become a full werewolf: False
53. How did James and Lily Potter acquire their small fortune? Inherited/never specified
54. Snape is an Animagus: False
55. We will learn more about the relationship between Lily and Snape: True
56. A current member of the Order of the Phoenix will betray Harry: True (if you count Mundungus, that is, who's nicked off with at least one of the horcruxes)
57. The Death Eaters will attack Privet Drive: False
58. The Death Eaters will attack The Burrow: False
59. The Death Eaters will attack during Bill and Fleur's wedding: False
60. The Death Eaters will attack Hogwarts: True
61. The Death Eaters will attack Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes: True
62. Draco will abandon the Death Eaters: False, or at least not unless it's the path of least resistance
63. Peter Pettigrew, aka Wormtail, will abandon the Death Eaters: Any act of redemption will be purely momentary, ie. a split second decision that kills him.
64. Snape will be openly allowed back into the Order of the Phoenix: False
65. Snape is truly loyal to:
(a) Dumbledore
(b) Voldemort
(c) Neither
66. Dumbledore trusts Snape because:
(a) Snape made a heartfelt apology
(b) Snape made an Unbreakable Vow (which is in some way associated with having let James die and thereafter having to protect Harry or break it)
(c) Snape passed crucial secret information to the Order about Voldemort/Death Eaters
(d) Dumbledore had no hard evidence, he just wanted to give Snape the benefit of the doubt
(e) None of these, but we'll find out in Deathly Hallows
(f) We'll never know
67. Snape began working as a double agent for the Order:
(a) Before the prophecy was made
(b) After the prophecy was made, but before James and Lily died
(c) The night James and Lily died
(d) After James and Lily died
68. Harry will use, or attempt to use, an Unforgivable Curse: True
69. Harry will use, or attempt to use, the Avada Kedavra Curse on Voldemort: False
70. Someone other than Harry will actually finish-off Voldemort, even though Harry will have done most of the work (i.e. Darth tosses the Emperor, Gollum falls in with the ring.): False (But if it does, it will be with the literal use of Harry's hand.)
71. The U.S. edition cover-art for Deathly Hallows, portrays the final showdown: True, or at least part of it
72. The U.S. edition cover-art for Deathly Hallows, portrays Harry and Voldemort reaching for a Horcrux: True (at least it shows Harry reaching - it might be the DE he's fighting against to get it)
73. Harry will destroy at least one Horcrux by sending it through the Veil: True (and I'm hoping it's the scar)
74. The Deathly Hallows is:
(a) at Hogwarts
(b) in Godric's Hollow
(c) a graveyard
(d) beyond the Veil
(e) another name for Horcruxes
(f) none of these, but depicted on the US cover
75. The final showdown will be at:
(a) the Deathly Hallows
(b) Hogwarts
(c) Azkaban
(d) Veil/Ministry of Magic
(e) Godric's Hollow
(f) The Underground Lake/Gringotts
(g) somewhere else
76. Harry will survive. True
77. Ron will survive. False
78. Hermione will survive. True
79. Ginny will survive. True (But if it's not Ron, it's her)
80. Neville will survive. True
81. Luna will survive. True
82. Hagrid will survive. True
83. Lupin will survive. False (But if not him, then Hagrid. I doubt it would be both.)
84. Tonks will survive. True
85. Molly and Arthur will survive. True
86. Fred and George will survive. True
87. Bill and Fleur will survive. True
88. Percy will survive. True
89. Voldemort will survive. False
90. Snape will survive. True
91. Peter Pettigrew will survive. False
92. Bellatrix will survive. False
93. Lucius Malfoy will survive. True
94. Narcissa Malfoy will survive. True
95. Draco Malfoy will survive. True
96. Harry will become an Auror. False (that is, at least not until after it's all over)
97. Harry will become a professor at Hogwarts. False
98. Ron will become a professor at Hogwarts. False
99. Hermione will become a professor at Hogwarts. False (that is, at least not until it's all over)
100. Neville will become a professor at Hogwarts. False
101. The final word of Deathly Hallows will be "scar." True (even if she'd wanted to change it, she's said it will be, so she'll make it happen)
After the release of Deathly Hallows, score your results as follows:
Correct Points = Grade
0 - 20 pts = Troll
20 - 40 pts = Poor
40 - 60 pts = Acceptable
60 - 80 pts = Exceeds Expectations
80 - 101 pts = Outstanding
Weasley is Our King
I'm predicting Ron to die out of the trio, because I think it's more powerfully tragic for Hermione and Harry and the Weasleys to go on without him than the other way around. He's a glue character between a number of peripherals, and thus his death would strike more of the major characters harder than anyone else except Harry. (Who's out of the question, unless Rowling wants to go into witness protection.) Harry's had all his mentors knocked out from under him as he's gone along - now it's time for him to lose the thing he values most. :'( This is totally set up in GOF by seeing how lost Harry is without Ron, and in the first book where Ron sacrifices himself on the chess board (which you can't tell me is anything but metaphorical/foreshadowing)
Speaking of which, I'm a total devotee of the Knight2King (Dumbledore=Ron in a time loop) theory, for a great many reasons. (Yes, I know Rowling has specifically said it's not the case. I still think it would have worked brilliantly.) It is the one theory that has convinced me in so many different ways during my reread, from their uncanny physical resemblance, to both of their offhand comments or seeming foreshadowing - from Ron's dual role in the chess game, to Dumbledore's seeming omniscience and apparently coincidental interventions - from Ron's being particularly rubbish at History of Magic so he wouldn't have to worry too much about foreknowledge contaminating the timeline, to the consistent imagery throughout OotP of Ron as a king (yes, there's more than the song). My personal favourite, which wasn't discussed on K2K, was Trelawney telling everyone in third year that the first to rise from a table where Dumbledore was seated would be the first to die (it was unclear whether Harry or Ron rose first). Of course, Trelawney's a fraud, but she does have a habit of seeing the right things (ie. the Grim), even if she can't interpret them, and this is the only occasion I'm aware of where a specific prediction of hers has been incorrect. I've read absolutely nothing all the way through that has contradicted it or hasn't made me wish for it more and more.
It's the literary power that gets me most of all. Ron sacrificing all his family and friends to go back and prepare the way for Harry to succeed - to become a person who was already dead before the point he went back. It's got all the powerful tragedy of him dying mixed with all the wonder of already knowing that Ron had/would acheive everything that he'd ever wanted in life (to stand alone as a figure of respect and admiration), while sacrificing everything he'd never appreciated ("the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them"). To see him in Philosopher's Stone looking into the mirror and seeing himself holding a pair of (Molly's maroon hand-knitted) socks when once again he's been given only books for Christmas, and remembering what his younger, foolish self had once seen in the mirror. And since Ron would go presumably back for a specific purpose to ensure the victory, probably just before the end, he would never, in all his life, know whether it had all worked out, whether it had all been worthwhile at all. Now that's the ultimate sacrifice.
Tell me that's not more powerful than Ron merely dying. (I stand ready to be corrected in Deathly Hallows. :P)
Extra Predictions/Theories/Hopes:
The prophecy will be extremely literal about "at the hand". In this sense, I think it's interesting (although not necessarily relevant) that Dumbledore lost a hand trying to destroy a horcrux.
Neville will provide crucial information - perhaps on the location of a horcrux - he's known something without necessarily realising it all his life from the night the Lestranges attacked his parents, but was memory charmed to forget it. I'm not sure whether Bellatrix will cruciatus him until the charm breaks or Hermione will lift it.
I think the final showdown will be at the ministry, and both the Veil and the Room O' Lurve in the Department of Mysteries will be utilised in the final showdown.
I'd love it if either Harry had a talent for Legilimency or Ron had a Seer gift, as has been widely theorised with a great deal of various support - or of something, at least, was made out of the seventh-son (or seventh-child, for Ginny) legend. I'm not really expecting all of these to be true, though, so I'm classifying them more as "Hopes"
Things that will be important, though I don't know exactly how:
The Weasley twins' fake wands Edit: not as sure of this after finishing the reread.
The room full of time-turners in the DoM
Not being able to Apparate inside Hogwarts. (Haven't any of you read Hogwarts: A History?)
And there it is. I haven't finished my reread yet, so some answers may change, but...
My goodness, this feels strange.