I don't think I've ever read or watched anything that made me burst into tears as much as reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows did. Honestly, I think I cried at least 15 times, with two good sobbing sessions. For reals.

Anyway, I'll write about things that don't contain spoilers, at first. Things that everyone can read. On Friday night, Nina, Isa, and I grabbed dinner at Pizza Hut. There, we saw a dude dressed as a house elf sitting with 3 other people. "Are you going to Barnes & Noble, too?" I yelled, and they answered, "YES!" Other people in the establishment tittered with laughter. Oh my God, I love this fandom (and I'm not even overly involved in it! I don't do the Harry Potter fanfiction thing).

At Barnes & Noble, there were adorable children dressed as characters, badass adults with amazingly accurate costumes, MANGA WAITING FOR ME TO BE READ. lol, there was a dude holding a specific color of balloons who was in charge of our numbered section once we were supposed to start organizing ourselves into a line. We gave him so much shit - I think he was like, 18. "So, you're going to tell us exactly when we can get behind you in line, right?" I asked.
"Uhhhh.....yeah. Yeah," he said.
"You'd better not be lying," I said. "This IS IMPORTANT."
"R-right."
"....So do you think Harry is a horcrux?" and then we had amazing conversations about our theories for what would happen.

All 3 local TV stations were there. I made an amulet at an activity table, and got a moon & stars painted on my face. I went up to people with good costumes and asked them to get their picture taken with me.

At the very end, we did a verbal count-down, and then once they started to pass out books, Nina, Isa, and I put our headphones on and listened to mp3 players so as not to risk getting spoiled. I did appreciate, though, that one Barnes & Noble employee scaled a stand-alone book-shelving staircase in the middle of the entrance, brandishing a copy of the book in triumph. AMAZING. I LOVE HARRY POTTER. We all yelled with joy.

During the car ride home, Isa read out loud most of the first chapter by the light of her cell phone. Once we got home, she knew that I had started at the same time, and was calling me about every half hour so that we could freak out, being like, "OMG! I KNOW! I KNOW!" I unintentionally fell asleep around 3am and then woke up at 8:00 and continued reading. I think that Isa called me about once an hour until 2:00pm, lols. It made reading it so much better, though! Especially in the beginning, we kept trying to come up with theories and such. The whole book has such a heightened sense of paranoia.

I apologize in advance. Those of you who regularly read my blog already know this, but my first reaction to anything that I like is uncontrolled squee. So, that's what you'll get. :)


My Favorite Parts
*MOLLY WEASLEY CALLING BELLATRIX A BITCH. MADE MY LIFE.

*A general increase in the usage of profanity. It makes me feel better about myself, :)

*Dobby's death. Made me sob. So hard. Seriously, I couldn't believe how hard I was crying. WTF, I thought he was annoying in book 2, but in this one....holy crap. I cried harder for his death than for Mad-Eye's, Hedwig's (sad!!), Snape's, Fred's, Lupin's, or Tonks'.

*HOUSE-ELF REVENGE AT HOGWARTS! Holy crap, Kreacher was awesome. All of them were. This was one of the random 15 points where I burst into tears.

*Ron finally becoming a true Gryffindor and defeating his insecurities to break the Horcrux. Kid has issues. Kid pwned issues.

*GINNY. Just....everything. She didn't whine or freak out. She accepted what was happening, and found ways to kick ass anyway. Her leading the rebellion back at Hogwarts, along with Luna and Neville was so awesome. I felt bad for Ginny back in book 2, and thought that she could be cool. SHE IS. YES.

*Luna's painting on her ceiling. LUNA, I WOULD BE FRIENDS WITH YOU!!

*Kreacher being so nice to everyone.

*ME BEING RIGHT. WTF, I was right about lots of things! I thought that Harry was a Horcrux, but I had forgotten about Dumbledore's gleam of triumph at the end of book 4. If I had thought about that more, I might have figured it out. I felt like Harry might have to die, but I didn't think Rowling would do it. She, of course, had already laid the groundwork for that.
Also, I was SO RIGHT about Snape. Even down to his love for Lily.

*"Tuney." lol.

*PERCY COMING BACK. Oh man, that rocked. I really loved how overjoyed Fred and George were, too, and it made Fred's death even more poignant. :(

*NARCISSA BEING GOOD. TEEHEE.

*Everyone in the Great Hall drawing wands to defend Harry from the Slytherins. Again, one of the points where I burst into tears.

*Neville Longbottom's grandmother is finally proud of her grandson.

*McGonagall and her army of desks. Seriously, so much love for Minerva.

*Snape looking at Harry's (Lily's) eyes right before dying. Really, I never doubted that Severus Snape was a good guy, and I had inclinations about his romantic feelings towards Lily. But actually reading it through Harry's eyes, and Harry calling him the bravest man he ever knew made it all even better. Snape was awesome.

*I also burst into tears when Harry saw all the messages written for him on the statue at Godric's Hollow. It was very Japanese schoolgirlish: "Keep fighting, Harry! We believe in you!", and THUS IT MADE ME CRY LIKE SAILOR MOON SOMETIMES DOES.

*Does anyone else think that J.K. Rowling likes to throw a lot of sexual innuendo in her books? "Hermione: *eyeroll* Boys are always comparing the sizes of their wands, WTF!" lols.

*Ron: THAT'S THE SECOND TIME WE SAVED YOUR LIFE TONIGHT, YOU BASTARD! and lol, I could totally imagine Malfoy's STFUIHATEYOU face.

*All the call-backs to previous books. Really, fans were rewarded for reading seemingly pointless digressions on S.P.E.W., etc.

Theories I Developed While Reading that Proved to be Unfounded
*I thought Molly was under the Imperius Curse, and that she was the one who (unwillingly) told the Death Eaters (Snape) when Harry would be moved from his aunt and uncle's house. It felt like she was acting oddly in the beginning of the book.

*Later on, I thought that Ron was under the Imperius Curse. Him saving Harry when he was getting Godric's sword out of the ice was way too out of left-field for me, and it didn't make sense yet how he had found Harry and Hermione. I thought that he was going to attack them.

*Before Lupin's unease towards Tonks was explained, I assumed that he feared it was she who had betrayed the Order. I wish that Tonks could have kicked more ass in this book, :(

I did find Harry's fight with Lupin a little bit weird, though. I mean, kids shouldn't be separated from their parents? But it's okay to take Ron and Hermione away from theirs? It just wasn't a good reason, at all. Everyone in the Order of the Phoenix knew what the stakes were, and why they were fighting.
Also, wtf, Tonks has a baby and thus can't kick ass? Even at the end, after the baby's been around for a while, she's sitting in the Room of Requirement with Ginny and Neville's grandmother and it's like, wtf WHY?
I was sad that Lupin's and Tonks's deaths were off screen. They just didn't hit me as hard. I felt more horrible about Fred's, and Lupin has always been one of my favorite characters.

Yes, the epilogue was total cheese, but it's Harry Potter. What did you expect? It was cute, and it fit. All Harry's ever wanted was a happy family.

I do wish, though, that it was a little more conclusive about everyone's fates. What professions are Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Luna in? Sadface. It's my dream that Ron and Hermione continue to work tirelessly to liberate all house elves, and that Kreacher lives with Harry and Ginny, spoiling their children and teaching them curse words. :D

WTF, LET'S LEAVE THE STONE TO CONTROL THE DEAD LYING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WOODS. GOOD IDEA, HARRY. GOOD IDEA. I think that this is the "leaving the door open by the tiniest crack" that J.K. Rowling was referring to. PLEASE DON'T WRITE SEQUELS WITH EVERYONE'S CHILDREN AT HOGWARTS BATTLING OVER IT. PLEASE. Please.

All in all, I love this book. It's like, what I would have written if I had an ounce of the talent that J.K. Rowling does. Just....giving every character the awesomest lines, having people actually die and doing so heroically, tying up every loose end ever (LIKE EVEN THE BLOODY BARON AND THE GREY LADY.....BUT WTF, I THOUGHT THE VEIL WOULD BE EXPLAINED?!?!). This is definitely my favorite book of all seven, even if I did feel like the middle part slugged along for a while. WTF, ENOUGH WITH THE TENT ALREADY. The action sequences more than made up for it.


For reference, my pre-reading predictions meme. I was right about some things! More than I usually am, anyway, :)


Well, that's enough for now. SO MUCH LOVE. SO MUCH SQUEE.