My only gripe with the book is the romantic "crush" parts. You know, Hermoine and Ron and Harry and who they like and who they don't and how they want to be in a relationship and whatever. It adds a dynamic to the story, sure, but it feels like it's forced in there. Although I suppose that real relationships are forced into everyday life as well...

...Harry is going to go back to Hogwarts in the fall or go off looking for those Horcruxes (sp?). It seems like things have gotten to the point where it's moved way beyond the scope of Hogwarts, and Dumbledore's death might have been symbolic of Hogwarts "dying" in the sense of being a central setting for the story. But then, maybe they'll have gathered most of the Horcruxes over the summer and he'll go back to school regardless. I'm not sure which one I'm hoping for at this point. The more I think about it the less it makes sense for him to spend the year at Hogwarts, but still... Off looking for magic items, possibly with his friends in tow? It'd be "Harry Potter and the RPG Quest".

I don't know, either. It seems like there is so much that Jo would have to fit in the last book, that Harry might not have time to be back at Hogwarts.

Let me know if I am wrong. The horcruxes, as Dumbledore thought are:

The Diary
Marvolo's Ring
Slytherin's Locket
Hufflecup's Goblet
Something of Ravenclaw's
Something of Gryffindor's

Now, two of those (Ring and Diary) and possibly a third (Locket) are already taken care of. To me, it would seem like it would probably take a lot of work for Harry to find the goblet and figure out what the other two are. Considering Dumbledore hadn't been able to find them all the time that he was looking, I don't think Harry would be able to find them all by himself and go full time to school as well.

I don't like to think like that, though. It just wouldn't be the same without Hogwarts of some sort. Besides, what would Harry do if he didn't finish his schooling? Maybe we should take this as a hint that there won't be a need for the schooling...

I thought one of the Horcruxes was Nagini the snake.

Who do you think R.A.B. is?

I figured it was Regulus Black (Sirius' brother) as soon as i read it. Apperantly J.K. has said that is him, but i like to think i figured it out on my own.

It was something from either gryffindor or ravenclaw and Nagini.

And yes, RAB is supposedly Regulus Black.

He thinks that Dumbledore never died, that it was in fact Peter Petigrew. This being that he reasons Snape using the controlling curse on Petigrew. At the beginning, Petigrew was with Snape and seemed to be his servent. With the controlling curse, he was told to act just like Dumbledore and he used the Polyjuice potion. Not only that but when the tower scene happened, Dumbledore was pleading because when he was around Snape, he was normal. And that is why Dumbledore begged for his life.

just remember that Dumbledore never actually pleaded for his life. He said "Severus, please." and that was it. That could mean any number of things, like it was an elaborate plan, and Dumbledore was confident in Harry's ability to carry on on his own.

Also remember all the things that happened leading up to the time that Harry and Dumbledore arrived on the Astronomy tower. Assuming that the only people to enter the cave besides Riddle and R.A.B., were Harry and Dumbledore, how could Pettigrew, or Snape controlling him, know how to get to the horcrux? Considering that it has been said that the only person that was thought to be more powerful than Riddle, at the peak of his power, was Dumbledore. I would think that no one would have been able to get past those protections besides Dumbledore. If it had to be Dumbledore in the cave with Harry and seeing as how they never left each others sight since they left the Castle, how could it have been Pettigrew? I don't think that theory makes much sense.

I am inclined to think that Dumbledore died on purpose, having told Snape to do what he had to do to stay undercover with Riddle. Nothing would help Riddle decide that Snape was really on his side like killing Dumbledore would. I think that Snape actually respected Dumbledore and it was terribly hard for him to do what he had to do, hence why Dumbledore was pleading for him to follow through with it. Also, the way that he gets very upset when Harry calls him a coward at the end is also highly suspicious. Why would Snape care so much if it had not pained him to do what he had just done? If it was not him tawho was being the bravest and had the hardest task assigned to him?

but remember that Snape is known for logic, as shown by his contribution to the protection of the Philosipher's stone in the first book. The challange that Voldemort had set up in the caves for them was in essence the same a Snapes challange when going for the philosipher's stone, only harder because of it's obvious simplicity. I think Snape would have been able to figure it out.

Ok, let's say that Snape really could have the intelligence to get through it. That still leaves the problem of Dumbledore actually being Pettigrew. How did Snape replace him with Pettigrew? I would assume polyjuice potion and there in lies the fault. Polyjuice Potion only t an hour before the user turns back into the themselves. I would assume that in the time it took for them to:

Have their conversation before they left.
Go through the cave.
Fly back to the castle.
Have the conversation with Malfoy.
The entire fight with the Death Eaters after Dumbledore fell and was then discovered.

I would be inclined to think that more than an hour had passed. Also, if Dumbledore was still alive, what possible reason could he have had for faking his death and leaving everyone to fight and possibly die?

Also, why Pettigrew? Dumbledore doesn't seem like the person that allow illegal dark arts and the murder of a person like that. Also, both the Death Eaters (supposedly with the exception of Regulus) and the Order had no idea about the horcruxes/where Dumbledore was going, so we have no reason to believe Snape knew of the horcruxes existance in the first place. He, just like all the other Death Eaters were just as surprised when Riddle was able to come back alive.

i figured that seeing as how they had a freaking funeral for him like an entire day after his death, that it wasn't polyjuice potion

You both FAIL. Two words: Unbreakable Vow. Snape had to prevent Draco from fucking up his mission (killing Dumbledore) and carrying it out for him if need be. How is Snape purposely killing the wrong person and letting Dumbledore live NOT failing to hold up the vow? Since Snape didn't die while fleeing Hogwarts, and presumeably afterwards, Snape had to have killed Dumbledore.

I had always thought that the Unbreakable Vow was to do whatever he could to protect Draco. I haven't read it so it came out, though, so I am probably mistaken. Actually, having just looked it up, you are correct and Snape was to take up Draco's task if failed to do so. The thing is, though, that Draco never technically failed to complete his task. Sure, he was taking his time and it looked as if he was putting down his wand, but the opportunity for him to complete it was still there. It also seemed as if Snape had no idea what Draco's task was when he had made the vow, either.

Thinking about the Vow, though, Changes some things. It adds another dimension to Snape's thinking that I had not thought about. It seems more simple to think that he had to do it or else face death himself. I just prefer to think that I am wrong about Snape and there was a reason Dumbledore trusted him.

Technically, we were never told the limits of the Unbreakable Vow. I mean, how long would Snape have gotten to kill him? And at that time, couldn't he just be like, "Oh, I haven't got around to it yet"? And the "task" was never stated explicitly, while Narcissa was referring to killing Dumbledore, Snape might have been thinking of something else. (I know its not likely, I'm just trying to point out that so much was implicitly understood about the Unbreakable Vow!)