9 and 3/4 Hours Left!

[willow_red]

With mere hours remaining until Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix goes on sale, it is now time to record my predictions for the book. I think it's safe to say that I will have an accuracy record to rival Professor Trelawney's.

Minor spoilers released by JK Rowling included, so don't read if you haven't heard them yet. (They really say almost nothing and the rest is from my addled brain.)


Let's get this out of the way first. JKR says there will be a death that she found very difficult to write. I say it's Hagrid. Maybe when he and Madame Maxime go to see the giants, they will have already joined with Voldemort and get killed, but I don't think so. I see Hagrid sacrificing himself for either Harry or Dumbledore, most likely the latter.

Dumbledore will set up a shadow government (is this the right term?) at Hogwarts. Arthur Weasley will bring over as much of the Ministry as he can, but many will side with Fudge, including Percy. I think it would be interesting to see Percy against the rest of the family. This way, when he is put under Imperius by the Death Eaters, no one will notice until it is too late. Percy will become a major source of information for Voldemort.

Ron will join the Gryffindor Quidditch team as the new Keeper. We also need a new captain. I want it to be Angelina or someone, but I think JKR will make it be Harry. This will also make for more drama in a rift between Harry and Ron.

Hermione will be a prefect. I think this goes without saying. Harry will probably end up as one too, but it's less of a guarantee. Being prefects would give them wider rein around the school.

The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is a witch. I know it's kind of set up to be Fleur Delacour, but I don't want it to be. Sure she wants a job at Hogwarts, but I don't think she's up for being a professor; she's too young, IMHO.

Azkaban will be "liberated" by the Death Eaters. The Lestranges will be back, and Dementors will run loose across the countryside. Isn't that a happy thought? Oh, and Karkaroff is so dead.

Snape. This is one I'm having trouble with. The obvious thing is for him to go back to being a spy for Dumbledore, which is strongly implied at the end of book 4. My problem with this is that if Voldemort falls for this twice, he fails the Evil Overlord test in my book. I don't think he got where he is by being gullible or stupid.

Harry has inside knowledge to what Voldemort is doing. There is an intrinsic link via his scar that gives Harry a heads-up about what Voldemort is doing. This will continue to be valuable, but will become increasingly difficult for Harry to deal with. I believe this link will grow stronger now that Voldemort possesses some of Harry's blood. Dumbledore seemed to be a little excited about this, so there is a pretty serious blood thing going on here. I don't think we'll learn the extent of it until book 7.

The Order of the Phoenix is an honorary thing, like the Order of Merlin, not a group of people. Harry (and others?) will receive this award for some type of heroic deeds done over the course of the book.

Perhaps not in this book, but eventually, I want to see Harry turn his back on everything and choose not to save the world. A deep depression ought to do that nicely. Hermione will need to pull him out of it, unless the death of Dumbledore is what does the trick. There are plenty of potential guilt trips to go around, kids!

In ever group of three, a two-on-one situation inevitably occurs. We've had Hermione be the odd one out (book 3) and Ron be the odd one out (book 4). I think book 5 is Harry's turn. He could be alienated by a budding relationship between his two friends and start keeping things from them. We all know that that only leads to badness.

We know Viktor likes Hermione. He even asked her to visit him in Bulgaria over the summer. Ron clearly has it bad for Hermione. But it's unclear how she feels. I think Viktor is too old for her. He's like the senior that took a freshman to prom. What's he going to do? Wait around for three years for her to graduate? I don't think so. Ron and Hermione fight all the time, but that isn't enough to convince me of her feelings. The times when she's gotten upset about Ron's attitude or actions toward one girl or another, Harry has been there too, in a similar situation. Then there's the kiss. Yes, I'm a Harry/Hermione shipper, so I'm thoroughly hung up on that kiss. Hermione does not kiss Ron, she kisses Harry. *Going to my happy place now.* Okay, I'm back. Of course, I want to see a Harry/Hermione/Ron love triangle. It doesn't have to happen in this book, but I'd like to see the first inklings of it. Ron likes Hermione. Hermione likes one or both of them, but eventually finds herself leaning toward Harry. Harry, the poor boy, is fifteen and hopelessly confused. I hope he gets over his crush on Cho in this book, though. I think he makes much more sense with Hermione.


Okay, I think I've rambled on quite long enough here. Almost none of the events in Goblet of Fire could have been predicted based on the first three books, and I expect a similar situation for Order of the Phoenix.

Comments

[ashfae.livejournal.com]

Perhaps not in this book, but eventually, I want to see Harry turn his back on everything and choose not to save the world. A deep depression ought to do that nicely. Hermione will need to pull him out of it, unless the death of Dumbledore is what does the trick.

Yeah! Yeah!

*Harry/Hermione forever, dammit*

I find this amusing given that when I read GoF, I was an emphatic R/Hr fan and thought that H/Hr was a terrible idea. *wry gryn*

[willow-red.livejournal.com]

I have to say that it was actually fanfic that convinced me of Harry/Hermione. They're just written so much better than the Ron/Hermione fics I've seen. When I read GoF, I really wasn't struck either way, but in discussions got totally hung up on the kiss at the very end. Of course, now, well...*insane maniacal laughter*

*curls up in fetal position, waiting for Illyana to finish the last chapter and call*

[ashfae.livejournal.com]

It was fanfic that got me too; specifically it was PoU, of course. My previous logic was that I wanted Hermione to end up with Ron because Harry was the hero and had everything else, it wouldn't be fair for him to get the girl too. Eff that now, say I. Perhaps JKR will reconvert me but I've yet to see the fanfic that can do it; Harry needs Hermione, dammit. Though truthfully, the prospect of listening to another three years' worthy of people arguing over which couple is superior is enough to make me ship Harry/GiantSquid instead.