Today is a long-awaited day, the day when the seventh and final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is published. I’m now back in sleepy old Dolgellau, so no midnight opening for me, just the wait for the postman to arrive bearing the latest volume.

Rather than just a plain and ordinary review once I’m finished, I’m planning on giving my reactions chapter-by-chapter, in both a spoiler and spoiler-free version. I’ve managed to avoid any leaks of the plot, and I intend for it to stay that way. Until I’ve finished reading it, the television and radio are staying off, I’m not going online except to update my blog (especially avoiding internet forums).

Anyway, to pass the time until the hallowed package arrives, here are some guesses about what might happen in the last book (spoilers for books 1 to 6):

The Horcruxes
We know that Voldemort has been trying to make himself immortal by hiding fragments of his soul in different trophies. The list of seven is as follows:

1. Tom Riddle’s diary from The Chamber of Secrets (already destroyed)
2. Salazar Slytherin’s ring (already destroyed)
3. The locket (stolen by the mysterious “R.A.B.” – Regulus Black? Could this be the “heavy locket none of them could open” that was mentioned during the cleaning of Grimmauld Place in The Order of the Phoenix? Of course, even if it was, with Mungdungus Fletcher selling on the contents of the house behind Harry’s back, it could be anywhere by now)
4. Hufflepuff’s Cup (to be found)
5. Possibly something of Ravenclaw’s or Gryffindor
6. Possibly Nagini, Voldemort’s pet snake
7. Voldemort himself – once the six other fragments of his soul have been destroyed, then it will be possible (though very difficult) to kill Voldemort.

I reckon that one of Dumbledore’s guesses for 5 and 6 will be mistaken, and that Harry himself is a horcrux. We’re told that Voldemort was intending to make his final horcrux with Harry’s death. He reserved making horcruxes for particularly significant deaths, and believed that he was defeating the prophecy and making himself invincible in killing Harry. What if Harry’s dead body was supposed to be the last horcrux? But when the killing curse literally backfired, it all went horribly wrong. It’s clear that there’s a strange connection between Harry and Voldy. In The Chamber of Secrets, when Harry and Dumbledore discuss this connection, Harry says “so Voldemort put a piece of himself into me?” which Dumbledore confirms. Now we know about horcruxes, I reckon we know what that “piece” is.

Voldemort’s Defeat
I think it’s pretty obvious that Voldemort will be defeated by “The Power of Love”, proving Dumbledore’s theory that love is more powerful than the darkest magic, and is a force more wonderful and more terrible than death. It’ll probably go something like this: Harry will realise he’s a horcrux and will think that he has to kill himself and Voldemort at the same time in order to defeat him. Harry will nobly sacrifice himself, but the strength of his love will destroy the fragment of Voldemort’s soul within him and save him from his seemingly inevitable death.

Dumbledore also says that Voldemort’s greatest weakness is that he doesn’t realise that there are worse things than death, so I’m also not sure he’s going to die. I think he may end up with a fate worse than death, such as being trapped in the eternally locked Room of Love in the Department of Mysteries, which for a soul so twisted would be a terrible and painful experience.

Who will live and who will die?

• Harry Potter – live. No way is Harry going to die. It’s going to be an overall happy ending, and having a team of lawyers ready to swoop on anyone who tries to publish any sequels will do just fine for preventing any more books.
• Ron and Hermione – live, and will get married, even though they’ll be fighting like old crows for the rest of their lives, rather like Cor and Aravis at the end of The Horse and his Boy.
• Ginny – die. I think Harry’s victory would have to come at a cost, and what could be a greater cost than the one he loves? I hope I’m wrong though!
• Voldemort – fate worse than death. See the previous section on his defeat.
• Snape – die. Even if he redeems himself in the final book (which I think he will, and I think Dumbledore had instructed him to kill him rather than die by breaking the Unbreakable Vow, because Dumbledore would be willing to sacrifice himself like that), I think Snape is doomed.
• Hagrid – die. Just because it’d be so horrible. Don’t kill Hagrid, noooooo!
• Dumbledore – J K Rowling is clear that he’s actually dead, but since he seems to be the Christ-like figure in the books, and since he’s so closely associated with the phoenix, a symbol of the resurrection, I suspect that there will be some way in which he comes back or aids Harry from beyond the grave.

I won’t go through each and every character in turn, but I reckon that Harry will inherit Fawkes from Dumbledore, and that Hawkes will play a crucial part in helping Harry finally defeat Voldemort. Since J K Rowling claims to be a Christian and says that if people knew her beliefs too much then anyone would be able to work out the ending, I reckon that we’ll be seeing some strong themes of resurrection and the power of sacrificial love.

Right, I’m off to check whether the postman has been yet. See you!