HP Book Seven: Final Confrontations

My inner Harry Potter geek has been showing up a lot here lately, and I have a feeling that may be the case for a while. That's because I've been active again over at the HogPro boards, discussion forums moderated by my favorite HP critic/ commentator John Granger. I joined the forums last fall when a number of us were riding high from the release of Half-Blood Prince and the subsequent terrific discussions we'd had in John's Barnes and Noble reading group. I spent a lot of time at the HogPro forums during the fall and early winter, and then other parts of life intervened and I found myself lucky if I could check in two or three times a month during the spring.

Now summer has come, and with it my enthusiasm to read HP again and spend more time discussing the stories. With JKR happily writing away, I figure we may have about a year until book 7 comes out (okay, I'm optimistic!) and I'd like to do some more thinking and writing before that final book is released. And there's no better place than the HogPro boards for thoughtful discussion and provocative questions. Even better, hanging out there again has compelled me into some re-reading of parts of the books...all six of which are currently piled on my loveseat.

I'm working on a serious essay regarding the ways in which Rowling uses the motif of memory/memories/forgetfulness in the stories. I hope I'll have a chance to finish that eventually and post it here, but it's slow going at the moment since I've done a lot of the fun thinking and now am having to comb through the books for the exact scenes and quotes I need to flesh out the essay. In the meantime, I thought I'd have fun doing some casual reflecting on the stories, and I thought I'd start with some speculation on possible confrontations in book 7.

We know this book will be fraught with all kinds of confrontations, for at least two reasons: the wizarding world is at war and we're winding down to the ultimate showdown, and Rowling has presented us with a complex web of personal relationships throughout the series.

So here's what I'm going to do: reflect on some potential (some possible, some seeming necessary) "meetings" between various characters...pose some thoughts as to why she might or might not go in that direction and what might happen as a result. Some of these thoughts will be serious, and some just pain fun and speculative (and hopefully you'll be able to tell the difference). I'm calling these "meetings" because not all of them will be confrontational in the same way, and not all of them will be initiated from one side. Some of these meetings feel inevitable to the unfolding of Rowling's intricate plotting and to satisfy her beautifully drawn narrative arc. Some of them might not happen, but I think it would be interesting if they did.

So stay tuned. My first post (later tonight I hope) will appropriately focus on the confrontations or meetings that our hero Harry is likely to encounter.