I’ve had the chance to reconsider a few issues, and I also realised that I didn’t address a few key plot points that have been confirmed by JKR herself and others. So, here is a somewhat different version of what I think will happen in HP7. Strap yourselves in for this one guys…..

Version 2

Harry will have to return to the Dursleys for part of the summer as per the requirement for the ongoing protection charm up to his 17th birthday. When he turns 17, he will be legally able to do magic, including apparating. Unfortunately, when the protection charm wears off, Little Whinging will see an attack by a Death Eater who attacks Harry and the Dursleys in a home invasion type of ambush – Harry will be disarmed by an expelliarmus curse and Vernon will be silenced (maybe permanently) for his arrogance and bluster in the face of the Death Eater. The Death Eater will then use the crucio curse on the unarmed Harry for fun and games and to intimidate the remaining Dursleys into submission. With the Death Eater concentrating on Harry, a furious Dudley will pick up Harry’s discarded wand and point it at the Death Eater and yell “crucio”, having just heard it and seen the effect first hand. The Death Eater will be affected by the intense pain of the curse and then the champion boxer Dudley will stomp over and land a tremendous right hook on the jaw of the stunned Death Eater, knocking them out. An incredulous Harry will regain his composure and take his wand back from Dudley to control the situation long enough for help to arrive – help in the form of the Weasley family come to get Harry.

The fact that Dudley has magic abilities, only just now seen under extreme circumstances, will be explained to Harry by Aunt Petunia. She will reveal that Dudley, as a direct blood relative of Lily Potter, was always possibly going to have some magic ability, but that Petunia and Vernon did not want them developed in any way. Harry will find out that Dumbledore corresponded with Petunia multiple times about taking Dudley to Hogwarts if he did show magical ability as a youngster, but that Petunia and Vernon refused to allow it and hoped that Dudley would not be magical. To their relief, this seemed to be the case until Dudley’s family was being attacked and Dudley’s extreme emotions and desire for revenge made the crude attempt at a crucio curse partially effective. Petunia will be shocked at Dudley’s abilities but grateful for the reprieve.

Harry will feel remorseful for the attack on Vernon, but will actually mend fences with Petunia and Dudley, as he is truly grateful for their aid. Harry knows that he is off to face Voldemort soon and may never see them again. Petunia will be somewhat apologetic about Harry’s treatment over the years and actually reveal her true feelings about Lily and James – which won’t be as harsh as she’s made out all along. Harry will learn more about his parents from Petunia. It will be revealed that fear of the magical world and jealousy over money (the Potters were quite wealthy) drove the two sisters, Lily and Petunia, apart. Harry will explain what his dangerous mission with Voldemort is now and leave the Dursleys to their muggle existence after reconciling with them at last.

The Weasleys will retrieve Harry to take him to the Burrow prior to Bill and Fleur's wedding, which has been scheduled prior to the start of Hogwart's term whilst the family and friends are still around. Bill will exhibit some strange tendencies following his werewolf attack, such as a penchant for eating his steaks very rare. Fleur will stand by her man though. The Weasleys will throw Harry a coming of age birthday party and Harry, Ron and Hermione will learn to successfully apparate. This lovely time together will be the calm before the storm

The wedding will draw together the entire Weasley family and the Order of the Phoenix members. Victor Krum will come as Hermione’s escort for the event, bringing Ron’s jealously to boiling point. The wedding will be too inviting for the Death Eaters, and it will be revealed that Percy Weasley is a death eater (or acting under the imperious curse) and has revealed the location of the wedding to the DE’s. The wedding reception will be disrupted by an attack in force by the DE's. Blood will be shed and lives lost, including a Weasley twin and/or a Weasley parent. Ron's grief from losing family members will finally bring him and Hermione together as a couple when without thought, he kisses her as she holds and comforts him.

Krum will bow to the inevitable with Ron/Hermione and be somewhat happy for them. Krum will then take Harry aside after the chaos and make a startling revelation - Krum will reveal that he is the direct descendant of Grindelwald – the eastern european name and dark wizarding skills taught at Durmstrang should have been a clue – and that he has learned about horcruxes, including how to destroy them. This knowledge he will share with Harry who will now be able to start his mission in earnest.

Armed with the knowledge that Harry thinks he needs, Harry, Ron and Hermione will go to Godric’s Hollow prior to the start of term in search of some interesting discoveries. James and Lily’s professions will be revealed and Harry will learn more about his family history. An otherwise unknown artefact of Godric Gryffindor’s will be discovered and identified as both a Potter family heirloom and a possible horcrux item that Voldemort was going to put his 6th and last horcrux into the night he killed the Potters and unsuccessfully attacked Harry. Harry will recollect that Dumbledore told him that Voldemort meant to create a horcrux on Harry’s death. Harry will try the horcrux destruction spell and……nothing. The item isn’t a horcrux. Harry will be shocked and bewildered.

Ron and Hermione will convince Harry to return to Hogwarts both to help protect Harry and to consult with Dumbledore’s portrait. McGonagal will be the headmistress of a tense and wary school. The new DADA Teacher will be Kingsley Shacklebolt who takes on the post due to his Order loyalties and connections. Shacklebolt will take Harry aside for personal tuition and try to arm him with what he considers the requisite weapons to take on Voldemort, teaching Harry the unforgivable curses including avada kedavra. Harry will struggle with the implications of using these curses and be conflicted between being a good guy and desperately wanting revenge as he is being taught.

Harry will eventually be invited by McGonagal to consult with Dumbledore’s portrait where the RAB locket connection will be realised. Harry, as owner of Grimmauld place and master of Kreacher will summon him to Hogwarts and interrogate him about Regulus Black. Kreacher will reveal that the locket with the RAB inscription was a horcrux, taken by Regulus Black from the cave. Harry will find out that Kreacher accompanied Black into the cave, assisted him to get past the booby traps and retrieved the real horcrux. Kreacher tended to the dying Regulus (dying from the potion he drank) and Kreacher stored the horcrux in Grimmauld Place on his command, which is where it stayed until pilfered by Mungdungus. Harry will have to track down Mungdungus and interrogate him to find out where the missing locket Horcrux is.

Harry will also find out from Kreacher and Dumbledore that Regulus Black was (secretly?) present the night of Voldemort’s attack. Black was in love with Lily during their latter school years and was close to her by the association with Sirius Black’s friendship. Regulus saw the aftermath of Voldemort’s attack and decided then and there to atone for his errors as a Death Eater. Regulus saw Harry orphaned in the crib and Harry’s eyes reminded him of the dead Lily and so he vowed to try to help Harry. Regulus contacted Dumbledore and Sirius regarding Harry’s attack – Sirius went after Wormtail the secret keeper for the Potters and was framed for the muggle murders and Wormtail’s destruction, before being sent to Azkaban, and Dumbledore looked after the orphaned Harry – and then Regulus went after the horcrux in the cave.

Harry will track down the three remaining known horcruxes throughout the term. Mung will confess and lead Harry to the Locket. The Hufflepuff cup will be stored in another location significant to Voldemort and probably will be at Burke and Borgins where Voldemort worked as a youngster. An object of Ravenclaw’s will be found in the room of requirement at Hogwarts. That will account for all known horcruxes. Of course, I've just condensed or skipped what will be a dozen or so chpaters of the final book......Anyhow, back to the story.

The trio and Dumbledore’s portrait will reconstruct the events of the night of Harry’s attack and come to realise that although Voldemort meant to create a horcrux with Harry’s death, the backfiring of the Avada Kedavra curse ruined things and caused an unintended consequence – Harry’s scar is an accidental horcrux. This will explain why Harry gained some of Voldemort’s powers and why there is an apparent psychic link between the two of them. It also explains the line in the prophecy about the Dark Lord marking Harry as his equal – both ½ bloods, both parseltongues, both have 1/7th of Voldemort’s original soul within them.

Harry will be thrown into great confusion and angst about his own future. He will be revolted at the prospect of having part of Voldemort in his body and consider suicide. There will be a frantic search for clues as to how to remove the horcrux from Harry’s scar without damaging Harry. Dumbledore's portrait will be saddened and express regret and anger at not foreseeing the possibility earlier.

Hermione and Ron, along with the DA gang, will take Harry to Hogsmead at the end of term to try and cheer him up. Outside the protection of Hogwarts, they will be vulnerable and despite being watched by Tonks, Shacklebolt and Lupin, there will be an attack on the three involving Death Eaters (and DA members on the defensive side). Lupin will battle Greyback wolf to wolf and win, although become severely injured. Neville will find some form of redemption by killing Bellatrix to avenge his parents. However, in the chaos, Ron and Tonks will be killed and Hermione kidnapped and used as bait for Harry to go after her.

Harry will be lured to the place where Voldemort is holding Hermione and Voldemort will be in the company of Snape, the Malfoy boys, and the few other surviving death eaters. Voldemort will instruct Draco Malfoy to kill Hermione to prove his allegiance and willingness to do Voldemort’s bidding, seeing that he failed to kill Dumbledore. Draco will hesitate and Voldemort will mock Draco about being a pureblood and not being able to kill a filthy mudblood. Harry in frustration and desperation will yell out that Voldemort is a hypocrite and that Voldemort is a half blood himself – and not a pure blood as he would have the Death Eaters believe. This will create confusion and cause some DE’s to question Voldemort and waver in their support of him. Voldemort will go nuts and start killing off DE’s he considers disloyal by their hesitation. A battle will ensue in which the death eaters will largely self destruct as a group. However, Snape will protect Harry from errant curses and free Harry and Hermione.

Snape will spirit Harry and Hermione away to a safer location and reveal that he has been a plant all along and explains why Dumbledore trusted him to work undercover. Snape will also help Harry with his horcrux problem – Snape realises that the horcrux in Harry was made before Voldemort reconstituted himself with Harry’s blood, and therefore is vulnerable to Harry’s blood protection.

The subsequent removal of the horcrux scar will cause Harry to bleed copiously and weaken him dangerously, but the enchanted blood will help to destroy the final horcrux. Snape will help Harry stem the bleeding, in a similar fashion to the cure used for the sectumsempra curse Harry used on Malfoy - however Harry will be severely injured, weakened and on borrowed time. Snape tells Harry what the prophecy means with regard to Harry having the ability to harness the power of love and tells Harry that he can defeat the now mortal, but still incredibly powerful Voldemort. The penny will drop for Harry about the room filled with love at the Ministry of Magic.

Voldemort will gain control of the situation and find Snape, Harry and Hermione plotting against him. Snape will be killed for his treachery but not before he gives Hermione orders to apparate to the Ministry with Harry. Voldemort will be lured to follow and try to kill Harry once and for all. Hermione will desperately drag and carry the injured Harry towards the department of mysteries but inevitably, Voldemort will catch up and stun but not kill Hermione, leaving just the two to battle it out once and for all.

Harry will finally confront Voldemort in the Ministry’s department of mysteries where the properties of the room of love are manifested in a very strange manner. There will be a magical device in the room that extracts love from subject in order to sample and analyse it. Harry, being full of love, will be able to spare plenty and not be overly affected. Voldemort however, contains very little in the way of love and in fact, it is only Harry’s blood which Voldemort used to reconstitute himself that contains traces of love from Harry’s mother’s blood sacrifice. Voldemort will exsanguinate (bleed profusely) as any traces of "love" are sucked out of him and he will be left dangerously weakened and minus most of his magical powers – he will be quite vulnerable. Harry and Voldemort will fight it out on physical terms and not just magical. The struggle between the two severely injured and weakened combatants will lead them into the room with the veiled archway, which will be revealed as a portal to the afterlife.

In the climax of the final desperate battle, Voldemort will be pushed by Harry into the veil and through the archway and be dragged kicking and screaming into hell by demons from the other side. The hellish scene will fade and Harry will see the archway reconfigure into a portal to heaven, and he will finally see and talk to his parents and Sirius Black who will reassure Harry that they will be together soon in a better place and that Harry should “let go”. As Harry hovers near death in his corporeal body, Hermione will have recovered enough to get moving and track Harry down as he lies dying. Hermione will witness the final few moments of conversation between the earthly and otherworld figures, and then see Harry’s ravaged body collapse for the last time. As he dies, Harry’s spirit, looking serene and healthy, will rise and enter through the archway to join Sirius, James and Lily. Harry will turn and speak to Hermione briefly and then bid her a fond farewell just as Ron appears by Harry’s side and says goodbye to the distraught Hermione too.

It will be a tearjerker, but put the entire Harry Potter series to rest. The epilogue chapter will follow and detail what happens to the surviving major characters.

Durro