So, this is the final Harry Potter book. Because of this, many emotions ran through all of our minds...and hearts...as we first got our copy, read the opening flap, read each chapter, and finally, and hesitantly, closed the book. After reading the book twice, and being in the middle of my third read, I feel more confident and "qualified," if you will, to make an analysis/discussion about each of the chapters...and some other things...and please feel free to add your own!!
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Time I received Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: 1:32 AM on July 21st, 2007.
Location I received Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Barnes and Nobles; Livonia, MI, USA
How much I paid for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: As a member: $18.99.
Time I began to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: 1:38 AM
Location I began to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: In the passenger's seat of my friend's car on the way to her home. I finished the first chapter in the car...read it out loud...and continued inside at 2:00 AM exactly.
Time I finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: 12:15 PM on July 21, 2007.
Time it took to finish Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: 10 hours and 37 minutes.

1:31 AM, July 21, 2007 at Barnes and Nobles in Livonia, MI, USA:
I handed the man my Barnes and Nobles gift card and, in exchange, the man handed me a green Barnes and Nobles plastic bag. I waited for my friend to receive her bag. We sprinted, literally, to the car, dodging other vehicles as we went, and hurried to open our doors to the car. I climbed into my seat on the passenger's side as my friend did so to my left. I shut my door. She copied me. Taking deep breaths, I stuck my hand within the depths of the plastic bag and I felt the hard cover of a thick book.

Hands literally shaking, I closed my fingers around the book's spine and pulled it out. It was clean, perfect, and sent off one of MY favorite smells that would DEFINITELY be what I would smell in Amortentia: New Book Smell! I ran my finger tenderly up and down the cover, taking in the words and the illustration of the book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows across the top, a reaching Harry in the middle, and, in bold scarlet letters, J.K. Rowling on the bottom. I felt my eyes burn...the significance of this moment, this day, weighing in on me with a mixture of triumphant excitement and depressing sadness. My vision was blurry, hot, wet tears slid down on my cheeks uncomfortably. I sniffed back the wetness of my nose, but couldn't bring myself to wipe away the tickling tears on my face.

My friend stuck her keys into the ignition of the car, and the engine roared, bringing me back to the present. She told me to turn on the light above my head and asked me to read the first chapter out loud. I obeyed, my finger pressing hard until I heard a 'click' and a cascade of yellow light shone down onto my lap. There was a gentle lurch as the car began to move forward and out of the parking lot. Quickly, I threw my seatbelt over my shoulder and into the buckle. Taking numerous deep breaths, feeling a somewhat nausea in my stomach and my heart pounding achingly against my chest, I finally opened the cover.

My eyes fell on the orange inside flap...

If I was crying when I first laid hands on this book/treasure, I realized that it would surely get worse and worse as I read. As my eyes scanned those words, I began twelve steady hours of constant sobbing. It hit me. This is the end. The next twelve hours of reading would be concluding a decade of my life: my childhood, my adolescence, and the beginning of my adulthood.
I'm an original fan. For me, it began in 1997 as an 8 year-old 3rd grader. I went to my school's book fair and picked up Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone off the 'New Releases' shelf. My teacher recommended it, and it had a nice cover, so I read it. (Plus, I was...and still remain...a ravenous reader and wanted to read anything and everything.) Since that first page, I've been hooked ever since. I had waited for every single copy after that...Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and my first and last 12:00 AM release to get Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I've read them all in one day starting with Goblet of Fire. I was old enough to have that stamina to finish it in one go. I set a personal record with this last book...but it is more that I literally CANNOT put them down more than anything!

These books have been an escape. I have had many interesting and unfortunate things in my life, and reading has always been a way to escape the desolate and death of life. In this way, Harry Potter's escape was so different. It didn't take me away from my problems. Sure, I was thrown into a fantasy world...it isn't real. It is pretend. But the morals and the themes are set in reality...a reality that took hold of most of my life. Instead of letting me run from my fears and trials, these books (with their themes of death and forgivenes and acceptance) made me face them with a new idea about them. I was able, like Harry is, to accept the mortality of all humans. I have to live each day as if it were the last day. If anything, these books have given me an outlook on that.

They have given me a way for me to become more intelligent. I have always been a bookworm, devouring anything and everything I could read. I craved good literature, even from an early age. I have always excelled in my English and literature classes, and because of that, I have always loved to analyze and discuss books. This particular series has presented me with the mother load of literary excellence and symbolism. It made me thirst for deeper meaning and discussion. It made me expand my mind...and morals.

These novels have such a moral core. As a Catholic, who has attended Catholic school my entire life, I find that even I had to find some hope when I was low on faith. These have only strengthened my beliefs. I am now more sure than ever of my faith. If anything, I have become someone who looks for the best in people and who truly believes that our choices determine who we are.

But it was mostly my childhood. It was like what Stephen King said in his farewell to Harry Potter in Entertainment Weekly magazine:
That is my life. That is the definition of my life. I did those tihngs. It wasn't just at camp. Every night at like 2:00 AM, I'd be up with the flashlight, my mother yelling at me to go to bed. I had to finish the chapter...then the next...and the next. And it happened mostly on my second or third readings. After 10 years, the total are: Sorceror's Stone: Read 44 times. Chamber of Secrets: Read 20 times. Prisoner of Azkaban: Read 46 times. Goblet of Fire: Read 33 times. Order of the Phoenix: Read 31 times. Half-Blood Prince: Read 35 times. We'll see how many more times I will revisit all of these...including Deathly Hallows. (YES, I am obsessive.)

Now, at 18, I am an adult. I'm going off to college, and, indeed, I must grow up some time. *sulk*

Anyway...reading this flap was a bittersweet moment. The moment--both triumphant and desperately sad--was here, and while I will reread and revisit this novel time and time again, over and over the rest of my life (and my children's too when the time comes), the first reading is the one that counts. Believe me. I will never forget 1:38 AM on July 21, 2007 in the passenger's seat of my friend's car when I began the event that would ultimately force me to bid my childhood farewell.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
That we, the readers, get a dedication with her immediate family is an honor. That I can say that I had been there since the beginning in 1997 and would, indeed, stick with Harry (and Jo, herself) until the very end...without peeking ahead...is something of which I am immensely proud. That single dedication was very meaningful and emotional for me, and rightly so, it was given in the shape of that lightning bolt scar.
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Now, I am not going presume or pretend that I understand this fully. Nor am I going to preach. I am simply going to state what I, as a reader, obtained from this passage...

Verse 1: I felt that it expresses that death is very painful and a shock no matter how old the person was or how expected the death was. The grief seems absolutely neverending and unbearable, indeed, a "hemorrhage" that just can't be stemed. No one denies that pain. No one denies the shock. However...

Verse 2: The "cure," I think, comes from the deceased's memory as we remember him/her, and that though we mourn and cry for them, we can, ultimately, stop the bleeding. The "cure" is the living's ability to honor and pass on the dead's legacy.

I'm still chewing thoughtfully on Verse 3. I leave it open...I just love the very last line. I am determined to link it to Harry...Please, Jo, "Bless [Harry, Ron, and Hermione], give them triumph now."
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I absolutely LOVE this quote. I think it's very straightforward, actually. To me, it means that Death is not the end. Almost exactly as Dumbledore says: "Death is but the next great adventure." Death isn't something to be feared or avoided at all costs. It is natural. It is inevitable, and must be accepted...welcomed when the time comes. If you have loved the deceased, that person will always be with you. Friendship and love between two individuals are immortal and omnipresent even in the finality of Death. Life, I believe, only continues after Death. Like the vastness of the oceans, Death seems endless, but if you have loved, Death is nothing more than a measurement.

I am now in the middle of my third read, and I'll be adding to these discussions as I go. PLEASE post what you thought of each chapter! I'd love to hear what you all think!
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I just think that this is such a great sentence in accord to description and imagery. J.K. Rowling is a master with the language. I admire her for that.

I love this! I knew going into Deathly Hallows that Snape was true to the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore, so it makes me smile smugly to see that Voldemort, who doesn't trust anyone as far as we know, truly considers Snape, a traitor to him, to be his right hand man...his lieutenant, so to speak, his most trustworthy. Irony...gotta love it!

This is great description for Voldemort's character. Does he have emotion other than anger and contempt? Obviously, not...or at least, the normal person's view of it.

This, I believe, is a big moment, and sets the whole tone of the book right off the bat. We know that, to put it casually, IT'S ON! There is no tiptoeing around or any doubt in our minds at this point. It's the real deal. The Prophecy will be fulfilled. This book will end with a Harry V. Voldemort ultimate battle.

*We also get the first clue that Voldemort has a hostage. The uncertainty of the identity of the person worried me. We find out later on, of course, that the hostage is Mr. Ollivander, the wandmaker, who went missing back in Half-Blood Prince. Since, however, we dont' know this at that time, my mind wandered over many more major characters...

Even before we understood this fully, I was so impressed at the idea. To use another's wand would kill the connection that Harry's wand shared with Voldemort's. That was so genious, I thought....still do. We do discover later that Ollivander told Voldemort that as long as he attacks Harry with his own wand, it will only create Priori Incatatem like back in the graveyard in Goblet of Fire. He is told later on that in order to overcome Harry's wand, he must use a wand with no connection with Harry's...or so they believe.

EXCELLENT characterization moment for Bellatrix. You can see that what she desires most is to be in Voldemort's good graces...to fancy herself closest to him. Clearly, she's in love with him. JKR even confirmed her feelings earlier yesterday:
I squealed...really loud. I was SO happy to hear they got married. I always loved this ship. (I will openly brag that I actually thought this to be a potential ship PRE-HBP, so I'm definitely fond of the ship.) I was SO excited!

[quote=p. 11 American Edition]"...we shall cut away the canker [Muggles, Muggleborns, "half-breeds," etc.] that infects us [Purebloods and Half-Bloods] until only those of the true blood remain..."[quote]
Evil git. This sent chills through me. So did unadulterated hate. This just shows the raw danger of Voldemort's ideas...and Voldemort and his followers themselves. It's a sick outlook on life.

**DEATH ALERT!**
Professor Charity Burbage:
Cause of Death: Tom Marvolo Riddle aka Lord Voldemort killed her with the Killing Curse.
Place of Death: Malfoy Manor
Obviously, no one could have foreseen or predicted this death since she was mentioned maybe once in PoA by Hermione. However, if someone were to ask me prior to the release of the last book whether the Muggle Studies teacher were a target, I probably would have said "yes" simply because any Muggle-lover/tolerator is at risk, aren't they? I think the saddest thing about her death was that Snape couldn't do anything to help her...even with her begging.
Rest in Peace, Professor.

Overview:
I enjoyed this first chapter a lot. I find that the chapters that we don't see through Harry's prejudice eyes are possibly the most interesting. Much like HBP's Chapter 2, Spinner's End, we get to see Snape as he is among Death Eaters. He is cold, aloof, and impassonate, giving absolutely nothing away in body language. His words, however, communicate nothing but DEATH EATER!!! to readers. Even devoted Snape Supporters (those who know that he is on the good side) tend to be a bit suspicious...possibly reconsidering their position. I'm guilty myself. In this chapter, Snape tells VOldemort of the plan to move Harry. We find out later that this information is correct, and we long to know how he knew. What/Who is his source? And if he is good, WHY would he give information to Voldemort that is essential to Harry's survival?

Clearly, these questions are answered later in the book, HOWEVER, in the moment, I sat there, as a Snape Supporter, scratching my head. It still burned like my long-time question of "Why did Snape make the Unbreakable Vow when he could have eluded it?" Again, this is answered, but at the time, I had no answer...only questions.

Such a chapter intrigues me merely for character development of one Severus Snape.

Another reason I love this chapter is because we see that Bellatrix and the Malfoy family have found themselves in Voldemort's dog house. No longer haughty and powerful, both Bellatrix and Lucius are embarrassed, nervous, ashamed, and frightened. It's good to see them suffer, even if we hate their tormentor even more.

We are also fortunate enough to get to see Voldemort without Harry's perceptive. Here, as we do for Snape in this chapter, as well as in Spinner's End, we have the chance to see Voldemort objectively. We have the opportunity to wipe off the slate...wipe away over ten years of justified hatred and watch him on a clean slate. Without Harry's blocking glasses, to be fully objective, we, as readers, must consciously erase six novels of knowledge of the horrific things. This is 99.999% impossible to do. With Harry as our hero, how could we possibly feel anything but disdain for Tom Marvolo Riddle? Where Harry and Voldemort are similar, especially in their oppressive childhoods, Harry chooses to be good while Riddle chooses to be evil.

However, for the sake of objective argument, this particular reader, in her third reading, watches the scene with immediate dislike. You immediately resent the complete and terrified silence that ensues in the Malfoy Manor. And we hate his followers just as much! What gives?! The possibility that most of his followers are willing may not be true. The hesitation, unfeeling, and stony silence from the Malfoys and others just show that many, if not most, of his followers are there propelled and motivated by fear or force.

It may even have been easier to cope with this Dark Lord if not for his quiet, near-whispered voice. HIs words drip with ice, disgust, mockery, and cold, dangerous anger, but never rise above a soft hiss. This quality makes him more lethal, and, therefore, more unlikeable to the reader. Any question one may have about Voldemort's nature or moral core is cruelly thrown out the window during his rant about blood purity and kills the innocent Muggle Studies teacher, Charity Burbage. You rule him pure evil as her dead body hits the table and Voldemort hisses softly, "Dinner, Nagini."

J.K. Rowling, above all, manages to keep the reader focused entirely on one question even with Snape's true loyalty, the Malfoys' fates, Voldemort's character up in the air: What are they going to do to Harry?

10/10 for merely good writing and goosebump count.

Shannon

Oh God, I must have spent a good fifteen minutes just staring at the word final. And I did tear up a bit without pausing to care about the way my friends sort of laughed a bit at my expense. I grew up with these books. I spent years just...waiting for MORE of them. And now. No more waiting. It's finally over. It's just sad.

At least it's not just me...

I think I seen it coming awhile ago, but, I still don't understand why Voldemort didn't just have Ollivander make him another wand.

I didn't pay much attention to that at first. I was a bit distracted by the 'body' hanging above Draco's head and given that it was hanging over DRACO...that's when I got worried about major characters...

Don't I know it! The scene is so dark but...it has good news buried in it. I was ecstatic.

I especially liked that Voldemort took Lucius' wand. I didn't realize before this book that to be a 'wand holder' was such a big deal...and now Lucius no long is one. Haha. I loved that.

Yeah...that was a little tense for me. As much as I hate to admit it...I would have bawled my eyes out had Draco died. I could really care less about Lucius but...Draco...he's a cowardly little prat but I love him just the same.

And I love this thread. It was an excellent idea. *subcribes*

CJ! Omg, I haven't seen you in forever! How are you?! I missed you!

Exactly. I'm still in mourning. It may sound so melodramatic, but I've been crying on and off all week. And I even cried harder the second time I read it. (Although, I have to admit that I was really tired the first time since I read it in one sitting.) It's the end of an era, and the end of our childhoods. Like you said, we grew up with these books. And like the saying goes: "All good things must come to an end."

I will, without a doubt, be reading this book...and the others...until the day I die. I totally plan to have my children read them...when I, you know, have children.

Me either because Ollivander did say that he made Wormtail a wand while he was incarcerated, so...

Exactly. I don't care how much they regretted their actions or were scared or forced or whatever, I will always hate the Malfoys. Yes, it was supposed to be about forgiveness, but...Harry's a bigger person than I.

It's so the opposite for me. Being the hard-hearted person I am , I was really hoping that at least ONE of the Malfoys got killed. *sigh* I suppose we still have fan fiction, though.

I'm so glad you like it! Again, everyone can contribute. I'm definitely the nut who takes the time to literally make all this analysis and stuff, but I'm certainly not the only one with thoughts on each chapter individually!

Remember that I'm not the only one contributing to this thread! I know you all have thoughts and opinions about each chapter individually!
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This is why I love J.K. Rowling. I immediately expected the worst with three words. In a fraction of a second, I contemplated a battle, a crippling wound, a death...but then it was all okay. She grabs you in right off the bat. What a better way to pay attention than to play with your mind first?

...or a gesture of gratitude!

I fully expected this to be a foreboding foreshadow moment. I imagined that during the Horcrux hunt Harry would be called upon to save someone's life. Alas, it is the last part of this passage that is foreshadowing...when later, Ron gets splinched when Apparating. This just emphasizes Hermione's importance. Really, what would Harry do without her?

These two passages confirm that Harry (and Ron and Hermione, we simply assume at this point) will not return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as a student.

Also, at the time, before it was really explained, I thought that it may also have been Harry trying to possibly hoodwinking magic by calling the Dursley house 'home' longer than his mother's magic would hold up. Obviously, that theory was wrong.

This is yet more concrete evidence that Harry will be going Horcrux hunting. As for the locket, it just seems to light a fire in me that I didn't mind too much that he wasn't going back. The locket, at the time, meant that Dumbledore would not have died, and the school wouldn't have been attacked, Bill wouldn't have been bitten by Greyback, Snape would not have fled, etc. etc. I also found it odd that he took the Marauder's Map since he wasn't going back to Hogwarts.

Knowing the truth, I was inclined to assume that either the Ministry and the Prophet as well as Hogwarts were led to believe this; or the Ministry and the Prophet covered it up or made it up so as to not start a panic; or it was a part of the plan to keep the Order in the dark with both outlets, which has been mostly controlled by the Death Eaters.

[QUOTEp. 16-20 American Edition:]ALBUS DUMBLEDORE REMEMBERED by Elphias Doge[/quote]
At the time, I loved this part, wiping a few tears away. It was such a nice dedication, and, like Harry said, gave us new information about him we never knew...and never really wondered. At the time, it seemed to depict the Dumbledore we knew perfectly. Even in his faults that we discover later, it captured the Dumbledore that mattered. Everyone makes mistakes. Since Dumbledore did all he could to fix them, it would seem unfair to maim the man in his obituary. Plus, I don't believe that Doge really knew Dumbledore as well as he thought.

I see this quote as another clue to Severus Snape's innocence. To the eye, Snape is a greasy, bitter, sulky, unfair git with a baby grudge. And that still holds true at the end of the book. But is he evil? No. (That's too strong a word. He's gray.) Is he heartless. Well, no. Is he loveless. No. And Dumbledore knew the best and worst of him--as did Lily--and still chose to value him nonetheless. (MORE ON THIS later...)

Now, as I reread this for the second time, this sickens me and gives me goosebumps. Even in his good nature, Dumbledore openly believed in the greater good, which is not, in the other view, necessarily a bad thing. I mean, initially, in different context than Dumbledore's letter to Grindelwald, of course, I am a believer in the greater good. Everyday heroes become heroes because of their willingness to sacrifice themselves for the good of others...and the greater good of society. (Examples include the military, police, fire fighters, etc.)
It is AMAZING at the difference that philosophy is from two different perspectives.

He didn't know...couldn't imagine...how much more, he would discover, he did not know. And neither did we.

This is one of my favorite quotes. (I have many.) I found that I completely agreed with him!

I. FREAKING. HATE. RITA. SKEETER. I was infuriated when I first read this nauseating article. I, like Harry, consider it all to be lies. I thought that there was no way that there could be truth to any of it because the only honest thing she had ever written was for The Quibbler in OotP, and she was under tremendous blackmail from Hermione. Therefore, it was only natural to assume that she merely was a vicious liar, that her "source" was her Quick-Quotes Quill...and to pay her no mind. Her malicious amusement at Doge made me want to slap her across her haughty, overdone face.
And yet, even after we find she was not off the makr later on, I still found it inappropriate, distasteful, and disrespectful to tarnish his name so soon after his death. There are unwritten rules about such things. For example, in the United States, when a former president dies, the media is expected to pay their respects, highlight their accomplishments, and refrain from defaming them until after an appropriate amount of time. (This even applied to Richard Nixon. They waited an appropriate amount of time before even mentioning Watergate again.) The four weeks she took to come out with it is disgusting.
And yet, despite my outrage and hatred of Rita Skeeter, I must admit that this article whet my appetite to know more about Dumbledore. I, too, felt a little guilty at my previous lack of interest regarding Dumbledore's family and past. And, against my will, I knew deep inside, that, indeed, he probably had some skeletons in his closet. Whatever I felt, all I knew was that I had to know for sure the truth.

These reflect my feelings...on a lower level. Where I was curious about the truth at that moment, even though I was disgusted, Harry was just furious...and rightly so. But, then it hit me why I wasn't as angry as I should have been. It had only been 4 weeks for Harry since Dumbledore's death. We, on the other hand, had over a year to mourn for Dumbledore, and, therefore, while furious, are eager, even interested, to read Skeeter's book. As Dumbledore's death grows farther away from Harry, he, too, wants to know the truth.

I was so roused by this. My body flooding with adrenaline already, (I would switch to near-gallons of caffeine later on) my mind raced around. Yes, Dumbledore's eye was always described as "shockingly" blue. Yet, the excitement turned quickly to confusion. J.K. Rowling had stated firmly before the release of DH that Dumbledore was definitely dead. There was no way he was alive. Furthermore, as we learned at the end of OotP, the two-way mirror, even before Harry smashed it, could not contact the dead. As we learn, that blue eye woudl appear throughout the novel and prove to be very important.

Overview:
I enjoyed Chapter 2 for the most part. I believe that this contains many questions that are answered later, but torment us up til then. Just as the first sentence of the chapter was misleading, so was the cup of tea, both Daily Prophet articles, and the mirror. I believe that JKR wanted us to end this chapter very confused with many questions. What kind of questions, one may ask? (Well, nothing that wasn't answered, but...):
--What was the deal with the cup of tea? (We find the answer to this, in the following chapter.)
--What is the real truth about Dumbledore and his past? (We have to wait until Chapter 33 for the full truth!)
--And what is the mystery of that mirror? JKR did say that it would be important. (Yes, we find that out much later too.)
--Obviously, the question of the circumstance of Harry's bleeding was answered immediately, but a question, nonetheless.
JKR jumps right into it, toying with all of our emotions. In one chapter we panic on Harry's behalf, we mourn and tear up for Dumbledore, we swell with respect for him..and deflate with shock, anger, and injustice in return, we burn with regret, we glow with longing to know questions, and anxiety. The woman is a genious.
Unlike what my Ronald said in OotP, we can feel all that at once...and we didn't explode! (I LOVE YOU, RON!)

10/10 for keeping us on our toes from the get go.

Shannon

Are you ever going to post more?
I really liked reading your reviews....
-Kim