The Deathly Hallows was everything I expected from the grand finale of the Harry Potter series, and then, it was much more. For instance, I would have guessed that most of the book would have been consumed in finishing up all the little threads that had been spawned in books one through six. I would never have expected anywhere near as much new material as this book provided. The book was also gratifying in how quite a few of my predictions came out to be true. Yes, I know McGonagall ended up not being a Death Eater, but still, Snape was revealed as a good guy (you'd be surprised at how many people - my suitemate included - didn't have any idea this was coming) and Harry was a Horcrux. I was also surprised to find out that a lot of facts that I had already taken for granted since Book Five (such as the Hog's Head's barkeep being Aberforth) had never been explicitly mentioned and came as new information to some.

After the extremely heart-wrenching endings of the last two books, I had come to look upon Rowling as this evil, sadistic woman who wanted to harness the power of children's tears as a fuel for some sort of weapon she was making to take over the world. That was the part of me that loved Dumbledore so dearly that I didn't want to believe that I would never hear (all right, read) his voice in Book Seven. And so wrong was I.

The bloodbath that wasn't
Yes, Hedwig was a low blow. But, Fred's departure wasn't really a huge surprise, was it? I'm not saying it wasn't sad, but, by the law of probability, if all of the Weasleys had survived the book, it would been remarkable indeed. Mad-Eye? Well, I never really got attached to him, so his death was not a big deal for me. Tonks and Lupin died together and their son would be raised by his grandmother – so that didn't really strike me as too sad either (if only one of them had died though, it would have been a lot more sad). Dobby's death, I must say, was the most painful.

The Dursleys Departing
All in all, I think Rowling was really kind in writing this book. It was a very pleasant parting between Harry and his reluctant relatives. I was very touched that Dudley realized, after seventeen years, that Harry, was, in fact, not a waste of space. When I first read the chapter, I was sad that we didn't get to find out more about Petunia, but that was remedied before long. I like how Book Seven, as it is wont to be, being the final in a heptology, links back to so much stuff in the previous books. For example, the "we have corresponded" line in Book Six, when Dumbledore comes to take Harry from the Dursleys, and its reference, not to the Howler as one might have assumed back then, but to the letters exchanged by Petunia and Dumbledore when she wrote to him requesting to be admitted to Hogwarts.

Hallows and Horcruxes
I find it hard to believe that Rowling had this whole thing about Hallows and Horcruxes worked out ever since she started writing Book One. I mean, if she did, she must really be brilliant because that's a lot of information to keep in mind while writing those end-of-book Dumbledore narratives throughout the series (except Book Six). I was really impressed by how the Hallows came into the story and how they linked together with Horcruxes and even Harry's Invisibility Cloak. Still, it was left to the reader's imagination as to whether anything special would happen when these three objects were brought together. Also, honestly, I think that the Invisibility Cloak was rather a lame Hallow. The cloak itself is immune to magic, sure, but wearing it doesn't make you immune. Now that would be dead useful.

Wandlore
I thought we'd found out everything that we'd ever find out about wands back in Book Four with Priori Incantatum and all that. Again Book Seven surprised by presenting a great deal of new and wildly interesting information about wands and their ownership. Arguably, it was one of the most interesting parts of the entire book, right up there with information about the Hallows and Horcruxes.

Severus Snape
There is no doubt in my mind that "The Prince's Tale" was, by far, the most absorbing chapter in the entire book. And, in my opinion, it took a surprisingly short time to explain all of it (an almost disappointingly short time). Nothing demonstrates Rowling's genius better than her picking of the perfect set of memories from Snape's mind that, in short, explained everything. Somehow, I had never envisaged a scenario in which I would be able to forgive six books' worth of Snape's complete gittiness.

Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure
You've just got to love the little tidbits of magical knowledge that are sprinkled throughout the book. I drank it all down – Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration, the power of House-Elf apparition, Taboos, the entrance question for Ravenclaw tower – and relished it.

Dumbledore
If there was one thing I could have been sure of before having read the book, it would have been that Dumbledore was to have little to no part to play in it. I was, yet again, woefully mistaken. And pleasantly surprised, might I add. There was nary a chapter that was not chock full of Dumbledore. Personally, I was most interested in what part his portrait hanging in Snape's office would have to play. And yet again I was surprised to find out that it was a most significant role indeed. Paintings in the world of Harry Potter have always intrigued me because of how much power they have. I mean, did it really matter if Dumbledore died if he was there, talking, thinking, plotting, generating new ideas and ordering Snape around? As far as I can tell, the only significant thing the portrait-Dumbledore couldn't do was to cast spells. Also, it seems that Rowling is just as big a fan of end-of-the-book talks with Dumbledore as I am, because she managed to put that in the book regardless of the fact that, well, Dumbledore was a tad dead. I'm not complaining though. It was like having Dumbledore alive again – my favourite person in the entire series. What was the significance of the ugly, moaning baby at King's Cross? I'm afraid I don't know even after having read the book twice. My first instinct was to think it was Snape but it just didn't make any sense.

Aberforth
That little conversation with Aberforth was really important. It introduced Dumbledore not from Harry's limited perspective, not from Elphias Doge's sidekick perspective, not from Rita Skeeter's malicious perspective, but from a truer and purer perspective by far – that of his own brother. It was very illuminating to say in the least.

Oh well, that's all I could think of. Here are some of my favourite quotes from the book (page numbers are from the American edition, spellings from the British):

• "I don't think you're a waste of space." - Dudley, p. 40
• "Pathetic! With the whole wide world of ear-related humour before you, you go for holey?" - Fred, p. 75
• "Perhaps just one more, Master Harry, for luck?" - Kreacher, p. 221
• "Rack your brains, Ron, that should only take a couple of seconds–" - Hermoine, p. 381
• "So he can sneak up on people. Sometimes he gets bored of running at them, flapping his arms and shrieking..." - Ron, p. 408, regarding Death's possession of an Invisibility Cloak
• "But the fact remains he can move faster than Severus Snape confronted with shampoo when he wants to" - Fred, or George, p. 444
  
• "We teachers are rather good at magic, you know" - McGonagall, p. 595
• "Oh, don't mind me... I'll just lie here and crumble...." - Gargoyle, p. 620
  
• "Of course it is happening in your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?" - Dumbledore, p. 723