the Dalaverse

Have achieved book. Have spent about sixty of first hundred pages sobbing. Mostly when I thought Hagrid was dead, then when Hedwig and Mad-Eye Moody were actually dead. And when George HAD NO EAR and there was FRED. And whenever anybody mentioned Dumbledore. And when Lupin got all tense when Tonks didn't come back because he is clearly thinking about when Sirius Didn't Come Back. And when Hermione threw herself at Ron with her arms around his neck. And when people talked and did stuff.

I think I'm going to read the wedding and then go to bed. This is too harrowing to get through in one gulp. The weeping is giving me a headache. I'll update this post with further thoughts later, which is why I'm temporarily turning comments off because I do not want to talk about it until I'm done. Also, tomorrow I will obtain HP icon first thing ::previews to make sure cut works::

ETA: Okay. I have finally returned from The End. It took longer than anticipated, because I went back to bed for a long time after getting up too early, and because I had to keep taking breaks from the harrowing. So if you were expecting a coherent review, this isn't it. It all went by so quickly and there are still elements in the last few chapters that I'm fuzzy on. But - I really liked it. Really, a lot. How it all ended, and how we got there. It's good I had the house to myself today, because I kept crying and laughing and talking to the book, putting on a very good show of being a crazy person.

It got really mythic up in here, didn't it? With the hero's journey angle and the whole hero-sort-of-returning-from-death. And it seems she tied up a whole lot of loose ends. I am struggling to come up with sweeping statements, here, but mostly what I was taking note of was what I loved. That list is topped by:

MOLLY WEASLEY KILLED BELLATRIX LESTRANGE.

No seriously - Mrs. Weasley killed Bellatrix. There are no words for how much I loved that. Following it closely, in no particular order:

McGonagall leading a charge of schooldesks.

Neville beheading Nagini with Gryffindor's sword. Also, everything Neville did, ever.

Snape being in love with Lily. This possibility didn't occur to me until artaxastra recently suggested it, and while it sounded plausible I was curious to see how Rowling was going to do it. She wrote it like I would've: with the revelation after Snape's death, for maximum angst potential (and the pensieve was an excellent plot device, as it's been in the past). I wasn't expecting for them to have been childhood best friends - that was a good stroke.

The Battle of Hogwarts. I mean, my god.

Dumbledore's family, particularly Aberforth. And Dumbledore coming back, if only in death/Harry's mind.

The Trio's epic journey. Even with the evidence to the contrary, I prefer to believe the three of them shared one sleeping bag in that cat-scented tent. Their bond is extraordinary, whether or not it's romantic/sexual.

Dudley shaking Harry's hand. And that last hesitation from Petunia. Because now we know why.

Okay, so, if I were to ship anything in HP, it'd be the aforementioned Harry/Ron/Hermione and Sirius/Remus. And though on paper they all went in different directions, my casually invested eyes saw a certain degree of validation. I'm not hating on the Lupin/Tonks relationship, although I still didn't see any real evidence of where it came from. And I sort of like baby Ted (does that bring things full circle or what?). But I appreciated when the dead came to Harry in matched pairs: James and Lily, Sirius and Remus. (As far as the Trio goes, while I liked the ending and the Harry/Ginny pairing well enough - he should have a family - if I were going to write fic for the series? I'd probably ignore the 'nineteen years later' epilogue entirely. I can hear the clamor of the shipper wars already).

That Harry actually paid his dead mother some damned attention, at last.

Speaking of the deaths - um, two, JK? That was a lot more than two!

God, there tons of other things I have to say about it, I swear, but they're just not coming. I think I'm going to reread it this week, and now it's time to see what others have had to say (haven't touched the Internet since leaving to meet penknife and kaz814 for the release party - it was great fun and we were out of there by 12:15, which is quite an accomplishment). I'm half expecting to find a smoking black hole when I open Firefox. Comments enabled! Chat away!