* * spoilers * * Speculations and discussion Book 7 Options

[McGonagall's Cat]

It is starting!



This was on HPANA today ~

JK Rowling appeared on the Richard & Judy Show in the UK, and had a few things to say that may interest fans.

Some highlights from the show:

Book 7 is NOT finished but she is well into it
The final chapter for book 7 has changed slightly - two more people have died than she originally planned and one other person has got a reprieve
Jo first wrote the final chapter in 1990
She has regretted writing some parts where she may have boxed herself in, earlier in the series
Jo says Ron is generally more popular than Harry -- remembers seeing an unofficial poll on a fansite reflecting this
You can read the rest of the highlights here courtesy of SnitchSeeker, but since they seem to be having server issues, here they are for now:

She would be willing to kill Harry in order to prevent future authors from writing sequels
She was in denial of her fame for the first three books, shocked when the press made slight reference to Potter
Jo mentioned she is indeed wealthy, but many stats are falsely reported
Jessica, her daughter, is often pestered at school for upcoming book titles, plot details, etc.
Jo has written half of another children's book in her spare time
Her boggart would be that of Mrs. Weasley's: her children dead
She made up the rules for quidditch in 30 minutes after a fight with her ex-boyfriend

Mugglenet has the video: http://www.mugglenet.com/app/news/show/152

And Rueters had an article: http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle....POTTER-PLOT.xml

[McGonagall's Cat]

If Dumbledore is gone, we only have three ways of getting such info:

-Snape (likely, but depending on what he says, will Harry ever believe him?)
-Pensieve (DD and Snape may have memories in there. It is likely that we will learn the real reason DD trusts Snape through the Penseive)
-Time Travel (I'd like to think this is likely. Even though no one has ever travelled this far back that we know of and according to Hermione, all the timeturners were smashed in the DoM, time travel would give us the best bird's eye view of what happened at Godric's Hollow)

Your thoughts are solid and logical, but there are other ways of gleaning info.
One might be sort of a "Snape (b)" category, in that, there could be OTHERS with first-hand knowledge. Snape is the one who seems to be the most directly involved and the one we already know the most about, or suspect the most about, but there could be others who were someplace at the right time and place. What about the real Mad-Eye? Or any of several teachers or shopkeeppers? In each book she's introduced a new character or two, or made a minor one more prominent, so it is possible one of those will know/share important info.

This could count as "Snape ©" as it is still first-person knowledge -
The Portraits have to know things. At the very least they have observed and discussed with Dumbledore as he unraveled the Horcrux mysteries and fought the first fight with TDL. We think of Dippet as a bit ineffectual, but he knew Tom Riddle first-hand. I think there are possibilities in this direction.

I agree with you about her idea of "enough" not being my idea of the same. I want to know, in detail, how both James and Lily AND Alice and Frank "thrice defied". She'll touch on it, but I doubt it will be "enough". And there are so many other things.... *sigh*

Good thoughts! *wanders off pondering the possibilities*