predictions

[percival]

Whee, piperx is letting me use her LJ client! Cool. So, these are my predictions, most of which evolved after long discussions with her during scenic drives. (Yes, we did see some of the landscape of the Beartooth Highway, doncha worry, luv.)

Sooo ... here are my theories. Most of them are bound to have been voiced somewhere already. I've attributed sources where I knew them; sorry, I haven't been reading Veritaserum and It Is Time on the Quill too attentively. I will debate them at the Quill, as well - but I tend not to get any responses to my contributions, so I figure I'd rather summarise them in one place than watch them go under in various threads :) Besides, piperx is inspiring me :)))

The Central Conflict

• will be between Dumbledore and the Ministry, which is being subverted by Death Eaters.
  
• Fudge becomes Malfoy's puppet.
  
• Azkaban will be opened; the Dementors will side with Voldemort
  
• The giants will partly side with Dumbledore, partly with Voldemort
  
• Other magical creatures will take sides - that will be a large part of the back story. Will Lupin act as an emissary to, say, Werewolves?
  
• the Order, i.e. the Old Crowd from GOF, will organise resistance and work hard to convince people that he's back
  
• there will be a public campaign against Harry, orchestrated by DEs at the Daily Prophet. Only those who are persuaded that Voldemort has risen again will support Harry. This is where the training at the Dursleys will come in handy
  
• We will only see Voldemort through the eyes of a spy - Snape - and through Harry's dreams.
  
• Dumbledore will be removed from Hogwarts by the Ministry. Snape might be made Headmaster instead of MacGonagall. This would be engineered by Lucius Malfoy. Voldemort needs the headmaster to be as vulnerable as possible, and Snape's Dark Mark makes him extremely vulnerable. In that case, Snape will not turn spy as dr_c predicted. And Harry would still be under the Headmaster's protection because of the life debt.
  
• Dumbledore will be framed to take responsibility for the death of Muggle students - that could be the only reason for his removal.
  
• Dumbledore's speech prepares Harry for surviving without him.
  
• Dumbledore will instruct Harry in using Dumbledore's pensieve.
  
• Dumbledore will be joined by Hagrid and Sirius; together, they will form a band of vigilantes (nooo, Montana is so not rubbing off here.)
  
• Fawkes will act as the link between Dumbledore and Harry.
  

Percy

• will initially side with the Ministry
  
• we will get to know why: ambition not only for respect, but also
  a desire to establish himself as a potential pater familias.
  (I see him as quite patriarchal and having clear opinions about how children ought to be raised.)
  
• we will learn what happened to Penelope. My guess: She dumped him,
  the poor entry-level ministry wizard, because her parents forced her to.
  This of course fuels Percy's ambition to succeed, making him quite single-minded.
  
• will switch sides at a late time, central to the plot. At one stage, the success of
  the whole operation will hinge on Percy.
  If he does not die, he will become a mole - a kind of Snape at the Ministry, Dumbledore's spy.

Romance

• Harry will suffer, for Cho Chang will join the fight on his side. Ah, exquisite pain. Shall I shag Cedric's girl? Harry will be too much of a gentleman for that. Cho might be interested, but Harry will be his own worst enemy. Boys.
  
• Ginny will decide not to let her unrequited love rule her life. She will unwittingly encourage the timid advances of a certain Mr. Longbottom. But nothing will come of it. After all, she needs to be free for Harry, doesn't she?
  
• Ron will find out that he actually really likes a certain bushy-haired girl. But he will be quite intimidated by the discovery, because he cannot afford to alienate her if he loves her. We will not see Ron/Hermione action for a while yet, and if we do, we will see it some time after the fact, because Harry is a boy, and that means that romance-wise, he is slow on the uptake. (go on, call me a feminist.) Oh, and piperx thinks he might be a wee bit busy with a few Death Eaters.
  
• The romance will take place in the background, as so many storylines do, because it's part of the personal development of the characters as teenagers, just like the acne and the bad manners.
  
• But we will see some half-giant on half-giant action. I'm looking forward to lots of cute, eh, little, baby half-giants in the epilogue.

Death

• Dumbledore will not die yet. He is sidelined, though
  
• Percy could be a goner: dying shortly after realising that
  he should have supported his family. Repercussions in said
  family could be extreme - and fuel their wish to see off Voldemort
  
• one or both of the Creeveys are toast (kudos to pinkfluffyllama for this one). These will be the murders that Dumbledore will be held responsible for.
  
• Sirius will die as a result of some harebrained but very brave action to get Harry out of a stupid scrap

Character Development

• we will hear more about Lily, from Petunia, Dumbledore, and Black.
  
• Harry will become a much more proficient wizard. So far, his main talents have been Quidditch and his stubborn will to be good and to be himself.
  
• We will hear about the missing Weasley, probably from Charlie, who's less likely to stick to a taboo of not talking about a dead sibling than Arthur and Molly. Possibly after Percy's death
  
• Molly will be revealed to be a formidable witch.
  
• if Percy dies, Fred and George will mature considerably. Otherwise, they will continue to be mainly comic relief and mature more slowly. The Wizard Wheezes will be researched further, in particular regarding their potential as weapons, but not fully approved until after the twins' NEWTs.
  
• bring on the Neville. He's the boy on the title. He will be trained by Moody to avenge his parents, in collaboration with Madam Sprout. I can also see Snape warming to him - after all, herbologists furnish many of his ingredients, don't they?
  
• We will also find out why Neville's memory is so bad. Moody might have that treated. I support soupytwist's theory of a misfired memory charm.
  
• Winky will be crucial. If she can be persuaded to help avenge Barty jr. by fighting the man who made him evil, she would be an incalculable asset.
  
• Draco Malfoy will become a Death Eater in an attempt to ingratiate himself with Daddy and to attain the status he so craves.
  
• House elves, in particular Dobby, will start to talk. They see so much, being invisible servants, that their information will be the key to hurting Death Eaters - especially given that DE masters treat their slaves so badly.
  
• Ginny will become far more independent.
  
• We will see Charlie again, as a replacement for Hagrid. Charlie can harness some pretty dangerous animals for the fight against the DE.
  
• There will be a campaign to discredit Harry, and for a long time, most of his fellow students will be turned against him. He will be truly alone, save when he's just won Gryffindor a Quidditch match. The only loyal friends will be the Weasleys, Hermione, Neville, and Cho Chang. There might also be one or two Hufflepuffs, maybe Justin Finch-Fletchley (suggestion by piperx)

I don't really have any opinions on the room (might be a Door to other places, to circumvene the Apparition prohibition), or on the DADA teacher (a Durmstrang import, to train students to fight the real baddies.) or on Fleur (she might come back as a language assistant, or a teaching assistant. Maybe Prof. Binns would appreciate some charming help? The history grades would surely benefit. Or, as piperx suggests, she could replace Headmaster Snape in Potions. Now that would be fun .... )

In case you were wondering, I agree with most of what dr_c predicted back in March.piperxwill post her predictions soon. In a few weeks we will see who was right ...