i can't believe i only finished reading the book on sunday. kill me. i was feeling a bout of dizziness on sat and i had to go all the way to pasir ris for sth so i didn't get to spend even a few solid hours reading the book. but all the better, so the time for me to know the ending would seem to be lengthened, and the anticipation in me would still be growing strong.

CAUTION!! SPOILERS AHEAD!!

this book is distinctly different from the rest of the 6 books. however, as the books should get darker progressively, i don't think this book is the darkest. whereas in the past, voldemort seemed to be elusive and to harry, he's like this big, powerful, scary and mysterious enemy. but in the HALLOWS, harry had grown to be even more attached to voldemort's soul and he saw more and more 'visions' belonging to voldemort. towards the end, he could even choose to see voldemort's mind and he finally learned to close his mind against the dark lord. in a way, harry knew what voldemort's up to and he could counteract against whatever he was plotting and also know what is it that voldemort wants exactly.

the deathly hallows.. whoever has them could defeat death, which means to say he's invincible, second to none. there was the symbol of it on xeno's robes, on the cover of the book dumblesdore willed to hermione and carved onto a wall of the durmstrang's school. it was on the orange china-made paper bag which came together with the book too. the stick represents the elder wand, the circle the ressurection stone and the triangle the invisibility cloak. harry had already had the cloak and it was unique to no other. the other two hallows seemed at first to be impossible to exist to ron and hermione but harry kept thinking about it. when he was generating ideas about where are their locations and the possibility that dumbledore wanted to lead him to possession of all three hallows, he became like another person, uncompletely alike to harry at all. he bacame obsessed with the hallows and even thought that this two companions are being obsessed with the horcruxes when he was, actually, the one who was obsessed with the unnecessary, which is the desire for power and invincibility, as did dumbledore when he was his age. his deductions were right, that voldemort's after the elder wand and that he himself might have already possessed of the stone. but fortunately, he was brought back down to earth later, helped by hermione's ever practical mind. it was a good thing, for if harry had been carried away further, he would have become like many of the many historical wizards before him, who spilled blood just for the sake of the dangerous elder wand.

these are my votes for the various scenes..

most favourite scene:
when voldemort finally died and all the people present at the great hall erupted into cheers of pure jubilation. finally, voldemort has met his end. finally, no more bloodshed and fear for the wizarding community. the dark lord has finally, at long last, been vanquished by the destined boy, the boy who lived. but i was still a bit disappointed when there wasn't a part whereby voldemort realised his mistakes, where he went wrong. he just plopped dead like that, without any knowledge of his errs and any understanding of love and remorse, which was what he lacked, right till the end of his life which he so treasured.

most touching scene:
when snape, just before he was about to die, he wanted to look at lily evans, before he could not do so any longer, just for the last time. and he told harry," Look... at... me...", for the only part of harry with his mum's trace was his brilliant green eyes. that's like so touching! although i didn't know why he said that at first, but after the pensieve scene of snape's thoughts came, i was reminded of the last words of snape.

most heart-lifting scene:
the drastic change in Kreacher. he actually became a real house-elf for once, doing all the housework and taking care of the 3 as good as he can. to see such an incorrigible and beyond-hope being turn into someone brand new, it's definitely a bright cheer to the otherwise gloomy prospects facing the trio. he also wore sth clean, instead of hanging on to his old and dirty rag! also, quite amusingly, he led the elves of hogwarts into the battle with voldemort's dark forces. that's quite comical too. haha..

scene with the most anticipation:
the one when dumbledore came to talk to harry in his mind, when harry thought they were at king's cross. voldemort had just killed his second last horcrux, the part of his soul which was clinging onto harry's. it was also when harry could choose to leave with dumbledore and 'board the train', instead of returning to the battlefront. im not clear on what had just happened and adding on to this, there was the unknown still out there, waiting for harry to come around and go back to reality.

the most fast-paced, exciting scene:
the one whereby harry was captured by greyback and some snatchers back to the deatheaters' base, the malfoy's home. voldemort was coming back swiftly, and harry still had to defeat the deatheaters and save his friends. time seemed to be priceless and what's worse, hermione was being tortured by bellatrix using the cruciatius curse.

the most anti-climatic scene:
nineteen years later. everything was normal and serene. but it was too normal and serene. no mention of any further thoughts regarding voldemort. peaceful and tranquil. yet i was itching to know more about harry's past, the intervening years before the book very abruptly fastforwarded to nineteen years later. so much rowling didn't mention and i felt that it wasn't enough. oh well.

most miserable and upsetting scene:
when ron left harry and hermione just like that, leaving them behind in the mission they promised to undertake together and running off to somewhere comfortable himself. and for the next few weeks, harry and hermione were in the depths of their gloom, with the fall-out of ron like that.

most surprising scene:
when it was revealed through sanpe's memories that he had, in fact, loved lily evans long before james met her, when they were both children. that's like so shocking. and i thought, from the ORDER that he hated her when he called her a mudblood. what a dramatic turn in the linkages batween characters. so unlikely.

most heart-warming scene:
when harry used the ressurection stone and brought back his parents, sirius and lupin. their presence alone gave him courage and he didn't even need patronuses to pass the dementors.. it's like they stuck to him until the end, and didn't stop giving harry their support, letting him know that he's not alone..

who died in the end? in order of deaths..

mad-eye (well, i dun feel any affection for him in the first place, so..)
hedwig (though she seemed to be the first)
dobby (i cried when he died)
fred (oh no, what about the weasley's wizarding wheezes?)
tonks and lupin (poor teddy lupin for being an orphan so early)

GREATEST DISAPPOINTMENT with the final book..
i was expecting a more tragic ending, one with harry dying and so he and ginny couldn't get together and she had to live with that sadness for the rest of her life. it's depressing, should the book end off tragically. but this is a book which i had thought to be dark and twistful... never did i think it could be twisted into such a happy ending. yeah, ppl still died, but harry and his company still managed to lead happy lives of their own! i guess, it being a children's book initially and primarily...and they lived happily ever after still applies..