1 year ago: First of all, go Neville. I was so proud of Neville, and when he lopped of Nagini's head, that made me cry. I have always paid close attention to Neville, probably because he has been like the underdog, but also because the movies don't give him the same attention the books do. If you reread, you will see that despite the other three being extremely close, Neville is almost always there. I think book 7 just reinforces what JK was doing throughout and a lot of people miss.

Ok, Snape. Ohhh, I will not lie, I have been a Snape HATER from the get go. I always saw him as vindictive and hateful, and I felt from book 1 that he only helped and protected Harry begrudgingly and almost out of spite for his father. My best friend TOLD me repeatedly that despite killing Dumbledor, that there would be a reason. I wouldn't hear it, I couldn't. I fought the truth so hard, but by the end of the Princ's Tale, I was in tears. I couldn't hate him when all he did he did for love. I hate being wrong.

Also wrong on...the horcrux. Again, same brilliant friend gave me the theory that Harry was an unintentionally created horcrux, but I would not hear it. I was convinced that horcruxes were advanced and complicated magic and could not accor by accident. Damn I hate being wrong. I guess I couldn't bear for that to be an option because I knew, as Dumbledor told Snape, that Harry would have to die.

The "death" scene. Not the talk with Dumbledor, which was great, but the aftermath. I would think that the collapse of Voldemort would send his Death Eaters fleeing, and that they shouldhave known something was askwe. I can say that I knew from the first descriptions that it was Malfoy's mom and she would lie. I entered the book knowing that the redemption JK teased us with would come to either Malfoy or Snape, and I didn't want either to have it. I guess I am vindictive, huh? I do not begrudge Snape's redemption, as I said, but I still think Malfoy should have bit it because even in the epilogue he was curt and frigid.

Who else LOVED NEville's grandmother? How awesome was she. I got goose bumps when he said she told him his parents would be proud. I know how proud I was when he was going on abouthis rebellion.

Ok, the moment that made me the warmest was of course when Harry reentered Hogwarts. I was already on the verge of tears when the DA turned out in force, plus some, but I lost it when Minerva McGonagall saw him. I always saw her just as much as a matronly figure to Harry as Dumbledor was the fatherly figure. I knew she cared deeply for him from page 1 of book 1, and I had to pause to read on.

Anything else? Oh yes, the finaly duel was, as duckgoddess said, amazingly simple, but the key word is amazing. I love that nobody butted in, I loved to logic, how Harry played with Vs mind before he took him out, but that was not the best part of it to me. To me, the best and most significant aprt of that duel is that when they did fire curses, Harry DID NOT fire a killing curse. That, my friends, is the essense of Harry.