Oh good...book discussion!!!

Luna and Neville do NOT get together...someone on Mugglenet suggested that and Rowling herself shot that theory down, even before "Deathly Hallows" came out.

As for the epilogue...I liked it. I like not knowing everything. Does it really matter who was Head Boy and Girl the last year? Or what jobs they all hold? Not really. The epilogue would have been boring (and long) if she'd tried to cram all the little tidbits that everyone seems to want in there. I think she answered just enough questions, and left room for herself to write more Wizarding books (though not about Harry, she's already said she won't do another Harry book).

And I doubt Draco married Pansy Parkinson. I strongly think Rowling wanted us to see a change in the Malfoys by the end of the book. And besides, if it had been Pansy, why wouldn't she have just said so? So I suspect it was someone unknown to readers.

I loved the book, as a whole, though it's not my favorite. I was sad about the deaths of some of my favorite characters (Dobby and Lupin) and felt that some of the deaths were glossed over (I know the book was written for children, but still...) I was generally happy with everything, though I think the seach for the Horcruxes took waaaaay too long and the battle at the end was a little short.

I think, in general, that Harry was a little less of a whiny brat in this book that he was in the last one, though his indecisiveness still bothers me. I miss the self-confident Harry from the earlier books in the series. As far as this being chick-lit....I think that's unfair. I remember high school. There were a lot of on-again/off-again couples. They are only 17, for pity's sake! Despite some of the adult things the characters in the series had to deal with, they were still, at heart, children, especially Harry, who grew up without the loving reassurance of his parents. I find his lack of trust in Dumbledore's love and caring entirely appropriate, even if I did wish there were times that he'd buck up and move along.

Anyway, that's my 3 cents, because I've rambled so much...shutting up now...