Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: 5 Predictions for What Will Happen

The buzz is everywhere! From Borders and Barnes & Noble to Amazon.com and even your local Wal-mart, everybody is counting down the days until the grand gala release of the seventh volume in the Harry Potter series: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Do YOU know what is to come?

Prediction No. 5: A Weasley will die.
For one thing, there are just so many of them! That sounds callous. So let's just say that the Weasleys are the closest Harry has to a family. In a book that promises to be "gut-wrenching", whose author, J.K. Rowling, makes it clear that death is a major theme, what better targets are there than the hero's closest family? My money is on Molly Weasley, who is a mother figure to Harry - Rowling lost her own mother when she was 25, and says it inspired her to make the Harry Potter series much darker than originally planned.

Prediction No. 4: Voldemort will die - and come back as a ghost!
There is no question that Good will triumph over Evil in the Harry Potter books; Rowling is not a dreary, existentialist writer. So Voldemort will be defeated, and he will die, that is for certain. But think about this: how many times do the books mention that Voldemort's biggest fear is death? Over and over again we hear this from his own lips and from Dumbledore, the most trustworthy character in the Harry Potter series. Then along comes Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, where we learn that wizards who are afraid of death end up as ghosts. The writing on the wall is there for all to see: the end of Voldemort will not be THE END - ironically, he might just get his dearest wish, and end up existing forever.

Prediction No. 3:Ron and Hermione will end up together.
Hello? Hello? This is Captain Obvious speaking. Allow me to introduce my poster-children, Ron and Hermione, whose True Love has been smacking everyone in the face since Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was released in the summer of 2000.

Prediction No. 2: Snape is good.
Ah, the most contentious issue of them all! Snape killed Dumbledore, but what if Dumbledore wanted to die? Snape is a Death Eater, but what if he remained a spy? Snape is nasty, sadistic and quite the scummiest creature in modern literature - but what if he is trustworthy at the bottom of it all? I predict that Snape will be chalked up on the "good guys" column, mostly for thematic reasons. Severus Snape has followed the classic sinner-redemption story arc. He epitomizes the good-guy-under-bad-exterior stereotype. Trust me on this one - trust Snape.

Prediction No. 1: Harry will live.
Of all my predictions, this is the one I am most unsure of rationally, but yet instinctively believe out of pure faith. Rowling has always maintained that she might kill Harry off in the end. There IS a very early interview in which she implies Harry will live (in response to a question whether Harry will become a teacher at Hogwarts, she replied that she has other plans for Harry because he is unsuited to becoming a teacher). But that's less than nothing, certainly not enough to be sure that Harry will live.

But he will. Harry's story is a Bildungsroman, a coming-of-age story. Who comes of age by dying?! So whether or not Harry (or Harry's scar) is a Horcrux, you can bet Harry will find a way out from near-death (or perhaps even actual death, by falling through the veil!) back to life, love and happiness in the end.