[MysticCat]

My predictions on a vareity of matters:

• Dumbledore is indeed dead. However, I think that we will find he was not killed by an Avada Kedavra curse, or at least not an ordinary one, or that that was not only spell at work. JKR has described often what that curse "looks" like -- a flash of green light and the victim simply collapses. When Dumbledore was killed, we had the flash of green light, but there was no collapse. Instead, D "was blasted into the air. For a split second, he seemed to hang suspended beneath the shining skull, and then he fells slowly backward . . . ." A Levicorpus as well? Maybe something else, too? I think this may matter because . . . .

• Snape is, er, not exactly good, but firmly on Dumbledore’s side. I think we will learn in DH that he made an Unbreakable Vow to Dumbledore, and that his actions on the Astronomy Tower were a reluctant (and courageous -- "don't call me a coward!") fulfillment of that vow; I also think that Aberforth was the Bonder. I think that Snape's turn from the Dark Lord to Dumbledore, was, as Dumbledore said, prompted by the realization that he had doomed the Potters. This was because (a) in some Snape-ish way he loved Lily, the one person who had shown him kindness, and (b) he owed James a life-debt ("magic at its deepest, its most impenetrable"), but rather than repaying it he was directly responsible for James's death.

Snape really does hate Harry, both because he is a fairly hateful person in general and because Harry reminds him of James and Lily and all the baggage he carries because of them. Nevertheless, in order to finally repay the life-debt, I think he just might sacrifice himself so that Harry can prevail over Voldemort.

• Harry is indeed a Horcrux. Book 2 all but says so, and later indications seal it for me. I don't think Voldemort intended for Harry to be a Horcrux -- indeed, he intended to kill him -- but it's all part of what went wrong that night, when he did intend to create his last Horcrux.

I think Dumbledore suspected as much (one reason, I think, that he made sure that Harry understood that a Horcrux could be placed in a living being), but we all know how he always withheld some information until (a) later or (b) Harry could figure it out for himself. (Ever the teacher, Dumbledore.) The scar is the key to Harry’s Horcruxness – indeed, it may be the locus of the Horcrux. That Harry has his mother’s eyes is also a key indication. Eyes are, as is so often said, the windows to the soul – that Harry has his mother’s eyes rather than the Dark Lord's red-slits shows that, in D’s words, Harry is "still a man." I think that this is also the meaning of "in essence divided."

• What are the other Horcruxes? I think that Dumbedore was right and that Voldemort planned to make his final Horcrux with the killing of the Potters in Godric's Hollow, the home of Godric Gryffindor. I suspect the Potters may have been hiding in Dumbledore's family home, and I think Dumbledore may be descended from Gryffindor himself. I think Voldemort somehow planned to place the Horcrux in Gryffindor's sword.

Kreacher will know, among other things, where the locket is; he probably helped Regulus steal it in the first place. As for the "Ravenclaw Horcrux," my guess is that Voldemort found Rowena Ravenclaw's wand.

• Wormtail, of course, has to do the right thing and help Harry in some significant way. He, too, has a life-debt to pay, and Dumbledore specifically told Harry "This [a life debt from wizard to another] is magic at its deepest, its most impenetrable, Harry. But trust me . . . the time may come when you will be very glad you saved Pettigrew’s life." Whether it will be because Wormtail will know something about the Horcruxes, I don’t know. His usefulness to Voldemort is now pretty much done with and he clearly is not held in respect by the other Death Eaters. But Snape tells us he is always trying to listen in. Whether he knows something about Horcruxes or not, he will help Harry in some way – maybe he'll know how Harry can remove the Horcrux within himself without killing himself. (We know that Dumbledore removed the Horcrux from the ring without destroying the ring.) Maybe he’ll tell Harry where the Dark Lord is hiding. Wouldn’t that be a nice irony?

• I think we’ll see a battle between Neville and Bellatrix. Neville will win. At least, I hope so!

• Draco will have go on the run. The Dark Lord will not be happy with him, and Draco is realizing just what kind of mess he has gotten into. (Regulus all over again?) While I don’t think he'll intentionally help Harry (unless it helps him as well), he may end up being of some help. I found Dumbledore's words when Draco accuses him a begging for mercy to be flashing with importance: "It is my mercy, and not yours, that matters now." I think we'll see at least some redemption with Draco, but I think he will die.

• Relationships between magical creatures. I still think that in some way we must see wizards/witches, centaurs, goblins and house-elves uniting against the Dark Lord.

• Other deaths. Unfortunately, I think Hagrid will die. I am also worried about Arthur and Molly Weasley. I have been worried about Ron since the chess game in Book 1, but I think that he, Hermione, Ginny and Harry will all still be around at the end of the book. But Harry may have new scars of one kind or another.