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ok... so I've been listening to half blood prince, so if you haven't read it (weirdo) then you should probably stop reading because thar be spoilerrrs... arrrr...

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first off, I noticed that mr. dale doesn't always read verbatim, switching/adding words for easier readability or flow... I just happened to be following some text whilst listening (yes I'm a dork) - but that has nothing to do with anything following...

so quick recap, because the book came out a while ago and I'm sure most people read it immediately and haven't really thought about it...

we find that fudge has been sacked as minister of magic, he is informing the prime minister of the situation of voldemort and introduces the new minister of magic scrimgeour. snape makes an unbreakable vow to help draco and to convince narcissa and bellatrix that he's a death eater. dumbledore picks up harry from the dursley's so that he can use harry to bring slughorn to hogwarts. harry notices dumbledore's hand is all jacked up blah blah blah. harry becomes captain of the quidditch team. they get their o.w.l's and harry thinks he can't take potions, dashing his dreams of becoming an auror. tonks is weird because of stuff on her mind. bill and fleur are engaged. blah blah blah. at hogwart's harry is getting special lessons from dumbledore to help him learn more about voldemort. you see the children, now teenagers, have a huge rise in hormones. malfoy is acting weird because of something he's got to do, harry find a potions book previously owned by the half blood prince because he didn't think he could take potions, but since slughorn is potions master and snape is d.a.d.a. teacher, harry can take potions so that he can try to become an auror but since he didn't buy books he had to borrow and old one. hermione is bitching about it because harry surpasses her in the class because of the hints and tips from the hbp's book. harry starts feeling something for ginny. ron and hermione almost hook up, but the ron gets dumb because he finds out about hermione and krum and find the first available girl with whom to make out with to piss off hermione. blah blah blah. harry learns about voldemort and horcruxes and must get a memory from slughorn. harry becomes obsessed with draco's goings-on. blah blah blah. harry and dumbledore find a horcrux, which turns out to be fake. and dumbldore dies. in between, harry and ginny hook up, luna gives a ridiculously funny commentary for quidditch, we see a softer side of draco, aragog dies, and we find out that snape is the hbp.

so first off... the question that probably sticks in my head the most is if dumbledore is really dead... I vote he's alive, but only because of the whole dialogue with draco, the fact that the draught of living death was brought up in the first book as well as this (the sixth) book several times, and because of the argument dumbledore had with snape about promising to do something - also, there are all of the allusions that dumbledore is akin to a phoenix, naming of the order of the phoenix, using fire when fending of the infiri in the cave and lighting up the voldemort's locker at the orphanage, the fact that fawkes didn't come to rescue dumbledore when snape tried to kill dumbledore (unlike when fawkes saved dumbledore from voldemort's avada kedavra), and dumbledore's patronus is a phoenix... also, when snape used avada kedavra, dumbledore was thrown back - but usually those struck with avada kedavra just drop dead (cedric, the groundskeeper at the riddle house, the riddles, the potters) and there is no sign of struggle or indication of any violence. so I'm thinking either dumbledore's body will rise from the ashes of the fire around his tomb, or he will arise from the effets of taking the draught of living death, since there was an awful lot of it in slughorn's classroom...

but think what you want. I'm just excited to read the last book...

also, I think that they might actually kill hagrid in the last book. not that I want hagrid dead, but I think he might go... also, I think that either ron or hermione will get offed - only because it would be shocking and being so close to the main character, one of them is likely to sacrifice themselves (like in the first book) to make sure that harry will be able to complete his mission... also, it doesn't make sense that with the number of weasley's fighting in the war, not one of them would be a casualty (although bill has been partially transformed by greyback)

do I think jkr will kill off harry? no. at least I hope not, because that will probably cause mass depression... at least I would be depressed.

signs that I could be completely wrong and dumbledore is quite dead. the appearance of dumbledore's portrait in the headmaster's office, the fact that dumbledore was already injured (his hand) and was previously unable to cure the injury, and because fawkes sang that song and promptly took off.

lest we forget, "I will only truly be gone from Hogwarts when none here are loyal to me" ~dumbledore

as far as the remainin horcruxes - I think that whoever r.a.b. was he/she probably got rid of the one... so that leaves three for harry to find and destroy before he can kill voldemort... for sure the hufflepuff cup and nagini, and probably something from ravenclaw as all of gryffindor's stuff is in the headmaster's office.

oh. and I think snape is really still part of the order of the phoenix because dumbledore probably made snape do an unbreakable vow - I'm thinking aberforth (dumbledore's brother and the bartender at the hog's head) is the witness, because aberforth was the one that caught snape listening in to dumbledore and trelawney during the prophecy, and if snape really was sorry then dumbledore could have made him make an unbreakable vow. the question is though does a previously made unbreakable vow which contradicts a vow made later render the latter vow untenable? also, I think that snape is capable of love, is a better occlumens than voldemort is a legilimens, and that ability to love (probably his mother or maybe a crush on lily potter) allowed snape to be beyond the grasp of voldemort, which is what dumbledore was able to leverage and is ultimately the reason for his trust in snape. not to mention that snape never turned in harry for the knowledge in the book. perhaps harry will be able to use other things in the book in the future, and because of snape's parting words to potter, harry will probably bone up on his occlumency and non-verbal spell casting...

so I got that off my chest... there is definitely more stewing in my head, but I'm done typing for now...