The List – Loose Ends before DH

“Ah, what a tangled web we weave… Or in this case, what a tangled web Jo Rowling has woven. With one volume left to wrap up all the threads, we Harry Potter fanatics have created a list of all the sphinx-like comments, unfinished story lines, incomplete character trajectories and cryptic references to past events we would like to see resolved. While the following list is extensive, it is by no means comprehensive; we welcome any and all additions.

“I can’t tell you that. . . .”

“Hint, hint. . . .”

Harry

The Trio

What will become of . . .

Whatever happened to . . .

Mysteries and Inconsistencies

Chekhov’s guns

“I can’t tell you that. . . .”

• Who will survive? (HPM)
• Is Snape evil?
• What are Snape’s Boggart and Patronus?
• What does “either must die at the hand of the other” mean?
• What are the twelve uses of dragon’s blood? (but one of them is oven cleaner) (SFC)
• Are any of the teachers married? (CR-68)
• What were James’s and Lily’s occupations?
• Who was at Godric’s Hollow besides Voldemort?

“Hint, hint. . . .”

• We’ll see the two-way mirrors again (WBD-10)
• We’ll understand why Sirius had to die (WBD-106)
• Grawp will do something useful
• Petunia’s not a Squib but “that’s a good guess”
• The Lestranges were sent to attack the Longbottoms, but not because the Lestranges knew the prophecy
• Sirius sent Snape into the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack because he loathed Snape (and the feeling was mutual) (WBD-76)
• Snape has been loved (TLC3)
• Someone becomes a teacher, but it’s not who you might think (TC-38)
• Someone will show magic late in life (BN1-34)
• Thinking about Dumbledore’s family might be fruitful (TLC3)
• “The shape is not the most significant aspect of that scar” (WBD-43)
• You’ll hear more about the Founders of the Hogwarts Houses (TLC2)
• Harry’s glasses are the key to his vulnerability (Boquet, Tim. “J.K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind Harry Potter,” Reader’s Digest, December 2000)
• You can guess where Sirius’s motorcycle is now (WBD-7)
• Regulus Black is “a fine guess” for the identity of R.A.B. (TLC2)
• You might see Dumbledore’s scar again (TLC3)
• “The mirror might not have helped as much as you think, but on the other hand, will help more than you think”

Harry

• Quest for the Horcruxes
• Bill and Fleur’s wedding
• Visit to Godric’s Hollow, James’s and Lily’s graves
• Final confrontation with Voldemort

The Trio

• Career plans
• N.E.W.T.s
• Romances

What will become of . . .

• Dobby
• Firenze
• Fenrir Greyback
• Rubeus Hagrid
• Kreacher
• Victor Krum
• Bellatrix Lestrange
• Frank and Alice Longbottom
• Neville Longbottom
• Luna Lovegood
• Remus Lupin
• Draco Malfoy
• Lucius Malfoy
• Narcissa Malfoy
• Olympe Maxime
• Peter Pettigrew
• Severus Snape
• Nymphadora Tonks
• Bill Weasley
• Charlie Weasley
• Fred and George Weasley
• Ginny Weasley
• Percy Weasley
• Dolores Umbridge

Whatever happened to . . .

• Norbert (PS14)
• The Weasley flying car

Mysteries and Inconsistencies

• Who is R.A.B.? (HBP28)
• How did a fake Horcrux get swapped for the real one? (HBP28)
• Where and what are the missing Horcruxes? (HBP23)
• What happened at Godric’s Hollow?
• Who took Voldemort’s wand?
• Who sent the Lestranges after the Longbottoms?
• Why did Voldemort try to spare Lily?
• What happened during the missing twenty-four hours after the attack at Godric’s Hollow?
• What was the meaning of the “gleam of something like triumph” in Dumbledore’s eye when he learned that Voldemort had used Harry’s blood to reassume a corporeal form? (TLC3)
• What was that green liquid in the basin in the Cave? (HBP26)
• What was Dumbledore raving about when he drank it? (HBP26)
• What was the full story of the injury to Dumbledore’s hand?
• Why did Dumbledore have a scar in the shape of the London Underground?
• What convinced Dumbledore that Snape’s remorse was genuine? (GF30)
• What was the meaning of Snape’s sudden movement at the end of Goblet of Fire, when Harry identifies Lucius Malfoy as a Death Eater? (GF36)
• What really happened on the Lightning-Struck Tower? (HBP27)
• Harry used the Full Body Bind (Petrificus Totalus) on the Death Eater he attacked on top of the tower (HBP27); is it significant that Scrimgeour said the Death Eater had been Stupefied (HBP29)?
• What happened to Fenrir and the other Death Eaters who didn’t escape with Snape?
• Where is Harry’s Invisibility Cloak? Does he get it back?
• How powerful is Peter Pettigrew, really?
• Why did Sirius think Lupin, and not Pettigrew, was the spy? (PA17)
• What was Lupin doing between Voldemort’s fall and Harry’s third year at Hogwarts?
• Why does Lupin’s suitcase say “Professor” in peeling letters if he’s never had paid work? (PA5)
• Was Lupin hired in the third year by coincidence or design?
• What is Lupin’s Patronus?
• Harry and Hermione saw the moon several times before Lupin transformed on the night Pettigrew was unmasked in the Shrieking Shack. Why didn’t Lupin transform till he was outside? (PA20)
• How much does Petunia know about the Wizarding World? Who was the “awful boy” she said Lily knew? (OP2)
• What did Dudley remember when the Dementors attacked him? (OP1)
• What happened to Florian Fortescue and Ollivander? (HBP6)
• Were any of the supposed victims of the Death Eaters actually rescued by the Order of the Phoenix?
• Do any of the creatures Luna believes in actually exist?
• Will the Houses unite?
• Why was Lily so special to Slughorn? (HBP4)
• What did Slughorn mean by his reference to “obsessive love?” (HBP9)
• Will the goblins fight? On which side?
• What about the centaurs?
• Why did the Sorting Hat take so long with Seamus Finnegan? (PS7)

Chekhov’s guns[*]

• Gryffindor’s sword
• Pettigrew’s silver hand (GF33)
• Pettigrew’s life debt to Harry (PA19)
• The Half-Blood Prince’s Potions textbook
• The Draught of Living Death
• The two-way mirror
• Sirius’s motorcycle

[*] A literary technique in which an item introduced early in the story is expected to figure significantly later on, though it may disappear for an interval: “If a gun hangs on the wall in the first act of the play, it must be discharged before the end.”