On week left: HBP Predictions

With one week left until the next Harry Potter book, and in the spirit of MuggleNet's staff predictions, I present my predictions for The Half-Blood Prince. (Note: I've not read anything that's not publicly available, the rest is just conjecture, so no spoilers follow.)

General thought: Many of the MuggleNet predictions include war, however I agree with Sheri in saying that Harry's year will be more normal than abnormal. I look forward to the return of Quidditch, with Harry captaining the team and the usual number of Weasley members (now Ron and Ginny). I've heard that Harry's stay at the Dursley's will be rather short, so look for a big revelation about Aunt Petunia in Book 7, not Book 6.

I say Harry's year will be rather normal because You-Know-Who can hardly just come out in the open and start attacking Red Coat-style. In VWI, YKW hid his true intentions from his early followers, but now >90% of the wizarding world would fight the Death Eaters. Thus, the DEs will have to engage in hit-and-run tactics, with one such attack almost certainly occurring at Hogwarts. But, because this will not be a conventional war, wizards (including Hogwarts students) will be asked to go about their business in a normal matter and leave the skirmishes to Aurors.

The new Minister of Magic will either be Lucius Malfoy or Amelia Bones, and while I really have no clue who will emerge victorious, I lean towards Malfoy winning via some sort of underhanded rigging by YKW. The political side of me looks forward to any sort of election/campaign between the two front-runners in the beginning of the book. (Note that both candidates are related to Hogwarts students, meaning that the school would easily divide into two camps, similar to Diggory v Potter in GoF.)

Other notes: I think the Half-Blood Prince will be a new character. I'm entrigued by this editorial on Seamus and hope that it comes into play. We'll also get new information that helps confirm the Changling Hypothesis.

Will there be romance?: Yep, but only more flirting, nothing major, between Harry/Luna and Hermione/Ron (a very unoriginal prediction, I know).

Any deaths?: Yes, I think Wormtail is done for. First, I've never read a novel where the character in his position lives. Second, he really has outlasted his usefulness. Given that he definitely won't make it through the end of Book 7, and I figure that JK has more important characters to kill off in the finale, I'm guessing that the Marauders will a group of one by the end of HBP.

Well, that was quite a bit of "geeking out", but at least I'm not as bad as this guy.