Quote Originally Posted by Augury
Hm, finished the book, then re-read some of the latter portions...

btw BioAlien, it's probably going to be tough to not get spoiled in this thread anymore since we're already a page into discussion (spoilers below)



I'm still a bit confused about why (by what mechanism, and if it was "used up" or not) Harry survived. So Harry has within him his own soul and a portion of Voldemort's (the 7th horcrux). And Voldemort's revived body has a portion of Lily's protection because he used Harry's blood. Voldemort shoots a killing curse and hits Harry, thus destroying the horcrux and leaving Harry's soul & body unscathed.
Why is that the only part that is destroyed?
Is it because he's using the elder wand?
Is it because Harry is "master of death" by uniting the three Hallows?
Would he have survived in the Great Hall if he had not defended himself?
And what is significant about Voldemort using Harry's blood?

Aside from this bit of my confusion, I really enjoyed reading this, especially the entire last quarter where Hogwarts was in constant siege. Parts that stand out for me was McGonagall's brief duel with Snape and Snape's death (totally cold...)

Something else that occurred to me, though, is that despite being in a state of war, the Death Eaters aren't really taking casualties (or if they are, at a much lower rate) because they're the only ones using killing curses. The only way to feasibly defeat them is to either make them run and imprison their stunned or completely wipe them out... Seems like a pretty big disadvantage to me.
two of your questions have the same answer. harry survived because voldemort was still alive, who took harry's blood and lily's protection. it seems confusing, but it's really very simple if you think about it. lily died to save harry, and her sacrifice became harry's protection. voldemort took harry's blood, thus taking in some of that enchantment with him. voldemort then tried to kill harry, but since he himself was keeping lily's protection alive within him, harry couldn't die unless voldemort died too. this is the significance of voldemort and harry sharing blood, and why harry survived. and since harry didn't defend himself and faced death head on, he was given a choice of living or dying.

another significance of voldemort and harry sharing the same blood is that it connected the two of them very closely, and when they fought at the end of the fourth book, their wands "echoed the relationship between their masters." the paragraph at the top of page 570 (in my copy anyway) explains it more thoroughly. because of this connection, harry's wand reacted to the presence of voldemort and did magic on its own at the beginning of the book.