So, I just finished re-reading Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince in order to get geared up and ready for  the final installment coming out in July, Book 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

(For my friend, JLo, and those three or four other slackers on this globe who are just now getting around to reading the Harry Potter books, here is your SPOILER WARNING!  Don’t read any further if you don’t want to read quite a bit of telling information about the first 6 books in the series.)

It was good to freshen my memory on the overall plotlines of the wizard story and to further develop a few of my own theories about how this thing is going to end.

Since some people devote entirely too much time in analysis, criticism, and fanatic devotion to this series I won’t bore you with pages of analysis on what I think.  But I will, without further adieu, share my Probably Obvious Harry Potter Predictions with you for your perusal.  These are given in no specific order.  (NOTE: I have NOT read any articles or author quotes from J.K. Rowling about what to expect from the last book.  These are my gut feelings.):

• Dumbledore will show up in the last book.  Much in the way Gandalf returned from the depths of Moria in LOTR, I envision Professor Dumbledore making a dramatic "resurrection" type entrance at some point in The Deathly Hallows.  The "phoenix" symbolism is too obviously scattered throughout the series for me to believe Dumbledore is dead and gone.  I think he somehow orchestrated (or allowed) his demise at the hand of Snape in The Half-Blood Prince.
• Sirius Black will show up in the last book.  I have read too many comic books and seen too many TV serials to believe that when someone disappears into a different dimension (as happened in the Hall of Mysteries) they are destined to stay there for good.  I am not saying Sirius will come back "in the flesh" but he will communicate to Harry from "beyond the grave" or from "beyond this visible world" somehow.  People need resolution just like Harry does.
• Severus Snape IS going to be a hero in this saga and not a villain.  Rowling has been leading us along this whole time; trying to persuade the reader to think like Harry that Snape is a despicable double-crosser and Voldemort lackey.  I think this is a ruse.  We know that Snape is an expert in Occlumens and thus able to keep powerful wizards out of his head.  We know that Snape has had many opportunities (already) to end Harry’s life, but has always refrained.  We know that Dumbledore trusts Snape even to his last breath.  If you buy this picture that Snape is a nefarious villain then you are forced to doubt Dumbledore’s judgment.  It’s a philosophical dilemma and I, for one, am not prepared to live in universe where Dumbledore’s judgment can be called into question. (Ha-ha.)  I know it would prove that Dumbledore is "only mortal" and capable of making a mistake but I’m not quite ready to accept that as fact just yet.  I am not saying Snape doesn’t have issues.  He does!  Obviously there is still a crucial piece of the puzzle missing, but Dumbledore’s trust in Snape was iron-clad and I’m sticking by that. I think Snape is going to be instrumental (even perhaps in a Gollum sort of way) in the downfall of Voldemort.
• The Horcrux that was stolen and replaced with a fake before Harry and Dumbledore found it was replaced by Regulus Black (Sirius’ brother.)  We know the initials on the note were R.A.B.  I think because Regulus was a Death Eater who tried to "get out" from under Voldemort’s tyranny he would be a likely candidate to know where the Horcrux was located.  I think he was killed by other Death Eaters before he could find the other Horcruxes.
• I think Neville Longbottom is the Chosen One spoken of in the prophecy (not Harry) and will be the martyr for the cause in the last book.  I think Harry will still be the ultimate hero of this tale and will be the one to kill Voldemort but Neville Longbottom will play an important role…giving his own life.  Maybe this is a long shot, but I’ve always felt like Neville could have been a character of little importance (i.e a Dean or Seamus), but instead Rowling keeps him right there on the periphery of the main story.  Perhaps his parents’ insanity "marked" him in some way??
• Ginny Weasley’s love for Harry will mean "something significant" in the last book.  I know that’s not a very precise prediction, but we know that the "power of love over evil" is a dominant theme of the book.  I am not sure exactly how this will play into the book, but it will somehow provide additional "protection" for Harry against Voldemort.

Well, I guess we’ll see how my predictions fare at the end of July!  Feel free to leave your rebuttals in the comments.  I’m sure I’ve missed some of the finer details in my theorizing. 

For now, I’d better order my 50% off copy of The Deathly Hallows on Amazon.com before they decide to raise the price.  And let’s not forget:

Weasley Is Our King!