The moment when Pansy Parkinson shouts that they ought to grab Harry and hand him over… Legolas mentioned that Rowling might have had cinematic effect in mind when introducing the dragon. If so, this may be another of those moments.

And Albania is suddenly made to make sense. It always seemed a strange place for Voldemort to go.

I like how Rowling also retains some of her comic streak in the middle of the havoc of the battle, as the gargoyle mutters "don't mind me … I'll just lie here and crumble".

Only three pieces of soul to go: Nagini, Harry, Voldemort.

Fred's death. This is one of the more conventional death scenes. Perhaps what I have been praising in Rowling's earlier killings have been just a lack of experience. The observation that the battle continues, however, works very well. There is the moment, the end of the chapter, and then it starts again. With spiders. Ick.

Why does Voldemort use Nagini to kill Snape. It makes no sense to me. If it is a wand problem, surely he should be using a wand. Unless he is worried the wand will not kill who he thinks is its master. Still, it seems like a cheap ploy to have Snape take longer to die, thus enabling him to give his memories, which the avada kedavra would not.

I like that we are given Snape's memories fairly free of Harry's thoughts and interpretations.

And I like how allegiances and oppositions are again formed on the train: Sirius and James against Snape.

And I like how the the memories clarify all the apparently evil actions of Snape as on Dumbledore's orders, as well as his help with the sword and the escape plan. And how Dumbledore is the one to stipulate that valor must form part of the sword's retrieval.

But I wonder whether anyone actually believed that Dumbledore's endgame was to have Harry die. I never quite took that in when I read it the first time, I think.