We're BACK!!

Hey, guys. Intern speaking! Sorry about the *checks watch* year and a half break. Our admin and intern have been consumed by the gaping maw of college and papers *shudders*.

So, if any of you are still around, we'll see what we can come up with for the next phase. If you all want, we can continue with the chapter-by-chapter discussion, or theorize a bit about Book 7 (HP & The Deathly Hallows!).

We are, as always, open for input!

There has been a change of 'ownership', I guess you could say. I (zephyr, nimbus2000) am now going to be making the main posts, as our previous administrator has her degree to work on, and she's busy enough as she is. She will, however, be putting up pics of Deathly Hallows and Harry Potter stuff that she sees around and about town, as she still wants to be involved in the group.

I can't promise that there will be a consistent schedule for posting, as I am busy as well, but I really want to get this back off the ground and up in the air again.

Cheers!
Zephyr

As the chapter opens, we find our hero still beaten and bloody on the floor of the compartment aboard The Hogwarts Express. We might do well to note the mention of non-verbal spells! Harry attempts to summon his wand, but is unable to speak, so he trys to summon it by thinking the summoning charm. However, he is unsuccessful.

I think we all breathed a large sigh of relief at the words "Wotcher, Harry!" Tonks! Dear Tonks is back! We haven't seen her since Harry arrived at The Burrow. On the way to Hogwarts we find that Tonks is much changed. Not only is she quiet, depressed, and amazingly serious, but her patronus has changed into something four-legged. I don't recall Rowling telling us what Tonks' previous patronus was, but we know from the conversation with our favorite Potions professor that it has changed.

One thing that remains the same is Snape. Bad old Snape. From his entry, he pushes Tonks nearly to the point of tears, and continues to mercilessly torment Harry. The exchange between Harry and Snape is yet another show of Harry's growing maturity. He does not retort, but rather receives Snape's snide comments with silence. One might view this as Snape's victory. His victory over Harry.

However, during the school feast, we find Snape's victory is not over Harry, but over the entire school. He has triumphed even over our beloved Dumbledore. To everyone's shock, he has achieved the position of Defense against the Dark Arts teacher, passing the job of Potions professor to Horace Slughorn.

On a less serious note, we find that Filch has banned everything made by Weasley's Wizard Wheezes from the school! It appears he is still after Fred and George, even though they have left the school. :D

As Harry and Ron walk out of the great hall, we see Ron beginning to grow up as well... He does not laugh at Harry when Harry relates his beating by Malfoy. Yes, slowly but surely, Ron's emotional range grows from a teaspoon to a teaspoon and a half!

When the chapter closes, Rowling leaves us with several things to ponder, not the least of which is Hagrid. Not only will he probably feel neglected by his favorite students not enrolling in his class, but he might gain an assistant! Grawpy, his tree-hugging (and throwing) brother, may train in order to help Hagrid teach. Rather hard to imagine, isn't it?

As always, no spoilers for the following chapters... let's be respectful and not ruin anyone's reading, why don't we?

Hello, everybody!
This is Nimbus2000 (aka zephyr), here to keep everything going while our lovely Admin takes some time off. The next chapter discussion (Ch. VIII: Snape Victorious) will be up sometime over the weekend at the latest.