As far as the Ron/Hermione pairing, I never got it either, but there are people in my own life that I would have never in a million years have put together that are living quite happy lives. I, too, like the Neville/Luna match. I finished Deathly Hallows, again, a few weeks ago, and I didn’t love the ending, again. Not sure how I would have liked to end it, though . . .

Truest statement ever, and I got the best laugh of the day out of it!

Dmajor–according to JKR, Hermione does eventually retrieve her parents. Also, being the only child of Muggle parents is hardly the worst thing in the world. As an only child and convert to Judaism, I *certainly* wouldn’t (and didn’t) marry the Jewish equivalent of Ron Weasley in order to have a Big Fat Jewish Family with Tevye as my father-in-law!

Veronica–ugh! LIFE is enough of a challenge. Your partner should help you cope with it, not be the challenge him/herself! I don’t think you’re the only one who picked up on the Neville/Luna vibe. I don’t imagine them married, they’re both very emotionally self-sufficien. More like friends with benefits whenever she’s in town investigating something for the Quibbler.

Anyway, Robin, I would imagine that after the fall of the Nazis… I mean the Death Eaters, that Hermione could go get her parents again. Australia isn’t a black hole, no matter how it sometimes smells.

Now I’m imagining a sequel, about 5 years after the Epilog, wherein Hermione starts having an affair with Neville, and then the two of them embark on some dangerous wizardly to try to restore his parents to sanity at last.

Everyone’s made great points about explaining drinking to the kids; might I also point out that they are British, anyway? So IF J.K. Rowling wrote her series in accordance with British laws, the Hogsmeade gang isn’t exactly engaging in underaged drinking in THEIR country. The series was set in the early 90′s anyway (though the movies aren’t!), a time when the rules may have been more lenient than the following:

Da Rules: Young people aged 16 or 17 can drink beer, wine or cider with a meal if it is bought by an adult and they are accompanied by an adult. It is illegal for this age group to drink spirits in pubs even with a meal.

In Scotland, 16 and 17 year olds can buy beer, wine or cider so long as it’s served with a meal and consumed in an area used solely for eating meals.

Since Hogwarts is “north” we can assume that it is in Scotland (where thy originally filmed Hogwarts Castle) and thus the Harry Potter characters don’t need adult supervision. Even though, of course, they have all their professors nearby. I got nothing on the “meals” bit of the law… maybe their plates magically vanished from the scene??

I must also agree that “end of the world” movies evoke the same response in me (and a bit of stress – who wants to think about that???). It kind of makes me wonder how they’re going to end the film, though.

Here’s a nice takedown on all that nonsense, btw: http://www.slate.com/id/2218841/pagenum/all/#p2

What *did* bother me was the preview of the movie “2012″ that they showed before Harry Potter-I’m not sure if you saw that or not. It was unbelievably disturbing-tied in with the myth of the Mayan calendar ending in 2012 and the world coming to an end. My 12 year old was in tears the day after thinking about it. To me, that’s what we should be avoiding having our kids see-not some kids drinking a beverage that may or may not be alcoholic.

Just sayin’…

Umana, I’ve been a Hermione/Neville ‘shipper for years! The lack of chemistry between her and Harry never bothered me–my best friend is a (VERY straight) guy and we have a relationship that’s quite similar to H&H. In fact, I laughed out loud at the library scene where (I forget which one of them it is) asks the other one to a party on the grounds that since neither of them can have the date they want, they might as well go together. My friend and I have had a few “dates” like that.

Neville, though–he’s scholarly, like Hermione, and so, so brave. I liked that she made Mad-Eye stop the Cruciatus curse because she could tell it was upsetting him. And wasn’t he about the only one who acted halfway adult during the whole Yule Ball fiasco? Took rejection gracefully and kept asking new girls until he got a date, and then actually bothered to learn how to ballroom dance so he’d be a GOOD date? Plus, remember that Hermione had to put a memory spell on her parents and emigrate them to Australia. She and Neville can share the pain of having-but-not-having parents. Has Ron EVER asked about her feelings, or done anything for her?

Hermione goes to a public house with two boys she can literally trust with her life. She has ONE drink – there are professors there, and she doesn’t want to embarrass herself, and besides, Rosemerta wouldn’t overserve anyone. She gets a bit merry, but when there’s danger on the *walk* (not drive) back, she snaps right to high alert.

That’s EXACTLY the behavior I would want any sixteen year old to emulate, much better than the “binge ’til you puke” model in most teen romps. This is what people complain about? If I were watching with young teens, I’d *emphasize* that they were drinking beer.

And after reading what you wrote above, I am wondering what a Hermione-Neville ending would be like.

Ginny and Harry, on the other hand, are going to have a great relationship. She’ll support him and be strong enough to take the back seat and be the “Chosen One’s” wife when that’s her role, and he’ll show up to all her Quidditch games and read all her articles. Sometimes they’ll argue about her sports reporting (she’ll be more biased in favor of her old team than she wants to admit, and he’ll have to call her on that), and sometimes she’ll need to take him down a peg (“I thought you were edging just a bit too close to Gilderoy Lockhart territory at the class reunion tonight, dear”), but they’re going to do okay.