The excitement of the Deathly Hallows is behind me, although I can tell you that most of the weekend was spent glued to my couch reading (and re-reading). I guess I was anticipating a very intense book, something like all the final chapters of all the other books combined into one whopping grand finale. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were quiet stretches mingled in amongst the action. And sometimes one of the characters would do something so perfectly right, so quintessentially them, that I found myself laughing even when what was happening was unquestionably sad.

In these moments I was most conscious of how brilliant Jo Rowling was (is!) at creating this world for us to enjoy. And only after knowing how it ends can I appreciate the mastery of control she maintained — layers upon layers of detail, over ten years, across seven books — so that a single fragment of any book could be recalled and influence how it all turns out.

Some of my predictions came true, and some of them didn't. I also felt like the book's epilogue opened up the door for continuation of the story, or at the very least provided fodder for a lifetime of bad Potter fanfic. Rowling has hinted at writing an Encyclopedia as a companion to the Hogwarts world, where she would tell us all of that background information that hasn't been revealed. In the meantime she has also been much more forthcoming in her interviews since the final book was published, so I can only hope some of my lingering questions will be answered there.