Hermione

[Eol]

I think that none of the trio are going to die. Yes there are definitely going to be more deaths, as JK has said that there will be, but nobody from Harry's closest circle. I've categorised all of Harry's friends in circles of how important they are to him. The innermost circle would include Ron and Hermione. He would be absolutely devasted if either of those two died. The next circle I believe would have Sirius and possibly Hagrid. Next would be the Weasley family, excluding Percy, Bill and Charlie ( the latter two because he knows them the least well). After that would be Lupin and Dumbledore. Then would come the rest of Harry's school friends and all the other people he's met.

As for what High Sorceror said about Hermione being

a miserable failure when confronting the dark arts

She was fighting many fully qualified wizards and the group wouldn't have got very far without her in my opinion. I seem to recall her saving Harry's butt at least once in the department of mysteries, whereas Neville made Harry lose his wand in his attempt to disarm one of the death eaters. Hermione also corrected this mistake. I would rather have Hermione on my side in a fight than Neville any day of the week. Though Neville lasted longer in the fight than Hermione, he made much less of a contribution.

[Athena Appleton]

I think that none of the trio are going to die. Yes there are definitely going to be more deaths, as JK has said that there will be, but nobody from Harry's closest circle. I've categorised all of Harry's friends in circles of how important they are to him. The innermost circle would include Ron and Hermione. He would be absolutely devasted if either of those two died. The next circle I believe would have Sirius and possibly Hagrid. Next would be the Weasley family, excluding Percy, Bill and Charlie ( the latter two because he knows them the least well). After that would be Lupin and Dumbledore. Then would come the rest of Harry's school friends and all the other people he's met.

I kind of agree about there being the circles, but not at all about where people fall...

With 1 being the closest to Harry:

Circle 1:
Ron and Hermione

Circle 2:
Dumbledore (I think it would completely shatter Harry if Dumbledore died, because he looks to Dumbledore as being the constant in his life)
Lupin (as the last tie to his parents, and because of Lupin's understanding nature)
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, Fred and George (they've taken him as a part of the family Harry desperately needed)
Hagrid (I actually don't know if I would put Hagrid with Circle 2 or 3... I know Harry loves him, but I wonder how close they really are, and how Harry would be affected by Hagrid's death, in comparison to some other people)

Circle 3:
McGonagall
Bill and Charlie (These two weren't included in the second circle because Harry doesn't know them as well... however, he does respect them, and as his best friend's brothers, if something happened to them, he would be quite upset.)
Other DA Members

Circle 4:
Other Order members
Fellow students (well, excluding most members of Slytherin, probably, but possibly not... after all, I wouldn't have expected Cedric's death to affect him as much as it did...)

[Alice I]

I agree with most of your circles Athena.

A note on Cedric's death:
I believe that it affected Harry so strongly because if Cedric had not been with Harry he would not have died. Harry feels connected with this death because Cedric was essentially collateral damage due to the struggle between himself and Voldemort making Harry feel somewhat responsible in an indirect way.
Try saying that all in one breath!

I do not believe that say Justin Flinch Fletcherty died over the summer holiday would affect him as hard for instance. As long as he was not involved in any way with his death I do not think it would affect him as strongly as Cedric's death did.
Also he actually saw Cedric die and that causes a change in a person;
outside of being able to see thestrals that is.

[Eol]

Dumbledore (I think it would completely shatter Harry if Dumbledore died, because he looks to Dumbledore as being the constant in his life)

I do agree that Harry would be devastated if Dumbledore dies. But the reason I put him in the outer circles was because Harry doesn't treat him like family but like a mentor. Harry has the impression that Dumbledore (my favourite character from the books btw) is invincible, which is why he is always shocked to see DD weary and frail. The biggest shock to Harry if Dumbledore dies, in my opinion, would be the destruction of that image.

Alice I did make a very good point about Harry's involvement in Cedric's death. Voldy's very words were "kill the spare". If Cedric hadn't been with Harry, he wouldn't have died and Harry must have realised this during the holidays.

[Athena Appleton]

Okay, that makes sense...

I also started thinking... Cedric's is really the first death Harry's had to actually deal with. Now I know, you're going to say "Excuse me??? Didn't he have to deal with his parents' deaths???"

Well, not really. Yes, he had to deal with the aftermath of their deaths, their not being there, having to live with the Dursleys, etc... but since Harry was just a baby, he really didn't go through a sort of conventional grieving process.

Cedric's is actually the first death where Harry actually has to sort through his feelings of guilt, horror, sadness, etc., so that could also be the reason Cedric's death hit him as hard as it did.

Also, I don't know about any of you, but I'm able to handle the deaths of adults much better than I am teenagers, whether I particularly liked those teenagers or not... There's just something about a young person dying unexpectedly that just has a totally different shock to it.

[Alice I]

Also, I don't know about any of you, but I'm able to handle the deaths of adults much better than I am teenagers, whether I particularly liked those teenagers or not... There's just something about a young person dying unexpectedly that just has a totally different shock to it.

I know exactly what you are saying.
Perhaps it is because we are mothers or just the fact that a life that has not gotten a chance to experience all there is to see and do will never get that chance.
What ever the underlying reason which may be different for different people the death of a child, teenager seems to be worse that the death of a mature adult.

[pinky p]

i agree, a young person dying is definitely more shocking then an old person, or even just a middle-aged person.

but still, as someone said (sorry... can't remember who) harry has the impression that dumbledore is invincible. and also, think about how much it bothered him that dumbledore was ignoring him in year 5. dumbledore dying would be a huge tragedy to harry.

[Deedra Malfoy]

I don't know if this is the place toask, but....

Would Harry have been able to see the thestrals before Cedric's death? Does it say if he watched his parents or just mom die?

[paintballdecoy]

I don't know if this is the place toask, but....

Would Harry have been able to see the thestrals before Cedric's death? Does it say if he watched his parents or just mom die?

Jk addressed this on her site. She said he was on his cot, and didn't see them killed, all he saw was a green flash, but not them dieing