CLOSING THE BOOK

Does Harry live or die? What becomes of Voldemort? Will Hermione and Ron finally figure out what’s happening between them and just decide to go steady, already?

And, most of all: How infuriating is it going to be if J.K. Rowling ends her wildly popular saga with "Sopranos"-like ambiguity?

A few weeks ago, we asked readers for their predictions about what will happen in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the seventh and final book in the long-running Harry Potter story, which is scheduled to hit bookstores Saturday.

You responded with prognostications worthy of anything the faculty at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry could have devised. And, in your predictions of how it all wraps up, we noticed a few common themes.

Chief among them: Is Harry a Horcrux, a magical vessel in which a dark wizard hides a piece of his soul in order to become immortal?

Hayley Rassuchine of Boulder City admits that, when she first heard it, the theory that Harry is a Horcrux for Voldemort sounded crazy. But, she writes, "I started to think about it and it made sense.

"We have known since the second book that Voldemort transferred power into Harry the night he tried to kill him," she reasons. "Maybe that happened because Voldemort accidentally put part of his soul in Harry."

That would explain why Harry "can feel Voldemort’s emotions and can get inside Voldemort’s head," Rassuchine says. "I mean, if you had part of someone’s soul in you, don’t you think you would feel their emotions?"

It also would explain the lightning bolt-shaped scar on Harry’s forehead. Avada Kedavra — a nasty curse that causes instant death — "doesn’t leave a mark," Rassuchine notes. "Sure, it could just be a mark of the curse not working, or it could be a mark of Voldemort’s soul getting transferred into Harry."

But now that Rassuchine has considered the Harry-as-Horcrux theory, "I am 98 percent sure that Harry is a Horcrux."

Janice Halecki of Las Vegas agrees. She predicts the final book begins with Hogwarts opening as usual. But while Harry’s friends, Ron and Hermione, return to school, Harry is absent.

While visiting Godric’s Hollow — the final hiding place of Harry’s parents before they were killed by Voldemort — Harry learns that "he is, in effect, a Horcrux," Halecki writes.

Unbeknownst to either of them, Voldemort’s attempt to kill Harry left a part of Voldemort’s soul in the boy. Harry, Halecki continues, "is devastated to learn this and believes that to kill Voldemort he must destroy himself as well as the other Horcruxes."

Harry revisits the Department of Mysteries and learns that he can contact dead wizards from "beyond the veil," Halecki writes. He also discovers clues that can help him find the other Horcruxes.

Ron joins in Harry’s "search and destroy mission" and is gravely wounded but survives, Halecki writes. Meanwhile, Draco Malfoy, Harry’s rival, is killed helping Voldemort, and Severus Snape — a Hogwarts teacher whose goodness or badness still is unclear — dies because he breaks his Unbreakable Vow to protect Draco when forced to choose between Harry and Draco.

During their final battle, Halecki predicts, Harry "lures Voldemort behind the veil, thinking they’ll both die, but the wizards behind the veil help Harry destroy Voldemort."

Finally, because Harry’s soul "is still pure and uncorrupted by Voldemort’s evil, Fawkes" — Professor Albus Dumbledore’s pet phoenix — "arrives to carry Harry out from beyond the veil," Halecki writes.

Of course, there’s the not insignificant matter of who survives the final book, and Rowling hasn’t been shy about killing off characters. Most notably, Dumbledore, Hogwarts’ beloved headmaster, was killed by Snape in the series’ sixth book, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."

Or was he? Don Kaminski of Las Vegas predicts that Dumbledore "has a Horcrux and will return."

"Snape ‘killed’ Dumbledore to make Voldemort think that Dumbledore is no longer a threat," Kaminski offers. "Dumbledore and Snape have a plan to trap Voldemort so Harry can kill him."

Diane Smith of Henderson suspects both Dumbledore and Harry’s deceased godfather, Sirius Black, faked their deaths to make Voldemort "believe that Harry was totally alone."

Smith expects Harry to come close to death as he and Voldemort battle it out. But, she adds, Harry’s ally, Neville Longbottom, "works his magic, along with Black, Dumbledore and Snape, in a tremendous battle.

"Due to Neville, Voldemort will be destroyed, but, unfortunately, Neville will be killed in the battle."

So, Smith says, it will turn out that "Neville was actually the one who was destined to destroy Voldemort, not Harry!"

The saga concludes, Smith says, with Harry finally "in a home that he loves, with his godfather."

Amie Greene of Henderson also expects Dumbledore to play a part in the final battle because the school has "pictures of past headmasters of Hogwarts that can talk." Greene figures that as long as there is a portrait of Dumbledore around, he can help to defeat Voldemort.

And what of Harry? Greene figures either Harry or Voldemort has to die in the final book. If author Rowling "doesn’t want any other writers to continue the series, then Harry has to die," she reasons. "If Voldemort dies and Harry doesn’t, then someone could continue the series, which would be wrong but possible.

"Harry has to die with Voldemort. It’s just not right if Harry dies but Voldemort doesn’t. It could release a storm of evil magic and killings."

Rowling has said that two people die in the final book, Greene adds. "If Harry’s godfather, Sirius, is already dead along with Dumbledore, then that only leaves Harry and Voldemort to die. If they both must die, then they have to kill each other at the same time, right?

"Wrong! Harry can defeat Voldemort by using love. Maybe he will sacrifice himself to save someone he loves, then that person kills Voldemort using their magic and love."

There’s precedent in that "Harry’s parents sacrificed themselves to save him," Greene adds. So, both Harry and Voldemort "end up dead, but Harry ends up saving the day again — at the last second, of course!"

Finally, lest we all get too wrapped up in all of this, Nancy McNeish of Las Vegas had a bit of fun with her predictions, outlined in an essay she calls "Harry Potter and the Breathly Shallows, by I.M. Bowling."

McNeish jokes that Voldemort will die, "but not before he kills Snape for the unforgivable curse of driving fans crazy wondering if he’s good or evil."

Draco Malfoy dies by "being shoved into a planting of Venomous Tentacula" by Ron Weasley, she continues, while Neville Longbottom dies after being thrown "under the Knight bus."

Ron and Hermione "finally become an item since they carry on like an old married couple anyway," she adds, while Harry marries Ron’s sister, Ginny, "and lives magically ever after."