How did you react?

[mcgonagallrocks]

Stupied so called friends. I did end up punching that one girl Got 30 laps but it was worth it.

[beMMADfabulous]

Wow. lol Go you. Er... I mean, you should be very ashamed of yourself.


haha

[mcgonagallrocks]

She insulted Albus and Minerva. She deserved it.

[beMMADfabulous]

Yep ;D

[mcgonagallrocks]

"I still haven't talked to her. And that was months ago.

[Tabby67]

Wow...That was....BRAVA! Encore! *claps* Glad you punched her. I really am. Who ever it was can....I don't know...do something bad! lol I can't think this early in the morning.

I threw my book at my dad when he said 'Stop crying. It's a book.'

[Rachel]

I actually found out on the internet about two days beforehand.Even though someone had actually scanned the page where Harry told Hagrid,I was like "Yeah,whatever.Nobody kills Dumbledore.That's just stupid."
Then I got the book,skipped ahead as I always do to check if Hermione's still alive,and actually read it for myself.
I kind of ignored it and just read the book.The funeral,the bit where Minerva's blaming herself and the bit where they see him at the bottom of the Astrology Tower were the worst for me.I was tearing up reading those bits.
Still can't believe it,and I really don't like the 6th book because I know what's coming at the end.

[osusprinks]

I had to leave the day after the book came out to be a counselor at a church camp for a week. So I decided to wait till I got back. A few of the kids were reading it during the week but no one finished it while we were there. I came home on Saturday and my friend's mom had gotten it from the library for me. I stayed up and read it that night and cried for hours. It felt so horrible. I tend to empathize with characters to the point of being emotionally involved anyway, but this was Albus. I just couldn't deal. I still haven't read it again. I got it from the library again a few weeks back but only made it halfway through before I stopped.

[misshoneychurch88]

ok first, mcgonagallrocks, you totally rock. I don't like to encourage violence, but thats amazing

oh and my story, I got the book kinda late on Sat, and started it that night, and finished it in under 24 hours, including sleeping late on Sun morning, and this goes down as the only entertainment thing(book, movie, TV show etc) that has ever made me cry. EVER. It wasn't much, but it happened which is huge for me. I reread a few weeks latr because I didn't remember many of the details and I read it again this summer because I was on heavy pain meds and I could only concentrate on things I already knew, so I reread the whole series in a week. it's still hard to read that scene, but I keep doing it anyway

[mcgonagallrocks]

Peoples the girl that got punched had it comming to her. She kissed my ex while we were still going out, called Min and Albus senile AND she started this stupid rumor at school that got my bff kicked off the cheersquad. Little bitch yes I'm gulity I punched her again.

[StormAngel]

I bought the book when it first arrived in Singapore, I and cried all the way back home from my god-sis's house when I read that... sobx

[Drake]

First time reading: I didn't cry. I was like ZOMG! THE LITTLE SCUMBAG KILLED MY WHITE PRINCELY WARRIOR NOBLE BUMBLEBEE! STUPID GREASY GIT! But I didn't cry.

Second time reading: Still didn't dry. Began to wonder what was wrong with me.

Third time: Still did not cry. Began to wonder if my heart was made of solid ice or what.

Fourth time: It finally sunk in, and they say that the longer it takes to hurt, the more it hurts when it finally does. They are totally right. We were at a friend's beach house, and I slept on the third floor and my mom came up form the first to yell at me to shut up, I was crying so hard.

I then went into mourning for six months. Not deep mourning, but I wore dark colors and tied a black ribbon around my arm.

[DaBao]

I didn't cry, but I felt so utterly devastated! I was hollow inside, but after awhile I began to get over it. I just felt so bad!! Now we'll never get to see MMAD firsthand!
I expected McGonagall to act a bit more… distraught, like sobbing.

[MinervaMcGonagall]

Although my brother was "kind" enough to tell me who the Half Blood Prince was before I got to read the book (He got to read it first because he won the coin toss), I did not expect Dumbledore to die. I was most shocked that Snape did it. I have to admit I was more shocked and upset when Umbridge attempted to murder McGonagall.

[morgainegaunt]

When I bought the book, all these rumors were flying around about how was going to die and I hoped it was not Dumbledore. Then I started reading the book.
Chapter 2: He did not swear to kill Dumbledore did he?, I thought when I read it.
Chapter 3: I saw Dumbledores hand and thought: Shit, Dumbledore is going to die and didn't continue reading for a week.
I was on a trip to Rome while I read the end of HBP. I did not cry, although I was really shocked. Reasons:

- I always supported Snape
- I was sorry for Min
- JKR destroyed the fic a had written half-way back then. I still haven't started on it again.

Traumatic experience for me, so.

[hpimperfections]

I started the book by reading the chapter titles, and they seemed to get darker towards the end, so I knew someone was going to die. I found the cave scene incredibly disturbing, since it's the first time we see Dumbledore as being as weak and mortal as the rest of us. What really made me cry was the way JKR describes Harry's POV after Dumbledore's death. I sort of broke down in chapter 28 or 29 and was crying intermittently for an hour.

[Mrs Edward Cullen]

People spoiled it for me but i still read it. I was reading it at like 11 o'clock and i was up till midnight crying. it was soooooooooooo sad. so i went to sleep with a salty wet pillow. lol.

[Sparrabether]

I had to read the book three times before it finally sunk in that he was dead.

[esoterica1693]

I sobbed from the Cave scene all the way through the end of the book, loudly and long. Lots of kleenex. The first time I read it and every time thereafter for months. Only recently (maybe since DH came out) have I been able to read those chapters w/o crying, but I still find them very emotional.

It was the Cave and Tower scenes, however, which converted me into a hardcore HP fan, b/c the Christian symbolism in those chapters just leapt off the page at me. IMHO it's as powerful and as obvious as it is at the end of DH when Harry goes into the forest etc. And probably b/c I like AD better than I like Harry and had more invested in him as a character, I found his sacrificial death more moving than Harry's.

Maybe in part b/c it was more obvious that AD could, even though horribly weakened, still have blasted Draco and Co. to bits w/ wandless magic if he'd wanted to, so his death was clearly deliberate and sacrificial, whereas Harry had much weaker odds in going up against TR/LV one on one in a duel. The way he offered himself in the forest, w/o making any defense, was sacrificial, but even if he'd gone in wands blazing, he still would have likely died. Whereas Dumbledore could have survived the Tower scene if he'd wanted to, and simply let the potion/curse kill him (and his terminal state was not absolutely known to the reader at the time, so it seemed like more of a loss).

[Desdemona]

what i did hmmmm... can't really remember i think i half drowned...
arfter that i half drowned my cat by hugging it so hard it's eyes nearly popped out (it felt my pain)

then went around smiling in that really strange scary way for weeks because i couldn't believe it.
(oh and threw a complete hairy at my German teacher coz' she tried to awake me from my mourning )

[jkamd18]

I WASN'T as bad as that Desde, em... i just cried for a hour, and i think my dog cried too!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tabbyphoenix]

I read the book only last year ... I was reading at two in the night in candlelight, because my parents would screw me if they found out ... I'm not sure when I started crying, only when I shut the book I realised that my face was wet. Then, I started snapping at everyone in the morning and the whole week until I laid my hands and DH.

Recently, I reread it and realised that the book still depressed me.

Minerva's reaction was perfect to me, she DID cry, but she doesn't show much emotion in public, so that was a big thing from her, esp. the 'little more love' dialogue, that was a surprise support for the ship as was the 'steeling' thing.

Not my fave book ... though.

[greyeyedgirl]

I finished the sixth book the day it came out so I really didn't have a chance to have anyone spoil it for me. When I read that he died I didn't believe it. Even after I finished the book I still thought he really wasn't dead. Then when I read the seventh and Harry talked to his ghost it finally sunk in, but I still didn't cry. It wasn't until I re-read the sixth book last year that I cried at his death. And I'm not usually a crier unless (and this is going to sound really stupid) it's a movie or book where two people are completely in love and one dies or their love gets killed by someone else, i.e. Moulin Rouge, Titanic, The Notebook etc. So it was something that I cried.