I definitely liked Molly stamping over Bellatrix. But I'm just irritated that pretty much all seven books have mothers being overprotective and sheltering of their children, which is also portrayed as the sentimental but still wrong thing to do (in the narrative. Though in RL I am also against overprotecting and sheltering, but that is more personal). Particularly because nearly all the father figures encourage adventuring and going off and acting.

Well, except for Lily, in which case the protective and sheltering is shown as a good thing. On the other hand, it means she's basically a woman in a refrigerator and the only action she really takes is dying.

I mean, I wasn't expecting for it to be anything but lightweight; it's not my favorite book of the series, but also not one of the ones I dislike. But I'm just frustrated that there were signs that it could have gone deeper and more interesting, and it didn't end up going there (aka, the species stuff, the Houses, etc.).

Oh! I forgot! I said Snape was my favorite character, and he is in terms of being complicated. I.e. I think he's skeevy as hell and petty and joins the right side for the wrong reasons, but what I like is that he isn't romanticized in the text (except the Lily chapters, in which he kind of is) like most fictional characters who do the right thing for the wrong reason (see: Spike, Logan, etc.).

But Neville is hands-down my favorite character for sheer awesomeness, followed shortly by Luna.