According to the canonical source, Ms. J. K. Rowling, author of the series, Harry Potter and the *, two characters (at least) will croak in the seventh and final book. From an article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

During an interview broadcast Monday on Britain’s Channel Four, Rowling revealed that at least two characters will buy it but was careful not to say who.

The author also noted that the last chapter of the seventh book was written awhile ago.

“The final chapter is hidden away, although it’s now changed very slightly,” she said in the interview. “One character got a reprieve, but I have to say two die that I didn’t intend to die.”

Hmmmm…

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Methinks that she has always intended Voldemort to be killed in this last book, so that bumps the minimum number of character deaths to three, given a reading of that last line above. Questions will now abound about who the other two are.

Of course, she has a lot of people to choose from. There’s all the members of the Order of the Phoenix. It could be Lupin or Moody or a dozen other people. If, like some of us believe, the seventh book still revolves around Hogwarts, any of the teachers are fair game, plus all the students, people in Hogsmead, etc. And don’t forget the character cast from the Ministry! Literally, there are dozens of “characters” that might find their way under Ms. Rowlings diabolical pen. When she said “characters” she might have been throwing us ye olde vermillion herring. She didn’t say “main characters” after all.

For my money:

• Voldemort dies, killed by Harry by way of the prophecy and Voldemort’s interpretation of it.
• Snape dies, in a final act of “redemption” in order to save Harry. This dovetails from Harry’s ruminations in The Half Blood Prince regarding all of the people who have sacrificed themselves for him (Dad, Mom, Sirius, Dumbeldore). Snape will be the final card in that flush, I think. Although, Snape might possibly get the “reprieve” mentioned above. And, I quotated “redemption” because I don’t believe that Snape is part of the Dark Side. I think he’s following some deep plan of Dumbledore’s.
• Moody dies. This is just a guess, but that man wouldn’t be happy dying in his bed. He’d be more likely to go out in a blaze of glory, battling the Death Eaters.

I do not think that J.K.Rowling will kill Harry or Ginny, Ron, or Hermione, although I’m a bit up in the air concerning Ginny. No, now that I think about it, I don’t think Ginny will be killed.

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That’s about it for me. Feel free to speculate on your own time.

OH OH OH! I almost forgot…

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Beware of Spoilers! If you’ve been living under a rock, you probably don’t know of what I am about to speak…

Where are the Horcruxes (Horcrucae? Horcruces?)? It is commonly accepted amongst H.P. fans that R.A.B., who placed the note into the locket retrieved at the end of Half Blood Prince was Regulus Black, who was a death eater and was killed after he tried to back out of his evil commitments.

I recently re-read the series and noticed that the locket we are all assuming is the real horcrux (found in the cabinet in the living room of Black Manor in Order of the Phoenix) was being cleaned up at the time of mention! They were placing all the things found in that cabinet into bags and then…who knows? What did they do with the bags? Where did the locket go? The next scene in that room implies that there wasn’t anything left in the cabinets, if the cabinets themselves were even still there. So, will Harry Potter be going dumpster diving to find the next horcrux? We shall see…

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And speaking of speculation, I can’t be alone thinking that the final horcrux that Voldemort intended to make with Harry’s death when he was a child is now resident in Harry’s scar. Yes? No? Anyone?