Here are my responses to another diehards ideas (which are way more important than beliefs) ...
My guesses (after having read 1-6) are one of Hagrid/McGonagall; a Weasley (not named Ron or Ginny or Bill). The book cannot start with Bill's wedding and include him in the funeral procession. Also, he's not particularly major. Remus I think lives b/c his life has already been so cursed. My saddest guess is Neville Longbottom, who dies incorrectly believing that the ultimate sacrifice is the only way he'll ever live up to his parents. I think Luna lives on as the sort of lighthouse keeper, even if it's for a rag. Btw, how amazing was Evanna Lynch as Luna? Brilliant.
My hopes ... Hermione comes back as the youngest professor ever. Harry semi-retires like Sydney Bristow in Alias and Ron reforms the ministry. Ron, I hope, has a huge role in the big plot this time. Hermione has Robined far more than Ron; it's she and Harry who turn time in Azkaban and she and Harry who lead Umbridge into the woods to get stomped by the Centaurs. Rupert Grint deserves more. At the beginning he was clearly the strongest actor of the big 3, and in the Phoenix movie he was marginalized.
And lastly, I am quite certain (and would wager at 100 percent) that Harry will not die. This is ultimately a brilliant, spectacular, wonderful child's tale. Evil cannot win in the end. It shall not be vanquished entirely, because Rowling is too smart to underestimate her readers like that. But the big bad will be defeated. And though in HBP, Dumbledore explains how the prophecy became a prophecy only because Voldemort made it so, I feel like now Harry is also choosing to make it so. And if one cannot live while the other survives, it seems like Harry has to triumph. But I just had a thought ... perhaps since CHOICE and being judged on actions not bloodlines and pre-destinies are HUGE THEMES the final reconciliation in this book will be Harry opting NOT to hunt Voldemort to the death. Perhaps as he found mercy for Pettigrew and spared his life, Harry will find a certain wisdom in not hunting to kill?
Hrm ...
Addendum at 12:42 a.m. My knees FUCKING hurt. I hate arthritis
IF SNAPE IS GOOD ... how is the greater good served more by Dumbledore getting killed rather than Severus, which would have happened had Snape not honored the unbreakable vow? I am still debating very tightly whether Snape is bad. iIm still at about 55 percent bad. But I'm coming from a spot of 85 percent good. That's a big swing. And while Dumbledore is rarely wrong, he said himself that he has been wrong and because of his brilliance, when he's wrong the consequences are BIGTIME WRONG. I forget which book that's in, but I remember that distinctly.
And Snape has never exhibited any signs of love or even respect particularly for Dumbledore so if he was hating himself for what he had to do, it seems like Rowling failed as a writer to provide a single clue about that. Then again, the entire victories in Books 1 and 2 were not foreshadowed in the least.
But regardless, I feel like Severus' tale is the biggest loose end that had better be tied up save for the big stuff.
as for Horcruxes ...
1. Locket, which is in the hands or R.A.B. (could be destroyed). Is this Regulus Black? Could be.
2. Diary, destoryed
3. Hufflepuff cup (MIA). Given that this was a Pensieve memory seems for sure that this must come up again.
4. Nagini (alive and kicking). Wonder what special circumstances warranted Nagini's getting so honored? since Dumbledore conjectured that Voldemort's horcruxes were significant.
5. The Ring, destroyed. That's why Dumbledore's hand was fucked up.
6. ???? Seems like it's gotta be a longlong Ravenclaw object, since Godric Gryffindor's sword it's not.
Btw, Harry says at the end of six that he's going to head to Godric's Hollow, where his folks lived, right? That's also gotta be named for Godric Gryffindor, right?
Are we gonna learn that Harry is a Gryffindor heir? I don't think so. And the true story of the breakup of the original four? I hope so. What choices did they all make that led them to our current circumstances? Less likely.
And lastly, I would prefer Snape to be good ... but it seems like in writing these books evil needs someone else besides Voldemort to counterbalance how many protagonists and protagonists' assistants we have. And Draco clearly seemed too much the pussy to be the other evil, which to me is Rowling's biggest flaw with these books. Draco should have been a kick-ass villain who grounded some of Harry's and Ron's and Hermione's travails in a more relatable reality.