I was 100% sure parents were going to die in this book. Of course my prediction was that it would be one of the Weasley parents so I can’t really take full credit for that one. My predicted deader list was a Weasley parent, a Weasley child not Ron or Ginny, a member of Hogwarts’ faculty known to be a good guy (ie not Snape), and some member of DA. I also thought Moody would lose another body part. I’m glad I was so close and yet so wrong, I think the characters she killed off was a more effective selection for keeping up the tension and driving home the point that you don’t all get to walk away after confronting evil.
My kids were most upset by Hedwig, a totally innocent bystander. Not even a target.