[JenB]

You don’t like happy endings?

To me, it was like sunrise after a dark and stormy night. Puts perspective on everything that’s gone before and tells us that, magic or not, family life and growing up are the ordinary way of things. Wild adventures and dark lords are Not Real Life. Getting married and raising kids together, that’s Real Life.

[Ciexyz]

I'll accept the ending as JKR wrote it because that was her artistic vision. But if "moi" had written the ending, Harry would have gone back to Hogwarts as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and revived Professor Snape (my favorite character in the series) and Snape would have remained as a mentor to Harry, trapped between dimensions and only visible and accessible for five minutes a day. Snape would be reformed - almost.

Harry would not marry, he would become a priest-wizard and vow not to marry. He would be on the fast track to become Headmaster.

I never saw a spark between Hermione and Ron, so I wouldn't pair them in marriage. That's too easy a resolution of what to do with the second and third most important characters, pairing them off. Too easy.

But like I said, I'll grant JKR her artistic integrity and accept the series as written.