"Harry Potter death makes mythological sense" -- or does it?

There's an interesting Associated Press article today on MSNBC where university profs have a go at the question of whether Harry will die or not.

I'm with Philip Ray of Connecticut College who says "For Rowling to have put Harry Potter through all seven volumes just to kill him off, the point of all development would be wasted. Death strikes me as being the strangest ending of all."