You've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed

I like your take on secondary canon. For me, the books are the books are canon. Period. JK's statements are more like "This is how I imagine things turn out. Play with it as you will." When writing, I tend to stick to canon, or veer from a specific point, all while keeping this particular view of canon in my head. There is just so much wiggle room to play in; it's wonderful. For Lavender, her death is ambiguous and I feel like it's a "Do with this as you will situation." Severus...I'm mixed. His 'death' is something I just literally cannot accept, so even less-plausibly-drawn-out scenarios will get my OK. But he just fucking lives.

Edited to make my quotations match.