It just seemed a little silly.

I totally agree, it was a great book, but didn't need the goo at the end. I was perfectly happy to use my own imagination as to what happened in later life.
The only thing I can think of, is that JKR did it so she was never tempted to write another HP.

Yeah I really don't think it needed the epilogue. It just seemed so forced. I agree that it was probably to enforce the idea that she wasn't going to do any more books.

I really liked the book but the epiloge spoiled it. It left too many questions about what had happened to them (fortunetly JKR had an interview where she explained what she thought had happened to the characters) and was a bit corny for me. poor kid being called Albus Severus.

I was quite disappointed by this ending! the least JKR could of done was tell us what everyones professions were. The only one that I know of was Neville (Herbologist teacher).

It was most definitly a bit daft, no point to it whatsoever!

No.
She wasn't just finishing off Harry's story, she was showing that even after the (any) story ends, the world still goes on. There will be new dangers, and perhaps the heirs to the boy who lived will play a part in defeating them.

I wrote a long review of this at Amazon last year pointing out how bad this book really was. It seriously needs an editor to trim a large amount of the middle section where NOTHING HAPPENS for ages... there are too many "McGuffin" quests that are never resolved and do nothing to drive the plot forward.

The ending is spectacularly mishandled. The final battle is just silly and there is no aftermath. One of the most important parts of a "fight scene" is what happens afterwards. The emotional impact of the repercussions of a war only happen AFTER the battle. Take Lord of the Rings as an example: the "final battle" takes place halfway through the 3rd volume. The latter part of the book is all about what happens after... coming to terms with the tragedy, the triumph, resolving the plot hooks that have driven the story forward.

A proper chapter AFTER the final battle would have allowed us to see the emotional resolution of the losses in the battle, the reconstruction of the society, and people dealing with the consequences ofthe triumph and the tragedy.

Instead, we get a very poorly written vignette, that answers no questions and left me totally dissatisfied. I want to know what happened to everyone. How did everyone rebuild their lives?

What happens to a hero when he no longer NEEDS to be a hero? That is a fascinating subject.

I'm afraid my answer to your question is "I dislike the book and HATE the epilogue". Having been a fan all these years, it was a major let down.

I think it's too obvious that it was written at a completely different time to the rest. I've got to be careful when saying that of course; would be too easy to read the fact that I knew it had been sitting in a bank vault for a decade bofore into my reading of it. All of it is a little too, ". . . and they lived happily after" for my taste but, to be fair to Rowling, I don't see what else she could have done. It's an excellent suggestion that she should have included a post-battle chapter - I would have gone with the funeral of a well-loved character. Still, she couldn't resist going for the happy ending and that means that the ending was always going to be a little saccarine. It's pretty hard to do a profound or wistful conclusion when all your characters survived, grew up, had children, and live in fame and comfort in large houses - probably owning labradours.

The epilogue is hilarious. After 7 books of derring do and a life or death battle against the dark side they all grow up and become civil servants living in suburbia with their childhood sweethearts. Perhaps that counts as a happy ending if you've had a turbulent life like Rowling (although on the recent documentary I did get the feeling she's hammed this up - the flat she lived in while writing the first book seemed perfectly nice and was hardly a drafty garret in the middle of a rough estate).

Once again there is a comparison with the Narnia books where there is a very brief passing mention of Susan having grown up and relegated her adventures in Narnia to childhood fantasy - that seemed real and interesting. The epilogue to HP7 just turned the whole series into a new exemplar of bathos.