A few loose ends

I had a couple of more small thoughts on ol' Harry Potter- and an option for a future blog to be named later concerning HP fans and Biblical scholarship (got you curious, don't I?), and then we'll be done with this topic- or else I might get co-opted into on of those online editorial HP sites...

1) Why does Tom, the barman at the Leaky Cauldron, say "Welcome back" to Harry when he and Hagrid show up at the bar for what is in Harry's mind, his first time? Either its a generic "welcome back" to the wizarding world, or this is a comment that Harry has been there before- perhaps in that 24 missing hours between his parent's death and his arrival at 4 Privet Dr.
2) I stay with my theory that the 7th book will return to the 1st book in a lot of ways. Take this bit- A great deal of description is given about Grigott's wizarding bank in Sorcerer's Stone. Especially how an average person would get lost in the maze below ground and die trying to escape. Also, Dumbledore says he has a scar above his left knee that is quite useful, as it is a full map of the London Underground. Since most wizards have no need of public Muggle transportation (the subway Underground) could it be he was referring to a map of Gringotts? I think this is true, since the UK cover of Deathly Hallows shows Harry, Ron and Hermione landing in a treasure trove with a goblin (or maybe a house elf) holding a sword (Griffyndors?) and riding on Harry's back. Why wouldn't Voldemort put at least one treasure (horcrux) in a deeply exclusive vault inside Gringotts? Since the goblins are at best neutral, and have been dark-leaning in the past, it wouldn't be surprising that they wouldn't care if Voldemort used their bank like any other. After all, how did Quirrellmort find his way in there and out when he tried to steal the stone? And with Bill Weasley(and Fleur) as a Gringott's employee there is a way in the door for sure.
3) The US cover of Deathly Hallows bears out at least one of my friend Susan's ideas about the plot (and all points should be given to her for parsing this out of editorials and the like). It seems to show Harry, being chased by the outstretched hand of Voldemort, having passed behind the veil in the atrium in the Dept. of Mysteries. There is an atrium/coliseum around him, with shadowy figures of those who's voices Harry heard before, his loved ones who predeceased him. It appears as if Susan's theory of Harry going through the veil is indeed a good one- now if we can figure out what he has in the little amulet/bag around his neck. Judge for yourself- here is the picture.

OK, that's enough for now. I'm still working on my aforementioned Bible-HP correlation.