Ah the Weasley Twins, They Make for Great Quotes

"For instance, this new idea that You-Know-Who can kill with a single glance from his eyes. That’s a basilisk, listeners. One simple test: Check whether the thing that’s glaring at you has got legs. If it has, it’s safe to look into its eyes, although if it really is You-Know-Who, that’s still likely to be the last thing you ever do.”

-Fred, Deathly Hallows

The Weasley Twins: great jokesters. This quote (if you don't recognize it) is from their radio show in Deathly Hallows. They are able to provide accurate information to listeners, but also add in a bit of humor. This is a breath of fresh air for the trio while they are on the run. Sorry this is short, but I am also working of a few other pieces that will come out in the next few days, so enjoy the quote. 

Final Days of Poll

Our poll has been posted for a couple of weeks now and, we have had only one vote. We want to discuss this when it has closed but we need your help! As Paige and I are working on our read throughs we have been curious which book(s) you enjoy the most out of the series. There are only a few days left, PLEASE take the time to help us out and vote. It takes just a few seconds, we would love to hear your opinion on this matter.

Mischief Managed,

Calie

Quote of the Week

"Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all have."
-Hermione, OOTP

I love this quote. It is one of my favorite quotes. Hermione is one of my favorite characters, and she says this to Ron when they are discussing Harry's 'encounter' with Cho. Ron makes the comment "One person can't feel all that, they'd explode!" Hermione is trying to point out to Ron that he is insensitive to other people; especially when it comes to emotions. I love it, because she is making a snarky comment towards her feelings as well.

Mischief Managed.

Paige Cyrus

POTTERMORE!!!

Ok, this morning was it, the big announcement. And in case you missed it here it is:

So if you are like me you are probably wondering what exactly Pottermore is. Well as far as I can tell it is a site where readers can interact and learn more about the books. It is also the source of digital ebooks, and EBOOKS (yes that has happened too). But I really can't sum it up as well Leaky, so you can see their coverage here.

HBP Analysis

Okay, so you're probably wondering why we are releasing the analysis of HBP before OOTP. Well, due to some schedule conflicts, Calie was unable to finish; so we figured that since I had already gotten my reading done, that I would go ahead and publish the analysis, therefore staying on time with the posting and not extending it by a week. Sorry for the out of order release, but expect to see Calie's analysis sometime next week. Now for the analysis of HBP:

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is tied with Sorcerer’s Stone as my favorite Harry Potter book. I think that this is the best written book by JKR. Her deception of the reader of who characters actually are is amazing. She achieves this by having Harry being one-sided to characters that have the potential to be good, but having him only see the bad. The character development of the main characters in this book is also one of my favorite things. They have changed so much, especially Harry, who realizes his duty to the wizarding world. I also love Voldemort’s background and how it’s presented; it is one of my favorite things in the series.
In this book, we learn about the past of Voldemort. Dumbledore shows Harry various memories in the Pensieve that have to do with Voldemort to figure out his motives, which turn out to be Horcruxes. He also shows Harry the importance of his past in order to beat him in the end. The title Half-Blood Prince comes from the Potions textbook that Harry gets secondhand that helps him in Potions as well as spells. It is an object of arguments in the trio, and turns out to be Snape’s old Potions book, as he is the ‘Half-Blood Prince’.

The Other Minister
I really love this chapter; it is one of my favorites of all of the books. It gives us an insight to the Muggle world and what’s happening on their side as we see through Harry’s eyes what is happening in his world. It is comical, and I enjoy the Muggle minister’s views of Fudge. JKR uses this chapter mainly to catch the reader up on things that we didn’t see happen because they took place in the Muggle world. It shows that the Death Eaters are attacking Muggles and also witches and wizards that are known and acknowledged in the Muggle world.

Snape
This book shows us a different side of Snape. For one, we learn a bit about his past, and the book is basically named after him. He is still his usual hateful self towards Harry, but we see his unpleasantness build in his position as the teacher of DADA. In the second chapter, we learn that Snape is involved in a very important plot that involves Draco and Voldemort, but it isn’t revealed till the end. As a reader who sees entirely through Harry’s eyes, we are lead to believe that Snape is on Voldemort’s side indefinitely and that he kills Dumbledore because of that. That is completely contradicted in Deathly Hallows, but for this book, it is a major driving force for Harry to kill Voldemort and his want to kill Snape, especially after he finds out that Snape is the one that sold out his parents.
I think that the Half-Blood Prince textbook was a neat device used to the plot; especially that it involved Snape. It shows us an insight to his life as a student, though indirectly. We learn what kind of student he was and it is interesting to see his notes. The insight to his past is surprising as well. The fact that he is a half-blood, but does so well with the Death Eaters is interesting for one, along with him taking the title of “Half-Blood Prince”. I wonder how soon Snape realized that Harry had his book.

Slughorn
Slughorn is an interesting character. We learn from the beginning that he likes to ‘collect’ people and has all sorts of connections with famous people. Dumbledore takes advantage of this and uses Harry as bait to get him to return to Hogwarts, which ultimately is so that he can recover his memory. Slughorn is one of the most important characters in this book, though we don’t know it until the end. He has a very important memory of Riddle at Hogwarts that holds a secret about him. It turns out that he was the one who gave Riddle the information about Horcruxes, which Riddle used to confirm his suspicions and make his Horcruxes to beat death.

The Gaunts
The Gaunt family members make up the last remaining descendants of Salazar Slytherin. They are also Voldemort’s family. The father, Marvolo, is who Voldemort is named after, the son, Morfin, is a Muggle hater, and the daughter, Merope, is Voldemort’s mother. Marvolo and Morfin can speak Parseltongue, which is a main trait of Slytherin’s. We learn about them in Bob Ogden’s memory, and learn of their background as Muggle haters and how they very much represent the proud pure-blood attitude in the wizarding community that we see with the Malfoys. The only thing is that Merope doesn’t hate Muggles; we learn that she had an infatuation with a Muggle that turned into a marriage and that they had a baby- Voldemort.
This is very important to Voldemort. He tried to figure out who is family was, and as soon as he found out who his mother was, he tracked down their house and learned about his lineage to Slytherin. He steals the ring bearing his family crest off of his uncle’s finger and turns it into a Horcrux later. In the memory, we see that they also have Slytherin’s locket, which Voldemort doesn’t learn about until Hepziba Smith shows it to him; even though technically it would belong to him, but he turns that into a Horcrux as well.

Harry and Ginny
I love the hints of Harry’s interest in Ginny that we get throughout this book. Harry is finally starting to notice her. In their first Potions class, the Amortentia causes Harry to smell “treacle tart, the woody smell of a broomstick handle, and something flowery he thought he might have smelled at the Burrow.” Right after that class, they are in the Great Hall, when Harry smells it again: “’Hang on,’ said a voice close by Harry’s left ear and he caught a sudden waft of that flowery smell he had picked up in Slughorn’s dungeon. He looked around and saw that Ginny had joined them.” He doesn’t acknowledge it; he just sort of subconsciously recognizes it. Later on in the common room while talking about the Half-Blood Prince, “momentarily stymied, Harry watched Ginny Weasley playing with Arnold the Pygmy Puff for a while”. I don’t think that it’s later on when he sees Ginny and Dean kissing that he really comes to terms with his feelings for her. When they finally get together, it is short-lived because Harry breaks it off in order to search for Voldemort- which Ginny completely understands.

Easy Things To Gloss Over
• The tiara in the Room of Requirement
• Malfoy won Dumbledore's wand
• The twitch of Malfoy’s wand, which meant that he was contemplating going to the good side.
• The Peverell coat of arms on the Horcrux ring- which reveals (unknowingly to the reader in this book) that technically, Harry and Voldemort are distantly related.
Things I Loved
• The Other Minister chapter
• Ginny’s understanding of Harry’s reasons to end their relationship and how she handled it.
• All of the hints that JKR drops that play a huge part in Deathly Hallows
• Harry throughout the cave scene.

Questions I Have
• Did Slughorn know the Dark Mark spell?
• Can Squibs have wands? It’s not actually explained if Merope was a squib or just really bad at magic, but she did have a wand. Does this mean that she went to Hogwarts? What does that mean for Filch?
• Did Stan Shunpike attend Hogwarts? If so, in HBP, he was 21, meaning he would’ve graduated Hogwarts at the end of Harry’s second year, yet there is no mention of him.
• Why did Snape leave his old textbook at Hogwarts?
• How did Malfoy mend the cabinet?

Mischief Managed.

Paige Cyrus

GoF Analysis

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the turning point in the series. After Voldemort’s return, the attitude of the books changes. Hogwarts is no longer safe from Voldemort’s grasp, and it becomes more and more apparent as the series progresses. At first, Hogwarts is a safe haven, and in a way it is distant from all of the troubles that the outside world is facing. When Voldemort comes back, everywhere is threatened; we see this when Dumbledore is killed, especially.

S.P.E.W./Magical creatures in wizarding world
S.P.E.W. is an organization that Hermione creates for the protection of house-elves. I think that this creation is very important in the wizarding world, because creatures are treated very poorly and are often taken advantage of. Most people in the wizarding world ignore this, just automatically accepting their ‘rightful position’ in society- at the bottom. As we see in Deathly Hallows, the creatures are shocked when they are treated “like an equal” like Harry does when he buries Dobby and the way that he communicates with Griphook. He treats them ‘normally’ because he wasn’t raised around them in the wizarding world, and therefore wasn’t exposed to that prejudice. It is a form of racism shown in the books, much like the Mudblood situation.
Creatures like house-elves and goblins have their own type of magic and are not allowed to possess a wand. House-elves can Apparate where wizards can’t, as well as have their own magical abilities. Goblins are skilled in making metal objects and run Gringotts, where their magic involves protection in various forms of the wizards’ possessions. They also have their own language, as well as speak English.

The Crouch Family
The Crouch family is one of the few remaining pure-blood families. Barty Crouch is head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and is a prominent and respected figure in the Ministry. He is an avid hater of the Dark Arts, which unknowingly, his son took part in. Crouch’s character is interesting. His family values are strange: he loves his wife and would do anything for her, including her death wish for him to save their son, which I was surprised that he fulfilled; but as for the son, once he disgraced him, he didn’t care. He was once proud of his son because he had a promising future, as we saw when he snuck into the grounds, but as soon as that changed, he didn’t care what happened to him, as long as he disappeared from the picture, after tarnishing his reputation. He sent his own son to prison because he disgraced him. He went so far as to place him under the Imperius Curse for a number of years in order to keep his reputation. This shows that he would not stop at anything.
Barty Crouch Jr. is the good kid that turned bad. In school, he had gained twenty O.W.L.s. He was obviously a very bright person because he had to trick the Goblet of Fire and capture and hold Moody, the greatest Auror, for a year. He was well versed in spells and curses, as we see in his DADA classes as Moody. He was a great DADA teacher, albeit that his experience shown was only because he was a Death Eater. He was very allegiant to Voldemort, and Voldemort recognized that, calling him [not directly, but it can be inferred] the one “who remains [his] faithful servant” on more than one occasion. It is revealed that he was very involved in the activities of the Death Eaters, even as a 19 year old, at least, since we don’t know when he joined them. Although crazy, he had a brilliant mind.

Percy’s Decline
Percy is very much like Crouch: obsessed with power and appearance and anything that gets in his way has to be removed. Crouch was Percy’s role model simply because they were very alike. Just as Crouch did with his son, Percy rejects his family and abandons them because they are against what he believes, and he can’t have that going against him because his job is more important. In Percy’s case, it could’ve been something that he did because he wanted to be exactly like Crouch. He saw that he would be able to regain power if he denounced his family and be able to save his reputation because Crouch was able to. This seems more likely to me, even though from the beginning he is a bit different from his family. He doesn’t hate them, but after seeing what other people think of his family at the Ministry combined with his want of power and a higher position, he turns away from them and chooses his career over his family.
Moody
Though in this book we don’t see much of the real Alastor Moody, he is mentioned many times by different characters. Most of the views are positive: he was probably the greatest Auror ever and was very skilled at catching dark wizards, but there were a few negatives as well, including his well-known madness and his jumpy and accusatory nature. Though highly praised, many people think that he had gone off the deep end and he was often scrutinized for his protective and defensive nature. I love the role that he has in the later books.

Voldemort’s rise to power
This book is the turning point for Voldemort. He is helped by Pettigrew to return back to his body, rebuild his army, and begin his terror again. In the graveyard, we see his Death Eaters return. Most of them had been living in society normally, having ‘denounced’ the ways of Voldemort to avoid imprisonment. At least six of them returned in the graveyard, and others are mentioned as being dead or in Azkaban. After he returns to power, his Death Eaters do his bidding in the wizarding world, while he stays in the background. Voldemort’s main objective is to kill Harry, and he has many unsuccessful attempts after his return.

Easy Things to Gloss Over
• The triumphant gleam in Dumbledore’s eye after he learns that Voldemort took Harry’s blood.
• The one Death Eater who Voldemort believes “has left [him] forever”

Things I Loved
• The scene at the Dursley’s in the beginning. It is in my top 5 of favorite scenes.
• Fred and George’s Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes
• The Quidditch World Cup
• The beginning of the Ron/Hermione relationship, even though the bickering was annoying sometimes.
• How JKR wrote Crouch Jr. as Moody; it was the perfect deception of not only the reader, but of the other characters and Dumbledore as well.
• S.P.E.W.
• The Bouncing Ferret.
• That Harry gives the twins his winnings for their shop

Questions I Have
• I want to know more about the connection between Voldemort and Harry. How is it that they can see through each other’s minds?
• How do the students at Beauxbatons and Durmstrang get along without the headmasters? In the past when everyone could enter, did the entire school go to the host school?
• Why did they have a Muggle working at the QWC? Couldn’t they have had a wizard?
• Why didn’t the ministry catch any of the Death Eaters at the QWC when there were so many MoM workers there?
• What kind of magic binds the contestants to the tournament? What would happen if they didn’t compete?
• How did Moody get away with using Unforgiveable Curses on the kids?
• How exactly do other people get into Hogwarts? Is someone alerted, or can they just walk in like Crouch apparently did- unnoticed?
• What evidence did Dumbledore give the ministry about Snape to clear him?
• What House[s] were the Crouches in at Hogwarts?

Sorry that this is late.

Mischief Managed.

Paige Cyrus

Quote of the Week

"Would anyone like me to help them interprut the shadowy portents of their orb?" [Trelawney] murmured over the clinking of her bangles.  

"I don't need help," Ron whispered. "It's clear what this means. There's going to be loads of fog tonight."   

 -Prisoner of Azkaban

Ah, the wonderful humor of JKR. The quotes that I usually choose are rather serious and important pieces of advice. But this week I decided that we needed to represent the other side of the series. Does this quote do much to further the plot or conflict of the novels? No, but it does provide comic relief. In novels packed with heavy themes and suspense, it is nice to have some playful moments. JKR is just as adept at writing humor as she is drama, and I have to say that the odd mixture of the two is part of what makes the novels so entertaining.

And the answer to the last post...

As if by the greatest coincidence, JKR has come out of the shadows in a big way today. She announced that she is launching a new website, Pottermore. No word yet on what the site actually will be, if you go there you just get a "coming soon" message, but we will know soon. She is going to announce it in less than a week, on June 22. Speculation fills the spectrum of possibilities from a new online game to my deepest desire an encyclopedia. Well more to come I assure you.

Mischief Managed,

Calie

Where in the World is JKR!?

So lately, Harry Potter fans haven’t heard much news from JK Rowling. No press conferences about anything, no book announcements, no HP news, no public appearances… Her website, www.jkrowling.com, hasn’t been updated since October 28, 2008, which is almost three years. The update was about the release of the book The Tales of Beedle the Bard, which came out in 2008. Where in the world has JKR been!?

I know that she’s extremely famous, but what could she possibly be doing so that she has completely dropped off of the earth? The only thing that I can think of that could be consuming her time other than her home-life would be charity work, but even then, it’s not that often. She has said on a few occasions that she may or may not write another series of the Harry Potter world, but without Harry as the main character. So, to our knowledge, she isn’t writing anymore books for a while- unless you count The Scottish Book. The Scottish Book is supposedly going to be a future production of JKR’s that will basically be a Harry Potter Bible; an incredibly detailed encyclopedia of the Harry Potter universe, if you will. It will feature dropped plotlines, extra information on characters, further elaborations on topics, and more. She hasn’t mentioned much about it since the original mention of the project on a LeakyCauldron podcast, followed up by a newspaper report with her in 2008.

The only recent public appearances she has made recently were at the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I movie in 2010, as well as a few charity functions that she is a part of. She has founded a few charities as well- including the charity Lumos and a charity for Multiple Sclerosis in honor of her mother, who suffered and died from the disease. She is involved in many charities that she donates generously too; many of them helping children.

I’m sure that Harry Potter fans around the world, very much like myself, are extremely anxious for the release of this encyclopedia. It doesn’t appear that it will be released for a while, but I will keep hoping that this isn’t the case. Many fans are dreading the release of Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 because it is the last Harry Potter movie, which means that the series will come to a conclusion book and movie-wise. It will end the ten year span of the movies, and the twenty year span since the little thought of an orphaned wizard passed through the mind of a woman on a subway.

Though we may not know where she is right now, or know what she is doing, we do know where she will be in a month… at the biggest premiere of her career. This is the final moment- the conclusion of the eight movie series that has so fascinated us. I imagine that this will be the next time that we see her for some time, unless she answers my prayers (and loads of fanmail) about her releasing The Scottish Book soon. Just kidding, I haven’t actually sent them. I guess that we will see what this reintroduction to the spotlight will do for JKR and her public appearances; hopefully spark more, in my opinion!

Mischief Managed.

Paige Cyrus

Analysis of Prisoner of Azkaban

The third book can be viewed as the beginning of Voldemort’s rise to power. In this book, Pettigrew leaves to return to Voldemort, essentially enabling him to regain his full body. But other than this, Voldemort plays a small part in the conflict of the third book. Most of the conflict centers around Harry learning about Sirius, and all the fear associated with Sirius’ apparent attempts to murder him; and Harry’s struggles against the dementors. In the analysis of this book, I am going to focus on a few things: the dementors, Harry discovering his father figures, the time turner, divination, and finally a few questions that I had as I read the book.

Dementors

JKR has said many times that the dementors symbolize depression. Dementors drain people of all their happiness, and cause them to dwell on the unhappiest things that have ever happened to them. They cause people to feel cold and when they are near people see the world in a fog. All of these things are characteristics of depression. We know that Rowling has suffered from depression and understands the power that it has on a person, it is no surprise that those experiences found their way into the books. What I see as incredible is that she didn’t simply make depression a part of the books, but actually created a creature that truly embodies it.

Father Figures

This book marks the beginning of a few relationships with people who will serve as father figures for Harry. First of all you have Lupin, who Harry deeply respects and trusts. We see this most clearly when Lupin rescued Harry from Snape after he had been spotted in Hogsmeade. Harry says that he felt worse after Lupin said that he was disappointed in him, than he had the entire time he was in Snape’s office. Lupin is a responsible and caring individual. He empowers the downtrodden, like Neville, but he also understands that even the strong need some help, like Harry. These qualities not only make Lupin a good father figure, but also are some good qualities that Harry can learn from him. We are also introduced to Harry’s most prominent father figure, Sirius. Although we don’t see very much of this relationship in this book, it becomes more prominent and important in the later books.

The Time Turner

Hermione says: “We’re breaking one of the most important wizarding laws! Nobody’s supposed to change time, nobody!” Indeed, in this book we see the affects of meddling with time. Hermione struggled during this year. She was visibly very tired and overworked. It is no wonder, if you think about it she was having nearly thirty hour days. Time is very complicated, and when you have the ability to go back in time it is very easy for terrible things to happen. Hermione warns Harry that there have been cases where people have killed their past or future self. In short, time is something that has serious consequences.

Divination

We are also presented with the magic of telling the future in this book. This plays major roles throughout the rest of the series so be on he look out for it to come up again. Divination, however, is also very complicated. I think Dumbledore puts it best: “The consequences of our actions are so complicated, so diverse, that predicting the future is a very difficult business indeed... Professor Trelawney, bless her, is living proof of that...”

The class of divination serves another purpose throughout the series: comic relief. Professor Trelawney is a comical character. Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s reaction to the lessons and homework also provide some laughs. The best thing is that it just gets funnier from here.

Questions I Have

Why did the sneakoscope go off part way through the train journey, just as they were talking about Black, and not earlier? Wasn’t Pettigrew being deceitful the entire time he was a rat?
How do earthen passages appear out of walls several stories up, like the passage that caved in on the fourth floor or the one that comes out of the second floor of the Hog’s Head in the seventh book?
When the dementors come to the Gryffindor/Hufflepuff match, was it because they were hungry or sensed that Sirius was present?
When animagi transform, do their clothes also transform with them? What about turning back into people? (I know that the books indicate they do, but how does it work? What if someone was wearing an invisibility cloak?)
How did Sirius know that Harry did not have permission to go to Hogsmeade and that he should send permission at the end of the book?

Poll

I have added a poll to the right. It concerns your favorite book of the series. This poll will run through June so you have some time to vote, but don't put it off too long. Have fun and let the voting begin.

Mischief Managed,

Calie

Quote of the Week

"I make mistakes like the next man. In fact, being — forgive me — rather cleverer than most men, my mistakes tend to be correspondingly huger."
- Dumbledore, to Harry [ch.10, HBP]

I love this quote because it shows the underlying character of Dumbledore that Harry fails to see. He thinks that Dumbledore is a genius, the best guy in the world, and that he is flawless. He is shrouded by his admiration to see Dumbledore's faults, and had to deal with them the hard way once he died. This quote shows that Dumbledore had flaws and admitted them, though maybe not to fully listening ears. Everyone thought that Dumbledore was a great man- which he completely was- but without his mistakes.
JKR shows us that even the greatest of people can make mistakes, and its hard to find a 'perfect person'.

Mischief Managed.

Paige Cyrus

Character Analysis of Ginny

Ginny is easily a common favorite character of fans from the books. She is a strong character, and has many qualities that make her likeable. She is a leader- she is an essential member of Dumbledore’s Army and never takes a backseat in decisions; especially when the decisions are made by her family or close friends. She is very protective of her family and friends, and is always willing to fight- as we see in Deathly Hallows during the Battle of Hogwarts. Ginny is also daring- she takes risks, whether it be fighting or writing to something, like the diary, that she can’t trust. She is the perfect example of a Gryffindor. She is brave, courageous, and daring.

Ginny is a very realistic character. At the end of Half Blood Prince, Harry tells her that their relationship can’t possibly go on because it would put her in danger. Instead of crying and making a scene, she agrees because she understands the true dangers. She doesn’t do it for her safety though; she does it because she understands that it is necessary for Harry to be able to complete his tasks. A huge factor that plays into these situations is that she is very emotionally stable. She is very stable, like Harry sas she is not one who cries a lot or lets her emotions override her mind. She is able to have very intense emotions, but stay in control. In a way Hermione is a foil to her emotionally. Both characters feel strong emotion, but Hermione allows herself to become absorbed in them and lose track of what is important. Ginny is able to coexist with her emotions better. When Harry decides to break up with her in the sixth book she understands that their separation is not due to themselves, but rather the greater importance of what Harry has to do. There are not many people who would be able to see this, it takes great strength to understand something like this and accept it. I believe she also allows their separation because she knows that it will make Harry feel better.

Ginny is a perfect match for Harry. They have similar personalities and sense of humor. Their interests are also very similar- they both love Quidditch and are very good at it, and they are both very good at spells and stuff that they do in Dumbledore’s Army. They are strong, likeable characters that are leaders and get along nicely. They both have a slight temper issue, but it’s not overdone. They have rare personalities that are able to simultaneously compliment and mirror each other.

Ginny is one of the characters that experiences the most development from book one to book seven. In Sorcerer’s Stone, she is very taken with Harry and is very shy. This carries on to Chamber of Secrets, when she first goes to Hogwarts. Each time we see her, she seems to be alone, and doesn’t associate herself with many people other than her brothers. By the end of the series, Ginny is a major character and leader. She goes through a few boyfriends, and it is apparent that she has overcome her shyness and is not obsessing over Harry.

She is no longer that shy eleven year old girl with a crush, but rather a girl who would risk h er life and die for her friends and family. Another interesting thing about the character of Ginny is that in the first few books, we barely get a mention of her; she is practically a static character. She starts to become a central character around Goblet of Fire. I believe that this is because we don’t start to notice her until Harry does. I also wonder if hidden in the Ginny we see in the first few books, is the Ginny we see in the end. Because she is always so shy around Harry are we only seeing the shy Ginny and not the strong Ginny. I believe that she was there all along and we only saw that rare shy side of her when she was around Harry. Very tricky, JKR. I think this was very intentional. JKR in a way led us to disregard Ginny and Harry as a only the dream of a young girl. She persuaded us into thinking that it wasn’t even a possibility. But then JKR did the thing that she does best, revealed something that was their all along, but hidden in plain sight.

One of my (Paige) favorite Ginny moments is when she calls Harry out for not being the only one to be possessed by Voldemort:

Harry: "I didn't want anyone to talk to me."
Ginny: "Well, that was a bit stupid of you, seeing as how you don't know anyone but me who's been possessed by You-Know-Who, and I can tell you how it feels."
Harry: "I forgot."

Ginny: "Lucky you."

It is one of my favorite scenes because it draws another connection into their relationship and it is something that they share in common. It is one of the only things that Harry can’t really confide in Ron and Hermione with because he feels uncomfortable with. It also brings Harry back into the real world and stops his moping. Ginny is there for support and help. I love it.

One of my (Calie) favorite moments is when Ginny tells off Ron during a Quidditch practice:

"You prat Ron, look at the state of her!"
"Ginny, don't call Ron a prat,
you're not the captain of this team—"
"Well, you seemed too busy to call him
a prat and I thought someone should."
- Ginny Weasley and Harry [chp.14,
HBP]

This shows that very strong side of Ginny. She is willing to stand up to her brother and takes charge. But she is also able to easily fit into the mode of a leader; here she very obviously takes charge. She also has a really nice sense of humor, very natural, most likely derived from growing up with the twins for older brothers. For some reason this scene always stands out to me as a perfect Ginny scene.

Mischief Managed.

Paige Cyrus and Calie Holden

Charms vs. Transfiguration: A Gray Area

The difference between Charms and Transfiguration seems like it should be a no brainer, but I have found that when you start thinking about it, things seem more complicated than they appear. To start out, let's state a few simple definitions that I have gathered through my readings. Transfiguration is when you change the identity of the object, e.g. a turtle to a teapot. A Charm is when you are causing the object to do something but not change its identity. It also includes making things appear.

Well this seems simple at first, but it is actually pretty comlicated. McGonagall transfigures things to be alive, like the suits of armor in the seventh book and the chesspieces in the first book. At first this seems more like a charm, because they don't seem to actually change in identity; they are still just suits of armor and chesspieces. I can see this as transfiguration, because she is changing the objects to have life imbued in them instead of being inanimate objects. Their identity changes by them now being alive. They go from being nonliving to living.

Charms are more of just using magic to move things, rather than change them. This is just one example of how Transfiguration and Charms can sometimes be hard to distinguish.

I have no answer for this occasional riddle, but I have to say that it is one of the things that makes me simply in awe of the series when I think about it. JKR wrote some very complex books; so complex, that even simple deviations in subjects is difficult to understand. But here is my quick advice on the subject: Transfiguration changes the nature of the object itself, and Charms only causes the object to do things but never to change identity.

Mischief Managed.

Calie

Quote: Dumbledore Being Wise, He Does That

"Voldemort himself created his own worst enemy, just as tyrants everywhere do! Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress?" 

-Dumbledore (sixth book)

Dumbledore may be one of my favorite characters of all time. I know he is one of the wisest. He has an amazing ability to make incredibly complex things seem simple. The relationship between a tyrant and his subjects is very complicated, but Dumbledore has the power to tell us so much about it, in a way that is so easy to understand. I love this quote, it shows so much of Dumbledore's character and of the Harry Potter series. It shows Dumbledore's wisdom and amazing ability to teach tough lessons. But it also tells a lot about the books in general, in many ways it sums up the series as a whole. The overthrow of a tyrant, the oppression, and most importantly the sowing of a tyrants downfall in the place he leasts expects it, the people. For some reason this quote not only resonates with my in the real world, but also in the world of Harry Potter. Put simply Dumbledore is a wise, wise man.

CoS Read Through

ANALYSIS TIME! The read through is complete! Here are my thoughts and questions over Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

RACISM/PREJUDICE
In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, we see a major conflict arise that will continue throughout the series as a major theme: racism. We are given many examples throughout the entire book, starting at the beginning with Lucius Malfoy’s comment: “The company you keep, Weasley… and I thought your family could sink no lower.” The Malfoys, along with many other wizards including Death Eater members, believe that they are more superior to others because they are ‘pure-blood’. An introduction to the word ‘Mudblood’ establishes the racism in the magical world. It is a horrible word for wizards with ‘dirty’ blood, in other words, they have a Muggle as a parent. It becomes a reoccurring theme that is a major issue/topic that is an underlying theme throughout the series. We are also reintroduced to the ‘pureblood’ distinction again when Hagrid contrasts it to Muggle-borns: “There are some wizards-like Malfoy’s family- who think they’re better than everyone else because they’re what people call pure-blood.”He then comments that “[most] wizards these days are half-blood anyway. If we hadn’t married Muggles we’d’ve died out.” It creates equality among all of the wizards in the world, which the ‘pure-bloods’ want to ignore because they are “better than others”. It’s basically a social commentary on society. I love that in that scene they also establish and comment on the fact that Neville is pure-blood but he is slightly incompetent, but most importantly, the fact that this contradicts the theory that pure-bloods are better than everyone else, because then Neville would be a ‘better’ wizard.
CoS establishes and builds this theme that was a major drive for Voldemort and fueled his evil and hatred, but this will be covered in the analyses over later books, not here, sorry. I promise that it is more important in HBP.
CORRUPTION
Corruption is a major flaw of several characters in the books. Though we do not see it outright until later books, Cornelius Fudge is a major example of this, as are Percy, Scrimgeor, Umbridge, and even Dumbledore. Fudge proves that there is corruption in the wizarding government. He is not the only one making decisions; it is even possible that he is not fully in control anymore. An example of this is in chapter 14 in Hagrid’s hut when they are arresting him. Fudge says: “Things’ve gone far enough. Ministry’s got to act. Hagrid’s record’s against him. Ministry’s got to do something-the school governors have been in touch-… look at it from my point of view. I’m under a lot of pressure. Got to be seen to be doing something. If it turns out it wasn’t Hagrid, he’ll be back and no more said. But I’ve got to take him. Got to. Wouldn’t be doing my duty.” His sentences are very short and he seems to be having trouble saying this. I imagine him being ashamed. He says it himself that he has to be seen doing something about the situation and it appears that there is only one solution in mind: to get rid of Dumbledore and reblame Hagrid. It is obvious that he is/was pressured to be in this situation in the first place. You see how Malfoy acts when he gets there. He enters with “[already] here Fudge? Good, good.” It is apparent that he is in control, as he tells Dumbledore of his suspension, rather than Fudge.
DOBBY
Everyone loves Dobby. He’s a helpful little house-elf that one can easily sympathize with. I find it interesting that in the beginning of the book, Dobby has ideas of Harry being “brave, and humble” and having a defense of Dumbledore at the same time that he was a servant for the Malfoys, and shouldn’t be thinking like this, but the opposite. This shows Dobby’s independence (though with limitations- “can’t say!”) from the persuasion of others; like in OotP when wants to receive pay. Another thing I thought was something to be looked at was how Dobby was able to go to Privet Drive in the first place. There are rumors that it was a plot by Draco to stop Harry from going to Hogwarts, and even that the Malfoys sent Dobby to spy on him by intercepting his mail and watching him. In my opinion, I don’t think that Dobby would go there on his own, because there is probably nothing ever positive said about Harry. No matter how independent Dobby may come across by ‘defying’ his masters to “help” Harry and even if he doesn’t believe anything from the Malfoys. With that said, I disagree that he would truly feel those feelings towards Harry and Dumbledore until after he was freed, because that is obviously very explainable, but before-not so much.
LOCKHART
Oh, Lockhart. “Isn’t he the smarmiest bloke you’ve ever met?” I believe so. He is the perfect example of an appearance vs. reality character- Lockhart’s “flashing dazzlingly white teeth” charmed the crowd in the bookshop in the beginning of the book, but at the end, his true self comes out: “You’re the Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher! You can’t go now! Not with all the Dark stuff going on here!” Lockhart: “Well-I must say-when I took the job-nothing in the job description-didn’t expect…“ “You mean you’re running away? After all that stuff you did in your books?” “Books can be misleading.” “You wrote them!” “My dear boy. Do use your common sense. My books wouldn’t have sold half as well if people didn’t think I’d done those things.” This shows his image he puts on to contrast to how he really is. He’s really a dark, conniving character that is fake.
The first interaction of Lockhart at Hogwarts in the greenhouses is suiting and a great hint at what he will be like towards others, including professors. His talk of publicity is sickening, so is exploiting Harry all the time. We see how self-absorbed he is in their first DADA class. His first lesson includes a quiz over himself, and most of his classes after that were his reenactments of his ‘accomplishments’. He also offers signed copies of his books for the best poem.
I think that JKR uses him to mock people and show what happens to someone who becomes self-obsessed; they are more easily corrupted. “My ideal bday gift would be harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples” says the beauty pageant contestant. Seriously; it’s pathetic. JKR uses his over-exaggeration to add humor- portraying pixies as “the foulest creatures known to mankind… I must ask you not to scream.” Who would be afraid of a pixie? What about the acromantulas!?
COLIN REPRESENTING OUTSIDE OPINION OF HARRY
Colin reminds me of Hermione a bit in the way that he knows all about Harry: “I’ve read all about you.” But Hermione is more subtle and not concerned with his fame at all like Colin is. She just reads everything, and happened to read about him. Colin is like that really annoying preschooler that we’ve all met that has a million and one questions. Back to back. And will not cease with the interrogations until you’ve answered them. All of them. Not that I’m drawing from experiences or anything.
I believe that Colin represents the outside opinion of Harry, possibly the media aspect, even; Colin appears to be obsessed with him. He follows him around everywhere, asking him questions, not to mention him having a camera permanently attached to his hand aimed at Harry. He wants to know more about his life. I think that he is the perfect example of paparazzi. He becomes petrified after attempting to bring Harry a treat while in the Hospital Wing, and I think that his becoming petrified depicts the school’s view on Harry turning negatively towards him being the cause of all of the terrible things happening. The opinion of Harry to the wizarding world began as a great hero who ‘conquered’ the Dark Lord and saved them all, but as Harry progresses in the series, the opinion turns more and more negative and criticizing. It is very much like the decline of a famous pop star. The petrified Colin depicts the lasting change.
EASY THINGS TO GLOSS OVER
The feelings that Harry has of being x-rayed or having his mind read by Dumbledore and Snape. The Vanishing Cabinet is broken by Peeves when Harry is in trouble for “befouling the castle”
The fact that Dumbledore always knows where Harry is
Harry’s draw to the diary and sense of familiarity with Tom Riddle
Objects shown in Borgin and Burkes that play a part later on
THINGS I LOVED
JKR’s extensive use of foreshadowing. Sneaky, sneaky.
Harry’s first experience at The Burrow.
The personification of the car
Lockhart’s ridiculousness
The Kwikspell course letter
During the potions incident, it’s ironic that Malfoy’s nose is what swells when the potion hits him; it represents his nosiness and prodding into other people’s business.
Dumbledore’s office
QUESTIONS I HAVE
Why does Dobby think so highly of Harry when he is a servant for the Malfoys?
How did everyone know that they had flown the car and crashed?
Why did the light shoot out of the wrong end of Ron's wand? I know that it’s broken, but you’d think that it wouldn’t even be an option for a spell to go through the back end in order to protect its master. Unless Ron was pulled it out backwards in a hurry to defend Hermione? But it does say “[a] jet of green light shot out of the wrong end of Ron’s wand, hitting him in the stomach…”
How many times was Nick hit before he died?
Hermione is upset that she left her copy at home, why doesn’t she just send an owl?
How did they revive Nearly Headless Nick?

Mischief Managed.

Paige Cyrus