Compass of Words

A Guatemalan Girl with Taiwanese Blood

[eliza-666]

[astridchen1books]

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The five things are the way, the weather, the terrain, the leadership, and discipline.

Sun Tzu, The Art of War

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There is a way of survival, which helps and strengthens you; there is a way of destruction, which pushes you into oblivion.

Sun Tzu, The Art of War

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Dear Mr. Hagrid,

         Further to our inquiry into the attack by a Hippogriff on a student in your class, we have accepted the assurances of Professor Dumbledore that you bear no responsibility for the regrettable incident.

- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J. K. Rowling.

[dovumaithi]

[astridchen1books]

Meanwhile the world’s largest kelpie continues to evade capture on Loch Ness and appears to have developed a positive thirst for publicity.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Newt Scamander and J.K. Rowling.

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Muggle sightings of the yeti have been so numerous that the International Confederation of Wizards felt it necessary to station an International Task Force in the mountains on a permanent basis.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Newt Scamander and J.K. Rowling.

[astridchen1books]

Grogan Stump, the newly appointed Minister for Magic, decreed that a ‘being’ was 'any creature that has sufficient intelligence to understand the laws of the magical community and to bear part of the responsibility in shaping those laws’.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Newt Scamander and J.K. Rowling.

[astridchen1books]

We now ask ourselves: which of these creatures is a “being” - that is to say, a creature worthy of legal rights and a voice in the governance of the magical world - and which is a “beast”?

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Newt Scamander and J.K. Rowling.

[astridchen1books]

Werewolves spend most of the time as humans (whether wizard or Muggle).

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Newt Scamander and J.K. Rowling.

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The Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling.

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The thing that lives in the castle is an ancient creature we spiders fear above all others.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling.

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Because being able to talk to snakes was what Salazar Slytherin was famous for.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling.

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Expelliarmus

Expalliarmus is one of the most-used spells across all seven Harry Potter books, to the extent that Harry is known by the Death Eaters for using it during Deathly Hallows. We've seen the word so many times, but how did it come together? ‘Expel’ harks back to 1300s Middle English, where two Latin terms were combined to create it. 'Ex' means 'out' and 'pellere' means 'to drive', which finally formed the word ‘expel’. Its definition in basic terms means to 'drive out'. 'Armus', as you may expect, is indeed Latin for a similar sounding part of the body: the arm, or specifically the shoulder joint. In time, the term 'arm' took on combat meaning (such as, to 'arm' yourself with a wand) with the Latin term 'arma' meaning weapon. Piecing the syllables back together, we have a rough translation of the phrase 'drive out weapon' – which is precisely what Expelliarmus does.

[astridchen1books]

A Squib is someone who was born into a wizarding family but hasn't got any magic powers.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling.