#jkrowing

[witches-unruly-heart]

I want all of this, but apparently breaking the glass is frowned upon 🙄 #harrypotter #magicalworldofharrypotter #wizardingworld #jkrowing (ved Åsane Storsenter)

[c11h15no2]

He had called what he felt for Charlotte love and it remained the most profound feeling he had had for any woman. In the pain it had caused him and its lasting after-effects it had more resembled a virus that, even now, he was not sure he had overcome. Not seeing her, never calling her, never using the new email address she had set up to show him her distraught face on the day of her wedding to an old boyfriend: this was his self-prescribed treatment, which was keeping the symptoms at bay. Yet he knew he had been left impaired, that he no longer had the capacity to feel in the way that he had once felt. Elin’s distress of the previous evening had not touched him at his core in the way Charlotte’s had once done. He felt as though his capacity for loving had been blunted, the nerve endings severed. He had not intended to wound Elin; he did not enjoy seeing her cry; yet the ability to feel empathetic pain seemed to have closed down. A small part of him, in truth, had been mentally planning his route home as she sobbed.

Career of Evil, Robert Galbraith

[chapter198]

Day 16: Through the Trapdoor

Shouldn't all quills be bewitched with Anti-Cheating spells? What is the point of having quills that can cheat the rest of the year? Is plagiarism encouraged right up until exam time?

Would certainly teach them a lesson about plagiarism! Also, I can remember several instances where Hermione rewrites Ron and Harry’s homework or adds in a paragraph or two. They aren’t using Word. This is noticeable.

 “Snape made them all nervous, breathing down their necks while they tried to remember how to make a Forgetfulness potion.”

Isn’t that ironic.

 "...except that now it was worse than ever because there was a hooded figure dripping blood in it" is a phrase that can be successfully added to any sentence.

“Snape made them all nervous, breathing down their necks while they tried to remember how to make a Forgetfulness potion, except that now it was worse than ever because there was a hooded figure dripping blood in it.”

That's fair. Any good recipe for a forgetfulness potion tells you to go easy on the amount of bloody hood figure you add to the cauldron.

Only a dash of bloody hood figure.

Scottish squid. How does that not come up in the "what were the movies missing" debate. It is literally the number one answer. Lee Jordan and the twins tickling a giant squid.

I think you’re right. This should have been included. Also just more of Lee Jordan too.

Also Peeves. The late Rik Mayall had the role and never had the part fully realised due to time. Harry Potter animated series, anyone?

“...Yeh get a lot o’ funny folk in the Hog’s Head…”

More great setup for later books in a toss away comment.

And Hagrid’s upset that he told Harry, Ron and Hermione that playing Fluffy “a bit o’ music” will put him “straight off ter sleep,” but is not concerned about telling the shady dragon egg dealer in the shady pub the same information.

Haha yeah. He was too intoxicated with both the idea of a new dragon and the traditional source of such things.

You know. I really wonder how easy it is to break into Gringotts if Hagrid is right and Hogwarts is safer. Cause it seems like all you have to do is know basic first-year magical junk, have some basic talent on a broom and play wizard's chess well (and it seems a pretty common game).

Well, they did have to use several disguises and an Unforgivable Curse - helped along with some insider Goblin knowledge - to break into Gringotts. Going to call Hagrid Hyperbole on this one.

Oh right forgot they actually did that.  Yet "Gringotts is the only wizarding bank" is taken as wikia gospel. #notlettingitgo

“‘Professor Dumbledore left ten minutes ago,’ she said coldly. ‘He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and flew off for London at once.’”

Convenient. I don’t remember if we find out whether this is coincidence or part of the Quirrell plot or what.

“‘It’s obvious,’ said Ron. ‘You can pretend to be waiting for Professor Flitwick, you know.’ He put on a high voice, ‘Oh Professor Flitwick, I’m so worried, I think I got question fourteen b wrong...’”

True love.

(Snap, this is a long chapter.)

I wonder what would have happened if they decided to let Neville tag along with them through the trapdoor? I don’t think he would have made it very far at all.

 Huh. In the movie they have the roles picked out for the kids when the arrive at the chess board - two empty spaces and a horse with no rider. Here, Ron picks which makes me think two things:

1) That makes Ron's sacrifice so much more dangerous - no stone horse in the way.

2) Why didn't Ron make one of them the King to keep at least one safe?Another bit where the movie makes things a bit cleaner, actually.

Also this whole chapter feels like a pretty solid video game dungeon.

I forgot how each of the enchanted obstacles was linked to a teacher. The harp taking care of Fluffy - that would have been Flitwick with the help of Hagrid. Devil’s Snare - Professor Sprout. The flying keys - not sure if this is more Charms or Transfiguration, but we’ll go with Transfiguration. Chess is Charms again. This was a theory I always had in my head but as I go along it’s not as balanced as I thought it to be… OH NO WAIT: 

“‘We’ve had Sprouts, that was the Devil’s Snare - Flitwick must’ve put the charms on the keys - McGonagall transfigured the chessmen to make them alive - that leaves Quirrell’s spell, and Snape’s’...’”

Okay so I didn’t come up with that, the book pointed it out. And I had it all jumbled. But why do they assume Quirrell must have an obstacle too? All the other professors are Head of House for their respective houses.

What about all the other professors? Why is there no advanced arithmancy puzzle? Or a code to crack written in Ancient Runes? Or something from those other classes that seem much more difficult to bypass.

Divine the correct door using this tea leaves.

Yes or that! Only a true seer could get through - then it’d really be safe! Let’s you and I go run Hogwarts.

I like that the troll is taken care of already because, narratively, they've already done that.

"The second left and second on the right are twins once you taste them but different at first sight." Funny how the second and sixth books are so connected isn't it?

Which parts are you thinking of? (I really like this riddle.)

Other than diary/textbook/childhood flashbacks, I mean the fact that Rowling said considered throwing a lot of Book 6 stuff into Chamber of Secrets. In any case it's a total coincidence but I like it.

What I don't like is that there is no way for the reader to deduce the answer because we can't see the size of the bottles and don't learn anything about their shapes until Hermione picks a winner.

This is the best chapter ending in the book and it doesn't even end. The main reason I think it's so brilliant isn't even the narrative.

It's the printing. She knows the reader will not likely be stopping between chapters this late in the book so she uses the chapter break as something else - spoiler preservation. The buildup will never be on the same page as the resolution.

I never thought about that, but it’s a fantastic way to lead into the last chapter.

Splitting the paragraph across chapters definitely keeps the momentum going while still saying "This is it!"

And it is it. One more chapter til Chamber!

[chapter198]

Day 15: The Forbidden Forest

“Things couldn’t have been worse.”

Oh Harry, you haven’t even your first year at Hogwarts! There’s six more!

“Mr. Filch says you were up in the astronomy tower. It’s one o’clock in the morning. Explain yourselves.”

Hey, sounds like a fantastic place to be at one o’clock in the morning. It’s the astronomy tower. You know, stars, nighttime, astronomy…

They do have astronomy classes at midnight… maybe they were just confused about the day? If staircases and pictures move, I’m sure calendars do as well.

The phrase cock and bull story sounds more vulgar than it is. It just sounds odd coming from McGonagall.

And McGonagall takes away a total of 150 points from Gryffindor. Things are getting serious. To think it was only 5 points apiece a few chapters ago! Fighting an extremely dangerous troll in the bathroom? 5 points. Wandering the castle at night? 50 points. Logic. I see it.

I think her reasoning was that they were trying to abuse the system and get Malfoy caught - hence why he lost 20 points and Gryffindor lost 150.

 "Your detention will take place at eleven o’clock tonight.” 

More logic! Kids out late at night? Detention. When’s detention? Late at night. Also why is their detention so dangerous? The Forbidden Forest at night? With Filch and Hagrid? Doesn’t this school have a Board of Governors or something? (They do.) Where is Dumbledore?!

He appears to have vanished. I assume he’d be fine with this though. Cause, you know, magic or eccentricity or something. I don’t know. I agree. “Sneaking out means you deserve to die, so if it happens, too bad” seems a bit of an overreaction and a weird one given that McGonagall and Hagrid seem fine with it. I mean, Filch is one thing...

“Should’ve thought of them werewolves before you got in trouble, shouldn’t you?”

 ...case and point.

My goodness. Threaten the children out of bed with werewolves. This is a wizard school… Collecting unicorn blood in the forest when it’s known that something is killing the unicorns. I honestly can’t even.

Not a lot of things can kill unicorns. They’re kind of the opposite of eleven-year-olds that way.

“Mars is bright tonight.”

One of the lines that has always stood out to me. The centaur in the Game Boy Colour game said “Mars is bright tonight” if you bumped into him repeatedly.

Haha it does read like an NPC line so that is an excellent choice.

“The cloaked figure reached the unicorn, it lowered its head over the wound in the animal’s side, and began to drink its blood."

Seriously though, this is the most dangerous thing. Unimpressed with the methods being used for detention. Not that this much better than what Umbridge pulls. I guess this is kind of useful and furthers the plot along by introducing us to another suspicious suspect…? I don’t know.

“Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a crime.”

[...]

“‘But who’d be that desperate?” [Harry] wondered aloud...

Well this feels a little heavy handed.

But is followed by something which is only obvious with knowledge of all seven books, but it is a BRILLIANT line for Harry to say in Year One, given his ultimate fate:

“If you’re going to be cursed forever, death’s better, isn’t it?”

“The planets have been read wrongly before now, even by centaurs. I hope this is one of those times."

We should be consulting these guys more.

Harry still thinks it’s Snape though. With only two chapters left to go!

Look, Snape is presumed bad then good then bad then good for the next 6 or so years so best to get used to it now.

“When Harry pulled back his sheets, he found his invisibility cloak folded neatly underneath him. There was a note pinned to it: Just in case.”

The note should have also read You idiot. How could you forget this?

The cloak and the notes are... Dumbledore? I actually don't remember. Don't bother answering, I will keep this tiny bit of mystery alive. Such magic, such wonder.

Okay next chapter now.

[chapter198]

Day 9: The Midnight Duel

I want a Remembrall.

I’d be just like Neville, forgetting what I’d forgot. Pointless.

You need to install the upgrade, Remembrall 2.0. It tells you what you forgot. A necessary patch.

2.0.1 also doesn’t catch fire!

“Their teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short, grey hair and yellow eyes like a hawk.”

Is the only connection to birds here that Hooch sounds like hoot (as in hoot hoot bird noises), or is there something else my mind is grasping onto? It does say “like a hawk” in the exact same thing you quoted.

No, I realize that. I mean, is Hooch an avian themed word in anyway? It sounds like it should be.

I don’t think so. Just hoot hoot bird noises.

Of course Harry is the first ever first year to make the Quidditch team.

He’s the chooooosen ooooooooone. Get used to it.

Also, in the movie, they show James Potter’s name on the Quidditch plaque listed as a Seeker. This is, in fact, incorrect. He was a Chaser. This irritates me to no end. Just because Harry is a natural Seeker doesn’t mean his father had to be one too. Although to be fair, it isn’t mentioned in this book and they may have had to make up for what they didn’t know. 

It must be hard living in your head. (Although to be honest every time something in the Doctor Who EU contradicts something else I go whyyyyyyy so it’s hard living in my head too.)

I’m glad we understand each other.

I need to find out if it was known that James was a Chaser by the time the first movie was released. I will come back to this.*

In reaching the actual duel parts of this chapter, I just remembered the “holy crap” moment in Half Blood Prince with Sectumsempra - now there’s a good adaptation moment in the movie! Might be getting ahead of myself though.

“— and you mustn’t go wandering around the school at night, think of the points you’ll lose Gryffindor if you’re caught, and you’re bound to be. It’s really very selfish of you.”

“And it’s really none of your business,” said Harry.

“Good-bye,” said Ron.

Once again, nothing to add. I just like this.

Good partner-in-crime one-two punch there.

Ron had spent all evening giving him advice such as “If he tries to curse you, you’d better dodge it, because I can’t remember how to block them.”

This is your Rocky-style trainer, Harry. He’s a real champion-maker.

This is why Harry resorts to trying to kill Death Eaters with Expelliarmus the entire series. Once he learned to block, he stuck with it, because hey, it’s better than dodging!

All their problems - like Transfiguration homework, and duelling Malfoy, and losing house points, etc. - seem so trivial in light of later events.

I forgot about the forbidden corridor on the third floor where they keep Fluffy.

I remember all of this vividly from hearing it read chapter by chapter in class (and then reading it a few times) - this is the HP book I have imagined the most thoroughly.

“Between Filch and death, he’d take Filch.”

Great line.

* In an interview from October 2000, JK confirms that James played Chaser. Philosopher’s Stone was released in theatres November 2001. Unacceptable. 

[chapter198]

Day 5: Diagon Alley

"Don't do that."

I don't have anything to add to this. I just like it. 

This sounds like the most exciting shopping trip ever.

I think it’s weird that they only have one wizard bank. Like is it only one bank for the world? Do the other wizards commute from other countries? I mean I know they teleport in their fireplaces and whatever but is that really efficient? If wizards can just teleport everywhere to do normal business why have interconnected places like Diagon Alley at all?

Either they floo in, or Hagrid means there’s only one bank, and it has multiple branches. It’s a monopoly. At least in the UK. I would imagine there’s a branch in Hogsmeade - I can’t remember if it’s part of the no-apparating-in-Hogwarts rule. I feel like I should be looking these things up.

This type of stuff is harrypotter dot wikia dot com gold. Also it's not a chain. Hagrid makes it very clear he's talking about a single location 'cause he says "Just the one. Gringotts." and "Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe". It's a place. Not a set of places.

Wikia has confirmed it is the only bank in the wizarding world.  

Whatever. Wizards do things weirdly. For further reading, see rules of Quidditch.

Wronski Feint.

...yes.

Fudge sends Dumbledore owls everyday for advice? Sounds more like Hagrid's opinion on how things work. Starting to wonder how much we should trust his retelling of facts. How wikia is Hagrid. I bet he's not very wikia.

Hey Bathilda Bagshot. More later-in-the-series name dropping.

No owlcattoad hybrids at Hogwarts. Which is just a waste of magical ability.

This all must be very overwhelming for Harry. Just all these people getting all flustered over him. In a dark and shabby pub. Also Dedalus Diggle is ridiculous.

  I always wondered how collapsible cauldrons worked.

Eeylops Owl Emporium is also a great name.

Agreed. I feel like I would thoroughly enjoy visiting Eeylops. Also Flourish & Blotts.

Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed,

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn.

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours,

Thief, you have been warned, beware

Of finding more than treasure there.

What a great bit of text to have engraved on the doors to Gringotts. Wikia tells me this may have been inspired by the poem at the entrance to Hell in Inferno by Dante (“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here”). I really hope so, because Inferno is fantastic.

Why were they so friggin’ rich? Was that James? Was he rich?

It was definitely James. His family was rich, but we never really find out what they do. My assumption is old Pureblood money.

I’m not even half way down the page and he said Father twice. And he’s racist too, right away - actually this is our first introduction to magical racism. Which kind of sounds like magic realism.

He said “What’s your surname, anyway?”, showing how ridiculous this all is.

A kid whose last name is Malfoy just asked this. I think we’re supposed to be paying attention to last names.

Our introduction to Quidditch: Hagrid says “Wizard sport. It’s like - football in the Muggle word - everyone follows Quidditch - played up in the air on broomsticks and there’s four balls - sorta hard ter explain the rules.” That’s it.  

He’s right though. JK had to write a whole other book.

I kinda wish Quidditch never had any explanation of its rules. Just Hagrid saying “there are four balls and no-one knows what the heck it is” then suddenly this sport is CRUCIAL to the series and the reader is completely baffled. Kinda like blernsball. 

Also our introduction to Hufflepuff from Hagrid: “Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o’ duffers.”

Hagrid is bad at giving first impressions.

Books the size of postage stamps. JK goes to such trouble to make the world different. But I don't think we see that again. Also why don’t we ever see these books in the movies?

We see that killer book in the third movie - The Monster Book of Monsters. And some screaming ones in the Restricted Section of the library in the first one. And that’s it. No postage size books. Which is unfortunate.

And there's Hagrid saying "only place fer wands" in the "don't bother shopping elsewhere" way. Maybe we really shouldn't be saying Gringotts is the only bank after all. Maybe it's just the only one Hagrid considers worth Harry's time.

I always enjoyed Mr. Ollivander. He always seemed a little off kilter. Ravenclaw represent. Also if I could choose any profession in the wizarding world, I think I’d want to be involved in the wand-making process somehow. It seems super interesting, the way the wood and the core can interact. I read that section on Pottermore like five times.

They really jazzed this bit up for the movie, with things exploding, etc.

Oh, so you’re right. No explosions or loud noises.

The only thing that actually happens are the sparks coming out of the one he actually gets.

Poor Harry. Hagrid introduces him to all the wonderful things that exist in the wizarding world, and then dumps him back in Muggle Land for a whole MONTH. Cruel.

[lastanzadellenecessita]

AHAHAHAHAHAHA NO PLEASE

[lastanzadellenecessita]

'Yesterday a guy came up to me and he said : i hate you.'

AHAHAHAHAH XD

Poor Tom XD