#hpreread

[burningthegallows]

As cool as I think Thestrals are, I still feel like jk* retconned them into existence. It’s so annoying to me that in PoA, he can hear (and see, to a certain extent) his parents’ deaths, but it’s not until Cedric that he sees Thestrals. 

[myreadingislit]

Photo repost. Today is the start of our #hpreread over on instagram. We’re doing roughly 35 pages a day to get through the first three books!

[allquiet]

Chapter 2 : The Vanishing Glass

The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry’s.

It winked.

Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren’t. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

[arrowsbane]

I’m ready! A few days late and all, but I’m ready now. I’ve got my wand tucked behind my ear, and am snuggled down in my Hufflepuff hoodie. Onwards!

[istiz]

HP Re-read

Chamber of Secrets - Ch. 9 ‘The Writing on the Wall’

Just when you think that Snape is going to have some decency and stick up for Harry, Ron, and Hermione, he turns the situation into a chance to get Harry kicked off of the Quidditch team!!

Again, Ron gets to show off how smart he is when he tells the others about Squibs.

Poor Ginny... she’s distraught about Mrs. Norris because she CAUSED her to become petrified. And Ron is the best big brother because even though he thinks it’s because she just loves cats, he tries to comfort her.

I think I’ve said this before, but I love Professor Binns’ backstory. He was so dull and boring when he was alive that everyone hated his class. Then he died, but got up and went right on teaching and hardly anyone noticed because he was still so dull and boring there was basically no difference.

And it’s BINNS that tells about the Chamber of Secrets, not McGonagall.

It’s odd that Harry never told Ron and Hermione that the Sorting Hat almost sorted him into Slytherin (although I said the same thing about Ron never telling Harry that his dad worked at the Ministry).

Eww...they couldn’t get the words off of the wall! How creepy would it be to walk through the school and see that message every day?

I’m with Ron. Fuck spiders.

Okay, the movie makes it seem like the place where people (and cats and ghosts) are getting petrified is not close to anything but it’s RIGHT ACROSS THE HALL FROM MYRTLE’S BATHROOM!!!! That makes so much more sense because if it was farther away the basilisk would probably be seen by more people.

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn Percy is tripping on power!

Ron-the-Seer moment: When Hermione gets an idea of how to sneak into Slytherin common room, she doesn’t come out and say how right away which prompts Ron to say, “If, in a month or so, you feel like explaining, you will let us know, won’t you?” Doesn’t polyjuice take about that long to brew?

[beautifulking]

Time to start the reread of my favorite Harry Potter book!! Prisoner of Azkaban

[vokpodcast]

VoK 629: The Great Harry Potter Reread (Part 14 - Order of the Phoenix 3)

VoK 629: The Great Harry Potter Reread (Part 14 – Order of the Phoenix 3)

http://archive.org/download/vo-k-629-hpreread-14/VoK629_HPReread14.mp3 The Vassals of Kingsgrave return to Hogwarts to continue the fifth book in the series, The Order of the Phoenix. Join Adam (drownedsnow), Zander (The Lord Baron), Marie (Nymeria), Michal (inkasrain), and Zach (Alias) as they cover chapters 12-16. This podcast contains spoilers for the entire Harry Potter series including the…

[trovia]

Thanks for continuing your hpreread - never drew the parallel between the present conflicts + the past. Any ideas how a meeting of a cleared Sirius and the Dursleys could look like (be it after hp3, 4 or 5 thanks to a captured Wormtail or Crouch Jr.s testimony)? About custody over Harry or simply taking Harry from Privat Drive 4? Sirius seems to explode quite often in ffs - what do you think? Btw Quidditch in the mwwp era would've been emotionally charged as hell with James+Regulus playing :D

You know, I have never understood where this idea of Sirius comes from as this guy with the bad temper, lack of self-control, and - of course - the whole drama queen personality thing. Or rather, I do. It’s from the misconception characters in POA have of the guy who supposedly is a crazy killer. 

This is two things. One, it’s really fucking stupid and makes me want to cry. Sorry, but I’m having a rare day where I don’t pamper. ;) Two, it’s really fucking terrifying because you can only characterize Sirius that way if you think reacting the way he does when he does is out of proportion. So people don’t get that being traumatized, socially isolated, shunned by society, hunted and feared while fearing for your godson’s life might make you react out of character to certain situations. These people without the skill of understanding that live among us and they vote and all and make up a better part of society. 

Sorry, got me rambling. ;) 

The best impression we get of Sirius’ character in a regular situation is a) in the Marauders scene in OotP when he makes a point of being poised, calm, and understated, while oblivious to people’s perception of him. Also adult Sirius in PoA, who, okay, at one point of exceptional joy does sing a Christmas carol :p, but again with the understatement (about the amount of money he inherited, his exceptional level of relaxation when he talks about his family that might be fake but that still doesn’t make it dramatic) and additional cynicism. There are also various situations, including one with the Weasley twins, where he reacts like a mature adult to the kids, treating them with understanding but still making them do as he says. He also tends to put himself in charge of a situation quite quickly (think: GoF where he basically starts profiling Barty Crouch). He has a couple of ideals the kind of which are head by smart people who spend a lot of time thinking about their personal philosophy (”look at how a man treats his servants”). He’s comparatively calm and controlled during his face-off with Snape as well (as opposed to “dramatic”) though he does go over the top there. So he can get loud and aggressive if somebody itches him wrong. On the other hand, we’ve met his mom and his cousin Bella, so it’s sure to say he’d have grown thick skin when it comes to provocation from someone other than Snape. ;) 

That is to say, I do think Sirius would be one of the many wizards and witches who dismiss Muggles as, like, not quite important, and sort of wave off their existence. I think he’d start out by riding right over them, maybe even in a well-meaning way at first (depending on how much he knows about the situation). However I think his tolerance would end abruptly once he’d figure out that Harry was mistreated. I doubt that he’d have to raise much of a finger to intimidate the Dursleys, who know him as the crazy mass murderer who even made the Muggle news. Probably there would be various hard, flaming gazes and very, very tightly controlled and clipped, “Harry. We’re leaving.” ;) If Remus were there, they’d probably team up with that eerie synchronicity they showed against Snape in PoA, and they’d be terrifying. Sadly, Remus seems to need Sirius to be like that. Anyway, I don’t doubt for a second that Sirius would even consider letting Harry stay with the Dursleys the moment he knew the full situation, and his name were cleared. As guardian, he could override Dumblemumble. (he should be able to do that while on the run too if Dumbles would subscribe to any kind of respect or decency towards other people. The books, and a lot of characters in them, argue that Harry has to stay with the Dursleys because blood protection. However, even though nobody ever seems to realize this, deciding that Harry’s psychological well-being is more important totally would be a (step)father’s call and not only in Sirius’ right, but also his parental duty. Sirius would be the last person who thinks imprisoning somebody in a hell house to keep them safe is ever okay solution, anyway. 

I’ve never seen the fic where Dumbles tells Sirius what to do and Sirius, not on the run or in a vulnerable position when it comes to emotional blackmail, says, “Eh. Nah.” It needs to exist. 

Y’know, if ever I have time for a private life again, I’ll write that one. It’ll be, like, the HP equivalent of a Bucky Barnes recovery fic. 

Marauders Quidditch would be so awesome.

[grangerdang-r]

Someone is going to hate me for this, but from where I currently stand, I’m starting to think the Harry Potter movies were better than the books...

I know, I’m shocked too!

[istiz]

HP Re-read

Chamber of Secrets - Ch. 3 ‘The Burrow’

I love how over the course of a full school year Ron (or Fred, George, or Percy) never once said his dad worked at the Ministry.

Fred and George know how to pick locks the Muggle way because of course they do.

Half of me is yelling, WHY WAS UNCLE VERNON EVEN MAD THAT HARRY WAS GETTING AWAY?! SHOULDN’T HE HAVE BEEN GLAD?! But the other half of me knows that abusers are nothing without their victims.

Drarry moment: Harry imagines Draco “strutting around a large manor house” because that’s what twelve year old boys daydream about, right?

Out front of the Burrow is: a sign stating that this is, indeed, the Burrow; a “jumble of wellington boots” because there’s a bunch of kids; a rusty cauldron; gnomes (and not the Muggle kind); and chickens, non-magical chickens.

Ginny is so obsessed with Harry she freaks out and won’t come out of her room, which drives Ron crazy beause to him Harry is just his best friend not some celebrity.

Various name-drops: Mafalda Hopkirk, Celestina Warbeck, and Mundungus Fletcher.

I love everything about the Burrow, and it’s my dream to run a home like Molly Weasley.

[clairesrousseau]

Time to look at my favourite Harry Potter book: Prisoner of Azkaban, the book that gave us the Marauders' backstory & the wonderfulness that was Hermione punching Draco in the face. 17 years later, and I still have zero chill over Sirius getting imprisoned with no chance to let Remus know he was innocent.

MORE BOOKISH VIDEOS Chamber of Secrets Reread: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avfw0ApcdPM June Book Haul: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsrcavSkpD4 Fanfiction Tag: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyH8o2s9mjs

USEFUL LINKS Witch Please! Podcast: http://ohwitchplease.ca/

FIND ME ON Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/clairerousseau Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/clairesrousseau Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/clairerousseau

MUSIC Open Those Pretty Eyes by Kevin MacLeod at www.incompetech.com

[expectoluna]

I never realized how small the student population at Hogwarts must be???

In Chamber of Secrets, Harry and Ron are in their dormitory when it says “the other Gryffindor second year boys, Dean, Seamus, and Neville, came in”

THE other 2nd year boys

There are only 5 boys in Gryffindor in their entire year???

Does that just mean most of the second years went to other houses or what? Because their dorm only has 5 beds in it and I know this is a magical school but is there a system to this? How many or few students does Hogwarts HAVE

[burningthegallows]

rereading hp4 and like.... does it feel like JKR was leaning hard on the idea that the blood magic protecting his house would be destroyed by Voldemort’s resurrection plan? Did we ever get a resolution on that? Like... was he successful? I always felt that she was foreshadowing Harry leaving the Dursley's, but then changed her mind. 

[istiz]

HP Re-read

Chamber of Secrets - Ch. 4 ‘At Flourish and Blotts’

Harry thinks that the strangest thing about living at The Burrow isn’t the ghoul in the attic or the mirror that shouts at him r even Fred and George’s experiments- it’s the fact that EVERYONE LIKES HIM. I forget that even at Hogwarts Harry is not really popular. During a third of the last book, the entire school spent their time actively bullying him.

Arthur truly finds Muggles fascinating, not mundane or primitive.

Good lord Ginny is a mess around Harry!!! She’s got such a big crush on him.

Fred says that Percy is acting strangely. Is he already in cahoots with the evil Ministry people at this point?

Ron is the greatest friend to ever friend! Not only did he make it his personal mission to rescue Harry, he enlisted his brothers to help and even wrote to Hermione to ask her as well (they’re not as close and he and Harry are and she’s a girl, which is a big deal to 12 year olds). And then when Harry gets embarrassed about not knowing how to travel by Floo Ron says, “Sorry, Harry, I forgot.” He doesn’t blame Harry or mock him, he just wants his best friend to feel safe.

My favorite little piece in any HP fic (my own included) is that Harry absolutely sucks at Floo travel. He always falls or stumbles his way out.

Drarry moment: “...he’s so smart, wonderful Potter with his scar and his broomstick-” Lucius interrupts Draco saying, “You have already told me this at least a dozen times already.” DRACO TALKS ABOUT HARRY BASICALLY NON-STOP.

Draco looks at a cursed necklace in Borgin and Burkes- is that the same one that Katie Bell ends up with because of him later?

Percy is reading a book called “Prefects Who Gained Power” ...creepy...

HOLY SHIT ARTHUR FUCKING WEASLEY TACKLED LUCIUS MALFOY IN THE BOOKSTORE!!!! Why did the movie cut that out?!

[caseycassidy]

#currentlyreading - Chamber of Secrets! Continuing my Harry Potter reread, and remembering how much I honestly kind of hate Lockhart. Considering buying one of the new iBook editions for this reread, maybe Prisoner of Azkaban- anyone tried them yet? #harrypotter #harryxmastoyou #amreading #hpreread #weekendreads #booklr #bookstagram