"She looks beautiful!" - Parvarti Patil

One thing every girl seems to want from the Harry Potter movies is Hermione's ruffley pink dress from the Yule Ball. Even Emma Watson herself has said that she was afraid to wear it just in case she ruined it. The dress is even on sale for hundreds of dollars. But let me tell you a secret: I don't think the dress looked good. At all.

Call me a hater, call me whatever you want to. I think that it was great for Hermione to be beautiful that one night to show how she was growing as a young lady, but I think the movie didn't do the book's description any justice.

All the time, when I'm talking to fellow Potterheads, I always hear girls saying they want the dress. But do they really want the dress? Or do they want what it stands for? 

I'm not sure why I don't like it. Maybe it's beside it's pink, and pink is my least favorite color. Maybe it's because it's ruffley, and I can't deal with ruffles. Who knows? But I know I can't be the only one who doesn't like the pink wow-look-guys-Hermione-actually-IS-a-girl ruffle dress. I just can't be.

So the moral of the story is: no I don't like the dress, but I love what the dress stands for. 

Until next time, fellow Potterheads

"Blimey, Harry!" - Dean Thomas

Something that has disturbed me for a long time, ever since I joined the online, heavily communicative Harry Potter fandom, is the shocking amount of racism involved in the actors. 

At least three minor characters are portrayed by black actors in the Harry Potter films. These three are Dean Thomas, Kingsley, and Angelina Johnson. 

Dean was a somewhat major, yet kind of minor at the same time. He is mostly talked about in the fifth book and movie when he is dating Ginny Weasley. 

Kingsley was a very active member of the Order of the Phoenix, and has helped defeat the Dark Lord on many occasions. 

Angelina Johnson is a very good Quidditch player, and is a player on the Gryffindor team. 

There are also two Indian girls in the series: Padma and Parvarti Patil. They are twins and are in Gryffindor house with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

The majority of the other characters are portrayed as white in the movies. 

There are at least a few Harry Potter fans who do not think that having black or Indian actors in the films is acceptable. Why? Don't ask me because I don't understand. The books even said that these people were black and Indian, so why should it matter to them? If they had that big of a problem with it, why did they go see the film? They should have known it was coming.

Similar events of racism have happened in other movie adaptions of books. Take the Hunger Games for example. Fans were in an absolute uproar because Rue, Thresh, and Cinna were all to be played by black actors. While only some of these three characters were described as black in the books, I still don't believe that their race is that big of a deal.

One thing that I have been curious about for some time is a cast change in the middle of the series: Lavender Brown. In the first three or four books, Brown was portrayed as black. But as soon as she came to be a significant role, the actress was changed to a white young woman with long blonde hair. I can't help but wonder if this was a racial issue or a necessary change. I seriously doubt that this was a racial issue, but I still wonder. Tell me what you think in the comments!

Until next time Potterheads!

“Oh, are you a prefect Percy? You should have said something, we had no idea.” - Fred and George Weasley

Sometimes when people think of the Harry Potter series, they think of some serious school with series characters, and a serious plot. But people often forget that the series, especially the books, are somewhat hilarious. The characters always make sarcastic, humorous jokes that make me laugh as a read them. Even some of the situations the characters get into make me laugh. I think I'll share some of them with you today. (Some of these won't be funny taken out of context. they may be easier to understand if you are familiar with the series and the plot.)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone:

- Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march.
- "Your aunt and uncle will be proud, though, won't they?" said Hermione as they got off the train and joined the crowd thronging toward the enchanted barrier. "When they hear what you did this year?"
"Proud?" said Harry. "Are you crazy? All those times I could've died, and I didn't manage it? They'll be furious..."

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets:

- Fred and George, however, found all this very funny. They went out of their way to march ahead of Harry down the corridors, shouting, "Make way for the Heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming through..."
- They were almost at King's Cross when Harry remembered something.
"Ginny--what did you see Percy doing, that he didn't want you to tell anyone?"
"Oh that," said Ginny, giggling. "Well--Percy's got a girlfriend."
Fred dropped a stack of books on George's head. "What?"
"It's that Ravenclaw prefect, Penelope Clearwater," said Ginny. "That's who he was writing to all last summer. He's been meeting her all over the school in secret. I walked in on them kissing in an empty classroom one day. He was so upest when she was--you know--attacked. You won't tease him, will you?" she added anxiously.
"Wouldn't dream of it," said Fred, who was looking like his birthday had come early.
"Definitely not," said George, sniggering

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire:

- "Oh Professor look! I think I found an unaspected planet! Oooh, which one's that, Professor?"
"It is Uranus, my dear," said Professor Trelawney peering down a the chart.
"Can I have a look at Uranus too, Lavender?" said Ron.
-  "Wild!" he said, twiddling the replay knob on the side. "I can make that old bloke down there pick his nose again ... and again ... and again. . ."
- "Of course we still want to know you!" Harry said, staring at Hagrid.
"You don't think anything that Skeeter cow - sorry, Professor," he added quickly, looking at Dumbledore.
"I have gone temporarily deaf and haven't any idea what you said, Harry," said Dumbledore, twiddling his thumbs and staring at the ceiling.
- "What would your head have been doing in Hogsmeade, Potter?" said Snape softly. "Your head is not allowed in Hogsmeade. No part of your body has permission to be in Hogsmeade."

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix:

- A week after Fred and George's departure, Harry witnessed Professor McGonagall walking right past Peeves, who was determinedly loosening a crystal chandelier, and could have sworn he heard her tell the poltergeist out of the corner of her mouth, "It unscrews the other way."
- Mrs. Weasley let out a shriek just like Hermione's.
"I don't believe it! Oh, Ron, how wonderful! A prefect! That's everyone in the family!"
"What are Fred and I, next-door neighbours?" said George indignantly, as his mother pushed him aside and flung her arms around her youngest son.
- "Yes - yes, good point, Petunia! What were you doing under our window, boy?"
"Listening to the news," said Harry in a resigned voice.
His aunt and uncle exchanged looks of outrage.
"Listening to the news! Again?"
"Well, it changes every day, you see," said Harry.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince:

- "'Harry Potter knows that he can confide in me with complete confidence,' I told them. 'I would rather die than betray his trust.'"
"That's not saying much, seeing as you're already dead," Ron observed.
"Once again, you show all the sensitivity of a blunt axe," said Nearly Headless Nick in affronted tones.
- "Do you remember me telling you we are practicing nonverbal spells, Potter?"
"Yes," said Harry stiffly.
"Yes, sir."
"There's no need to call me 'sir,' Professor."
- "This is your copy of Advanced Potion-Making, is it, Potter?"
"Yes," said Harry, still breathing hard.
"You're quite sure of that, are you, Potter?"
"Yes," said Harry, with a touch of more defiance.
"This is the the copy of Advanced Potion-Making that you purchased from Flourish and Blotts?"
"Yes," said Harry firmly.
"Then why," asked Snape, "does it have the name 'Roonil Wazlib' written inside the front cover?"
"That's my nickname."
- [On a Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Ad]
Why Are You Worrying about You-Know-Who?
You SHOULD Be Worrying About
U-NO-POO -
the Constipation Sensation That's Gripping the Nation!
- "Oh, very good," interrupted Snape, his lip curling. "Yes, it is easy to see that nearly six years of magical education have not been wasted on you, Potter. 'Ghosts are transparent.'"

Of course these are just some of the hilarious quotes JK Rowing came up with. I hope you enjoyed them!
Until next time, Potterheads!

"Which goes to show even the best of us eat our words." - Albus Dumbledore

The last two or three weeks, I have re read the first three Harry Potter books: the Socerer's Stone, the Chamber of Secrets, and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I have come to realize that some of what I said about Harry wasn't as true as I had previously thought. I have come to a new conclusion: I love book Harry, but movie Harry isn't my favorite after the first two movies.

I told you all what I thought about Harry, and I suppose I was only thinking of the movies when I said those things. While book Harry still isn't my favorite character, I dot dislike him as much as I thought I did.

The same could be said for the things I said about Draco Malfoy. I love the movie Draco to bits, and he is my second favorite character in the movies, book Draco is a little miserable twerp up until the last two books (in my opinion.) 

So Dumbledpre was right. Everyone eats their words at some point or another, and this is an example of me, eating my words.

Until next time Potterheads.

"There once was a boy named Harry destined to be a star..." - Jon Cozart

For all of you who obsess over Harry Potter has much as I do, you have probably heard Jon Cozart's Harry Potter in 99 Seconds. In the song, Cozart sings/tells the story of Harry Potter in 99 seconds with a pretty good result. The video has over 2 million views and many people have posted covers of this song.

Of course, I have memorized it and can sing it as well as most of my Potterheads friends. I will link the video so that you all can start memorizing it too. It doesn't even give away any spoilers for people just starting with the series!

Harry Potter In 99 Seconds

http://youtu.be/QVhpg-q6f2Y

Happy memorizing, fellow Potterheads!

"I'm the fifth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to." - Ron Weasley (SPOILER ALERT!)

Good morning fellow Potterheads! Today I'll be talking about one of my favorite wizarding families: the Weasleys.
The Weasley family consists of eight people: Molly and Arthur, the parents, Bill, Charlie, Fred and George (who are twins), Ron, and Ginny, the only sister. Bill gets married to a woman named Fleur Delacour, a minor character in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Unfortunately, Fred dies in the last book (last movie), which makes me cry almost every time. In the epilogue, Ginny ends up marrying Harry Potter, and they have three kids together.
I love this family because they are so wholesome and caring, even though they are the poorest people in the entire series. They all care so much about each other, even if they don't act like it all the time.
They also play some seriously big parts in the series (with the exception of Charlie, who is barely in the books, and isn't even shown in the movies.) I'll go through them all individually for you.

Molly: Well, at the very end, she kills Bellatrix Lestrange for messing with Ginny. That's pretty BA if you ask me. She also acted as Harry's only real mother figure in the series, and I think he really needed that, no matter what. She was always there for him, and I love that she cared that much about someone, even if he wasn't part of the family.

Arthur: Arthur was tortured in the Hall of Prophecy by Voldemort, and was attacked by his snake, Nagini. Even though he almost died (and would have if Harry hadn't known what was happening to him) he still didn't give up on the Order of the Phoenix, and didn't give up any information. I love him for that. He also warned Harry about Sirius Black in the Prisoner of Azkaban, even though he didn't have to. Harry wouldn't have had a clue about Sirius "trying to kill him" if Arthur hadn't told him about it. (We know now of course that Sirius would never try to kill Harry, but no one knew that at that point. Another reason to hate Peter Pettigrew's little rat-faced guts.)

Bill: Bill was a very active member in the Order of the Phoenix, and was present when Mad Eye Moody died. While he wasn't the biggest part of the series, he still was helpful in the downfall of the Dark Lord. and he protected Harry in the Deathly Hallows along with his wife, Fleur Delacour.

Fred and George: Of course I have to have these two in the same category. Fred and George provided Harry with the Marauder's Map, which allowed a ton of very important parts of the series to happen. they were also part of the Order of the Phoenix, and helped move Harry from 4 Privet Drive to the Burrow in the Deathly Hallows. Fred died fighting in the Battle of Hogwarts, which shows how strong his dedication to the good of the wizarding world was.

And lastly ... Ron: Ron was the most influential of all the Weasleys. He played a very big part in destroying all seven horcruxes and killing Voldemort for good. Even though he and Harry fought, as friends and brothers do, they were always able to push through it. He was Harry's best friend, and my favorite of the trio.

I hope you learned something fellow Potterheads! Until next time!
  

"You wish." - Harry Potter

 

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, I am not the biggest fan of Harry Potter. People think I am somewhat crazy because of this. “How can not like the main character,” they say. “He destroyed the dark lord,” they said. Well, thanks for stating the obvious, fellow Potterheads, but let me explain what I am thinking in my head.

Harry Potter is the biggest emotional pansy I have ever read about in my life. I understand being really upset and stressed and strained because of everything that’s been going on. But that doesn’t give him the right to complain about it to everyone that will listen to him.

In the Order of the Phoenix when Hermione wants Harry to form Dumbledore’s Army, he just has to be the most modest person on the face of the Earth and say that he’s not a good enough wizard to teach other’s what to do in the case on an emergency.

Are you kidding me?

You are obviously a fantastic wizard! Lupin, a fantastic person and wizard told you that you were fantastic, Dumbledore took you under his big, obscure, flamboyant bird wings, and you have the guts to say that you aren’t a good enough wizard?! Really though, you don’t even know. He only formed DA because his closest friends forced him to. Then he basks in all the glory like he wanted to teach his peers the whole time. Who are you really fooling, dude?

Then he decides to abandon RON, HIS BEST FRIEND in the Goblet of Fire. This kid has done everything for you and practically kissed the ground you walked on, and you blow up on him because of your name being in a freaking cup. Stop it. Just stop.

He can just be a bit of a whiner. And I don’t like whiners, even though I’ve been whining about this whiner for the last here hundred words. But still, you have to agree that some of the things he says and does are absolutely ridiculous. So yeah, I sometimes can’t stand the kid.

Oh yeah, and he never seems to know what anything is. If you found out you were a wizard, wouldn’t you want to do as much research on this whole new world as possible? Yeah that’s what I thought.

Good night fellow Potterheads!

"Scared, Potter?" - Draco Malfoy

                Hello fellow Potterheads! Sorry I haven’t blogged in a while, I’ve been extremely busy. More time to think about what to write about though!

                Today I’m going to address a question I get a lot: Why is Draco Malfoy your favorite character? Well, let me just say first of all that he isn’t my favorite character in the whole series, but he IS my favorite human (wizard) character. (Dobby is my favorite character overall, and I’m still extremely mad that he was killed off.)

                People often misunderstand Draco in my opinion. Sure, he is mean to Harry, and sure he was a Death Eater. But, let’s be honest, who would honestly choose being a Death Eater over being a normal wizard, especially at such a young age. He was forced to, and would have been killed if he didn’t make the switch. And as for being mean to Harry, I don’t really blame him. (You will come to learn that I’m not actually the biggest fan of Harry OR Dumbledore. They aren’t unbearable to me, but they aren’t my favorites. I will talk about this later in my posts.)

                Look, we all need to take a walk in Draco’s shoes. He had to become a Death Eater to protect his family and other people he cared about. Harry was someone who got in the way of that. I believe that Draco was only mean to Harry out of frustration. I only realized all of this after seeing the movies twenty plus times each. I had to dig deep, but I’m glad that I did.

                But who are people to judge me for loving Draco? People have some odd favorite characters, ones that make a lot less sense than Draco Malfoy. Scabbers for example, who, need I remind you was the man who BETRAYED JAMES AND SIRIUS AND LILY AND HARRY AND ALL OF HIS OTHER FRIENDS!! But let’s not get too off topic.

                At the end, Draco made the right choice. Draco would have stayed on the good side after the battle of Hogwarts had his parents not lured him to the other side. He realized that what he did was wrong, and just because of that, I think that he is a great character.

                I hope that people realize that Draco Malfoy isn’t that bad of a person after reading this. (Not to forget that he is the most attractive of all the Harry Potter cast, thank you very much.) Until next time, fellow Potterheads!