Quinn Blogs

I’m re-reading the Harry Potter series from start to finish in the name of over-analysis. Spoilers ahoy.

The Sorting Hat

Harry and the rest of the first years enter Hogwarts for the first time.  In front of the whole school, each of them gets placed into one of Hogwart’s four houses by the magical, talking Sorting Hat. Harry is relieved to be placed in Gryffindor, after worrying that he might end up in Slytherin, Voldemort’s old house.  The first years join their new houses for a sumptuous meal. During the meal Harry catches sight of a mean-looking professor and finds that his scar starts burning ominously as soon as the professor looks at him. After dessert, he and the rest of the Gryffindor students make their way to their dormitory tower.  Harry falls into an exhausted sleep, and has a darkly portentous dream.

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I’m re-reading the Harry Potter series from start to finish in the name of over-analysis. Spoilers ahoy.

The Journey from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters

Harry rides out the remainder of the summer with nervous expectation.  On September first, the Dursleys drop him off at King’s Cross station in London.  A friendly red-headed family, the Weasleys, help Harry find his way through a magical entrance to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, where he boards the Hogwarts Express.  On the way to the school Harry meets Ron Weasley, the youngest brother in a large family of wizards who already feels overshadowed by his siblings; Hermione Granger, a brainy Muggle-born girl who talks at great length; Neville Longbottom, an awkward boy who’s always losing things; and he is reintroduced to Draco Malfoy, the upper-crust bully he met at Diagon Alley earlier.  Other side characters make their first appearances.  After enjoying some wizard candy for the first time, Harry disembarks and follows the rest of the first-years across a still lake to the massive castle of Hogwarts.

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