October 22nd, 2010
I’m re-reading the Harry Potter series from start to finish in the name of over-analysis. Spoilers ahoy.
The Midnight Duel
Harry is getting increasingly fed up with Draco Malfoy, who is now his clear archrival at Hogwarts. They have their first true confrontation during broomstick-riding lessons, when Malfoy steals Neville’s Remembrall and Harry chases it down. In the process, he discovers his natural talent for broomstick-riding. Professor McGonagall notices too, and drags him out of the class under the guise of punishing him for disobedience. Instead, she introduces him to Gryffindor’s Quidditch captain and arranges for him to be made the team’s Seeker. Later, Malfoy challenges Harry to a midnight wizard’s duel, but it’s a setup to get him caught by Filch and expelled. Harry, along with Ron, Hermione, and Neville, manages to escape from Filch and stumbles into a very restricted room containing a gigantic three-headed dog guarding a trapdoor. Once safely back in the Gryffindor tower, Harry reasons that the dog is guarding the package from Gringotts.
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September 22nd, 2010
I’m re-reading the Harry Potter series from start to finish in the name of over-analysis. Spoilers ahoy.
The Potions Master
Harry spends his first week at Hogwarts trying to get used to the magical randomness of the school while dealing uncomfortably with the stares and whispers that accompany his fame. His new classes are challenging, but they all pale in comparison to Potions, taught by Snape. Snape is nasty to everyone in the class (except for Malfoy), but singles out Harry for his most pointed abuse. After their classes, Harry and Ron visit Hagrid in his small hut on the edge of the school grounds, where Harry learns that there was an attempted theft at Gringotts on the same day that he and Hagrid were there. He suspects that the small package Hagrid removed from the vault was the thief’s intended target.
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June 15th, 2010
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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June 9th, 2010
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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December 30th, 2009
I’m re-reading the Harry Potter series from start to finish in the name of over-analysis. Spoilers ahoy.
Diagon Alley
Hagrid escorts Harry back to the mainland and into London. There, Harry is introduced to Diagon Alley, a hidden magical thoroughfare where wizards and witches do all their shopping. He visits Gringotts, the heavily guarded wizards’ bank, and buys all his needed equipment for Hogwarts, including his magic wand. He also meets a fellow first-year who comes across as an elitist jerk. After his shopping is done, Hagrid takes Harry to King’s Cross station so he can board a train for home.
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I'm an author, artist, animator, and a-game a-designer, depending on what day it is. These, dear Internet, are my ramblings.
Visit my home page at QuinnStephens.com.
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