Harrietta Potter

This was a topic on a recent Mugglecast... Did any of you guys listen to it? Would the Harry Potter series be less successful if the main character in the series was a girl? What aspects of the series would change? You can see the Mugglecast here. I have an opinion but I am not going to share it until other people reply because then everyone will just agree with me.

Harry Potter and the Deathley Hallows Part 2 Trailer

The trailer for Part 2 has been released! It looks so cool! The prince's tale stuff at the beginning, Tonks and Lupin reaching for each others hands, Ginny screaming for harry, its so sad! Oh my gosh! I'm not sure I am a fan of the whole Harry and Voldemort pitching themselves off a cliff thing though.. The trailer is imbedded below but the quality isn't very good so you can download it here.

I Am Harry Potter

Did you know that Harry Potter exists? Click here for a video. It is really funny. Dan Radcliffe is awesome.

In Defense of My House

As a follow-up to Allie's post about Hufflepuff, I would like to give you my thoughts on Slytherin. Maybe it will help people understand why I am proud to be a member of the "evil" house.

The following is an excerpt from "The Better Side of Slytherin" which is an original editorial by Black Lily. You can read the whole thing at this link (I recommend you do, it proves a lot of points I've been trying to convince people of!)

"People have pointed out before to me that the Sorting Hat said to unite together, and that Slytherins are the people least likely to do this. The most obvious piece of evidence is that there were no Slytherins in the DA. But think about it-- did any Slytherins even KNOW about the DA? Hermione told the people that she knew about her plan to have Harry teach, but she doesn't hang out with Slytherins. And even if any of them had shown up, would they have been allowed in? Gryffindor house in particular seems to be biased against the Slytherins. Perhaps if someone reached out to the Slytherins in the background, the ones who don't make enemies for themselves, we would have far more unity within the school.

There is one last point to make to show more of the good qualities of Slytherin House. If I remember correctly, Slytherin had won the House Cup several years running before Harry and Draco arrived at the school. House Points are given for good behavior and knowledge, and taken away for bad behavior and rule-breaking. Slytherins, on the whole, can't be that bad to have won the cup so many times. Perhaps it's only a question of knowing when to keep their mouths shut, and not doing anything in front of a teacher, but that takes intelligence and skill, even if it's not the best thing to do."

I hope this has helped changed your minds about Slytherins...but somehow I doubt it :)

Chapter 2 - The Vanishing Glass

This chapter talks a lot about the "weird" things that has happened to Harry when he gets mad, things that no one can explain. Harry is now ten. It takes place on Dudley's birthday, and J. K. Rowling takes this opportunity to show how dangerously spoiled Dudley is by Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia.

*Harry has a dream about a flying motorcycle...obviously because of Hagrid's mode of transportation while bringing him here.

*We get a pretty decent description of Harry's looks. Thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, bright green eyes, round glasses with scotch tape, scar, etc.

*"Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley look like a baby angel - Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig." This is one of my favorite quotes from the chapter. Does the "pig in a wig" have to do with the pig tail that Hagrid later gives Dudley?

*Weird things that have happened to Harry without explanation: hair growing back when Aunt Petunia made him nearly bald, the revolting old sweater of Dudley's that had shrunk as Aunt Petunia forced it on his head, and Harry ending up on the roof of the school when Dudley and friends were chasing him.





*A snake communicates with Harry at the zoo. The snake is from Brazil. Bill Weasly had a penpal from Brazil who sent Bill a cursed hat that made his ears shrivel up, because Bill couldn't afford the student exchange program, therefore offending the penpal. Is this relevant at all?? And is the fact that the snake is a boa constrictor meaningful?


*Harry uses parseltongue, though he doesn't know it. How does Harry know how to use it? Sure, it's in his blood, but is he really that natural enough so that the first time he sees a snake he pulls parseltongue out of his pocket? And how does he not notice he's speaking a different language completely?

*Harry recalls the green light from the "car crash".

*Harry has met wizards and witches in the streets, who obviously know Harry Potter. The next paragraph is about how Harry has no one at school. This may be symbolic that Harry does not fit in in the Muggle world.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Over vacation, I was lucky enough to visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando. Alyssa told me to take pictures, and I did, and I took so many I made a 5 minute video out of all the pictures. Watch Below!

I will try to fix the video when I have more time.





P.S. Ada, hopefully you can get your chapter up on Monday and it can count as that week's chapter. HURRY UP

Hufflepuff Pride

Guess what? I got this book called The Deathly Hallows Lectures: The Hogwarts Professor Explains Harry's Final Adventure by John Granger. It is a really good book and is awesome. It's actually meant for college people  so it is a little confusing to read with big words but you guys should read it. There is a bunch of amazing things he figured out. He also wrote two other books, and I want to read those books too.


You all also need to listen to this song. I am in love with it but no one else likes it :(. It is Don't Leave by the Ministry of Magic.


This stuff has nothing to do with chapter by chapter but instead of emailing everyone it I am just putting it here. Read this all you Gryffindor's and Ravenclaw's and Slytherin's. I am the only Hufflepuff on this blog so I need to pronounce my dominince because I am outnumbered. 


"I have been thinking lately that as a Hufflepuff, we may be "looked down upon", but it's because we are misunderstood and misrepresented. There may be a few cases where an individual doesn't "make the cut" to any other house so they are just stuck in Hufflepuff house, but I think for the majority of us, it isn't that we didn't make the cut that puts us in Hufflepuff, I think its because we hold some of the qualities of ALL the house's. We are BRAVE like Gryffindor's, we will stand up and fight for what we believe in and we will sacrafice ourselves for the one's we love. Yet we may not be bold enough to walk into a forest alone to meet death. We are INTELLIGENT like Ravenclaw's, but we define ourselves as more than that. We know how to work hard and we know how to play hard. We are smart, but we find the fun in life's little adventures. There is more to us then being the smartest and living our lives with our nose's in a book, we know there is more to life than that. We are AMBITIOUS like Slytherin's, have high goals for ourselves in life, and strive to do our best to make these goals a reality. Yet, we won't push other people over or step on them in order to obtain these goals. We hold ourselves up with diginity and respect and do what we know is right to reach our goals.

Therefore, I don't feel its what we LACK that puts us in Hufflepuff House, I think its just because we are too awesome and have all the qualities that would suit any house. So they just put all the Hard working, Loyal, Brave, Smart and Ambitious one's together in a house of pure awesomeness."- Amanda the Hufflepuff The Harry Potter Alliance

Chapter 1- The Boy Who Lived

Chapter 1: The Boy Who Lived

-This whole chapter takes place on Tuesday, November 1st, 1981- Tuesday is represent by Tiu the god of war and it is the end of a war but I think thats a coincidence.

-There is kind of a plot hole to make the book more interesting, it wouldn't take Hagrid a whole day to get Harry from his aunt and uncles. But of course they couldn't apparate into Privet Drive in the night, so maybe Hagrid flew around a bit?

-They live at #4 Privet drive- of course their house number has to be even! and privet is like private and a privet is "In England, a "privet" is "a very common shrub planted as hedges in suburbia." Those with     privet hedges are said to conform to the suburban identity, and privets are characterized as boring and unimaginative."- Mugglenet, also (I am getting a lot of these name meanings from mugglenet) 

-Little Whinging (privet drive is in the suburbs of Little Whinging) sounds like whinge, and whinge is the british word for whining and complaining, which is all the dursleys do.

- I looked up all the meanings of the Dursley's names-

 Dudley means of the meadow 

 Vernon means youthful-  total opposite

 Petunia just means of the petunia flower, but the Petunia flower represents resentment and anger which is perfect because she resents and is angry that Lily is a wizard and leaving her! (isn't  cool that Petunia and Lily are sisters and they both are flowers:)

 Dursley is a town near where J.K. Rowling grew up!

-Can anyone come up with a meaning for the place Mr. Dursley works, Grunnings?

-Can we identify this man- tiny old man, violet cloak, squeaky voice? 

-On the news it says there were shooting stars down in Kent. What do wizards do with shooting stars? is it entertainment like fireworks? how do they make them?

-Does Mr.Dursley know that Petunia's sister is a witch and the husband is a wizard? Or does Petunia just have a whole lot of explaining to do on the morning they find Harry on the doorstep? This quote makes me think he doesn't- "If it did... if it got out they were related to a pair of-well, he didn't think he could bear it." Obviously it wouldn't get out they were related to wizards because nobody would believe them. 

-The cat on the wall opens up the whole wide world of animagus discussion. Is there a drawback to being an animagus? Because wouldn't Dumbledore, Voldemort, Snape or someone of the like think it wise to become an animagus because it would helop them in their battling? If some students could do it, a lot of aurors would be able to and it would definety help them...

-First look at the deluminator, but it is also called a Put-Outer

-Two mentions of characters we meet later- Dedulous Diggle and Sirius Black

-Dumbledore says "Voldemort had powers I will never have." What does he mean from that?

-He also says something that he repeats often in later books- "We may only guess, we may never know."

-He also says "I would trust Hagrid with my life." and his trust of Hagrid is repeated often. Hagrid also shows a lot of affection towards Harry in this chapter.

-Dumbledore says "Scars may come in handy."

-when he puts Harry on the doorstep it is said that "the twinkiling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out." aww...

- 12 balls of light in and out of the deluminator... important?

-Name meanings: Albus-  "In Latin, it means "white" (maybe for white beard). Wisdom. Albinus was Governor of Britain at the death of the Emperor Pertinax. Decimus Clodius Albinus attempted to seize the throne but ended up in alliance with another imperial contender, Septimius Severus. After Severus defeated two other rivals (Voldemort and... maybe Slytherin?), the now expendable Albinus was forced into another attempt at usurpation, an attempt that came to an end atthe bloody battle of Lyon."- Mugglenet

Dumbledore- "Means "Bumblebee" in Old English. J.K. Rowling has said that she chose this name because she imagined Dumbledore walking around the castle, humming to himself."- Mugglenet

Rubeus- "Rubeus" means "red." "Ruber" is also Latin for "red," and can mean "ruddy" - a perfect representation of our favorite gamekeeper."- Mugglenet

Hagrid- "J.K. Rowling said: "Hagrid is also another old English word meaning if you were Hagrid, it’s a dialect word meaning you’d had a bad night. Hagrid’s a big drinker. He has a lot of bad nights." Grid was a Norse giantess known for having a terrible temper. "Ha" is a variant of the Old West Norse name element "half." So, "Ha-Grid" may just mean "Half-Grid" or more notably "Half-Giant." " Haggard" can also mean "appearing worn and exhausted, gaunt; wild or distraught in appearance; a disheveled individual." From the Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy, the Old English term "hag-rid" means "indigestion" (not surprising considering all the weird things Hagrid eats). Found in the exact same paragraph as "Dumbledore." Coincidence?"-Mugglenet

McGonnagall-"The name is Scottish (also written as McGonigle or McGonegal) and is from the Celtic name "Conegal," which means "the bravest." The "Mc" in McGonagall means "son of." The bravery fits well with her first name, Minerva, the goddess of wisdom and war."-Mugglenet

Since our discussion was through email I will put it here but normally it will be through comments.

Alyssa- Maybe they weren't shooting stars, but the muggles thought they were.  They could've been something like they had in Goblet of Fire at the Quidditch game (you know, the dancing leprechaun and stuff?) but muggles didn't know what to call them, so they called them shooting stars.  Or they could've just been spells that people cast at the sky...I can imagine that looking like a shooting star.  Just an idea...

Emily-it's amazing to me how much research jk rowling did...like the name meanings and stuff...and also how she knew what was gonna happen so far ahead...like how she mentions sirius in the very first chapter...

for the number 12 once i read this article on the significance of 12 in harry potter...it was interesting but i don't really remember it or where i found it...

yeah i also wonder how much vernon knows about lily and james...and also his and petunia's relationship is sort of interesting cause he's afraid to ask her about her sister and also if he doesn't know anything about them being wizards and stuff

and also i wonder how isolated from each other lily and petunia are.  i mean did they go to each others' weddings??  i feel like they wouldn't have which is sad but in lily's letter in the 7th she says petunia sent them a vase for christmas, so i guess they may have remained in some contact.  and also how did petunia feel about lily's death???  they weren't close but they were still sisters...

i think by the powers he doesn't have dumbledore means killing people because voldemort does it all the time but to me it seems like dumbledore either wouldn't or even couldn't do that.

the animagus question is interesting too like why are there so few animagi???  it's hard to become one and stuff but still most grown wizards would be fully capable of doing it and it would be so useful especially for members of the order cause they could spy on death eaters and stuff. 

yeah the animagus stuff just really doesn't make sense now that i'm thinking about it.  like WHY WOULDN'T THEY ALL BE ANIMAGI?!?!?!?!  i never thought about it before but that would be the obvious thing to do for wars and there's a part of the auror test called concealment and disguise so that's obviously really important for aurors.

Alex-i agree

see i can be intellectual!

Sarah-I ALSO AGREE  :D

Emily- i am soooo proud of you for saying "i agree."  it was so deep and intellectual that my deep-and-intellectual-ometer exploded

Allie- Hmm.. I think Petunia would be to scared to tell Vernon about her sister, but would't Vernon ask questions? They seemed close in snapes memory's so after Lily went to Hogwarts they probably had a formal relationship where they were very cold to each other. They probably avoided each other as much as possible. I would assume Petunia would be very upset at Lily's death because they never really talked.. There were a lot of unsaid things... But wouldn't she feel guilty and try to make up for it by being nice to Harry? But maybe it was like snape and Harry,  they could hate each other but by having Harry in thehouse petunia felt like she was repaying like snape was trying to do? When you are an animagus do you become more like your animal? Sirius and Peter are, but they were transformed for long periods of time. Is McGonnogal like a tabby cat? Is Rita like a beetle?  

Emily-hmm yes it would make sense that petunia felt like she was repaying...

i don't know about mcgonagall and rita...what are tabby cats and beetles like???  but i wonder do you get to pick what animagus you are or is it automatic??  cause you'd think you'd get to pick but i seem to remember reading somewhere that your animagus depended on who you were as a person...i might've interpreted the quote wrong though...

Alyssa-I think Rita is like a beetle...beetles are very annoying and don't really seem to have much of a purpose :)

It's interesting how people are like their animagus.  I think sometimes (especially in Pettigrew's case, and it applies to Sirius too) if you spend a long time as your animagus, you start to act more like the animal.  Remember when Pettigrew first changed back to a human?  He was still acting a little like a mouse.

I can imagine McGonagall as a cat...cats are pretty smart, but you they are also pretty quiet.  They don't usually act badly unless provoked (like McGonagall would never use a bad spell unless in defense).  Do you think your animagus would be similar or thesame as your patronus, or are they not relative to each other at all?  If your animagus really does represent a part of your personality, so does a patronus, right?

Alyssa-Maybe Vernon and Petunia weren't married yet when James and Lily got married so then they could use magic for the wedding because other than Vernon, everyone there would know about wizards right?  And wouldn't that be a pain for them?

Emily- i think that your animagus is based off your personality.  as in, you have your personality before becoming a specific animal, not that your personality changes based on what animal you are.  so then there wouldn't be a drawback of that sort to animagi...

hmmm animagi and patronuses...i never thought about that...didn't it mention once that mcgonagall's patronus was a cat???  so maybe it is the same for everyone or maybe it just happened to be the same in her case...but it would make sense that it was the same.

yeah that's true...i wonder if her and james's parents were still alive at their wedding??  cause petunia is harry's only living relative so both of their parents died at some point...but don't wizards live long??  so why were james's parents dead when harry was only 1???  do you think they were murdered???  maybe they were just in some sort of accident or were sick or maybe they did just die of old age but they wouldn't've been that old especially for wizards..

Alyssa- Maybe James and Lily's parents were part of an older kind of Order of the Phoenix...that would be cool!!   Then they could've been murdered...but Voldemort hasn't been in power for that long, he's still somewhat young...

Emily-that would be awesome!!!!!!!  hmm...did it ever say how long voldemort was in power the first time????  cause i feel like they always talk about it like it was a long time but it really couldn't've been all that long...

Alyssa-hmmmm....well he was at Hogwarts when Hagrid was there because remember he framed him for opening the Chamber of Secrets and it wasn't till he was out of school so Harry's grandparents would be much older right?

Emily-yeah i think so...voldemort's like 60-something when the books take place i think...so he's 60ish and harry's 11-17 so yeah his grandparents would be a lot older

Allie- Well James' patronus was a stag right? And he was a stag in his animagi form?

Alyssa- Voldemort is 60??  I didn't know that...I just guessed he was younger than that...like 30s or 40s but you're probably right

Emily- was it a stag??  i can't remember...i definitely think it was but i just forget if it was ever mentioned or if it was just assumed..

yeah i did the math once :)

the chamber was open about 50 years before harry was a second year

voldemort was 16 at the time

50+16=66

so voldemort was about 66 in the 2nd book wow that's older than i thought...i guess i mixed him up with hagrid who would've been 3 years younger...

so maybe harry's grandparents would have been around the same time...i mean harry's parents were only 20 or 21 when he was born so it would make sense...

Allie- In the chapter Dumbledore says "they have had little to celebrate in eleven years", so he was in power for 11 years when he fell.... *Doing some math* I looked up on their graves in DH that his parents were 21 when they died so they were 10 when he first gained power. So Harry's grandparents were like 35-40ish when Voldemort first gained power, so they could have been in the original order of the Pheonix... That means his grandparents died around 1971-1975 because they were alive when James was in school, but dead when James died. They were about 46-51ish when they died.

Katy- For the Lily and Petunia question, I think Petunia was sad that Lily died, but she wouldn't admit it cuz she is too stubborn. And I think that some anger towards Lily was because she was jealous of Lily because Lily was getting praised for being a witch (by her parents) but Petunia wasn't. I don't know if that answers the question or not

doesn't it take a lot of work to be an animagi? wait...does it hurt to transform? it didn't seem to for sirius...but it seemed to for lupin

wait. isn't sirius's patronus a dog?

whoa i never thought about Hagrid's age...whoaaaaa he's oldish

Allie- It would be different for Lupin though because he is a werewolf and not an anamagus.

FIRST POST EVER ON OUR HARRY POTTER NUBBY CLUB BLOG

Hey everybody!!!

This is the Harry Potter Nubby Club. All of us love Harry Potter, so we felt that it was necessary to create an extremely nubbyish club to discuss the books, chapter by chapter. We hope you enjoy reading our posts!!

-k