A Very Potter Day - Harry Potter: A History of Magic at the British Library and the House of MinaLima! 3/11/17

At The British Library, from 20th October 2017 to 28th February 2018, there is an exhibition going on about Harry Potter and the History of Magic. It's main focus is how myths and legends from our world influenced Harry Potter. So, I didn't expect to be able to go. But long story short, an advert for it appeared in Dad's paper, and I talked him into it like the mature 25-year-old that I am. Although it didn't take much talking. I'm not dragging him along, here. He hides it well, but he's almost as into Harry Potter as I am!

Under a cut due to a large amount of pictures! I didn't get many from the exhibition itself, for reasons I explain below, but I did get some nice ones from the House of MinaLima!

Memories of Reading the Harry Potter Books

I was thinking lately about how some books mean so much that you almost know everything about them. Well, I started thinking about the Harry Potter books, and how I can recall with surprising clarity, things about how I bought and read them. The level of detail I can remember is quite interesting.

I started with Goblet of Fire, you know, as you do. It was the most recent one, so I asked Mum to get me the "new Harry Potter book!" I must have been about 8? Mum bought it for me on a trip to London, in the bookshop on the station. This station happened to be King's Cross, but the significance of this wouldn't connect until years later. I bought it in for show-and-tell, and I can clearly remember the conversation I had with a boy in class. "Who'd want to read Harry the Pot?" "Lots of people, actually," was my response. Of course, he dressed as Quirrell for World Book Day a few years later.

So after being confused as anything, which I stubbornly wouldn't admit and told Mum that it told me what I needed to know. She had said I should start with the first book, otherwise I wouldn't understand it. We bought Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and I proceeded to lie on my bed for about 10 hours straight, reading it from cover to cover.

Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban were in my school's collection, but having to wait for them would get old, so I think I read both of them over the summer? These two aren't as clear.

Somewhere around this point, Pottermania hit. The films were out, merchandise was everywhere. Everyone and their mother was suddenly reading them! Of course, it didn't take me long to realise that just because other people were reading it, it didn't mean they wanted to talk about it literally all of the time, like I did.

I ordered Order of the Phoenix from a school book ordering form, despite Mum telling me I wouldn't get it on release, and we could get it in the shops if I wanted. But it was the first time I'd seen it for sale anywhere. The moral of this is listen to your Mum. Anyway, I got it a few days later, which felt like a month, and proceeded to rush home with it, write Do Not Disturb on a piece of paper and stick it on my door to read. Oh yeah, I think I remember entering a competition for this, too, in the newspaper. We had a list of Trivia questions on various different fantasy series to answer. I got to the second round, and it was up at some school I didn't know, and I had to be picked up from Guide camp to go to it. Didn't get any further, though.

My copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is literally my baby. It's been signed by Professor Flitwick. (Warwick Davis) I won a radio competition where I had to write a poem, and I got to go into the studio and I was live on air. Also, the week before, I went to Paris with the school, and I remember being more excited about the book coming out, then I was about going to Paris. We also had a £2 deposit on a pre-order from it at Waterstones, but Mum let that slide. Also, I cried when... does this count as a spoiler? Snape kills Dumbledore.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows... I wanted to go to a midnight release for it. Unfortunately, we couldn't find one. So, early morning, Mum had to wake up and drive this 15-year-old who was as excited as a child on Christmas day, up to the nearest town. I raced up the street, grabbed the book with a smile... then had to wait for Mum to catch me up. There were a few other people there, and we all knew we were in for the same thing. Also, it must have been a nice day, because I remember reading it outside in the garden.

Why Harry Potter is my Favourite Character in Harry Potter

I often find it a shame how many people don’t appreciate Harry Potter as a character as much as some of the other characters. It might be because of this that I like him best, as I have a soft spot for characters fans neglect. My apologies for two Harry Potter posts in a row, maybe I’ll make the rest of January my unofficial Harry Potter month.

Harry goes through 11 years of his life neglected if not abused, and comes out the other side a cheerful (if a little snarky) child. Then he finds out he’s part of a magical world, where he is famous. He stays relatively modest in this situation, which can give people a large opinion of themselves quickly, for example many child stars. In fact, he just seems bemused by the whole attention he receives from it (“Let me see your scar?”) and even admits, several times, he wishes it never happened.

He’s a naturally talented Quidditch player, but he also works at it. He doesn’t get complacent because he is naturally gifted. I mean, do you ever hear about him missing out on a practice? Nope, even when Wood drags him out of bed at 6 o clock in the morning, in the pouring rain, he might grumble, but he heads down to the pitch. He practices because he knows, if he doesn’t, someone will be get better then him.

He’s a born leader, capable of inspiring confidence. He can teach school students to master spells far beyond their education level - a spell he himself mastered when he was 13! Many adult wizards struggle with Patronuses. He can lead six frightened teenagers around a maze-like place, train a sporting team to victory, and inspire a resistance movement to keep fighting even when his whereabouts are unknown.

His loyalty to his friends is absolute. If you’re in trouble, he’ll try and save you. Not only that, though, he’ll go back for people who haven’t been all that nice to him before - saving Malfoy and Goyle from the fire? Going to warn Hermione (who, at the time, they weren’t on speaking terms with) about the troll in first year? If the Dursley’s had been kidnapped by Voldemort, I bet he would’ve gone to save them. And if it comes down to sacrificing himself, or watching his friends die? He would sacrifice himself, without question.

He doesn’t fear much, either. He can walk into death without hiding or running away. He, at 14, stared down one of the most powerful wizards of all time, with all the knowledge of the likelihood the next spell used would kill him. He picks the habit of saying Voldemort’s name after the first book (“Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself” - Dumbledore to Harry, Philosopher’s Stone, Chapter 17). The only thing he really fears is Dementors, which, as Lupin points out, is an extension of fear itself. And he learns to overcome his fear by mastering the spell that stops them.

Tell any eleven year old child about a stone that can give them as much life and money as they want. What would they want if they had it? “Money, and then I could by myself all the video games/chocolate/ect. that I want.” Which would have been my personal views at that age. If I’m honest, even at this age, too. Harry finds out about this and the idea of buying things never even enters his mind. The only thing he wants with the stone is to find it, but not use it, and that’s only when the safety of the magical world hinges on him finding it.

And this plays into another aspect of Harry’s character - his generosity. He is rather well-off, in terms that might seem infinite for a teenager, but he only tries to take the money that he needs. He earns an extra 1000 galleons at one point, and what does he do with it? Gives it to two people who really need it. Not in terms of a loan, but more as a donation. He buys Omnioculars for himself and his two best friends, buys nice Christmas presents for his friends and “would happily split all the money in his Gringotts vault with the Weasley’s, but he knew they would never take it.”

He is also INCREDIBLY quick thinking. This is actually my favourite trait of his. Even in situations where Hermione might’ve panicked - “But there’s no wood?!?!?!” - Harry keeps his head and can talk them out of sticky situations. Persuading Peeves they were the Baron, so he’d leave them alone? Harry. Telling McGonagall they were sneaking off to see Hermione, in such a way that she believed them? Harry. Faking putting Felix Felices in Ron’s pumpkin juice, so he’d be more confident and play better? Harry. Riding out of Gringotts on a dragon? Harry’s idea.

Also, when people say things along the lines of "Why didn't Harry tell someone about the abuse he gets from the Dursley's?" This really annoys me. You are victim-blaming Harry for the abuse he received, asking why he didn't get himself out of it. He has been taught since he can remember that no-one cares about anything he has to say. A child in too-big hand-me-downs wouldn't really raise any eyebrows. Even if Social Services did come round, Dudley's second bedroom was perfectly set up, so all they need to say is "Oh, he actually sleeps here, he just tends to like playing in that room," and that would probably settle the matter.

Who’s your favourite Harry Potter character and why?

Why I Consider Myself a Gryffindor

When I first read the Harry Potter books, I knew I wanted to be sorted into Gryffindor. Every test I take online agreed, too. But do I have the actual trait of bravery that defines the house? It’s true I do things other people consider brave, like travelling on my own, even though I don’t think it’s anything impressive. It’s also true that I naturally try and avoid things I find scary. Did I subconsciously pick the options I knew would lead to that house? Well, maybe.

But I don’t think it would matter, because of one fact people forget: you can choose. And I think that students at Hogwarts are sorted not on the traits they have, but on the traits they value. Since most children will choose the house based on their values, that’s why it works. This explains how Peter Pettigrew ended up in Gryffindor – he asked to go there, and bravery was something he didn’t have but did want, and he looked up to the other Marauders who had it. On the other hand, Neville who asked to go into Hufflepuff was sorted into Gryffindor, because he admired his parents and wished he could be as brave as them, but didn’t think he was. Of course, we all know of Neville’s bravery at this point, but back then, eleven-year-old Neville didn’t think he had any, even though he wanted to. And Crabbe and Goyle, who never show any shred of ambition, probably asked to go into Slytherin.

And why wasn’t Hermione sorted into Ravenclaw? She says on the Hogwarts Express that she’d been asking around and wants Gryffindor. Also, every time she puts her hand up in class, knowing her classmates will laugh and call her a know-it-all, she’s being brave. Every time she goes into an exam, when failure is her biggest fear, she’s performing an act of extraordinary bravery. You have to remember that Hermione doesn’t want knowledge for knowledge’s sake, she wants to learn so she can be the best. Which does play into the negative trait of Gryffindors as always wanting glory.

Why do I not want Ravenclaw for myself, when I read so much? In school, I was often the person with my hand up. However, picking up a lot of information from daily life is not the same as purposefully learning it. Personally, I struggle with learning. I like reading non-fiction books at times, but the repetition you have to do to actually learn something tends to bore me. Now, I’m not saying that I dislike learning and never do it, just that it is a chore for me. Which is something I’m aware of and take into consideration when I have to learn. And while I always seemed to do well in class participation, the second I was given a worksheet and a book, my mind would wander. In fact, participating in class was a coping mechanism of mine to keep myself listening.

What’s your Hogwarts house? Do you feel you fit it’s traits exactly?

Fantastic Movies and Where to Find Them: A Review of Fantastic Beasts

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a spin-off from a movie series called Harry Potter. I assume I don't need to tell you much about the story of those films. Fantastic Beasts is a little more unusual, in that it's not directly based on a book. The book with the same name is actually a published version of the textbook that Scamander writes mostly before the events of this movie. It was nice for me to see a Harry Potter movie where I wasn't bothered by inaccuracies at every turn. I also don't believe you'd need to have much experience with the Harry Potter series to enjoy this movie.

There is a fantastic movie here, buried under layers of exposition about the magical community in America. As someone who likes to know everything I possibly can about fantasy worlds, I didn't mind that so much. There's still plenty of action and comedy though, for those who prefer that. It also touches on more serious elements of the universe.

The film combines the visual style of the Harry Potter movies, the wonder of New York City, some beautiful special effects and the aesthetics of the 1920's to make a movie that is a real visual treat. Some scenes are just awesome, like the inside of Scamander's bag, which reminded me of the first time we stepped foot in Diagon Alley. Others have a darker feel more reminiscent of the later movies. But the film always managed to remain it's own thing, connected to yet distinct from the wider Harry Potter canon.

The movie uses it's characters to great effect. Newt being a newcomer to America and a Muggle (sorry, No-Maj) protagonist helps us to learn along with the protagonist in the same way as Harry Potter. Eddie Redmayne pulls of a delightful role as the protagonist, and the American cast play well together, but the stand-out role here has to go to Ezra Miller.

The movie also doesn't bog itself down with references to the first Harry Potter series, either. They are present, but infrequent. This helps the movie stand as its own thing and not just a part of the Harry Potter franchise. I can point to a few sequels and spin-offs within the last few years that did throwback every little thing to the original movies every time it possibly could. While it works in some cases, but not in others, it was for this one's benefit that it didn't tie it into Harry's journey too much.

The twist (Graves is Grindelwald, which is sort of obvious when he gives a necklace with the sign of the Deathly Hallows necklace to a young boy) might be easy to see coming for anyone with a small background knowledge in Harry Potter, but getting to piece the threads together early is part of the fun. I will say that it suffers from "prequel syndrome" where we know how events of this movie play out because of facts we can extrapolate from the original. But the suspense then comes from finding out how they will prevent the events from happening!

All in all, I give this movie 4/5, and a final word of "watch it in theatres" because I'm doubtful if the visual effects will look quite as good on a smaller screen.

Harry Potter and the Ranking of the Books and Movies

In honour of Fantastic Beasts coming out later this week, I thought I would rank the Harry Potter books and movies in order of which ones I most enjoy. This is my own opinion on which books/movies I liked best, not a definitive ranking on which one is better. There will be spoilers, as it is hard for me to write a review on this series without spoiling parts of them. I am one of those people who would watch an 18 hour movie with every scene in the books left in, and am very picky with the movies. Also, this turned out long, so enjoy!