Zombie-fighting ninja-librarian: Harry Potter tag

I was watching Mercy’s Bookish Musings because she’s glorious. Not only does she read incredible amounts, and incredible books, but her hair is amazing. I know it’s not the main issue, or important, but her hair is AMAZING! I’m now done gushing over Mercedes, for now. I'm not crazy, by the way, I just like her videos. She did the Harry Potter tag, which was created by… someone. Now if you’ve read any of my blog posts you’ll know that I really… really love Harry Potter. I’ll get back to how much at the end of the post, but I thought the tag was fun, and I will never get tired of gushing about Harry Potter. So off we go.

Already I’ll hem and haw. I think it’s the Order of the Phoenix. Reasons: I really liked seeing Harry and Sirius interacting in real life. I love the Prisoner of Azkaban because we met Sirius and we got to see more of Harry’s personal backstory. And they interact in Goblet of Fire, but they don’t really talk in real life, and then in the Order of the Phoenix they get to talk and Harry gets to be around this person that is a father figure to him, and Sirius gets to be around Harry, this link to his friend. And I liked seeing how being locked up really pulls Sirius apart, and how much it bothers him, how much he wants to be around Lupin and Harry, and how much he wants to help. I love hating Umbridge. She’s the most amazing villain in Harry Potter, Rowling is amazing. I also love the fact that in Order of the Phoenix Ginny becomes her own person, and comes into her own. She’s not just the youngest Weasley, she’s not just this girl with a crush on Harry, she’s Ginny Weasley! And it introduces Luna. It’s so GOOD.

Favourite movie
I think the first one. It’s not necessarily the best movie, or adaptation, but it felt really magical when I watched it, and it was a great first movie, and I liked that. It’s nice.

Least favourite book
I think it’s Chamber of Secrets. I feel like it’s the least favourite books of many people, I’m not sure why, but it’s just my least favourite.

Parts of the books/movies that made you cry
Like Mercedes I cry at pretty much everything. I cry at sad things, happy things, weird things, cute things, so I don’t know if I can pick out one. Instead I’ll ramble. Cedric dying, definitely, Sirius dying, and then again when Harry is crying and breaking Dumbledore’s things and he feels completely broken. Dumbledore. Oh. And Hedwig, Dobby. And in the Battle of Hogwarts, most specifically Fred and Lupin. And I am pretty sure I cried when it was over.

If you could hook up with any Harry Potter character who would it be?
Well I’m 28, so none of the kids, that’d be odd. When I was younger I really liked Charlie Weasley, or at least the idea of him. He’s sort of this confirmed bachelor who likes dragons more than humans, which I always found weirdly appealing. I was a weird kid. I’m still weird. Of the adults I guess Lupin. Or Sirius. Probably Lupin. Yeah, Lupin.

Favourite character
Luna Lovegood. And Ginny. I also love Arthur Weasley. He’s a great father, and father figure. I realize that Harry has father figures in Lupin and Sirius, but they’re these dashing, reckless, slightly dangerous, irresponsible uncles/brothers. Arthur is hard working, serious, responsible and an actual father figure, so I love him for that. I think Molly gets a lot of (deserved) credit, for being an awesome mom. Arthur is an amazing dad.

What would your Patronus be?
I don’t… I feel like they should be like graceful and magically beautiful. I’m neither of those things. I always loved swimming though, and at least when I was a kid I was sort of graceful in water, so some sort of water animal. An otter, maybe. Or, a weird yappy dog. I feel like that’s my personality down, either a yappy dog, or an otter.

Which of the Deathly Hallows would you choose?
If I’ve learned anything from Harry Potter and the moral of the story, the Invisibility Cloak. I don’t think I’d want the Resurrection stone anyway. I feel like I’ll sound like a pretentious twat now, but I feel like people who are dead should stay dead, because it’s creepy when they come back. It’s not like I feel like people necessarily die for a reason, or because I have any faith or whatever, but I just have this sense that when you die you should stay that way. I also agree that some people die too soon, and they shouldn’t have died, but I don’t think bringing them back would help. I also think that I have no idea if this is an opinion that would change if someone I loved very much, and that I felt like was too young, died. I would want them to not be dead, but at this point my opinion is, if someone died, they should probably stay dead. And I don’t think death is inherently evil, it’s just this thing. I was right, I sounded like a pretentious twat. I don’t want the power and responsibility of the Elder Wand. So Cloak it is.

What House would you be in?
I don’t… I took the Pottermore quiz and I was put in Gryffindor, which I’m pretty sure is completely wrong. I’m not brave, I’m timid, shy and anxious, a lot of the time. Or all the time. So I don’t fit in there. I always liked Ravenclaw, but I don’t know if I’m clever enough. I think I’d be a Hufflepuff if I’m honest. And why wouldn’t I want to be that? Hufflepuffs are brilliant. And I like badgers. At a distance. They’re a bit scary, but hella cute.

If you could meet any member of the cast who would it be?
I don’t really want to meet the cast. I want to meet the characters. But Evanna Lynch if I have pick one. She seems adorkable.

Have you played any of the video games?

No. My sister has some of them. I think I may have played like part of one game, got bored, and then stopped. I don’t remember what I had to do, or why I gave up, but I did.

If you were on the Quidditch team which position would you play?
I don’t think I’d be a particularly good Quidditch player, but if I had to pick a position I’d pick Beater, because I’d get to hit things with a bat, and that sounds like fun.

Were you happy with the ending?
I wasn’t happy with the epilogue. I get the impetus, because she ended the story and wouldn’t get badgered by fans to write follow-ups. Why Harry gave his kid the klunkiest of names, Albus Severus, is beyond me. The fact that he’s not named after Lupin or Hagrid is a fucking tragedy. I thought it was a bit cheesy and it bugged me, but okay. I get it. I was happy with the real, actual ending, after the battle. I don’t think there were too many deaths. There are always casualties in war, and if everyone we love survived it wouldn’t be believable. The fact that Fred died was beyond painful, but it made it more believable and real. So I was happy about that ending.

How much does Harry Potter mean to you?

I don’t know if I can quantify it, or explain it, but I’ll give it a go. I was eleven when the first book came out in Norwegian. I read it in about two days, and it was the most amazing thing I’d ever read. It was incredible. And I waited for all the books to come out, and I bought them on the day. When I got a bit older, I think when the fourth book was coming out I started rereading the previous books, leading up to the new release. So I’ve reread them a lot. I haven’t counted. I haven’t reread them in a while though, because I haven’t reread any books in a long time. I have wanted to reread them for a while. Harry Potter has been on my mind a lot lately, I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s like book withdrawal. I also think it’s been long enough since I read them that they’d feel new. Anyway. It shaped me as a reader. It made me sort of discover fantasy literature. It made me read books in English because I couldn’t wait for the book to come out in my mother tongue. So it opened this whole world of English books to me. It made me question the books I read after that, and Harry Potter. They made me think about good and evil I guess. Harry Potter has so many great themes and ideas. And Harry Potter brings people together. So many people know about it, and talk about it, and love it. So Harry Potter gives you friends and things to talk about and it’s so much fun. It means everything to me.