HPMOTW: Worst Harry Potter death

Harry Potter moment of the week is a meme hosted over at uncorkedthoughts!

There are a lot of deaths in Harry Potter. There's a whole list of all the deaths in the books over here. I interpreted this week's moment in two ways: one) the character that had the worst way of dying or two) the character whose death I handled the worst. 

For the first, I think the worst way of dying would be to be burned alive. So Crabbe's death from the seventh book is horrible. It's also a little ironic how he was the one who caste the Fiendfyre curse and the only person it consumed was himself. Death by fire is in my opinion, terribly painful. Apparently with drowning, you get a moment of serenity right before death. I don't know how true that is but I would pick drowning over being burned alive. Did I mention Crabbe was alive before the fire got him? Yeah, he was. 

On the other hand, for the character whose death I handled the worst is Hedwig tied with Cedric. 

God JK Rowling didn't even dramatise Hedwig's death. Maybe she wanted to make it seem like Hedwig's death happened really fast and it was really fast. It made me really sad. I was like 'wait, Hedwig HEDWIG HEDWIG got hit!?!?!'. When I realised what it meant that Hedwig got hit by a killing curse I was sobbing so hard. Hedwig wasn't just an owl, she was also Harry's friend. Hedwig's death symbolised the end of Harry's and also in a way mine, because I was turning into a teenager when I read it. I just get very emotional about Hedwig, okay?

Now on to Cedric Diggory. There were deaths before Cedric but the one who died were always the 'bad guys'. For example, Quirrel and Diary!Tom Riddle. Cedric was the first character who was good and who died. It makes no sense that Cedric had to die. He was such a good guy. He was never mean to Harry and he even tried to get people to stop being mean to Harry. It was then that little me realised that sometimes good people die for no good reason. That epiphany hit me hard. 

HPMOTW: Best Joke From the Series

Harry Potter moment of the week is a meme hosted over at uncorkedthoughts.

I feel like a lot of people will have the same 'best joke' as me.

In my opinion, the best joke in the entire series has to be the ear related joke between Fred, George and Mrs. Weasley in the seventh book.

'How do you feel, Georgie?' whispered Mrs Weasley.
George's fingers groped for the side of his head.
'Saint-like,' he murmured.
'What's wrong with him?' coraked Fred, looking terrified. 'Is his mind affected?'
'Saint-like,' repeated George, opening his eyes and looking up at his brother. 'You see... I'm holy. Holey, Fred, geddit?'
Mrs Weasley sobbed harder than ever. Colour flooded Fred's pale face.
'Pathetic,' he told Geroge. 'Pathetic! With the whole wide world of ear-related humour before you, you go for holey?' 

The seventh book started so intense. It was Harry you have no more protection, polyjuice potion, slight humour with the transformation, oh no turns out Voldy knew their plan all along!!!, boom Hedwig's dead, Harry feels guilty about the danger he puts everyone in, and then this joke comes along and lightens everyone's' mood. I was crying so hard when Hedwig got hit but at when Geroge started going on about being holey I was laughing and crying at the same time.

So yeah, this is the best joke from the series because the timing was perfect and the humour was well needed not only by the characters but also by me, the reader. Thanks George and JK Rowling.

HPMOTW: Best spot to chill at Hogwarts

This is a meme hosted over at uncorkedthoughts!

If there was one fictional place that I would just kill to go to -it's Hogwarts! Definitely Hogwarts. No question asked, I don't even need to think about it. I could be doing the dishes and someone come

s up and ask me, 'hey buddy, what fictional place would you most like to go to'. I don't even need to stop scrubbing the dishes or wipe my hands. It's Hogwarts.

Hogwarts has always fascinated me. A castle!! Moving stairs!!! Secret common rooms!!! Anyway, that long as intro is just to tell you guys that I had a hard time picking just one spot for today's moment.

Do I go with the divination classroom, what with it's cozy fireplace, drapes that block the sunlight and air thick with incense and perfumes. It sounds like a nice place to take a nap on a cold winters day.

Or what about the kitchen where the house elves will willingly and happily whip up any dish that I demand. I love eating and that scenario sounds like heaven.

Or what about the Ravenclaw common room! I'm a Ravenclaw. Here just listen to this description from the last book:

"...Ravenclaw common room was wide, circular room, airier than any Harry had ever seen at Hogwarts. Graceful arched windows punctuated the walls, which were hung with blue and bronze silks: by day, the Ravenclaws would have a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains. The ceiling was domed and painted with stars, which were echoed in midnight-blue carpet. There were tables, chairs and bookcases..."

Honestly, how cool does a "ceiling painted with stars" sound like.

Or what about the library! I'm a real book nerd (duh, if not I wouldn't have started a blog about books) and chilling in the library sounds like an awesome idea! A library with a restricted section to boot! Come on, everybody knows that for a library to be a cool library, it needs to have its own restricted section filed with books that give a blood-curling scream when you open it! Other than that, just think about the books that the library holds. Books about dragons, curses and hexes and potions and so much more. I would love to peruse the Hogwart's library for days on end. I just hope that Madam Prince, the librarian, isn't constantly breathing down my neck as she seems to do that a lot to the trio in the books haha.

You see my problem? So many cool spots to chill at Hogwarts. I just can't pick one. It's a feat in itself that I've managed to narrow it down to 4 places. My initial list had like ten spots in it.

What are your favourite spots to chill at Hogwarts?

HPMOTW: Scariest moment in the series

Harry Potter Moment of the Week is hosted over at uncorkedthoughts.

Ay, already my second week of this meme and I'm late. Anyway, a one day delay is not too bad. So this week's moment is Scariest Moment in the series. Words I associate with Harry Potter are more like magic, nostalgia, childhood rather than scary or terrifying. Harry Potter isn't really scary in my opinion. It has creepy scenes but nothing has ever made my bones jump. Also, I think it's harder to scare someone through words...creep them out yes but not outright make you scream kind of scary.

So, for this week I think I'm giving the scariest moment in HP to a scene from the movies. Now, this scene is in the books as well but watching it rather than reading it scared me more.

It's the part where Harry is in the Forbidden Forest and he sees a unicorn and a hooded figure drinking its blood. Malfoy drops the lamp and runs away, so does Fang. Harry, clutching his scar, falls down and the hooded figure approaches Harry. I think I was about seven or eight when I watched the first movie. I closed my eye at that scene. It scared little me.

It was the fact that Voldemort was being built up into this scary evil creature. Plus, I was a huge unicorn fan as a little girl and anything that harms unicorns triggers the fear alarm in my head. Not only did Voldemort harm the unicorn, he was drinking its blood! And the music by John Williams definitely heightened up the fear in that scene.

HPMOTW: Biggest betrayal in the series?

I decided to start the Harry Potter Moment of the Week hosted by uncorkedthoughts. Today's moment is biggest betrayal in the series. 

It's so hard to pick one betrayal and deem it as the biggest among all seven books. There's Peter Pettigrew that wriggling rat (pun totally intended) who betrayed James and Lily. And then there's Snape betraying Voldemort by being a double agent all along. Also, there's Harry naming his kid Albus Severus Potter. How could you betray me like that Harry? Naming your kid after the guy who bullied you for seven books, who ignored your cries and held your mother's dead body, Snape who was the one who told Voldemort about the prophecy and tried to bargain your mother's live in exchange for her husband and child's lives. I can forgive you for Albus, but really Harry Potter, naming your kid after that Snape? I'm like 40% joking but I'm definitely not a Snape fan. Anyway, in the end I decided on what I think is the biggest betrayal in the series. 

In my opinion, the biggest betrayal in the series is when Narcissa betrays Voldemort at the end of the 7th book. Let me summarise what happened. Harry goes into the Forbidden Forest to give himself up. There he finds Hagrid tied up. Voldemort uses the killing curse on Harry and then we enter the chapter where Harry finds himself at King Cross Station with Dumbledore. The next thing Harry realises is Narcissa asking him if Draco is still alive. Harry confirms that he is and Narcissa lies to Voldemort that Harry is dead. 

Prior to that scene, my feelings on Narcissa were ambivalent. On one hand, she truly does believe that being pureblood makes her superior. On the other hand, other than turning up her nose at people she doesn't do much harm herself, none that I know of. But after betraying Voldemort, my opinion on Narcissa increased in the positive direction. Yes, she's still a raging racist and her love for her own son will never redeem her, in my eyes, for that flaw. But she lies to Voldemort -Voldemort, who is superb at Legilimency. She risked being found out just for a chance to see her son again. 

In addition, that lie indirectly caused Voldemort's death. 

So, yeah I think that has to be one of the biggest betrayal in the series.