Hearing Snape in the Sonnets

I didn't mean to disappear so precipitously off this blog. I've been wanting time to read and think more about Harry (I hate that the series is already beginning to feel like something in the past tense!) but it has been such a very busy month as we adjust to our new schedules. Now that I am getting fairly adjusted to my new teaching schedule, I am hoping to do at least a few more posts here though. And I am still really enjoying your poetry, Erin!

I keep going back to Snape and Lily and the courtly love tradition, as I wrote about at some length in an earlier post. I almost titled this "Seeing Snape in the Sonnets" (much more alliterative) but "Hearing" is more accurate. Whenever I go back to Petrarch's Sonnets for Laura, his long-loved (and unreachable) love, it's Snape's voice I hear as I read. Just a few for instances...all of the following lines are taken from various of the Songs and Sonnets as translated by Nicholas Kilmer.

"These verses hold the sound of the grief my heart has eaten.
My life has turned the boy's mistake into a different man.
Regret and hope have drawn me into such empty sadness

My thinking makes odd shapes. Lament.
Love is known here by experience. You will hear it.
I hope to learn pity from you, not only pardon."
(Poem 1, p. 3)

"If the fact of my living works to defend itself
From fierce torment, and from the terrible knowledge
That I will see, by virtue of the years' passing,
Madam, the light spent from your eyes,

And the hair of fine gold turn to silver,
Garlands and green vesture spent,
And the face gone pale: that in my present concern
Makes me hesitant to announce my sadness.

Yet love will give me enough boldness
That I will make my martyrdom known,
And how the years, days, the hours mark me,

Mark my desire. Even if time should fault that
My desolation will be joined quietly
By the small comfort of late weeping."

(Poem 12, p. 9)


"Now and then she stands among other ladies.
Love comes into her face, and desire
Is as alive in me, as she is more beautiful than they.

There is honor in the distance my soul has travelled
Since the place, moment -- they are in my mind --
When I looked upward for the first time.

What little I know of love is her gift:
My glimpse of perfect grace, and my ability
To follow it are hers; my knowledge
That what men want is mostly worthless.

I am proud of what she allows me to hope,
Her beckoning me to some distance from sin:
Light, love, air -- my own soul's future."

(Poem 13, p. 11)

I think that poem, by the way, is just about perfect for Snape...not entirely, of course, but the general shape and tone.

And then there are these lines...when I imagine Snape uttering or writing them, I get shivers.

"I have made myself an example to many.
I apologize for repeating injuries
Whose words have by now worked into the walls
Of these valleys, scrawled with broken chalk.

I have been sad. Memory does not help
Me as it used to. If this be true, blame
The sacrifice first, and the thinking which worries the wound.
I have become one single idea, fashioned of anguish.
I forget myself.
I am a cold rim around an inhabitant I have not
Been introduced to."

(Poem 23, p. 19)

What do you think? Can you hear Snape in these poems?

Sweet Dreams, Vernon...

Poor Vernon was having a very bad day in The Boy Who Lived. Here, I imagine him chalking it all up to a bad dream, until he can't deny it anymore...

Vernon's Dream

The most bizarre, disturbing dream
Assaulted me last night.
I thought, "It must be something that I ate."
What else could make the city teem
With sights that caused such fright
And left my mind in such a frenzied state?

It started when I saw the cat.
An ordinary beast,
Except... Since when do cats know how to read?
Well, what was I to make of that?
I didn't have the least
Intention of remaining. No, indeed!

I hurried on away from there,
But then what did I see?
A bunch of dodgy, closely clustered blokes
With scandalously unkempt hair -
Some just as old as me! -
All loitering about in colored cloaks.

And then, the lowest blow of all!
A fellow, barking mad,
Insulted me, I think; what did he say?
Ah, yes. The ruddy rotter called
Me "Muggle". Then he had
The gall to hug me! What a dreadful day...

The evening news reported birds
Were swarming in a host
Of wicked wings and evil beaks and claws.
To top it off, I know I heard
The name that I hate most:
The Potters, my degenerate in-laws.

Such fear I'd never felt before,
But still it didn't turn
Me inside-out or make me quail and quake
Until I opened my front door
And was distressed to learn
That all that time, I had been wide awake.

Hagrid, You Have My Sympathy

I have always been cursed with a very, shall we say, weak constitution. I've gotten carsick on the way to the post office before - and that's four blocks away. So I think I know just what Hagrid is going through when he boards that cart with Harry, and I'm guessing that he dreads having to make the trip to Gringotts whenever the need arises. I wouldn't want to go on that roller coaster either...

Unhinging Hagrid

Hagrid could handle a blast-ended skrewt -
Actually thought that the buggers were cute.
He never worried about getting germs
While he was digging for fresh flobberworms.

Norbert the dragon had lived in his hut.
He'd gently coddled a three-headed mutt.
Hagrid was puzzled by others' alarm,
Wondering why no one else saw their charm.

Big, hairy spiders excited to eat
Wandering students? He thought they were sweet.
No living creature, no matter how grim,
Bothered, befuddled or terrified him.

Yet Hagrid shivered as he slowly neared
Gringotts, for this place held something he feared.
No sword-like teeth and no fiery breath
Made Hagrid's face turn the color of death.

No killer claws haunted him as he stopped,
Clutching his stomach, which fluttered and flopped.
No spiky spine and no peaked pinchers loomed.
Still, Hagrid walked like a man who was doomed.

Once in the bank, as he silently shook,
Poor Hagrid followed the goblin Griphook,
Dreading the journey he knew would soon start.
Hagrid, unhinged by a rickety cart.

Last Night, He Had the Strangest Dream...

It's such a tiny, throwaway moment, but I love the dream that Harry has in OotP of Professor Sprout and Neville dancing with each other while Professor McGonagall plays the bagpipes, so I couldn't resist writing about it...

The Waltz

The scene exists only within Harry's dream.
No others will see this event,
And that is a shame, for the three of them seem
Completely serene and content.

Pomona, the kind-hearted lover of plants,
And Neville, the student who shines
In each of her classes, are locked in a dance
As graceful as blossoming vines.

In daylight, the teacher would find it bizarre
To waltz with a pupil like this,
But here in the vision, by light of a star,
They're caught in a whirlwind of bliss.

Minerva stands by in an emerald gown,
And, giving her bagpipes a squeeze,
She sways to their music, displaying no frown,
Her locks flying loose in the breeze.

It's only a snapshot that dims with the dawn,
Yet he'll return once in a while.
In silvery slumber, he'll stumble upon
The dancers and piper and smile.

Mr. Crouch Needs All the Assistance He Can Get...

Barty Crouch Sr. wasn't a terribly nice guy, but I couldn't help but feel rather sorry for him. Here, to the tune of Let It Be, I imagine him muttering to himself shortly before his life went from bad to really, really bad. Percy may have been a bit of a prat in the fourth book, but he certainly was a hard-working assistant. I like to think Crouch appreciated him, even if he couldn't get his name right...

Weatherby

When the tournament is too much trouble and I lack the energy,
I call my assistant, Weatherby.
And when I see the Dark Mark and am shamed before the Ministry,
I call my assistant, Weatherby.

Weatherby, Weatherby, Weatherby, Weatherby.
Jolly good assistant, Weatherby.

And when I've been outsmarted by the boy who's out to ruin me,
I'll make great demands of Weatherby.
I fear that someone's started to suspect I helped my son to flee.
I'll make great demands of Weatherby.

Weatherby, Weatherby, Weatherby, Weatherby.
Yes, I'll make great demands of Weatherby.
Weatherby, Weatherby, Weatherby, Weatherby.
Jolly good assistant, Weatherby.

Weatherby, Weatherby, Weatherby, Weatherby.
Jolly good assistant, Weatherby.

Bartemius is rowdy, as disgraceful as a boy can be.
I would rather borrow Weatherby,
A young man to be proud of. Oh, why couldn't he belong to me?
Jolly good assistant, Weatherby.

Weatherby, Weatherby, Weatherby, Weatherby.
Oh, I'll make great demands of Weatherby.
Weatherby, Weatherby, Weatherby, Weatherby.
Jolly good assistant, Weatherby.

Favorite Lines in HBP

"Yes, of course. I've been having the same week you have, Prime Minister." - Fudge, 4

"The Prime Minister rather resented being told to sit down in his own office, let alone offered his own whiskey, but he sat nevertheless." - Rowling, 8

"The whole Wizarding community has been screaming for my resignation for a fortnight. I've never known them so united in my whole term of office!" - Fudge, 15

"The trouble is, the other side can do magic too, Prime Minister." - Fudge, 18

"I had sixteen years of information on Dumbledore to give him when he returned, a rather more useful welcome-back present than endless reminisces of how unpleasant Azkaban is..." - Snape, 27

"You overlook Dumbledore's greatest weakness: He has to believe the best of people." - Snape, 31

"Judging by your look of stunned disbelief, Harry did not warn you that I was coming. However, let us assume that you have invited me warmly into your house. It is unwise to linger overlong on doorsteps in these troubled times." - Dumbledore, 45

"It was clear that as far as he was concerned, any man who could look at Harry and say 'excellent' was a man with whom he could never see eye to eye." - Rowling, 46

"Sadly, accidental rudeness occurs alarmingly often. Best to say nothing at all, my dear man." - Dumbledore, 46

"Shall we assume that you have invited me into your sitting room?" - Dumbledore, 47

"I would assume that you were going to offer me refreshment, but the evidence so far suggests that that would be optimistic to the point of foolishness." - Dumbledore, 48

"Oh, I'm so sorry. But it would have been better manners to drink it, you know." - Dumbledore, 51

"You did not do as I asked. You have never treated Harry as a son. He has known nothing but neglect and often cruelty at your hands. The best that can be said is that he has at least escaped the appalling damage you have inflicted upon the unfortunate boy sitting between you." - Dumbledore, 55

"And now, Harry, let us step out into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure." - Dumbledore, 56

" I do not think you need to worry about being attacked tonight. ... You are with me." - Dumbledore, 57-8

"Well, I have lost count of the number of times I have said this in recent years, but here we are, once again, one member of staff short." - Dumbledore, 60

"Courtesy dictates that we offer fellow wizards the opportunity of denying us entry." - Dumbledore, 60

"You can't Apparate anywhere inside the buildings or grounds. Hermione Granger told me." - Harry, 60

"No, I thought not. You have not asked me, for instance, what is my favorite flavor of jam, to check that I am indeed Professor Dumbledore and not an impostor. ... For future reference, Harry, it is raspberry... although of course, if I were a Death Eater, I would have been sure to research my own jam preferences before impersonating myself." - Dumbledore, 61-2

'The fact remains that I'm an old man, Albus. A tired old man who's earned the right to a quiet life and a few creature comforts." - Slughorn, 67

"That's what she did, did she? Idiotic woman. Never liked her." - Slughorn, 69

"One of my best friends is Muggle-born, and she's the best in our year." - Harry, 70

"No, I was merely reading the Muggle magazines. I do love knitting patterns." - Dumbledore, 73

"Harry had a sudden and vivid mental image of a great swollen spider, spinning a web around it, twitching a thread here and there to bring its large and juicy flies a little closer." - Rowling, 75

"I take my hat off to you - or I would, if I were not afraid of showering you in spiders." - Dumbledore, 77

"I see a light in the kitchen. Let us not deprive Molly any longer of the chance to deplore how thin you are." - Dumbledore, 80

"Mrs. Weasley ended her speech with a stern look, as if it had been Harry suggesting that it was natural to miss spark plugs." - Rowling, 85

"I must say, I didn't approve at first, but they do seem to have a bit of a flair for business!" - Molly, 88

"I was so pleased to 'ear you would be coming - zere isn't much to do 'ere, unless you like cooking and chickens!" - Fleur, 92

"Dumbledore says people find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right." - Hermione, 96

"Oh, come off it. Yep - ten 'Outstandings' and one 'Exceeds Expectations' at Defense Against the Dark Arts. You're actually disappointed, aren't you?" - Ron, 103

"Mum, d'you honestly think You-Know-Who's going to be hiding behind a bookshelf in Flourish and Blotts?" - Ron, 107

"Who blacked your eye, Granger? I want to send them flowers." - Draco, 113

"Dumbledore won't always be there to protect you." - Narcissa, 113

"WHY ARE YOU WORRYING ABOUT YOU-KNOW-WHO?
YOU SHOULD BE WORRYING ABOUT U-NO-POO -
THE CONSTIPATION SENSATION
THAT'S GRIPPING THE NATION!" - Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes poster, 116

"They'll be murdered in their beds!" - Molly, 116

"There was such a Mrs. Weasley-ish glare on her face that Harry was surprised Fred didn't recoil." - Rowling, 121

If I see you do that again I'll jinx your fingers together." - Molly, 122

"Well, next time you can show me how it's done, Master of Mystery!" - Hermione, 127

"Bill and I 'ave almost decided on only two bridesmaids, Ginny and Gabrielle will look very sweet togezzer. I am theenking of dressing zem in pale gold - pink would of course be 'orrible with Ginny's 'air..." - Fleur, 131

"Harry, please. You're talking to the man who raised Fred and George." - Arthur, 134

"He felt a strange twinge of annoyance as she walked away, her long red hair dancing behind her; he had become so used to her presence over the summer that he had almost forgotten that Ginny did not hang around with him, Ron, and Hermione while at school." - Rowling, 136

"I enjoyed the meetings too. It was like having friends." - Luna, 138

"People expect you to have cooler friends than us." - Luna, 139

"Wrackspurt got you? ... They're invisible. They float in through your ears and make your brain go fuzzy. I thought I felt one zooming around in here." - Luna, 140

"Once again, you show all the sensitivity of a blunt axe." - Nick, 165

"Harry shook his head again. Exactly what Hagrid would say when he realized his three favorite students had given up his subject, he did not like to think." - Rowling, 170

"We were the ones who made the most effort in classes because we like Hagrid. But he thinks we liked the stupid subject." - Hermione, 173

"It's high time your grandmother learned to be proud of the grandson she's got, rather than the one she thinks she ought to have - particularly after what happened at the Ministry." - McGonagall, 174

"Take Charms, and I shall drop Augusta a line reminding her that just because she failed her Charms O.W.L., the subject is not necessarily worthless." - McGonagall, 174

"Good teams have been ruined before now because Captains just kept playing the old faces, or letting in their friends..." - Katie, 176

"The Dark Arts are many, varied, ever-changing, and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a many-headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before. You are fighting that which is unfixed, mutating, indestructible." - Snape, 177

"Harry stared at Snape. It was surely one thing to respect the Dark Arts as a dangerous enemy, another to speak of them, as Snape was doing, with a loving caress in his voice?" - Rowling, 178

"There's no need to call me 'sir,' Professor." - Harry, 180

"Harry was so disarmed that she had thought his words as well worth memorizing as The Standard Book of Spells that he did not argue." - Rowling, 181

"P.S. I enjoy Acid Pops." - Dumbledore, 181

"They chose the one nearest a gold-colored cauldron that was emitting one of the most seductive scents Harry had ever inhaled: Somehow it reminded him simultaneously of treacle tart, the woody smell of a broomstick handle, and something flowery he thought he might have smelled at the Burrow." - Rowling, 183

"It's supposed to smell differently to each of us, according to what attracts us, and I can smell freshly mown grass and new parchment and - " - Hermione, 185

"Did you really tell him I'm the best in the year? Oh, Harry!" - Hermione, 186

"When you have seen as much of life as I have, you will not underestimate the power of obsessive love." - Slughorn, 186

"Two tablespoonfuls taken with breakfast. Two perfect days." - Slughorn, 187

"Did I hear right? You've been taking orders from something someone wrote in a book, Harry?" - Ginny, 192

"From this point forth, we shall be leaving the firm foundation of fact and journeying together through the murky mashes of memory into thickets of wildest guesswork. From here on in, Harry, I may be as woefully wrong as Humphrey Belcher, who believed the time was ripe for a cheese cauldron." - Dumbledore, 197

"In fact, being - forgive me - rather cleverer than most men, my mistakes tend to be correspondingly huger." - Dumbledore, 197

"Hissy, hissy, little snakey,
Slither on the floor,
You be good to Morfin
Or he'll nail you to the door." - Morfin, 204

"I hate not talking to Hagrid." - Hermione, 218

"'I'm tall,' said Ron inconsequentially." - Rowling, 219

"I'm a teacher! A teacher, Potter! How dare yeh threaten ter break down my door!" - Hagrid, 228

"He did not usually lie in bed reading his textbooks; that sort of behavior, as Ron rightly said, was indecent in anybody except Hermione, who was simply weird that way." - Rowling, 237-8

"Tomorrow, I'd rather you set the alarm clock." - Ron, 239

"And they'd love to have me. We'd be best pals if they didn't keep trying to do me in." - Harry, 242

"I expect 'nothing's' in the back getting more firewhisky." - Hermione, 247

"Ron and Hermione exchanged looks that plainly said There's no point arguing with him." - Rowling, 256

"Could you possibly be feeling sorry for Lord Voldemort?" - Dumbledore, 262

"I don't think many people will be sorry to see the back of him." - Mrs. Cole, 268

"I can make things move without touching them. I can make animals do what I want them to do, without training them. I can make bad things happen to people who annoy me. I can make them hurt if I want to. I knew I was different. I knew I was special. Always, I knew there was something." - Tom, 271

"At Hogwarts, we teach you not only to use magic, but to control it. ... You are not the first, nor will you be the last, to allow your magic to run away with you. ... All new wizards much accept that, in entering our world, they abide by our laws." - Dumbledore, 273

"There are a lot of Toms." - Tom, 275

"There he showed contempt for anything that tied him to other people, anything that made him ordinary. Even then, he wished to be different, separate, notorious. ... Lord Voldemort has never had a friend, nor do I believe that he has ever wanted one." - Dumbledore, 277

"We're allowed to bring guests, and I was going to ask you to come, but if you think it's that stupid then I won't bother!" - Hermione, 282

"Well, you seemed too busy to call him a prat and I thought someone should - " - Ginny, 286

"He had known Ginny for years now... It was natural that he should feel protective... natural that he should want to look out for her... want to rip Dean limb from limb for kissing her... No... he would have to control that particular brotherly feeling..." - Rowling, 289-90

"It looks like he's eating her face, doesn't it? But I suppose he's got to refine his technique somehow." - Ginny, 300

"Harry said nothing. He thought his voice might soon vanish from lack of use." - Rowling, 305

"He says very funny things sometimes, doesn't he? But he can be a bit unkind. I noticed that last year." - Luna, 310

"Oh, no, I'd love to go with you as friends! Nobody's ever asked me to go to a party before, as a friend! Is that why you dyed your eyebrow, for the party? Should I do mine too?" - Luna, 311

"Potty loves Loony!" - Peeves, 312

"I like really good Quidditch players." - Hermione, 313

"Quidditch! Is that all boys care about?" - Hermione, 318

"I don't think you should be an Auror, Harry. The Aurors are part of the Rotfang Conspiracy, I thought everyone knew that. They're working to bring down the Ministry of Magic from within using a combination of Dark Magic and gum disease." - Luna, 320

"Only time I've ever seen Dad as angry as Mum. Fred reckons his left buttock has never been the same since." - Ron, 326

"I'm sure you'll dazzle us all with hitherto unsuspected magical skills." - Fred, 326

"He was not entirely sure that she had heard him, though; Ron and Lavender had been saying a thoroughly nonverbal good-bye just behind him at the time." - Rowling, 329

"Oh, come and stir my cauldron,
And if you do it right,
I'll boil you up some hot strong love
To keep you warm tonight." - Celestina Warbeck, 330

"It comes down to whether or not you trust Dumbledore's judgment. I do; therefore, I trust Severus." - Lupin, 332

"Eez eet over?" - Fleur, 333

"Sometimes you remind me a lot of James. He called it my 'furry little problem' in company. Many people were under the impression that I owned a badly behaved rabbit." - Lupin, 335

"Well, think back. Have you ever let it slip that you'd like to go out in public with the words 'My Sweetheart' round your neck?" - Harry, 338

"Well, we find we appreciate you more and more, Mum, now we're washing our own socks." - George, 339

"But if I keep running in and out of the Ministry, won't that seem as though I approve of what the Ministry's up to?" - Harry, 346

"Dumbledore's man through and through, aren't you, Potter?" - Scrimgeour, 348

"I am a wizard, not a baboon brandishing a stick." - Flitwick, 356

"No. He is not very happy with me either. We must try not to sink beneath our anguish, Harry, but battle on." - Dumbledore, 357

"I am very touched, Harry." - Dumbledore, 358

"Yes, Harry, blessed as I am with extraordinary brainpower, I understood everything you told me. I think you might even consider the possibility that I understood more than you did." - Dumbledore, 358-9

"Ah, Harry, how often this happens, even between the best of friends! Each of us believes that what he has to say is much more important than anything the other might have to contribute!" - Dumbledore, 359

"He was oddly colorless, with transparent eyelashes, wispy hair, and an insubstantial air, as though a single gust of wind might blow him away. Harry wondered whether constant disappearances and reappearances had somehow diminished his substance, or whether this frail build was ideal for anyone wishing to vanish." - Rowling, 382

"The important things to remember when Apparating are the three D's! Destination, Determination, Deliberation!" - Twycross, 384

"So, all in all, not one of Ron's better birthdays?" - Fred, 399

"'Oh... yes...' said Madam Pomfrey, who seemed to have been counting Hagrid as several people due to his vastness." - Rowling, 402

"Half our family does seem to owe you their lives, now I stop and think about it. Well, all I can say is that it was a lucky day for the Weasleys when Ron decided to sit in your compartment on the Hogwarts Express, Harry." - Arthur, 403-4

"Would you call getting poisoned being interesting?" - Harry, 410

"And Harry Potter's now having an argument with his Keeper. I don't think that'll help him find the Snitch, but maybe it's a clever ruse..." - Luna, 414

"Oh, it's a Gurdyroot. You can keep it if you like, I've got a few of them. They're really excellent for warding off Gulping Plimpies." - Luna, 425

"Divination is turning out to be much more trouble than I could have foreseen, never having studied the subject myself." - Dumbledore, 427

"I see. And you feel that you have exerted your very best efforts in this matter, do you? That you have exercised all of your considerable ingenuity? That you have left no depth of cunning unplumbed in your quest to retrieve the memory?" - Dumbledore, 428

"I know what you are known as. But to me, I'm afraid, you will always be Tom Riddle. It is one of the irritating things about old teachers. I am afraid that they never quite forget their charges' youthful beginnings." - Dumbledore, 442

"I have experimented; I have pushed the boundaries of magic further, perhaps, than they have ever been pushed - " Voldemort, 443

"Of some kinds of magic. Of some. Of others, you remain... forgive me... woefully ignorant." - Dumbledore, 444

"I love you, Hermione." - Ron, 449

"Wish that would happen with me and Lavender. But the more I hint I want to finish it, the tighter she holds on. It's like going out with the giant squid." - Ron, 450

"Oh, very good. Yes, it is easy to see that nearly six years of magical education have not been wasted on you, Potter. 'Ghosts are transparent.'" - Snape, 460

"And yet, I doubt you'd find a woman who sulked for half an hour because Madam Rosmerta didn't laugh at their joke about the hag, the Healer, and the Mimbulus mimbletonia." - Hermione, 468

"You didn't meet him, Hermione. Believe me, being dead will have improved him a lot." - Ron, 471

"The other spiders won' let me anywhere near their webs now Aragog's gone. Turns out it was on'y on his order they didn' eat me! Can yeh believe that, Harry?" - Hagrid, 482

"Farewell, Aragog, king of arachnids, whose long and faithful friendship those who knew you won't forget! Though your body will decay, your spirit lingers on in the quiet, web-spun places of your forest home. May your many-eyed descendants ever flourish and your human friends find solace for the loss they have sustained." - Slughorn, 484-5

"And Odo the hero, they bore him back home
To the place that he'd known as a lad,
They laid him to rest with his hat inside out
And his wand snapped in two, which was sad." - Slughorn, 488

"But you won't help her son. She gave me her life, but you won't give me a memory." - Harry, 489

"Well, you must understand that the soul is supposed to remain intact and whole. Splitting it is an act of violation, it is against nature." - Slughorn, 497-8

"Yes, Harry, you can love. Which, given everything that has happened to you, is a great and remarkable thing. You are still too young to understand how unusual you are, Harry." - Dumbledore, 509

"You are protected, in short, by your ability to love! The only protection that can possibly work against the lure of power like Voldemort's! In spite of all the temptation you have endured, all the suffering, you remain pure of heart, just as pure as you were at the age of eleven, when you stare into a mirror that reflected your heart's desire, and it showed you only the way to thwart Lord Voldemort, and not immortality or riches. Harry, have you any idea how few wizards could have seen what you saw in that mirror?" - Dumbledore, 511

"He was in such a hurry to mutiilate his own soul, he never paused to understand the incomparable power of a soul that is untarnished and whole." - Dumbledore, 511

"But he understood at last what Dumbledore had been trying to tell him. It was, he thought, the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high." - Rowling, 512

"Harry thought there was a rather knowing look in her eye as she told him that, but she could not possibly know that his insides were suddenly dancing the conga." - Rowling, 514

"This is your copy of Advanced Potion-Making, is it, Potter? ... This is the copy of Advanced Potion-Making that you purchased from Flourish and Blotts? ... Then why does it have the name 'Roonil Wazlib' written inside the front cover?" - Snape, 527

"Harry looked around; there was Ginny running toward him; she had a hard, blazing look in her face as she threw her arms around him. And without thinking, without planning it, without worrying about the fact that fifty people were watching, Harry kissed her. After several long moments - or it might have been half an hour - or possibly several sunlit days - they broke apart." - Rowling, 533

"You'd think people had better things to gossip about. Three dementor attacks in a week, and all Romilda Vane does is ask me if it's true you've got a hippogriff tattooed across your chest." - Ginny, 534

"How can I have hung round with you for five years and not think girls are clever?" - Harry, 538
"The Inner Eye was fixed upon matters well outside the mundane realms of whooping voices." - Trelawney, 542

"Again and again, no matter how I lay them out - the lightning-struck tower. Calamity. Disaster. Coming nearer all the time..." - Trelawney, 543

"I'll be fine, I'll be with Dumbledore." - Harry, 552

"I said it was crude. The idea, as I am sure you will have gathered, is that your enemy must weaken him- or herself to enter. Once again, Lord Voldemort fails to grasp that there are much more terrible things than physical injury." - Dumbledore, 559

"Age is foolish and forgetful when it underestimates youth..." - Dumbledore, 564-5

"There is nothing to be feared from a body, Harry, any more than there is anything to be feared from the darkness. Lord Voldemort, who of course secretly fears both, disagrees. But once again he reveals his own lack of wisdom. It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more." - Dumbledore, 566

"I am not worried, Harry. I am with you." - Dumbledore, 578

"I've been better. That potion... was no health drink..." - Dumbledore, 580

"Dumbledore had wordlessly immobilized Harry, and the second he had taken to perform the spell had cost him the chance of defending himself." - Rowling, 584

"Draco, Draco, you are not a killer." - Dumbledore, 585

"Killing is not nearly as easy as the innocent believe." - Dumbledore, 586

"You care about me saying 'Mudblood' when I'm about to kill you?" - Draco, 589

"My dear boy, let us have no more pretense about that. If you were going to kill me, you would have done it when you first disarmed me, you would not have stopped for this pleasant chat about ways and means." - Dumbledore, 591

"No, Draco. It is my mercy, and not yours, that matters now." - Dumbledore, 592

"Jokes? No, no, these are manners." - Dumbledore, 593

"Severus... please..." - Dumbledore, 595

"Harry sped up as an unbidden voice in his head said: not Hagrid... not Hagrid too..." - Rowling, 601

"Blocked again and again and again until you learn to keep your mouth shut and your mind closed, Potter!" - Snape, 603

"DON'T CALL ME COWARD!" - Snape, 604

"Take more'n that ter finish me." - Hagrid, 605

"He had known there was no hope from the moment that the full Body-Bind Curse Dumbledore had placed upon him lifted, known that it could have happened only because its caster was dead, but there was still no preparation for seeing him here, spread-eagled, broken: the greatest wizard Harry had ever, or would ever, meet." - Rowling, 608

"This was not a Horcrux. Dumbledore had weakened himself by drinking that terrible potion for nothing." - Rowling, 610

"Dumbledore believed Snape was sorry James was dead? Snape hated James..." - Lupin, 616

" - Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder. Fred and George's. I'm going to be having a word with them about who they let buy their products." - Ron, 618

"And what do you mean by zat? What do you mean, ''e was going to be married?'" - Fleur, 622

"You thought I would not wish to marry him? Or per'aps, you hoped? What do I care how he looks? I am good-looking enough for the both of us, I theenk! All these scars show is zat my husband is brave!" - Fleur, 623

"Dumbledore would have been happier than anybody to think that there was a little more love in the world." - McGonagall, 624

"Professor Dumbledore always valued your views, and so do I." - McGonagall, 628

"No other headmaster or headmistress ever gave more to this school." - Hagrid, 629

"As he lay there, he became aware suddenly that the grounds were silent. Fawkes had stopped singing. And he knew, without knowing how he knew it, that the phoenix had gone, had left Hogwarts for good, just as Dumbledore had left the school, had left the world... had left Harry." - Rowling, 631-2

"'Evil' is a strong word." - Hermione, 638

"Harry did not believe that Malfoy would have killed Dumbledore. He despised Malfoy still for his infatuation with the Dark Arts, but now the tiniest drop of pity mingled with the dislike." - Rowling, 640

"Hagrid sat down next to his half-brother, and Grawp patted Hagrid hard on the head, so that his chair leges sank into the ground. Harry had a wonderful momentary urge to laugh." - Rowling, 643

"There was no waking from this nightmare, no comforting whisper in the dark that he was safe really, that it was all in his imagination; the last and greatest of his protectors had died, and he was more alone than he had ever been before." - Rowling, 645

"It's for some stupid, noble reason, isn't it?" - Ginny, 646

"He will only be gone from the school when none here are loyal to him." - Harry, 649

"Dumbledore's man through and through. That's right." - Harry, 649

"I've got to find them and destroy them, and then I've got to go after the seventh bit of Voldemort's soul, the bit that's still in his body, and I'm the one who's going to kill him. And if I meet Severus Snape along the way, so much the better for me, so much the worse for him." - Harry, 651

"We're with you whatever happens." - Ron, 651

"Harry looked at him, startled; the idea that anything as normal as a wedding could still exist seemed incredible and yet wonderful." - Rowling, 652

"His hand automatically closed around the fake Horcrux, but in spite of everything, in spite of the dark and twisting path he saw stretching ahead for himself, in spite of the final meeting with Voldemort he knew must come, whether in a month, in a year, or in ten, he felt his heart lift at the thought that there was still one last golden day of peace left to enjoy with Ron and Hermione." - Rowling, 652

Favorite Lines in OotP

"The injustice of it all welled up inside him so that he wanted to yell with fury. If it hadn't been for him, nobody would even have known Voldemort was back! And his reward was to be stuck in Little Whinging for four solid weeks, completely cut off from the magical world, reduced to squatting among dying begonias so that he could hear about water-skiing budgerigars!" - Rowling, 10

"Did he say you look like a pig that's been taught to walk on its hind legs? 'Cause that's not cheek, Dud, it's true..." - Harry, 13

"Not as stupid as you look, are you, Dud? But I s'pose if you were, you wouldn't be able to walk and talk at the same time..." - Harry, 14

"Oh, I'm going to kill Mundungus Fletcher!" - Mrs. Figg, 19

"OWLS! OWLS AGAIN! I WILL NOT HAVE ANY MORE OWLS IN MY HOUSE!" - Vernon, 26

"Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia exchanged looks of horror. If their least favorite thing in the world was magic, closely followed by neighbors who cheated more than they did on the hosepipe ban, people who heard voices were definitely in the bottom ten." - Rowling, 30

"I heard - that awful boy - telling her about them - years ago." - Petunia, 32

"She seized Dudley by the shoulders and shook him, as though testing to see whether she could hear his soul rattling around inside him." - Rowling, 34

"Harry's two lives had somehow become fused and everything had been turned upside down: The Dursleys were asking for details about the magical world and Mrs. Figg knew Albus Dumbeldore; dementors were soaring around Little Whinging and he might never go back to Hogwarts." - Rowling, 37

"The boy - the boy will have to stay, Vernon." - Petunia, 40

"Wotcher, Harry!" - Tonks, 47

"Don't put your wand there, boy! What if it ignited? Better wizards than you have lost buttocks, you know!" - Moody, 48

"It felt odd to be introduced to somebody he'd thought he'd known for a year." - Rowling, 49

"A surprising number of people volunteered to come and get you." - Lupin, 50

"Stop being so cheerful, Mad-Eye, he'll think we're not taking this seriously." - Tonks, 55

"ARE YOU MAD, MAD-EYE?" - Tonks, 57

"Hello, Harry. We thought we heard your dulcet tones." - George, 68

"You don't want to bottle up your anger like that, Harry, let it all out. There might be a couple of people fifty miles away who didn't hear you." - Fred, 68

"Time is Galleons, little brother." - Fred, 68

"If some far-fetched story appears they say something like 'a tale worthy of Harry Potter' and if anyone has a funny accident or anything it's 'let's hope he hasn't got a scar on his forehead or we'll be asked to worship him next - '" - Hermione, 74

"His life's ambition is to have his head cut off and stuck up on a plaque just like his mother. Is that normal, Hermione?" - Ron, 76

"Hello, Harry. I see you've met my mother." - Sirius, 78

"JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE ALLOWED TO USE MAGIC NOW YOU DON'T HAVE TO WHIP YOUR WANDS OUT FOR EVERY TINY LITTLE THING!" - Molly, 84

"I don't know where you learned about right and wrong, Mundungus, but you seem to have missed a few crucial lessons." - Molly, 86

"Sometimes, the way you talk about him, it's as though you think you've got your best friend back!" - Molly, 89

"But Dumbledore says he doesn't care what they do as long as they don't take him off the Chocolate Frog cards." - Bill, 95

"If Ginny's not lying awake waiting for Hermione to tell her everything they said downstairs, then I'm a flobberworm..." - Fred, 98

"Yeah, size is no guarantee of power. Look at Ginny. ... You've never been on the receiving end of one of her Bat-Bogey Hexes, have you?" - Fred, 100

"You'd be surprised what Kreacher can manage when he wants to, Hermione." - Sirius, 102

"I love hearing Mum shouting at someone else. It makes such a nice change." - Fred, 107

"My mother didn't have a heart, Kreacher. She kept herself alive out of pure spite." - Sirius, 109

"Well, you don't just hand in your resignation to Lord Voldemort. It's a lifetime of service or death." - Sirius, 112

"It was my father's. Kreacher wasn't quite as devoted to him as to my mother, but I still caught him snogging a pair of my father's old trousers last week." - Sirius, 117

"Sirius might refer to their work as 'cleaning,' but in Harry's opinion they were really waging war on the house, which was putting up a very good fight, aided and abetted by Kreacher." - Rowling, 117

"The thought that Dumbledore had been in the house on the eve of his hearing and not asked to see him made him feel, if that were possible, even worse." - Rowling, 120

"If I'm not expelled from Hogwarts, I'll put in ten Galleons, Harry found himself thinking desperately." - Rowling, 128

"Those are enchanted windows; Magical Maintenance decide what weather we're getting every day. We had two months of hurricanes last time they were angling for a pay raise..." - Arthur, 131

"Witness for the defense, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore." - Dumbledore, 139

"But naturally, you would not care how many times you heard from a witness, if the alternative was a serious miscarriage of justice." - Dumbledore, 148

"Why, in the few short weeks since I was asked to leave the Wizengamot, it has already become the practice to hold a full criminal trial to deal with a simple matter of underage magic!" - Dumbledore, 149

"Muggle-baiting might strike some wizards as funny, but it's an expression of something much deeper and nastier..." - Arthur, 153

"Everyone seems quite relieved, though, considering they all knew I'd get off." - Harry, 156

"I'll sponsor you to shut up about spew." - Ron, 159

"What are Fred and I, next-door neighbors?" - George, 163

"You don't mind if we don't kiss you, do you, Ron?" - Fred, 164

"Hermione looked as though she did not know whether to smile or not and compromised by taking an extra large gulp of butterbeer and choking on it." - Rowling, 170

"I think Dumbledore might have hoped that I would be able to exercise some control over my best friends. I need scarcely say that I failed dismally." - Lupin, 170

"I'm nobody." - Neville, 186

"He would have liked Cho to discover him sitting with a group of very cool people laughing their heads off at a joke he had just told; he would not have chosen to be sitting with Neville and Loony Lovegood, clutching a toad and dripping in Stinksap." - Rowling, 187-8

"I... must... not... look... like... a... baboon's... backside..." - Ron, 189

"The Quibbler's rubbish, everyone knows that." - Hermione, 193

"Don't worry. You're just as sane as I am." - Luna, 199

"I assume I am still allowed to enjoy the use of whichever words I like, even if the pleasures of eating and drinking are denied me!" - Nearly Headless Nick, 210

"Unfortunately, Ron's mouth was packed to exploding point again and all he could manage was 'node iddum eentup sechew,' which Nick did not seem to think constituted an adequate apology." - Rowling, 210

"None of the faces he could see looked happy; on the contrary, they all looked rather taken aback at being addressed as though they were five years old." - Rowling, 212

"Progress for progress's sake must be discouraged, for our tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering." - Rowling, 213

"That was about the dullest speech I've ever heard, and I grew up with Percy." - Ron, 214

"I'll tell you what it means. It means the Ministry's interfering at Hogwarts." - Hermione, 214

"It would be quite nice if you stopped jumping down Ron's and my throats, Harry, because if you haven't noticed, we're on your side." - Hermione, 223

"Do mine ears deceive me? Hogwarts prefects surely don't wish to skive off lessons?" - Fred, 225

"We feel our futures lie outside the world of academic achievement." - Fred, 227

"Poisonous toadstools don't change their spots." - Ron, 235

"Now, it is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be more than sufficient to get you through your examination, which, after all, is what school is all about." - Umbridge, 243

"Oh, most think he's barking, the Potty wee lad,
But some are more kindly and think he's just sad,
But Peevesy knows better and says that he's mad - " - Peeves, 247

"For heaven's sake, Potter! Do you really think this is about truth or lies? It's about keeping your head down and your temper under control!" - McGonagall, 249

"Well, I'm glad you listen to Hermione Granger at any rate." - McGonagall, 249

"They might not count as clothes. They didn't look anything like hats to me, more like woolly bladders." - Ron, 256

"I see no reason why everybody in this class should not achieve an O.W.L. in Transfiguration as long as they put in the work. Yes, you too, Longbottom. There's nothing wrong with your work except lack of confidence." - McGonagall, 257

"Wow, I wonder what it'd be like to have a difficult life?" - Harry, 261

"You can laugh! But people used to believe there were no such things as the Blibbering Humdinger or the Crumple-Horned Snorkack!" - Luna, 262

"Oh, for heaven's sake, Harry, you can do better than her. Ginny's told me all about her, apparently she'll only believe in things as long as there's no proof at all." - Hermione, 262

"Are you going to give me the password or will I have to stay awake all night waiting for you to finish your conversation?" - Fat Lady, 273

"Subtlety has never been Peeves's strong point." - Nearly Headless Nick, 281

"Get back in position, she's fine! But as you're passing to a teammate, do try not to knock her off her broom, won't you? We've got Bludgers for that!" - Angelina, 292

"I do hope, Ron, that you will not allow family ties to blind you to the misguided nature of our parents' beliefs and actions either. I sincerely hope that, in time, they will realize how mistaken they were and I shall, of course, be ready to accept a full apology when that day comes." - Percy, 298

"Hermione, you are honestly the most wonderful person I've ever met." - Ron, 300

"Harry, yours is okay except for this bit at the end, I think you must have misheard Professor Sinistra, Europa's covered in ice, not mice." - Hermione, 300

"The world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters." - Sirius, 302

"Sirius! Honestly, if you made a bit of an effort with Kreacher I'm sure he'd respond..." - Hermione, 303

"You're less like your father than I thought. The risk would've been what made it fun for James." - Sirius, 305

"Oh, I can't wait to see McGonagall inspected. Umbridge won't know what's hit her." - Ron, 309

"I've always thought Fred and I should've got E in everything, because we exceeded expectations just by turning up for the exams." - George, 311

"There will be no need to talk." - Umbridge, 316

"I wonder how you expect to gain an idea of my usual teaching methods if you continue to interrupt me? You see, I do not generally permit people to talk when I am talking." - McGonagall, 320

"But this is much more important than homework!" - Hermione, 325

"Harry, don't you see? This... this is exactly why we need you... We need to know what it's r-really like... facing him... facing V-Voldemort." - Hermione, 328

"Harry had to admit she was getting better; it was now almost always possible to distinguish between the hats and the socks." - Rowling, 334

"The barman sidled toward them out of a back room. He was a grumpy-looking old man with a great deal of long gray hair and beard. He was tall and thin and looked vaguely familiar to Harry." - Rowling, 336

"Ginny used to fancy Harry, but she gave up on him months ago. Not that she doesn't like you, of course." - Hermione, 348

"And talking about Michael and Ginny... what about Cho and you? ... Well, she just couldn't keep her eyes off you, could she?" - Hermione, 349

"Well, it's an old-fashioned rule, but it says in Hogwarts, A History that the founders thought boys were less trustworthy than girls." - Hermione, 353

"Well, that clears that up. It would've been really annoying if you hadn't explained yourself properly." - Ron, 377

"I also think we ought to have a name. It would promote a feeling of team spirit and unity, don't you think?" - Hermione, 391

"Well, the Sorting Hat did seriously consider putting me in Ravenclaw during my Sorting, but it decided on Gryffindor in the end." - Hermione, 399

"You'll notice I decided to engrave the date on bits of metal rather than on our members' skin." - Hermione, 399

"I've become accustomed to seeing the Quidditch Cup in my study, boys, and I really don't want to have to hand it over to Professor Snape, so use the extra time to practice, won't you?" - McGonagall, 400

"Even Fred had said that Ron might yet make him and George proud, and that they were seriously considering admitting that he was related to them, something he assured Ron they had been trying to deny for four years." - Rowling, 400-1

"Weasley cannot save a thing,
He cannot block a single ring,
That's why the Slytherins all sing:
Weasley is our King." - Slytherins, 407

"Never known kids like you three fer knowin more'n yeh oughta." - Hagrid, 423

"Hold yer hippogriffs, I haven' finished me story yet!" - Hagrid, 431

"Yes, as gamekeeper fresh air must be so difficult to come by." - Umbridge, 437

"I'll plan his lessons for him if I have to. I don't care if she throws out Trelawney but she's not taking Hagrid!" - Hermione, 440

"Grubbly-Plank's idea of an interesting class was not one where there was a risk that somebody might have their head ripped off." - Rowling, 442

"Well, as you can see - or, I dunno - can you? We're doin' thestrals today - " Hagrid, 447

"Ron, you are the most insensitive wart I have ever had the misfortune to meet." - Hermione, 458-9

"Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all have." - Hermione, 459

"That's what they should teach us here, how girls' brains work... it'd be more useful than Divination anyway..." - Harry, 462

"Their renown is such that both have portraits hanging in other important Wizarding institutions. As they are free to move between their own portraits they can tell us what may be happening elsewhere..." - Dumbledore, 469

"This is how it is - this is why you're not in the Order - you don't understand - there are things worth dying for!" - Sirius, 477

"A CLEAN CAULDRON KEEPS POTIONS FROM BECOMING POISONS." - St. Mungo's poster, 484

"ANTIDOTES ARE ANTI-DON'TS UNLESS APPROVED BY A QUALIFIED HEALER." - St. Mungo's poster, 484

"He felt dirty, contaminated, as though he were carrying some deadly germ, unworthy to sit on the underground train back from the hospital with innocent, clean people whose minds and bodies were free of the taint of Voldemort..." - Rowling, 492

"I thought that to belong in Gryffindor House you were supposed to be brave? It looks to me as though you would have been better off in my own house. We Slytherins are brave, yes, but not stupid. For instance, given the choice, we will always choose to save our own necks." - Phineas, 494-5

"Maybe you're taking it in turns to look and keep missing each other." - Hermione, 499

"Well, that was a bit stupid of you, seeing as you don't know anyone but me who's been possessed by You-Know-Who, and I can tell you how it feels." - Ginny, 499

"One day, you'll read Hogwarts, A History, and perhaps that will remind you that you can't Apparate or Disapparate inside Hogwarts." - Hermione, 500

"His heart swelled with happiness and relief, and he felt like joining in as they heard Sirius tramping past their door toward Buckbeak's room, singing 'God Rest You, Merrye Hippogriffs' at the top of his voice." - Rowling, 500-1

"Hagrid had sent a furry brown wallet that had fangs, which were presumably supposed to be an antitheft device, but unfortunately prevented Harry putting any money in without getting his fingers ripped off." - Rowling, 502

"Do you mean to tell me that you have been messing about with Muggle remedies?" - Molly, 507

"It sounds as though you've been trying to sew your skin back together, but even you, Arthur, wouldn't be that stupid - " - Molly, 507

"I have not got spattergroit!" - Ron, 508

"Well, hello there! I expect you'd like my autograph, would you?" - Lockhart, 509

"Oh, Gilderoy, you've got visitors! How lovely, and on Christmas Day too! Do you know, he never gets visitors, poor lamb, and I can't think why, he's such a sweetie, aren't you?" - St. Mungo's healer, 510

"I am not forgotten, you know, no, I still receive a very great deal of fan mail.... Gladys Gudgeon writes weekly.... I just wish I knew why.... I suspect it is simply my good looks...." - Lockhart, 511

"Harry wanted to stamp on Ron's foot, but that sort of thing was much harder to bring off unnoticed when you were wearing jeans rather than robes." - Rowling, 513

"Well, it's nothing to be ashamed of! You should be proud, Neville, proud! They didn't give their health and their sanity so their only son would be ashamed of them, you know!" - Augusta, 514

"I'm not ashamed." - Neville, 514

"As they left, Harry was sure he saw Neville slip the wrapper into his pocket." - Rowling, 515

"If anybody asks, you are taking Remedial Potions. Nobody who has seen you in my classes could deny you need them." - Snape, 519

"Arthur's learned his lesson about dabbling in Muggle medicine, haven't you, dear?" - Molly, 522

"'Okay,' said Harry, stowing the package away in the inside pocket of his jacket, but he knew he would never use whatever it was." - Rowling, 523

"See you, Harry, and keep an eye out for snakes for me!" - Arthur, 523

"If you shout his name I will curse you into oblivion." - Tonks, 524

"Apparently Stan did not care how nutty somebody was if they were famous enough to be in the paper." - Rowling, 525

"You have no subtlety, Potter. You do not understand fine distinctions. It is one of the shortcomings that makes you such a lamentable potion-maker. ... Only Muggles talk of 'mind reading.' The mind is not a book, to be opened at will and examined at leisure. Thoughts are not etched on the inside of skulls, to be perused by any invader. The mind is a complex and many-layered thing, Potter... or at least, most minds are..." - Snape, 530

"Repel me with your brain and you will not need to resort to your wand." - Snape, 535

"But Harry's anger at Snape continued to pound through his veins like venom. Let go of his anger? He could as easily detach his legs..." - Rowling, 535

"Exploding Snap's got nothing to do with Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor! That's not information relating to your subject!" - Lee, 551

"In nobody was this improvement more pronounced than Neville. The news of his parents' attacker's escape had wrought a strange and even slightly alarming change in him." - Rowling, 553

"Dumbledore trusts him. And if we can't trust Dumbledore, we can't trust anyone." - Hermione, 555

"Harry's feet seemed to be too big for his body as he walked toward her, and he was suddenly horribly aware of his arms and how stupid they looked swinging at his sides." - Rowling, 556

"Women! What did she want to talk about Cedric for anyway? Why does she always want to drag up a subject that makes her act like a human hosepipe?" - Harry, 563

"Family. Whatever yeh say, blood's important..." - Hagrid, 564

"So the Daily Prophet exists to tell people what they want to hear, does it?" - Hermione, 567

"I don't think Daddy exactly pays people to write for the magazine. They do it because it's an honor, and, of course, to see their names in print." - Luna, 569

"You should have told her differently. You should have said it was really annoying, but I'd made you promise to come along to the Three Broomsticks, and you really didn't want to go, you'd much rather spend the whole day with her, but unfortunately you thought you really ought to meet me and would she please, please come along with you, and hopefully you'd be able to get away more quickly? And it might have been a good idea to mention how ugly you think I am too." - Hermione, 572

"Harry, you're worse than Ron... Well, no you're not." - Hermione, 572

"You should write a book translating mad things girls do so boys can understand them." - Ron, 573

"Well, he can do it if he doesn't think anyone's watching him. So all we have to do is ask the crowd to turn their backs and talk amongst themselves every time the Quaffle goes up his end on Saturday." - Fred, 574

"That's the trouble with Quidditch, it creates all this bad feeling and tension between the Houses." - Hermione, 574

"He dreamed that Neville and Professor Sprout were waltzing around the Room of Requirement while Professor McGonagall played the bagpipes." - Rowling, 577

"This one's in two minds. Says you don't come across as a mad person, but he really doesn't want to believe You-Know-Who's back so he doesn't know what to think now... Blimey, what a waste of parchment..." - Fred, 579

"Oh, Harry, don't you see? If she could have done one thing to make absolutely sure that every single person in this school will read your interview, it was banning it!" - Hermione, 582

"The teachers were, of course, forbidden from mentioning the interview by Educational Decree Number Twenty-Six, but they found ways to express their feelings about it all the same. Professor Sprout awarded Gryffindor twenty points when Harry passed her a watering can; a beaming Professor Flitwick pressed a box of squeaking sugar mice on him at the end of Charms, said "Shh!" and hurried away; and Professor Trelawney broke into hysterical sobs during Divination and announced to the startled class, and a very disapproving Umbridge, that Harry was not going to suffer an early death after all, but would live to a ripe old age, become Minister of Magic, and have twelve children." - Rowling, 582-3

"You are neither special nor important, and it is not up to you to find out what the Dark Lord is saying to his Death Eaters." - Snape, 591

"Centaurs are not the servants or playthings of humans." - Firenze, 602

"Sibyll Trelawney may have Seen, I do not know, but she wastes her time, in the main, on the self-flattering nonsense humans call fortune-telling. I, however, am here to explain the wisdom of centaurs, which is impersonal and impartial. We watch the skies for the great tides of evil or change that are sometimes marked there. It may take ten years to be sure of what we are seeing." - Firenze, 603

"There's things more importan' than keepin' a job." - Hagrid, 605

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? RUN!" - Harry, 608

"Oh, so that's why he wasn't prosecuted for setting up all those regurgitating toilets! What an interesting insight into our justice system!" - McGonagall, 613-4

"Oho! Yes, do let's hear the latest cock-and-bull story designed to pull Potter out of trouble! Go on, then, Dumbledore, go on - Willy Widdershins was lying, was he? Or was it Potter's identical twin in the Hog's Head that day? Or is there the usual simple explanation involving a reversal of time, a dead man coming back to life, and a couple of invisible dementors?" - Fudge, 614

"Well, usually when a person shakes their head, they mean 'no.' So unless Miss Edgecombe is using a form of sign language as yet unknown to humans - " McGonagall, 616

"Dumbledore reached out and took the piece of parchment form Fudge. He gazed at the heading scribbled by Hermione months before and for a moment seemed unable to speak." - Rowling, 618

"Instead you get to arrest me. It's like losing a Knut and finding a Galleon, isn't it?" - Dumbledore, 619

"Well - it's just that you seem to be laboring under the delusion that I am going to - what is the phrase? 'Come quietly.' I am afraid I am not going to come quietly at all, Cornelius." - Dumbledore, 620

"You know, Minister, I disagree with Dumbledore on many counts... but you cannoy deny he's got style..." - Phineas, 623

"We've decided we don't care about getting into trouble anymore." - Fred, 627

"Thank you so much, Professor! I could have got rid of the sparklers myself, of course, but I wasn't sure whether I had the authority..." - Flitwick, 634

"Now you mention it, d'you know... I think I'm feeling a bit... rebellious." - Hermione, 634

"You think you're funny. But you're just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter. Leave him alone." - Lily, 647

"Reading between the lines, I'd say she thinks you're a bit conceited, mate." - Sirius, 649

"The thing about growing up with Fred and George is that you sort of start thinking anything's possible if you've got enough nerve." - Ginny, 655

"He gave Hermione a sanctimonious little nod. She looked rather taken aback by this thoughtfulness." - Rowling, 658

"May I offer you a cough drop, Dolores?" - McGonagall, 663

"I should have made my meaning plainer. He has achieved high marks in all Defense Against the Dark Arts tests set by a competent teacher." - McGonagall, 664

"Potter, I will assist you to become an Auror if it is the last thing I do!" - McGonagall, 665

"I just never thought I'd feel sorry for Snape." - Harry, 671

"George, I think we've outgrown full-time education." - Fred, 674

"Peeves, whom Harry had never seen take an order from a student before, swept his belled hat from his head and sprang to a salute as Fred and George wheeled about to tumultous applause from the students below and sped out of the open front doors into the glorious sunset." - Rowling, 675

"None of the staff but Filch seemed to be stirring themselves to help her. Indeed, a week after Fred and George's departure Harry witnessed Professor McGonagall walking right past Peeves, who was determinedly loosening a crystal chandelier, and could have sworn he heard her tell the poltergeist out of the corner of her mouth, 'It unscrews the other way.'" - Rowling, 678

"Hermione, I couldn' leave him. See - he's my brother!" - Hagrid, 691

"The slaughter of foals is a terrible crime... We do not touch the innocent." - Magorian, 699

"Weasley can save anything,
He never leaves a single ring,
That's why Gryffindors all sing:
Weasley is our King." - Gryffindors, 701

"Grawp's about sixteen feet tall, enjoys ripping up twenty-foot pine trees, and knows me as Hermy." - Hermione, 705

"Our new - headmistress - has asked the Heads of House to tell their students that cheating will be punished most severely - because, of course, your examination results will reflect upon the headmistress's new regime at the school... However, that is no reason not to do your very best. You have your own futures to think about." - McGonagall, 709

"Hermione, we've been through this before... We're not going through every exam afterward, it's bad enough doing them once." - Ron, 712

"Leave him alone! Alone, I say!" - McGonagall, 721

"Galloping gargoyles! Not so much as a warning! Outrageous behavior!" - Tofty, 721-2

"I don't wonder you're shocked, Potter. As if one of them could have Stunned Minerva McGonagall face on by daylight! Cowardice, that's what it was... Despicable cowardice... If I wasn't worried what would happen to you students without me, I'd resign in protest..." - Pomfrey, 730

"You... This isn't a criticism, Harry! But you do... sort of... I mean - don't you think you've got a bit of a - a - saving-people-thing?" - Hermione, 733

"You're being rather rude, you know." - Luna, 735

"It was a mark of the seriousness of the situation that Hermione made no objection to the smashing up of the Transfiguration department." - Rowling, 736

"Unless you wish to poison Potter - and I assure you I would have the greatest sympathy with you if you did - I cannot help you. The only trouble is that most venoms act too fast to give the victim much time for truth-telling..." - Snape, 745

"He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden!" - Harry, 745

"Potter, when I want nonsense shouted at me I shall give you a Babbling Beverage. And Crabbe, loosen your hold a little, if Longbottom suffocates it will mean a lot of tedious paperwork, and I am afraid I shall have to mention it on your reference if ever you apply for a job." - Snape, 746

"HERMY! WHERE HAGGER?" - Grawp, 758

"There are other ways of flying than with broomsticks." - Luna, 762

"You'd better hope it stays invisible." - Harry, 765

"HARRY POTTER - RESCUE MISSION" - Ministry of Magic badge, 768

"The gently rippling veil intrigued him; he felt a very strong inclination to climb up on the dais and walk through it." - Rowling, 774

"He's dot alone! He's still god be!" - Neville, 800

"'I DOE YOU HAB!' roared Neville." - Rowling, 800

"It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall. His body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backward through the ragged veil hanging from the arch..." - Rowling, 806

"We both know that there are other ways of destroying a man, Tom." - Dumbledore, 814

"You are quite wrong. Indeed, your failure to understand that there are things much worse than death has always been your greatest weakness - " - Dumbledore, 814

"Cornelius, I am ready to fight your men - and win again! But a few minutes ago you saw proof, with your own eyes, that I have been telling you the truth for a year. Lord Voldemort has returned, you have been chasing the wrong men for twelve months, and it is time you listened to sense!" - Dumbledore, 817

"There is no shame in what you are feeling, Harry. On the contrary... the fact that you can feel pain like this is your greatest strength." - Dumbledore, 823

"By all means continue destroying my possessions. I daresay I have too many." - Dumbledore, 825

"Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young... and I seem to have forgotten lately..." - Dumbledore, 826

"I was trying, in distancing myself from you, to protect you. An old man's mistake..." - Dumbledore, 828

"I warned Sirius when we adopted twleve Grimmauld Place as our headquarters that Kreacher must be treated with kindness and respect." - Dumbledore, 832

"I trust Severus Snape. But I forgot - another old man's mistake - that some wounds run too deep for the healing. I thought Professor Snape could overcome his feelings about your father - I was wrong." - Dumbledore, 833

"Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike... The fountain we destroyed tonight told a lie. We wizards have mistreated and abused our fellows for too long, and we are now reaping our reward." - Dumbledore, 834

"Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you. ... While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort." - Dumbledore, 836

"I cared about you too much. I cared more for your happiness than your knowing the truth, more for your peace of mind than my plan, more for your life than the lives that might be lost if the plan failed. In other words, I acted exactly as Voldemort expects we fools who love to act." - Dumbledore, 838

"THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD APPROACHES... BORN TO THOSE WHO HAVE THRICE DEFIED HIM, BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES... AND THE DARK LORD WILL MARK HIM AS HIS EQUAL, BUT HE WILL HAVE POWER THE DARK LORD KNOWS NOT... AND EITHER MUST DIE AT THE HAND OF THE OTHER FOR NEITHER CAN LIVE WHILE THE OTHER SURVIVES..." - Trelawney, 841

"There is a room in the Department of Mysteries that is kept locked at all times. It contains a force that is at once more wonderful and terrible than death, than human intelligence, than forces of nature. It is also, perhaps, the most mysterious of the many subjects for study that reside there. It is the power held within that room that you possess in such quantities and which Voldemort has not at all. That power took you to save Sirius tonight. That power also saved you from possession by Voldemort, because he could not bear to reside in a body so full of the force he detests. In the end, it mattered not that you could not close your mind. It was your heart that saved you." - Dumbledore, 843-4

"Well, Flitwick's got rid of Fred and George's swamp. He did it in about three seconds. But he left a tiny patch under the window and he's roped it off - " - Ginny, 848

"Right then, well, I think Potter and his friends ought to have fifty points apiece for alerting the world to the return of You-Know-Who! What say you, Professor Snape?" - McGonagall, 852

"He never was one ter sit around at home an' let other people do the fightin'. He couldn' have lived with himself if he hadn' gone ter help - " - Hagrid, 855

"It was sunny and the grounds around him were full of laughing people, and even though he felt as distant from them as though he belonged to a different race, it was still very hard to believe as he sat here that his life must include, or end in, murder." - Rowling, 856

"Indeed, Professor McGonagall sank back into her chair at the staff table after a few feeble remonstrances and was clearly heard to express a regret that she could not run cheering after Umbridge herself, because Peeves had borrowed her walking stick." - Rowling, 857

"Wizards can leave an imprint of themselves upon the earth, to walk palely where their living selves once trod. But very few wizards choose that path. ... He will not come back. He will have... gone on. ... I was afraid of death. I chose to remain behind. I sometimes wonder whether I oughtn't to have... Well, that is neither here nor there. In fact, I am neither here nor there. I know nothing of the secrets of death, Harry, for I chose my feeble imitation of life instead." - Nearly Headless Nick, 861

"Well, I've lost most of my possessions. People take them and hide them, you know. But as it's the last night, I really do need them back, so I've been putting up signs." - Luna, 862

"Anyway, it's not as though I'll never see Mum again, is it? ... You heard them, just behind the veil, didn't you? ... In that room with the archway. They were just lurking out of sight, that's all. You heard them." - Luna, 863

"She walked away from him, and as he watched her go, he found that the terrible weight in his stomach seemed to have lessened slightly." - Rowling, 864

"Wanting to impress Cho seemed to belong to a past that was no longer quite connected with him." - Rowling, 865

"Finest dragon skin, little bro. Business is booming and we thought we'd treat ourselves." - Fred, 867

"I expect what you're not aware of would fill several books, Dursley." - Moody, 869

"Harry nodded. He somehow could not find words to tell them what it meant to him, to see them all ranged there, on his side." - Rowling, 870