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How would Snape have felt if Harry was sorted into Slytherin?

As promised, I said I would come up with a few of my own Harry Potter themed theories and here is the first one. I thought of this a few days ago, which in turn made me decide that I should start this blog to share with other people and read their opinions on the matter, along with many others. So, how do you think Snape would have felt if Harry had been sorted into his own house rather than the snake’s rival house, Gryffindor? Would he have still held a grudge against Harry because of his life-long feud with James or would he have felt more protective over him because of his love for Lily? Also, would Harry have replaced Draco as the Slytherin Prince if this was so, or would he have stuck to his original personality, going against all the pureblood beliefs and doing what Andromeda Black (Tonks) did?

I have a feeling that if Harry had been sorted into Slytherin like the Hat wanted, things would have been ever so slightly different. Even in the original novels, there is obviously that different side to Snape that you don’t realise until right at the very end, a caring side that he keeps closed up, not daring to show to a single soul. However, I believe that his caring side was really only directed at Lily; she was the only person that ever really cared for him and no one ever showed the same devotion towards him like she did, not even his own family. After one small mistake he lost her has a friend, after one grave mistake he lost her forever and he has never been able to forgive himself. Yes he’s proved himself to be on the right side, but again it’s not until the very end that you realise and it’s only because he owes his life to Dumbledore for giving him a second chance; it’s only because of Dumbledore that he says to hide all of the Potter family when Voldemort has put a price on their heads, if it were up to him, he would have only saved Lily. But even though that all his care and devotion was saved for one person, could there have possibly been a tiny molecule of care saved for Harry?

From the first day Harry entered the Wizarding World, every witch, wizard and their auntie commented on how he’s the spitting image of his father. This is just one of the many grudges he holds against Harry; obviously by looking at Harry, all he sees is James and how he made his school life a living hell. Because of this, he naturally thinks that Harry takes on the exact same personality as his father and so aims the brunt of his anger towards him. Perhaps if Harry had been in Slytherin, it would have given him a chance to treat Harry worse than he could in Gryffindor; in the second film he declared that if Harry was in his house, he would have expelled him for the treacherous display with the Ford Anglia, he could have taken advantage of this if the Sorting Hat hat gone with its original decision. But if this had happened, would guilt have consumed him for fearing what Lily would have thought of him?

Besides his looks mirroring his father’s, Harry had one feature that did not, for once the statement “you look just like your father” had been announced, it could only be followed by “except your eyes, their your mother Lily’s”. The sensitive side of Snape reveals itself right at the very end of the final book, and his life, when he asks Harry to look at him just so that he can see those emerald green eyes one last time before darkness consumes him. After this being revealed, you can only wonder how many times Snape has thought about Lily every time he sees Harry; is it the same amount of times his fury surfaces every time he thinks of James? What lies beneath is often the total opposite of what lies on the surface. If so, then he has been battling two sides of his emotions ever since Harry stepped foot through those enormous stone doors. If Harry were a member of his own house, then there could have been the slightest chance that he could have warmed up to Harry because as a wise old wizard always liked to declare, love beats war or anger (just to make it clear, I’m stating that Snape’s love for Lily would win over his hatred for Harry). If he had, then there would have been two routes Snape could have taken: given him extra protection for when Voldemort returned or turned him into some sort of “minion” for Voldemort to train him up and go against everything that Dumbledore sacrificed for him.

Giving Harry extra protection would probably have been the more realistic route Snape would have taken; Snape basically owed Dumbledore his life after he gave him a second chance, a chance to redeem himself after he made the mistake of becoming a Death Eater and putting a death warrant on Lily Potter and her family’s heads. Yes, he basically does that in the original novels anyway (hidden under a very good disguise) but with Harry in Slytherin, it would have given him better access to do so. He may have also done this in honour of Lily, to make up for all the wrongs he did her. However, what would have happened if the story had taken an even darker approach, giving Slytherin fans all over the world a field day? I’m sure there has been fanfiction written about this somewhere but if Harry had been sorted into Slytherin, there could have been a big chance that Snape would have given into temptation and gone back to his Death Eating ways, trying to rope in Harry as well; what better opportunity would there have been for world domination than The Dark Lord & The Chosen One joining forces? All the enticement was there, all it would have taken would have been a nudge and he could have been lured back to the evil he once devoted his life to. I’m sure he also would have been greatly respected by Voldemort for handing him over the boy whose abilities matched his own; yes he already is respected when he presents himself to Voldemort and deeming worthy enough to be trusted again between books four and five, but in this case he wouldn’t be  pretending for the sake of Dumbledore, he would be doing it off his own back, making the situation that much different. Additionally, it would have been the perfect opportunity to get back at the memory of James and his fellow Marauders by taking away the only hope the wizarding community had to rid their world of the most dangerous evil that they’ve ever known. The question is, would Harry have done it?

If Harry had been accepted into Slytherin house, would he himself have become the Slytherin Prince? He certainly would have fitted in, what with the Parseltongue and the connection into Voldemort’s mind and the ability to cast dark curses if he chose to, after all, all he’d have to do is mean it; I’m sure it wouldn’t have taken much when surrounded by pureblood maniacs daily. His best friend would more than likely have been Draco Malfoy and his day to day activities would have been terrorising muggleborns; the world would be very dark indeed if he and Voldemort had combined forces. However, I doubt very much he would have given in to the dark side just like that. As James Potter’s son, it would have taken a lot to persuade him to join the man who wreaked havoc across the whole wizarding world, putting everyone in mortal peril and killing both of his parents, even if he had been sorted into Slytherin. I’m sure he would have followed the great steps of Andromeda Black and resisted the Dark Arts as much as possible. Who knows, he may still have been best friends with Ron and Hermione. But I guess this is something we will never find out and will only ever think about what if; there’s plenty theories where that came from!

A little Snape candy for everyone!

*Picture not mine, found on Google*

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 World Premiere

Ok this is the last post that I am copying from my other blog now, any post from here on out is completely new. This is the tale of my experience at the Deathly Hallows Part 2 World Premiere. I wasn’t one of those people that camped out for three or four days on Trafalgar Square waiting patiently, however I did camp out for one night, obviously the night before the premiere, and I can safely say that I don’t think I’ll be camping out for a premiere again. This premiere was the seventh that I had attended (and by attended I mean waiting outside of the cinema for hours upon end for the celebrities to arrive so I can catch a brief glimpse of them and if I’m real lucky, a moment’s meeting) and beforehand I only went out at early mornings to start waiting (the earliest being 3am for the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince premiere) but I guess there’s a first for everything and what better premiere to do it for than the final ever Harry Potter one. After being a fan since I first started reading the books at around age eight or nine, I proudly announce myself a manic fan; I would have probably graduated with a First if my degree was in Harry Potter. There is not a day that goes by in which I don’t reference HP somehow; because of this I figured that I had to camp out for at least on the premieres. However, everything didn’t go as swimmingly as I would have liked.

Disasters started happening a week before the event when Warner Brothers (who for some reason decided to organise the event themselves) announced that in order to wait in the pens, one must have a wristband which were to be given out by members of security on Wednesday 6th July at 10am. This had already screwed with my plans as I had booked train tickets weeks in advance & my train was not due to arrive in London until the afternoon. It was obvious to anyone that thousands of people would be attending this premiere, lots of which would be camping out. From chatting with people previously via different Facebook groups, I knew a lot of people were going up the day before, but after this last minute announcement, people were obviously going to panic and decide to head there earlier. To me it seemed pretty unfair as I was travelling up from South Wales (alright there were tons more people who had traveled a lot further, but still) and there was no way for me to travel up there earlier without wasting the money I had already spent on train tickets. I had planned to meet up with some online friends whilst there, all of whom had started worrying also as they were arriving in London in the afternoon of that day as well, but we were going to make the most of it and try our best to get a good spot.

After getting into London Paddington at around 3:10pm, I set off to Charing Cross to meet my friend Cheryl and a few of her friends and start our waiting on the Square. After scanning over the location, we decided to get in the queue for wristbands, which we got without any problems (and even managed to nab two extra bands for a couple of people who would head down later) and was let into the area.

My wristband, which I managed to keep on for a month until I cut it off just in case it broke on its own accord.

Without being told anything from security, we thought that there was nothing wrong with pitching our spots on one of the balconies as there seemed to be a load of space and there were barriers already up, indicating that the celebrities were bound to walk down the area. After checking the map via BlackBerry on the premiere website, we discovered that this was exactly right and the press were to be situated opposite. We thought we were in the with the best of luck and this would be the best spot to stand in; how wrong we were!

View the day before from the balcony; look at all the people!

After spending nearly an hour in this spot, we started to see people speaking to security then moving away from this area, so we started to wonder why the sudden movement. We thought our best bet would be to move to the opposite balcony just in case this was the better location to stand at, but things still didn’t seem to be right. Cheryl went wandering to see if she could find out any information at all and what she found out wasn’t all that much as the security seemed to be just as clueless as we were (you can tell that the organisation was very well prepared, not) but was enough to shatter whatever visions we did have when we first let into the balconies. Apparently two separate queues  had been forming to enter the balconies on the ground floor of the Square for a few hours but for some reason security  didn’t bother to tell everyone this as they were being let in and would in turn shout at people to get out when the time finally came for the queues to be moved up to the balconies. Thinking it was pointless to wait there any longer, we made our way down the steps and to join the back of the queue for the balcony that we had originally been standing on; seeing that the queue for it wasn’t that large at that point in time, we thought that maybe, just maybe our luck would change and we could possibly gain a good spot out of it. We were told that the we wouldn’t be moved to the balcony until 11am the following morning so we decided that it was now fine to settle down and start our waiting.

Everyone queuing to go up to the balcony the night before.

Even though there was at least another 24 hours to go until the premiere was well underway, this part of the waiting wasn’t too bad as it was the perfect time to chat with friends and meet new people. Most people all seemed friendly with one another because of having so much in common; considering the extent of the fandom, there was plenty to talk about. It was outstanding to see hundreds upon hundreds of Harry Potter fans gathered in one area, talking, laughing, singing and playing games and how we were all like one big, happy family. At around 7pm, Leigh and Leonie (the two girls I had got wristbands for and funnily enough didn’t really know; I had only started speaking to Leigh like two weeks before via Facebook and Leonie was her friend) and once we all got acquainted, they to sat down to join the long wait with us. Fortunately the reason why me and Leigh had started speaking was because of a reference I had made to A Very Potter Musical and so we spent a great deal of time talking StarkidPotter and eating Redvines, a good way to pass the time.

(Left to right) Leonie & Leigh munching.

As time was getting later, we thought it best to start getting cozy into our sleeping bags (and in mine, Cheryl & her friend Hayley’s case, bright orange survival bags as well) as we were obviously not going to be moved until the next morning, right? WRONG!

(Right to left) Janine, Lou, Hayley (the orange bundle) & Cheryl getting all snugly bugly.

At around 11pm, the security guards thought it was the right time to move us forward and get us into not only vertical lines, but horizontal lines as well so everyone was squashed together like sardines playing a game of Tetris when trying to sleep. One girl in front voiced our complaints to one of the guards, saying how absurd it was for us to try and sleep like this when we were comfortable in our previous positions and he practically bit her head off, saying it was all our own choices to camp out so we had to sort it out ourselves. I didn’t even see the point of us moving in the first place when it wasn’t to the balcony; they had no clue as to what they were doing so my opinion was that they wanted to look as if they were doing something useful. That didn’t work out so well and it wouldn’t have cost anything for them to have some manners either. So as you can tell, we were all in the best of moods after that little escapade and wasn’t going to have the best night’s sleep either. I think altogether I must have got about 10 minutes sleep, what with lying in an awkward position on the floor, sirens, traffic and complete drunkards who thought it was hilarious to poke fun at everyone and slag off Harry Potter; not the wisest move to make when you’re surrounded by hundreds of Harry Potter fans I’m reckoning. To pass the time, wanderings around London in pyjamas and midnight singalongs of Potter Puppet Pals’ The Mysterious Ticking Noise and Get Back to Hogwarts from A Very Potter Musical was in order.

Sardine camping.

By 4:30am it was getting lighter and we thought it pointless to try and get any sleep at this point and so decided to get up and ready for the day that lay ahead; I, like so many others, donned my costume (school uniform along with a Gryffindor robe and tie). However, the day did not start within my favour as by 5am the rain had started and was not going to get any better; what started as on and off showers turned into full blown torrential downpours by around 10am. Flashbacks of the Half Blood Prince premiere started to flood back, only at that premiere the torrential downpour started at 5pm, which unfortunately was right before the celebrities started to turn up. This premiere however was hours away from starting and I knew that if it carried on like this for the rest of the day, then I would end up a like a drowned rat suffering from pneumonia.

The flags are up & people’s macs are on!

As previously guessed we were not let up to the balcony at 11am, in fact it was more like an hour later, although this did not stop people from behind, and even from outside the queue starting to push in front, so those like myself who had been waiting longer than them were forced somewhat behind. The guards fortunately did their job to some of those who were not originally in the queue and forced them to get out, however not a lot could be done about those from behind. I was merged away from Cheryl and co but luckily still stuck to Leigh and Leonie and when we were finally let up to the balcony at long lost, we were still standing together, right in front of the press (more so for Daybreak, the HP DVD and fansites). Unfortunately for me, I started off in the third row and by the time the premiere got going was even further back again when people decided to force their way in front of me. I couldn’t believe how unlucky I was because I knew I wouldn’t be able to get further in front and me only being five foot put me at more of a disadvantage as I wouldn’t be able to see over people’s heads and would get monumentally squashed when even more people would start to fight their way in front of and over me with their arms, books, etc. Another downer on the day was that because of all the pushing and the torrential rain, Cheryl and co decided that enough was enough and home was the best way forward; they didn’t want their trip to be anymore disastrous than it already was and to be honest, I didn’t really blame them.

Press sections in front of the National Gallery.

Knowing I wouldn’t be able to get the best of views once things got started, I decided to try and keep my spirits high and look on the bright side. I started talking to a very nice girl called Carol who had traveled all the way from Brazil (along with some other girls) who had come over to London for a holiday and was very excited to be at the last ever Harry Potter premiere; we both decided to get hyper anyways, no matter that we were quite far back, and I told her to just lean over as far as she could when the cast started signing to try and get their autographs. And to make the day that bit brighter, it had finally stopped raining and the sun was beaming down on us.

(Left to right) Me & Carol at the end of the day.

We were told that by 4pm, the celebrities would start turning up and the action would really start. In preparation to working up to that time, the press started getting set up and interviewing and clips were being shown on the big screen (which thankfully I could see perfectly, so I knew if I wasn’t able to see the cast in front of me, I could still get a good view when they were being interviewed by Alex Zane and shown on the screen) to entertain everyone.

Look, it’s Stephen Mulhern interviewing; if you grew up on CITV, then you would understand why this excites me!

As you can guess though, 4pm arrived and no one had turned up yet; it wouldn’t be a proper premiere though if the stars turned up on time. The same clips and trailers were being played over and over and it was starting to get that bit annoying. Everyone was starting to get restless; we wanted celebrities and soon. By around 4:30pm our wish was granted.

Pictures on the screen to get the crowd screaming, yay Snape!

First to arrive was Rupert Grint and the fangirl inside me went into motion. I’ve been a fan of the character of Ron Weasley since I started reading the books all those years ago, he was always the funniest and the most down-to-earth-character; always my favourite. Then when turning the novels into films, I don’t think they could have picked anyone better for the role. Rupert Grint was perfect right from the beginning, not just because he was ginger but because even at an early age he had wit and talent, and it just grew throughout the whole 10 years it took to make all eight films. He was the one person I was most excited to see because even though I had caught a brief glance of him at the Half Blood Prince premiere, he was dragged away before he could reach my section so I was hoping for more of a close-up of him this time around.

My future husband…I mean, Rupert Grint on the big screen, being interviewed by Alex Zane; still can’t believe I was one of those thousands of people in the background!

After Mr Grint’s arrival, the starts just kept on turning up: Jason Isaacs (who when talking to Alex Zane, actually spoke like Lucius Malfoy, made my life), the Phelps twins, Matthew Lewis, Tom Felton, Evanna Lynch, Michael Gambon, Julie Walters and so on and so forth. The majority of the cast showed, the best of British actors and actresses all in one location, what more could one ask for in one day (well meeting them all would have been quite a treat but we can’t have everything I suppose).

Mr Jason Isaacs on the big screen.
Matthew Lewis (look at the transformation) on the big screen.
Tom Felton & girlfriend on the big screen.
Evanna Lynch on the big screen, signing.
The legend that is Julie Walters on the big screen.

A while went by before the actors were making their way to our section of the square but once they did, the exact bedlam occurred that I knew would happened; everyone was shrieking and shouting and there was no room to swing a cat the way everyone was pushing and shoving. I couldn’t move no matter how hard I tried and even standing on tip toes half the time I still couldn’t see. It does no good for your bones when you’re stuck in one position with your arms stuck out in mid-air because your trying to reach your way over tons of people to get a couple of autographs; sometimes I wish I was just that bit taller or owned a pair of stilts. Never mind, even though I was a bit gutted that I didn’t get to meet The Grint, Alan Rickman (who, may I add, was present when everyone decided to sing another round of The Mysterious Ticking Noise, how epic), Jessie Cave, Domnhall Gleeson, Jason Isaacs, Queen Rowling or the majority of the rest of the cast, I was still inches away from them and could just about see them, which especially in Grint’s and Rickman’s case was a bit better than the last effort.

Dom Gleeson in front of me.
The man with greatest voice in the universe, a.k.a Alan Rickman, across from me giving an interview.

Fortunately I didn’t leave the premiere empty handed; with the help of Leonie I got Oliver and James Phelps’ autographs (who was making a record for themselves by signing for practically everyone that they could reach, not many people would have that much patience and dedication) for the second time and by myself I got Helen McCroy’s, which was better than nothing at all.

Oliver or James Phelps signing my book…
…& James or Oliver Phelps in front of me (still can’t tell the difference between them).

Nearing the end of all the celebrities turning up, StarkidPotter’s own Darren Criss and Joe Walker finally turned up (OMG) and even though I didn’t get to meet either of them either, I was extremely happy that I got to at least see not one, but two members of the amazing theatre group; Darren Criss passed by, but not without waving to everyone, and Joe Walker took his time to sign for a few people in front of me, laughing and joking about how mad the whole event was, seemed ever so friendly.

It’s Joe Walker everyone…JOE FLAMING WALKER!
The one & only Darren Criss on the big screen.

To finish the big day off, a reel of wonderful speeches were given on the stage and shown on the big screen by some guy from Warner Bros, the three David’s, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and J.K. Rowling. The first four speeches were fine to get through and even listening to Dan Radcliffe’s was fine, but by the time it got to Emma’s and all the way through to J.K’s, I was in floods of tears; I don’t think there was a dry eye in the square. It was so emotional to hear all of them speak how it was the end of the entire series, it was and still is hard for it to sink in, and to see all of them crying was enough to set anyone off.

The Golden Trio during the speeches on the big screen.
David Heyman, J.K. Rowling, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson & Daniel Radcliffe on the big screen during the speeches.

After the emotional ride was over, I said my goodbyes to all the lovely people I met over the course of the 2 days and set off on my way back to London Paddington to get home in time for my graduation the following day.

Me & Leigh at the end of the day.

So even though the event didn’t go the way I planned and the organisation for the whole thing was completely shocking, I don’t regret going in the slightest because it was a memorable part of film/entertainment/Harry Potter history and I bore witness to it!

James Phelps’ autograph.
Oliver Phelps’ autograph.

 

Helen McCroy's autograph.

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Review

So after a long and anticipated wait, Deathly Hallows Part 2 hit cinemas July 15 and I definitely found it to my satisfaction. I am going to take this oppurtunity to give my truthful opinion about it.

From start to finish the film had me on edge, keeping me hooked. I also found it tremendously accurate to the book, as did Part 1. I obviously found a few bits and pieces which were either added or wrong, but obviously the film is only based on the novel and not a full replica.

The Gringotts scene was just about perfect. Helena Bonham Carter acting as Hermione was spot on; all manuerisms were practically a mirror image of Watson’s. The dragon effects were literally amazing and Warwick Davies playing a second role as Griphook was exactly how I imagined; he got the craftiness down to a tee.

Aberforth Dumbledore was also how I imagined, however I had hoped they would go into detail about his, Albus’ and Ariana’s past. This was one moment I had wanted to be kept in, for Aberforth to go into detail about how their father went to Azkaban and how Albus turnerd from the power hungry youngster into the greatest wizard of our age. Of course they had to keep the painting of Ariana in for them to get into the secret passage, but while Aberforth asks the Golden Trio if Albus had mentioned her name, you hear nothing else except for the tiniest detail Hermione informs Ron and Harry about; this was quite disappointing in my eyes.

The Battle of Hogwarts; where do I start? The huge amount of special effects that were involved from beginning to end of the battle were absolutely spectacular: the stone guards, the bridge falling, the vasts amounts of Death Eaters shooting spells in the air to break the wards of Hogwarts; everything was taken with such care and devotion to create and film properly. The Fiendfyre in the Room of Requirement was also another breathtaking scene; swirls upon swirls of cursed fire, taking the form of a dragon, chasing the trio around the cluttered room while they try and get their hands on the horcrux known as Ravenclaw’s diadem. It made me happy to notice that they kept in Ron’s hysterical line “if we die for them Harry, Im going to kill you” as all three of them vault towards Draco Malfoy & Blaise Zabini (changed from Gregory Goyle, as he was the unfortunate one to plumate into a firey death, given the fact  that Jamie Waylett who played Vincent Crabbe was cut from the film because of a drug charge stamped on his name) to save them from their unstable fortress on a junk pile. To finish the scene off outstandingly, they zoom out of the room, Harry finally stabs the horcrux and Ron kicks it back into the room, the door shutting before fiery images of Voldemort enter the hallway, proving that they are another step closer to defeating the Dark Lord forever.

The moment I was longing for, even before knowing how it happened in the book of Deathly Hallows, was the first kiss between Ron and Hermione. It has always been noticeable since the first book that the two of them would get it together, no matter how long it took; their constant bickering was just added proof that they acted like an old married couple. I have my own theories as to when each of them started to like each other a tad more than just friends (even if it was just starting to appreciate each other more to begin with, then their feelings progressed as they got older): Hermione’s moment of relisation was at the end of the first book when Ron sacrificed himself on the chess board so Harry and her could go onwards to stop “Snape” from accessing the Philosopher’s Stone; Ron’s was in the middle of the second book when Hermione got petrified. Again, these are only my own theories, but to me they seem like the perfect moments to realise their not only best friends. Anyways, back to the point at hand. The famous kiss scene was obviously different from that in the book as it was not based outside the Room of Requirement, where Hermione leaps into Ron’s arms and kisses him passionately because of him declaring he wants to help the house elves. However, replacing it with actually showing them in the Chamber of Secrets and Hermione destroying the horcrux, with them both leaping on each other after doing so, was a bleeding good substitute. They were not kidding  when they said  in interviews that they basically went for it, even though it took six takes. They knew that people had been waiting for this for years and obviously wanted to show them that they weren’t waiting for no reason. This kiss very much beats both the Harry and Cho, and Harry and Ginny kisses; these were both hyped up to be extreme because it was the Boy Who Lived, but they turned out to be lame and cheesey. If the Ron and Hermione kiss does not win Best Kiss at the MTV Movie Awards next year, I will eat my hat, especially if they are beaten by Robert Pattinson and Kristen “the plank of wood” Stewart (haha). Nothing against Twilight, as I actually quite like it, but I am not a fan of the character of Bella or the tosspot actress who plays her; Stewart wouldn’t know emotion if it came up and smacked her in the face. Right, I’ve gone off topic once again.

There were three characters during this film which I thought stood out amongst the rest, the first is Minerva McGonagall. Throughout the whole series, in both books and films, McGonagall has been a strong character, not easily swayed. However throughout the film series, her character has been slowly reduced until she was hardly present, but thankfully Deathly Hallows Part 2 brought her back with a vengence. Duelling with Snape showed her Gryffindor courage and no matter her age, she still fought strong, even when he & the Carrows could have brought her down and with a lot more nastier curses than she was using. Then, her motherly & teacher instinct came more to the surface when protecting the school; they could not have asked for a more powerful actress to play such a forceful and well respected teacher than Maggie Smith.

Second is Severus Snape. Most scenes that contained this character were absolutely emotional. Again, the duelling scene with Mcgonagall was an epic one, particularly his exist as he took his “Death Eater form”, and smashed straight out of the window. After this scene, any that contained Snape made you feel sympathetic towards the character becuase of where his true alliegances lay. The death of Snape brought millions fans around the world to tears; even in the full screening room I sat in on opening night, I could hear a good majority of the audience sniffing and sobbing, and this included myself. This was also quite a gruesome moment, even though all you saw was Voldemort use a curse which slit his throat and Nagini leaning in for the kill; hearing the sounds of the body banginig on the wall/window of the boat house as the snake attacked him was enough for me to literally jump out of my seat and make my skin crawl. The sobbing continued as Harry entered the boathouse to try and aid Snape’s fatefull wounds but knowing it would do no good as he watched his former teacher cry out his memories, begging him to take them. I didn’t think the film could get anymore emotional after Snape’s dying wish was to look into Harry’s eyes, commenting that their his mother’s (obviously the comment didn’t mean anything to Harry at that point except for him saying something so many others had before him), however this was before I witnessed Snape’s memories. I must admit, I thought they were going to go into a tad more detail, giving the fact that they missed out the whole plot that Lily despised James before their seventh year in Hogwarts and how Lily cut Snape off as a friend from fifth year onwards because of him calling her a mudblood, however they did not disappoint me in the slightest. Showing this more tender side to Snape was exactly what the film needed to get a tear or two out of EVERYONE watching, if they hadn’t been crying already. It was emotional enough in the book when you found out that Snape had known Lily before going to Hogwarts and had always loved her, but I did not expect the added extra of Snape visiting the house after she had been killed. It definitely pulled on my heartstrings seeing such a strong character breakdown in such a way, especially when he was holding her body while he grieved for the one person who saw good in him, Harry crying in the background. This new portrayal of Snape showed just how talented of an actor Alan Rickman is and how he is the only actor alive made for playing this character; he has played villains many times before during his career, but how many of them has realised their mistakes and changed for the better? I don’t think any actor in the world could do such a magnificent job of playing the memorably character of Snape as Rickman did; if the Potter films are re-created in around 20 years time, whoever will be given the responsibility of playing the potions master will have A LOT to live up to.

Finally last, but certainly not least, is Neville Longbottom. Neville has grown up greatly from the podgey little first year he started out to be in Philosopher’s Stone, and not just physically. Yes, he always had a certain amount of that Gryffindor courage inside of him, considering he earned that final ten points they needed to win the house cup when he bravely stood up to his friends for what he thought was right, but he more than prooved to everyone that he was placed in the right house in this final film. During the course of the Harry Potter film series, a lot of Neville’s plot lines and scenes had been cut out, the most important being that there was an enormous chance that he could have been the Chosen One and not Harry; David Yates has conveniantly missed this important piece of information out, therefore not giving the character enough screen time, only mentioning him here and there. In my opinion, this was utterly preposterous to leave such a vital plot line out of the films, considering through the book, Neville is basically a main character and you not only see the Golden Trio grow up, you watch him grow up from a little boy who was also orphaned (although for a very different reason to the Boy Who Lived) to a courageous young man who acted for all the right reasons; starting as a “loser” in the background and ending as a true leader. Despite his story being cut short, he definitely lived up to the book’s portrayal; leading the DA as best as possible, fighting like a true hero, sticking up for the way in which the wizarding world should be run and finally destroying the last remaining horcrux. I especially enjoyed him standing up against those thousands of Death Eaters, cheekily asking “you and whose army” when they aren’t permitted to cross the castle’s protection shield and then bringing down the bridge with one mis-aimed spell when the protection is broken. His courageous speech towards Voldemort was also a proud moment for the young Gryffindor, especially considering everyone thought he was joining the opposition; how wrong they were.

One portrayal that I have never been fond of throughout all of the films has been that of Voldemort. Ralph (not Rafe, there is a god-damn l in his name) Fiennes has done an appawling job of playing one of the most sinister fictional characters of our generation; in my opinion, he has not read the description of Voldy very carefully. Voldemort is supposed to speak in a deadly whisper, making his presence even more chilling and those around him feel uncomfortable and on edge, never knowing when he may attack. However, all Fiennes has ever done is shout and yell like a football hooligan at every moment which presents itself; his random outbursts of insane screaming does nothing to improve his supposedly “terrifying” image. Every other portayal of the Dark Lord throughout the film series has been spot on: the Voldemort on the back of Quirrell’s head all the way back in Philosopher’s Stone was exactly right. His voice was the perfect, bone-chilling whisper to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on edge and you even get a quick shot of the scarlet in his eyes when his “remains” fly through Harry after Quirrell has disolved into nothing. The only problem with this Voldemort was that he had a nose, other than that he was perfect and it was a shame that the actor who voiced him was not brought back for Goblet of Fire and onwards; both teenage Tom Riddles were exact to the character description, being that they were both attractive and both played the manipulative side of the sinister but charming lad to a tee; even the boy Riddle (who coincidently is Fiennes’ nephew in real life) had the same unnerving edge the kid who played Damien did in The Omen. Ralph Fiennes is the only portrayal of He Who Shall Not Be Named which has been a let down, in my eyes anyways; the only moment, for the entire time he has played the character, which was at least convincing  was in the last film when he was talking to everyone at Hogwarts but in their heads. His voice was exactly the way it should have been the whole time, unsettling and frightening, making people quiver with fear for not knowing how he will react if he is disobeyed and does happen to shout.

Another major problem with Voldemort in this film was the fact that he was more out of character than normal. For instance, there was hardly a moment in any of the books where the Dark Lord laughed in any way, so giggling and cackling like a school child when he thought that Harry was dead was definitely farfetched, what was that about? I was very much stunned when he did this, sitting in my seat with my mouth agape wondering what the hell was going on. The second time I saw the film, the whole screening room were in fits of laughter he was that ridiculous. How is an evil dark wizard supposed to keep his image when he is acting like a teenage chav? Then there was the fact that he hugged Draco…he HUGGED him!!! Voldemort does not have a heart & he certainly doesn’t have the qualities of a cuddley teddybear, so there is no way in hell that he would hug anyone. If anyone were to show any sort of affection like that towards him, he would kill them on the spot before they had a chance to get near him. Look at what he did to Bellatrix when she went to help him up from the ground after he used the killing curse on Harry in the Forbidden Forrest, he pushed her away. So why on earth would he give a teenage boy a hug? As you can tell, this out-of-character portrayal gets on my nerves just a tad.

Apart from the couple of points that I have mentioned, I very much enjoyed Deathly Hallows Part 2 and am still very sad and emotional that it is all over. However, true fans like myself will never believe it is over when we have the books and films to turn back on when we are getting withdrawal symptoms. Also, there is Pottermore & the launch of a new website, myhogwarts.co.uk; it is a website which will act as the actual Hogwarts, giving you the chance to actually be taught there but online of course; enrollment begins next June. Then there’s the opening of the Warner Brothers Studio Tour – The Making of Harry Potter at the end of March in London, giving you a chance to view the actual sets, props, costumes, creatures and much, much more. All of these are great ways to talk to other obsessive fans and discuss different theories and so on. As long as the fans stay behind Harry Potter, it will always be a known phenomenon which will never be forgotten and will always be remembered through pages, screen and everyone’s hearts.

Potter maybe be finished, but it will always stay alive to those who honour it.

*Poster does not belong to me, found it on that fascinating search engine Google*

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Richard Harris vs Michael Gambon; who is the best Dumbledore?

Who is the best?

Ok so to begin with, I’m going to be copying a couple of posts from another one of my blogs into this one as their Harry Potter related, so it’s only natural that they should posted here as well. This particular post is to discuss my opinion on the best portrayal of the ‘greatest wizard of our age’.  To me, Richard Harris always was, and always will be ‘the’ Dumbledore.

‘The Greatest Wizard of our age’

Richard Harris brought that certain kind of magic to the first two Harry Potter films which the character of Dumbledore brought to the books. The well known British actor played the character with that exact gentility which makes everyone trust and love the mad but intelligent headmaster. Even his voice was perfect because even from the books, we knew the professor had a kind and quiet voice, speaking very softly but with a kind of sharpness which would make everyone listen whenever he spoke. Richard Harris had this technique to a tee and whenever I read the books now, I always imagine him because he brought the character to life. His death back in 2002 saddened everyone and a good majority of the films’ audiences knew that he could not be replaced.

Not the same

Handing over the role of Dumbledore to Michael Gambon was probably one of the worst decisions that the Harry Potter crew could have ever done. I appologise to those who may love his portrayal of Dumbledore, but to me he lacks everything Richarad Harris gave to that character. Obviously he wanted to make the character his own knowing that he probably couldn’t live up to what Richard Harris had done, but Richarad Harris kept how the actual character was described, he did not. The main aspect which annoys me about Gambon’s Dumbledore is his constant shouting like a football hooligan, what is that about? Goblet of Fire is a fine example of this, when he out of the blue yells at Harry asking whether he “put his name into the Goblet of Fire” and shakes him half to death. This is physical abuse! Dumbledore would never, ever do something like this to any of his pupils, especially Harry. Even in the books there are only about two moments in the whole series where Dumbledore shouts: At Cornellius Fudge outside the hospital wind in Goblet of Fire (if I remember correctly) and at Harry in his office, when he is saying that love is more stronger than anything that Voldemort has in Half Blood Prince. Why the hell has the screenwriters decided that this was the best route in which to portray the films’ second Dumbledore?

And what is with all the awkward scenes in Half Blood Prince where he tells Harry he needs a shave & where he stares at a huge billboard of a model on the train station? May I remind you that Dumbledore is gayer than a Christmas tree. These flaws, along with many others, make my opinion of Michael Gambon a negative one, he ruined what would be one of the greatest and powerful characters that should have been played on screen.

Again sorry to all those Gambon portrayal fans, but Richard Harris will always be the perfect Dumbledore and will always be remembered for doing so.

*Pictures are not mine, thank the wonderful world of Google for them*

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Hogwarts is my Home!

Welcome, welcome, welcome! Ok, so I know this is my third blog and I don’t keep to the other two as much as I should, but I couldn’t resist creating a blog that has everything upon everything to do with Harry Potter. I’d say that a good portion of my life is dedicated to Harry Potter; some would say this is crazed or manic, I call it dedication. I’ve read the books and seen the films countless times, I’ve braved horrific weather to attend a couple of the film premieres, I’ve gone to see some exhibitions dedicated to the films and already have my tickets to go to the Harry Potter Studio Tour in London on opening day. I even have a HP related tattoo and am also planning another one; some people say obsessive, again I say dedication.

Since around the age of eight or nine I’ve been a fan of the books, I mean what kid doesn’t find a world filled of magical beings appealing? As I grew older, I began to appreciate J.K. Rowling’s world a whole lot more and every time a new book or film would come out, my excitement would top the one before. 2007 then marked the year that the final Harry Potter book was released, making millions of fans all over the world depressed that we would not be given another tale following the lives of The Golden Trio. But never fear, we still had the rest of the films to be made and that felt like they would take an eternity to be created; eternity was obviously not long enough. This year marked the year of the release of the final ever film and personally being one of the thousands standing in Trafalgar Square (along with the thousands watching online), seeing the people you look up to burst into floods of tears because they would never be part of something so amazing again was probably one of the most emotional moments of my entire life. I still can’t quite grasp that it is all over…technically; all of those who stay dedicated to the Harry Potter fandom will never let go what it all means to us. In the words of the Queen…the Queen being J.K. Rowling of course, “whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home!”

& so, to keep the magic of Harry Potter alive, I’m starting this blog to write about all things HP, including my own experiences and theories. However I will state now that if you do not agree with my theories, please don’t continue to read my blog or if you do & happen to comment, please keep the comments clean and tell me your own views in a decent and friendly manner; we obviously speak our own minds and each person is different to the next, but that doesn’t excuse any harsh comments you may have against my posts, after all they are my personal opinions. Apart from that, all I have to say until my next post is nitwit, blubber, oddment and tweak!

To mark my first post, here's a little treat: a picture I took at the final premiere

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