My favorite callback begins in book 5.

Harry tells Petunia and Vernon that it was a Dementor attack. Vernon says, "What are dementors?". Petunia says, "They guard Azkaban, the wizard prison."

When Harry asks her how she knows that, Petunia says, "I heard HIM telling her! That horrible boy..." and you assume Petunia means James.

But no!

She meant Snape!!

LOVE. IT.

She meant Snape!!

Huh. That is awesome!

Exactly! It's those minor, seemingly either obvious, or trivial moments being brought back and resolved. Just KILLS me!

I'm pleased that they either got a new editor or JK grew out of her adverbial obsession...the writing style was so much more enjoyable for me this time. BUT, the sheer architectural genius of offering all those details and then tying them up...that's what really impresses me.

I wonder if all those details, woven into the structure were forward thinking, or if JK went back to the previous books to hunt up things to mention. Either way. Impressivo.

I don't remember so much seeing or hearing the actors as I read HBP, but I wasn't even trying for DH and pretty much all actors shone through the page. Maybe because I had just seen OotP two days prior to getting the book in the mail, or maybe JKR really was being influenced by the actors playing her characters in the movies.

Whether this was a deliberate choice to write with the voices the actor's gave the characters, or if she was influenced on an unconcious level simply by the movies very existence, and it's finally infiltrating how she writes. Which is kinda neat.

The other thing I noticed when reading this book is that Harry is in his skivvies once, naked once, and the multiple Harrys are said to be having a disregard for his modesty. I bet Daniel Radcliffe read this thinking, "I better keep working out."

What I noticed is that it's going to be an odd movie when the Trio spends half the book Polyjuiced and the other half invisible.

When she was writing the first book, she had already mentally cast Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid.

Heh, I remember reading that. Which is good, since he embodies Hagrid well.

Hadn't thought of Fred as dominant, but I can see that point now.

Hadn't thought of it before, but it's always "Fred and George," not "George and Fred."

I was amazed that every other page featured some form of callback.

I loved all the fucking callbacks. The closet under the stairs!

I'm pleased that they either got a new editor or JK grew out of her adverbial obsession

But she grew into her colon obsession: Oh my God, I could not take it after a while.

BUT, the sheer architectural genius of offering all those details and then tying them up...that's what really impresses me.

I wonder if all those details, woven into the structure were forward thinking, or if JK went back to the previous books to hunt up things to mention. Either way. Impressivo.

That Petunia one sure does sound like a forward-thinking bit of brilliance, but I wonder myself. Either way, like you said, incredibly impressive. Hearts.

There was a nod in there to Dean Thomas' backstory as well, which I think she said was cut from Book 2. He and his mother always assumed his father left them, but wasn't his father actually killed by Voldemort? Makes Dean a halfblood rather than a Muggle.

So I think each book has had to skew downward to younger readers than the book before.

Not sure what that means. I don't think the books have done any downward skewing. In general ( and this is very general ) kids tend to read book about kids that are older. From the kids I see, I 'd put most of the books in the 10 to 14 yr old reader range. because of the phenomenon that Harry Potter has become, I know 6 and 7 yr olds that have read them all. Not so sure that is for the best, but I think about how much more fun I would have had with these books if I had read them younger

"And what the ruddy hell are dementors?"

"They guard the wizard prison, Azkaban," said Aunt Petunia.

Two seconds' ringing silence followed these words and then Aunt Petunia clapped her hand over her mouth as though she had let slip a disgusting swear word. Uncle Vernon was goggling at her. Harry’s brain reeled. Mrs. Figg was one thing--but Aunt Petunia?

"How d'you know that?" he asked her, astonished.

Aunt Petunia looked quite appalled with herself. She glanced at Uncle Vernon in fearful apology, then lowered her hand slightly to reveal her horsey teeth.

"I heard--that awful boy--telling her about them--years ago," she said jerkily.

"If you mean my mum and dad, why don't you use their names?" said Harry loudly, but Aunt Petunia ignored him. She seemed horribly flustered. (OotP, pp. 31-32)

I noticed that too, and wondered whether "stripping" meant all the way. How could you show that in a kids' film?

They could be stripping off screen and you would just see the real Harry's reaction to them. Easily done.

My favorite callback begins in book 5.

Ohhhh, nice.

Now I'm going to have to do a full reread to catch all the threads. When I'm done with school. The break I took to read this has already put me behind in my current class, darn it.

"And what the ruddy hell are dementors?"

Cool. Thanks for digging that up, Aimée.