You guys, I didn't mean to post and run, but, well, sorry, this is what had happened. So, now, a meara.

First of all, Tod? No worries, OK? I *did* write the "twelve years old", meaning that I react like a child, thinking that people here already know that if I am twelve, I've been in that age for quite a few years now, and it's completely logical to be confused. In fact, if it's OK by you, I think I would like to accept this misunderstanding the was I do with bus drivers and the like, who try to explain to me that there's a discount for people under the age of eighteen, or like the people who watch after students when they take their exams, and don't let me answer their questions (I'm the TA), because I look like one of them. I always enjoy these misunderstandings so very much (um, when I can find a way to not leave my students hanging answers-less, of course). So if, in your eyes, I had the level of enthusiasm of a child, I'm very pleased!

In fact, this is one of the things I most enjoy in the "Harry Potter" books - this sensation, that becomes more difficult and rare to find, of this inability *not* to turn the next page, this drowning inside a story, without the burning everyday need to resurface and check what's going on with the world. I don't know if the books have changed (because grown-ups books are supposed to create different, more mature, responses, right?), or me, or both. But I love it when I'm lost inside a world and need to be called out loud in order to leave it. Oh, or miss a bus. I'm pretty sure I missed at least one bus with HP7.

Oh, and regardless, welcome to b.org. Tod!

Dumbledore's painting behind Snapes chair. First perceived as turning your back to, but later seen as "I got your back".

That's a lovely touch.

Did you read it in Hebrew or English?

The English. The translators only get the HP books with the rest of the world (due to secrecy reasons and spoilers, I guess). The translations into Hebrew are usually being published mid-winter (they try to aim to Hanukkah, for the holiday and school vacation and presents). It's a very difficult book to translate, what with all the words JKR invents, all her puns and lovely games with the language. Because the translator has to work so fast, she has to find the quickest solutions around these things, which aren't necessarily the best.

I read all the books in English (and only in English). The Hebrew translation is done from the USA version, not the UK one (the cover, the little drawings at the top of each chapter). There are a few more differences, not just the "translation" between Englishes (this word totally looks wrong in plural). For example, IIRC, in "Half Blood Prince" there was a sentence that Dumbledore tells Malfoy right before he died, that didn't exist in the UK version. But it's usually very minor stuff.

Dumbledore=Hogwarts and I think of all the characters, only three, the triangle of Tom Riddle, Severus Snape, and Harry Potter needed both Hogwarts and Dumbledore's approval so tremendously.

Maysa, I loved what you wrote. It's amazing, the amount of parallels and reflections and half-reflections and echoes that she packed into the stories. To me, at least.

Buffistas, how much do you rock?

Needed to be said again. And absolutely not just due to the large amount of blushing I went through, while catching up here.

You've given me something to ponder.

Oh, that's lovely. I think that's the best possible thing I could hope from sharing my thoughts, too. Well, that, and what P-C said, of liking the books even more, I guess.

You guys rock. Just for the record. I'm so glad I have you to ramble to at such mess and length and tangents, and even get such kind words about it all! Thanks.

Awww, Nilly, you've left me a lot to ponder.

I forgot to mention how much I liked your description of Ron's arc and it's culmination. How different it is from Harry's or Hermione's but no less heroic.

There's a lovely TV biography of JKR (available to view on YouTube, btw) where she introduces her best friend from high school who was the basis for Ron. It made me wonder if Ron's less epic, more human scaled triumphs came from having a real person origin.

I feel so shallow for just having read it to find out who dies.

I feel so shallow for just having read it to find out who dies.

Tsk, tsk.

::checks off "Shallow" in connie's file::

I don't understand why people keep asking me if I've read it and then their next question is, "does Harry die?" To which I resond sadly, "yes. Yes he does."

OK this really only happened to me twice.

I remember reading someone's theory that, in the HPverse, there were native magical people in Britain -- the people who built the stone circles as one example -- and that the Roman wizards, who came with the rest of the Roman invaders, "civilized" the magic into a more formal, controlled system. Which would be why most of the school spells are from Latin, while the creatures with "their own" magic -- the centaurs, house elves, goblins, werewolves, etc -- don't depend on wands or spells for their magic. Also why magical kids are able to do certain things without wands, but then they learn how to control it at school. And why quite a few of the old wizarding families have Latin-derived last names.

Anyway. While my brain was on the magic and Romans track anyway, it ended up at Arthurian legends. And I realized that a pretty significant number of Weasleys -- Arthur, Percy, Ron, and Ginny -- all have names taken directly from the Arthurian legends. And that they're also one of the old wizarding familes without a Latin-ish name. I'm not entirely sure where this train of thought is leading me, but I thought I'd share it.

Also, we've seen them using the "Merlin" swears way more than pretty much any other characters.

t edit: and a quick google reminded me that the Weasley clan also includes a cousin Lancelot and an uncle Billius, which is close enough to Belleus that I'm going to count it.

Nilly, your posts always light up new paths for me.

Just a note about the power of books to give us meaningful things to take into real life:

A friend who lost her teenage son in a car accident a year ago told me she went to a grief counselor because she couldn't shake the horrible images and memories of what they went through during the 10 days between the accident and when he succumbed to his injuries. The counselor told her she needed a positive, happy memory of her son to hold onto and she said, "Oh, a patronus!" The counselor looked at her blankly, but to my friend it was perfectly clear that the horrible thoughts were dementors and she needed a happy memory of her son to drive them off. It's been a great help to her.

I was thinking of the name Kendra and I looked it up. Apparently it's an Old English/Welsh name. Perhaps it doesn't suffer from the same over-exposure in the UK.

but to my friend it was perfectly clear that the horrible thoughts were dementors and she needed a happy memory of her son to drive them off. It's been a great help to her.

I do think dementors are a kind of metaphor for depression and mental illness. It is the most horrible kind of prison to be in.

Hil R - that's really interesting.

Shari - that totally makes sense to me -- or iow, what David said.