Harry Potter Questionnaire Pt. 1

Note: As always, Kat's answers will be in white and Brae's will be in yellow.

1. Who is your favorite character?
This is always a difficult question for me to answer because I love so many of them for different reasons. I love Dumbledore for his leadership to and infinite patience with the hopeless Harry, Hermione for similar reasons, Luna for her individuality and strength, Snape for his enduring love and commitment to a woman most men would have given up on, McGonagall for her loyalty to Dumbledore and her amazing wit, and Lupin for his perseverance and endearing relationships with both Tonks and Harry.

In the books, its got to be Sirius. I love a character who is obviously so good, but has such frayed edges. A raw, anti-hero sort, who I can imagined as tall dark and handsome, but still too far from grasp as they die a sort of shudder inducing death which makes each of us cry at least a few if not more knowing myself and others. A character who has lost so much, but finds through all of it he still has so much left to lose and is willing to sacrifice his own life for that reasoning.

In the movies…well i don't really have a favorite character I guess. Anyone but Ginny? Seriously though, probably all the incarnations of Voldemort. The character of Tom Riddle gives us such a wide variety of character traits and emotions at different stages, I think that draws me towards the character more in the movie.

All I gotta say is JK is a master of characters, she leaves so much unsaid and a great deal of that gray area is the most important part of each character. That is what I have always thought of a masterful character creator.

2. Who is your least favorite character?

Ron. I hate Ron beyond almost anyone in the books (though Percy and Wormtail come close). What do all these characters have in common? Disloyalty. I cannot stand when someone chooses what is easy rather than what is right (thank you, Dumbledore). Sure, Ron changed his mind and went back. Sure, some call it a moment of weakness, but his attitude throughout the entire series proves otherwise to me. Any time something went wrong, he'd turn his back on his friends without any real proof, whether it was when he thought Crookshanks had eaten Scabbers, when Harry became a champion in the Triwizard Tournament, or when he couldn't handle the trying time searching for horcruxes (and those are just a few of those instances).

I think Umbridge, but she is awfully obvious. Reading through the books, I think I always had a great detestation for characters with such lack of foundation and cowardice that they have no control over their own actions. Probably my best examples are Wormtail and Lucius. Now I know there are gonna be a bunch of theories on why these sorts of characters take the actions they do, but I don't want to hear them! Every person has a choice to not be a coward and do the right thing! Harry Potter taught me that, I mean look at him, he is totally talentless and useless as a person most of the time, but he still chose to stand against the most powerful, beautiful, and evil wizard of all time. Thank god he had Hermoine is all I have to say...

3. What is your ship?
I don't honestly have a ship. I prefer some to others, but I wasn't rooting for one over the others while reading the books. I would have preferred if Hermione hadn't ended up with Ron, though, but I just think she deserved better (I'm probably pissing off a lot of Won-Won fans out there, so I'll stop at that). So, I jumped on the Harry/Hermione ship for a while, but I honestly never liked that one a lot either. Harry/Ginny was okay (until they creeped it up in the movies with the scene in the Room of Requirement). I do read a lot of femslash and some regular slash as well, so I prefer Fleur/Ginny, Hermione/Ginny, Hermione/Fleur, Tonks/Hermione, Luna/Hermione, and Luna/Ginny. Those are my main ones, but I will read Draco/Harry, Sirius/Lupin, and some Dumbledore/Grindewald. As for hetero ships, I enjoy Draco/Hermione, Lupin/Tonks, and Fleur/Bill.

Hmmm, maybe Siruis/Harry, hot for Godfather? Ron/Harry would be good except they don't really balance each other well unless maybe Hermoine is their live in Hag I guess. Anything, I mean anything (yes even and especially Harry/Basilisk) over Harry/GInny. Ginny is dumb, she is stupid, she doesn't deserve Harry which is pretty bad since Harry doesn't deserve anything great himself. She has so little importance in the books and movies, that when they started getting together I found myself asking why? Why, why, why? JK just wanted Harry and Ron to be brothers…so why couldn't Harry have a thing for like Charlie or one of the twins or something, my god…but Ginny!?!? Oh and after A Very Potter Musical…Harry/Dragon? Zefron and Anyone (except Ginny)?

4. What HP merchandise do you own? What do you still want?
Wow! This used to be a lot easier to answer before we went to the Wizarding World last year. Lol! *runs to the Harry Potter self/shrine* We obviously have all the books (2 copies each) plus Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Tales of Beedle the Bard, and Quidditch Through the Ages and all six released movies. I have a Beauxbatons shirt, a reversible Slytherin/Gryffindor hat, two Starkid shirts (one says “I'm tired, can't we just be Death Eaters” with a little Dark Mark at the bottom and the other says “B*tch, I ain't Cho Chang! That's Lavender Brown, racist sister!”), an entire Slytherin uniform with scarf, a willow wand from Ollivander's, a Death Eater mask keychain, several Dark Mark tattoos, a poster with Draco and his posse, some stickers, a Harry action figure, a Death Eater mask pin, a Slytherin quidditch pin, Harry Potter Scene It, a butterbeer cup, a pumpkin juice bottle, a sugar quill, an edible Dark Mark, an acid pop, some Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, some Pepper Imps, some Honeydukes stickers, a handmade Scarf of Sexual Preference (that no one got at the movie release), some wrock pins from Infinitus (The Moaning Myrtles that says “Because of wizard rock, I don't feel transparent anymore”, Swish and Flick, and Skyway Flyer), a “Potter Stinks” pin, a chocolate frog box, a frisbee signed by the Moaning Myrtles that says “50 points if it goes through her head”, etc. We own more, but it technically belongs to Brae (except for the locket of Slytherin which we bought together at the HP exhibit).

What do I still want? I definitely want a pygmy puff, an Ireland quidditch pin (they were sold out last year), and the costumes I'm buying before LeakyCon that I'll go into later. Oh, I'd also take the tote I saw the other day that says “Horcruxes before Hoes”, a pretty witch hat, the necklace I also saw that says “Magic is might”, a horcrux charm bracelet, a Ravenclaw charm bracelet, a Beauxbatons uniform, and a Death Eater mask I can actually wear.

Fluffy! I own my very own three headed dog, and he is soft, and squeezable, and I love him. The very first night after I got him, I came back to my room and the maids had redone my bed and placed my Fluffy sleeping soundly on top of my sheets just below my pillows, and from that moment on he and I have been inseparable. I would say that he can fetch, and do flips, and roll over, but mostly he just sleeps and can snore if you squish him just so (but I love him anyway!). I own many other things, my Hufflepuff quidditch pin, my Bulgarian team pin, my very own wand (15 inches, blackwood, essence of werewolf claw), some wrock pins of course, my very own barn owl from the Owlery in Hogsmeade, a Hogwarts parchment kit, a collectible Helga Hufflepuff card from my chocolate frog, my Team Lupin shirt, my Tonks and the Aurors wayfarers, and the list goes on farther than I care to list without this being totes boring.

5. Which Harry Potter book was your favorite?
I'm always torn on this one, so I always seem to choose a different one whenever asked. Goblet of Fire was my favorite for such a long time that it seems to pop out before I really think about the question.

Goblet introduced us to one of my favorite characters – Fleur. I know she's not well liked in the fandom, but I fell in love when Jo brought in a character that looked like me (sort of). Immediately after reading it, I ran out to every fan site that had a board devoted to “casting” the next film from its membership base and posted pictures of myself intent on impressing others with my resemblance to Fleur only to be disappointed when the trolls who always seem to find their way onto every site came back with posts of “isn't Fleur supposed to be pretty” and the like. I knew deep down that JKR and the filmmakers would immediately fall in love with an actress with albinism and cast her to play Fleur and any other veela (or part veela) characters that popped up in the series. Of course these hopes fell flat when one of the worst fits for a character was cast as Fleur and the movie completely ruined my impression of the book.

That was ok, though, because Half Blood Prince came along to give us a glimpse into one of the most fascinating characters—Voldemort. I loved the way this book really showed us how the characters were growing up and facing the darkness in their world. Looking back, SS and CoS don't appeal to me the way GoF, HBP, and DH do because the characters are too young to really do anything. It's kind of like role playing an 11 or 12 year old; they don't do much of interest to anyone. They don't date, they can't go to Hogsmeade, they can't enter most competitions that might be held, they can't take the interesting classes, etc.

Deathly Hallows is also high on my list of favorites because of its examination of Dumbledore. True, I hated the camping scenes, but it had so much going on and so many surprises that I couldn't help but love it. Plus, it was a wonderful way to say goodbye (except for the epilogue which I think was atrocious).

Easily Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I think I may reread that this month and make a post to give this more length later, but thats the short of it.

6. What do you think of the movies?
I have a love/hate relationship with the movies. I watch them incessantly, but I still don't like them that much. Don't get me wrong, they have absolutely hilarious moments and some of the actors are amazing, but they were a let-down. I was an avid reader growing up, so I was used to seeing books ruined by filmmakers, but HP was often a new level of let-downs. Just look at PoA!

I do like SS and CoS because they're the closest to the books (even if the acting was atrocious on the kid's parts and the fact that those were not my favoirte books), but GoF is easily my least favorite movie. I loved that book, and they reduced it to...an action movie with no plot and just suspenseful scene after suspenseful scene. PoA is widely recognized as utter poo. OotP was all right, and I did love HBP. DH1 was pretty good too, though I haven't seen it since it opened in theaters. I've learned to lower my expectations as much as possible and possibly (key word: possibly) be pleasantly surprised.

Hmmm, the movies….well I can't say that I despise them. They are a huge part of the fandom, without them every image we ever had of our favorite characters would be nothing more than in our imagination. We wouldn't have the theme park, because lets face it the movie revenue is certainly a fair reason to think a park devoted to the books and movies would be a good idea. While I will say that the fourth movie was just a series of random scenes arranged and made bigger for people to pay attention, and that werewolf Lupin in PoA was kind of a WTF?!?! I also can't deny that I cried (again) when Sirius and Dumbledore died, can't deny that I enjoyed watching Harry, Ron, and Hermoine actually grow up on screen before our eyes, and Voldy in the movies?…Awesome! All in all, you take the movies with a grain of salt, look at the other movies coming out in the past 5 years and realize that though they may not be as great as the books, they are certainly quality productions that we can enjoy for a long time to come.

7. What are you favorite quotes (from books or movies)?
“After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.”

“HAVE YOU GONE MAD! ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT!”
“Right, you've got a crooked sort of cross…That means you're going to have 'trials and suffering' -- sorry about that -- but there's a thing that could be a sun… hang on… that means 'great happiness'… so you're going to suffer but be very happy…”

"Well, I can certainly see why were trying to keep them alive. Who wouldn't want pets that can burn, sting, and suck blood all at once?"
"Ah, of course. There is no need to tell me any more, Ms. Granger. Which one of you will be dying this year?"
"I should have made my meaning plainer," said Professor McGonagall, turning at last to look at Umbridge directly in the eyes. "He has achieved high marks in all Defense Against the Dark Arts tests set by a competent teacher."
“SIRRRR!”

"Not to mention the pincers. Click, click, click, click, click..."

“So, people, let’s try and calm down a bit. Things are bad enough without inventing stuff as well. For instance, this new idea that You-Know-Who can kill with a single glance from his eyes. That’s a basilisk, listeners. One simple test: Check whether the thing that's glaring at you has got legs. If it has, it’s safe to look into its eyes, although if it really is You-Know-Who, that’s still likely to be the last thing you ever do.”

For some reason, one of the least important (or maybe the most?) quotes has always stuck with me from the books. A familiar scene that we see virtually every year, but in Harry's very first year we first hear the headmaster stand and speak these words: "Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!". Now these words in themselves mean really less than nothing, but for some odd reason they've stuck with me till the end and on occasion I've been known to randomly think of them in situations as opposite from which they appear as is possible. As sad as it is, other than that, I'm absolutely dreadful at trying to remember any sort of quotes, but I will get back to you with the books as I reread them and write down upon each instance.

In the movies…well they are all nonsense quotes, but funny things that Kat and I laugh at each and every time for some reason. First and foremost: "Anything off the trolly dears?", I know the least important line from any of the movies, but one that we obsess over none the less. I think we've resolved to tip our room service a bit extra if they knock on our door with this particular line during our stay at Leakycon. Next up, if you meet Kat, you absolutely need to ask her for a lovely impersonation of Bartie Crouch Sr., particularly the scene in which the line " Chinese fireball ooOOoo…" is given, as she is exceptional it giving it. As for the last few quotes…well you know that random black kid in the third movie? Yeah the one with all the answers…basically anything he says you can count in on my faces, why? I dunno, why is he even there?

8. Have you ever been to a release party?
No, sadly I have not. Because I don't drive and always seemed to be at my mom's house where I didn't know anyone, she'd always insist that if she was going to be up until after midnight to take me to get a children's book, we were just going to run to Kroger and pick it up. There were always a few people there, some were even dressed up (though I still got odd looks when I showed up as Trelawney one year), but it wasn't the same as being at Barnes and Noble or something. After hearing horror stories about drive-by spoilers, in retrospect, I'm glad I never attended one. I would have gone crazy if major things had been spoiled (I only ever encountered the epilogue beforehand which I thought was a fake because “surely JKR will come up with something better for the end” and knowledge of Dumbledore's death before HBP).

Honestly, not a release party per se. I once had a place at a Border's launch party, but once I came to the front door and noticed the absolute mayhem going on there I decided against it. If I hadn't done that though, I wouldn't have had one of the best line waiting moments of my life.

I wasn't first, I wasn't even near the front of the line at the Kroger's I decided to get my book from. I didn't really know what to expect from people who waited at a grocery store for a Harry Potter book release, but as I looked around I noticed most of them seemed fairly normal. After about 20 minutes of near silent line waiting, we all looked up to see a large jeep drive by carrying what looked to be some high school hooligans. I myself wasn't wearing any HP merch, not like most of the people, some dressed fully in school garb, others with at least a Slytherin scarf or Gryfindor tie, but these guys weren't even wearing the sort of clothes that one would expect of people who read books. As they piled out of the car, being that I had first thought they may simply drive by and yell some rude comment at us "nerds", I half expected them to actually come over and start something with us. One of the bigger ones carried a large old style boom box, and the others kinda walked behind him looking somewhat serious I suppose. Menacing as I make the encounter sound, as soon as they reached the line, he simply hit play and had a huge smile on his face as the Harry Potter theme music started to play and they sort of took their place near the end.

From that moment it was a sort of collective sigh, and we all started smiling and an hour before midnight, we all started talking while the music played on. Chatting about our experiences, our favorites of the books and movies, and doing what Harry Potter fans do best. It wasn't quite what one calls a release party, but I wouldn't trade the memory for anything.

9. Did you have any absurd (or rational) theories about the books?
I was sure, and would tell anyone who stood still long enough, that Borgin of Borgin and Burke's was RAB. JKR specifically told us Burke's first name, but she left out Borgin's, who was the main one we saw in the books. It seemed odd, and I definitely wasn't alone in suspecting Borgin because there were lengthy essays online about it. I was horribly disappointed that JKR chose the obvious Regulus for RAB because I was sure she wouldn't. I guess she had to throw Harry a bone since he never would have figured it out if it hadn't been thrown in his lap, and he had a lot to do in DH. Oh well, at least my research into Borgin and Burkes made me interested enough to get back to using Tavis Burke and create a new RP character--Katarina Borgin.

Nope, kinda let it play out. Knew Snape was good, that was pretty much all my ideas consisted of, but I think that was an easy one to guess.

10. Have you ever cried while reading or watching Harry Potter?
If you haven't, I don't think you have a heart. I mean, really! I bawled through the entirety of DH (the book), was sobbing during DH1 at the end (though Hedwig's death didn't hit me the same way in the movie), sobbed at Sirius' death, and teared up at Dumbledore's death too (that had been ruined by a spoiler before, so I was more prepared).

Multiple times…yeah, Sirius died…I cried like a baby…Dumbledore died…I cried from worry…yes even when Harry died, I cried a bit, but mostly the nostalgia of the series got me there. Last year at Infinitus, we got to the end of the showing of A Very Potter Sequel and we all stood and sang along with the cast and it wasn't the end of the fandom, but I think thats when I started to realize that the last movie was coming and that would be it for HP releases worldwide and that we would only have all the memories of the good times. Lucky for us, we are striving to make new ones before the end, and these are bound to be the best yet!

11. What's worse, being locked up in a room with Lockhart or Umbridge?

Umbridge. Definitely. Nothing on this earth could be worse than that! I mean, that woman alone made me hate an entire HP book. Plus, if it's insane Lockhart, I'd love it! He's adorable in a slightly annoying way.

Do I have a wand or not? If I have a wand, then Umbridge, I think most of you would find that she rightfully deserves whatever it is that one of us would give her were we locked in a room with her and had our wands at the ready. Otherwise Lockhart, he is harmless in general, and though annoying, he hardly deserves the kind of loathing that Umbidge deserves no matter the occasion. NO CONTEST.

12. If you were given the option to have the Dementor's Kiss or join the Death Eaters which would you do?

As much as I'm sure I'd love me some Dementor action, I'd have to say Death Eaters for the win (er...not really, but you know)!

Join the Deatheaters…do you know how fun it is to be evil? If you did, this wouldn't even be a question. I guess if I were being all Hufflepuff about it, and like a "good person", I would choose the Dementor's kiss so that I wouldn't have to torture all those poor people who "don't deserve it", but I'm not feeling that, so in the end sign me up Voldy!