Hogwarts Herald

Ah, the Sorting Hat. One of my favorite characters in the series. What’s that you say? A hat is not a character? Well this one is, at least in my opinion. When we are first introduced to the Sorting hat, it seems maybe a cool bit of magic. But the Hat is so much more than that. Looking into the very beings of each and every child that attends the school, I think the Sorting hat is rather under-utilized. He would have been phenomenal as a student counselor. A child has a problem, sits aloone in a room, puts on the hat, and has an entire counseling session in his head. I think it would have solved quite a few problems…

As the years pass, and the magnitude of the war that is coming encloses on Hogwarts, the sorting hat proves time and again that he has an opinion on the current events. He believes that the students and staff should lay down whatever differences they may have to fight against a common foe. Three out of 4 of his creators would have been proud. In the traditional song sung by the hat at the beginning of each year, we see that he has the wisdom of the ages. It would do the whole world good to have a sorting hat come out and give us bits of wisdom each year. Especially in an election year… ;o)

Chapter 7 opens right where Chapter 6 closed. All of the first years are gathered together in a small room just inside the chamber of Hogwarts waiting to be sorted into their houses. Into the chamber strides Professor McGonagall. In turn, she takes them into a huuuuge entrance chamber to a small room off of the Great Hall. There they are to await whatever challenge may come to decide where they will be when they are at Hogwarts. The House that you get sorted into on your very first night at Hogwarts, she advises them, is very important because your house is like your family. You eat, sleep, learn, and relax with others in your house. Also, your triumphs, and your tragedies are your that of your housemates as well. You can earn, and lose your house points with your behavior, and whichever house has the most at the end of the year wins the house cup. A great honor. She then enters the Great Hall to prepare, and the kids are left to their own devices for a few minutes. It seems the sorting ceremony is a bit of a secret when it comes to the first year students. Why, even Ron doesn’t know how it’s done. I’m sure it’s partly to hold the traditions a secret, and to improve anticipation, but in poor Ron’s case, it was also a way for his brothers to torture him in the loving way big brothers do. By telling him that he had to fight a troll, or something else very painful. And there is much nervous tension about how exactly they will figure out where they are supposed to go. And hopes beyond hope that they won’t have to take a test, since nobody actually knows anything yet.

“There was a pop, and a little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks”

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So, I got the Harry Potter Interactive DVD Challenge game from Netflix last week. I have to say, I enjoyed it. It wasn’t a phenomenal game, and certainly nothing I would buy, but it killed an hour and it was fun to see the clips and whatnot. The game starts off with you picking a house. You can either choose one, or have the Sorting Hat sort you into one. Strangely enough, I am always sorted into Ravenclaw, and I was going to choose that one, but I decided to go with the Sorting Hat, to get the full experience. I was sorted, without it asking me any questions, into Ravenclaw. WEEEIIIIRRRDDDD….

OK, as for the game itself. You must attend four classes per “year” and you have the option for “extracurricular activities” after you have completed and passed two classes. The fourth class must be passed in order to move on to the next year. I got halfway through year three before I got bored and turned it off. Actually, I could have kept playing, but Hubby got bored watching me crash over and over again.

There are some criticisms.

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So many new characters, so many new faces. Where to start?

How about with the Weasley family? In this chapter we meet a mere 4 Weasley brothers, and little sister Ginny. Dad must have been at work at the time because he’s not there seeing the boys off to school. Judging by what we know of Arthur Weasley, I find this a bit odd. He is a very family oriented kind of guy and for him to not send Ron off for his first day seems very out of character for him. Of course by this point we don’t know whay kind of character he has, or even if there is a Mr. Weasley, so it doesn’t really matter.

Mrs. Weasley is the epitome of the loving mother Harry has no memory of ever having. She is cheerful and pleasant, and obviously very caring toward her children, without actually coddling them. In other words, she is the Anti-Petunia. She handles five children, two animals, and lots and lots of luggage without blinking, and actually takes the time and kindness out of her heart to help Harry. Throughout the series we see this over and over. Molly Weasley faces horrors that no mother should ever have to face, and while on occassion we see it waring on her, she always has a smile and a hug for her children. Any children really. One of the greatest scenes featuring Molly, is I think, one of the most powerful scenes in the entire series. It was in Order of the Phoenix, and it is with great dismay that I realized that it was not included in the film. The scene of which I speak, is of course one of great foreshadowing as well, as Molly Weasley faces the boggart. She is found curled up in a ball whimpering, Ridikkulus, over and over again as the boggart changes one by one into each of her loved ones, dead, in one grotesque way or another. By the end of the final battle, she is fortunate to have lost only one of her children, but no mother should ever have to lose any of them.

Speaking of her children…

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Upon reading again the Journey from Platform Nine and Three Quarters, I am tense with excitement for Harry. After his adventure in Diagon Alley with Hagrid, he recieves his train ticket. He spends the next month at home with the Dursleys who have taken to ignoring him completely. While this is a pleasant change from being abused daily, it does get waring after awhile. Fortunately he has the pleasant distraction of reading his school books and becoming fast friends with Hedwig. When Harry finally does find the nerve to ask for a ride to the train station, however, he is met with ridicule. Not for asking, the Dursleys are all to happy to have him out of their home. No the jeering comes from the fact that his train leaves from platform Nine and Three Quarters. Mr. Dursley calls it rubbish, that there is no such platform, but sure, he’ll take him. After all, they have to go to London the next day anyway. Why? To get Hagrid’s gift to Dudley surgically removed from his rear end before he goes off to school, of course…

“Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark Wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon’s blood, and his work on Alchemy with his partner Nicholas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.”

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