Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Quotes II

Picture by Jake Parker
"I don't want to break rules, you know. I think threatening Muggle-borns is far worse than brewing up a difficult potion. But if you don't want to find out if it's Malfoy, I'll go straight to Madame Pince and hand the book back in-"
"I never thought I'd see the day when you'd be persuading us to break rules," said Ron.

"So Dobby stopped us from getting on the train and broke your arm..." He shook his head. "You know what, Harry? If he doesn't stop trying to save your life he's going to kill you."

"He sounds like Percy," said Ron, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "Prefect, Head Boy...probably top of every class-"
"You say that like it's a bad thing," said Hermione in a slightly hurt voice.

"But why's she got to go to the library?"
"Because that's what Hermione does," said Ron, shrugging. "When in doubt, go to the library."

Harry and Ron walked away, hardly daring to believe that they'd avoided detention. As they turned the corner, they distinctly heard Professor McGonagall blow her nose.
"That," said Ron fervently, "was the best story you've ever come up with."

"I seem to remember telling you both that I would have to expel you if you broke any more school rules," said Dumbledore.
Ron opened his mouth in horror.
"Which goes to show that the best of us must sometimes eat our words," Dumbledore went on, smiling.

"It only put me in Gryffindor," said Harry in a defeated voice, "because I asked not to go in Slytherin..."
"Exactly," said Dumbledore, beaming once more. "Which makes you very different from Tom Riddle. It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

Harry didn't know whether the best bit was Hermione running toward him, screaming "You solved it! You solved it!" or Justin hurrying over from the Hufflepuff table to wring his hand and apologize endlessly for suspecting him, or Hagrid turning up at half past three, cuffing Harry and Ron so hard  on the shoulders that they were knocked from their plates of trifle, or his and Ron's four hundred points for Gryffindor securing the House Cup for the second year running, or Professor McGonagall standing up to tell them all that the exams had been canceled ("Oh, no!" said Hermione) or Dumbledore announcing that, unfortunately, Professor Lockhart would be unable to return next year, owing to the fact that he needed to go away and get his memory back.
Quite a few teachers joined in the cheering that greeted this news.
"Shame," said Ron, helping himself to a jam doughnut. "He was starting to grow on me."

"Well--Percy's got a girlfriend."
Fred dropped a stack of books on George's head. "What?"
"It's that Ravenclaw prefect, Penelope Clearwater," said Ginny. "That's who he was writing to all last summer. He's been meeting her all over the school in secret. I walked in on them kissing in an empty classroom one day. He was so upset when she was--you know--attacked. You won't tease him, will you?" she added anxiously.
"Wouldn't dream of it," said Fred, who was looking like his birthday had come early.
"Definitely not," said George, sniggering.

Happy Thanksgiving

Things I'm thankful for:

1. Sunsets
2.Good books
3. Dark chocolate
4. God and his Son
5. My religion
6. Awesome movies
7. Intelligent conversations
8. Dogs
9. My family
10. Stars
11. The Scriptures
12. Music
13. That I live in America
14. My life
15. Poetry
16. Friends
17. Writing
18. Quotes
19. Cheese
20. Lists :)

(In other news, I finally put my Christmas playlist on this blog. Don't you just love the holidays?)

Create

This video has a great message on creativity and self-worth.

I Like My Movies Clean

A few years ago there was a company called Clean Films. What they did was take movies, cut the bad stuff out, and then rent them out to people via mail.
Me and my family adored Clean Films. We would rent the movies online, and then go check the mail a few days later and get it. I watched so many films I would not have otherwise watched. I saw Paycheck, King Arthur, Monty Python and the Holy Grail and so many others. I even rented PG ones that had swear words, however mild, cut out of them. It was very enjoyable.
And it was completely legal, too--until some Hollywood stars got the lawyers involved. "You're ruining our art," they whined, and Clean Films was taken down.

Needless to say, I mourned the loss of Clean Films.
And I didn't understand.
How can anything wrong be considered "art"?

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Quotes Part 1

Picture by Tang Heng
"Dudley?"
"How about--'We had to write an essay about our hero at school, Mr. Mason, and I wrote about you."
This was too much for both Aunt Petunia and Harry. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and hugged her son, while Harry ducked under the table so they wouldn't see him laughing.
"And you, boy?"
Harry fought to keep his face straight as he emerged. "I'll be in my room, making no noise and pretending I'm not there," he said.

"Dobby will serve the family until he dies, sir..."
Harry stared. "And I thought I had it bad staying here for another four weeks," he said. "This makes the Dursley's sound almost human."

"I hope they're paying you overtime?" He reached into Ginny's cauldron and extracted, from amid the glossy Lockhart books, a very old, very battered copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration. "Obviously not," Mr. Malfoy said. "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"
Mr. Weasley flushed darker than either Ron or Ginny. "We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy," he said.
"Clearly," said Mr. Malfoy, his pale eyes straying to Mr. and Mrs. Granger, who were watching apprehensively. "The company you keep, Weasley... and I thought your family could sink no lower--"

"I-I didn't think-"
"That," said Professor McGonagall, "is obvious."

"Why," demanded Ron, seizing her schedule, "have you outlined all Lockhart's lessons in little hearts?"
Hermione snatched her schedule back, blushing furiously.

"Why would anyone want to celebrate the day they died?" said Ron, who was halfway through his Potions homework and grumpy. "Sounds dead depressing to me..."

When Filch wasn't guarding the scene of the crime, he was skulking red-eyed through the corridors, lunging out at unsuspecting students and trying to put them in detention for things like "breathing loudly" and "looking happy."

"My life was nothing but misery at this place and now people come along ruining my death."

Yellow Star

Yellow Star

by Jennifer Roy

It is difficult to find a book about the Holocaust that really makes it sink in.

It is also difficult to find a book in written in free verse that is poignant and powerful.
Yellow Star is both of these and more.

In 1939, the Germans invaded Poland and moved 270,000 Jews into the Lodz ghetto.
At the end of the war, about 800 had survived.
Twelve were children.

Yellow Star is the story of Syvia Perlmutter, one of the twelve. It is told from her point of view, in free verse that encompasses the terrible sorrow of the event. In fact, it was the first book that got me hooked on books in verse.
But that's neither here nor there.
To be able to capture the ongoing terror of living in such a place is extraordinary. At one point in the story, Syvia and her father are walking the streets, sidestepping pools of dark red. And when you realize that this was real, this was their real life, it breaks you down. Children shouldn't have had to seen that kind of stuff, I kept thinking throughout the book. No one should have had to live through that.

It's not graphic, and it doesn't try to horrify you the way a horror movie might.
It's just the little, simply-stated facts that really shock you. It really puts you in their shoes. It makes you never want to complain about anything ever again.

But the book doesn't just focus on the terror and unbelievable sorrow.
There are moments of light, scenes where the main character realizes there's still good in the world. That she can be brave.
It's sombering, yes, but not depressing. Yellow Star ends with a message of hope, which really makes it stand out.
This book will leave few untouched.

Excerpt:
Yellow
is the color of
the felt six-pointed star
that is sewn onto my coat.
It is the law
that all Jews have to wear the
Star of David
when they leave their house,
or else be arrested.

I wish I could
rip the star off
(carefully, stitch by stitch, so as not to ruin
my lovely coat),
because yellow is meant to be
a happy color,
not the color of
hate.

Objectionable Content: None

Related Reads:
The Boy Who Dared-Susan Campbell Bartoletti
The Stone Goddess-Minfong Ho
Number the Stars-Lois Lowry