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Quotes by and about Harry Potter

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From Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

The Sorting Hat: “Hmmm,” said a small voice in his ear. “Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There’s talent, oh my goodness yes — and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that’s interesting…. So where shall I put you?” (PS7)

To Snape: “I don’t know, I think Hermione does though, why don’t you try her.” (PS8)

“Firenze!” Bane thundered. “What are you doing? You have a human on your back! Have you no shame? Are you a common mule?”
“Do you realize who this is?” said Firenze. “This is the Potter boy. The quicker he leaves this forest, the better.”
“What have you been telling him?” growled Bane. “Remember, Firenze, we are sworn not to set ourselves against the heavens. Have we not read what is to come in the movements of the planets?”
Ronan pawed the ground nervously. “I’m sure Firenze thought he was acting for the best,” he said in his gloomy voice.
Bane kicked his legs in anger.
“For the best! What is that to do with us? Centaurs are concerned with what has been foretold! It is not our business to run around like donkeys after stray humans in our forest!”
“Do you see that unicorn?” Firenze bellowed at Bane. “Do you not understand why it was killed? Or have the planets not let you in on that secret? I set myself against what is lurking in this forest, Bane, yes, with humans alongside me if I must.” (PS15)

Firenze: “Good luck, Harry Potter,” said Firenze. “The planets have been read wrongly before now, even by centaurs. I hope this is one of those times.” (PS15)

Ron: “Yeah, and lucky Harry doesn’t lose his head in a crisis — ‘There’s no wood,’ honestly.” (PS16)

From Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

“Dobby has heard of your greatness, sir, but of your goodness, Dobby never knew…” (CS2)

“Hang on…” Harry muttered to Ron. “There’s an empty chair at the staff table…. Where’s Snape?”
“Maybe he’s ill!” said Ron hopefully.
“Maybe he’s left,” said Harry, ‘because he missed out on the Defence Against the Dark Arts job again!”
“Or he might have been sacked!” said Ron enthusiastically. “I mean, everyone hates him –”
“Or maybe,” said a very cold voice right behind them, “he’s waiting to hear why you two didn’t arrive on the school train.”
Harry spun around. There, his black robes rippling in a cold breeze, stood Severus Snape. He was a thin man with sallow skin, a hooked nose and greasy, shoulder-length black hair, and at this moment, he was smiling in a way that told Harry he and Ron were in very deep trouble. (CS5)

Nick: “Half an inch of skin and sinew holding my neck on, Harry! Most people would think that’s good and beheaded, but oh, no, it’s not enough for Sir Properly Decapitated-Podmore.” (CS8)

Dobby: “Ah, if only Harry Potter knew!” Dobby groaned, more tears dripping onto his ragged pillowcase. “If only he knew what he means to us, the lowly, the enslaved, we dregs of the magical world! Dobby remembers how it was when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was at the height of his powers, sir!” (CS10)

Peeves: “Oh Potter, you rotter, oh what have you done, / You’re killing off students, you think it’s good fun–” (CS11)

Fred & George: “Make way for the Heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming through.” (CS11)

Moaning Myrtle: “You’re alive,” she said blankly to Harry.
“There’s no need to sound so disappointed,” he said grimly, wiping flecks of blood and slime off his glasses.
“Oh, well … I’d just been thinking … if you had died, you’d have been welcome to share my toilet,” said Myrtle, blushing silver. (CS17)

Dumbledore: “Unless I’m much mistaken, he transferred some of his own powers to you the night he gave you that scar. Not something he intended to do, I’m sure….” (CS18)

Dumbledore: “Listen to me, Harry. You happen to have many qualities Salazar Slytherin prized in his hand-picked students. His own very rare gift, Parseltongue — resourcefulness — determination — a certain disregard for rules. Yet the Sorting Hat placed you in Gryffindor. You know why that was. Think. […] It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” (CS18)

From Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Aunt Marge to Harry: “I still don’t like your tone, boy,” she said. “If you can speak of your beatings in that casual way, they clearly aren’t hitting you hard enough. Petunia, I’d write if I were you. Make it clear that you approve the use of extreme force in this boy’s case.” (PA2)

Ginny, who had always been very taken with Harry, seemed even more heartily embarrassed than usual when she saw him, perhaps because he had saved her life during their previous year at Hogwarts. She went very red and muttered “hello” without looking at him. Percy, however, held out his hand solemnly as though he and Harry had never met and said, “Harry. How nice to see you.”
“Hello, Percy,” said Harry, trying not to laugh.
“I hope you’re well?” said Percy pompously, shaking hands. It was rather like being introduced to the mayor.
“Very well, thanks–”
“Harry!” said Fred, elbowing Percy out of the way and bowing deeply. “Simply splendid to see you, old boy–”
“Marvelous,”‘ said George, pushing Fred aside and seizing Harry’s hand in turn. “Absolutely spiffing.” (PA4)

What to do when you know the worst is coming….
“I’m not going to be murdered,” Harry said out loud. “That’s the spirit, dear,” said his mirror sleepily. (PA4; “What to do…” refers to the book on death omens Harry saw in Diagon Alley.)

To Arthur Weasley: “I’m not trying to be a hero, but seriously, Sirius Black can’t be worse than Voldemort, can he?” (PA)

To Hermione: “I don’t go looking for trouble,” said Harry nettled. “Trouble usually finds me.” (PA5)

Madam Pomfrey: “Oh, it’s you, is it?” said Madam Pomfrey. “I suppose you’ve been doing something dangerous again?” (PA5)

He stopped on a picture of his parents’ wedding day. There was his father waving up at him, beaming, the untidy black hair Harry had inherited standing up in all directions. There was his mother, alight with happiness, arm in arm with his dad. And there … that must be him. Their best man … Harry had never given him a thought before. (PA11)

Oliver Wood: “Bad news, Harry. I’ve just been to see Professor McGonagall about the Firebolt. She – er got a bit shirty with me. Told me I’d got my priorities wrong. Seemed to think I cared more about winning the Cup than I do about staying alive. Just because I told her I didn’t care if it threw you off, as long as you caught the Snitch first.” (PA12)

Draco: “Sure you can manage that broom, Potter?” said a cold, drawling voice. Draco Malfoy had arrived for a closer look, Crabbe and Goyle right behind him.
“Yeah, reckon so,” said Harry casually.
“Got plenty of special features, hasn’t it?” said Malfoy, eyes glittering maliciously. “Shame it doesn’t come with a parachute–in case you get too near a Dementor.” Crabbe and Goyle snickered.
“Pity you can’t attach an extra arm to yours, Malfoy,” said Harry. “Then it could catch the Snitch for you.” (PA13)

Snape’s eyes were boring into Harry’s. It was exactly like trying to stare down a hippogriff. Harry tried hard not to blink. (PA14)

Snape: “What would your head have been doing in Hogsmeade, Potter?” said Snape softly. “Your head is not allowed in Hogsmeade. No part of your body has permission to be in Hogsmeade.” (PA14)

“How extraordinarily like your father you are, Potter,” Snape said suddenly, his eyes glinting. “He too was exceedingly arrogant. A small amount of talent on the Quidditch field made him think he was a cut above the rest of us too. Strutting around the place with his friends and admirers … The resemblance between you is uncanny.” (PA14)

Lupin: “Your parents gave their lives to keep you alive, Harry. A poor way to repay them — gambling their sacrifice for a bag of magic tricks.” (PA14)

Black was sprawled at the bottom of the wall. His thin chest rose and fell rapidly as he watched Harry walking slowly nearer, his wand pointing straight at Black’s heart.
“Going to kill me, Harry?” he whispered. (PA17)

To Sirius: “Are you insane?” said Harry, his voice easily as croaky as Black’s. “Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?” (PA20)

Fudge: “Ah well, Snape … Harry Potter, you know … we’ve all got a bit of a blind spot where he’s concerned.”
Snape: “And yet — is it good for him to be given so much special treatment? Personally, I try and treat him like any other student.” (PA21)

It stopped on the bank. Its hooves made no mark on the soft ground as it stared at Harry with its large, silver eyes. Slowly, it bowed its antlered head. And Harry realized . . . “Prongs,” he whispered. (PA21)

Sirius: “We’ll see each other again,” he said. “You are — truly your father’s son, Harry…” (PA21)

Dumbledore: “You think the dead we loved ever truly leave us? You think we don’t recall them more clearly than ever in times of great trouble? Your father is alive in you, Harry, and shows himself plainly when you have need of him. How else could you produce that particular Patronus? Prongs rode again last night.” (PA22)

To the Dursleys: “He was my mum and dad’s best friend. He’s a convicted murderer, but he’s broken out of wizard prison and he’s on the run. He likes to keep in touch with me, though … keep up with news … check if I’m happy …” (PA22)

From Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Prof. Trelawney: “You are preoccupied, my dear,” she said mournfully to Harry. “My inner eye sees past your brave face to the troubled soul within. And I regret to say that your worries are not baseless. I see difficult times ahead for you, alas … most difficult … I fear the thing you dread will indeed come to pass … and perhaps sooner than you think …” (GF13)

‘Mad Eye’ Moody on the Avada Kedavra curse: “Not nice,” he said calmly. “Not pleasant. And there’s no counter curse. There’s no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he’s sitting right in front of me.” (GF14)

‘Mad Eye’ Moody: “Avada Kedavra’s a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it — you could all get your wands out now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I’d get so much as a nosebleed.” (GF14)

Harry moved forward into the middle of the classroom, into the space that Moody had cleared of desks. Moody raised his wand, pointed it at Harry, and said, “Imperio!”
It was the most wonderful feeling. Harry felt a floating sensation as every thought and worry in his head was wiped gently away, leaving nothing but a vague, untraceable happiness. He stood there feeling immensely relaxed, only dimly aware of everyone watching him.
[…]
Jump onto the desk….
Why, though? Another voice had awoken in the back of his brain.
[…]
“Look at that, you lot … Potter fought! He fought it, and he damn near beat it! We’ll try that again, Potter, and the rest of you, pay attention — watch his eyes, that’s where you see it — very good, Potter, very good indeed! They’ll have trouble controlling you!” (GF15)

Harry seized one of the POTTER REALLY STINKS badges off the table and chucked it, as hard as he could, across the room. It hit Ron on the forehead and bounced off.
“There you go,” Harry said. “Something for you to wear on Tuesday. You might even have a scar now, if you’re lucky…. That’s what you want, isn’t it?” (GF19)

Dumbledore looked very intensely at Harry for a moment, and then said, “I have a theory, no more than that … It is my belief that your scar hurts both when Lord Voldemort is near you, and when he is feeling a particularly strong surge of hatred.”
“But … why?”
“Because you and he are connected by the curse that failed,” said Dumbledore. “That is no ordinary scar.” (GF30)

As Harry took off his glasses and climbed into his four-poster, he imagined how it must feel to have parents still living but unable to recognize you. (GF31)

“We bow to each other, Harry,” said Voldemort, bending a little, but keeping his snakelike face upturned to Harry. “Come, the niceties will be observed…. Dumbledore would like you to show manners…. Bow to death, Harry….”
[…]
“Very good,” said Voldemort softly, and as he raised his wand the pressure bearing down on Harry lifted too. “And now you face me, like a man … straight-backed and proud, the way your father died…
“And now — we duel.” (GF34)

And Harry felt for the third time in his life, the sensation that his mind had been wiped of all thought… Ah, it was bliss, not to think, it was as though he were floating, dreaming … just answer no … say no … just answer no….
I will not, said a stronger voice, in the back of his head. I won’t answer….
Just answer no….
I won’t do it, I won’t say it…
Just answer no…
“I WON’T!” (GF34)

And as he heard Voldemort draw nearer still, he knew one thing only, and it was beyond fear or reason: He was not doing to die crouching here like a child playing hide-and-seek; he was going to die upright like his father, and he was going to die trying to defend himself, even if no defense was possible…. (GF34)

The smoky shadow of a tall man with untidy hair fell to the ground as Bertha had done, straightened up, and looked at him … and Harry, his arms shaking madly now, looked back into the ghostly face of his father.
“Your mother’s coming…” he said quietly. “She wants to see you … it will be all right … hold on….”
And she came … first her head, then her body … a young woman with long hair, the smoky, shadowy form of Lily Potter blossomed from the end of Voldemort’s wand, fell to the ground, and straightened like her husband. She walked close to Harry, looking down at him, and she spoke in the same distant, echoing voice as the others, but quietly, so that Voldemort, his face now livid with fear as his victims prowled around him, could not hear….
“When the connection is broken, we will linger for only moments … but we will give you time … you must get to the Portkey, it will return you to Hogwarts … do you understand, Harry?” (GF34)

At that moment, Harry fully understood for the first time why people said Dumbledore was the only wizard Voldemort had ever feared. The look upon Dumbledore’s face as he stared down at the unconscious form of Mad-Eye Moody was more terrible than Harry could have ever imagined. There was no benign smile upon Dumbledore’s face, no twinkle in the eyes behind the spectacles. There was cold fury in every line of the ancient face; a sense of power radiated from Dumbledore as though he were giving off burning heat. (GF35)

When Harry told of Wormtail piercing his arm with the dagger, however, Sirius let out a vehement exclamation and Dumbledore stood up so quickly that Harry started. Dumbledore walked around the desk and told Harry to stretch out his arm. Harry showed them both the place where his robes were torn and the cut beneath them.
“He said my blood would make him stronger than if he’d used someone else’s,” Harry told Dumbledore. “He said the protection my — my mother left in me — he’d have it too. And he was right — he could touch me without hurting himself, he touched my face.”
For a fleeting instant, Harry thought he saw a gleam of something like triumph in Dumbledore’s eyes. (GF36)

“I will say it again,” said Dumbledore as the phoenix rose into the air and resettled itself upon the perch beside the door. “You have shown bravery beyond anything I could have expected of you tonight, Harry. You have shown bravery equal to those who died fighting Voldemort at the height of his powers. You have shouldered a grown wizard’s burden and found yourself equal to it [….]” (GF36)

Hagrid: “No good sittin’ worryin’ abou’ it,” he said. “What’s comin’ will come, an’ we’ll meet it when it does.” (GF37)

Draco: “Trying not to think about it, are we?” said Malfoy softly, looking around at all three of them.”Trying to pretend it hasn’t happened?”
“Get out,” said Harry.
He had not been this close to Malfoy since he had watched him muttering to Crabbe and Goyle during Dumbledore’s speech about Cedric. He could feel a kind of ringing in his ears. His hand gripped his wand under his robes.
“You’ve picked the losing side, Potter! I warned you! I told you you ought to choose your company more carefully, remember? When we met on the train, first day at Hogwarts? I told you not to hang around with riffraff like this!” He jerked his head at Ron and Hermione. “Too late now, Potter! They’ll be the first to go, now the Dark Lord’s back! Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers first! Well — second — Diggory was the f–”
It was as though someone had exploded a box of fireworks within the compartment. Blinded by the blaze of the spells that had blasted from every direction, deafened by a series of bangs, Harry blinked and looked down on the floor.
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were all lying unconscious in the doorway. He, Ron, and Hermione were on their feet, all three of them having used a different hex. Nor were they the only ones to have done so.
“Thought we’d see what those three were up to,” said Fred matter-of-factly, stepping onto Goyle and into the compartment. He had his wand out, and so did George, who was careful to tread on Malfoy as he followed Fred inside.
“Interesting effect,” said George, looking down at Crabbe. “Who used the Furnunculus Curse?”
“Me,” said Harry.
“Odd,” said George lightly, “I used Jelly-Legs. Looks as though those two shouldn’t be mixed.” (GF37)

There was no point in worrying yet, he told himself, as he got into the back of the Dursley’s car.
As Hagrid had said, what would come, would come … and he would have to meet it when it did. [last paragraphs of (GF37)

From Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

“How long have you been ‘Big D’ then?” said Harry.
“Shut it,” snarled Dudley, turning away again.
“Cool name,” said Harry, grinning, “But you’ll always be Ickle Diddykins to me.”
“Shut your face.”
“You don’t tell her to shut her face. What about ‘popkin’ and ‘Dinky Diddydums,’ can I use them then?” (OP1)

‘Come here, boy,’ said Moody gruffly, beckoning Harry towards him with his wand. ‘I need to Disillusion you.’ (OP3)

Harry kicked off hard from the ground. The cool night air rushed through his hair as the neat square gardens of Privet Drive fell away, shrinking rapidly into a patchwork of dark greens and blacks, and every thought of the Ministry hearing was swept from his mind as though the rush of air had blown it out of his head. He felt as though his heart was going to explode with pleasure; he was flying again, flying away from Privet Drive as he’d been fantasising about all summer, he was going home… for a few glorious moments, all his problems seemed to recede to nothing, insignificant in the vast, starry sky. (OP3)

‘BUT WHY SHOULD I KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON? WHY SHOULD ANYONE BOTHER TO TELL ME WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING?’ (OP4)

Fred: “You don’t want to bottle your anger up like that, Harry, let it all out,” said Fred, also beaming. “There might be a couple of people fifty miles away who didn’t hear you.” (OP4)

Luna Lovegood on thestrals: “Oh, yes,” said Luna, “I’ve been able to see them ever since my first day here. They’ve always pulled the carriages. Don’t worry. You’re just as sane as I am.” (OP10)

“Been having a nice little chat with her about whether or not I’m a lying, attention-seeking prat, have you?” Harry said loudly.
“No,” said Hermione calmly, “I told her to keep her big fat mouth shut about you, actually. And it would be quite a nice if you stopped jumping down Ron’s and my throats, Harry, because if you haven’t noticed, we’re on your side.” (OP12)

Peeves: “Oh, most think he’s barking, the Potty wee lad,
But some are more kindly and think he’s just sad,
But Peevsy knows better and says that he’s mad –” (OP12)

McGonagall: “For heaven’s sake, Potter!” said Professor McGonagall, straightening her glasses angrily, “Do you really think this is about truth or lies? It’s about keeping your head down and your temper under control!” (OP12)

Hermione: “Harry, don’t go picking a row with Malfoy, don’t forget, he’s a prefect now, he could make life difficult for you….”
“Wow, I wonder what it’d be like to have a difficult life?” said Harry sarcastically. (OP13)

“I was thinking the first thing we should do is Expelliarmus, you know, the Disarming Charm. I know it’s pretty basic but I’ve found it really useful –.”
“Oh please,” said Zacharias Smith, rolling his eyes and folding his arms. “I don’t think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You-Know-Who, do you?”
“I’ve used it against him,” said Harry quietly. “It saved my life last June.”
Smith opened his mouth stupidly. The rest of the room was very quiet.
“But if you think it’s beneath you, you can leave.” (OP18)

“Well?” said Ron finally, looking up at Harry. “How was it?”
Harry considered for a moment.
“Wet,” he said truthfully.
Ron made a noise that might have indicated jubilation or disgust, it was hard to tell.
“Because she was crying,” Harry continued heavily.
“Oh,” said Ron, his smile fading slightly. “Are you that bad at kissing?”
“Dunno,” said Harry, who hadn’t considered this, and immediately felt rather worried. “Maybe I am.” (OP21)

“So that’s it, is it?” he said loudly, “Stay there?” That’s all anyone could tell me after I got attacked by those dementors too! Just stay put while the grown-ups sort it out, Harry! We won’t bother telling you anything, though, because your tiny little brain might not be able to cope with it!”
“You know, ” said Phineas Nigellus, even more loudly than Harry, “this is precisely why I loathed being a teacher! Young people are so infernally convinced that they are right about everything.” (OP23)

“I didn’t want anyone to talk to me,” said Harry, who was feeling more and more nettled.
“Well, that was a bit stupid of you,” said Ginny angrily, “seeing as you don’t know anyone but me who’s been possessed by You-Know-Who, and I can tell you how it feels.”
Harry remained quite still as the impact of these words hit him. Then he wheeled around.
“I forgot,” he said.
“Lucky you,” said Ginny coolly. (OP23)

Sirius: “I want you to take this,” he said quietly, thrusting a badly wrapped package roughly the size of a paperback book into Harry’s hands.
“What is it?” Harry asked.
“A way of letting me know if Snape’s giving you a hard time. No, don’t open it here!” said Sirius, with a wary look at Mrs. Weasley, “I doubt Molly would approve — but I want you to use it if you need me, alright?” (OP24)

Snape: “The usual rules do not seem to apply to you, Potter. The curse that failed to kill you seems to have forged some kind of connection between you and the Dark Lord. The evidence suggests that at times, when your mind is most relaxed and vulnerable — when you are asleep, for instance — you are sharing the Dark Lord’s thoughts and emotions. The headmaster thinks it inadvisable for this to continue. He wishes me to teach you how to close your mind to the Dark Lord.” (OP24)

“How come I saw through the snake’s eyes if it’s Voldemort’s thoughts I’m sharing?”
“Do not say the Dark Lord’s name! spat Snape. (OP24)

Snape has just made Harry remember how Cedric died: “I told you to empty yourself of emotion!”
“Yeah? Well, I’m finding that hard at the moment,” Harry snarled.
“Then you will find yourself easy prey for the Dark Lord!” said Snape savagely. “Fools who wear their hearts proudly on their sleeves, who cannot control their emotions, who wallow in sad memories and allow themselves to be provoked this easily — weak people, in other words — they stand no chance against his powers! He will penetrate your mind with absurd ease, Potter!” (OP24)

“That is just as well, Potter,” said Snape coldly, “because you are neither special nor important, and it is not up to you to find out what the Dark Lord is saying to his Death Eaters.”
“No — that’s your job, isn’t it?” Harry shot at him.
He had not meant to say it; it had burst out of him in temper. For a long moment they stared at each other, Harry convinced he had gone too far. But there was a curious, almost satisfied expression on Snape’s face when he answered.
“Yes, Potter,” he said, his eyes glinting. “That is my job.” (OP26)

Snape’s worst memory: Harry stopped in front of the desk and gazed down at his fifteen-year-old father.
Excitement exploded in the pit of his stomach: it was as though he was looking at himself but with deliberate mistakes. James’s eyes were hazel, his nose was slightly longer than Harry’s, and there was no scar on his forehead, but they had the same thin face, same mouth, same eyebrows. James’s hair stuck up at the back exactly as Harry’s did, his hands could have been Harry’s, and Harry could tell that when James stood up, they would be within an inch of each other’s heights. (OP28)

Snape’s worst memory: With another shock of excitement, Harry saw Sirius give James the thumbs-up. Sirius was lounging in his chair at his ease, tilting it back on two legs. He was very good-looking; his dark hair fell into his eyes with a sort of casual elegance neither James’s nor Harry’s could ever have achieved, and a girl sitting behind him was eyeing him hopefully though he didn’t seem to have noticed. (OP28)

Snape’s worst memory: Lupin had pulled out a book and was reading. Sirius stared around at the students milling over the grass, looking rather haughty and bored, but very handsomely so. James was still playing with the Snitch, letting it zoom farther and farther away, almost escaping but always grabbed at the last second. Wormtail was watching him with his mouth open. Every time James made a particularly difficult catch, Wormtail gasped and applauded. After five minutes of this, Harry wondered why James didn’t tell Wormtail to get a grip on himself, but James seemed to be enjoying the attention. Harry noticed his father had a habit of rumpling up his hair as though to make sure it did not get too tidy, and also that he kept looking over at the girls by the water’s edge. (OP28)

Snape’s worst memory: “This will liven you up, Padfoot,” said James quietly. “Look who it is…”
“Excellent,” he said softly. “Snivellus.”
Harry turned to see what Sirius was looking at.
Snape was on his feet again, and was stowing the O.W.L. paper in his bag. As he emerged from the shadows of the bushes and set off across the grass, Sirius and James stood up. Lupin and Wormtail remained sitting: Lupin was still staring down at his book, though his eyes were not moving and a faint frown line had appeared between his eyebrows. Wormtail was looking from Sirius and James to Snape with a look of avid anticipation on his face.
“All right, Snivellus?” said James loudly.
Snape reacted so fast it was as though he had been expecting an attack. Dropping his bag, he plunged his hand inside his robes, and his wand was halfway into the air when James shouted “Expelliarmus!”
Snape’s wand flew twelve feet into the air and fell with a little thud in the grass behind him. Sirius let out a bark of laughter. “Impedimenta!” he said, pointing his wand at Snape, who was knocked off his feet, halfway through a dive toward his own fallen wand.
Students all around had turned to watch. Some of them had gotten to their feet and were edging nearer to watch. Some looked apprehensive, others entertained.
Snape lay panting on the ground. James and Sirius advanced on him, wands up, James glancing over his shoulder at the girls at the water’s edge as he went. Wormtail was on his feet now, watching hungrily, edging around Lupin to get a clearer view.
“How’d the exam go Snivelly?” said James.
“I was watching him, his nose was touching the parchment,” said Sirius viciously. “There’ll be great grease marks all over it, they won’t be able to read a word.” […]
“Leave him ALONE!”
James and Sirius looked around. James’s free hand jumped to his hair again.
It was one of the girls from the lake edge. She had thick dark red hair that fell to her shoulders and startlingly green almond-shaped eyes — Harry’s eyes.
Harry’s mother… (OP28)

Snape’s worst memory: “LEAVE HIM ALONE!” Lily shouted. She had her own wand out now. James and Sirius eyed it warily.
“Ah, Evans, don’t make me hex you,” said James earnestly.
“Take the curse off him, then!”
James sighed deeply, then turned to Snape and muttered the countercurse.
“There you go,” he said, as Snape struggled to his feet again, “you’re lucky Evans was here, Snivellus–”
“I don’t need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!” (OP28)

Snape’s worst memory: “You’re as bad as he is…”
“What!” yelped James. “I’d NEVER call you a — you-know-what!”
“Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you’ve just gotten off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can — I’m surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK.” (OP28)

Snape’s worst memory: “So,” said Snape, gripping Harry’s arm so tightly Harry’s hand was starting to feel numb. “So … been enjoying yourself, Potter?”
“N-no …” said Harry, trying to free his arm.
It was scary: Snape’s lips were shaking, his face was white, his teeth were bared.
“Amusing man, your father, wasn’t he?” said Snape, shaking Harry so hard that his glasses slipped down his nose.
“I — didn’t –”
Snape threw Harry from him with all his might. Harry fell hard onto the dungeon floor.
“You will not repeat what you saw to anybody!” Snape bellowed.
“No,” said Harry, getting to his feet as far from Snape as he could, “No, of course I w–”
“Get out, get out, I don’t want to see you in this office ever again!”
And as Harry hurtled toward the door, a jar of dead cockroaches exploded over his head. (OP28)

What was making Harry feel so horrified and unhappy was not being shouted at or having jars thrown at him — it was that he knew how it felt to be humiliated in the middle of a circle of onlookers, knew exactly how Snape had felt as his father had taunted him, and that judging from what he had seen, his father had been every bit as arrogant as Snape had always told him. (OP28)

Harry reminded himself that Lily had intervened; his mother had been decent, yet the memory of the look on her face as she had shouted at James disturbed him quite as much as anything else. She had clearly loathed James and Harry simply could not understand how they could have ended up married. (OP29)

Umbridge: “Potter has no chance whatsoever of becoming an Auror!”
Professor McGonagall got to her feet too, and in her case this was a much more impressive move. She towered over Professor Umbridge.
“Potter,” she said in ringing tones, “I will assist you to become an Auror if it is the last thing I do!” (OP29)

Lupin: “I wouldn’t want you to judge your father on what you saw there, Harry. He was only fifteen –”
“I’m fifteen!” said Harry heatedly.
“Look Harry,” said Sirius placatingly, “James and Snape hated each other from the moment they set eyes on each other, it was just one of those things, you can understand that, can’t you? I think James was everything Snape wanted to be — he was popular, he was good at Quidditch, good at pretty much everything. And Snape was just this little oddball who was up to his eyes in the Dark Arts and James — whatever else he may have appeared to you, Harry — always hated the Dark Arts.” (OP29)

“And,” said Harry doggedly, determined to say everything that was on his mind now he was here, “he kept looking over at the girls by the lake, hoping they were watching him!”
“Oh well, he always made a fool of himself whenever Lily was around,” said Sirius, shrugging. “He couldn’t stop himself showing off whenever he got near her.”
“How come she married him?” Harry asked miserably, “She hated him!”
“Nah, she didn’t,” said Sirius.
“She started going out with him in seventh year,” said Lupin.
“Once James had deflated his head a bit,” said Sirius.
“And stopped hexing people for the fun of it,” said Lupin. (OP29)

Hermione: “This isn’t a criticism, Harry! But you do … sort of … I mean — don’t you think you’ve got a bit of a — a — saving people thing?” she said. [Harry responds] “…I mean, that was really great of you and everything,” said Hermione quickly, looking positively petrified at the look on Harry’s face. “Everyone thought it was a wonderful thing to do –” (OP32)

Lupin: “There’s nothing you can do, Harry … nothing …. He’s gone.” (OP35)

Bellatrix: “Never used an Unforgivable Curse before, have you, boy?” she yelled. She had abandoned her baby voice now. “You need to mean them Potter! You need to really want to cause pain — to enjoy it — righteous anger won’t hurt me for long — I’ll show you how it is done, shall I? I’ll give you a lesson –” (OP36)

Harry to Dumbledore: “I don’t want to talk about how I feel, all right?”
“Harry, suffering like this proves you are still a man! This pain is part of being human –”
“THEN — I — DON’T — WANT — TO — BE — HUMAN!” Harry roared. (OP37)

Dumbledore: “She gave you a lingering protection he never expected, a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother’s blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative.”
“She doesn’t love me,” said Harry at once. “She doesn’t give a damn –”
“But she took you,” Dumbledore cut across him. “She may have taken you grudgingly, furiously, unwillingly, bitterly, yet still she took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother’s sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you.”
“I still don’t –”
“While you can still call home the place where your mother’s blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, there he cannot hurt you. Your aunt knows this. I explained what I had done in the letter I left, with you, on her doorstep. She knows that allowing you houseroom may well have kept you alive for the past fifteen years.” (OP37)

Dumbledore: “Five years ago, then,” continued Dumbledore, as though he had not paused in his story, “you arrived at Hogwarts, neither as happy nor as well-nourished as I would have liked, perhaps, yet alive and healthy. You were not a pampered little prince, but as normal a boy as I could have hoped under the circumstances.” (OP37)

Dumbledore: “I cared about you too much,” said Dumbledore simply. “I cared more for your happiness than your knowing the truth, more for your peace of mind than my plan, more for your life than the lives that might be lost if the plan failed. In other words, I acted exactly as Voldemort expects we fools who love to act.”
“Is there a defense? I defy anyone who has watched you as I have — and I have watched you more closely than you can have imagined — not to want to save you more pain than you had already suffered. What did I care if numbers of nameless and faceless people and creatures were slaughtered in the vague future, if in the here and now you were alive, and well, and happy? I never dreamed that I would have such a person on my hands.” (OP37)

Dumbledore: “Voldemort tried to kill you when you were a child because of a prophecy made shortly before your birth. He knew the prophecy had been made, though he did not know its full contents. He set out to kill you when you were still a baby, believing he was fulfilling the terms of the prophecy. He discovered, to his cost, that he was mistaken, when the curse intended to kill you backfired. And so since his return to his body, and particularly since your extraordinary escape from him last year, he has been determined to hear that prophecy in its entirety. This is the weapon he has been seeking so assiduously since his return: the knowledge of how to destroy you.” (OP37)

Dumbledore: “… the person who has the only chance of conquering Lord Voldemort for good was born at the end of July, nearly sixteen years ago. This boy would be born to parents who had already defied Voldemort three times.”
Harry felt as though something was closing in upon him. His breathing seemed difficult again.
“It means — me?”
Dumbledore surveyed him for a moment through his glasses.
“The odd thing is, Harry,” he said softly, “that it may not have meant you at all. Sibyll’s prophecy could have applied to two wizard boys, born at the end of July that year, both of whom had parents in the Order of the Phoenix, both sets of parents having narrowly escaped Voldemort three times. One, of course was you. The other was Neville Longbottom.” (OP37)

Dumbledore: “He chose the boy he thought most likely to be a danger to him,” said Dumbledore. “And notice this, Harry. He chose, not the pure-blood (which according to his creed, is the only kind of wizard worth being or knowing), but the half-blood like himself. He saw himself in you before he had ever seen you, and in marking you with that scar, he did not kill you, as he intended, but gave you powers, and a future, which have fitted you to escape him not once, but four times so far — something that neither your parents, nor Neville’s parents, ever achieved.” (OP37)

Dumbledore: “There is a room in the Department of Mysteries,” interrupted Dumbledore, “that is kept locked at all times. It contains a force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence, than forces of nature. It is also, perhaps, the most mysterious of the many subjects for study that reside there. It is the power held within that room that you possess in such quantities and which Voldemort has not at all. That power took you to save Sirius tonight. That power also saved you from possession by Voldemort, because he could not bear to reside in a body so full of the force he detests. In the end, it mattered not that you could not close your mind. It was your heart that saved you.”
Harry closed his eyes. If he had not gone to save Sirius, Sirius would not have died…. More to stave off the moment when he would have to think of Sirius again, Harry asked, without caring much about the answer, “The end of the prophecy … it was something about … ‘neither one can live…'”
“‘…while the other survives,'” said Dumbledore.
“So,” said Harry, dredging up the words from what he felt like a deep well of despair inside him, “so does that mean that … that one of us has got to kill the other one … in the end?”
“Yes,” said Dumbledore. (OP37)

Malfoy glanced around — Harry knew he was checking for signs of teachers — then he looked back at Harry and said in a low voice, “You’re dead, Potter.”
Harry raised his eyebrows. “Funny” he said, “you’d think I’d have stopped walking around…”
Malfoy looked angrier than Harry had ever seen him; he felt a kind of detached satisfaction at the sight of his pale, pointed face contorted with rage.
“You’re going to pay,” said Malfoy in a voice barely louder than a whisper. “I’m going to make you pay for what you’ve done to my father…”
“Well, I’m terrified now,” said Harry sarcastically. “I s’ pose Lord Voldemort’s just a warm-up act compared to you three — what’s the matter?” he added, for Malfoy Crabbe and Goyle had all looked stricken at the sound of the name. “He’s a mate of your dad, isn’t he? Not scared of him, are you?”
“You think you’re such a big man, Potter,” said Malfoy, advancing now, Crabbe and Goyle flanking him. “You wait. I’ll have you. You can’t land my father in prison –”
“I thought I just had,” said Harry.
“The Dementors have left Azkaban,” said Malfoy quietly. “Dad and the others’ll be out in no time.…”
“Yeah, I expect they will,” said Harry “Still, at least everyone knows what scumbags they are now –”
Malfoy’s hand flew towards his wand, but Harry was too quick for him; he had drawn his own wand before Malfoy’s fingers had even entered the pocket of his robes. (OP38)

Snape had emerged from the staircase leading down to his office, and at the site of him Harry felt a great rush of hatred beyond anything he felt toward Malfoy…. What ever Dumbledore said, he would never forgive Snape … never …” (OP38)

“Have you…” he began. “I mean, who … has anyone you known ever died?”
“Yes,” said Luna simply, “my mother. She was a quite extraordinary witch, you know, but she did like to experiment and one of her spells went rather badly wrong one day. I was nine.”
“I’m sorry,” Harry mumbled.
“Yes, it was rather horrible,” said Luna conversationally. “I still feel very sad about it sometimes. But I’ve still got Dad. And anyway, it’s not as though I’ll never see Mum again, is it?”
“Er – isn’t it?” said Harry uncertainly.
She shook her head in disbelief. “Oh, come on. You heard them, just behind the veil, didn’t you?”
“You mean…”
“In that room in the archway. They were just lurking out of sight, that’s all, you heard them.” (OP38)

About Luna: She walked away from him and, as he watched her go, he found that the terrible weight in his stomach seemed to have lessened slightly. (OP38)

Original artwork of Harry Potter ©Tea with Voldy, used by permission.
Original page date 23 January, 2005; Last page update 25 January, 2008.

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