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My participation in fandom over the last couple of years has been sporadic at best, so I'd missed the advent of the harry potter companion, a creation of John Kearns, one of the Lexicon's ex editors. The upside of this is that I've found it when his work on the 7 main books + Fantastic Beasts is complete, so each chapter has a plot summary, some thought-provoking questions and lots and lots of fanart. Some of the art I'd seen before, most I hadn't, all is good or stunningly good.
John's essays are worth a read too - I particularly liked his analysis of the sleeping arrangements at the Burrow, pointing out that younger children have progressively higher rooms, though Molly and Arthur sleep near the top of the house. Does that mean that the rooms in between were added with each addition to the family? No wonder the house is wonky!
His analysis of the differences between George and Fred is very useful too.
Interspersed with the analysis are some nostalgic moments as John recalls speculation and surprise at the time the books came out, including one I was oblivious to at the time:
For many people (including yours truly), this chapter is the only portion of the Harry Potter novels that we have ever heard read by J.K. Rowling herself. The reason is that the night Deathly Hallows was released, as the clock struck midnight in Edinburgh, Rowling read this chapter to an audience of children – and was broadcast live all over the world via her publisher’s website. For me, six hours behind her time in Chicago, it meant a very long break between hearing the first chapter and finally getting to read the rest for myself, which was awfully tantalizing (and, if I remember correctly, quite possibly the least productive six hours of my life). But it was a great way for Rowling to kick off the final Harry Potter midnight release, and it will be an event I’ll always remember fondly.
Leading up to DH, my entire focus was on preparing for Sectus, so I didn't pay much attention to what JKR was up to and I'd have probably missed the significance of the webcast if I had. I've always been lucky to be in the earliest timezone when the books were released so queueing to get my mitts on the whole book would always take precedent over listening to even JKR read just one chapter, but had I been 6 hours behind I'd have probably been part of that global audience too. It reminds me of the HBP release when the first chapter was widely circulating but people weren't sure whether it was real. I stopped long enough between bookshop and bed to say that yes, indeed it was, before diving in.
And Daphne Greengrass? John made this observation:
Pansy Parkinson goes out of her way to make the lives of the Gryffindors miserable, and it’s rare that Hermione mentions her without describing her as a “cow.” And yet, Dumbledore apparently made her a prefect this year. It took me by surprise when I first read it, but then I started thinking about his other options in Slytherin. Millicent Bulstrode? Ugh. Daphne Greengrass? We don’t know anything about her (or any other girls in the class), but let’s just say that having Pansy chosen as prefect over you isn’t exactly a stellar recommendation.
I think all we know about Daphne is that she doesn't have a named Death Eater relative, she doesn't torment Harry or his friends and her sister married Draco. I've always assumed that she was an okay human being, and certainly most of the little fanon I've read on Draco and Astoria paint her as a progressive influence, though I don't think there is anything in canon to support that. So now I'm wondering whether Daphne was actually 'worse' than Pansy, or just less confident so Dumbledore didn't think her up to keeping the more belligerent Slytherins in line, or if Pansy wasn't necessarily the best but Dumbledore thought that being prefect might be good for her?
John's essays are worth a read too - I particularly liked his analysis of the sleeping arrangements at the Burrow, pointing out that younger children have progressively higher rooms, though Molly and Arthur sleep near the top of the house. Does that mean that the rooms in between were added with each addition to the family? No wonder the house is wonky!
His analysis of the differences between George and Fred is very useful too.
Interspersed with the analysis are some nostalgic moments as John recalls speculation and surprise at the time the books came out, including one I was oblivious to at the time:
For many people (including yours truly), this chapter is the only portion of the Harry Potter novels that we have ever heard read by J.K. Rowling herself. The reason is that the night Deathly Hallows was released, as the clock struck midnight in Edinburgh, Rowling read this chapter to an audience of children – and was broadcast live all over the world via her publisher’s website. For me, six hours behind her time in Chicago, it meant a very long break between hearing the first chapter and finally getting to read the rest for myself, which was awfully tantalizing (and, if I remember correctly, quite possibly the least productive six hours of my life). But it was a great way for Rowling to kick off the final Harry Potter midnight release, and it will be an event I’ll always remember fondly.
Leading up to DH, my entire focus was on preparing for Sectus, so I didn't pay much attention to what JKR was up to and I'd have probably missed the significance of the webcast if I had. I've always been lucky to be in the earliest timezone when the books were released so queueing to get my mitts on the whole book would always take precedent over listening to even JKR read just one chapter, but had I been 6 hours behind I'd have probably been part of that global audience too. It reminds me of the HBP release when the first chapter was widely circulating but people weren't sure whether it was real. I stopped long enough between bookshop and bed to say that yes, indeed it was, before diving in.
And Daphne Greengrass? John made this observation:
Pansy Parkinson goes out of her way to make the lives of the Gryffindors miserable, and it’s rare that Hermione mentions her without describing her as a “cow.” And yet, Dumbledore apparently made her a prefect this year. It took me by surprise when I first read it, but then I started thinking about his other options in Slytherin. Millicent Bulstrode? Ugh. Daphne Greengrass? We don’t know anything about her (or any other girls in the class), but let’s just say that having Pansy chosen as prefect over you isn’t exactly a stellar recommendation.
I think all we know about Daphne is that she doesn't have a named Death Eater relative, she doesn't torment Harry or his friends and her sister married Draco. I've always assumed that she was an okay human being, and certainly most of the little fanon I've read on Draco and Astoria paint her as a progressive influence, though I don't think there is anything in canon to support that. So now I'm wondering whether Daphne was actually 'worse' than Pansy, or just less confident so Dumbledore didn't think her up to keeping the more belligerent Slytherins in line, or if Pansy wasn't necessarily the best but Dumbledore thought that being prefect might be good for her?
