Monday, May 13, 2013

30 Day Harry Potter Challenge

It's been longer than usual since I've posted, so I figured I should probably post a challenge! I LOVE Harry Potter, as you'll see as I begin answering these questions. Also, I found 2 of these challenges, and the second one is actually labelled 2. I'm not sure yet if they overlap, but that'll be my next challenge after this one. Enjoy!



In case you're unfamiliar with the acronyms for the books/movies, here's a quick guide... I'll probably use the real titles multiple times, but I'll definitely shorten some.
Book 1- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Shortened to SS.
Book 2- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Shortened to COS.
Book 3- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Shortened to POA.
Book 4- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Shortened to GOF.
Book 5- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Shortened to OTTP.
Book 6- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Shortened to HBP.
Book 7- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Shortened to DH. for movies, I'll add pt.1/pt.2

1) Your favorite of the books
My favorite for the longest time, even after the release of the Deathly Hallows, was the Half-Blood Prince. DH is currently my favorite, followed by HBP and Prisoner of Azkaban.
2) Your favorite of the movies
The movies, for me, are a bit harder to decide. I would definitely say that the POA movie was really good and stuck really close to the book. That and DH pt.2 are probably my favorites of the bunch.
3) Which, if any of the films have made you angry by ignoring important parts of the book?
All of them. I'll take each one by one.
SS- All the things I loved about the first book (mostly the funny moments), such as Weasley twin antics, Lee Jordan's quidditch commentary, Ron screaming at Hermione "ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?!" and of course, the potion room!!!
COS- Not as many complaints, but Peeves definitely made this one more interesting. But they cut him from ALL the movies.
POA- As much as I love this movie, I really wish it had started with Ron yelling at Mr. Dursley on the phone. It would've been awesome.
GOF- WINKY. DOBBY. Also, they left out the crucial part about Harry giving the twins his tournament winnings. They couldn't have opened their store otherwise!
OOTP- I wanted to see the part where Harry and the twins get banned from ever playing quidditch again. And the whole Weasley is our King thing. That got mostly cut.
HBP- DOBBY. Also, Bill and Fleur's relationship wasn't mentioned at all. And the way that the Ginny/Harry relationship was portrayed... no.
DH 1- I was honestly worried they were going to cut out the "holey" joke but they didn't! I think the only thing that annoyed me was Wormtail's death. It was kinda ambiguous and almost looked like he got knocked out, rather than his hand betraying him for saving Harry.
DH 2- The whole elder wand thing made me mad. They changed it from how it was in the book. Not ok. I did really love Neville professing his love to Luna though. Awesome stuff.
4) Least favorite female character and why
There are many female characters I dislike. Umbridge is definitely my least favorite by far. I also dislike Rita Skeeter and Lavender Brown. However, of the main characters, I have to say I'm not a fan of Ginny. She seems to serve no purpose other than to marry Harry and make the golden trio relatives in the future. It's not necessarily her character that I dislike (though there are some things about her that bother me) but it just seems her role is really one dimentional. And her character is pretty one dimentional in the movies. She's much more interesting in the books.
5) Favorite male character and why
The Weasley twins, for sure. They keep me entertained much more than the other characters. I absolutely love them. I also really love Ron.
6) What house would you want to be in?
This is possibly my favorite question. I like to consider myself to be a Slytherclaw. I'm very much a combination of the two. I decided to leave it up to Pottermore, and I came back a Hatstall. So I'm no closer to figuring anything out. If forced to choose, though, I would choose Ravenclaw every time, so that's where I would be at Hogwarts.
7) Favorite female character and why
Definitely Hermione. She has always been my favorite character alongside the twins and Ron. She's definitely what I was when I was younger. Now, I'm a bit of a combination between her and Luna. But Hermione has always been my favorite girl.
8) What do you think would be your favorite subject at Hogwarts?
I've played a lot of games of different classes, and I always seem to love potions more than anything else. Especially on the HBP PS2 game. I made potions on there for HOURS. I think it would be really cool to be in an actual potions class.
9) Least favorite male character and why
Gilderoy Lockhart. He's exactly the type of person I despise. I would also could Lucius Malfoy and Wormtail in this too.
10) Pick one: horcruxes or hallows.
It definitely depends on the situation. For example, in the book when Harry is trying to figure out whether to get information on the horcruxes or hallows first, I was totally pulling for horcruxes, because at that point, those were clearly the more important topic. However, in the case of favorites, I would definitely choose the hallows. They're really interesting and cool and I want an invisibility cloak. Horcruxes are just... terrible.
11) The character you relate to the most
I've often said that I'm a combination of Hermione and Luna, with the Weasley twins and Ron thrown in (which is probably why they're my favorites). I find that the non-annoying parts to Ginny's personality are a lot like me, but I can't bring myself to compare myself to her because of how much I hate her actual role in the series.
12) Your favorite pairing
Romione (Ron+Hermione) is my OTP, for sure. I think they're perfect. My non-canon ship is Nuna (Neville+Luna). I really hate that this didn't happen. My totally unrealistic ones that I would only ship if Ron died are Dramione (Draco+Hermione) and Fremione (Fred+Hermione). If you want to get into AVPM, I'm a huge Quirrelmort shipper. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you're missing out on a great musical.
13) Least favorite of the movies.
As close as it stuck to the book, the first movie was the most disappointing for me, mostly because all the things that made me love the first book were left out (see the rant on #3). Harry was also really annoying because he was WAY too polite and always started his questions the same way. He would say "excuse me" before saying like ANYTHING. Actually... I think a lot of the kids did this. Lame script. I also didn't like the fact that the locations were different (not sure if they changed before or afte #2, but it was definitely different by 3). And I much preferred the location from 3 on.
14) Pick one: Team Voldemort or Team Harry
Normal books/movies, definitely team Harry.
AVPM on the other hand, DEFINITELY team Voldemort (maybe I should do an AVPM challenge?)
15) Who would be your best friends at Hogwarts (up to 3)?
Oh goodness. Can the twins count as one? I would say twins, Ron, Hermione.
16) Your favorite professor
Hands down, McGonagall. I love that woman and her sass. I also really like Lupin, but McGonagall still wins.
17) What would your wand be made of (choose wood and core)
Actually, for a 30 day challenge I did on Facebook one time, I went through the different woods and cores and their meanings for personality, and I came up with an Ebony, Pine, or Ash wand with a phoenix feather core.
18) Least favorite of the 7 books
Chamber of Secrets is definitely my least favorite book, followed by Sorcerer's Stone. I think there was a huge quality shift between COS and POA, both in the books and movies.
19) Do you prefer the books or movies?
Is that even a question? Obviously, I prefer the books.
20) If you could meet one member of the cast, who would it be?
The sad thing is that I feel like I wouldn't really want to meet the actors, I would want to meet the characters. Because I'm worried that if I were to meet the actors, it would ruin my views of them... like I already have lost a lot of respect for Daniel Radcliffe for showing up to the filming of Deathly Hallows drunk. I mean, my perfect little view of him as Harry Potter was already smudged a bit after seeing stories about his sex life. Just no.
21) If you could bring one of the characters back to life, who would you choose?
I'm sorry, all you people who would bring Dobby, or Snape, or Dumbledore, or Sirius, or Lupin back. I love all of them. But I love Fred more. I sobbed like a- oh wait... explanation for #23. I'll save it.
22) Pick one: Harry Potter or Twilight
This question is even more stupid than #19. HARRY FREAKIN' POTTER.
23) Any/all parts of the books/movies that made you cry
Fun story. When the DH book came out, I was 13 and was on a trip with my parents. We couldn't go to a midnight premiere, so I bought the book the next morning at the airport we were at. I spent all day on the plane reading the book, but I had to go to sleep rather than staying up all night to finish it. So, I got up the next day and read more. I got dragged to the mall in the middle of this, and refused to put the book down. And I got to the part where Fred dies in the middle of the mall. And I started crying right there in the middle of the mall. I was a wreck. I was sobbing in the movie too. And the part when the twins are asking each othe if they're ok. And when Dobby died. And when Snape died.
24) Any particular scene you wished was in the movies but wasn't
Ugh there are so many. One that I really loved, though, was the scene in SS when they're in the great hall singing the school song at their own pace, and the twins chose to sing at a funeral march pace and at the end, they were singing by themselves and Dumbledore was conducting them. Then he wipes his eyes and says "ah, music. A magic beyond anything we do here." which is awesome because the scene is hilarious and as a music major, it tugs at my little heartstrings.
25) Are you satisfied with the epilogue?
Simply, no. There are good and bad things. I like the setting. The fact that it was King's Cross at Platform 9 3/4. I thought that Harry's kids had cheesy, lame names. Harry, you can't just name your kids after your parents and the dude that wanted to bang your mom. Doesn't work. I like the little moment where Harry is like "if you wanna be a gryffindor, then you can be a gryffindor". As far as the movies, I really appreciated the fact that they aged the actors rather than getting different people. It wouldn't be the same without them. Without them, it wouldn't truly be Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny saying goodbye to their kids. However, it was WAY too short and vague. I felt like hey, I've put so much of my life into this series, into these characters, and you give me a half-hearted ending and told me how characters I don't care about ended up? NO. Everything was skimmed over. Draco and Harry acknowledged each other. Great. They don't totally hate each other like they used to. So what is their relationship now? Have they ever talked? If they talked, would they be friendly? How much has Draco changed? Neville is skimmed over. Oh look, he's doing exactly what you thought he'd be doing. But how's Georgie doing? What about Luna? Seamus? Dean? Is McGonagall still running Hogwarts? Is she still alive? How are Molly and Arthur? Seriously, so many holes. Half the stuff I know about the epilogue didn't even come from the epilogue. It came from interviews with JK Rowling, explaining things. That's how I found out that Neville and Luna didn't end up together, because LUNA ISN'T EVEN MENTIONED. UGH. I apologize for my rant.
26) If you were able to use one spell without a wand, what would it be?
I think this question is meaning that if I, as my unfortunately muggle self, could do a single spell from the wizarding world, what would I choose. And I'm sure that with a lot of time and dedication, I could think of a better answer, but I'll just stick to my regular "swish and flick." Seriously, there's a reason they teach it to eleven year olds. It's SO useful. Even more so than accio. Because accio just makes things come to you. I could clean my entire room without getting out of bed if I could use Wingardium Leviosa.
27) Which of the Deathly Hallows would you rather own?
I'm not trying to be the "smart one" here, but the invisibility cloak seems to be the most useful to a witch/wizard. Think about it. Unless you're going to be dueling all the time and attacking people, the elder wand isn't at all necessary. And people get killed over it. The resurrection stone doesn't REALLY bring people back, and just like the brother in the tale, the person could be insanely depressed. The cloak is definitely the most logical.
28) Who would be your nemesis at Hogwarts?
I would say either Lavender Brown or Pansy Parkinson. They're both annoying, snooty girls that I just couldn't deal with.
29) Is there a job you would want to have, were you a part of the wizarding world?
I actually don't know. I've never done much research into wizarding jobs. If I was good enough at one of my subjects in school, I could possibly end up a professor. I don't know.
30) Describe the affect Harry Potter has had on your life and how much it means to you
I'm not even sure it's possible to put it into words. Until the age of 10, I wasn't allowed to read them. My parents were told by one of their friends that there was devil worship in the books. Obviously these people had never seen the movies or read the books, but rather had heard this information from somewhere else. Which pissed me off once I was allowed to read them because I'd ALWAYS wanted to read them and had never been allowed because of this supposed "devil worship". NOT COOL. From that point on, Harry Potter became a huge part of my life, and it has been ever since. It lead to the best day of my life, which was the day that I got to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I only got to go one day, but it was absolute perfection. We were there from the time the park opened until almost closing time, and we spend the entire day at Harry Potter World. I got to ride the castle ride twice, the dragon ride twice (once for each dragon. If I remember correctly, I thought the teal one was more fun than the red one, which is funny cause red is my favorite color and teal is my second favorite), and went on the hippogriff ride just to say that we went on it. I bought 4 wands... which was partially the result of poor planning. See, I looked online before we went, because I wanted to see what all I was going to buy. And I was really disappointed that the Weasley twins' wands weren't there to buy. So, I went into the park knowing that I wanted to get Hermione and Draco's wands. But then in the shop off of the castle ride, I discovered that they did, in fact, sell the twins' wands and was too attached to the other two to let them go, so I just kept them all. I drank lots of butterbeer, bought a chocolate frog ( which melted too soon), as well as a lot of other cool things. ANYWAY. Clearly, Harry Potter has had a HUGE effect on my life and it means WAY too much to me to be able to put it into words.

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