You know, what I did a pretty good intro to this whole Harry Potter thing last week so I’m going to forgo the sticky details and say that today’s Five is about my favorite scenes from the books. This is very likely to have a followup later with favorite scenes from the films. With that terse intro done with, lets get to the Five presented in chronological order.
Oh yea! I figure its worth mentioning there’s going to be spoilers here. So if you’ve only watched the films, there could be some nasty surprises here.
Confrontation at the Shrieking Shack
Prisoner of Azkaban was the only book I read in one sitting, which by virtue of not being a voracious reader is a nice feat for me. The mystery had me intrigued and gripped. Quite good I say! So when they finally get towards the end and you’re led to believe that Lupin is a bad guy and Sirius is responsible for the death of the Potters, and they reveal that the real culprit is Ron’s rat who is really another wizard named Peter Pettigrew (aka: Wormtail). And you’re all like… okay? What the hell? Its an odd scene to be sure, but it covers all the bases and clears the air so to speak. It reveals all the answers to the mystery in one fell swoop and starts to really show the world beyond Hogwarts. Not to mention it brings Sirius Black into the picture and he’s a pretty cool dude.
Lord Voldemort returns
I drudged a bit through Goblet of Fire because all that Triwizard Tournament junk just didn’t interest me. It was like a book full of Quidditch matches (something I’m not really fond of). So blah. Where I felt the book did okay was in the bits in-between where Harry tries to figure stuff out. So then he gets to the end, he’s about to win and then POW! In a graveyard. Okay. Oh…. and there’s Wormtail who so conveniently got away from the last seen I mentioned. And he’s holding a weird baby thing and…. oh… hey! Voldemort is back and he is one crazy person with more dashes of evil that I’d care to not think about. Okay, so big plot twist I totally did not see coming. Suddenly all that Triwizard stupidity was a distant thought and looks like things are about to get crazy here in the world of Mr. Potter. Had me stuck in a chair and I hammered through those last pages because hot-damn that was exciting. I wanted more!
Fred and George leave Hogwarts
Order of the Pheonix is not my favorite book, mostly because of Harry’s constant emo whining (even it he is within his right to do that). But it does have it’s nice points. So in the midst of all Umbridge’s screwing around with Hogwarts, Fred and George are busy trying to setup a prankster’s items business with all sorts of cool things. It’s a neat little side story. Later on when Harry needs a distraction, the twins are all too happy to oblige since it means they get to give crap to Umbridge. They plant several “portable swamps” around the castle and get Umbridge riled up something fierce. They’re surrounding and most likely in the scholastic punishment of a lifetime. However, they up and decide to just call it quits on academia and toss out some fireworks and depart from their education once and for all. They leave to thunderous applause and cheers from the students and staff. My favorite part though is they tell Peeves (a trouble poltergeist) to “Give [Umbridge] hell for us, Peeves.” To which he complys. Perhaps the first time he has ever done so for anyone. It’s awesome.
Snape’s history revealed
After all the books, and all the guessing and uncertainty about Severus Snape, we finally get to know the story behind him and who he truly sided with. You know what? It was worth it. I had one friend chastise me for not including Snape in my list last week, and in hindsight she’s probably right that Snape is one of the best characters in the whole series, but he didn’t really qualify as one my favorites hence not being on the list. Anyway, so Snape’s backstory. We find out that Snape was/is in love with one Lily Potter. Snape introduced her to magic, she was always nice to him and the two were good friends until their later years in Hogwarts. Later when he tells Voldemort the prophecy and realizes that Voldemort intends to kill the Potters, he feels remorse and joins the good guys. And has remained their ever since being an active spy. It brings Snape’s story full circle and brings him into focus. And after all the years of “is he good or bad” is laid to rest and it amazes you how well Rowling kept it hidden for all those years. Good show!
Harry surrenders
During the Snape flashback, we learn that Harry is an accidental Horcrux for Voldemort and needs to die for Voldemort to be mortal again. Harry, ever the hero, goes off alone to the Forbidden Forest to confront Voldemort and intends to sacrifice himself for the greater good. On the way, he uses the Resurrection Stone and calls forth spirits of his parents, Sirius and Lupin. It’s a touching moment. They give him support and encouragement. He then goes to his death. He faces off to Voldemort, who blasts him with a Killing Curse. Noble self-sacrifice indeed. However, since Voldemort used Harry’s blood to revive himself, he became a sort of ‘Horcrux’ anchoring Harry to the world of the living, and thus Harry survives the encounter but the part of Voldemort’s soul in Harry is gone.
[The Friday Five is murf's weekly series on GeekLore. If you enjoyed this article, and want to see more geeky goodness from murf and others, please check out www.geeklore.net.]
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