Why Harry Potter’s awesome!

I know there are around ten thousand or so reasons why Harry Potter is popular, entertaining and engrossing, but here I will state the reasons I think are the best!

• Interesting Plot - Harry Potter was the most popular children’s fiction for ever so long, and I still rate it the best novel I have read, and most of the credit goes to the plot. It is imaginative and well thought-out. Sometimes, you have to think a little to sort a few thing out in your head and sometimes, you can’t wait for the next twist in the story!
• Perfect Language - Not too simple, not too complex! That’s the language J.K. Rowling uses, and it appeals to children of all ages very much. Reading the books is simply a pleasure, what with the philosophical quotes, laugh-till-you-burst jokes and vivid descriptions!
• Theme - The story revolves around a young hero who has had a hard life. As we follow his adventures, he learns the most important lessons of life - that friendship matters beyond anything else, courage and determination will take you anywhere, and the most important of all - love conquers all. The lessons it contains are not pushed down your throat, but you definitely know they’re there, and it does change you in a way, reading this series...
• Characters - Over the course of the story, the characters grow into so much more than they were at first. Unexpected sides are revealed, as with Neville. Unexpected people make a mark on your heart, like Luna. And unexpected twists make you rethink everything you ever thought about a character ( you know and I know whom I’m talking about ).

So that was for people who wanted honest opinions why Harry Potter is definitely worth the read.
Now to come to the more important points!

• Hermione Granger - I think Harry Potter is one of the very few books that has a female main character whose only job is not just to look beautiful and agree with everything everyone else says (I’m not going to pretend I didn’t just take a dig at Twilight!!)
• Love - the most powerful magic - Harry Potter is also one of the very few series where love is not the mushy teen romance stuff, but actual love. Love for life, love for friends, love for your own, love for the world in general.
• There’s Fred and George - You do not just put down a book that involves characters like Fred and George, who can keep you laughing for days together!
• People all over the world read it - Everyone has heard of Harry Potter. Find me a single teenager who has never heard of the book, and… we all know no such person exists. And yes, Harry Potter has such a large readership over the world, it is taken for granted that it is one of the most popular children’s books, which implies it’s awesome!

I could go on and on forever, but what I really want to know is, do you agree with me? And do you have more reasons to add to my list? As a true Potterhead, I entreat you to answer me honestly and frankly!

The Tales of Beedle the Bard

The Tales of Beedle the Bard is the 'Grimms' Fairy Tales' of the magical world. Just like we muggles (I totally don't want to be included in that group, but let's face it - I haven't got my letter yet!) can reel off Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Hansel and Gretel by-heart, children of the magical world have heard The Tales Of Beedle the Bard a million times over.
There is not really much difference between Muggle fairy tales and Wizards' fairy tales - both emphasise the victory of good and the downfall of evil, both usually have 'happy endings' and both aim to teach little children the values of life through an interesting means.
But a primary difference is that magic is considered a thing of fairy tales (pun not intended) in Muggle stories and it is this magic that tends to be the root of all problems or fixes. In wizard fairy tales, though, the heores and heroines are adept at magic and yet, they face just as many problems as any other person would and it is finally the goodness of their heart that tides them through difficulty.
And remember that you might say fairy tales are full of miracles ad things which would never happen in everyday life, but children from magical backgrounds also find it hard to believe some of the things that happen in their fairy tales. To make things clearer - in The Tale of the Three Brothers, the appearance of Death in the story seems like fantasy even to Ron, who was exposed to magic since his childhood.
The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a compilation of five famous wizarding stories, "The Wizard and the Hopping Pot", "The Fountain of Fair Fortune", "Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump", "The Warlock's Hairy Heart" and "The Tale of the Three Brothers".
After the Harry Potter series was complete, J.K. Rowling made seven handwritten and self-illustrated copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard and distributed six to people who were deeply involved with Harry Potter. The seventh was sold, and the money was donated to a charity. And then, the book was released in Standard and Paperback form to the public. The book contains commentary from Dumbledore at the end of each tale and his views on each of them.
These stories are amusing, entertaining and contain a storehouse of information about wizards' practices, especially those of the olden times when wizards were not concealed from the world. Dumbledore's commentary provides a world of insight about how the tales were received by the public in general and children especially.
There are also hints to the truth behind the Deathly Hallows in "The Tale of the Three Brothers", which the readers can relate to if they have read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
The Tales of Beedle the Bard may seem like a book meant for a young audience and it probably is, in the wizarding world. Nevertheless, Harry Potter fans will find themselves engrossed while reading the book and of course, need I say it, we all will jump at the chance to read some personal views penned down by Dumbledore himself!

Sources : The Tales of Beedle the Bard
               Wikipedia
                Harry Potter Wiki

The Peverell Story

'Death takes all when their time comes' - A truth universally acknowledged.
Then what of the Peverell brothers? These three men - Cadmus, Antioch and Ignotus, played a very important role in shaping up the plot of the Harry Potter series.
Let me start with the Tale of the Three Brothers.
There were once three brothers, walking upon a deserted road at twilight (or midnight; it's debated, so take your pick). They approached a gloomy and forbidding forest, but collecting their nerves, they walked inside. The harsh echoes and deep silence of the woods were enough to make any passerby flee, but our three brothers walked on in bravery. Then they met a river in their path - it was eerie and too treacherous to pass. But the brothers, who were proficient in the magical arts, waved their wands and created a bridge, over which they could walk to safety. Death, who had set up the river as a trap and end for anyone who passed by, was angered that they had found a means of escape. So he confronted them and pretending to be pleased, offered them a reward each.
The first brother's nursed ambition was to be the strongest wizard in the world. He demanded such a tool of Death, that would make him invincible. Death fashioned an elder wand from a nearby tree, and handed it to the eldest brother. This wand was unconquerable when in duel and it acquired many other names such as the Deathstick and the Wand of Destiny.
The second brother begged Death to give him something to bring back his dead lover. Death gave him a pebble that could animate a dead person, and effectively, bring them back from the barrier of death.
The third and youngest brother, though, saw right through the hooded mask Death was wearing. Being shrewd, he realized that Death was manipulating them to their death. So, he chose to be left alone by Death until he was ready to die. Death, being outwitted, had no choice but to give the brother his cloak, which would render the wearer completely invisible.
Thus, the three deathly hallows were formed - The Elder Wand, The Resurrection Stone, and The Cloak of Invisibility. The story goes on to explain how the three brothers met their end - the first two, immediately after procuring their gifts, and the last one, after long years of happiness.
This story, though, is only an animated and interesting form of relating what happened. The brothers were probably strong magicians (according to Dumbledore) who created these hallows themselves, and were unable to understand their danger. Lust for obtaining the three hallows - especially the Elder Wand - brought many people face to face with their Death (pun intended!).

Friendship - The Meaning

One of the most fascinating bits of Harry Potter was the friendship between Ron, Hermione, and Harry. When I started reading Harry Potter, I was a little kid of nine years, and my idea of a tragedy was getting too much homework and not being able to go down to play, and a villain was a teacher who yelled at me, or a friend who didn't let me sit by the window in the bus. In spite of barely understanding the series on a deep level, what captivated me the most and made me read on was the friendship of our three heroes. From the very beginning, after they fought the troll, till the very last chapter, when they fought alongside each other in the Battle of Hogwarts, though everything - and everyone - changed, their friendship remained.

We've all had friends since the beginning of our lives. Some come and go, and some remain as a constant in our lives - sometimes, the only constant in our lives. In Harry's world, everything was constantly changing. Harry lost his parents at a young age, suddenly Hagrid appeared out of nowhere and took him off to Hogwarts, Harry found out about Lord Voldemort, Dumbledore and Sirius dying...these were some of the big changes. But there were small changes, too. Like when, suddenly, all his Gryffindor mates didn't trust him anymore, and Cho had a boyfriend and didn't seem to like him, then Ron and Hermione getting together...small changes, but very, very important and significant changes in his life. Even the villain wasn't constant. In the fifth book, all of us hated Umbridge more than we hated Voldemort, admit it. Umbridge was the one we wanted dead in that book, not Lord Voldemort.

Yet, throughout the series, their friendship remained. Sure, they had arguments, but then, the essence and meaning of true friendship is that no matter what, you stick together. And they did that. In spite of all the problems in the world, they stuck together, by each others' side, and we see that even 19 years later, when they have their own families, they still retain that friendship.

This is what - in my mind - is the meaning of Harry Potter: to show that no matter what happens in life, there are some friends who will be there for you, forever. You just might not have met that friend yet. Harry Potter, along with an amazing plot and vivid characters, explores the true meaning of friendship and tells us that you do have that one true friend out there.

So whenever I'm feeling down or depressed because life is hard, I remember what Harry Potter teaches us: that don't give up, don't despair, don't worry that no one cares for you. Because there is always that one friend who will give up his life for you.

Thestrals

I begin, as most other teens would, with Harry Potter.
The young boy wizard, with his close companions, have ruled my bookish fantasies ever since I graduated out of Enid Blyton. More on her works later, though.
Thestrals... beautiful word, and a beautiful topic to contemplate upon. I know I should probably start at the beginning, from Philosopher's Stone, and work my way towards the end, but the moment I thought of this blog, I knew I wanted this to be my first post.
Thestrals are winged horses with skeletal bodies, reptilian faces, and wide wings that resemble a bat's. They are first introduced in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, when Harry notices them for the first time, pulling the students' carriages to the lake. The others, however, seem unable to see the thestrals, and Luna Lovegood, a Ravenclaw girl, explains to Harry that only those who have seen death can see the thestrals. They are gentle creatures (usually), and the Hogwarts herds are especially mild, reacting to soft words and caresses.  What really held them in my memory was the fact that though they were associated with death, they are portrayed to be quite gentle animals, and loyal.
I initially wondered why Harry could not see the thestrals on the way back from Hogwarts in the Goblet of Fire, or even before, since he had witnessed his mother's death when he was only a year old. But then I found that a person can see the thestrals only when he has come to terms with the death they have witnessed. On the return trip from Hogwarts, Harry was still numb about Cedric's death. He could just not relate to it.
But later, he understood that when a war was going on, people would die, and he had to face it and keep going anyway. I'm sure many people, including yours truly, did not let Cedric's death affect them much. Sure, it startled everyone to reality, made it certain that Voldemort was back. But we were just glad that Harry had gotten out of there alive, and was fine, for then.
But from Harry's point of view, or even any other Hogwarts student's, it must have been jolting. Until then, Voldemort had been something of a distant concept, appearing only in people's memories and dreams. Then suddenly he turns up at some graveyard or the other, and murders a student in cold blood just because he was unlucky enough to turn up there with Harry.
If not for Cedric's death, the incident would have sounded ridiculous to anyone not knowing the full story. And as it was, we saw how Harry's own friends turned against him the next year. Even Dean and Seamus, fellow Gryffindors, refused to believe him.
So it was no wonder that Cedric's death brought back a rush of memories to Harry... that graveyard... almost dying at the hands of Voldemort... seeing his parents during the Priori Incantatem.
And so, Harry could not bring himself to even think about Cedric, much less accept that his death was not Harry's fault, for a whole summer.