Alysa stood beside me, inquiring into my slowness at finishing the first of the Harry Potter series by J.K.Rowling. I just smiled, likely making some small sound confirming her statement and continued reading. Dumbledore was speaking after all. I could hear the voice of that wise, delightful wizard in my head--he is one of my favorite characters! I wonder which of my relatives are or were most like him.
I can hear him now: "And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are a little fuller than they were...you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts..."(Page 304, Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone)
Old man's wheezing waffle? Where does she get these phrases?
"Snape was shaking Professor McGonagall's hand, with a horrible, forced smile. He caught Harry's eye and Harry knew at once that Snape's feelings toward him hadn't changed one jot." (Page 307)
Jot??? I have been giggling over and over of the language Rowling uses. But it is Harry's last lines, the ones where I can see his face ever so clearly speaking truth to how he might deal with the Dursleys over the summer, that really have me caught. Rowling wrote, "They don't know we aren't allowed to use magic at home. I am going to have a lot of fun with Dudley this summer..."
Ahhh, the joys of summer. I had forgotten how pleasurable it can be to slowly read, word for word, a just-for-me book. Chapters longer than blog entries and emails and story lines that create mind images of a school I long have thought would have been beyond magical to attend, and just enough terrific adults to mentor us all in battling the evils of the world. Excuse me, I need to go to the bookshelf and pull out the next title, something about some Chamber of Secrets....
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