lou's library

When this blog post goes online, it will be the first of September, aka the day I would very much like to look out of the windows of the Hogwarts Express, counting down the hours until the Start-of-Term-Feast in the Great Hall. As that seems an unlikely scenario, I’ll probably make do with rereading the series. In my opinion, autumn starts with September, and there’s no better season to get back into Harry Potter than autumn!!! To celebrate the occasion, I’ll answer the Harry Potter 20 years BookTube Tag, which originally was created because of the 20th anniversary of the series a few years ago. I got the questions from Amy McLean on Youtube, so do make sure to check out their video, too!

1. How did you discover Harry Potter? Did you read the books first or watch the movies?

I discovered Harry Potter peeking through my hands at the TV screen, squeezing my eyes shut tightly every time Voldemort came on screen. My older sister was obsessed with the movies and in hindsight we were probably both too young to watch them. Our Dad watched them with us, but he fell asleep after five minutes (he still does that any time we watch Harry Potter), so he wasn’t much help. I wish I’d read the books first, but given that I was born the year the first book was released, chances always were I’d come across the movies first. I didn’t read the books until I was 15 years old, because those first encounters with Voldemort scarred me for life!!! But once I did read the books, I did love them immediately. So cheers to my sister for ensuring it would take me years to get into what is now my favourite fantasy series.

2. Let’s be honest, the Hogwarts uniform is looking a bit drab. How would you customise your uniform to show off your individuality?

Sorry, but I’ve been dreaming about getting to wear that uniform for years, so you better believe I’d wear it with pride!! Also, I’m not a fashion girly so my personality rarely ever shines through my outfits. Miranda Priestly I am not. I’m a Hufflepufff and I don’t think yellow does wonders for my skin tone, so that’s a bit of a bad start, I guess. Maybe I’d wear nice sturdy boots with yellow shoe laces to survive the Scottish weather? Sorry folks, that’s the best I can come up with lol.

3. Who would your ultimate Hogwarts friends gang be?

Uuuh, I love this question! Assuming I’d be there during the time the books are set in, I’d say Oliver Wood, because he’s been my Harry Potter book boyfriend from day one! Oh, and Cedric Diggory, please, my fellow Hufflepuff!! I’m realising I’ve chosen people that would be way too cool for me, but a girl can dream, right? I also think Ginny would be incredible to hang out with, and obviously Hermione!! And I just wanna give Neville a hug anytime he comes up in the books, so he can be part of the gang too!! Quite an eclectic mix, but that’s what I’m going with.

4. If you were a teacher at Hogwarts, what class would you teach?

History of Magic!! It always bothers me how much of a bad rep this subject gets in the books, because I think History can be a fascinating subject if done right. I’m sorry Professor Binns, but I think it’s time to step down!! Also, having a decent grasp of history can be so important for negotiating the present, too! Harry definitely would have benefitted with a bit of basic knowledge of what happened in the wizarding world before he came to Hogwarts. Sign me up!!

5. If you could have any creature from the Harry Potter universe as a pet, what pet would you choose?

Hmmm, I’m not sure. I’ve always had a soft spot for Norbert, though. And having a baby dragon sounds delightfully chaotic, so let’s go with that!

6. Your captain of the Quidditch team, what would you name your team?

First of all: making me captain of any sports team isn’t a good idea, but here we go. Maybe the Catastrophic Canons? Or the Rubbish Racers? The Hufflepuff Harebrained? The Insufferable Idiots? The Shitty Snitches? I could keep going, but I think you get the gist.

7. What magical treat have you always wanted to try?

I realise this is a bit of a boring choice, but Chocolate Frogs!! First of all: chocolate!! Always a good idea. And I like the idea of collecting the different characters. I don’t know if it counts as a treat, but I’d also like to try Butterbeer, because I’m curious to see what it tastes like.

8. If you could invent a spell, what would your spell do and what word would you use to cast it?

Uff, that’s a tough one. I feel like there already is a spell out there for everything you could ever need. But I guess a spell that makes you or objects you want to hide invisible, would be cool and way more convenient than the invisibility cloak. And I’d probably call it something wildly creative like Invisio. Because I obviously know my Latin.

9. If your Patronus was an inanimate object, what would it be?

A writing quill!! Not that I’ve ever used one (or that I think they’re not absolutely mind-boggingly annoying to write with). I just like the aesthetic, lol. And I obviously like to write. Would it look slightly odd to have a huge quill shoot out of my wand to protect me? Possibly.

10. If you could bring any Harry Potter character back to life, who would you resurrect?

BLIMEY DON’T MAKE ME CHOOSE. There are too many to decide!! My heart says Fred, because I’ll never get over his death and also, I’d love to bring him back for his family’s (George’s!!!!) sake. For Harry’s sake, bringing Sirius back to life would probably be best. But I’m gonna go with Lupin, for three reasons. Number one, he’s one of my favourite characters in the series and his death destroyed me. Number two, Teddy. He deserves to at least have one parent. Yes, I could bring back Tonks instead of Lupin but, and that brings me to reason number three, I really really want one of the Marauders to survive. And so I’d save Lupin. He could go back to being teacher for Defence against the dark arts, because he was the best teacher in that subject ever and Teddy would be so proud of his Dad. Okay, I’ll stop now because I can barely see what I’m typing THROUGH ALL THESE TEARS.

11. You’ve been given free reign of Diagon Alley and can have anything you want. What shop do you hit first?

Either Flourish and Blotts to check out all those amazing books or Ollivander’s to get my wand!! Books or wand? Wand or books? How am I supposed to choose?? I guess I’ll go with wand, because I can look at all the books in the Hogwarts library, I guess.

12. If you could send an Owl Post to anyone in the Harry Potter universe, who would you write to and why?

Easy. Professor McGonagall, because that woman doesn’t get enough credit for how badass she is and the work she does. So I’d just write one long-ass letter all about how she’s the bees knees and how I hope to be like her when I grow up. Also, I bet that woman has so many amazing stories to tell that we know nothing about. She’d probably be the most fascinating pen pal ever!! I ❤ MCGONAGALL.

13. If JK Rowling were to announce a spin off series from the Harry Potter universe, which character would you love to see as the protagonist?

Okay, let’s pretend there’s not a whole debate to be had about whether we should still consume anything that woman keeps on creating. I’m very tempted to say the Marauders, because they seem to have been both incredibly fun and incredibly controversial assholes. Nice combination. But then again, I’d also love to see how Teddy Lupin is getting through life as an orphan with Harry Potter as his godfather. The Oliver Wood fangirl would also totally read a spin off about his time after Hogwarts, though. So many possibilities!! Maybe we could have a Marauders spin off focusing on Lupus, with flashes forward to Teddy’s time at Hogwarts? Would that work??

These are all the questions, I hope you enjoyed my answers! Have a great time on the Hogwarts express and let me know if you’re also planning on rereading the eeries now that autumn is officially here!!!