Harry Potter - Top Five

 

This Friday (or midnight tonight..) marks the end of an era. An era of Harry Potter. While the last book was

published years ago, Harry Potter fans hung on to the fact that movies would still carry the end on for just a little bit longer. Now we've reached the ultimate bittersweet conclusion with the film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two.

I'm a huge Harry Potter fan and always will be, but to celebrate (though that seems too happy of a word for something so sad to us fans) the last Harry Potter movie, I've created a blog post to share my Top Five favourites of many categories. These will contain both favourites with the movies and the books...and so it begins...

Click Read More to see the list.

Characters -

Hermione Granger

Hands down, Hermione Jean Granger is my all time favourite character. Maybe it's because we're so much alike, I don't know. I just love everything about her. Her attitude, style, and traits. She also served as a role model to readers and watchers by showing that being smart can be cool. And pretty! Sure, she wasn't described as that pretty in the books, but what do you expect from a little boy's point of view? As you can tell, their opinions changed over time. 

The character Hermione just sings to a part of me and makes me happy. She's like the sister I never had. :]

Ron Weasley 

Ron is so cute and just a great character. He's the ultimate side-kick that finally became just as famous as Harry Potter. Well..maybe not just as famous but pretty close. I love his easy going, blunt look on life and his hatred for Slytherins. (Even though I have a Slytherin on this list...) Also, he's hilarious! He brings laughter to the pages of the book and to the silver screen. Without him, I think that Harry and Hermione would have stressed out too much and ultimately failed. He completes the trifecta of awesome that is Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

Draco Malfoy

Yeah, he's a bully. Yeah, he's a Slytherin. But I love the guy. At first, I didn't like him. He was just a little annoying twerp at the beginning of the series and I don't think anyone liked him. However, as the series progressed, my opinion changed. He was just an unfortunate boy. He was born into a family of Death Eaters and was forced to be who he was. I felt so bad for him by the end of the series. He deserved better, but he had too much of an ego to tell anyone how he really felt. The way of life he grew up with was engrained in him and it would never change. Though we all know there's that bit of good not so deep down. Plus, Tom Felton is so good looking that he won the hearts of a lot a girls. ;D

Fred & George Weasley

I know they're technically two people, but you just can't separate them! They will always belong together! They made me laugh the most and they were just made of awesome. Words can't do them justice.

Severus Snape

I love jaded characters. He's so bad, it's comical! Also, he never has a change of costume or hairstyle throughout the books or movies, and yet he still remains awesome. When he died, I cried. I cried because what I believed all along came true and then he never gets to see a better world. I believed he really was a good person - more so than Draco - and I was right. The fact that I was right made his ending so much more bitter to me. I would never want him as a teacher, but I believe he was a pretty cool character.

(Why didn't I include Harry in this list? Well...this series is already named after him! And main characters usually aren't my favourite either. ;])

Places - 

Hogwarts Castle 

Hogwarts seriously wouldn't have been a cool school without being such a magnificent castle. I was invited to go to Yale University (I haven't decided yes or no yet. Ahh!) and when they sent me information about living on campus, they compared it to the Hogwarts Castle. Not only does it resemble it in a small way, but they even have housing like it! So, if a prestigious school such as Yale is compared with Hogwarts, imagine how going to school as Hogwarts really must be! It would be the experience of a life time. I know what I would do upon going there...talk to the suits of armour. I've always loved those! :D

Hogsmeade

Hogsmead is a place that I've always imagined traveling to. It's the perfect quaint town with just enough mystery and magic about it to keep it lively. The Three Broomsticks sounds like such a cool place to hang with friends (while sipping Butterbeer of course) and then to go window shopping at Zonko's after being stuffed with sweets from Honeydukes. I would love to live in a place like that. In England, of course. :D

Godric's Hollow

It's the hometown of Harry Potter! It's famous! It's also a beautiful little town as Deathly Hallows: Part One has shown us. It would be lovely to take a vacation there, especially in the autumn. [But there are no pictures showing the place! Ah!]

The Burrow

No, it's not the best place ever, but it's cute. And it contains the Weasleys. So of course I'd want to go there. :]

Shell Cottage

Bill and Fleur's home is situated on a beautiful coastline and the home itself reflects that beauty. I could stay there forever and be happy. <3

Moments - 

Ron & The Spiders

Ron: Why spiders? Why couldn't it be "follow the butterflies"? 

Ron: Spiders… the spiders… they want me to tap-dance. And I don’t want to tap-dance!
Harry: You tell those spiders, Ron.
Ron: Yeah, tell them… I’ll tell them…

I know it's such a cruel thing, but when Ron is whining about spiders, I find it hilarious. Which is weird, since I'm so scared of spiders myself, but when he does it, it's just so dog gone funny!

Moody & Draco the Ferret

'Don't talk to me,' Ron said quietly.
'Why not?' Said Hermione in surprise.
'Because I want to fix that in my memory forever,' said Ron, his eyes closed and an uplifted expression on his face. 'Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret ...' - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Hermione: 'Twitchy little ferret, aren't you Malfoy?' - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

This scene had me busting a stitch, I was laughing so hard. I think Draco's amazing and all (and I think he's so cute!) but he really needed his comeupins. I couldn't have done this better myself. [I couldn't find the actual scene to quote and that was all I could find.]

Harry & Hermione's Dance

This scene was only in the movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One. J.K. Rowling approved this scene and even said something to the effect that she should have included it (or a scene like it) in the book because it shows that there definitely was a little something between Harry and Hermione. I love this scene because it's both sad and happy at the same time. The two find just their little moment of happiness during their bleak lives and they both know it. They also both know that they care for one another beyond friendship, but that it will never be. I loved this film because it finally gave us all a chance to see it. Probably my most favorite scene in all of the movies. (And, in case you were wondering, I've always wanted Harry & Hermione to be together. They worked better. :])

The Prince's Tale &The Death of the Prince

" When the flask was full to the brim, and Snape looked as though there was no blood left in him, his grip on Harry's robes slackened. 

 'Look.....at.....me...' he whispered.
 The green eyes found the black, but after a second something in the depths of the dark pair seemed to vanish, leaving them fixed, black and empty. The hand holding harry thudded to the floor, and Snape moved no more." - pg 528 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Hardcover)

" 'But this is touching, Severus,' said Dumbledore seriously. 'Have you grown to care for the boy, after all?'

 'For him?' shouted Snape. 'Expecto Patronum!'

From the tip of his wand burst the silver doe: she landed on the office floor, bounded across the office and soared out of the window. Dumbledore watched her fly away, and as her silverly glow faded he turned back to Snape, and his eyes were full of tears.

'After all this time?'

'Always,' said Snape." 

-pg 552 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Hardcover)

"Albus Severus,' Harry said quietly,...'you were named for two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew.' " - pg 607 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Hardcover) 

The whole chapter of The Prince's Tale in Deathly Hallows was so sad. The Prince's Tale was full of sadness, anger, and small bits of happiness. It made me love Snape so much more and made it seem like he was the only one to have died in vain.

Peeve's Final Chant

"We did it, we bashed them, wee Potter's the One,

And Voldy's gone mouldy, so now let's have fun!'" - pg 597 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Hardcover)

  

Peeve's chant sums up the end of the book nicely with just a ting of happiness. I loved this moment.

(Some favs that I just had to include... When Ron calls for Hermione while he's in a hospital bed and how happy it makes her that he wanted her. And the scene where Hermione tells Ron that we all "don't have the emotional range of a teaspoon". And the ending of Prisoner of Azkaban. And there was another one, but I already forgot...)

So, those are just some  of my favourite things about the series. What are YOURS?!