I won’t lie: I can be boring. I get wordy and nitpick over the details to a degree that I understand it quite annoying. But I am not this pedantic, and I should change it before I do become pedantic.

So. I’m going to revamp it. All the old (I know it’s not that new) posts will be edited and new ones will come in a much less formulated fashion. I’ll still attempt to update this every day, but the only thing that’ll be planned is my re-reading of the books and viewing of the movies. Also, I’m going to organize the categories and tags, so it’s not nearly as overwhelming. Hopefully I won’t sound as annoying as I have so far.

Wish me luck.

Those are fun, and I’ll talk about them later, but the one I’ll focus on is the generic student. The most important part of this uniform is to choose your House. Personally, I suggest choosing the House that you would have been in if you’d attended Hogwarts, but it can be just as much fun to make up your own character with his or her own House or just choosing the House you’d want to be in. After all, as Dumbledore said, it’s our choices that define us.

The House choice will affect your costume in several ways, but the most obvious and important is the tie. You choose your House and you get the correct tie. It’s how things work. The House choice will also affect the patch on your robe, the color of your robe’s lining and the color of the cuffs and collar of your vest/sweater/cardigan. Everything else is standard across the board.

To help you with your choices, I’ve provided a little tutorial on the Hogwarts Houses. I’ll get more in detail with them later, but this should help if you don’t know much about the Hogwarts Houses. (And if you don’t, then you need to read the books. Now. Go on.)

First is my House of choice: Gryffindor. (Believe me, I tried not to be it when I realized how popular the House was, but I couldn’t get away from it; I’m one of those ridiculous people who goes towards the scary sound in the dark, spooky woods.)

Known for: Bravery, Boldness, Chivalry; the classic heroes, the knights

Founded by: Godric Gryffindor

Mascot: The Lion

Colors: Scarlet and Gold (in the later movies, the scarlet seems to have transformed into a maroon)

Famous Gryffindors: Godric Gryffindor, Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Lily (Evans) Potter, most if not all Weasleys, Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter.

Next we have the Slytherin House.

Known for: Being Sly, Cunning and Ambitious. I’d usually associate them with politicians and aristocracy if only because of the sheer amount of politics involved in being a Slytherin.

Founder: Salazar Slytherin

Mascot: The Snake

Colors: Green and Silver

Famous Slytherins: Salazar Slytherin, Tom Riddle (aka Lord Voldemort), Horace Slughorn, Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa (Black) Malfoy, Bellatrix (Black) Lestrange, Andromeda (Black) Tonks, Severus Snape, and Draco Malfoy

Third in line is Ravenclaw.

Known for: Wit, Cleverness and Love of Learning. They’re the academics of the world.

Founder: Rowena Ravenclaw

Mascot: Eagle (not a Raven)

Colors: Blue and Bronze (Silver in the movies)

Famous Ravenclaws include: Rowena Ravenclaw, Filius Flitwick, Luna Lovegood, Garrick Ollivander, Gilderoy Lockhart, Quirinus Quirrell, Padma Patil

Last, but not least, we have Hufflepuff.

Known for: Hard Workers, Fair, Loyal, “the rest”

Founder: Helga Hufflepuff

Mascot: Badger

Color: Yellow and Black

Famous Hufflepuffs: Helga Hufflepuff, Newton “Newt” Scamander, Nymphadora “Tonks” Lupin, Cedric Diggory

Now that’s I’ve gone over them for you, it’s time to make a decision because it’ll affect the rest of your costume (nearly, at least). Leave a comment telling me what House or character you like to dress as, and why you chose it.

Happy costuming! (And I hope you all had a Happy Halloween.)

There are a wide variety of Harry Potter costumes out there. I’m going to start with the easiest one: the Hogwarts Uniform. Now, I’m talking about a proper Hogwarts Uniform, not something that’s bought from a party or Halloween supply store. Some of the items can be bought at such a store, but most of it is made or can be bought at a normal store.

See you all tomorrow! They’ll be two posts: Hogwarts Uniform-Part 1 and HP SS, Ch 1. G’night.

I suspect that the reason for this is because both podcasts are connected to two of the biggest Harry Potter websites around: Mugglenet and The Leaky Cauldron. Now, I’ll go into the websites themselves at a later date since I’ve followed both since the beginning of my obsession (i.e. I remember when Mugglenet was an awful site, but it was still the best HP one), but I’m going to just focus on the podcasts for now. I’m going to start at the beginning and work my way forward, trying for at least one podcast a day until I catch up.

If you have any recommendations for other podcasts, comment and let me know. Otherwise, I’m going to just go ahead and continue on my way.

As a side note, expect this blog to be updated daily; check out What’s on the Parchment for the schedule. It may change as I find out what works best for me.

Let’s take a look…

I’m going to start by saying that I adore the American Harry Potter book covers. Although I am really quite fond of the later British children’s covers and I like the adult covers well enough, there’s a splendid consistency about the American covers that the British ones just don’t seem to have. (I suspect it’s because the American ones were all done by Mary GrandPre, and the British ones were done by different artists, but I still like the American ones better.)

It’s a personal decision, of course, and I did grow up with the American versions, so that most likely has something to do with it as well. There’s really nothing compared seeing those covers on huge posters in one’s local bookstore and feeling the slowly building anticipation of an upcoming Harry Potter book. I hope I’ll be able to experience it again, but it seems unlikely.

I’m sorry to say that it took me a while to realize that the cover art actually gave clues to the story itself. There are the obvious scenes, such as Hogwarts, the Forbidden Forest and Harry playing Quidditch, but there are subtler parts, too. You can see someone sneaking out of bed (personally, I’d suspect Harry, but he’s already on the cover, perhaps it’s Ron). There’s also the rogue Bludger and the owl delivering either Harry’s acceptance letter or the letter to Dumbledore about Harry at the end.  Dumbledore is very obvious in his purple cloak, but Fluffy the three-headed dog, the key and the unicorn are rather less obvious.

I’ve never been able to figure out what that key is. It isn’t the one from the challenges, since it doesn’t have wings, but I can’t remember any other important key in the story. Perhaps I missed something; I’ll keep an eye out for it on this re-read.

I don’t think I missed anything important. Let me know if there’s anything you like or dislike about any of the covers for the first book, or anything you think I missed.

(Also: I got the picture for the cover from scholastic.com and all the pictures for the chapters and future books will also come from them. I’ll note if anything comes from a different source.)

I can’t remember mine.

Mind you, I was nine when I first read the books and I read a lot. I used to come home from the library with a stack of books I could barely manage to carry, and I’d be done with them within the week. I honestly do not remember how or why I first picked up the books. Either I saw it at the bookstore and bought it with my book allowance (yes, I had one), or someone gave it to me.

I know, it’s shameful. But, I do remember that I fell in love. I fell hard. I was the perfect age for the series and I spent most of the next two years secretly hoping for an owl to show up outside my window. For once, I kept up with a book series (I’m afraid  I’m entirely too impatient to normally do so). Nevertheless, however it started, it was the beginning of a life-long love.

Now, I just need to find a guy willing to play second fiddle to fictional characters.