The scene that unfolds upon the Astronomy Tower is one of the most intense and tremendously written passages of the Harry Potter novels thus far. One of the most fascinating aspects in my mind is the dialogue between Draco and Dumbledore.
The heart of this essay is a consideration of one simple question: Why couldn’t [...]

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Felicity continues to dismantle the more fanciful Astronomy Tower theories with calm, reasonable evidence straight from canon with this new essay. The work on the secondary effects of spells is key, and definitely worth your time. I’m more convinced than ever that (a) Snape cast a real Killing Curse that night, and (b) [...]

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A question hit me this morning as I was listening to Order on my way in to work.  Harry was hiding in the flower bed, listening to the news.  He was basically “invisible,” I think the text said.  So here’s my question:
Why does Harry never use the invisibility cloak at 4 Privet?  Surely throwing a [...]

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If you’re keeping up with news on the fifth film, you might be interested in this rather lengthy interview with Daniel Radcliffe (Harry), Katie Leung (Cho), and David Yates (director).
I posted “The Fountain Told a Lie” over at HP Essays, and it’s getting some interesting feedback on the prejudice issue. 
Pat’s been blogging through the Chamer [...]

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I’ll freely admit that in my essay, What Happened to Ollivander?, the actual parts about Ollivander are the far-fetched parts. Really, it fills a plot hole - it’s an interesting way to solve a much greater problem lingering in the Harry Potter series, but one that is probably much more ignored in fandom. [...]

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The disappearance of Ollivander is bigger news than the small amount of attention in gets in Half-Blood Prince. We hear about his being gone very briefly in Chapter 6 of Half-Blood Prince in concert with the disappearance of Florean Fortescue, who was “dragged off, by the look of his place.” (See thisessay for an interesting [...]

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In trying (but failing) to win a free Harry Potter iPod, I managed to score 1 free audiobook from audible.com. I need a little help in the decision-making process. I was thinking of a classic, but I prefer to read and digest those over time, so I think I’ll make an attempt to [...]

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I’ve made notes about Narrative Misdirection and the ultimate folly of believing you can accurately predict Rowling’s next move here and here. Let me first clarify before moving on: I think a reasonable amount of speculation is good. It makes us better readers not only of Harry Potter, but of literature in general. I think [...]

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Calling all critics and editors! I’m considering re-working this essay (which I previously included on this site as an attachment) for publication and/or presentation at conferences. It was written for a 200-level college course, so it needs, perhaps, some refocusing and enhancement. I’ve formatted it for a blog post, and I’m looking [...]

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When I wrote Is Dumbledore Dead?, I tried to avoid giving away my position on the matter so as to allow for better discussion and debate. In comment #3, Allison articulated a version of “Stoppered Death,” and two comments down, I gave in and noted that that is my preferred theory. Sadly, John Granger’s article [...]

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Let’s be clear: I’m quite willing to be wrong in my defense on Dumbledore, if Rowling writes him a different way than I’ve imagined; but until Book 7 is published, I’m not going down without a fight, and I think there remains plenty of evidence for his goodness (not flawlessness, of course, but goodness). But [...]

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The recent insanity surrounding the question of Dumbledore’s death has reminded me of my intentions on this site: a calm, reasonable, sane look at the books; not wild and crazy speculation. I was right about Dumbledore in the first place. It made the most sense that he was dead, and I’m glad [...]

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After writing an extended essay and giving a good amount of time to letting the “Dumbledore is not dead” crowd have their say with their many theories, it appears J.K. Rowling has ended the debate. Tonight from Mugglenet:
We just left night two of An Evening with Harry, Carrie, and Garp where JK Rowling answered [...]

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Perhaps I came at the question of Dumbledore’s goodness or badness from a rather naive point of view: there appears to be a really large amount of debate as to whether Dumbledore is good, evil, or manipulative. I’ve spent more time reading some of the work. I’ve been troubled by some of it; [...]

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I love to write about the implications of themes and symbology for the plot line of Harry Potter. But when it comes to scouring the details of the books for clues about what’s to come, I’m not a great detective. Maureen of Felicity’s Reflections is, though, and if you want some really fascinating [...]

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