1. "Lily's...eyes...search his face hungrily as though she would never be able to look at him enough." (Deathly Hallows, 560). This makes me cry every time, even if I read it out of context. That entire chapter is one massive gut punch, but when Harry sees his parents, Sirius and Lupin and they talk about death and they stay with him to protect him...gah, my tears. It's also one of the culminating moments of the theme of maternal love that runs right through the books.
2. "After all this time?" "Always" (Deathly Hallows, 552). We finally get the Snape back story we've been waiting for, as well as the answers of which side he was truly on and just what the hell Severus has been up to all these years. I have to admit that, though I did cry when he died, I didn't give him one of my full blubbery stopped reading send offs because I saw the next chapter would be all about his past and oh how I wanted that info. Also glad to be right that he was good.
3. "Is this the moment?" (Deathly Hallows, 502). I may, while reading Deathly Hallows, have yelled a specific page number at my friends and it may have been the one in which Ron and Hermione finally kiss. I had been waiting for this since Goblet of Fire and was starting to think it was never actually going to happen. Then they go for it in the middle of a battle and Harry has to remind them that there's a war on. Perfect.
4. "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" (Deathly Hallows, 589). Another moment of maternal love, this time proof that you do not mess with Molly Weasley's children. If you are Bellatrix Lestrange, you do not even get within fifty feet of them because Molly will end you. And what makes this even better is J.K. Rowling's commentary on it on The Women of Harry Potter featurette (Deathly Hallows Part Two disc 2).
5. "Give her hell from us, Peeves" (Order of the Phoenix, 595). The twins leave in spectacular fashion, having caused utter havoc at Hogwarts. There's a lot about Order of the Phoenix that I'm not much of a fan of, but the entire section of people getting vengeance on Umbridge is one of my favourite parts of the whole series.
6. "[Luna] appeared singularly uninterested in such mundane things as the score" (Half-Blood Prince, 388). Luna. Commentates. Quidditch. Need I say more?
7. "More likely there's a very shellshocked cat wandering around somewhere, covered in potato peelings" (Goblet of Fire, 142). This is one of the things that makes me consider Goblet of Fire the funniest book. It's really Amos Diggory's full description of Moody's reaction to someone approaching his house, but the image of this cat amuses me the most - though when you know what really happened it's less funny...
8. "This is the weirdest thing we've ever done" (Prisoner of Azkaban, 291). The Time Turner sequence, or Harry Potter goes all wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey and it is wonderful. It locks not just the plots but the themes together perfectly and is one of the reasons Prisoner of Azkaban is my favourite book.
9. "Harry - yer a wizard" (Philosopher's Stone, 42). And we're off. The first few chapters of Philosopher's Stone are interesting and compelling and I like reading them, but it isn't until Hagrid shows up that we get a lot of explanations and back story that kick the plot into overdrive and which will be useful for the rest of the series - though, of course, we don't get everything...
10. "Snape was looking as though the first person to ask him for a Love Potion would be force-fed poison" (Chamber of Secrets, 176-7). Another moment that I just find funny, and which feeds into my fanon view of this book which has McGonagall and Snape plotting to get rid of Lockhart over tumblers of whiskey. I also think there's an (un)intentional reference to Dorothy L. Sayers in there - the number of valentines Lockhart gets is the same as the number of proposals Harriet Vane receives.
Those are (some) of my favourite Harry Potter moments - what are yours?
So so many great moments! I'm amazed that you only listed ten, because I think I would've listed at least fifty! I always loved the chapter explaining Snape's life. Great topic!
ReplyDeleteJudith @ Paper Riot
Limiting myself was tricky, I really could have gone on for ages. I had to go with the first ten that popped into my head while trying to cover all 7 books.
DeleteGreat take on the freebie. I desperately would love to reread this series.
ReplyDeleteGreat list, fellow Potterhead! I see a lot of them are from DH, my fave in the series! \o/ No. 4 is my favorite quote ever!
ReplyDeleteMy TTT
Ohhhhh, from all the lists I've seen so far, this is by far my favorite <3 Harry Potter is epic. The "always" scene must be the best scene from the whole series. I love Severus and every time I think about it, I want to cry :') So unfair. He was my favorite from the start.
ReplyDeleteTTT@thedailyprophecy
Great picks, they make me want to read the whole series over again!
ReplyDeleteA very nice selection. I might lift this idea of yours for another series....
ReplyDeleteThese are fantastic moments in the Harry Potter series! I have HP class in a few hours and we're watching Order of the Phoenix. It's good to start with a Potter post before heading off to class. And thank you for sticking with the read along! I know I've done little to make it fantastic, and I hope to fix that by the end with something fun.
ReplyDeleteYou get to watch Harry Potter in class? Jealous.
DeleteAnd thank you for running the read along, it's been fun and fantastic. It's Harry Potter!
Stopping before I turn into a ridiculous fangirl.