Top Ten Tuesday-Reasons Why I Love Harry Potter

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  http://www.thatartsyreadergirl.com/top-ten-tuesday/

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This week, I thought I'd further explore my Harry Potter obsession with a look at ten reasons why I love Harry Potter!

1) Hogwarts
The idea that there is a secret school for magic in Scotland appeals to me and so does the idea of kids getting that letter to invite them. The castle with the secret passages and moving staircases fascinates me, the ghosts, the enchanted ceiling, the feasts, the sorting into Houses-the detail is just so great and it made me long to have gone there as a kid. Who doesn't want to be in one of those comfy common rooms and sleeping in a tower above the grounds? On a summer day I'd want to sit by the lake and stroll off to see Hagrid!

2) Diagon Alley/Hogsmeade
When I first read about the shops in Diagon Alley and in book three Hogsmeade, I wanted to go shopping so bad! I wanted to go into the ice cream parlour and try everything on offer, buy my Owl, check out the broomsticks, get my robes and books, go to Honeydukes for my sweet tooth supplies, visit the joke shops, go into the Three Broomsticks on a cold winter day and be chosen by my wand...I could spend hours looking in shops that were that interesting!

3) Owl Post
How cool would this be! Getting the newspaper delivered twice a day and at weekends is an old luxury that we can't get where I live as none of the local shops deliver. Quick letters from friends, reliable mail order delivery that doesn't get lost, that cool sounding post office in Hogsmeade, exciting letters from the school and hoping NOT to receive a Howler!!! The excuse to have a beautiful owl as a pet is great!

4) Quidditch
I loved the invention of a wizard sport on broomsticks especially the idea of the bludgers! I like how simple yet entertaining the game would be and cheering on the house team during the season would be so much fun! I'd also have to carefully read about and then choose what team I was going to support from the professional teams! Can you also imagine getting the chance to mix with everyone at the Quidditch World Cup? I enjoy watching sport so I would be addicted to this for sure.

5) Magical Creatures
I love the addition of all the magical creatures in the books from the pretty unicorns and hippogriffs to the dangerous dragons and Hagrid's appalling pets, the Thestrals and centaurs, the House Elves and Goblins who do such vital work for witches and wizards, the animagus sides to the witches and wizards, Cornish pixies and giants, vampires and werewolves and the cuteness that is the nifflers! I wouldn't want to meet the giant snakes and spiders though!

6) Humour and Danger
I love the humour in the books-the various tricks of the Weasley twins with their ton tongue toffee a personal favourite, The Dursley's with frequent shouts of 'ruddy and effing owls!' and their run ins with wizards,

7) The Food
I so much want to be at those amazing feasts where I could just pig out! Imagine having every food you love just there ready to tuck into! I'd want tomato soup with ham sandwiches, cheese pizza, key lime pie, chocolate gateau, Victoria sponge, mild Indian and Chinese curries, a good old fry up...A quick trip to the kitchens for a late night snack from the House Elves, dipping into your supply of Honeydukes chocolate, cauldron cakes and other tasty treats, sampling Mrs Weasley's excellent cooking and enjoying a Butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks. I get so hungry when I read these books!

8) Magic
I loved how creative her magic world is from the name of the spells to the subjects on offer at Hogwarts and magical careers and Ministry departments. How much fun are cheering charms, levitation and transfiguration? How tempting to curse and jinx those who upset you? How cool would it be to be a great potion maker, to be an animagus, to be able to conjure a patronus? In everyday life to have housework done by magic, to travel quickly, to not have to carry heavy shopping bags, to have Dobby cook for you, to be able to tidy a room with a flick of your wand? Oh I long to be able to do all that!

9) Transport
I'm not a fan of travelling to get on holiday so look at the options! Use that enchanted purse of Hermione for all your packing then zoom off by portkey, apparate to your destination, travel by the Knight Bus, go short journeys by broomstick...all so much easier that waiting in the rain for a bus that is late, relying on a train not to break down, or a traffic jam on the motorway. I could arrive on holiday in seconds and make the most of weekend and day trips to places too far away to travel to from where I live! Add in the fun of going to school on the Hogwarts Express, the convenience of Floo powder and you are sorted!

10) The Books
Don't let me loose in Flourish & Blotts! Like Hermione, I'd be buying Hogwarts A History, to find out everything about the castle, and if I was Harry I'd want to read everything about the rise and fall of Voldemort. I'd want to learn as much about my new life as I could and the temptation to buy lots of extra books would prove too much to resist! I'd want to read about dragons and spells and magical developments and so much more.