Mad-libs, part 2: A Tale

Harry Potter And The Curse of Dudley

Harry Potter, the boy wonder, the penny-pincher of the wizarding world; sat alone in his tiny bedroom scratching his elbow and cleaning the sugar out of Hedwig's cage. This summer wasn't nearly as boring as his previous summers had been.

Over the summer, his cousin Dudley had grown quite frightened of him. Harry secretly kept cursing him, even though under age use of magic was strictly forbidden outside of Hogeczema 's school of catcraft and happiness.

It seemed the wizarding world turned a blind foot when it came to Harry, and he never got in trouble for his... transgressions.

One particularly memorable curse on Dudley happened on the 13th of June. It was so hot, you could bake a picture on the sidewalk.

Dudley sat on his enormous ear in front of the telly, spooning flaskful after flaskful of chocolate mousse down his throat. Harry thought he looked rather giraffish, with his piggy little eyes and fat body.

Harry got an evil little grin on his kneecap and raised his wand behind Dudley's head. "Carpe Momentum" he shouted; which translated to English means "Turn this boy's head into a star fruit and make him dance around like a tiger with migraines!"

And that's just what Dudley did! He bounced off the couch, screamed " BLODRUM!" to the top of his lungs, and began sewing on the floor, while turning in circles and flapping his thumbs.

Harry was laughing so hard, he almost peed his cap. He was still laughing, and Dudley was still flapping, when Uncle Vernon came thundering down the stairs. He had gone a nice shade of purple. He looked at Harry, shaking in anger, then looked at Dudley, horrified. " IT TAKES BOTH SUN AND RAIN TO MAKE A RAINBOW.
!" he screamed, then calmly turned and walked away.

Harry and Dudley looked at each other in abject confusion. Harry shrugged his shoulders in a "beats me" gesture, and the two cousins sat on the sofa, temporarily forgetting their animosity toward one another.

Dudley lifted the half empty flask of chocolate mousse and offered it to Harry.

"Don't mind if I do!" said the bespectacled young man, grabbing a spoon and preparing to dine.

Dudley's thumbs gave one mighty final flap, and the boys had a most enjoyable evening, indeed.

Mad-libs! How fun!

Here's my list:

1. a verb: bake
2. a number: 13
3. a body part: foot
4. an abstract noun: happiness
5. a noun: cat
6. a skin condition: eczema
7. a body part: elbow
8. type of person/stereotype: penny-pincher
9. a substance: sugar
10. a fortune cookie phrase in all capital letters: IT TAKES BOTH SUN AND RAIN TO MAKE A RAINBOW.
11. article of clothing: cap
12. verb ending in "-ed": bounced
13. neurological disorder: migraines
14. an animal: tiger
15. a fruit: star fruit
16. a latin (sounding) phrase in all capital letters: CARPE MOMENTUM
17. a body part: kneecap
18. a large animal: giraffe
19. a food: chocolate mousse
20. a body part in plural: thumbs
21. a verb ending in "-ing": sewing
22. a nonsensical word in all capital letters:
23. a container: flask
24. a body part: ear
25. a noun: picture

Care of Magical Creatures homework

I'm using the same marker as in the last round of pictures.

Pepper: used to feed salamanders


Bowl of milk: You can use it to tell knarls from hedgehogs. They’re suspicious of any food left for them. You can tell them apart from hedgehogs by putting out a bowl of milk. The knarls will react to it with hostility.


Lettuce: used to feed flobberworms during Care of Magical Creatures classes


Hot Mitts: used to handle fire crabs


Fairy eggs: can be used to distract a bowtruckle so you can take leaves or wood from their trees

Part Two: Complete the following quiz about House Elves. 5 points for each correct answer.

1. Please describe the physical appearance of a house elf. Short, skinny arms and legs; big eyes; long pointy nose; big pointy ears

2. Kreacher is the house elf of which wizarding family? The Black family

3. What is Hermione Granger making for the house elves? Hats and socks

4. How do you free a house elf? Give him/her clothing

5. What does S.P.E.W. stand for? Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare

Transfiguration homework

I didn't make it 100%, but I came pretty close. Above is my originality marker, a necklace from my sister.

Toy rubber ball

Memoris! Now it's a remembrall:

Candy and some paper:

Fugatum! Now it's a snitch:

A cup and some teeth:

Te dentum! A nose-biting teacup.

An hourglass and jewelry supplies.

Tempes mutatio! It's a timechanger:

Twigs:

Vita arbus! A Bowtruckle

Papers:

Oculum! Spectrespecs :

This was my one failure. I'm awful in the kitchen. I couldn't find any fruitcake to transform into rock cakes, so I tried fruit and cake.

Geocakuem! And got a rock. Can't win them all.

Modeling clay

Pyrotus! Decoy Detonator

homework

So for our first homework, we had to say what 3 characters were our favorites, and why. Only I can't remember exactly who I said were my favorite 3! So I picked the 3 I thought I said, and I'm pretty sure I got the same 3. I'm very sure about the first 2, so hopefully that will help my spoiler :-) If not, she can remind me who I said, and I'll tell her why I picked them.

Luna Lovegood

Luna fascinates me. Why is she in Ravenclaw, the brainy house? She’s not stupid by any stretch, but her brains don’t seem to be her strongest quality, at least on the surface. Unlike Hermione, who is very logical, Luna is intuitive and empathetic. So why Ravenclaw? Why not Hufflepuff, where tolerance and fair play are so valued? Luna certainly has those qualities. Her gentleness and serenity all point more towards Hufflepuff than any of the other houses.

She is also brave and loyal, both qualities valued in Gryffindor. She frequently sides with the Gryffindors against Slytherin, and even shows up wearing a lion head before a quidditch match.

So why does Luna sort into Ravenclaw? It’s clear that the Sorting hat does measure all of a student’s traits, not just the predominant one. Otherwise brainy Hermione would have sorted into Ravenclaw. But I think there’s a little more to it with Luna. I think the Sorting Hat is letting us know that Luna’s empathy and kindness are a type of intelligence we should value. She doesn’t just see facts, she really sees into people. She’s the one who is able to give Harry some measure of comfort after Sirius’s death, even though at that point, they aren’t that close. And she’s of great comfort to Mr. Ollivander while they’re both being held in the basement of Malfoy Manor.

I have a lot of admiration for Luna. She’s very comfortable in her own skin. She’s true to herself, and to her friends. She knows that people see her as different, and it doesn’t seem to faze her at all. But she does recognize and appreciate the people who do stand up for her. Even though she passively tolerates other people’s meanness aimed at her, she is brave and steady when it comes to standing up for others, even to the point of fighting the Death Eaters.


Ginny Weasley

Ginny to me is much more straight-forward than Luna. Ginny could certainly have sorted into Ravenclaw, because she is no dummy. But the thing I love best about Ginny is that she is fierce. She is the only one who’s able to cow Fred and George, and she was dueling with Death Eaters as young as 14.

But Ginny is also kind and brave and loyal. She stands up for Luna and Neville, even if it isn’t something popular to do. She’s witty and bright, determined. I love that as a child, she taught herself to fly a broom by sneaking into the shed at night and borrowing her brothers’ brooms. Once she gets over her initial shyness around Harry, she’s really quite bold, playing 2 positions in Quidditch, and working with Neville and Luna to try and steal the Sword of Gryffindor from Snapes’ office. At one point she tells Harry: "The thing about growing up with Fred and George is that you sort of start thinking anything's possible if you've got enough nerve." Nothing stops her once she puts her mind to something.

Hermione Granger

Hermione is of course the idol of many of us witches. She’s lived such an exciting life. She’s certainly one of the smartest witches ever. But there is so much more to her than brains and studying. She’s also gutsy and loyal. Rules are important to her, but she isn’t so rigid that she won’t bend them to help a friend in need.

One of her best qualities is how willing she is to fight injustice. So many people will see an injustice, and say something about it, but never do anything about it. Hermione sees a problem and immediately takes action. The best example of this is S.P.E.W., but it’s also seen in how she bests Rita Skeeter.

Hermione certainly values intelligence, but she does come to value the softer forms of it exemplified in Luna, and shows some measure of her own. Initially, she is a little socially clueless, but she comes a long way in that regard, displaying and empathy and understanding of other people’s emotions. The first sign of this is how she helps Ginny work through her shyness around Harry. She also tries to help Harry understand Cho Chang’s behavior.

In the end I think Luna and Hermione are perfect complements to each other, and once Hermione accepted their differences, they become good friends.