Fan Focus: Clare – May 29, 2011
18-year-old Clare from the United States
First off, how did you become a Harry Potter fan?
I was only five years old when I was first introduced to Harry Potter. My family had a tradition as I was growing up of reading books aloud—before bed, on long car trips, whenever possible. When my older brother picked up Sorcerer’s Stone from the library, he loved it so much that he insisted we start reading Harry Potter together. We all got hooked very quickly, although my early understanding of the finer plot points was admittedly pretty sketchy. It became a ritual throughout most of my elementary school career that we would read one chapter every night before bed, and woe betide anyone who was caught reading ahead! It got so bad after some of the worst end-of-the-chapter cliffhangers that my dad actually had to lock the book in the safe, which was unfortunately Alohamora-proof. Meanwhile, I became ridiculously obsessed with the books. By the time the movie came out, I was showing off in the line leading into the cinema by reciting the first two pages by heart to anyone who would listen. Finally, when I was in the fifth grade, my teacher forcibly dragged me into the library and made me check out something else. Apparently, she didn’t think it was “normal” for a ten-year-old to be satisfied reading the same books over and over. How Dursley-ish of her.
It’s your fifth year at Hogwarts, and man is it going to be tough! OWLs are at the end of the year, and you’re nervous, especially for…
I see a lot of myself in Hermione, and I think that I, like her, would despise Divination. I have absolutely no patience for bad teachers, and Professor Trelawney, while she is an excellent comic-relief character, is an abysmal educator. If I hadn’t already pulled a Hermione and stalked out of class by the time OWLs came around, I would be pretty panicky about that final. I would have managed to scrape good grades by making up melodramatic, deadly futures for myself (“Oh, Professor, it’s simply too horrible! I see myself being killed in a freak egg-beater accident!”), but somehow I don’t think the examiners would be fooled as easily as Trelawney, the old bat.
OMG! You have your first crush! Would you use a Love Potion, Impressive Magic (IE: Francis the Fish), or a singing cherub to win them over?
Well, Amortentia is definitely OUT! What an awful way to win a person’s affection! I also seem to recall that the singing cherubs, however sweet they seem in theory, tend to be less romantic than you’d expect (I believe Ginny’s sat on Harry to keep him from escaping?) So that leaves impressive magic. Perhaps I could turn his enemy into a ferret for him.
You’ve met with your Head of House and started to talk about your future after Hogwarts. What careers are you considering and why?
Madam Pince can go elope with Filch or something, because Hogwarts is getting a new librarian! Seriously, how does she manage to be so crabby all the time? I personally believe that librarians are generally made of awesome, and Madam Pince is, tragically, the polar opposite of that. Hogwarts would be the single coolest place in the whole world to be a librarian. I believe in the power of words already, but at Hogwarts, that power is a very real and awe-inspiring thing. I would make the Hogwarts library a fun place to be, though I might not be able to resist the temptation to enchant some miscreants own books to whack him over the head, just once.
Professor Umbridge isn’t teaching you a single thing in DADA, and you’re sick of it! You’ve heard about a secret organization called Dumbledore’s Army and consider joining. Do you?
Umm, have I mentioned my zero-tolerance policy for bad teachers? Umbridge tops that list by a landslide. As a general rule, I am not a rebellious person, but Umbridge would be an exception. Although I heard Ron suggest a much more appealing form of rebellion that involved poison…
There are so many rooms in the Department of Mysteries, the Time Room, the Brain Room, the Dais Room, etc. Which room would interest you the most and why?
My whole life, I’ve liked to toy with the concept of time travel and how it would work, so I would absolutely leap at the chance to study it for real! Would you actually be able to change the past? If you went back in time frequently, would you age differently? What would happen if you went back in time and prevented the time machine (or, in this case, the time-turner) from being invented? *mind explodes* So, yeah, the time room would be pretty interesting to me.
The Hall of Prophecy has tons of Prophecies on record. If there was one about you, what would it say?
That. Is. A creepy thought. Well, I don’t expect to defeat any powerful dark wizards during my lifetime, so it would probably be something extremely mundane, like “You, Clare, will eat Tacos tonight.” Not that I’m complaining. Tacos taste better than dark wizards do.
Do you have anything else you’d like to add? Maybe a theory you still believe to be true, a shout-out, praise for yours truly?
Nah, I think I’d better be done. I need to investigate the source of a mysterious ticking noise. It’s kind of catchy, actually…