Characters React: Reading the “Harry Potter” Series

Welcome to the wizarding world book club. Here, wizards and witches alike can get a little reading done and discuss their thoughts, feelings, and overall takeaways from their favorite books. This month, some bright spark suggested having a look at the series that put the wizarding world in the spotlight, Harry Potter. There were some mixed feelings about this particular choice, so let’s see how it went.

Hermione Granger:

Reading a book that features yourself as a character is a very odd experience. There are some flattering moments, but there are also moments reading about myself that made me cringe. Seeing yourself from an outside perspective will do that, I suppose. But also, I need to be taken more seriously! I’m often completely right, and by the way, SPEW was a worthy cause that just looked kind of comical in the end. Also, Harry can make some laughably silly choices sometimes. I don’t know how we got through it all; it’s such a roller coaster of a story. I would recommend reading it – it is brimming with emotion, and that ending… All I can say is that it’s well worth the read.

Severus Snape:

I don’t want to comment too much here – you can read my dissertation for more information. Rest assured, I will be having a long talk with Dumbledore. Potter absolutely should have been expelled. On a more positive side, I do completely understand why I’m such a fan favorite these days. I’m by far the best character. If the series were written from several perspectives, it would have been more balanced and interesting. Who wants to read about teenage angst all the time?

Sirius Black:

I’ve just finished Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but man, is it getting good! It’s dark and honestly quite triggering, but it’s good from a storytelling perspective. There’s not enough me, obviously, although I am quite flattered to be featured in one of the titles. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite book for reasons that I don’t need to explain, and Moony’s great in it too. I had to reread the boggart chapter several times just to relive those beautiful moments.

Molly Weasley:

So I was not all that keen to read this series. I’m more into romance, historical fiction, and biographies – did you hear that Celestina Warbeck’s writing one at the moment? But let me tell you, Ron is lucky if he doesn’t get a Howler every day for the rest of his life! It was hard to put down, but each book gave me a mini heart attack seeing what my children get up to in the school year. I think I’ll be recommending home-schooling from now on. I didn’t get to the end because I ran out of time, since reading a whole series is a lot for a busy mother, but someone can just let me know how it ends. Based on the last one I read, it’s getting quite dark! Can I suggest next month’s pick is something comedic?

Hannah Abbott:

I was blown away by this series. Every year you’d hear that Harry Potter and his friends had been mixed up in some sort of trouble, had broken school rules but ended up getting points for it, blah, blah, blah, but the school was largely left in the dark. But I need to go thank Harry myself – he went through so much! The only bad thing about it is there’s not enough Hufflepuff, and they portray us in a really unfair way. Hufflepuff is the best. I’m booking a ticket to see the Muggle production of Puffs the Musical just to see if we’re more properly appreciated.

Rita Skeeter:

This series is simply an outrageous bunch of lies. The stories prioritize the wrong people and overexaggerate a great number of things. I am not afraid to say that I DNFed on a number of the books; I basically had to skip to the fourth one to even be mentioned! Even when I did feature, my talents were woefully unappreciated – especially the depth of creativity, attention to detail, and sheer skill needed to uncover the truth for the sake of the wizarding world… They’ll be hearing from my lawyer soon.

Minerva McGonagall:

What a journey. I’m flattered by my portrayal, of course, but there is a flagrant disregard for school rules. However, it does make the plot a lot more interesting. Although I enjoyed it overall, I’m not sure I’d read it again. It cuts a little too close for comfort. I don’t know what we’re going to tell Molly and Sirius, although Severus took the news well. Anyway, we might want something lighter and firmly set in the Muggle world next time.

So, there you have it – the opinions from some of our favorite wizards and witches about the series that put them on the map. Which books should they discuss next time?