Harry Potter Readalong: Wand Hand
Hi guys! Have some fanart. If only there was a spell for drawing straight lines while free-handing and if only I wasn't a darn muggle. Anywho, I love book covers, and the first thing I noticed is that Harry is catching with his left, so I thought he was left handed... but in chapter 5, he verifies that his "wand hand" is his right. But then, the other covers hint that he's left handed - odd. Another thing that bothered me was how Harry was mistreated/neglected for 10 years, yet random "strangers" in the street greeted him, with one even going as far as bowing to him. Since Harry brought upon the downfall of Voldemort, wouldn't the magical world seek him out? Where are the paparazzi for their owl-delivered newspapers? How did they address the dead Potters and the missing child the day after Voldemort's attack? Though I'm sure there are magical wards surrounding the Dursleys, I was surprised that Harry was able to live without any inkling of his celebrity status.
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I love to buy school supplies, even though it's just for muggle school, so Chapter 5, "Diagon Alley", was my favorite part of this readalong section. I would probably get a kick out of people watching, scooping up strange ingredients in an old-world apothecary, flipping through historical accounts at the bookstore, and grabbing some parchment and ink on my way out.
Wow, you're right! On the covers of 4, 5, and 6, he's holding his wand in his left hand and on 7 his left hand is raised in the air! As for catching the snitch though, baseball players wear their mitts and catch with their non-dominant hand, so that actually makes sense. I never noticed the inconsistencies on the other covers though!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I love buying school supplies too! And Diagon Alley (diagonally) is the perfect place to do it. As impractical as ink and quills and paper you have to roll up seem, I would love some of my own.
Cool baseball tip. I clearly do not know anything about baseball. I always wondered how to pronounce "Diagon Alley" until the floo incident later in the series. Do you think JKR intentionally thought "diagonally" when she drew up the name?
ReplyDeleteLove the drawing! And good point about why more wizards didn't seek him out while he was at the Dursley's since clearly at least some wizards knew what he looked like enough to greet him. Hmmm....
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yeah! I'm sure if they recognized Harry, they probably had updates or something, because his bangs hid his scar and i'm pretty sure you wouldn't be able to immediately recognize an 11 year old from a baby.
ReplyDeleteHuh. Very interesting bit about the wand hand. I wonder if JKR ever noticed that discrepancy.
ReplyDeleteIt's going to bother me now... maybe he's ambidextrous? But if I my wand hand was the right one and I had a quidditch game and a horde of crazy gryffindors riding on my shoulders, I wouldn't be catching with the left, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteI am officially embarrassed that I neglected to notice that detail. Oy! that's exactly the sort of thing i would notice and then obsess over--the little minutiae that would somehow unlock the keys to the whole story!
ReplyDeleteBelieve me, as soon as I noted that, I obsessed over it and tried to see if any other parts mentioned him being ambidextrous or something. no luck yet...
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