What his right name is I've never heard

Well, that went quickly!

I must say...I really enjoyed book two. It was a fun ride and had some nice twists in it. I still can't quite shake the Tolkien feel to it....the giant spiders, in particular. Even the fight scene with the snake felt like a combination of Eowyn's battle with the fell beast, as well as the first age worms. The encounter between Harry and Tom Riddle, though, was awesome. That was a great ending.

I quite liked the Moaning Myrtle scenes. Out of all of the ghosts in these books, she was the first that really felt like a ghost. I get why she's haunting Hogwarts...I don't really get that from the others, except perhaps for the Professor.

The only thing that really got under my skin was Dobby...he annoyed me to no end. And when Harry figured out that Lucius Malfoy put the diary in Ginny's transfiguration book? Yeah, I'm calling that bull. A kid (or anyone, really) who just went through everything he went through remembering such an inconsequential moment from ten months prior? Get real. I get that it makes a neat and tidy ending, but that's one of the moments that I took out my imaginary red editor's pen and slashed right through those lines.

I don't really have much more to say about the plot, other than it's quite strong. I absolutely adored all of the scenes with Ron's elderly owl. What an adorable little creature. And Professor Gilderoy was a whoot, and I loved that Hermione loved him. She's such a smart and savvy little girl, but not even she can resist a pair of baby blues.

The whole feud between Draco and Harry is laid on thicker than snow in Alaska, and I don't really understand why Snape would seem to encourage it. I still find Snape interesting, but I think Rowling rather dropped the ball a bit in terms of character development. Plot was obviously her primary focus...and it certainly benefitted from her efforts.

As for the 'What HP Girl Are You?' quiz, I got Luna Lovegood. I haven't seen her mentioned in the books yet so I really can't say if I feel there's anything to it, but I am a bit surprised by the three of you thinking that I'm like Hermione. She is much too enterprising, too studious, too prompt to be me.

Now, off to book three!

Remember that the Mirror shows many things...

I like Harry.

I'm kind of surprised that I like Harry because he is a bit of a cad and reminds me a bit of the type of boy I hated when I was eleven. But he isn't being given the Mary Sue treatment and that makes me like him even more. Even his peers go back and forth between loving him and hating him...and they (so far) have had very good reasons to feel both of those ways about him.

I was also really surprised by the dynamic of the Harry/Hermione/Ron trio...I had no clue that Hermione wasn't their friend from the onset. I actually really enjoyed that aspect to it. Her transformation is believable and heartwarming. She's a sweet girl and I like her. But, out of everyone...I love Neville Longbottom. I wish these books were about Neville, not Harry. I kind of want to take him aside, hand him some treacle tart and tell him he's worth ten of everyone at the school...combined. Love.

The Tolkienness of the story did tone down once Harry got to Hogwarts, but it's still there. Most notably with the inclusion of the mirror. A mirror that doesn't show you reality? A mirror whose images could consume your thoughts if you let it? A mirror that is both dangerous and valuable? Nope, doesn't sound familiar at all! ;)

The bit at the end with Voldemort kind of lost me, but I absolutely loved the tasks they had to go through to get to the end. Felt kind of videogame-ish, but I love videogames, so I loved this. And Dumbledore assigning the last winning ten house points to Neville Longbottom made me break out in a huge grin. Neville really did get most of my strong reactions. The one time that I really laughed literally outloud was when Neville ran off still wearing the sorting hat. What a little goof. Love him.

The strange enemy relationship between Harry and Draco confuses me. I kept trying to figure out why it started, because nothing big enough really happened to fuel that kind of hate they both have for the other. I can, kind of, get why Draco would immediately dislike Harry...he's a spoiled boy that does not being outshined and would resent Harry's popularity. And, knowing what I do about the Malfoy's more sinister connections, there could be an element of that to it as well. Draco knew of Harry long before he met him and it's very possible that not everything he heard was favorable. But Harry really had no reason to respond to Draco in such a negative way aside from associating Draco with his cousin. Which really isn't fair, but that harkens back to some of Harry's flaws. He's no saint, and I like that.

I really look forward to seeing more from Snape. His backstory intrigues me. He had precious few mentions in this book, but even that limited offering exposed such depth to him. He seems so cerebral and I can't wait to see want of mental torment he puts himself through.

Oh, and I want an invisibility cloak.