English with Harry Potter

2022-08-12 09:00:02 A piece of advice from Draco:
When in doubt ... chicken out!

When Draco finds out that Harry won't be expelled for breaking school rules, he gets pissed off and challenges Harry to a duel to tip off Filch that some students would be in the trophy room at midnight. So, Draco didn't chicken out, Draco had a plan. Open / Comment

2022-08-12 09:00:01 chicken out - to decide not to do something because one is afraid: 
'He was going to ask her on a date, but he chickened out at the last minute.' Open / Comment

2022-08-10 09:00:00 Malfoy and Crabbe weren’t there yet. The crystal trophy cases glimmered where the moonlight caught them. Cups, shields, plates and statues winked silver and gold in the darkness. They edged along the walls, keeping their eyes on the doors at either end of the room. Harry took out his wand in case Malfoy leapt in and started at once. The minutes crept by.
‘He’s late, maybe he’s chickened out,’ Ron whispered.
Then a noise in the next room made them jump. Harry had only just raised his wand when they heard someone speak – and it wasn’t Malfoy.
‘Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner.’
It was Filch speaking to Mrs Norris. ...
‘They’re in here somewhere,’ they heard him mutter, ‘probably
hiding.’
‘This way!’ Harry mouthed to the others and, petrified, they
began to creep down a long gallery full of suits of armour. Open / Comment

2022-08-04 09:00:00 Having a last meal, Potter? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?’
‘You’re a lot braver now you’re back on the ground and you’ve got your little friends with you,’ said Harry coolly. There was of course nothing at all little about Crabbe and Goyle, but as the High Table was full of teachers, neither of them could do more than crack their knuckles and scowl.
‘I’d take you on any time on my own,’ said Malfoy. ‘Tonight, if you want. Wizard’s duel. Wands only – no contact. What’s the matter? Never heard of a wizard’s duel before, I suppose?’
‘Of course he has,’ said Ron, wheeling round. ‘I’m his second, who’s yours?’
Malfoy looked at Crabbe and Goyle, sizing them up.
‘Crabbe,’ he said. ‘Midnight all right? We’ll meet you in the trophy room, that’s always unlocked.’ Open / Comment

2022-08-03 09:00:01 Ron: Oh, go on, Harry, Quidditch is great. Best game there is! And you'll be great, too!
Harry: But I've never even played Quidditch. What if I make a fool of myself?
Hermione: You won't make a fool of yourself. It's in your blood.
Ron: Whoa. Harry, you never told me your father was a Seeker, too.
Harry: I-I didn't know. Open / Comment

2022-08-02 09:01:00 Fred: Hey, well done, Harry, Wood's just told us!
Ron: Fred and George are on the team, too. Beaters.
George: Our job is to make sure that you don't get bloodied up too bad. Can't make any promises, of course. Rough game, Quidditch.
Fred: Brutal. But no one's died in years. Someone will vanish occasionally...
George: But they'll turn up in a month or two! Open / Comment

2022-08-02 09:00:02 Fred: Hey, well done, Harry, Wood's just told us!
Ron: Fred and George are on the team, too. Beaters.
George: Our job is to make sure that you don't get bloodied up too bad. Can't make any promises, of course. Rough game, Quidditch.
Fred: Brutal. But no one's died in years. Someone will vanish occasionally...
George: But they'll turn up in a month or two! Open / Comment

2022-08-01 09:00:01 Nick: Have you heard? Harry Potter's the new Gryffindor Seeker. I always knew he'd do well.
Ron: Seeker? But first years never make their house teams! You must be the youngest Quidditch player in...
Harry: A century, according to McGonagall. Open / Comment

2022-07-31 10:00:01 ‘He’s just the build for a Seeker, too,’ said Wood, now walking around Harry and staring at him. ‘Light – speedy – we’ll have to get him a decent broom, Professor – a Nimbus Two Thousand or a Cleansweep Seven, I’d say.’
‘I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can’t bend the first-year rule. Heaven knows, we need a better team than last year. Flattened in that last match by Slytherin, I couldn’t look Severus Snape in the face for weeks ...’
Professor McGonagall peered sternly over her glasses at Harry.
‘I want to hear you’re training hard, Potter, or I may change my
mind about punishing you.’
Then she suddenly smiled.
‘Your father would have been proud,’ she said. ‘He was an excellent Quidditch player himself.’ Open / Comment

2022-07-29 13:10:19 McGonagall: Potter, this is Oliver Wood. Wood, I have found you a Seeker!

Wood’s expression changed from puzzlement to delight.
‘Are you serious, Professor?’
‘Absolutely,’ said Professor McGonagall crisply. ‘The boy’s a
natural. I’ve never seen anything like it. Was that your first time on a broomstick, Potter?’
Harry nodded silently. He didn’t have a clue what was going on, but he didn’t seem to be being expelled, and some of the feeling started coming back to his legs.
‘He caught that thing in his hand after a fifty-foot dive,’
Professor McGonagall told Wood. ‘Didn’t even scratch himself.
Charlie Weasley couldn’t have done it.’
Wood was now looking as though all his dreams had come true at once.
‘Ever seen a game of Quidditch, Potter?’ he asked excitedly.
‘Wood’s captain of the Gryffindor team,’ Professor McGonagall
explained. Open / Comment