25 Day Harry Potter Challenge - 17. Who's your Quidditch team?

CHUDLEY CANNONS!!!! (Because they're the only one I know of, other than the house teams....)

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25 Day Harry Potter Challenge - 16. Favourite fan art/fan fic/fan something?

I have to admit I'm not really into fan related things.  Though I did come across some fan art that I really like on deviantArt by viria13.  I just love her style of drawing and the way she colours things so they look almost dreamy and nostalgic.  If you've got a spare minute or two then go and have a look through her gallery.

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25 Day Harry Potter Challenge - 15. Have you ever named a pet/something after something Harry Potter related?

Yes.  I had a guinea pig called Hermione.  (Apologies for the bad quality of the picture.)

25 Day Harry Potter Challenge - 14. What would you do if you had an invisibility cloak?

Erm... I don't know actually.  I mean it'd always be interesting to know what people think of me when I'm not there but then again, do I really want to know?  Sometimes I can't help but think that it's better to live in blissful ignorance.

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25 Day Harry Potter Challenge - 13. Which Hogwarts house do you belong to?

That's easy!  I'm a Hufflepuff through and through.

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25 Day Harry Potter Challenge - 12. Favourite line/passage?

It's my 100th blog post!!  And to celebrate I'm resurrecting this challenge, which I will finish!

As for my favourite line, I think it has to be this one.

“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” - Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

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25 Day Harry Potter Challenge - 9. Favourite Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher?

If your favourite isn't Lupin then there's something wrong.

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I always loved his lesson in the third book and I absolutely loved how JK Rowling described his exam.  It sounded like so much fun!!

If you want to learn more about this challenge then click here!

25 Day Harry Potter Challenge - 8. Severus Snape - good guy who did bad? Or bad guy who did good?

Oh err wow...  I don't think he was ever just a bad or a good guy.

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I mean it's hard to decipher how something could be so black and white.  I don't think anyone is just good or bad,  people are just varying shades of grey to me.

When it comes down to it though he stuck to his morals and protected those he loved, and for that he's earned my respect.

If you want to find out more about the 25 Day Harry Potter Challenge then click here!

25 Day Harry Potter Challenge - 7. You've graduated Hogwarts, passed your NEWTS, now what?

Oh gosh!!!  Well I think now I'd either get a job at Flourish and Blotts or Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour in Diagon Alley.

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Either that or I'd become Hagrid's apprentice and help him look after all the creatures in the grounds of Hogwarts and help teach classes!  That would be so much fun!

If you want to find out more about the 25 Day Harry Potter Challenge click here!

25 Day Harry Potter Challenge - 6. Favourite movie?

I think my favourite movie is actually Half Blood Prince.  Deathly Hallows is amazing but it's incredibly upsetting!  I can't watch it without blubbing like a baby (in both parts).

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I remember crying with laughter the first time I watched this film in the cinema.  Dumbledore with his knitting patterns, Ron being drugged with the love potion, Cormac McLaggen throwing up on Snape's shoes.  It's so much more light hearted than films 5 and 7 whilst still retaining that dark edge.

My favourite part has to be when Harry and Luna are on the way to Slughorn's Christmas party and she says she's never been to that part of the castle whilst awake at least.  She sleep walks so she wears shoes to bed.  I'm not sure why but I find Luna just hilarious!

If you want to find out more about the 25 Day Harry Potter Challenge then click here!

25 Day Harry Potter Challenge - 5. What's your wand made of? What's the core?

I'm going to tell you what Pottermore gave me as my wand as, to me, it seems to fit me perfectly.

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Okay so my wand is 10 inches long, red oak with a unicorn hair core.  Here's some explanations from Pottermore and Mr Ollivander.

"Red Oak
You will often hear the ignorant say that red oak is an infallible sign of its owner’s hot temper. In fact, the true match for a red oak wand is possessed of unusually fast reactions, making it a perfect duelling wand. Less common than English oak, I have found that its ideal master is light of touch, quick-witted and adaptable, often the creator of distinctive, trademark spells, and a good man or woman to have beside one in a fight. Red oak wands are, in my opinion, among the most handsome."


"Unicorn Hair
Unicorn Hair generally produces the most consistent magic, and is least subject to fluctuations and blockages.  Wands with unicorn cores are generally the most difficult to turn to the Dark Arts.  They are the most faithful of all wands, and usually remain strongly attached to their first owner, irrespective of whether he or she was an accomplished witch or wizard.
Minor disadvantages of unicorn hair are that they do not make the most powerful wands (although the wand wood may compensate) and that they are prone to melancholy if seriously mishandled, meaning that the hair my 'die' and need replacing."


If you want to find out more about the 25 Day Harry Potter Challenge then click here!

25 Day Harry Potter Challenge - 4. Favourite Harry Potter pick up line?

I know there are loads of pickup lines floating out in the internet but I'm going to pick one straight from the book, when Ron needed a date for the Yule Ball, simply because it amused me so much!

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"Hermione.  Neville's right, you are a girl...well, you could come with one of us!"

Ron knows how to please the ladies!

If you want to find out more about the 25 Day Harry Potter Challenge then click here!

25 Day Harry Potter Challenge - 3. What's your Quidditich position?

I DON'T WANT ONE.  Probably the only Harry Potter fan who doesn't.  I have a very bad fear of heights so the thought of Quidditch makes my stomach do somersaults.  I don't want any chance of ever being able to fall 50 feet to the ground off a floating stick.  No thanks.

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I'll stick to cheering them on from the stands.  Wearing a Luna-esque badger hat for my fellow Hufflepuffs, complete with snuffly nose!

If you want to find out more about the 25 Day Harry Potter Challenge then click here!

25 Day Harry Potter Challenge - 2. If you could take any class that they offer at Hogwarts, what would it be?

This is so easy for me, it would definitely be Care of Magical Creatures.  I'm a very animal loving person anyway and those were always my favourite lessons to read about.  Learning about nifflers, bowtruckles, blast ended skrewts, flobberworms, hippogriffs and unicorns just sounds like so much fun!

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If you've not already read it then I suggest you read Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them.  It's really interesting!  The fact that all of this came out of J.K. Rowling's mind is incredible.

If you want to find out more about the 25 Day Harry Potter Challenge then click here!

25 Day Harry Potter Challenge - 1. Favourtie book?

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The Goblet of Fire is by far my favourite book.  It's the book I always turn to if I want a bit of nostalgia and it's the book I've read most out of my entire collection.

It's the book where everything changes.  Plus Sirius features most in this book, without dying, so that's definitely a plus!  I also love how much there is about the house elves in the book.  The films just weren't the same without Winky and Dobby.

"Book Four's a very very VERY important book.  Something very important happens in Book Four.  But also, it's literally a central book.  It's almost the heart of the series, and it's pivotal." - J. K. Rowling

If you want to find out more about the 25 Day Harry Potter Challenge then click here!

My next challenge will be...

*Drum roll........................*

Yeahhh HARRY FREAKING POTTER!

I saw this over on Rachael's blog and just knew instantly that it had to be the next challenge I did.  I love everything Harry Potter.  EVERYTHING.  If I could go to Hogwarts I would actually kill to be able to go there.  I am obsessed.

I might even have a Harry Potter playlist on my iTunes.  Yup.  Total fangirl.

So anyway!  This is my challenge I will be starting this week.  Hopefully this one won't take me 3 months to complete.

30 Day Challenge - 28. The month you were happiest this year and why.

Right so seeing as this challenge has dragged on for way longer than 30 days (because I suck, sorry!) I'm just going to get these last 3 posts out of the way tonight so I can move on to something new!

So I'd have to say the month I was happiest this year was probably August.  My 21st birthday was at the beginning of the month and my wonderful boyfriend took me out for an awesome day in Keswick.  We went horse riding in the morning and then spent the rest of the day wandering around Keswick.  We also took a lovely boat ride on Ullswater!  (See video montage below! The song used is Queen of the Surface Streets by DeVotchKa)

I was also able to spend some time with my Granny in August.  I'd not seen her for months so it was really lovely, especially as it was her 80th!

August was also the month when I had my Harry Potter week, always a good thing!  If you want to read more about it then I suggest you read this post.

If you'd like to find out more about the 30 Day Challenge then click here!

30 Day Challenge - 21. Something you can't seem to get over.

Hufflepuff is not the house where all the losers at put!  Why the hell would that ever be true?

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Hufflepuff, as a whole, just has this thing called modesty.  We don't go around shouting about how great and amazing we are, that doesn't mean we're all stupid.

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I guess I just get so annoyed about it because I am very much a Hufflepuff.  I feel like I get overlooked sometimes, just the way Hufflepuff is.  But you know what, that's fine.  I know what my priorities are and they're being happy making sure my friends are the same.  To me the relationships we have with other people are the most important thing about this life that we're given.  I love my friends and I will stick by them through thick and thin.

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All the other houses have their own priorities.  Gryffindor are the brave ones, the good ones in the limelight, always saving the day.  Slytherin are in it for the glory, they will do anything to get what they want.  While Ravenclaw value intelligence and academic success.  But what if you lose these things?  What then?  Hufflepuff's are able to build strong friendships and keep them and, at the end of the day, friends are the ones who will be there to catch you when you fall and pick you back up again.

I guess what I'm saying is that I think Hufflepuff's have their priorities right.  Yeah all the other stuff is great but what's fun about it without having someone to share it all with?

Now that rant is over with...

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If you want to find out more about the 30 Day Challenge then click here!

Nails

Ok so I just realised that I totally forgot about showing you my Harry Potter manicure.  I did take pictures but they're not very good and I also took them about a week after I did the manicure so there's a few chips...

This is my bad hand (i.e. I'm left handed so I had to paint this with the wrong hand...).  It's not too bad but it's not great either.  As you can see I used a black base, then painted on my designs in silver (lightning bolt on ring finger and the deathly hallows on my thumb).  Once my design had dried I added a flakey top coat.  Any glittery top coat would look good but I always think there's something magical about flakies.

What you can't tell from the picture is that instead of using a normal black I used GOSH Black Passion.  It's basically just black but it's packed with really fine silver glitter.  I've never seen a nail polish like it and I love it!  The flakey I used is also by GOSH and I think it's called Rainbow.  GOSH do some seriously awesome nail varnishes and I think you should check them out if you don't know about them already.

Blurry :(  I suck at taking nail pictures clearly.  But you can see the design and that's all that matters.  I used a thin paintbrush to paint my designs on.  Probably ruined them but they weren't good ones anyway.  You can buy special brushes to paint nail designs on but this probably isn't going to be a normal thing for me to do so it wouldn't be worth me buying them.

This is the lightning nail from my right hand, as you can see I'm much better at painting with my left than my right.

And that concludes my Harry Potter manicure!

I hope you enjoyed it!  I'd love to know about anything Harry Potter related you've done, even if it's just something like you're re-reading one of the books.  Or checking your email every 5 minutes to see if you have your welcome email from Pottermore.  It's always good to meet new Potterheads :)

DFTBA x

Harry Potter

I'm going to see the final Harry Potter film tonight and I can barely contain my excitement!  Although I can't believe it's going to be over.  I've been brought up with the books and the films ever since I was about 8.  12 years has gone by so quickly....  I'll most probably have a little weep once the film is over.  Thankfully we still have Pottermore to look forward to!  Not that I'm entirely sure what it is mind...

In celebration of the last film I've painted my nails in a Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows theme.  I'll do another post tomorrow about them! :)

P.S.  Painting on your nails with the wrong hand is tricky so I won't be showing you both hands.