Favourite Male Character (and why)

We all knew this one was coming. There's no point building it up.
It's Remus Lupin.

I've always liked him. Since the first time I read the book when I was ten, I have held this man in high esteem. In fact, I wished that I had at least one teacher like Remus Lupin. His patience, at least until the critical moment, seemingly knows no bounds. He is highly intuitive, creative, interesting, a bit kooky, and an all round general good-guy.
What I liked best (and really, huge kudos in the writing) was the dark creature within and the effects it had on him. Would he have been the same person without the bite? Of course not. In fact, though I think many of his defining characteristics could also be attributed to ten years growing up with Sirius and James, I believe it gave him his sense of humour, his need to fight for the underdog and his sense of justice.
There is a very fine line for Remus Lupin, between right and wrong. It's a line that few of Harry's mentors have. Sirius has a heart in the right place and a head that hasn't always quite caught up yet, Dumbledore is personification of a grey area and Mrs. Weasley's idea of 'right' is often, somewhat selfishly, Harry's safety.
Lupin understands Harry in a way he has never been understood before. He pushes him a little further than others have, but he knows Harry's boundaries.
I came back and read The Prisoner of Azkaban after six years of abandoning it and quickly developed a massive crush on this fictional character. You see, I began reading the Boggart scene as something of a fan, I ended it with a stupid grin on my face and heart palpitations.
As much as you will hear me moan about the film adaptation, this scene was done particularly well and I almost wish 'Professor Snape? Well, he frightens us all' had been featured in this chapter just so I could have loved him a little bit more from the start.
Of course, it's heartbreaking when this builds up to show us his true colours toward the end of the novel. When I realised he was in league with Sirius Black, I was devastated. I thought we'd finally found a decent teacher, maybe one who was going to be allowed to stay. I felt personally betrayed by him.
And immensely relieved when it turned out Black was innocent, Ron's rat was a murderer and Lupin merely on another mission for justice.
Mentioning my love for this character without mentioning his sarcasm is a travesty. When I talk about Lupin's defining moments, I usually mean the moment in the Shack that took this crush from 'Ooft. I would' to 'Marry me!'.
Despite this, my absolute favourite Lupin moment of all time has to be "One: he's sitting in my chair...". That scene sums up everything I love about this character. He's quiet and reserved in public. Around his friends, he's quirky, sarcastic and even quite sweet.
I suppose to cut a long story short, you could say I love this character's many dimensions. He's a werewolf, a teacher, a friend, a hero, a father-figure, a mentor and a Marauder.
He's all of these things over the course of four books, three of which he barely features in. That's quite an achievement.

Day 4 : Least Favourite Female Character (and why)

This was really tricky; mainly because the majority of characters happen to be male.

Now that I think about it, there are oh so many female characters I don't like. I'm not keen on Hermione for reasons I (irritatingly) can't quite pinpoint. I'm disappointed in Ginny because I think she could have been written a lot better than she was. Fleur was a walking cliché. Everyone hates Lavender. The Patil twins are hardly in it. I defy anyone not to be irritated by Trelawney. Petunia makes my blood boil but at least I am eventually presented with a reason for all her traits that rub me up the wrong way.

They are the female characters I dislike or don't warm to.

However, my dislike for all of the above is completely swamped by my hatred for this fluffy pink monster.

There's just something about Dolores Umbridge. Something that really antagonises me. I'd like to say that I hate her simply because she makes my favourite character's life hell or because she abuses Harry or because she is a bigoted, evil cow.

That's not true. That would make her interesting. In fact, all of the above are reasons I am very fond of Bellatrix Lestrange. 'What's the difference?' you may ask.

Well, Bellatrix is well written and developed. Bellatrix has reasons for doing what she does. They're not good reasons but they're hers and as a result, I can get inside her head and understand her a little better.

Umbitch is cruel for the sake of it. She seems to me to be like Filch left in solitude to go stark raving mad and then put on steroids. She has literally no redeeming traits. At least Bellatrix actually was mad. At least Bellatrix acted for the love of a man who she could never win the heart of but would die trying.

I am aware that a love of power is what drives Umbridge. I am aware that that also makes her a few psychos short of a medical unit. What I like about Bellatrix though is that she revels in it. She loves cruelty. Umbridge wears pink cardigans and collects china plates bearing the images of fluffy kittens. She lives in denial. She's a huge hypocrite and she hates Remus Lupin.

This makes me sound just as crazy and almost as much of a lunatic as she is but I suppose that's because I'm very straight-up and in your face. I'm more of a Bella than a Dolores.

That's excuse enough. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to shoot some kittens.

Day 3: Are there any of the films adaptations that have made you angry because they’ve ignored important parts of the book?

I don't have an excuse. My internet and I have been separated.

This one's easy and I don't know how many people agree with me on this. Maybe I'm just an obsessive fangirl, I don't know.
I was hugely bothered by the fact that the scene in the Shrieking Shack at the End of PoA didn't make it into the film because they didn't have time and it wasn't important.
Right, at what point when you read the book, Mr. Cuarón, did you think to yourself "Oh, I don't suppose anyone will notice if I scrap all this hugely important back story that will go on to play a huge part in the series. Cut!"?

I really feel that I'm too harsh on David Thewlis and I actually think that though he does look like a man who ought not to be trusted around pre-pubescent children in this film, he's a damn good Lupin and Lupin's shining moments throughout the series, in my opinion, take place in the Shack. He has the best lines in that scene and it steals the series from the other characters.
"'Well, hello, Peter,' said Lupin pleasantly as though rats frequently erupted into old schoolfriends around him. 'Long time, no see'." 
I mean, come on!
It's my favourite scene in the series and I would love to have seen it on screen between the likes of Thewlis, Oldman, Spall and Rickman. That could have been a scene that went down in cinema history.
But no. No, it was just wasting film.
This wouldn't have been so bad. I could have accepted it, but instead of including this scene, Cuarón inserted artistic shots of butterflies and snowdrops. I wasn't angry. I was insulted. 
Candy is now descending from her soapbox.

Day 2: Your Favourite Movie

This one was tricky.
My favourite books never lived up to my expectations as films. Prisoner of Azkaban left out my favourite scenes and butchered my favourite character and Half Blood Prince was barely recognisable.
It's a toss-up between Order of the Phoenix and Philosopher's Stone. I'm going to have to go with the latter.

The characters look and behave more like I always imagined them, there's a real magic feel to it because, like the book, it focuses a lot on the idiosyncrasies of life at Hogwarts, and I think maybe because I was younger, it blew me away when I saw it on the big screen.
I also felt like this took a back seat and just let the story unfold whereas the other films, as the books become more developed and their plots more intricate, rushed a lot of the story and left out quirky scenes or treated minor characters to a token glimpse from the camera.
The Philosopher's Stone is the only one of the films that I felt had all the magic of the books. The Deathly Hallows Part 2 was also fantastic but I felt that it was a little too dark. The book also had a little dark humour that this film shied away from for obvious reasons. I cried for 70% of the film and though I left feeling it was one of the best films I had ever seen, I feel as though the first is still the best adaptation.

Day 1: Your Favourite Book

Honestly, it's a toss up between The Philosopher's Stone, The Prisoner of Azkaban and The Half Blood Prince.

I liked the first book in the series for the descriptions of the castle and the humour laced in almost every sentence. While I feel too old to be reading it on occasion, I still love it.

The Half Blood Prince dealt with Harry's issues better than The Order of the Phoenix and the Hogwarts magic was back even though the book was pretty dark. Personally, I also think it's the best written and it has perfect pace, lingering over just the right moments.

However, my ultimate favourite and one of my favourite books of all time is The Prisoner of Azkaban. Firstly, it has loads of Lupin (shallow, I know). Secondly, it introduces three of the most interesting and complex characters in the series. The wit in this book is incredibly sharp, particularly from Lupin. It's also interesting to see what Defence Against Against the Dark Arts lessons should have been like. Lupin is also the only DADA teacher anyone has ever been sorry to see leave at the end of the year.
I like the change of pace. It was really refreshing not to see Voldemort in this book. Obviously, this was the calm before the storm but having Black built up as the villain throughout this book, the twist worked wonderfully and I'm still even taken in for a little while when I read it now.
Interestingly, I was far, far, more afraid of Black than I ever was of Voldemort when I first read this book. I assume this was because Voldemort looked like a psychopath. Black, before Azkaban, was described as most serial killers are - handsome, charming and normal. The threat seemed more real than that of a deranged and power hungry wizard.
What I really liked about Black is that I could see why people would think him a killer. Azkaban unhinged him a little. Even though we know he's innocent, there's still something bubbling away beneath the surface that unnerves the reader. I think that's fantastic.
In short, it's easily the best book in the series for all the above reasons and more.

Harry Potter 30 Day Challenge

So I saw this somewhere on the internet and thought I'd go for it. Later on today, I will be starting this challenge.

Day 1: Your favourite book
Day 2: Your favourite movie
Day 3: Is there any of the films adaptations that have made you angry because they’ve ignored important parts of the book?
Day 4: Least favourite female character and why
Day 5: Favourite male character and why
Day 6: What house would you want to be in?
Day 7: Favourite female character and why
Day 8: What do you think would be your favourite lesson?
Day 9: Least favourite male character
Day 10: Horcruxes or Hallows
Day 11: What character would you say you are most like?
Day 12: Favourite relationship/friendship
Day 13: Least favourite movie
Day 14: Team Voldemort or Team Harry
Day 15: Who would be your best friends at Hogwarts. (three only)
Day 16: Favourite professor
Day 17: Are you excited about The Deathly Hallows movie or scared it won’t do the book justice?
Day 18: Least favourite book
Day 19: Do you prefer the books or films?
Day 20: If you had to meet one member of the cast, who would it be?
Day 21: Out of all the characters that died, if you could bring one back, who would it be?
Day 22: Harry Potter or Twilight
Day 23: Any part of the books/movies that makes you cry?
Day 24: Any particular scene you wished would have been put in the movie but it wasn’t?
Day 25: Nineteen years later. Are you happy how it turned out, or do you wish something was different, ie Neville married Luna?
Day 26: If you could be able to work one spell without a wand what would it be?
Day 27: Would you rather own The Invisibility Cloak, The Resurrection Stone or The Elder Wand?
Day 28: Do you listen to Wizard Wrock, what do you think about it?
Day 29: Did you enjoy A Very Potter Musical?
Day 30: What affect has Harry Potter made on your life and how much does it mean to you?