Harry Potter: The Complete Collection (1-7)

by J.K. Rowling

‘We’ll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat.’

It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that.

‘Muggles have garden gnomes, too, you know,’ Harry told Ron as they crossed the lawn. ‘Yeah, I’ve seen those things they think are gnomes,’ said Ron, bent double with his head in a peony bush. ‘Like fat little Father Christmases with fishing rods …’

Soon, the crowd of gnomes in the field started walking away in a straggling line, their little shoulders hunched.

‘They’ll be back,’ said Ron, as they watched the gnomes disappear into the hedge on the other side of the field. ‘They love it here … Dad’s too soft with them, he thinks they’re funny …’

Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can’t see where it keeps its brain.

‘Professor Severus Snape, master of this school, commands you to yield the information you conceal!’ Snape said, hitting the map with his wand. As though an invisible hand was writing upon it, words appeared on the smooth surface of the map. ‘Mr Moony presents his compliments to Professor Snape, and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people’s business.’ Snape froze. Harry stared, dumbstruck, at the message.

‘Mr Prongs agrees with Mr Moony, and would like to add that Professor Snape is an ugly git.’ It would have been very funny if the situation hadn’t been so serious. And there was more … ‘Mr Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that an idiot like that ever became a Professor.’ Harry closed his eyes in horror. When he’d opened them, the map had had its last word. ‘Mr Wormtail bids Professor Snape good day, and advises him to wash his hair, the slimeball.’

‘Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love. By returning,

‘Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?’

Kreacher, his bullfrog’s voice audible even above this din: ‘Fight! Fight! Fight for my master, defender of house-elves! Fight the Dark Lord, in the name of brave Regulus! Fight!’

‘NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!’ Mrs Weasley threw off her cloak as she ran, freeing her arms. Bellatrix spun on the spot, roaring with laughter at the sight of her new challenger.

‘It’s got to be like this. It’s got to be me.’ Voldemort hissed. ‘Potter doesn’t mean that,’ he said, his red eyes wide. ‘That isn’t how he works, is it? Who are you going to use as a shield today, Potter?’ ‘Nobody,’ said Harry simply. ‘There are no more Horcruxes. It’s just you and me. Neither can live while the other survives, and one of us is about to leave for good …’