Travelogue

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Chapter 5

Well, it's certainly taken longer for me to get back to reading, writing and arithmancy than it took for Harry to get to the Burrow.

Fred and George, however, waste no time getting in trouble. Their mother is quite right. All of their intelligence, ingenuity and ambition could certainly be put to greater use. Maybe they will by the end of the final book, but in the meantime we can just enjoy their mischief.

Sir Percy continues to be high strung. We can only hope Mr. Crouch appreciates all of his hard work on cauldron bottoms.

Meanwhile, I hope, for Percy's sake, he didn't leave the dragon dung in his to-do tray.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Chapter 6

After 2,500 miles and about 50 hours in a minivan, I wish I had known about this Apparating business. Where do I sign up for this class?

I wonder if Fred and George have developed anything that will send the top half of their brothers to the Quidditch World Cup and their bottom halves to the Starship Enterprise. Scotty will wonder what happened.

The description of the Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys trudging up Stoatshead Hill put a picture in my mind of the Von Trapps hiking to Switzerland. You know, Climb Every Mountain and all that sort of thing.

From the description, the boot doesn't sound like one of anybody's favorite things, but it got the job done. And I'll bet it was a more pleasant ride than what you get with floo powder.

Let the games begin.