There is plenty of ambitious competition and hypocrisy in the middle class, which makes it a rather fertile environment for a writer.

The castle grounds were gleaming in the sunlight as though freshly painted; the cloudless sky smiled at itself in the smoothly sparkling lake, the satin-green lawns rippled occasionally in a gentle breeze: June had arrived.

I want to fall in love with something in the way I fell in love with the idea of Harry before I write anything else.

I would rather die than betray his trust." "That's not saying much, seeing as you're already dead," Ron observed. "Once again, you show all the sensitivity of a blunt axe," said Nearly Headless Nick in affronted tones.

Jealous?...Of what? I don't want a foul scar right across my head, thanks. I don't think getting your head cut open makes you that special, myself.

No, I'm fine,' said Harry, wondering why he kept telling people this, and wondering whether he had ever been less fine.

There are much more terrible things than physical injury.