Young people are so infernally convinced that they are absolutely right about everything.

I will not calm down!

Contemplating the task ahead would not make it easier or the water warmer.

NO!” The scream was the more terrible because he had never expected or dreamed that Professor McGonagall could make such a sound.

Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die. Some say he’s still out there, bidin’ his time, like, but I don’ believe it.

She kept asking herself whether, if he had looked cleaner, she might have been more concerned; whether, on some subliminal level, she had confused his obvious signs of neglect with street-smartness, toughness and resilience.

Life, for Colin, was one long brace against pain and disappointment, and everybody apart from his wife was an enemy until proven otherwise.