But Snape always seemed to hate me so much.

Part of what makes a language 'alive' is its constant evolution. I would hate to think Britain would ever emulate France, where they actually have a learned faculty whose job it is to attempt to prevent the incursion of foreign words into the language. I love editing Harry with Arthur Levine, my American editor-the differences between 'British English' (of which there must be at least 200 versions) and 'American English' (ditto!) are a source of constant interest and amusement to me.

Facing this stuff, in real life is not like school, in school, if you make a mistake you can just try again tomorrow, but out there...when your a second away from being murdered or watching a friend die right before your eyes...you don't know what that's like.

He didn’t know what he was going to — but it had to be better than what he was leaving behind.

Oh, I'm so glad we know what it's called, that's a great help," snarled Ron, leaning back, trying to stop the plant from curling around his neck.

Imagine losing fingernails, Harry! That really puts our sufferings into perspective, doesn't it?

Deliberately causing mayhem in Snape's Potions class was about as safe as poking a sleeping dragon in the eye.