Harry Potter

[HerMajesty]

I hope so. She should at least get what she deserves! *sigh* No good people better die in the 6th & 7th books..

[StrawberryFields]

I know! If she does I'll get very very angry and start throwing things ...

[HerMajesty]

Just don't throw your book! That would not be good. Did I mention the inside flap of my OotP cover got folded somehow? Arghhh.. I took the cover off while I was reading for that exact reason. *sigh* At least it's not ripped, though.

And yes, she definitely needs to go! If we hadn't agreed on not killing anyone off in our RP, I would want to have a little with all of those evil people ;D

[SgtPepper]

I'm sorry about your cover.

[HerMajesty]

*sigh* Thanks, Maggie.


Now, I wonder how long it will take to get the 6th book.. Are there any solid rumours about it?

[StrawberryFields]

No..Only I read an interview with JKR from last week saying she had to get going, that people have been asking about book 6...

[HerMajesty]

nooo! We need more than *that*.. There's gotta be some rumours! Lol, or we can just sit here and make up our own theories.. ;D

[HerMajesty]

IT IS the type of conduct that would have him expelled from Hogwarts in a flash. Boy wizard Harry Potter is being cast as a gay porn star on the internet.

The craze, which has attracted the attention of author JK Rowling’s lawyers, features the schoolboy sorcerer in explicit gay sex stories for the benefit of heterosexual women.

The so-called ‘slash’ fiction portrays Potter in uncompromising scenarios with other male characters from the hugely-successful books. These include Draco Malfoy, his arch enemy, and the sinister potions teacher Professor Severus Snape. ;D

Lawyers for Rowling have now written to the internet firms which provide the websites asking for them to be shut down because they fear the explicit material could be read by children.

While most of the young fans of the fictional wizard are eagerly awaiting the publication of the fifth book in series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, a steady stream of risqué and sometimes obscene material aimed at adults is being published on the internet.

On one website, Potter’s detention turns out to be much more unorthodox than writing a hundred lines: "Snape rolled his stool to where his student was sitting. He leaned closer until their faces were a centimetre apart. ‘Still answering back, Mr Potter! I think I should teach you a lesson.’

"Harry couldn’t suppress the grin that spread on his face. ‘I’m sure I’ll enjoy your lessons,’ he said seductively."

Another reads: "To Harry’s surprise Draco leaned over and kissed him on the lips, firmly yet gently ...

"Before Harry had a chance to react, Draco pulled away and took a step back. He surveyed Harry’s dazed look and Ron’s dismayed expression with a detached amusement…"

Other examples are far more explicit and too bawdy to be reproduced here.

Potter and his Hogwarts companions have fast become the most popular focus of the genre with more than 1,000 web sites devoted to material involving the youngster with supernatural powers.

The Potter pornography is written by, and is mainly for, straight women. The term ‘slash’ refers to the internet convention of using a stroke or slash to signify a same-sex relationship between two characters, such as Potter/Snape or Potter/Malfoy.

The most popular pairings are between characters who dislike each other and whose relationships are characterised by tension and suspicion. The scenarios vary widely, from light-hearted romances to hardcore sadomasochism.

Louise Hale, founder of Writers University, a guide to internet fan fiction, defended the slash fiction websites, arguing that they give budding authors the opportunity to explore themes that would not feature in the original books.

She said: "Many people can see some subtext between characters like Harry Potter and Draco: ‘Look. They tend to obsess over each other. They are enemies. That must be sexual tension.’

"It is doubtful that JK Rowling sees it that way, but fan fiction gives fans a chance to explore the ‘what if’ scenario."

Explaining the appeal of the craze, Hale added: "Many of the people writing slash are younger and some are unsure of their sexuality. Fan fiction is a way to explore their sexuality in a setting that is familiar and comfortable to them."

One slash writer, known as Savidana, said: "Slashers are not bent on corrupting the human soul, nor are they writing pornography about little boys.

"Very few of the authors will write anything that involves underage boys ."

The author of works including Do as the Prefect Says added: "It gives fans something to fill their heads with while people sit waiting desperately for the all too elusive Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix to show its face."

Most slash fiction carries a content warning and a disclaimer, explaining who holds the copyright to the original work it is based on.

Savidana insisted the warnings were "adequate enough to deter the majority of any young Harry Potter fans from happening upon something that may not be suitable for them".

But last night Neil Blair, a lawyer at Christopher Little, Rowling’s literary agent condemned the craze, warning that it could corrupt "innocent fans", most of whom are children.

He said: "It is almost like running a porno bookshop in Soho and encouraging kids to come in through advertising with sweets."

Blair added that both his firm and lawyers from Warner Brothers, which owns the film rights to the Harry Potter series, had written to internet service providers (ISPs) asking for the websites to be shut down. He said: "Both we and Warner Brothers have been proactive in respect to inappropriate sites, writing to all the ISPs alerting them to the issue even before any material is spotted."

Blair added that ISPs had a "social responsibility" to protect children from pornographic stories involving Potter.

A spokesman for the Internet Service Providers Association said: "The difficulty is the issue of whether it’s illegal material. ISPs can’t act as judge and jury. The people who take responsibility for this material are the publishers. The ISPs can’t possibly keep tabs on everything of this nature."

The spokesman advised parents to use computer filters to prevent children accessing inappropriate websites. He added: "They should also choose an ISP that offers safety controls and ‘walled gardens’ where the content has been reviewed. Also, parents should take an interest in what their child is looking at, and they should spend time surfing together."

Fiona Nicolson, intellectual property and technology expert with the Glasgow-based law firm MacLay, Murray and Spens, explained that it is often difficult to take legal action against websites carrying slash fiction. She said: "Individual website owners or producers are the obvious targets.

"However, such individuals or organisations are often extremely difficult to trace and can move their sites quickly and easily. The problem is compounded somewhat by the fact that worldwide regulation varies from countries with rigid codes of practice or trust schemes to countries with no protections at all."

[StrawberryFields]

Heh, slash is just gross in my opinion....With the exception of Ron and Hermy, and Harry and Ginny...Those aren't bad, if written tastefully.

[HerMajesty]

Yeah, those are fine but when it involves Draco or a teacher.. *shudders* That's just disgusting.

[beatlesbabe]

www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/03/1059849275312.html heheh!! dirty harry...

The worldwide phenomenon that re-engulfed us on June 21, the latest instalment from J.K. Rowling's magical imagination, has gone quiet over the past month. Perhaps it's because millions of people, children and adults alike, have worked out that at the centre of the world's greatest ever publishing endeavour is a character is who is dull, dumb and dirty.

Underline dirty. The rot sets in early in the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Page 20: "Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed [and] put them on ... When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen."

Page 68: "Harry woke at five o'clock the next morning ... He got up and pulled on his jeans because he didn't want to walk to the station in his wizard robes."

Book two, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, is no cleaner. Dirty Harry is still rolling out of bed and into his clothes or out of his clothes and into his pyjamas.

Page 125-6: "He got up, dressed ..." Page 136: "Harry woke up ... dressed quickly and hurried off."


In book three, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, we pass the 750-page mark and he still hasn't showered or taken a bath.

Page 46: "He got up, dressed ..." Page 56: "Tom woke Harry with his usual toothless grin and a cup of tea. Harry got dressed ..." Page 130: "Harry woke extremely early ... got up, dressed ..."

Hasn't Rowling forgotten something? Don't they teach hygiene at Hogworts? By book four, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, grime has become routine. Page 28: "He got to his feet, stretched and went to his wardrobe once more ... He started to get dressed before going down to breakfast."

Page 62: "Harry felt around for his glasses, put them on and sat up ... They dressed in silence ..." Page 106: "He slipped down from the bunk and reached for his clothes." Page 141: "Harry awoke ... got dressed ..." Page 201: "He got up, dressed in the pale light ..." Page 253: "Harry woke up ... dressed and went down ..."

By now, even the other wizard kids have began to notice. Some have begun wearing badges declaring, "POTTER STINKS".

Yet Rowling doesn't get her own hint. Page 294: "Harry got up on Sunday and dressed ..."

Finally, on page 398 of volume four, Dirty Harry confronts the b-word: "Harry had no idea how long a bath he would need ..." But then we discover it's not really a bath he is thinking about, it's another of those trials he has to pass - and this one requires him to solve it in a large bath. False alarm.

By book five, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, it may be the biggest launch in publishing history but nothing has changed.

Page 7: "His jeans were torn and dirty ..." Page 95: "Half an hour [after waking] Harry and Ron, who had dressed and breakfasted quickly ..."

Page 112: "He leapt out of bed ... Mrs Weasley had laid out his freshly laundered jeans and T-shirt at the foot of his bed. Harry scrambled into them."

Page 146: "On the very last day of the holidays Harry was sweeping up Hedwig's owl droppings from the top of the wardrobe ..."

Page 163: "He awoke abruptly ... [and] dressed at top speed." Page 251: "Harry was the first to wake up ... got up and started to dress."

I'm up to page 500 in book five. Maybe there's a cleansing wash at the end but by now we've had five volumes, almost 2500 pages, and more than two dozen references to Harry's morning and bedtime routines with no shower, bath or even wash included.

He is also as dumb as a doorknob. His dialogue is woeful. Somehow he passes his exams each year, but that appears to be the work of Rowling because there is little evidence of any wit or wisdom in the text. "Shut up!" is a favoured retort. Harry reacts stupidly, and sometimes even violently, to taunts.

The real hero of this wonderful world of creatures and magical devices is Hermione Grainger. She provides all the brainpower while Harry provides the reckless courage. Between them they reaffirm every negative stereotype about the superiority of girls over boys in scholastic aptitude.

Rowling is a deserving billionaire. She has single-handedly rejuvenated the genre of children's literature and given pleasure to tens of millions of children and adults. While we don't expect her to detail his ablutions, if Harry is meant to be a role model could she please, please, get him to take a shower?

[EnglishRain]

That article was hilarious!! I never noticed that Harry didn't ever shower... never really thought about it, to be honest. Now that's really reading into the books!

[SgtPepper]

Some people live sad lives to be writing articles like that. Of course we've all wondered where the showers/bathrooms were in Hogwarts, but JKR really doesn't need to go into every detail about things like that. I mean... it would get quite annoying if she wrote "Harry rolled out of bed, walked to the bathroom, showered, went back to his wardrobe, and got dressed" for every morning. It would be unecessary and boring to write about that.

[HerMajesty]

Oh, I know..what a dumb thing to write about! Really, though, who cares anyway if Harry skips a bath once in awhile? ;D I mean, he does have more important things to tend to, I'd say. But I don't think he has a hygiene problem at all, seeing as h has no problem getting the ladies! And I really don't like the first comment the author of the article had.. That the fans of the book realized that Harry was dull and dirty.. Wtf? Actually, we're quiet because we've been locking ourselves in our rooms reading and rereading the books..duh!

[StrawberryFields]

Lmao...Dirty Harry.

The prefect bathrooms sound amazing though... *still wishes she had one like that* ...With a huge pool with all those taps as a bathtub? Wowww... Hahaha.