Review: Deathly Hallows Part I

It's actually a week since I went to see this, but stuff got in the way - we've had snow, work is busy, it's almost Christmas and all that jazz. So anyway, yeah, it's taken me a week to get round to this. Luckily I still remember most of the things I wanted to say about Deathly Hallows Part I, or we'd be in a bit of a mess right now.

First of all, I was definitely pleased with this adaptation. I think the decision to split the book into two films was the right one, and if I had more faith in the attention span of my fellow human beings I would suggest that it should have been done from Goblet of Fire onwards.

Secondly, NEEDS MOAR SNAPE AND BELLATRIX. If I didn't know how important they are in the second half of the book, I would feel a little short-changed. The few scenes they did get were excellent though.

I thought all the scenes in Malfoy Manor were done well, actually. A happy Voldemort is a scary Voldemort. I thought the tone was just at the right level of creepy, and the actors did an incredible job. Jason Isaacs was brilliant at showing us all how Lucius Malfoy is gradually falling apart. And while I'm on the subject of Death Eaters, I just have to say one thing: Why are they all either hideous or 'get-in-my-bed-now' attractive? I shouldn't be getting all flustered watching Harry Potter.

I do have one genuine problem with the way they're portrayed though, and that's the costuming. I really do love these villains (and not necessarily in that way) and I love the way they're dressed - if I could dress like Bellatrix every day, I would - but I find it quite hard to reconcile that with my own life in some ways. I'm quite gothy in the way I dress, and many of my male friends have long hair. With the addition of the Snatchers wearing leather coats and Scabior's rockstar-pirate get-up, I feel like there's now a bit too much of a 'people who look weird will hurt you' vibe. So many metalheads, goths and general black-clad types get hassle every day because people assume we're Nazis or school shooters for wearing the things we do. I'd prefer it if it wasn't encouraged. I don't want people to assume my boyfriend and I are racists because the two of us have long dark hair and wear stompy boots.

On the plus side, the cinematography and soundtrack were beautiful, as usual.

The Trio have improved so much too. Rupert Grint was always good when given the chance to shine, but in this film Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson finally seemed like they were Harry and Hermione instead of just playing pretend. The improvement is huge, and this leads me onto the controversial moment in the film. The dancing sequence, where Harry tries to cheer Hermione up after Ron leaves, was hilariously awkward. As much as I giggled though, I think it was genuinely meant to be clumsy and horrible. The actors did a great job there, and this time I'm fairly sure it was deliberate. We all know Harry and Hermione are hopeless at anything social - that it's Ron holding the group together because of his experience interacting with all those other Weasleys - and to actually see that becoming totally natural for the actors was great.

I wasn't so keen on the announcement of Moody's death; it felt rushed to me, like people didn't really care about him, rather than just being abrupt.

As for the locket scene... Merlin's beard, that was awful. Acting? Great. I love Rupert Grint forever. Special effects? Meh. I understand that it wasn't meant to look exactly real, but the effects made Emma Watson look completely alien. It was creepy, and not in the way I wanted it to be. I thought it should have been more realistic in order for it to be believable that Ron would be so disturbed.

Gosh, I'm complaining a lot. I shouldn't be though, because this really is the best adaptation so far. I spent much of the film with my mouth hanging open, thinking about how shiny it all was, and I didn't cringe every time Daniel Radcliffe opened his mouth. Honestly, I can hardly wait for Part II. I don't know how I can hold on for the next nearly-eight-months, even though I know exactly what's going to happen and that I will spend the whole thing crying even harder than I do when the Doctor regenerates.

Augh, seriously. I feel like this review is kind of mean, but I really did like it. Please believe me! I'm British, I can't help but complain ;)

It's real for us: the Harry Potter fandom

Well, Deathly Hallows Part 1 is now out in the cinema. I'm not seeing it for about another week, but when I do I'll try to post a review. If you're lucky you might even get something that isn't just keysmashes and enthusiasm for people with lovely hair. Anyway, what I want to talk about today is the thing that made people go to the midnight showing, or see it more than once already, and that's the Harry Potter fandom.

Harry Potter has been one of the things that defines my generation. The level of dedication found amongst the fans is mostly due to the fact that we grew up with Harry. Many of us lost family members during that time, or experienced oppression or just plain ordinary bullying. To so many young people, the world of Harry Potter is both an escape from the horrible things in our lives and a way of reassuring ourselves that we can get through them just like Harry did. By writing such wonderful characters and making it so easy for us to identify with them, J.K. Rowling has inspired a level of dedication only matched by Twilight fans, and it's generally a much healthier form of dedication as well!

In short, Potterheads have a lot to bond over from our own lives in addition to the shared interest in the wizarding world.

People from all over the world have used these shared experiences to create new media associated with the series, and even better, to try to improve things in the Muggle world. The Harry Potter Alliance, for example, campaigns for equality and human rights by drawing parallels between the Harry Potter books and our own world to raise awareness of those issues. In the USA, the American Library Association use the Harry Potter books and work with the Golden Trio film actors to promote literacy. How many other young adult fantasy novels have produced this level of political and social awareness? Perhaps The Hunger Games will go down this route - I certainly hope it does - but right now Harry Potter is light years ahead of the competition.

Aside from the serious activism, there is a lot of fun associated with the Potterverse. There is wonderful fanfiction, wizard rock, fan art and even a real-life Quidditch World Cup. Potter fans are fantastically creative, and some of the fan works have become famous all over the world. Two fan-made musicals have been produced. Groups on social networking sites number in the thousands. There are over 700 bands producing Harry Potter-themed music and there are online RPGs for those who don't have friends at school, work or college who will take part. Of course, we do have to be very grateful for the internet. Without that ability to collaborate and discuss with other fans from around the world, the fandom might be fragmented and it would almost certainly be much smaller.

The Potter fandom does have a downside, unfortunately. There are certain groups of fans that make the rest of us look bad, and it's always a good idea to recognise that so that we can avoid falling into the same traps. Something that particularly bothers me is the attitude around shipping in fanfiction, and the accompanying attitude to characters that 'get in the way' of somebody's OTP (one true pairing). It seems to be much, much worse amongst the younger teenage fans - don't get me wrong, they're still a minority in that age group - since the rise of Twilight and its messed-up view of relationships. I cannot stress this enough: slut-shaming, trivialising rape, selective/judgemental interpretation of personality traits (even of fictional characters), racism and homophobia are not acceptable ways to justify your opinions or make your preferred pairing happen. They are not acceptable in real life, and they are not acceptable in fiction. A huge part of the Harry Potter series and the fandom is the fight against oppression in all its forms, so when I see Harmonians (Harry/Hermione shippers) calling Ginny a slut or a whore, I get angry. When I see people giving Draco a tragic non-canon backstory to make him some kind of hero instead of a privileged, sheltered and immature boy, I get angry. Not only are these things an insult to the characters you profess to love and their creator, they are an insult to every person who experiences oppression in any form from verbal abuse to losing their lives.

Thankfully, we don't have a 'Teams' situation, although I am occasionally worried by those who can justify all of Snape's behaviour and none of James's, or vice versa. I don't want this fandom to go down that route, I really don't. We are better than that.

I have to say though, the slut-shaming and sexism from some quarters really does bother me. The Harry Potter fandom is predominantly female, and we should all try to fight sexism by making sure nobody can use our gender as an excuse not to take us seriously. As women and geeks (which we are, we're reading 600-page fantasy novels after all) we have enough sexism to deal with. I don't expect some kind of sisterhood to emerge, but we don't need to attack other women, even if they're not real! Often we're not really seeing it from the men in the fandom either, so even though that in itself is good, those of us who identify as female don't have an excuse to get sloppy.

Phew. Rant over. Back to the positives.

I love this fandom. I really do. I love that people are friendly, and that they can make fun of Harry Potter in an affectionate way. I love that it's okay to say you find a character attractive, but that people will call you out on it if your attitude is unhealthy. I love that there are so many in-jokes. I love that people in this fandom are enthusiastic about reading and learning more about things that are linked to the Potterverse and things that are not. I love that it is often a safe space that welcomes everyone, and that when somebody breaks the rules, things are usually dealt with in a way that avoids any further bad feeling. I love that people are involved enough to dress up, to have themselves Sorted, and to spend hours debating minor details.

As much as I rage at the negatives, I don't ever want to leave.

Hogwarts is home to us, just like it's home to Harry. We grew up there, in a way. It will always be there for us to go back and read all the stories again, picking up on things we missed as children and prolonging the joy we get from what we once saw as simple stories of magic. And we'll always have each other, because of the bonds we formed over these books. To quote A Very Potter Musical (again), "You're the part of me that makes me better wherever I go" - and that is so often the case when it comes to Harry Potter. Not only is the series about love and acceptance, the fans are all about that too.

To end on a personal note: I was bullied for about ten years, from the age of nine to the end of my first year at university. During that time, I lost several family members, my relationship with my father collapsed and I developed what is basically a stress-related illness. Sometimes I still don't feel like I belong anywhere or that I am wanted despite evidence to the contrary. Yet, when I spend time with other Harry Potter fans - online or in person - I know that there is a place for me. So thank you for being so awesome.

One of the bravest men I ever knew

Okay, so I wasn't going to write about this for a while because I wanted to talk about wizard privilege and all that first, but after seeing a lot of hate and creepy Twilight-esque obsession from the Harry Potter fandom recently I'm bringing this forward because GOD DAMN EDUCATE YOURSELVES.

So today we're going to talk about Snape.

Honestly... this is hard. Writing for an audience when the topic is one of your favourite fictional characters is always difficult, because there is always someone who will disagree with your judgement and you can get a little NO THAT IS NOT WHAT THIS PERSON IS LIKE HOW DARE YOU about it all. When your favourite character is this complex and debated by the fandom this much, it just gets worse. We'll see what happens though, won't we?

I have to say though, I'm not going to jump on either the Snape-hate or the Snape-love bandwagon here. I'll go into more detail later, but in short, I think Snape is complicated enough that it's not really possible to be one-sided on this without ignoring large parts of his story arc and therefore dismissing some of Rowling's best work. I find it disrespectful. As much as I would totally be Snape's friend ~on the astral plane~ I still want to punch him sometimes, and that's how he was written. So let's get on with digging a bit deeper!

[Spoilers ahead for anyone who is three years behind, which I doubt if you're reading this]

Snape, Snape, Severus Snape (<-clicky for joy)

Severus Snape was born in about 1960 and attended Hogwarts at the same time as Lily and James, Harry's parents, and the rest of the Marauders. We don't know much about his upbringing, except that his mother Eileen was a witch and his father was a Muggle, and that his life at home was probably quite unpleasant (at best, they were poor; at worst, he was possibly neglected). Snape teaches Potions and is head of Slytherin house at Hogwarts. He is rude, seems to deliberately make an effort to look scary and picks on children he doesn't like- i.e. all of them. He is not a fair teacher, or a nice one, and holds an irrational grudge against Harry Potter.

And yet, he ultimately lays down his life for Harry. He lives his life and leaves it knowing that the rest of the wizarding world hates him, but he makes his sacrifices anyway. Snape may not be nice, but he is good.

Snape's motivation, as we all know by now, was his love for Harry's mother Lily. They had been friends when they were young, but his interest in the Dark Arts had driven them apart. She later married James Potter, who had constantly clashed with Snape at school, while Snape himself ended up a Death Eater- a Death Eater who informed Voldemort of a prophecy involving his future. On learning that Voldemort was going to hunt down Lily, James and their son Harry because of this, Snape switched sides and turned spy for Dumbledore. Unfortunately, it was too late- Lily was killed trying to protect Harry. However, over the years Snape continued to work for Dumbledore in her memory, keeping Harry safe despite their mutual hatred.

Some people say that this makes Snape a selfish man, because he only did good things for Lily. I would disagree with that- he certainly didn't want to be a good person for her when they were at school, and if his motives were purely selfish he would not have asked Dumbledore to protect the whole Potter family. Snape would rather have Lily alive and happy with his enemy than lose her forever. He had already lost her once, but if she died there would never be any chance of reconciliation. I don't see that as selfish- how is it selfish to let the person you love go and live their life without you?

That's not to say that Snape was perfect, of course. He should never have called Lily a Mudblood, he should never have joined Voldemort in the first place, and he shouldn't have spent his career intimidating children. I can't defend these things. I can explain them, and understand them, but I can't defend them.

The explanation I have for this is that Snape never really had a chance to be anything other than what he was. Dumbledore says that our choices are the most important part of who we are, but we have to remember that our past does inform what we do in the future. In this case, I think the sorting is partly to blame- this isn't particularly Snape-centric, but it's a general theory I have that applies to him.

Being sorted into Slytherin basically means you're doomed to acts of random nastiness for the rest of your life. Your qualities of ambition and self-preservation may be used for good, but they get you placed in a group of people who are reviled for it. Slytherin is notorious for churning out the dark wizards and blood purists, and so becoming part of that group alienates you from all the others at Hogwarts. It seems perfectly reasonable for a little boy of eleven to want to protect himself and prove himself if his own father doesn't like what he is (as in, doesn't like that his child is magically talented). Unfortunately, since Slytherin is so insular due to its reputation, there's a vicious cycle where anyone who could change the house for the better pleads with the Sorting Hat to be sent elsewhere and you're stuck trying to fit in with the racists. I think a great deal of Snape's issues stem from the fact that Hogwarts was yet another place where he was disliked. It's no wonder he stayed so withdrawn and became such a bitter adult. It's also not surprising that he got so involved with the Dark Arts- an intelligent kid surrounded by that stuff and feeling the need to lash out at somebody might very well end up going down that path.

Again, I don't defend him for all the things he did as a result of all that. Plenty of people have awful lives and don't make the choices Snape made as a young man. Harry himself is a shining example of that within the Potterverse; he has been through the most horrible things, more than anyone else in the wizarding world, and yet he can still be kind and loving. If Harry can do it, anybody can. I think Snape should have grown a pair and stopped wallowing in his own misery, to be perfectly honest.

Ah, I still think he's brilliant though. The man is sassy. Sassy. I love it when people are rude in hilarious ways, I can't help it.

Ahem. Anyway. Moving on.

Something that I absolutely love about Snape's story is that we never get the full story, not really. I don't think we'll ever know whether he just did everything for Lily or whether he genuinely changed his beliefs- it seems to me that he did, with his actions to protect the students during his year as Headmaster of Hogwarts. If he only cared about avenging Lily, he wouldn't have promised to look out for so many other people. I don't think Rowling will ever tell us any more about his life either. I would love to know, but at the same time I have this idea of Snape in my head and if it turned out to be completely wrong I would be rather upset :P I like that he remains ambiguous enough for us to continue discussing him. What the hell would I do with my time without this? (see the bottom of this post for the Snape in my head, by the way- I don't want to stick it here in case you all disagree with me and send hate mail, haha)

Right. Let's move onto the TERRIFYING PIT OF DOOM that is the fandom reaction to Snape.

What the devil is going on here? That's absurd! (moar clicky-based joy)

Yeah, that's pretty much it. There's no way to describe it other than "LOLWUT I DONT EVEN".

I dunno, I have some issues with the way the fandom treats old Snaperdoodle. There's a lot of love for him, which is nice, but at the same time... it's kind of creepy. People excuse his douchebaggery, and that's not right- by all means laugh at his mean jokes, but don't excuse all the shitty things he's done because you feel sorry for him. (I hope I haven't done that here!)

My main issue is the same issue I have with attitudes to Draco Malfoy, and dare I say it, Twilight. I cannot stand it when people fall in love with fucked-up, broken guys (even fictional ones) and act like they're perfect or believe that all they need is sexytimes from a HAWT GAWFIK GURL. It's unrealistic, and to some extent I blame Twilight for making it acceptable to be an idiot. I don't have a problem with anybody being attracted to a character like Snape- I admit that I am too. Long-haired dudes who like books and snark are totally my type. Where I differ from the nutty fangirls is that I learned from experience that you really don't want to be in a relationship with somebody that broken, especially if (like Snape) they are unwilling to let anybody in. Anecdote for you: in my first year of university, I used to hang out with this guy who was clearly a little messed up, but he seemed very sweet. He was smart and gothy and my other friends thought it was pretty obvious that he liked me. We did go out on a couple of dates, but then the crazy set in. Turns out he was paranoid and bitter, and pretty much scared me off. One night he got very drunk and told me he loved me- we had known each other for maybe six months max and been on two dates. I freaked out and didn't speak to him for about a year, because I could not handle somebody that intense.

That's the thing- guys like that (and girls of course) really aren't what you want or need. A pretty face or an air of mystery won't change that. These people need help, and they need to get that from a professional before they're ready for a healthy relationship.

Plus, you know, it totally ruins badass characters if you start writing self-insert fanfiction about how they are soooo in luuurve. If Snape was real, he would hate you all for doing a Draco In Leather Pants on him. As it stands, you're probably already giving Alan Rickman horrible nightmares.

On the other hand, the healthy fandom reaction to Snape is the most adorable thing ever. There are comics, fan art, the good kind of fanfiction (in-character Snape? No way!) and all manner of parodies. The parodies are pretty much universally affectionate, recognising the inherent silliness of a character who is TOTES NOT EVIL OR ANYTHING YOU GUYS but mopes around in a dungeon hiding behind his hair and wearing nothing but black and being represented on screen by Alan Rickman, Professional Campy Villain. This side of the Snape-love is actually great- it shows just how well Rowling writes her characters, since the grumpy anti-hero turns out to be the source of a million jokes based on the hilarious drama of his very existence without anything turning nasty. I don't think I'll ever stop finding this stuff funny and cute, just like I will never stop finding Hermione Can't Draw funny even though Hermione is scarily like me when I was younger. It's not mean, it doesn't come from some fucked-up relationship dynamic, it's just... fun.

Fun, like spending your Friday night talking about somebody who isn't even real :/

And on that note, we'll finish the main post and I'll leave you with the Snape From Gemma's Brain. I hope you enjoy it, and that it's not tainted by my overanalysing and rage!

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Inside my mad brain, Severus Snape is quite tall, skinny and about average-looking, although he looks worse because he always looks so pissed off and won't tie his hair back. He drinks a lot of coffee and complains to Minerva McGonagall that her students give him migraines. He swears to himself and sometimes 'accidentally' lets Hogwarts students overhear the more inventive cursing. He thinks it's funny to freak out the first-years. I have this image of him drinking with Lucius Malfoy, and they're both bitching about how much they hate everyone and how hard it is to find a decent clarifying shampoo in Diagon Alley.

It's finished!

I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows about an hour ago. I gave myself a little while to stomp around the house and have a little cry, and then went on the internet straight away, as you do.

Here are my initial reactions (GIANT SPOILERS INCLUDED):

FFFFFFFUUUUUUUU DUMBLES WHYYYYYYYYYY- basically I was totally fine with Dumbledore having a murky past, but I totally broke down at the chapter where we find out he was manipulating both Harry and Snape and was willing to sacrifice them both to defeat Voldemort. Fuck you, dude. Just... no. After all they did for you, this is how you reward them? I thought you were awesome and now I AM DISAPPOINT. and this has nothing to do with the fact that i totally heart snape, nope, not at all

Everyone from the Marauders generation is dead, except the Malfoys (Lucius being a prefect when the others were first-years, the Malfoys do count as being the right age). God damn it Rowling. These were my favourite characters and you killed them all off. BRB GOTTA WRITE A TON OF FANFIC TO EASE THE PAIN. No, really, this makes me sad more than anything else, because Harry has no real connection to his past now.

Oh Ron. You are the best. Everyone always said you were a loser and you proved them wrong, and you got the girl.

NEVILLE FUCKING LONGBOTTOM WINS ALL THE THINGS.

Oh Slytherin. Oh dear. Ahaha. You guys got what was coming to you in the end. I love you all for being so campy and ridiculous, but most of you deserved to be on the losing side for once and I relish every moment that one of you has an eye-popping, foaming-at-the-mouth temper tantrum *glee*

And, in my one coherent thought that came out of all this, I was relieved. I know it's silly, but this series really is hard going; it's not a difficult read in terms of reading age (especially for someone like me who has been reading since the age of three, yay modesty) but the subject matter is truly awful. There is so much loss and just plain horrible stuff that I sometimes wanted to put the book down and never pick it up again. The last three books in the series all feel like that for me, but this one is particularly hard because there is torture, a snake coming out of an old lady's corpse, an inanimate object playing on Ron's insecurities and the death of several well-loved characters, not just one at a time. I was glad to get to the end, and to know it was all over.

I appear to have channelled Mark Reads Harry Potter in this post with all the incoherent LOLWUT I DONT EVEN but my brain is mostly fried right now. Hopefully, I'll be back in the next few days with a structured and sensible post about the wizarding world.

Until then, I will leave you with this, because even though it's from a musical parody, it really does sum up Harry Potter better than anything else.

Going Back To Hogwarts

So here I am, almost twenty-three years old, and I'm about to finish reading the Harry Potter books for the first time since I closed Deathly Hallows in the summer of 2007. I didn't want to do a blog where I reviewed chapters- there's already Mark Reads Harry Potter for that, and he's doing a much better job than I ever could. Instead, I wanted to talk about my opinions of the series as a whole, and I thought it best to wait until the end so I could refresh my memory of the entire story. Since I'm not quite finished yet, this post is here to give you an introduction to the blog, the things I hope to talk about and my reasons for writing this stuff.

The Harry Potter series is hugely important to me- I have an emotional attachment to it because of my own experiences of bereavement and bullying, two major themes in the books. Having such a detailed world to hide in when I felt like crap was one of the things that got me through my adolescence with my mind still intact. Coming back to it as an adult was an interesting experience, because in the few years since I last read Harry Potter I've grown up and I can see much more than the "Hermione's life is just like mine!" stuff I saw as a kid.

The stuff I'm seeing this time around is often disturbing, but it's almost always interesting. There's a lot of commentary on our own world tucked away with all the references to folklore and silly puns. I wanted to talk about these things rather than Rowling's writing style, because I'm not an expert- it's clear from this post that I can't write for shit, so I'd feel like a hypocrite if I started raging in public about how she uses too many adverbs (which, for the record, she does, but I read quickly enough to ignore them). On top of that, the wizarding world is interesting enough that it can hold your attention even if you did just read a slightly clunky sentence.

So... topics. I've been thinking about this for a while, and writing notes to myself on public transport, which is where I inevitably have my brainwaves (a few more in the office would be helpful, brain). So far I've come up with this little list, but any further suggestions would be lovely. That doesn't mean I'll actually use them, but I like to know someone loves me :P

1. Privilege and oppression in the wizarding world

- Blood purity as an equivalent to racism (totally going to invoke Godwin's Law right here)

- The House-Elf Liberation Front- treating other sentient beings as less than yourself

- Classism

- Surprising lack of obvious misogyny (maybe not so surprising; this isn't Twilight)

- Bullying

2. Gryffindor good guys vs. sneaky Slytherin... except it's not that simple. Things are never that simple in Harry Potter. As Sirius says, the world isn't divided into good people and Death Eaters.

3. Love as a force for good

- Friendship

- Family

- Romantic love

4. "The dead never truly leave us..." My own understanding of Harry's losses based on a similar (but less extreme) situation in my own life

5. Severus Snape. Yeah, he gets his own post. Morally ambiguous, sometimes cruel and full of unnecessary angst... and the bravest man we ever knew. A character this interesting deserves a closer look, and not just because I have a thing for sarcastic goth dudes.

6. Fandom

- Demographic and why I like it the way it is

- Affectionate parody: Wrock, Starkid and Potter Puppet Pals

- My love-hate relationship with fanfiction

- The whole 'Twilight vs. Harry Potter' thing

7. Cultural references

- Names

- Myth, legend and folklore

- Wizarding equivalents of Muggle objects

Hopefully I'll get around to writing all of this eventually- I will split up each numbered section into smaller parts where relevant, as long as there's enough to write about. For example, it's likely that most of section 1. will be in one post, but with a separate post for blood purity because it's such a huge part of the books. This stuff has been building up in my brains for a few weeks now, so sometimes it will come out as brain vomit that I won't be able to change however many times I try and edit it to make sense. Apologies in advance.

A warning: I do try to avoid language that others may find offensive, so if I use a word that is upsetting for you by all means call me out. Like everyone, I am privileged in some ways and I don't always think about it, so if that's what I need to do, you should let me know. However, I will swear a lot. I won't use words like 'whore' (unless I'm talking about slut-shaming or something) but I will use 'fuck' without apologising. I believe that there are some times where the only way to express yourself is through profanity. I know plenty of other words, of course, but we wouldn't have swearwords if they weren't needed, right? ;) Oh yeah, I also use A SHITLOAD OF CAPS LOCK and memes, sorry about that.

Anyway. This was one hell of a long post. I hope you're looking forward to the rest as much as I am! Now it's time for me to finish reading Deathly Hallows, bawl my eyes out and start writing something intelligent.

P.S. The title of this post comes from the opening song of A Very Potter Musical. You should watch it on YouTube if you haven't done so already. It's really rather good.