“I’m not a freak. That’s a horrible thing to say." "That’s where you’re going. A special school for freaks. You and that Snape boy ... weirdos, that’s what you two are..." "You didn’t think it was such a freak’s school when you wrote the headmaster and begged him to take you.”

“For instance, this new idea that You-Know-Who can kill with a single glance from his eyes. That’s a basilisk, listeners. One simple test: Check whether the thing that’s glaring at you has got legs. If it has, it’s safe to look into its eyes, although if it really is You-Know-Who, that’s still likely to be the last thing you ever do.”

“Where are you heading, if you’ve got the choice?”James lifted an invisible sword.“‘Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!’ Like my dad.”Snape made a small, disparaging noise. James turned on him.“Got a problem with that?”“No,” said Snape, though his slight sneer said otherwise. “If you’d rather be brawny than brainy —”“Where’re you hoping to go, seeing as you’re neither?” interjected Sirius.”

“I see you are —”“Dumbledore’s man through and through,” said Harry. “That’s right.”

“Very early on in writing the series, I remember a female journalist saying to me that Mrs Weasley, 'Well, you know, she’s just a mother.' And I was absolutely incensed by that comment. Now, I consider myself to be a feminist, and I’d always wanted to show that just because a woman has made a choice, a free choice to say, 'Well, I’m going to raise my family and that’s going to be my choice. I may go back to a career, I may have a career part time, but that’s my choice.' Doesn’t mean that that’s all she can do. And as we proved there in that little battle, Molly Weasley comes out and proves herself the equal of any warrior on that battlefield.”

“Our Headmaster is taking a short break,' said Professor McGonagall, pointing at the Snape-shaped hole in the window.”

“This is your copy of Advanced Potion-Making, is it, Potter?”“Yes,” said Harry, still breathing hard.“You’re quite sure of that, are you, Potter?”“Yes,” said Harry, with a touch more defiance.“This is the copy of Advanced Potion-Making that you purchased from Flourish and Blotts?”“Yes,” said Harry firmly.“Then why,” asked Snape, “does it have the name ‘Roonil Wazlib’ written inside the front cover?”Harry’s heart missed a beat. “That’s my nickname,” he said.”