Melanie, who hosts the weekly Share Your World, has teamed up with another blogger, a Harry Potter fan, who has added questions related to the first Harry Potter book, The Sorcerer’s Stone. Since I am also a Harry Potter fan, I’m doing my best to answer BOTH sets of questions – Melanie’s Share Your World and Roger Shipp’s Harry Potter & The Sorcerer’s Stone questions.

1. Because of the state-wide quarantines many of the local SPCA’s are having an influx of animals. You have decided that you would love to have a new pet. Would you go the normal wizardry route and pick an owl, a cat, or a toad? Or would you become a more eccentric wizard (like Hagrid, the games keeper) and seek out a three-headed dog, a dragon, or a unicorn? Please explain your answer.
   I’d get a cat. I love cats and have one already, so why not another one? I would not want to clean a bird’s cage or maintain a terrarium for a toad. Besides, I don’t particularly like toads. Hagrid’s animals would be too difficult to take care of and I don’t have room for them.
2. Neville Longbottom was gifted a Remembrall. This was a glass ball that would assist you in maintaining memories of things that you often forget. What would you want your Remembrall to help you remember?
   That’s a good question! I have trouble remembering everything, so I would probably give it new instructions every day, depending on what would be most important to remember that day. I could get rid of post-it notes!! I might give it a list of things, including some I need constant reminders about, such as don’t forget to always have a full water bottle and drink plenty of water; don’t forget to work on a photo book project; etc.
3. Professor Dumbledore gave Harry Potter an invisibility cloak that Dumbledore said was from Harry’s father. Now, you have inherited a cloak with similar powers. Would you use it? When?
   Of course I would use it – who wouldn’t? I think I’d mainly use it when I don’t want to be found – i.e. when I want to be alone. Sometimes I just want to read a book and not have my husband bugging me to do something else. I might have used it when I was working so the evil principal or co-worker wouldn’t be able to find me. It would also be good for following someone around, but I can’t think of a time recently when I’ve wanted to do that.
4. While cleaning your attic, you have discovered the Mirror of Erised. (“Erised” is “desire” spelled backwards, as if reflected in a mirror) The Mirror of Erised is a magical mirror, which, according to Professor Dumbledore, when you gaze into it, it shows the “deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts.” You have chosen to look in the mirror. What do you see?
   I see all the places I want to travel to and those I have traveled to that I particularly love. This would be sad, because right now I can’t travel anywhere due to the pandemic and other countries barring Americans from entering their territory. I would also see myself doing the most awesome photography on those trips – better than I usually come away with. I would see myself returning to places I want to learn more about.
   

Please have a bit of fun with the answers.   Even if you aren’t a Potter fan, the questions are (to me anyway) fun ones which could be answered ‘outside of Harry Potter’s world’.   Imagination might be required though.   
These are good questions because they are what in elementary school teacher lingo would be called “on your own” questions. They relate to the book but you can answer them without having read the book.

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Now for the ‘traditionalists’ who like “just the questions m’am (or sir)”.   Here’s three random questions I found.

Would you rather live 120 years that are comfortable but boring, or live half as long, but have an exciting adventure-packed life?
Well, since half of 120 is only 60, I would be dead already, so I will propose a compromise: How about 90 years of a life that has some excitement and some boredom? After all, without boredom, would I be able to appreciate the exciting, adventurous times? And sometimes after an extended period of excitement, I would just crave a period of relative boredom.

What’s something that overwhelms you?
Too much paper. I get notices and mail and newspapers that I don’t know what to do with – it might be something I want to keep but don’t need it currently, so it goes in a pile. Then that pile becomes two piles and pretty soon every surface that isn’t used for sleeping or sitting is covered with paper and I can’t stand it. It’s too overwhelming. I wish I more often felt the urge to purge.

What do or did you take for granted?
When I was young, I took life for granted. I was determined that everything I felt was important to me would occur because I would make it so. Now I take comforts of modern life for granted: such as running water; electricity – my husband and I both leave too many lights on and it’s very wasteful; sunshine; being able to keep warm and well fed. Many people around the world even in our modern world do not have any or few of these things. Homeless people, for example, can’t afford to take anything for granted. Desperately poor people don’t know whether they will have anything to eat each day when they wake up. I try to be mindful of these things and be grateful for them. No resource is infinite.

Gratitude:
I’m grateful for summer days. I’m grateful for running water. I’m grateful for the ability to walk on my own two legs and to take care of myself. I am grateful for the bounties I enjoy on planet Earth.

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