Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Readalong 1: I would name MY Pygmy Puff "Tribble"

I don't know if I'm still recovering from the end of Order of the Phoenix or if Jupiter is in retrograde or my panties are in a twist, but all I have for you today are bullet points. Bullet points squeezed from what's left of my shriveled little raisin of a heart.

• NOOOOO, AMELIA BONES.

We hardly knew thee.

• Why does Narcissa Malfoy look exactly like her husband? I know there's a good deal of in-breeding in Wizarding World, but the physical evidence suggests that they are twins. And this might explain the curious shape of Draco's head.

• Bellatrix and Snape, I'm sure Voldemort loves you both equally.

"But what use have you been?" sneered Bellatrix. "What useful information have we had from you?"

"My information has been conveyed directly to the Dark Lord," said Snape. "If he chooses not to share it with you—"

"He shares everything with me!" said Bellatrix, firing up at once. "He calls me his most loyal, his most faithful—"

"Does he?" said Snape, his voice delicately inflected to suggest his disbelief. "Does he still, after the fiasco at the Ministry?"

"That was not my fault!" said Bellatrix, flushing.

• I rather like the sound of this sentence: "Narcissa looked up at him, her face eloquent with despair."

• Even when the adult in question is of the naughty variety, it makes me uncomfortable when Harry mouths off. I would never, just never talk to a grown-up the way he talks to Narcissa in Madam Malkin's shop. I would, instead, quietly craft a passive-aggressive tweet to be posted at my earliest convenience.

• This is the greatest: "Harry started to laugh. He heard a weak sort of moan beside him and looked around to see Mrs. Weasley gazing, dumbfounded, at the poster. Her lips moved silently, mouthing the name 'U-No-Poo.' 'They'll be murdered in their beds!' she whispered."

• Ginny named her pink and/or purple Pygmy Puff "Arnold." Trevor and Arnold are sure to be the best of friends.

• "The usual," said Ron indifferently, demonstrating a rude hand gesture. "Not like him, though, is it? Well—that is"—he did the hand gesture again.

Just so we're clear . . . THIS rude hand gesture?