If the box contains a diamond, I desire to believe that the box contains a diamond; If the box does not contain a diamond, I desire to believe that the box does not contain a diamond; Let me not become attached to beliefs I may not want.
For an instant Harry imagined his own Mum and Dad in Azkaban with the Dementors sucking out their life, draining away the happy memories of their love for him. Just for an instant, before his imagination blew a fuse and called an emergency shutdown and told him never to imagine that again.
Sometimes Harry thought the deepest split in his personality wasn’t anything to do with his dark side; rather it was the divide between the altruistic and forgiving Abstract Reasoning Harry, versus the frustrated and angry Harry In The Moment.
Stupidity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result.
But I really am Ravenclaw, you know, not Slytherin. I don’t want to rule the universe. I just think it could be more sensibly organised.
Nestled up against the wall, where Professor Quirrell had stumbled, glistened the crushed remains of a beautiful blue beetle.
That is not how it works in Ravenclaw, Draco! If you have to push someone into a wall it means your brain is too weak to beat them the right way and everyone in Ravenclaw knows that -.
I’m not a psychopath, I’m just very creative.
Hey, Draco, you know what I bet is even better for becoming friends than exchanging secrets? Committing murder.
The golden coins might have been his, but they were still stolen – self-stolen? Auto-thieved?