11 January 2013

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: READALONG!


Oh, where to start?  Alice at Reading Rambo is the readalong hostess-with-the-mostest. It is where the fun lives. All of it.  She had the brilliant idea of having us all read Harry Potter together and so here we are, discussing the first half of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It has been a long time since I've done a close reading of the first book, so I've got dog-ears out the wazoo in my new book, purchased for the express purpose of this here readalong.  I think this was the only volume I didn't own in English, though I've got Spanish language editions of the first three and various English-language editions for all of the others, usually multiple ones.

So I'm just going to go in page order from all of my little dogears.  Some of these are praises, some of these are WTFs, some of them are merely comments. But I will just say this: revisiting the first half of this book, which was my least favorite of the series and the ones I've read fewest times, was really fun.  None of the tedium that I remembered from my first reading, which just goes to show how deeply I love these characters.

With apologies to those of you who've not read these books yet, because ahead there be spoilers.

Chapter 1, p. 3. I don't know where Little Whinging is, but it's at least two hours from London (cf p. 90, where it takes them 2.5 hours to get to King's Cross from #4 Privet Drive), so Grunnings cannot be in London.  And the wizarding population is much less than 1% of Great Britain, so WHERE ARE ALL THE WIZARDING FOLK COMING FROM whom Vernon encounters on his way to work?  This is inconsistent with the wizarding world, yet Rowling starts us off that way.  WTF?

pp. 13, 17. This is one of the rare chapters with a strict 3rd person omniscient POV--that is, lacking the subsequent Harry filter that colors everything else that the reader encounters in the books. Dumbledore is wrong for the first time in the series when he claims that Harry will be "famous for something he won't even remember." And then makes one of the biggest gambles/mistakes of his life leaving Harry with those Dursleys.  I mean come on--leaving Harry with the Dursleys, for starters, whose treatment of Harry qualifies as child abuse, and then just leaving him on the doorstep with a letter, not even waiting around to see they get him.  Harry is just over a year old at this point--he could have waken up and crawled out of that basket. Or the milkman could have wandered by and stolen him.  What kind of idiot would leave him there like that?

Chapter 2, p. 22. Mrs. Figg's house smells of cabbage.  cf: with the smell of the tent at World Cup in Goblet of Fire. I spent a lot of time in book four trying to draw a link between Mrs. Figg and the tent owner, and even more at the end of that book when Dumbledore tells the Weasleys to gather up the members of the Order and ARABELLA FIGG is one of them. OMG.

p. 27. The snake somehow knows that Harry is a Parselmouth even before Harry speaks.  What's up with that?  I can't decide if that's an inconsistency or not. But I love this scene.

Then Hagrid shows up and tells Harry something very important:



Chapter 4, p. 57. Hagrid talks about Voldemort with an insight I don't usually associate with that character.  Is this an original thought or is he parroting Dumbledore?  Either way, it struck me, not least because I love the word codswallop: "Some say he died. Codswallop in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die."

Also, it hurts my heart a little that when Hagrid looks at him "with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes," and Harry feels like there's been a horrible mistake.  That poor, poor boy.

p. 59  There's no way that Hagrid, who was never great shakes at magic anyway, would have been able to turn Dudley into a pig with only a Year 3 education, a full two years before sitting for his OWLs.  True, he couldn't succeed, but I doubt even Hermione as a third year would have attempted a human transfiguration. Textual inconsistency.

Chapter 5, p. 70. In what may be the greatest mystery and/or inaccuracy in the book, Harry feels no reaction when he meets Professor Quirrell.  No turban is mentioned here despite lengthy exposition about it later in the book, though it must have been present to cover up his, erm, living accessory. And since the vault at Gringott's is broken in that same day or the next, the living accessory MUST be present.  So why no reaction?  If it's only to be a red herring later in the book, that's a pretty poor reason.

p. 75. I never paid attention before, but why doesn't the wizarding world use a base-ten system for their  currency? 1: 17: 29. Sounds like Rowling wanted to use prime numbers for her galleon: sickle: knut system, but from a numerical point of view it just doesn't make any sense at all.


p. 80 And here we have our first example of blatant anti-Slytherin bias: Hagrid telling Harry that there wasn't a witch or a wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin.  Hagrid conveniently forgets that one of the Golden Gryffindor Marauders themselves was a Death Eater and betrayed Harry's parents. It's interesting, because it's quite clear over the course of the series that Hagrid has a good deal of respect for Professor Snape, so it's a tiny bit surprising to me that he tars all Slytherins with the same brush.

Not that dancing Snape cares what Hagrid thinks...
p. 81. WTF? Hagrid, lover of all animals, especially the yucky, ugly, creepy, or dangerous ones, doesn't like cats? Because they make him sneeze?  This is so laughably out of character for him that I have to wonder what Rowling was thinking.  She could have just had Hagrid buy Harry an owl with no further explanation.

p. 84 cf Harry "feeling foolish" waving his wand at Ollivander's with Professor Snape's intro to potions with the promise of no foolish wand waving. Also, measuring between Harry's nostrils to fit him for a wand? Priceless.

Chapter 7, p. 118. The second instance of blatant anti-Slytherin bias" the sorting hat, which I remind you belonged to Godric Gryffindor. Gryffindors = brave, daring, chivalrous. Hufflepuff = hardworking, just, loyal. Ravenclaw = wise, full of wit and learning. Slytherin = Macchiavellian?!? WTF? Just sayin'.

p. 123. I love Dumbledore. A few words, indeed.

But on to one of the best parts of the book:


Chapter 8, pp. 136-137. Despite student rumors to the contrary, I have never really thought that Professor Snape wanted to teach anything but potions.  Listen to the poetry and passion that intro: "subtle science and exact art of potion making" "I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimming fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses." You don't even need Alan Rickman reading these lines to make them swoon-worthy.  No, I don't believe Snap wanted DADA over Potions.

Of course that doesn't keep him from being an asshole.

Chapter 9, p. 148. Since when are Pansy Parkinson and Parvati Patil on a first name basis?  Is this a slip on Rowling's part, or does this hint that both are old wizarding families who knew each other well pre-Hogwarts?  I am surprised that that line hasn't spawned more fanfiction.

p. 160. Here is the first in a long line when Hermione saves Harry's and Ron's asses, this time with a quick Alohomora. Of course she leads them into trouble for the first time, too.  I love this scene.

p. 162 Immediately afterward, Hermione is the only one observant enough to look past Fluffy to see what he's standing on and deduce that he must be guarding something.  Clever girl.

So for fun I went and took the Pirate Monkeys Harry Potter Meyers-Briggs test again.  When I was in high school I tested ENTP, which turns out to be Sirius Black.  But when I took it just now I was INTJ, which is Severus Snape.  Take it.  Let me know what your profile is, 'k?

NB: My very first GIFs I found here and here. They are most decidedly not my work. 

48 comments:

  1. Ok, responses following the order of your post -
    What was Dumbledore thinking?! You're the most intelligent wizard in the world KNOCK ON THE DOOR AND HAND THE BABY TO SOMEONE!

    That lizard gif is amazing!

    Hagrid is the best. I will fight anyone who says otherwise.

    The slytherin hate has become more of an issue to me the older I get. It reminds me of a girl I know who said that anyone who hurts an animal will become a serial killer. Just, no.

    The moment I fell in love with Hermione is when the narrowly avoid death and she says (paraphrased) "you could have had us killed, or worse, expelled"

    I think I'll leave some points for everyone less - great post!

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    1. I *know*! I love that part about Hermione. She's all earnest and swotty and then she says that about death, or worse, expulsion and I loved her.

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    2. Oh man, I wrote that comment on my phone and I just noticed all the autocorrect typos. *hangs head in shame*

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  2. "Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die."

    I feel..like...that's Hagrid just making a human observation. When you see someone get to the level Voldemort did, and be SO evil and SO seemingly inhuman, it makes sense that he'd say that. Also, I PROTEST that his not liking cats is weird, because Hagrid likes dangerous, weird creatures. Also he's clearly a dog person. ALSO, he didn't turn Dudley into a pig -- he only *tried* to. And being with the school THAT long, surely he could've picked up some extra knowledge along the way from some sympathetic students or something.

    What's the quote between Pansy and Parvati? I don't have my book with me at work.

    Also, for some reason, I thought Quirrell didn't get as 'infected' with Voldemort until after he meets Harry for the first time. Maybe precisely because the turban doesn't get mentioned? I mean, they meet July 31st and term starts Sept 1st, so maybe it happened in...oh, but he tries to rob Gringotts that day. HM. Ok, but maybe Voldemort just wasn't as much of a presence at first and slowly gained power?

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    1. Does it have something to do with the unicorn blood?

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    2. The fact of the matter is, Harry shook his hand and THAT should have given him scarache. It didn't.

      I call shenanigans on Hagrid not liking cats. Hagrid is the pure embodiment of animal lover. If he'd rather buy harry an owl than anything else, fine, but I WILL NOT buy that there is a living creature on earth, in sky, or sea, whose face hagrid doesn't want to squeeze. plus cats = danger. dude, have you ever been on the wrong side of a cat scratch?

      b/w parvati & pansy: pansy teases her saying, "ooh, pavarti, i never thought you'd fancy such a loser" when she takes up for Neville during the flying lesson. Why not call her Patil? Maybe they were *secret girlfriends*, that's why!

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    3. Yes, it could be hagrid's very human insight into old Voldie. But I don't think he'd seen Voldie lately to see how non-human he'd been looking, and we all know that Dumbledore was tight-lipped about the secret soul shattering stuff Voldie did, so it was a rather a leap of insight for Hagrid.

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    4. kayleigh, no unicorn blood was ingested yet because quirrell hadn't arrived at hogwarts yet. and i don't think it was the unicorn blood AFTER he arrives at hogwarts could be the trigger because the unicorn blood was a short-term thing and voldie had that effect on harry ever after.

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    5. OH RIGHT, our readalongs look for The Secret Gay. We can totally start with Parvati and Pansy.

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    6. I was on the lookout for some Dumbledore subtext, but nope. Thank goodness for Pansy/Parvati!

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    7. I was thinking more that the unicorn blood could have caused Voldemort to "appear," and before that he was sharing the body but without visible signs because he wasn't strong enough.

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    8. Just got to the second last chapter. Quirrel said Voldemort punished him after failing to steal the stone and decided to keep a closer eye on him. So that explains the lack of scar pain and turban.

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    9. Ooh, just got to that chapter myself. I love that whole obstacle course to get to the stone! i think voldemort was so weak when quirrell first found him that he became part of quirrell's body from the get go, but i think you're right that voldie's power wasn't strong enough to affect harry at their first meeting. not that it's the end-all, be-all, but quirrell does seem to be wearing the turban in the film version of PS/SS when meeting harry in the Leaky Cauldron.

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    10. Yeah but I think that might have just been laziness on the film's part - easier than explaining it properly.

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    11. well, as long as rowling doesn't say, 'and btw quirrell was not wearing the turban he was later ridiculed for," then textually a turban is supported as much as non-turban. turban works for me, non-turban works for you. alles gut!

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  3. "then just leaving him on the doorstep with a letter, not even waiting around to see they get him." - RIGHT?? I mean typically in stories we a child is left on a doorstep you immediately ring the bell and run away so someone finds the infant instantly. Instead of having it sit outside at night FOR HOURS. Of course Dumbledore never really demonstrates that he's great at child safety. (But I love him anyway!)

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    1. I'm so glad you mentioned this in your post, too. Dumbledore is not so great with child safety OR common sense, but he's brilliant and complicated and TRAGIC (which we come to know later) and i love him the more for his human imperfections.

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  4. I think Hagrid must've had some extra, secret tutorial sessions with Dumbledore or something. Because, right?

    Hadn't Pavarti and Pansy been at Hogwarts long enough to know each other's name by pg 148? Doesn't matter. I'm all for your conclusion.

    I REALLY want to take that personality test now.

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    1. Oh, sure, they'd been at Hogwarts long enough to know each other's names (and that's why it's funny Harry cannot even seem to know his entire House--it's a maximum of 56-72 people living in his dormitory, boys AND girls). but Slytherin House ONLY ever calls other house members by their surnames. even mostly within their house they use each other's surnames. Draco never says Gregory and ???. See, I can't even remember Crabbe's first name. Check it out: it MEANS something when a Slytherin uses somebody's given name in this text.

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  5. WHAT THE HELL, MRS FIGGS IS A SECRET WITCH?! I do not remember/never made the connection but OMG totally!

    My sense is that Dumbledore didn't ring the doorbell or anything because the Dursleys might have refused to take Harry and THEN what would he have done? (I actually came up with answers for EVERY POINT while I was reading this, but now I can't remember them, but *DEFENDS ALL OF THE TEXT. ALL OF IT*

    Oh yeah, AND *cracks knuckles for UK Geography lesson* So Little Whinging is apparently in Surrey. I live in Surrey, and from nowhere here would it take 2.5 hours to get to London, so that's clearly wrong to begin with. If Vernon lived basically where I live, it would be really easy to commute to London, but you're right, he probably doesn't. But maybe the wizards just convened around HP's family members for some reason? *grasps at straws*

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    1. Well, technically she's a secret squib, but she was a member of the order. Remember? She's the one who goes to harry's trial in OotP for the dementors.

      PETUNIA REMEMBER MY LAST. Isn't that what Dumblydore says in his owl to Petunia? I'm pretty sure that Dumbledore could convince the Dursleys to keep Harry if he'd rung their doorbell. After all, they could have just abandoned him. Nope, Dumbledore should've stuck around. Fer sher.

      Little Whinging is a REAL PLACE? I didn't know that. I thought Rowling made the name up and it always made me smile. So Grunnings could be in London or at least near by, and that might explain the wizarding groups standing out that day Vernon went to work.

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    2. Wait, I'm pretty sure Figg is a squib because in the later book with the dementor in Privet Dr, she reveals herself/helps them and can't actually do anything because of Squibness.

      Ahhh I need to read the rest of the series NOW!

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  6. Oh yeah, AND apparently I'm Lupin. Which I'm very ok with. I like Lupin a lot.

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    1. I've taken the test and gotten Lupin, too. And Snape. And also Voldemort. But I'm apparently on the cusp between T and F which is why my answers vary so wildly. Also, apparently, it's not actually a scientific test, but with a name like Pirate Monkeys it's hard to be certain.

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    2. I AM ALBUS DUMBLEDORE!

      Apparently I am "ethical, empathetic, and decisive." Thanks for the link to the quiz! (Although I was worried I'd get Wormtail or something. Or Filch...)

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    3. I want to know which one I am but that link is just taking me to the results page. Do you already know your Meyer-Briggs rating?

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    4. Sorry, Red, I must have linked the wrong page. But from the results page you can find a link to click on and take the 10-question exam. 'cause it's TOTES definitive that way!

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  7. I was going to be all like DUMBLEDORE IS A CLOSET GAMBLER AND THAT'S WHY HE'S ALWAYS ALL RISKY BUSINESS WITH HARRY'S SAFETY ETC but then I came across that lizard gif and LAUGHED and LAUGHED and now I can't remember what I was going to say.

    Oh yes. Dumbledore. Gambler.

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    1. Closet gambler? I like that theory. Maybe on his other knee is a scar of the wizarding establishments in Monte Carlo.

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  8. Good sleuthing on the inconsistencies! And it's completely ridiculous to leave a child that big in a basket ANYWHERE, nevermind on a doorstep - that's a big pet peeve of mine. However, we learn later that Voldy didn't attach himself to Quirrell until Quirrell failed at Gringotts, so that actually makes sense. And I tested as INTJ - Severus Snape, too!

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    1. I'vve been obsessing about that detail over night and here's what I've decided. Either it's a textual inaccuracy OR Occam never had a razor. To wit: Quirrell patently could not have broken into Gringott's, much less escaped undetected, without the aid of Voldemort. So either Voldemort was sharing his body OR Quirrell had him stashed in a backpack or sling. And since Dumbledore later says that Voldemort is out there, "looking for another body to share," Occam's would say that he was sharing Quirrell's body at the time of the break-in and ipso facto at the time he met Harry.

      But how else to explain that "keeping a closer eye on Quirrell" line? My only precedent I can come up with is from fanfiction, so that explanation won't fly. But perhaps Voldie had been so newly a part of Quirrell at the time he met Harry that he had to conserve his mind energy and not pay attention to *everything* Quirrell was saying or doing except when Quirrell was directly pursuing Voldemort's purposes.

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  9. Dammit, Em, now I want to do the damn read-a-long with you and make my own comments and look for my own secret gay things. Also, you read Spanish??!!?? So cool! Lastly, I am apparently an ENFJ, which is different from the ENFP I was diagnosed as in 2006 and even more different from the ESTP I changed to last year. So, I'm either Olympe Maxime, who I wouldn't mind being personality-wise, but I don't know about being a giant, Fred & George Weasley (except I do NOT have a short attent...what's that over there?), or Draco Malfoy, who, given his description, I could actually see myself being, minus the manipulative part. Running out to buy a copy of HP now.

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    1. I think I speak for the general spirit of the readalong when I say the more, the merrier. So just join, damnit, and start posting next week when we talk about the second half of PS/SS. Might be the right way to get you back into blogging!

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    2. Also: I do not read Spanish. But I own the first three books of HP in Spanish, whose purchase I justified because I had two years of Spanish in high school AND I knew these books pretty well, thus if I tried to read them in Spanish, I would increase my ability to read in that language. But have I even picked them up to read? No, and I even took one on a trip to Vieques and never cracked it open.

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  10. I think the Slytherin-hate doesn't get to me so bad because while obviously not all of them are evil or Death Eaters, most of them are assholes/manipulative/Muggle-haters/jerks and so you know, I'm okay with hating them on that basis. Of course Pottermore claimed I was Slytherin, so maybe that explains why I'm okay with all the hate. (Except the Muggle and other magical creatures hate, cause that's racism and that aint cool.)

    I was thinking that maybe Quirrel doesn't make Harry's scar hurt because Voldemort is so BARELY hanging on there that he's hardly a threat? I don't know, I'm just throwing stuff out there.

    Oh, the joys of re-reading :)

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    1. The first time I read the first three books I was fairly anti-slytherin myself and THEN I realized that with precious few exceptions we're getting the books all from Harry's POV, and the Harry filter really skews things. Of course Harry is going to feel that way towards Slytherins because (1) everything he learns about them comes from Gryffindors, who have a built-in rivalry, and (2) he himself becomes a Gryffindor be *denying* his own Slytherin side.

      but i'm a self-identified Slyther-Claw and therefore am a slytherin apologist.

      Gosh, isn't this the MOST FUN EVER?

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  11. I am so jealous of this read along, but there's no way I can do it right now. :-( But I do love reading all of your blogs Em, and these will be even more fun. :-)

    And I love the idea of the Secret Gay readalong. Reminds me of some of my favorite fanfic. :-D

    And I took the test: ENTJ - Minerva McGonagall. Makes me feel like an old lady. :-/

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  12. I am so jealous of this read along, but there's no way I can do it right now. :-( But I do love reading all of your blogs Em, and these will be even more fun. :-)

    And I love the idea of the Secret Gay readalong. Reminds me of some of my favorite fanfic. :-D

    And I took the test: ENTJ - Minerva McGonagall. Makes me feel like an old lady. :-/

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  13. Just did the quiz, I'm Dumbledore (INFJ).

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  14. I'm gonna depend heavily on your posts for knowing all the Smart Things about Harry Potter. Because when I'm reading...all I can think is, MAAAAAAAAGICCCCCC. My brain is overly excited to be reading HP finally. It cannot cope.

    I will now proceed to think of you as a Hogwarts professor.

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    1. Awwww...thanks. I'm like the Muggle studies professor in reverso world.

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  15. Holy moly - the details that Rowling loops into her later books! The cabbage smell/Figg detail was so sneaky!
    The currency system drives me crazy - I would never be able to keep track :(
    And it's very sad that we get the slytherin bias so early in the series. These kids are cunning, driven, and resourceful and right off the bat, labelled for the house they were sorted into. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy for a class of bad kids, especially when they're expected to be 'evil'.

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    1. Ugh, and it just gets worse the further into the series we get. And DON'T EVEN get me started on that infernal epilogue. that basically as 11 year olds we meet our soul mates and set our destinies. but that's jumping the gun a bit, eh?

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    2. Oh man that epilogue. If I could actually bring myself to damage a book I'd tear that abomination out of all my copies.

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    3. definitely - everyone getting paired up and becoming bffs and soul mates within the first week of school... (but maybe i'm just a single 26 year old and only *slightly* bitter, LOL)

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Please, sir, may I have some more? (Comments, that is!)