Harry potter clue rules Continue One of my favorite things about the Harry Potter series is the spirit of fun that permeates the book. While we readers know that dark things are constantly lurking, darkness makes light moments stand out that much more. From Fred and George's practical jokes, to Harry and Ron's sarcastic wit, to moments when magic is as whimsical as you'd like, there's plenty of fun in the Harry Potter books. Sure, Harry has a bit of a hard life at times: he's an orphan, the Dursleys aren't super nice relatives, and Voldemort is constantly planning his return (as well as killing people in the process). So yes, darkness dampens things. After all, one does not always feel that he laughs when fighting against one of the worst wizards ever. But there's a reason this series inspired hilarious skits like The Very Potter Musical : despite the sadness, and despite the evil, these magicians still know how to have fun. As Dumbledore says in the movies, happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if he just remembers to turn on the light. So sit back and enjoy some quotes from HP that wished you'd gone to Hogwarts because it seemed like pure fun.1 They sat for an hour and ate everything they could with a spear on a toasting fork - bread, English muffins, marshmallows - and plot ways to get Malfoy expelled that were fun to talk about even if it didn't work.-JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the Stone mugie-JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the Stone of Mugie-JK Rowling, JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Mystery-George Weasley , Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban- JK Rowling , Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Fred Weasley, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K. Rowling and the Stone of Anniversation - Peeves, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Warner Bros. (11) Get all the best pop culture moments and entertainment delivered to your inbox. Keep up with the latest daily buzz with buzzfeed daily newsletter! February 1, 2001 11 min read This story appears in the February 2001 issue of Entrepreneur. Sign up » If you're like us at entrepreneur, and like millions of kids and adults around the world, you're not just a fan of Harry Potter books–you're a fan in withdrawal. It looks like the next book in the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, may not hit bookstores until 2002, and the first film won't be released until November. You have two options: Go crazy or read this article. Like many entrepreneurs, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling began in modest digs and with big dreams. She had to rewrite the entire manuscript for [the first] book because she couldn't afford it to be copied, Jeff Blackman, a business growth specialist in Glenview, Illinois, and author of Result$ (Successors). Now more than 30 million [Harry Potter] books have been sold. It's a remarkable testament to [her] perseverance and passion. Rowling studied French and literature, not business, in college. For several years, however, she worked at the Chamber of Commerce in Manchester, England. Maybe something's rubbed off, because young Potter can teach us a lot about managing our own businesses. We're not making this up. Even The Wall Street Journal ran a story about how business muggles are all-embracing books, referring to emails like owls and ATMs like Gringotts. (Confused by that sentence? Consult Potter Mouth.) Of course, since the Harry Potter books are ostensibly for children, some hidden and not-so-hidden business lessons may seem basic. But like all eternal truths, it's a good idea to reconsider them occasionally. So take the milk and the cookies, pull up the chair and read the story... Book One: Harry Potter and the Stone Book of The Wizard Two: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Mystery Book Three: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Book Four: Harry Potter and the Cup of Fire Book One: Harry Potter and the Stone of Mugie Storyline: Ten-year-old orphan Harry Potter lives in a closet under the stairs in the home of his heartless relatives, Mr. and Mrs. Dursley and their stupid son Dudley. Harry learns he has witch blood and has to go to the train station on Kings Cross 93 4 to travel to Hogwarts, the school for wizards. That's where Harry makes friends for the first time. He also confronts his enemy, Lord Vardemard. Business Lesson 1: Understand the different cultures in your company. On Harry's first day at Hogwarts, he and the other first-year students meet with a sorting hat that tells the audience: Try me and I'll tell you where you should be. Once the hat is on, it sends each student to one of four dormitories: Gryffinz, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin. The most talented guides (including Harry) are sent to Gryffin you and sinister in Slytherin, where you'll find Draco Malfoy, the worst high school student in the fictional universe. Do you know what's really going on in your company? If you're not sure, check out Shadow knows tips on determining which of your employees yield real power. The bigger your business, the more cultures you'll have- and you need to be aware of them, says Don Andersson, a business coach in Cranford, New Jersey, and author of Hire For Fit (Oak-hill Press). When he read the first Harry Potter book, he immediately noticed how Hogwarts academic culture reflected the culture of the corporate world. If you want a new employee to thrive, the person who decides on recruitment needs to understand the culture of your company well enough to know where [the candidate] will be Andersson says. An employee can have great skills, but in a bad culture, they won't really [work]. Business Lesson 2: When you own a company, you should be in good company. Your partners and employees are everything; You do realize that, don't you? This wisdom is evidenced by Harry's best friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. Hermione lies to the professor to keep Harry and Ron in trouble for confronting a troll, and Ron risks death in a live action chess game so Harry can stop the wizard's stone from falling into the wrong hands. But loyalty isn't enough. You also need employees and partners to tell you what they think, not what you want to hear. And if they're smart, all the better. Potter Mouth If you haven't read the books, here's a brief guide to the key concepts: 9: The platform where the train departs to take Harry to Hogwarts. You'll never find him when you're muggles. Gringotts: The bank where wizards have their money; the ruthless elves guard it. Warts: The seven-year Academy of Magic harry attends. Mudblood: A derogatory slang term for the descendants of muggles and magical parents. Muggles: A person without magical powers. This can be said as an insult, or with the want of compassion in one's voice. Owls: Owls carry messages back and forth – not as fast as email, but more fun. Quidditch: Think about football on brooms, and you have an idea. Book two: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Mystery Plot: Harry returns to Hogwarts a year later to discover that an evil being is turning students into living statues. Business Lesson 1: The initiative is rewarded. Sometimes the rules must be bent or even broken. Caryn Beck-Dudley, a professor of business law and ethics at Utah State University in Logan, points out: If you kicked hogwarts students out every time they made a mistake, you wouldn't be left with a very virtuous organization. And you wouldn't even have Harry Potter. When you're trying to create a work environment that makes people happy to come to work, treat people like people should be tops on your list. Read manage your employee to better figure out how to do it. Just as entrepreneurs rarely stick to a 9-to-5 regime, Harry breaks the curfew to sneak around the school and fight evil. When he flies on a broom against orders, he is not punished- in fact, he is rewarded with a coveted spot on the Quidditch team. Why? Because he flew to the aid of a classmate, and it's the best broom-flyer the school has seen in ages-to-delight students, professors and even principal Albus Dumbledore. But if Dumbledore were like many bosses, beck-dudley says, he'd be concentrating on the bad things Harry's done. Then Harry would either go away and take his skills elsewhere, or his creativity would be crushed. Business Lesson 4: Create a caring work environment. If Harry Potter had worked in most companies, he'd have been fired by now. Beck-Dudley. Sometimes harsh punishment is not the best medicine, he notes. Business owners often dismiss someone because it's the easiest [way] without realizing that it creates an environment where people are afraid and unproductive. Warts include all of them. You're not severely punished if you fail. Poor Neville [one of the students] tries hard but never quite does it and is still part of the group. The emphasis is on how it contributes rather than how it does not contribute.