Prompt 2: Things are not as they seem

This statement about how expectations are not fulfilled in literary books can be seen quite true in the first two Harry Potter books.  The books make it seem that things are going to go a certain way, and you are swept up into thinking one way and it goes into a completely different direction.  One big example that can be seen in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, where you do not know who is actually trying to steal the sorcerer’s stone from Hogwarts.  The whole book makes it seem that Snape is the one after the stone and all its glory, when in reality; it is Quirrell who is helping out Voldemort.  The way that J.K. Rowling paints Snape’s character as a mean and scary professor with whom you would never want to be on their bad side helps to make the reader believe that he is the one that is trying to steal the stone.  Making Quirrell out to be the professor who seems like he would be afraid to even hurt a fly doesn’t give the reader any indication that he may be the one who is helping Voldemort out.  On a smaller scale, as well, the book makes the readers believe that Snape is the one trying to kill Harry at the Quidditch match, when in reality he is trying to save his life.

            Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets also has a big example of how expectations are not fulfilled and first impressions are not always correct.  One would never have assumed Ginny Weasley would be the one opening the Chamber of Secrets and releasing the monster to purge the school of those who some believe are “not worthy.”  The readers of the Harry Potter books have probably figured out by now that things are most definitely not what they seem and sometimes the culprit is the least likely person.  With this in mind, reading the books with a much more open-mindedness can help the reader think of other options to how situations may turn out.