I was really young when the movie came out, but I still read the book before it was in a movie. But since I was at a young age, I didn't have my own images in my head. I imagine Dan Radcliffe as Harry Potter forever, and Emma Watson as Hermione, and Rupert Grint as Ron, but I did imagine the later characters, starting from PoA, in my head first.

[b]Wednesday_Adams, I think you have a good point here abaout Harry and apparation, he was having a lot of things going on that were rather spectacular, and had no idea why. I just wonder what they thought at his school about this .. The Dursleys knew what was going on and they were as we know determined to "stamp it out" as if that would even be possible. I wonder what the Dursleys told his headmaster...I would have loved to be in on that conversation!

Well from the book i assume they told the Headmaster that "the wind caught him mid-jump." But you're right, a paif of Extendable Ears would have been awesome for that conversation

How many of you read PS before seeing the film and were therefore able to picture the characters without the influence of the films?

I have to admit i saw the film first Well half the film. I remember watching the first half one day in Primary School(must have been about P6 or P7) and really enjoying the film and was looking forward to seeing the rest. But then i was ill and never saw the end So i got it on dvd, loved it and started reading POA, because i had got that for my birthday and had never bothered reading it(Sabrina was better at the time )
Then i got the first two books and after that was,and still am hooked!

Seeing the film first gave me a basic image for each character and i could visualise that particular person e.g Dan, Emma etc when reading. For me it brought the books to life a bit more

i enjoyed the book it got me hooked since it first came out and i opened the cover. I love how he met the wizarding world and his best friends. Of course one of them would have to be a bossy annoying girl. That made all the better when she became friends. I have only one question regarding Stone, Whatever happens to Fluffy?

My favorite part of the book was when Harry went shopping in Diagon Alley. It took me a bit to realize that Diagon Alley actually sounds like diagonally. Anyways, it's my favorite part because it's the whole introduction to the wizarding world, and it really plunged me into the whole "wouldn't that be cool if I could do that?" ideal. I still have to say that SS is my favorite book of all time, it's the most innocent and lighthearted (if you can call any of them exactly lighthearted!)

If I had to pick anything I didn't like, it would probably be just that I felt the Dursleys were so hateful toward Harry (ok, so that's not exactly SS-specific!) I felt so sorry for him, because there was nothing he could do. He couldn't help the fact that his parents were wizards, and it made me so sad that even when he was a baby, they probably regarded him as useful as old gum stuck to your shoe.

I did enjoy the scene with Fluffy and when they fell down into the Devil's Snare. When Hermoine said to Harry, "he's not relaxing is he?" I think the whole thing was done so well. I like what Ron said to Harry at the chess game, telling Harry he is the one who has to go on, the potions bottles too..I do agree that if the Troll thing had been left out, Hermoine's friendship with Harry and Ron would have had to be sealed in another way.