The Library

Please, pull up a chair and browse for a little while--
but do keep your voice low so that others may read!

Michaelmas term - first of three terms at Cambridge (the others are Lent and Easter) [T&G Part 3]
trolley - baggage or grocery cart [Chapter 1]
spare, to go - to get angry, to go crazy [Chapter 1]
busker - street musician, public performer [Chapter 1]
Underground, the - London subway system, often called "the Tube" [Chapter 1]
tights - pantyhose [Chapter 3]
National Health (Service) - British universal health care service [Chapter 4]
hoover - vacuum cleaner [Chapter 4]
trippers - shortened form of 'day trippers', i.e. tourists. [Chapter 5]
fascia panel - car dashboard [Chapter 5]
berk - a jerk, someone who is both foolish and an idiot (vulgar) [Chapter 6]
ice, ices - ice cream [ Chapter 7]
lemon squash - lemonade [Chapter 7]
slash, to have a - to go to the bathroom, to urinate (vulgar) [Chapter 7]
maths - shortened form of 'mathematics' [Chapter 13]
public school - private school (usually very selective) [Chapter 13]
casualty ward - emergency room [Chapter 14]
prig - snob, stuck-up or prudish person [Chapter 14]
sod off - get lost, go away (vulgar) [Chapter 16]
Boxing Day - December 26, celebrated as a holiday in the UK and the Commonwealth [Chapter 18]
jumper - sweater [Chapter 18]
greengrocer - fruit and vegetable stand or seller [Chapter 19]
sticking plaster - generic term for adhesive bandages [Chapter 22]
Vegemite - a yeast-based condiment with a rather...distinctive flavour [Chapter 23]
knackered - worn out, exhausted (usually in reference to work animals) [Chapter 24]
dole, the - unemployment benefits, welfare [Chapter 24]
pip, to give one the - to give one the creeps, the shivers [Chapter 24]
shirty - snippy, irritable [Chapter 25]
Hello! - a British celebrity and fashion magazine [Chapter 25]
pudding - dessert course (not always an actual pudding dish) [Chapter 25]
sent down - to be expelled [Chapter 25]
shopped, to be - to be sent to gaol, to be severely punished [Chapter 26]
barrister - attorney-at-law who pleads cases in court [Chapter 26]
salt beef - corned beef [Chapter 26]
tripos - honours examinations at Cambridge University [Chapter 26]
fresher - first-year undergraduate student, freshman [Chapter 26]
Formal Hall - a dinner at which students and faculty wear academic dress [Chapter 26]
newsreader - newscaster [Chapter 29]
engine driver - engineer (as on a train) [Chapter 29]
anti-clockwise - counterclockwise [Chapter 31]
sausage roll - sausage meat baked into a pastry or a bread roll [Chapter 31]
biscuits - sweet or savoury crackers, cookies [Chapter 31]
stalls, the - theatre seats at stage-level, 'orchestra' seating [Chapter 32]
tuppenny-ha'penny - 'two-bit', cheap, second-rate (from 'twopence-halfpenny') [Chapter 32]
pools - betting, usually on sports events [Chapter 32]
punters - bettors on sports matches [Chapter 33]
fun fair - a carnival or fairgrounds [Chapter 34]
beef tea - thin beef-flavoured broth [Chapter 36]
snog, to - to kiss (usually in the sense of heavy petting or 'making out') [Chapter 36]
carbolic acid - an antiseptic and skin disinfectant [Chapter 36]
vitriol - sulfuric acid [Chapter 36]
sponge and custard - a dessert made of sponge cake and flavoured custard [Chapter 36]
Oxfam - Oxford Committee for Famine Relief; a privately-run charitable organisation [Epilogue]
porter - a staff member who tends the gates of a College [Epilogue]
Ordnance Survey - UK government agency that produces topographical maps [Epilogue]
gyp room - a small common kitchen [Epilogue]
digestive biscuits - sweet, wholemeal flour cookies [Epilogue]

two-up-two-down - a small two-floor house with two rooms on each floor [The Changing of the Guard]
kip, to - to sleep, nap [The Changing of the Guard]
biro - a ballpoint pen [The Changing of the Guard]

The following are articles and essays collected and
compiled during my research. Some are of my own
creation, while others are the work of various gifted
writers. Please feel free to send me links concerning
both Harry Potter and The Dark Is Rising - I am
always looking for new material to add to the stacks.

The Dark Is Rising Sequence
Over Sea, Under Stone (Book 1 -Summer 1971)
The Dark Is Rising (Book 2 - Winter 1971-72)
Greenwitch (Book 3 - Easter 1972)
The Grey King (Book 4 - October/November 1972)
Silver on the Tree (Book 5 - Midsummer 1973)

My timeline is based around one particular historic event:
the decimalisation of British currency on February 15th,
1971. In The Dark Is Rising, it is mentioned in passing
that decimalisation had taken place fairly recently, long
enough for the sixpence to be out of general circulation
but still in people's possession (pg. 85). Therefore, since
Will's eleventh birthday took place in late 1971, he was
born in 1960. All the other dates follow in logical order
from this. And if the Harry Potter series is set in and
around the mid-1990s, that would place Will in his mid-
to late thirties. (One would expect that he's aged well.)

Note [added 16 November 2002]:
After looking up some inconsistencies with this timeline--
namely, the fact that early in Silver on the Tree Bran refers
to a drought that occured in 1976 (pg. 74)--I've had to do
some thinking about my choice of dates. I came to the
decision to keep the above timeline the way it is. Apart
from being simpler to organise, the dates would actually
work as above if The Dark Is Rising was taken as the
primary canon book of the Sequence. I thought I should
post this as an advisory notice in case any confusion
should arise as to my choice of dates.

If you have any fan art based on the stories, I'd love to see it!
And if you're not averse to my posting it here, I'll be certain to
give you full credit. My artistic talents lie somewhere to the left
of the Quidditch-playing stick figures that populate the margins
of Harry and Ron's notebooks, so I'm always interested in seeing
the works of those far more gifted than I. And to all who have
sent me artwork, thank you so very much!

FANART by Traci (Wild Magick Girl)
(more art and other creative endeavours here!)

General

A full shot of Will, looking very dashing in his cloak.

Another image of Will in a super-deformed (or 'chibi') form.

A very good reason to avoid a professor's posted office hours....

Chapter-Specific

Professor Will lets Harry know that he's not entirely pleased with him.
From Chapter 21 - 'Hobson's Choice'

Will asks Ron a question best left unanswered.
From Chapter 21 - 'Hobson's Choice'

Will (kneeling beside a crying Hermione) and Snape engage in verbal battle.
From Chapter 23 - 'Walls Around the Heart'

A rather dishevelled Will, caught in the middle of cleaning his office.
From Chapter 30 - 'In Strictest Confidence'

'Omitting anything would be worse than lying to you outright.'
From Chapter 31 - 'The Gathering Storm'

In the midst of open confrontation.
From Chaper 34 - 'The Fifth Column'

Will and Harry, standing with their backs to us.

'It almost seemed as if [Will] was carrying on an entirely separate
conversation with someone else...on a different level that they
simply could not detect.'
From Chapter 33 - '...And Your Enemies Will Follow'

General

The Six, from the trailer prologue.

'Wood, bronze, iron; water, fire, stone....'

Performing the Defendo Lux spell.

Chapter Specific

Neville's testing at the hands of Professor Figg.
From Interlude - The Testing

Harry diving for the Snitch...and a very startled Cho Chang.
From Chapter 16 - 'By the Book'

Hermione and Will, carol-singing.
From Chapter 17 - 'Watchman's Light'

'This is almost identical to the essay I wrote in second year.'
From Chapter 23 - 'Walls Around the Heart'

'I have nothing to say, Headmistress.'
From Chapter 25 - 'Decisive Action'

Ron's very dangerous 'Starfish and Stick' manoeuvre.
From Chapter 26 - 'Transitions and Trepidations'

A sample of Colin's photographic skills....
From Chapter 28 - 'Calling the Six'

'[Harry] looked up, and his heart almost stopped.'
From Chapter 36 - 'Postbellum, Postmortem'

'He is...very tired.'
From Chapter 36 - 'Postbellum, Postmortem'

'Caecus...from the Latin meaning "not seeing" or "sightless".'
From Chapter 36 - 'Postbellum, Postmortem'

Restoring things to rights once more.
From Chapter 36 - 'Postbellum, Postmortem'