Really, quite as cute as the other. But nits abound!
1) Somebody has to say it. The marginal notes by Harry and Ron are quite cute in a childish way. They also appear to be written with an ordinary pen: ballpoint, uniball, or gel most likely, though fountain is within the realm of possibility. The point is, there is no way these marginal notes could have been written by a quill, the only writing instrument wizards are known to use in school. Compare the marginal notes to Dumbledore's signature, which is clearly written with a quill.
2) Harry never refers to his best friend in conversation as "Weasley" the way he doe in the marginal notes.
3) Harry's signature and his supposed writing in the margins are in two different handwritings. in fact, I have a great deal of trouble distinguishing between Harry's and Ron's handwritings in the margins... they appear to be more or less the same. I expect Ron, in a fit of boredom, filled Harry's margins with mock exchanges between himself and an imaginary Harry. This would explain nit number two. I hate to think what Harry's going to do to Ron when he discovers what his best friend has done to the book he so courteously lent him.
4) The footnote on page 39 lists the publication year of _Quidditch Through The Ages_ as 1952. This is obviously a typographical error, because there is no evidence that _Quidditch Through the Ages_ ever went to a second edition, and the copy we now have chronicles events through 1990.
Good news for goblin fans! Griphook, whom we last saw as a humble porter and fetcher in Book 1, has been promoted to Liason For Muggle Charity Affairs, according to the foreword.
All kudos to the fabulously educated Ms. Rowling for including a re'em in this book!!! A re'em is a biblical creature which is mentioned in psalms and other O.T. poetry. Its identity has never been established, giving biblical translators a real headache.
This book, alas, disproves Gordon's theory that Hogwarts is on the Loch Ness with the Giant Squid being the Loch Ness monster. The Loch Ness monster is said here to be the world's largest and most unruly kelpie. Too bad. I liked the theory.
The conversion factor in the front of this book establishes that there are $7.35 (2001) to 1 galleon. Given that a magic wand is about 7 galleons, a ride on the Kinght Bus is 11/17 galleons, the spiffy binoculars are about 10 galleons, and Fred and George's venture capital and lifetime saving are 38 galleons... this seems plausilbe, but a little low.
A ride on the Knight Bus is 11-17 Sickles.
For those who saw the Comic Relief thing on Friday - did anyone get a note of the relation of wizard to British muggle money?
(Which makes me think - do wizards in other countries use other money?)
You're right Gordon. Meant to say sickles.
I'm on the other side of the pond where we have a different Comic Relief, but according to this book, there are L10.56 to 1 galleon.
This seemed the most appropriate place to mention this. Do you know who Hagrid sometimes reminds me of. Steve Irvin, who hosts Crocodile Hunter on Animal Planet. If they had some equivalent to TV in the wizarding world, Hagrid might host a similar show and call it Dragon Hunter.
Oops, miscalculated. That's £5.10 per galleon. Multiplied instead of divided.
Really, the book IS cute. Although I'm wondering about the hangman game on one of the pages. Harry drew an acromantula and wrote "You die, Weasley" next to it. This seems somewhat out of character for Harry, who never makes fun of Ron's spider phobia. It would be like Ron drawing little Dementors and writing "you die, Potter" next to them!
More nits:
I don't think Hermione would write into other people's books, especially if the person she is talking to does not own the book.
In the foreword, Dumbledore mentions that many people read the book to find out about how to cure their pet Puffskeins from drinking out of the toilet. However, the section about the Puffskeins is very short, and it does not include anything about their behaviour. (Then again, Dumbledore IS a bit barmy.)