I've long been fascinated by the world that JKRowling created with the Harry Potter series. The possibilities are endless.
As I was grading papers last week, I had HP and the Order of the Phoenix playing in the background. I find myself most drawn to Luna. She's quirky, unafraid to be herself and constantly pestered by those nasty nargles who steal her shoes. I was wondering to myself...What else would those nargles snitch?
Then, Nigel answered my question. He said...Books!....They take books! It turns out that Nigel is a guardalibro, a special magical guardian of the ancient books that wizards have stashed in every possible nook and cranny of their home. He explained to me that if left unattended, the nargles will cause utter chaos in your library. They will rearrange your neatly alphabetized rows of books, push your absolute favorite to the very back so that you are forced to take all of the books out of the shelves to find it, and worst of all, they will move your bookmark! Those little fiends!
A guardalibro stands guard keeping the nasty beasties at bay, working hard day and night. As we continued to chat, it turns out that you have to be careful to take good care of your guardalibro. They prefer well bound books, paperbacks are beneath them. Their shelves need to be kept organized and dust bunny free. If your guardalibro gets bored, it is possible that they will zap one of your unsuspecting friends as they forget to put a book back in the proper spot. Nigel even admitted that he has been known to knock books off of a shelf just to make his master straighten it up.
He is quite a cheeky fellow. He doesn't really need the wand that he has in his hand since his powers are like those of a house elf. He only needs to think "Go away Nargles!" and they get a good jolt. He just likes the flash of his wand, and besides...it matches his hair and eyes. He also wouldn't let me cut his hair. Apparently, his kind has a very strong dislike for scissors of any sort.
So there you have it. This is my guardalibro Nigel. He now has his own bookshelf in my bedroom to protect. If I can just keep him from torturing my cat, life will be good.
lol
