Aunt Marge's Expansion (Simile)
Throughout the Harry Potter series, Rowling tends to associate overweight people—particularly Vernon and Dudley, but also more minor characters like Pettigrew—with cowardice, gluttony, and selfishness. Vernon's sister Marge falls into this same pattern. Her fingers are described in terms of meats like sausage and pepperoni, as are Vernon's, and she is constantly shown eating. When Harry accidentally inflates her, she is described with a couple of similes: "She was inflating like a monstrous balloon, her stomach bursting free of her tweed waistband, each of her fingers blowing up like a salami—" (29).
Trelawney as a Bug (Metaphor)
When Trelawney enters the classroom for the first time, Rowling writes that "Harry's immediate impression was of a large, glittering insect" (102). Trelawney's bug eyes and hovering, mantis-like demeanor further characterize her as a spacey, other-worldly figure.
Sweet house (Simile)
Hagrid’s house is situated in the Forbidden Forest, which looks as though it has been enchanted. Rowling writes that his “cabin looked like an iced cake” (216) because of the snow on the roof. It looks as if the house is covered with sweet icing, which reflects Hagrid's cabin's status as a place of warmth and sweetness in the midst of otherwise dark and fearful times.
Harry's Scar (Simile)
One of Harry Potter's trademarks, and a way that wizards all over the world recognize him without ever having met him before, is by the scar on his forehead, which is described in every book. Here, in Chapter 1, Rowling writes, "The eyes behind his glasses were bright green, and on his forehead, clearly visible through his hair, was a thin scar, shaped like a bolt of lightning" (6). The fact that his scar is shaped like lightning reflects the element of fate in Harry's legacy, the idea that he was in the right place at exactly the right time and as a result is now a savior figure.
The Hogsmeade Tunnel (Simile)
Describing the tunnel under the one-eyed witch, Rowling writes, "The passage twisted and turned, more like the burrow of a giant rabbit than anything else" (195). The passage wasn't meant for use by students, or really any humans, and by likening it to a burrow, Rowling underscores the fact that it is rarely inhabited.
