The Philosopher's Gallstone

British author J. K. Rowling's god-given gifts, besides more head shots than a platoon of Navy Seals, apparently include a nearly-infinite power to conjure up that which Alfred Hitchcock affectionately dismissed as The McGuffin, the lowly Plot de Weiss.  Must we enumerate?

To begin then, the Philosopher's Stone (or Sorceror's Stone for the benefit of benighted Americans unfamiliar with either  alchemy or the love of knowledge.)  The Magic Wand.  The Core of same.  The Time Turner!  The Sword of Griffindor.  The Gourd of Swiffendor (just kidding.)  The Cup of Hufflepuff said ten times fast ...  Ah, truly magical!  Prediction Globes!  The Portkey, an entire class of dissimilarities, that.  The Horcruxes, or possibly Horcruces.   And of course, the Deathly Hallows, so called because such a plot device is deadlier than Hamlet's last act.

I skipped a few of the teen angst movies.  Will rejoin the fam to observe Deathly Hallows 2 on Sunday.  Hopefully, J. K. will become filthy rich enough to bail out Greece.