Yes, "wretched man" is a slur. I am well aware she didn't go with Steven Spielberg because he wanted to make Hogwarts an "international" school and the movies more American. But I don't have to read her mind too much on this one. It's obvious, and I'm versatile enough to like her books and recognize what she stuck on the first page of this one.
I take it, that aside from these books, you haven't and don't read all that much Brit lit. Well, I have! Rowling is tenth rate Roald Dahl, mixed with many other ENGLISH children's books authors. Her work is derivative and why I can't read her ( I keep trying to figure out which book /author she's stolen what from ), though I have tried to. I like the movies, though.
Is there a ghost under your bed, or in your closet, and do you often see black helicopters circling overhead ?