I knew I wanted to write a blog post about how Harry Potter has affected my life since I started reading it at the tender age of ten years old. It is 3:16 AM and I have watched the last film and can officially say that, technically, Harry Potter has ended. Emotionally, however, the series lives on.
At ten years old, after a move that was a bit of a blow to me, I was introduced to Harry. A couple of girls at a daycare I went to were reading the books and lent me the first one (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone). I began reading it and was suddenly ravenous for the series. I believe I made Mom buy me the first three books almost immediately. Mom could not refuse. It was getting her child to read–what could be so bad about it?
My memory fails me but I believe I read the first three books in about a month which I feel is pretty impressive for a ten year old that until that moment had little interest in books. I was enchanted and captivated and refused to put them down. It was a world I had never experienced before and drew me in like nothing else ever had.
As I started 4th grade, I picked Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. This book weighs in at 734 pages (US edition) and many of the kids in my class refused to believe I could finish it. (It also was a pain to carry around because we did not have lockers to store any of our things in.) I think it took me two months but I finished that book. Of course, that book got me into a lot of trouble as well. I would refuse to pay attention or do my work instead focusing all of my mind on Harry's adventures and the excitement he was having instead of the dull lessons I was being taught in school.
When the 1st movie came out, I made Mom take me and a few friends to see it for my 11th birthday. It was fantastic and, being around the same age as the actors, amazed me and most definitely fueled my passion for these books. It also helped that the theater had set up a bouncy slide which, in the brain of a wee babe, felt like it was meant for my birthday instead of any other reason.
There was a gap in which the 2nd film came out but the 5th book did not come out until 2003. I had to focus my passion for reading elsewhere and read The Lord of the Rings series while I awaited a return from Harry.
When the 5th book came out, I asked Mom if she would take me and a friend to the midnight release of the book. She agreed and we went. It was wonderful. People were in all kinds of costumes, there were games, and then the clock struck midnight and the books were handed out. I read half of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in about an eight hour time span. This was also the book that revealed who my favorite character was (that of Severus Snape).
Once more there was a wait, a 2 year one, where the 3rd movie came out, and in 2005 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released. I was rather disappointed with this one unfortunately. The death of Dumbledore at the hand of Severus Snape was shocking (especially a year after Sirius' death) but I believed him to be innocent. It was not a popular opinion but it was one I held. Of course, it would be difficult following Order of the Phoenix and this book felt more like the calm before the storm. I sped through it like I had all the books previously.
Then finally, in 2007, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released. I went to the midnight release dressed as Snape, worried that I was going to get rocks thrown at me or something. It was kind of a show of faith that I had in the character and I was hoping J.K. Rowling wouldn't let me down. She did not. This book blew me away. It was a great, explosive ending to a series I have been following since I was very young and I was the exact same age as Harry when the series ended.
I grew up with this series and it shaped me in a way. It not only made me an avid reader, I made friends through this series and was part of a generation of kids who grew up with their noses stuck in these books, eyes glued to the pages as Harry and his friends saved their world. I also felt that the books grew up with me. As I got older, the story became darker and grittier and sometimes made me cringe and wonder how I would handle these almost impossible situations Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in.
When the series ended, I kept the last movie as my way of saying, "Look, it's not over yet. You still have Harry Potter material being released." Now that the the last movie has been released and I have seen it, I don't feel empty, per se, I feel the series is like my parents. I eventually have to grow up and leave them but they'll always be in my heart and I can always revisit them when I'm feeling particularly lonely or homesick.
This series is remarkable, in the fact, that it managed to captivate and brighten the lives of so many people, young and old. Some grew up with it; some just read it for fun; some refused to put it down; some waited expectantly for Hogwarts' admission letters (I'm guilty of this); some named their pets or cars after characters (my black Toyota's name is Snape). But we all followed Harry's journey from him being a little boy living in a cupboard under some stairs to a young man facing death to save everyone he loves.
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