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| (Source: Kelsey Darling) |
It is that time of the year where all other books take a backseat and I read the
Harry Potter series all the way through. It started back in November 2000 when I read
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the first time, and for the first time ever, read a book that I loved and wanted more of. Before that, I was not a fan of reading, if you can believe that. But after reading Sorcerer's, I quickly made my way through
Chamber of Secrets,
Prisoner of Azkaban, and
Goblet of Fire. I finished Goblet on a road trip home during Christmas break, and bawled my eyes out when Cedric died, and my parents made the mistake of telling me that he was only a character in a book. To me, it was so much more than that. I had found books that I loved, and now a character was being taken away from me. If only I had known then that so many more beloved characters in the series would be taken away from me; but it is for the best I did not, otherwise I might have given up reading right then and there, and I do not know where I would be now.
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| (Source: Kelsey Darling) |
Since then, I have read the books every November, during Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, slowly picking up pace, reading them quicker and quicker. I would read through the series every time Rowling released another book, or another movie was released. With finishing this read through, I was able to scratch off the book on my
Reading Challenge Scratch Off poster, so it feels like even more of an accomplishment this time around. I would read them when I was home sick with the flu, or when my heart had been broken, or I was missing home. My original copies of the books are long gone, destroyed by continued reading, who knows how many moves across state, and countless tears. I do not know how many books I have read in my lifetime, and some of them are completely amazing, but none seem to compare to these seven books.
Each time I read the books, new things seem more important to me. As a child, it was the adventure that kept my interest. I could not wait to defeat Quirrell, travel into the Chamber, confront Sirius, battle for the Goblet, fight the Death Eaters at the
Ministry, help Dumbledore find the
locket, and ultimately
defeat Voldemort. I thrived off of the battles. In my teens, I liked the mystery of putting everything together (and this was before Rowling would drop hints on Twitter, so I only had
Pottermore to rely on for my theories). I wanted to find all bits of foreshadowing that gave away hints to future plots. Now, I still love the adventure and the mystery; but even more, I love seeing the love in everything. Every time Harry is with the Weasley's, I pay attention to how Molly and Arthur treat Harry like seventh son, without even thinking about it. How Remus and Sirius care for Harry as if they are part uncle, father, brother, and friend, trying to fill all the roles that were left vacant by the deaths of Lily and James. I pour every interaction with Snape, trying to figure out exactly when he realizes that Harry is just as much like Lily as he is James.
The deaths still get to me. I cannot get through each of them without a few tears spilling out. The Deathly Hallows still absolutely tears me apart. I can never get over the death of Hedwig and Dobby. I prefer Hedwig's death in the movie, because she at least died protecting Harry; in the book she is simply in the wrong spot and the wrong time. I love that someone has gone and "corrected" Hedwig's death in the book.
What gets to me more now as an adult is not the actual death itself, but the others reactions to the death. When Percy refuses to leave Fred's body in the hall, not that long after reconciling with his family, even now writing this, my throat tightens as it tries to keep the ball of emotion in it. Harry yelling into the two way mirror, and running around looking for a ghost for answers about Sirius, that's enough to make anyone tear up. I hate that Harry had to lose everyone who was a friend of Lily and James. He has no more ways of learning little things about them, like how his fathers hair stuck up the same way his did. I think back to my childhood, and I always loved hearing stories about my parents when they were my age, especially from one of their siblings. It brings you closer to your parents.
Harry has always been a bit of a tough character for me to love. As much as I hate to agree with Snape on this, Harry is a bit arrogant. Even in the Deathly Hallows, he believes that everyone is dying for him. I always want to scream "No you idiot! They're dying so that they world does not have to live under the tyrannical power of Voldemort!" Is he the poster boy for the War on Voldemort? Sure; it is kind of hard not to be after you have battled him countless times and survived. But no one is laying down their lives for Harry...well, except his parents, but he was a baby then. Because of this, I put a lot of the blame on Sirius's death on Harry. Bellatrix may have fired the curse, but Harry, one, never opened the two way mirror that would have saved a lot of blubbering, and two, believed Voldemort! I remember reading Order of the Phoenix the first time and watching Harry walk right into that trap. I was so incredibly mad that I put the book down and refused to finish it, and did not read it all the way through until the next year. At that point, he was no better than Dudley.
I love that the Magical World of Harry Potter has continued with the
Fantastic Beasts series, the
Cursed Child play, Pottermore, Rowling occasionally dropping little bits here and there, the
Wizarding Worlds at Universal Studios, and so much more. I love that people love it as much as I do; that it has brought so much joy and hope and love to people out there in times of need. For me, the Harry Potter series is the definition of a good book. It transports you away to a world of magic and mystery, where good triumphs over evil, and in the end, all is well.
Dates Read: November 4-30, 2018
Rating: 10/10
Author:
J.K. Rowling
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction
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