Harry Potter is an inextricable part of my generation's growing up. Whenever it comes up, my friends and I can swap stories; we still remember how we came by our first Harry Potter book, which volume of the series we read first, how old we were, and all our initial reactions. A lot of our stories start the same ("I resisted because it seemed like such a fad") but all the stories end the same - we were hooked. Hooked on not only the magic in the books, but the magic of the books. We were given a world of vivid characters, fantastic creatures, mystical secrets, and hilarious one-liners (I'm looking at you, Fred and George), and a gift of that magnitude and depth is a once-in-lifetime experience.
And now, it feels like it's all over. The stories we love are always with us, as J.K. Rowling herself said just last week, but the excitement of midnight showings and pre-ordering books and skipping ahead because I absolutely HAVE to find out what happens in the end, is over. I know I'm being overly sentimental, but it really does feel like saying goodbye to a friend - or in this case, a world of friends.
Tim and I and our group went to see the last installment of the movie last night at midnight. We decided to make t-shirts instead of dressing up as characters (pictures below), and we were definitely a smashing hit. I won't say too much about the movie for anyone who wants to be surprised, but I loved it. LOVED it. It was different from the book, of course, but I laughed and cried and felt more for the characters through it (one character in particular). (I also nearly had a nervous breakdown at one point, which was exactly the point at which I had a nervous breakdown when I read the book for the first time. So you know they did a good job.)
At one point in the movie, Dumbledore is talking to Harry in a conversation that is very similar to the one in the book, but the writer added something in:
Words are, in my not so humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic, capable of both inflicting injury and remedying it.
Dumbledore went on to make his point, but as soon as I heard that phrase, "Words are our most inexhaustible source of magic," I felt like the essence of the entire series had been summed up in a subtle tribute to J.K. Rowling. Words are a source of magic and that's the reason we all fell in love these books in the first place. Maybe it's because I am always aware of the power of finding the right words, but that one short line meant so much to me. I will be forever grateful for these books, and I can't wait to read them all again.
Mischief managed!
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