Friday, October 22, 2010

Friday Flashbacks: I was Harry Potter

When my son was little, I read to him every night. I had heard of the Harry Potter books of course, but I was not particularly interested. My son was too young to really understand them and I was definitely too old. Plus, they didn’t have any vampires in them so what was the point?

My curiosity finally got the better of me. You can only hear how awesome they are before you have to see what the hype is about. I bought the first book in paperback, not wanting to invest too much into them. We nestled in my son’s bed and he was asleep by page three. I was not.

I stayed up until 1:00 in the morning, until the last page was read, enthralled with the magic of another world so compelling that I never wanted it to end.


I lived in a cupboard under the stairs. My uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia made no effort to hide the fact that I was a burden they didn’t need or want. Discovering I was a wizard and had lost my parents in a horrible act of magical violence was just the beginning. I attended a school of witchcraft and wizardry, and became the youngest Seeker in a century to play on the Gryffindor quidditch house team. I stood in a field with players surrounding me on flying broomsticks and listened as a roaring crowd applauded me for catching the golden snitch and winning the game.

I found two of the very best friends a person could ever have, and they helped me face the evil wizard who killed my parents, and defeat him. He didn’t die but he got the message that I would not be taken care of easily. Returning to my Aunt and Uncle’s house didn’t seem quite so bad now that I knew where my real home was.

My world of soccer games, and cookie dough fundraisers had disappeared. I was Harry Potter…until the last page.

Then I wasn’t.

6 comments:

  1. I've seen all the movies but I've yet to read the books. I even go them last year for Christmas but haven't made the time to read them. I really, really need to do that! Because I love Harry Potter! And the movie comes out soon. I can't wait to see it. Plus, I just watched the Oprah, JK Rowling interview the other day and felt totally inspired. She's brillant and sweet.

    Happy Friday!

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  2. OK. I am officially the last person on the planet who has not read this series. It feels lonely to be me. =)

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  3. Oh, it's so hard when you're done with the book and it's not your world. I've read the series three times, I think. The first was too my son, the second was on my own. And then this summer, I read them all again.

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  4. I remember reading the first Harry Potter and being enthralled by the world the author had created. I lost interest around book three or four...it became too action-adventurey and I'm not a huge action-adventure fan.

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  5. oh sigh.

    my heart aches so much when i think about how much i loved to live in Harry's world.

    i'm so very, very sad it's over.

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  6. I had the unfortunate pleasure of not noticing harry Potter til Book 4, when my host parents gave me the first four books. I read them in a week and then nearly died waiting a year and a half for Book 5.

    One of my greatest regrets in this life is that I will never play quidditch :(

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It helps to know I'm not just talking to myself.