Yes I had to do this, if not only to reminisce and share my experience, but because Jules did it first.
I don't know how old I was when my mom first read me the very first page of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I just remember laying in bed, every night, anticipating finding out what was going to happen to Harry next. For years I remember lying in bed as my mom reads me Chamber of Secrets, filled with horrific spiders and venomous snakes, and then Prisoner of Azkaban, delighting me with tales of lovable jokers and learning of Harry's family, then lastly, we began The Goblet of Fire. That was a hard book for me to focus on. After years and years of the series being narrated in her voice, I wanted to test out how it sounded in my voice. So, still in bed, my mom sitting at my feet listening in, I lifted the heavy book and attempted to read.
For some reason, the book held no interest. I remember reading and reading and reading the first chapter over and over, in attempt to make sense of it, to connect to it, to find some detail that would spark my imagination, but I couldn't. At this point, my mom had stopped listening to me read the same chapter each night every night and this caused me to put the book down. Hidden on my book shelf was the four books and for years, I forgot them.
I remember seeing the movies in theaters. The first one was in competition with Lord of the Rings in my town, and because I considered myself loyal to Harry, I immediately favored Potter and held some-what of a grudge against Lord of the Rings (which my brothers went to see as my Dad and I went to see Sorcerer's Stone). If one thing was constant about my Potter film adventures it was that my Dad was always there, right by my side.
Then, there was the dramatic break. Between Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix. At this point, I was so used to one movie per year that the anticipation nearly killed me. I remember vacationing that year when they made the announcement that no Potter movie would be released until 2007. I was so upset. I can recall standing in front of my mom and dad with my brother, Gary on the couch as I ranted on and on. Though I may have abandoned the books, I still was a loyal attendant at the movies.
Then the movie came out. Ohmygoodness. I am so ashamed of the fact that for a few moments, I actually shipped Cho and Harry. Of course, not actually having read the last four books, which in fact had been released, I momentarily thought that they were the best thing since sliced bread. At this point I was in sixth grade. And let me tell you, sixth grade was horrible. More on that later.
So, as you may know, Deathly Hallows had in fact been released and though I wasn't currently reading the Potter series, I had opened the book. No, I didn't own it, and no, I never thought I would. In a moment of curiosity, with my mom by my side, egging me on, we entered a bookstore and walked straight up to the display. Orange covers with red letters spelling out Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows were all I could see. I grabbed a top one, and without a thought I flipped it over and flicked through the blank pages until I found the last page. Though more than a bit confused with the context the last words were enough to satisfy me, "The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well." He lived through it all. He lived! That was all that mattered. Not the intricate details, not all the time and hard work put into the book, just the fact that I knew he was going to be okay, it calmed me. How different that is today...
Anyway, back to sixth grade. There was this class, one of the most boring classes at our school. It was an elective that I was not planning on electing later when I actually had the choice. Basically we had to think about what we were going to do in college (then I believed I was going to be a chef) and with the rest of our lives. Our seats would change every so often and one day, I was sat next to this boy. Was he beautiful? Not really. Sandy colored hair, blue eyes, a small chin offset by his large nose, but he made me laugh and he had a book I recognized. Everyday, on his desk sat Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. For some reason, I was drawn to him. To this day, I'm not sure what it was, but if not to date him, I just wanted to be his friend. His name was Nick. He was my first attempt at "Potter Love". So figuring I was caught up with the movies, I skipped Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix. One day not too long after recognizing his book, a book similar sat beside his on our shared desk. This was Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
When I had first received it in the mail, I tore open the package and quickly opened the book. The first chapter was the most confusing thing I had ever read. After trusting and believing in the Order of the Phoenix on the television, I was shocked and felt utterly betrayed to discover that Snape was in fact, as Harry had suspected so many years ago, bad! A Death Eater! I had so much to learn... Wanting oh-so-badly to be able to have a specific reason to talk to Nick, I zoomed through the book, but at this point, I was hooked. Harry Potter was slowly becoming more than just a story to me. I had Deathly Hallows and Order of the Phoenix within weeks of finishing. My plan was to finish the series and then go back and read Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix so I better understood.
If you're wondering, me and Nick did talk. In fact, we came very close to actually dating, we would flirt a lot, he would walk me to class, with our identical Deathly Hallows in our arms, we would even get to class early so we could switch the name tags and place ours together (we would often get in trouble for talking at this point and were constantly separated). Until he was teased by his friends and then stopped talking to me. Prat.
Sometime in between finishing HBP and losing Nick I discovered Potter Puppet Pals, and all the fan videos of Harry/Ginny (which was my OTP now). Wherever there is Harry/Ginny there must be Ron/Hermione (just because it's oh-so-cannon). Then... I found something odd, something unbelievable. A Hermione/Fred video. Out of curiosity I watched it. Apparently it was a trailer for a fanfiction called "The Next Mrs. Weasley". Now I would recommend it, but I haven't read it in a while and back then, well, let's say I wasn't used to being spoiled by Jules and TLAT. This is how I discovered fanfiction. For some reason, I found the idea of Fred/Hermione entertaining and stuck with it (maybe this sparked my love for the Weasley twin, I'll never know, but a picture of James and Oliver Phelps currently resides on the backside of my iPod).
Here is where (and imagine this being after I've already cried over Deathly Hallows--especially the resurrection stone section, and I've already decided that James and Lily are adorable) I become the L/J shipper. I hadn't really paid them much attention before, but once I found their characters, it was like I couldn't stop. Everything was Lily/James this, Lily/James that, my mom was almost at her breaking point of my obsession. I was of course in seventh grade now, well on my way for a better year filled with friends and boys (which it was ;D ) and was converting Harry Haters to Harry Lovers.
Anyway, I attempted writing a long L/J fic, and it started well, I had a good idea, knew the ending already, but what was I going to fill it with? So I decided I should probably just stick to drabbles and one-shots until I figured out how to become my determined. I'm still figuring out how to become determined.
The next year Half-Blood Prince was released in movie theaters. I saw it twice, once with my ever-faithful father, and once with my grandmother (who had no idea what was going on at this point). It was amazing. By-far the most hilarious HP movie yet! Though they did mess with the Harry/Ginny kiss, which bothered me to no end. I was hooked anyway.
That summer I discovered "A Very Potter Musical". I cannot believe it honestly took me that long. I immediately fell in love with Darren Criss and I downloaded the soundtrack from their website minutes after finishing the play. I would run around the house when no one was around screaming the lyrics to "Get Back to Hogwarts".
Then. Oh my goodness, then. HBP came out on DVD--and here's where it get's exciting--an ad. Not any old HP ad about video games, this one, this one was much much more. This, was a theme park. Orlando. Island of Adventures. This very summer. I was dying. I watched special after special and soon I found myself visiting Grandma and Grandpa down in Sebastian. Of course they would take me, anything to spend more time together.
It was a week after opening day, my Grandma, Grandpa, and Bryanna (my cousin) were there. It was a three-hour wait to get into Hogsmeade, but Merlin, it was wonderful. Snow-capped buildings, the Hogwarts Express, a cool glass of Butterbeer (sweet and bubbly, just as I imagined), and even two bottle of Pumpkin Juice to go around. That day was amazing. I sent a letter via owl post, I bought my first wand (Remus Lupin's. At that point they didn't have any other of the Marauder's wands made), I got a chocolate frog (it was massive. Took me a YEAR to eat!), I also got a Marauder's Map T-shirt. I took a Forbidden Journey with Harry, Hermione, and Ron.. I can't even begin to condense the magic that I felt there, inside the castle, on the ride, everywhere. It was the most magical day of my life.
That November Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One came out in theaters. It was the beginning of an end that I didn't want to happen, but I couldn't help as the excitement bubbled. I had a party. Not a "anybody's welcome, bring your own beer" kind of party. A party where you make props, buy costumes, plan games, cook a feast! I felt like a kid, but Harry Potter always made me feel that way. Six girls, all dressed in Hogwarts robes. I now own a Sorting Hat, we all were sorted upon arriving (I'm a Hufflepuff, and quite proud to be one). Then we ate, and ate, and ate! At least three different meats, two kinds of potatoes, I was just surprised that it all fit on my rather small dining room table... Lastly, before we departed to go see the "beginning of the end" we had a Horcrux Hunt. I was quite proud of myself for this idea. The prizes (which I had actually won, more on that later...) consisted of a rip-off chocolate frog, Drooble's Best Blowing gum, and an authentic Honeydukes bar of chocolate (from my visit this past summer). After spray-painting our Tonks-look-a-like's hair, we left. I just don't feel I can comment much on the movie until I have seen Part two, but I can say I was pleased. (:
Onto how I won those prizes... well I go to this err... for lack of a better term, "Nerd School" where you can earn your AA degree and high school diploma in five years. Apparently, I'm not the only HP dork that can be found at this school. I was surrounded and it was wonderful. So our Key Club (which I am a part of) decided to hold a Harry Potter Social. It was intended for the week before the movie, but then they brought the date down to Thursday. Day before my party. Right. Excellent. I had to go though. It was a HARRY FREAKING POTTER Social! How could I miss this? So I was there. In a heartbeat. Had my robes on and everything. I hate to say most of the event was pretty boring. They did have a Dobby statue, and a raffle ticket (how I won the candy), they also held a costume contest which I surprisingly didn't win, and also a Harry Potter trivia game. This is where I saw him. He partnered with his sister and I partnered with my friend, Liz. I hadn't seen him around much before, but I did know who he was, and I did know he was a Potterhead. Oh and I did know he was attractive. Our tables were in the front, seated beside each other, I'm not sure why, but he sat on the side closest to me, and I closest to him. Every time someone would answer a question, we of course knew the answers and would turn to each other and give a sly grin. Once, I remember that no one could actually figure out the answer to a question so we referred to each other and still came up with the wrong answer. This was my second chance at "Potter Love" and once again, it failed. He a junior, I a freshman. How on earth was I supposed to catch up with this boy to say hi once and a while?! It was infuriating. One good chance at a HP romance, and I lost it.
So here is where I settled down. I read TLAT constantly, currently rereading Deathly Hallows, watching all the movies, dressing up in my Hufflepuff robes Friday and heading to the late showing with my best friend, Raya, Brooke, and as a birthday present, Sean. I'd sufficiently say I'm a part of the Potter Generation. Having grown up with Harry, its bittersweet to see him go. But I suppose he never will truly be gone... and I promise you now, my children will live, eat, and breathe Harry Potter.
Because it's a part of me now. It's helped to shape me into who I am, who I will be, and who I want to be.
Thanks J.K. Rowling.
