"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"
I think it is time. This entry has been one that I've known I was going to write from the very beginning of BEDA. It's something that I've written about before
right here and it's probably no doubt something I will write about again. This is my love for Harry Potter. I'm currently watching a programme about the final movie and the movie set tour that you can now do in London and as wonderful as that is (the movie sets are top of my list of things to do) it is not these things that I am talking about. It is the books. I was an avid reader when I was younger, a good story could transport me into other worlds and it often took other people several attempts to get through to me. Then there's the world that Harry Potter takes you to.
I can't quite explain to someone who isn't a complete fangirl of Harry Potter how much a book series can mean. They laugh and they dismiss it but they don't quite understand it. That's fine, if someone had told me before I started reading the series that I would listen to the same book series repeatedly every night, that a story would captivate me so much I would listen to podcasts all about it I wouldn't have believed that any set of books had that effect. I understand that their are stories that have left imprints on me but none so deep as Harry Potter. I love the magic, the complexity, the fact that the characters grown over the books and you see both good and bad sides of them. The parts in which we find out about Voldemorts childhood, his abandonment by his mother who chose to die of heartbreak rather than survive to raise him was a touch many writers would never think to add. A villian is a villian because he's evil right? The fact that both Harry and Voldemort are orphans but chose very different paths is one of the key parts to the wonderful story JK Rowling has created. Even the weak will of Albus Dumbledore and the bravery of Severus Snape shows us that these characters are not just easy read extras, that people are complicated and extrodinary.
A lot of Harry Potter deals with death and the pain of loss, it was something that I could identify with. I have already discussed how dark I found the dementors, their illustration of depression was so relatable to me, so close to how I felt. Something stealing the happiness away from me. These are not simple books, they are not always happy but I think that's why they're so wonderful to me, they feel (even with the magic) that this could happen, magic is not the most important thing in these books it is the people she creates, the emotions they feel and they love that runs through the books. Whether it be the love of a parent, friend or mentor love will always be the most powerful force.
JK Rowling creates wonderful characters but the thing she does most exquisitly is female characters. For too long women were seen as secondary characters, someone put there to look pretty and respond to the male characters with flattery and giggles but the female characters in Harry Potter are equal to if not more wonderful that the men. Hermione Granger, two words that to me mean intelligence, wit, compassion, a fiesty nature and a strong will. Let's be honest if this was real life and Harry had of been on that quest without Hermione he'd have been dead before you could say wingardium leviosa (which Hermione can say quite well thank you very much). Hermione didn't start out the prettiest of children, she was geeky and plain and just that bit goofy and that's something I will always be grateful for, because I was geeky and never felt as pretty as the other girls and Hermione Granger made that ok. It's not just Hermione that shines through in this though from Minerva Mcgonagall to Molly Weasley, Luna Lovegood in all her wonderful weirdness and even the sheer power of Bellatrix Lestrange, one of my favourite characters from the Potter series, females in this series are never put in the shadows, they shine.
I love these books, they take me away to another world, the stories make me smile during the bad times and bring me comfort. They reminded me when I was younger that it's ok to be weird, intelligent, fight for what you believe in and never ever forget that love is our most powerful trait against evil. The love that brings us together as Potter fans and makes people do awesome things in the name of Potter. Not only that but I will have these books, these stories for the rest of my life to read to my children, to pass on to people who I think will enjoy them and to cherish as part of my growing up, of becoming the person I am. And in the words of the wonderful Jo Rowling I know that Hogwarts will always be there to welcome me home.
Mischief managed.
