Why I Love Harry Potter

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There are only 69 days left until the beginning of the end of Harry Potter series. I got a glimpse of this movie poster earlier this week and it made my stomach do somersaults! I am so excited to see how they play out this final chapter on screen, but I also now how bittersweet it is going to be to say goodbye to this wonderful story.

My introduction to Harry Potter came when I was 18 years old and living in Dijon, France with a family that just so happened to have an adorable 8 year old son. It was French brother, Etienne, who first exposed me to the wizarding world of Harry Potter. At 8 years old, Etienne was about the only person I could communicate with in the house and we got along quite well. I hadn't been living with his family for more than a month before he asked me one night after dinner if I would read some Harry Potter to him. I was not too comfortable with my French language skills, but I obliged the little guy mostly 'cos he was so gosh darn cute. He had clearly already read the book before 'cos he helped me pronounce words and names and seemed to really enjoy how I stumbled through it. I have to be honest, I had no idea what I was reading. I just read it to see my little French brother smile. That entire semester abroad I remember seeing Harry Potter merchandise everywhere. The city of Dijon was in full-out Harry Potter mode. I remember seeing action figures and lunch boxes and all kinds of merchandise covered with (what I did not know then to be) golden snitches. Then two weeks before I was scheduled to leave Dijon and return to the states, my family asked me if I wanted them to buy me tickets to see Harry Potter. Apparently the movie would be premiering two days before I left and you had to purchase tickets weeks in advance. I said yes. Once again, not because I was all that interested in the movie or the book that I did not understand, but because it seemed like a fun thing to do and my little French brother was bouncing off the walls with excitement about it.

I remember so vividly the excitement that night as we piled into the family car to drive to the big cinema in the center of the city. Even the older sister, at 16, seemed very excited. And oh the lines! The line wrapped all around the city block. There were French kids, teenagers, adults and families like mine all chattering with excitement. The movie was entirely in French and, even after four months living there, I could understand little. I do remember certain images from the film, but mostly I remember little Etienne who was so excited to see his favorite story come to life on screen he could hardly contain himself.

And that was my first experience with Harry Potter. I didn't know much about the plot lines or characters. I understood little aside from the excitement and enthusiasm it seemed to generate in people of all ages. I would not actually pick up a book to read myself until the summer of 2005 when I finally decided it was time to give them a try. I had, by that time, seen the first film in English and was mildly intrigued. Moments I remembered vaguely from the French theater - like Hagrid breaking down the door, the letters flooding Privet Drive and the ghastly 2 headed Professor Quirrell - suddenly made much more sense when watching it play on HBO in English. I asked for the books one Christmas one year and my parents got me the first four in a box set. That summer of 2005, I finally read all four and went out and bought the fifth book and had a Harry Potter marathon watching all the movies that had been released thus far. I was hooked.

My Harry Potter mania reached an all time high with the release of the 7th book. I ordered it early from the local bookstore and went to an all-night celebration that included peopled dressed in character (as many adults as children), games, food, drinks and a countdown at midnight that I proudly partook in. I never knew I could be so excited for a book and a fiction book at that. In case I haven't made it clear, I am a full-fledged history dork and read almost exclusively non-fiction. The one exception to that rule is the magnificent work of J.K Rowling. I wish I could put my finger on what it is about the books that I enjoy so much. All I know is I picked up the 7th book to reread it this past Friday and, just like back in the summer of 2007, I was unable to put it down. I tore through those pages so fiercely that I didn't go to sleep until 3 AM (and even then I was only able to lay in bed for 5 minutes before I flipped the light back on and read just one more chapter).

I just love these books and these characters so much and, for the life of me, I can't explain why. I don't know what it is about the books that gives them this exalted position on the very top of 5 shelves of military history books, narratives, and historical texts.
I've tried to put it into words before, but what I end up with is a long list of the themes that I think are present within the pages (love, loss, friendship, free will, sacrifice, duty, jealousy). But you don't love a story because of the themes, you love it because of the people! I love the characters Ms. Rowling created. They are terribly imperfect and sometimes I want to smack them, but I love them all the same. I love the world she created that I was able to immerse myself in this weekend. The first time I read book 7 I was so excited to finish I didn't even take a moment to let a lot of what happens in the pages sink in. This weekend I'll admit I shed some tears at Shell Cottage, I laughed out loud at the one liners that still manage to make their way into the most serious of times and I was smiling and giving a triumphant fist pump when the actual castle at Hogwarts, suits of armor, desks, and all, begins to fight back. I've never had a book that makes me turn the pages quite so quickly, that can quite literally have my heart racing for the last 200 pages. I know it sounds trite, but when I read these books I really do forget about the rest of the world. It's not something I have ever experienced with a book before. When I read Harry Potter I want to lose myself. I want feel like my little French brother again.

So I will line up with the masses on November 19 just like I did for the first film, back before I even understood what it was. I'm proud to be a part of this phenomenon. And I'm proud of the fact that I can't quite explain why I love it so much. The greatest loves, after all, can never be explained.