On The Subject of Harry Potter

Happy Day my Lovely Otherbeasts!

A while ago - okay, a few years back - I was reading the Harry Potter books and was finally on the final one entitled "The Deathly Hollows". Only a few chapters in and I decided I needed to talk about the series penned by J.K. Rowling. She is an amazing author. Now some people say they don't like her writing style, and that's fine - I'll admit trying to get through the first book was like reading a 3rd Grader's reading assignment - but it got surprisingly better with each book. She's no Anne Rice but the stories were, in themselves, brilliant.

Let it be said that I have never been so thoroughly entertained by a series of books than these. When it comes to the Harry Potter series, my reading appetite morphs into a voracious beast that remains unsatisfied unless I turn page after page. I have found myself in the late, late hours of the night succumbing to this monster and feeding it chapters upon chapters. My eyelids start to droop with the weight of sleep yet I cannot bring myself to close the book and lay it down on my nightstand.

During the day, when I should be doing my schoolwork, the book whispers to me in hushed tones. It's seductive voice tempts me and beckons me to draw it out of my satchel and peer into it's pages. I willingly submit most times and crack open the book and delve into a world unlike ours where magic is very real and very tangible.

It's a good escape, no doubt. However, it leaves me with such a yearning, such a desire, for the story contained in these books to be about a secret world that does exist. So many times have found myself wishing that Hogwart's was alive and that I have just merely not received my invitation by owl-post because someone forgot to send it. Many of my daydreams consist of such thoughts but I must point out that in my logical and rational brain, I know that there is no such world.

All that logic and reasoning aside I still find myself presented with many situations that I desperately want to yell "Stupify!" or "Episky!". However useful these incantations may be, I know that if I were to shout one of them aloud the only thing that it would accomplish is having several people in the vicinity turn and stare, mouth agape, wondering why I had suddenly gone off my rocker and yelled something incomprehensible. Those that are familiar with jinxes might issue a chuckle or two and then wonder quietly as to the quality of my sanity.

I must say that several of these jinxes would come in quite handy and I imagine one of my favorites would be the Summoning Charm. I think if I were in a particularly lazy mood, which is quite often, and need something like a pencil or a soda from the fridge, I could just yell, "Accio Pencil!" or "Accio Dr. Pepper!" and all of my problems would be solved.

Alas, none of it is real and it saddens me. That is, I suppose, why I love these novels. In these stories I can escape to that world and live in it, if only for a short while. I can escape the Muggle world and run along Harry Potter as he faces his adventures.

Sadly, as I stated before, I was on the last book in the series. I thought I would feel a definite feeling of "What now?" when I finished reading it and had closed it's pages. No more journeys with Harry Potter? Nothing to continue satisfying that beast? What would I do?

Knowing me I would more than likely start from the beginning and read them all again... which I did.

I still laugh my head off at the funny little videos and flashes about Potter Puppet Pals. I still get a kick out of yelling out Wizard Swears like, "Expecto PatroNADS!" and "Unicorn Terds!" just to see who among my colleagues understand what I've just said.

I still have my heart set on knitting a Gryffindor scarf so that I can wear it and look like a complete goon; I will also probably either make or buy myself a wand as well, so that I can at least have one if one of these days it turns out that magic does exist.

I imagine I sound an awful lot like Luna Lovegood at the moment, however I just thought I'd express my feelings on the matter. Many thanks to the person that turned me onto a world that I never knew existed in between the covers of those wonderful books.

Here's to finishing "The Deathly Hollows"! (For the third time.)

(Which I will undoubtedly pick up as soon as this blog is finished.)

Until Next Time,
<3 Shade