The End A Very Potter Era

Yesterday at 2:32 am, I said goodbye to some of my best friends: Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley, Harry Potter and every other character that seemed to shape my adolescent life. No, I'm not insane. I know they're not actually real, but they might as well be. I was first introduced to Harry Potter when I was eight years old. I remember sitting in my warm bed with Mummy at night, listening to her read the first 3 books for me, never wanting her to stop. She always changed her voice to fit the characters that seemed to make the novels come to life (my favourite impression was Ron). I had every Potter stuffed animal you could think of, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fluffy, Hedwig, Scabbers, Crookshanks and even Trevor the toad. I had Harry Potter Lego, Harry Potter Scene It! and a Harry Potter stationary set. Harry Potter was the first book I have ever, truly, loved.

    When the movies started coming out, I was mesmerized. Everything I had ever imagined had come to life right before my eyes. Diagon Ally, the Hogwarts express, and Hogwarts itself welcomed me whenever I walked into the theatre or popped a DVD into the player. The characters were real to me then, as real as my real friends and my real family. Daniel Radcliffe was actually my first crush. I've had many others from the movies after that; Tom Felton, Robert Pattinson, the Phelps twins, Rupert Grint and now, Matthew Lewis. I'll never forget the love I felt for those boys. When I was sitting my movie seat, clad in my Harry Potter 3D glasses and Gryffindor scarf, I started to weep. It actually hit me like a unforgivable curse; this was going to be the last Harry Potter movie. The last time I saw my childhood heroes on the big screen.

     This was now a decade of my life that I've spent with these characters. I've grown up with them, learned from them and loved them. By watching this movie, I said goodbye to my childhood and to everything I've ever known. As I make my way to University in the fall, I'll try to think of the life lessons I learned from Harry Potter and I'll never forget the way they shaped my life. I'll even use my patronus charm (which is apparently a wolf) to fend off the terrible things that might arise in the future and try to soar as high as my Wingaurdium Leviosa charm will allow me. That was unnecessarily nerdy, but I don't care. So this is my farewell to Harry Potter, the boy who lived. Wherever I go and whatever I do, I know Hogwarts will always welcome me home. Mischief Managed.