It may sound a little over the top, but as i turned the final page of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, i felt as though a part of me had died. You may call it crazy. Or even stupid. But it’s the truth. I was a child when Harry Potter first hit the shelves, and i have grown up with Harry and the rest of the gang. Now, years later, the series is finally, and tragically, over.
I can honestly say that i owe a portion of my childhood to Jo Rowling. I was always the outdoor type. Ever since i can remember, it was always sports or action figures for me. But one day i broke down and cracked open my first Harry Potter book. I would say somewhere around the 4th or 5th chapter was when i became a Potter nerd. Within the week, i had finished the first four books. I couldn’t stop. I remember the horrible feeling i got in my stomach when i realized the 5th book was still a couple of years away. But it was nothing compared to the feeling i had when i realized, as a 12-year-old, that one day, the books would end. Harry Potter would eventually be no more.
Now, at 19, i’m as big a Harry Potter nut as i was then. I was in line that Friday night with the rest of the world, waiting to get my hands on the final chapter. I felt so childish, but i just couldn’t stop smiling when i was walking out of the store, staring down at the book. My heart was racing. I even read the first chapter in my car right there in the parking lot.
It took me 4 days to read it. Much longer than i had wanted. I honestly cannot describe how i felt once i finished. I was happy, sad, excited, and depressed all at the same time. But the feeling that had hold of me the most was the only feeling i never thought would come when i imagined finishing the final book: satisfaction. Since i first got hooked and became aware of the horrible fact that the series would eventually end, i just knew i would be miserable when i finished. Miserable because i would never have another book to look forward to. But i wasn’t. When i closed Deathly Hallows, i sat back and felt closure rush over me. I was sad to say goodbye, but completely satisfied.
I know that i will read the books, all of them, over and over again until i’m dead. I’ll buy a set just for my children to read when they’re old enough, and encourage them to do the same for their children. In that sense, Harry Potter will technically never die to me. He’ll always be on the shelf, waiting to go on another adventure, regardless if we’ve been there before.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows took the series to an even higher level. Unlike the others, Hallows didn’t wait until the showdown at the end of the book to make any big moves. Instead, Hallows hits hard from start to finish. You never know when another beloved character will ‘move on’. Rowling’s writing has improved with each book, and Deathly Hallows is easily the best book of the series. Thank you Jo.
