The Beginning of The End: Our History with Harry Potter

Marema

I fell in love with HP while reading book 5. Up until then, HP was something I was aware of but didn’t pay real attention to. Received the book as a present and became addicted. Marathon’ed through the first 4 books and then, for the first time I experienced the pain of waiting for a book release.

Yes, HP is a drug! The dreadful feeling you got as you reached the end of a book and died to know what would happen next… Waiting for years…
HP was a great incentive for me to improve my English. I just couldn’t stand waiting for an extra half a year to get the French translation.

Rodrigo

My introduction to Harry Potter was through the first film. Not exactly the best Potter film, but it kept me hooked to watch the next film. But it was the Prisoner of Azkaban book that actually hooked me to the Potter franchise. A friend of mine that is a huge Potter fan lend me the book because he told me I wouldn’t understand the film that well.

I started to read it and I was instantly captivated by the way Rowling wrote the book and she made me crave for more, and changed my views on the Potter movies. All the Harry Potter books were a fantastic way to escape from reality and made me wish I had a life like Harry, Ron or Hermione’s.

Amy

I was and still am an introverted kid that liked what she liked and sometimes hang out with one group, and the next she’d hang out with another. I was… a social hummingbird, but I really just lived for entertainment — I even had a homemade cheesy entertainment newsletter that I wrote and I only read. It’s title shall remain nameless, buried in the deep archives of my closet.

I began reading the books after watching Chamber of Secrets, but being more a film person than a book person, I adamantly told myself that I wouldn’t read book 3 until I saw the film — that, of course, was a total bust. I got Book1-4 as a Christmas present… and after reading the back of book3, I couldn’t help myself.

I went through my present before even Christmas week.

It was mid-2003 when I went abroad to study, and found out Book5 was out the same day I arrived in Canada… with no internet connection or TV that week, I devoured the new book. After it, I’m officially a book reader and a total geek. ;P I discovered fandom online, and read fanfiction because the release of Prisoner of Azkaban was so far away (I skipped the last 10 minutes of a class to watch the film, LOL). By that time, I had written some fanfiction and I even made an amazing numerology essay. The essays of essays if Rowling hadn’t changed Hermione’s birth date, if I may say so.

Then one day, on March 8th 2006 (I still have that email), I got a quirky little message on my blog. The rest is history. We’ve become friends, we work together, YAM Magazine is here because of it.

Jay

I was a little late to the Harry Potter Parade. When I started reading the books, Order of the Phoenix had just come out – I was 14, in my sophomore year of high school, and was an adamant unbeliever of all things Potter. As the fandom coalesced into near madness, my prejudices were promptly thrown out the window, and into the nearest library, where the Philosopher’s Stone awaited me. A day later, I was enthralled.

And now that I’m 22, an adult with lots of adult responsibilities, I can say, with a heavy heart, that Harry Potter is one of few things from my adolescence I’ll carry on for life. The books reignited my love of literature, my love of losing myself in a book, my love of writing. It’s a painful to say goodbye to an inspirational piece of work… if not, even a little silly.

Some say it’s crazy to be this affected, but Harry and his friends were exactly that, to me… friends. It felt like we were growing up together, taking classes that stressed us out, dealing with issues all teenagers complain about. Now, it’s an end of an era.

We won’t be going back to Number Four, Privet Drive. Nobody else will be sorted into a Hogwarts House. We won’t be visiting Hagrid, or casting spells, or fending of You-Know-Who. It’s all over.

Or is it?

When I’m even older, with bills to pay, jobs to attend to and children to take care of, I’ll open my books up every so often. I’ll read the stories to my children, and pass them on to them. And I hope it won’t be any different from when I was a 14-year-old, looking for something to believe in. Because, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome me home. For that, J.K. Rowling, I thank you.

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How about you? Are you a fan?

How did Harry Potter affect your life?

What are your plans for this week? Are you going to watch the film in a special get together?