On Finishing the Harry Potter Series & What’s Real

I started over with Book 1 in early November 2018, after not getting past Book 3 in early 2012, when Sean read all 7. Abby had started reading them a bit before then and was already on Book 3. I caught up quickly and we’ve tried to keep pace with each other ever since, though at times it felt a bit like competition, which was mostly fun and slightly stressful.

Abby finished Book 7 about a week ago and has been patiently waiting for me to do so. In the meantime, she has taken out The Cursed Child, The Tales of Beedle the Bard and started Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Similar to my experiences binge watching multiple seasons in a row of television series in recent years, immersing myself in the world of Harry Potter over the past 3 months, after dipping my toes in 7 years ago, has brought so much joy and wonder to my life. I’ve known many adults and children who have so much love for Harry Potter and never fully understood what all the fuss was about.

I remember during my last job in the professional world, before we had Sean in 2003, meeting someone who got engaged after one of the books was released. She and her boyfriend went to a park together to read it and sometime during or after they finished, he proposed. I appreciated how romantic it was at the time and get it even more now.

I remember being at an extended family reunion, on Bob’s side, in Tennessee, when Sean was preschool aged, I am pretty sure it was 2007. One of Bob’s younger distant cousins stayed up until midnight and drove to a nearby town to get a book that was being released. Then she proceeded to read it for much of the family reunion. I recall passing her in the living room, at the house of our hosts (her grandparents) as she was so into digesting the next part of Harry’s story. I remember being impressed with how passionate she was at the time and get it even more now.

Note: I looked up when each book was released, after initially writing this post, and see that Book 5: The Order of the Phoenix came out in 2003 and Book 7: The Deathly Hallows was 2007, so that lines up with the above memories. The info also helps me see, all the more, why Bob’s cousin was so excited to procure and read that book, being the last in the series.

So here I am now.

Done.

It feels surreal to know how it all ended.

Though I do intend to read the script for The Cursed Child next. Our family hopes to see the show, in August of 2020, during our planned trip to England. I haven’t been back since my London Semester Abroad, in 1996, during my junior year in college and have always wanted to return, as well as to bring Bob and the kids, to show them so many places that were special to me.

Without revealing spoilers, for those who haven’t read or finished the series, I’ll say that I really like how J.K. Rowling chose to wrap things up.

It all worked for me.

I loved Book 7!

I would like to read them all again someday and wonder how that might impact my perspective, the second time around.

But for now I’d say it was my favorite, followed by a tie between 6 & 4, then 1, then a tie between 3 & 5, with 2 being my least favorite, though I didn’t dislike it. Not that I need to rank them, but some of my friends have shared their rankings, which I thought was fun and interesting.

I continue to be amazed by J.K. Rowling’s imagination, sense of humor and overall way with words! I laughed out loud so many times, was brought to tears often and smiled with understanding, when the storylines resonated with me, as they frequently did.

I took more notes in the app on my phone during Book 7, than I did for the previous 6, which is part of how I know it’s my favorite. I had so many takeaways that I don’t want to forget. One of the quotes that stood out the most to me, was what Albus Dumbledore said, after Harry asked him if something they were experiencing together was real or just happening inside his head. Dumbledore replied,

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry. But why on earth should that mean that it is not real.”

I appreciate how “what makes something real,” can be relative.

Yes, the Harry Potter Series is fiction and can turn off some who don’t appreciate these types of magical fantasies. That said, I’ve heard many have theorized, and look forward to reading a lot of that kind of stuff, now that I’m done, what many of the storylines represent.

I definitely found myself making analogies to many of the challenges and struggles we face in our country and world today, as well as personal trials that we face. From power-hungry and corrupt leaders in government, to racism, sexism, and discrimination against those who marginalized, and how people (including me) cope with grief and loss.

This all makes me even more excited for our family’s upcoming spring break trip, in April, back to Universal Studios in Florida! As when we were there for two days, in August 2015, in conjunction with our trip to Disney World, when Sean was just shy of 12 and Abby almost 4, I really enjoyed visiting all the Harry Potter related stuff, but know I didn’t appreciate it anywhere near as much as I will now. Abby was too young at the time and so she too, having read all 7 books now, can’t wait to experience it all again, especially with the change in perspective that age and knowledge brings!

If you haven’t read the Harry Potter series, no matter how old you are, I highly recommend these 7 wonderful books! Even though they were written more for adolescents, ages 11-17 (as that is the ages of the main characters, who age a year with each subsequent story), the themes speak to anyone with an open mind and heart, especially those who believe in the power of love, resilience, and redemption.

If you have read them, I’d love to more about what you thought in comments.