As these days crawl by towards July 15, I feel a sense of excitement, anticipation, & heartbreak. I’ve looked forward to this hot summer day for months, but now that they are upon us, it brings home that we finally have to say goodbye to Harry Potter.
Not forever, of course. The books & movies will still sit on my bookshelves.
But this will be the last time that my husband & I will say, “Two for Harry Potter!” at the ticket window. It’s the last time we’ll hear the strains of the opening notes & that flash of goosebumps that is a mixture of excitement & cool theater air. Everything will tie together; everything will end.
So thank you, Harry. For all those nights where I curled up with you & a blanket, finding stillness & quiet in a world of chaos.
Thank you, Harry. For making books & nerds cool again.
Thank you, Harry. For being human & angry & disappointing people & lifting them up when you think you cannot take anymore. For being brave & stubborn & everything a boy should be.
Thank you, Harry. For letting me into your world & your friendships. For letting me cry over Hedwig & cheer for Nevil. For letting me doubt & love Sirius with you, & for that pit of righteous fire that grows in me whenever I hear the name “Bellatrix Lestrange.”
Thank you, Harry. For giving me nights to look forward to, where my own boy & I curl up as the sun goes down & he begs me to read just one more page.
Thank you, Harry. For letting goodness prevail & teaching us the heart of perseverance.
Thank you, Harry. For making me believe in magic at the age of twenty-eight. The kind of magic that allows me to pretend a little longer, grow my imagination, & wonder just a little further outside the realm of reality.
picture source
Oh, I love that picture! I was a late potter fan (05 I believe) and I read all 5 books that were out at the time in a matter of days. I have never read a book that made me yell out loud before. I got so angry reading OOTP that I threw it across the room and stopped reading for a while (…ok a few minutes). I am so excited for this movie…now to find a babysitter.
You took the words right out of my soul. Is it ridiculous to think that YA fiction can speak to my soul? Because it does. I find my stomach is in knots, in anticipation for the release of the final movie, and as I’m several chapters in on OOTP, and I know Harry is about to endure his first miserable detention with Umbridge (I started rereading the series again a few weeks ago). I well up every time I think of JK Rowling stating at the London Premier: “Whether by page or on the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you Home.” Thank you, Harry, indeed.
Love the picture! I can’t wait until my little guy is old enough that I get to relive the real life magic Harry gives us with books and movies.
I can’t believe it is OVER over. This past weekend I had the HP movie marathon on in the background while we went about our housework and play, and every few moments CJ would stop and look at the screen intently, then go back to playing. Now that the “last hurrah” is approaching, I find that the next big thing I have to look forward to is reading the Harry Potter books with my boys in a few years. I can’t wait.
Seriously, I am so pumped for Friday night! We rarely have date nights, but I knew this occasion warranted one. I will miss anticipating a new movie release (I used to go to the midnight book releases, too… shhh, don’t tell anyone), but at least we can re-live it over and over on DVD. I love the books best, though, as I think most who have read them feel- I have re-read them a ridiculous amount of times.
Awwe! How sad, I can’t believe it’s all over (well, almost)… I too, am so happy that Harry made reading cool again, I’m not the lonesome nerd anymore! haha I sincerley hope there will be something equally as awesome soon! What will we stay up all night reading now?!?
Can’t wait to hear Mrs. Weasley yell, “not my daughter, you b*tch” to Bellatrix
YES. Best line of the series.
Love it! I can’t wait to see this movie, though I’m sure I won’t get a chance to catch it in the theater. There’s a theater in town that is running the full series marathon starting this afternoon and concluding with the midnight showing of the final one. How awesome would that be?! Stupid work, always getting in the way of fun.
We just finished watching Part 1 again in preparation for Part 2 — I can’t wait and yet I’m so sad that it’s the last one. I’ve read all the books, but my husband hasn’t. He’s only seen the movies and right after we finished watching Part 1 last night he said to me that he couldn’t wait to read them to Callum (who’s just a couple of weeks older than Harrison) so they could read them together — so, so cute!
Oh my, so excited. My friend and I have found sitters for the night and are going to the 1st half of the deathly hallows, then the midnight showing of the last one. I love Harry Potter. There is such a powerful message of good and evil, and that people aren’t always what they seem and that love truely does conquer all. My kids are getting old enough to start to tollerate the movies, and I can’t wait to start reading the books. Definatly a series that has been well loved and will sit on my bookshelf forever
and now I know where Harrison got his name, no? I thought this post was going to be about him. LOL.
At least we will get to share and relive the HP experience again with our littles.
i held off dragging my husband to the first ones, but this last one…i am prepared to get my rope and cleats out…or hey the rodeo’s in town maybe i can borrow a horse ;o) seriously i cried and cried in the last book, my librairian in jr high got me hooked so much that i preordered all the books there after and went to the stores at mid-night when they were released just to get a copy.
Love this post. I discovered Harry while laid up with a broken leg while on an internship out of the country. My friends gave me books 1-4 and I blew through them. I get goosebumps just watching the trailer (even for the 10th time!). My oldest is four, and while he is a bit young to understand everything, he has seen the first three movies (I thought the 4th was a bit intense so we will wait for those last few) and we are now a quarter of the way through the second book. I am always happy to read “one more page” to him. Even my two year old pays attention to the movies. My sister brought him back a plush Hedwig puppet from the Universal Studios park, and the second he saw it he shrieked “Hedwig!!!!” We were stunned he knew the bird’s name. Again, thanks for the post, it is a seriously bittersweet week for Potter fans.
I’m so excited to see the final movie – but I kinda want to put it off so I’ll still have the anticipation. I can’t believe it’s here already!
I cried and felt a sense of abandonment when I finished the final book. I feel I will have the same reaction with the movies ending. They brought the story to life for me especially when I blew through the books and didn’t retain exactly what happened. I love going back and rereading them and much like u I can’t wait for my son to be old enough that I can read them aloud to him. I’m going to the first show on Friday morning At Cary crossroads Alone! Partially cause I’m the only one in the vicinity that is a dork about it other than my 13 yr old neighbor and the other part cause I am blowing off work to see it without having to get a sitter. Please let me know if u would want to see it twice. I would love it.
The only thing that keeps me from being a sad lump everyday is the fact that I know there are still 2 more twilight movies to come. Not the same and with bad acting but I know I can escape again into a fantasy of a book and have it painted for me on the big screen.
I’m going to blubber like an idiot throughout the whole movie. I did it for the book and I feel it coming when I see the previews for this last movie! I started reading these books when I was 13. I’m 25 now and I seriously feel like it’s an ending to such an important part of my childhood. I just can’t wait until my toddler is old enough to read these books. I want to share the magic with him.
Seriously, this post just made me a little teary. I’m so sad for it all to end. I love the books, and have read them all so many times. And even though I think they change too much in the movies, I love them too. Long live Harry Potter!
Aww, great post! I *just* got into the series this year (I know, total latecomer), and I absolutely adore it for every reason you’ve just listed. I’m only on book 4, but I know I’m going to a wad of tears when it’s all over for me.
Love this post, and that picture! Awesome!! Bought my tickets yesterday, and the haziness I will face Friday morning at work with all be worth that 12:01 showing. That’s what they make coke zero for!
OMG. YOU MADE ME CRY.
Just kidding. You didn’t. I’ve never read/seen/”met” Harry. This post is nothing to me.
LOVE this post. I watched Part I in my bed last night with my son, just so we’re all refreshed come Friday. Best Tuesday night I’ve had in a long time.
My sentiments exactly. I am anxious and excited and heartbroken all at the same time.
I am with you all the way. I teared up just reading the Entertainment Weekly review! It’s going to be epic and bittersweet! I long for the day when I can share Harry and Hogwarts with my 1 & 3 year olds. I may never give up my dream of being the brightest witch of my age and spending countless hours in the Gryffindor common room at Hogwarts.
I don’t think you could have said it any better. I bought my ticket for the midnight showing last night and I while I can’t wait for it to be here, I am a little sad.
holyfreakinggeez. I’ve been trying not to think about the ending of HP and between you and my husband constantly saying “It’s going to be so sad watching Harry Potter for the last time.” I just might lose it. I’m going to cry like a leetle baby when it’s over ha ha ha. Nerd, party of one please!
Oh…I too can’t wait to read these books with my Henry. I hope he loves it as much as I do.
I cannot wait to read these books to my son; I know he will get as lost in them as I did (and still do).
Awesome post. I can’t wait for my daughter to be old enough to know Harry & his world.
i’m sorry but i don’t understand what’s so entertaining about a little boy going to wizard school? i’ve never read one these books. i’m a twilight snob.
I am totally in love with this post. Such a bitter sweet day!
love this.
I seriously screamed “NOOOOO” in the movie theater when Hedwig died. Even though I already knew it was coming since I read it in the book.
We’ll be on vacation in New Orleans for a wedding, and may slip away from the group to go see it. Otherwise we won’t be able to go for 2 WEEKS! And I may die.
Thanks so much for posting this, BA. While I am ever so excited to see this movie, it is definitely bittersweet knowing this is the last time I will be able to (drag my husband to) see HP in the movie theater. And while I’m kind of sad that I will never hear that opening music that gives me butterflies in my stomach EVERY time, or be able to see new depictions of the places I have read and dreamed about (while secretly waiting for MY Hogwarts letter to come by owl, haha) on the big screen, it’s clear that the books and movies will always have a special place in my house and in my heart.
This could not have been summed up better.
Thank you sooo much for this post…like someone above said, you took the words right from my soul. I can’t believe that tomorrow is it…what will I do without the anticipation of another Harry Potter movie coming out? Enjoy your date night with your husband tomorrow night, I know I will enjoy the date with my hubby although it will be bittersweet.
I am so excited to see it!! I can remember the events of seeing each one in the theater after reading all of the books! Every new one that comes out I got with my brother in law and sister in law and we make a day of it together! I get chills every time I see a preview I can’t even contain myself! I will be super sad when it is over!
“Hogwarts will always be here to welcome you home.” – J.K Rowling.. (from her speech on the London’s premier night)
Beautiful post. I am also very invested in the impact these books and movies, and the characters themselves have had on the world. And I absolutely can’t wait for my girls to be old enough to share in the wonder.