User blog comment:JoePlay/Wizarding World Giveaway/@comment-67.197.67.56-20110719014612

I bought my ticket today for the midnight premier of the last Harry Potter movie. Although I am consumed with excitement, there a bitter sweet taste in the air. I remember my brother locking himself in his bedroom with the books when I was in Kindergarten. I was so jealous because it was the first time I had seen him that intrigued by a book. I wanted to read it, but my reading level was still on those Little Golden Books. When I reached first grade that was the first time I had attempted to read the books. Unfortunately I stumbled on the spells and couldn’t read all of the words. I picked up the books again in third grade and read straight though them. That’s when I fell in love with every thing Harry Potter. Harry, Ron, and Hermione became my best friends. I went to Hogwarts with them, fought evil, and went to the dreadful potions class. I wasn’t just reading a book, I was living a book. It was the first time I had experienced that feeling. I don’t think anyone could have known the effect the book would have on our generation, the generation the books were written for.

I’ve stood in line to get the books at midnight. I would stay up all night curled up in a chair underneath a lamp reading until I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I cried in every book beginning with Cedric’s death in the Goblet of Fire. I cried when Sirius died at the hands of Bellatrix and bawled when Dumbledore fell from that tower. I felt all of the pain that Harry did. I was there with him though it all. The first time I ever cried tears of happieness is when I read the Epilogue. I cried for two days straight. My family didn’t understand why it had such an impact on me. People still give me weird looks when I tell them I cried at those words “All was well.” I was happy. I was happy that Harry Potter really was the boy who lived. I cried because it was over. I was happy that I was lucky enough to be apart of it. There wasn’t going to be anymore books to add to my shelf. That was it. His journey was over.

Now that the final movie is coming out, It’s strange. I am so happy that I get to see the book that I love play out on the big screen. I am happy that I got to experience it first hand. I am also sad that this is possibly the first time I won’t have any new Harry Potter things to look forward to. But I know that this generation of Harry Potter readers will never let the magic die. The magic will live in us forever and one day we will be able to share that same magic with our children and tell them how amazing it was to live it. How amazing it was to grow up with Harry. How amazing it was to have an eleven year old boy who lived in a cupboard under the stairs, change our lives.