User blog comment:JoePlay/Wizarding World Giveaway/@comment-4149859-20110715073544

Okay, so I went into the movie theater not thinking I was going to cry. I mean, I was never a fanatic about Harry Potter, even though I’ve been reading the books and watching the movies since 1st grade and even joined an HP Club through Scholastic and made candy slugs and had a junky plastic wand. XD

Anyway, I never really got the message of the books. I mean, I read them, but didn’t remember much (I read very quickly back then). Anyway, I won’t go into much detail for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet, but when Harry breaks the Elder Wand at the end, the entire series just came together for me.. Like it all made sense (Ron’s comments make a lot of sense, even if they still portray him as the silly naive ginger we’ve all come to love). It was the whole good vs. evil thing. How there is evil in all of us.. But it’s our choice which side prevails.. I mean, Harry was like Voldemort. He was a horcrux. He had some of that evil inside him as we’ve seen throughout the books… But in the end, he didn’t choose the path of Voldemort, the quest for power…

Ugh, perfection…

Sitting in my best friend’s car on the way home, I said that next summer, before we all go away to college, we need to have a weekend to watch every single movie.. And the more I think about it, the more I realize how much the Harry Potter series really has meant to me. I mean, they were an escape for me for years. I finished reading them after the final book came out. I really had no friends until 8th grade. I finished the books in 7th grade. So yeah, when I came home and had nobody to talk to, I read. I would read for hours… I’m picturing myself as a little kid running to my dad every time something big happened. I think my first revelation (like when I was old enough to understand) was after Dumbledore died and I finally understood the horcruxes and everything.. Anyway, I pictured the first movie and then the final one and realized how much Harry, Ron, and Hermione really changed… And then I thought about how this is really the end of the series (and I know everyone’s been saying it, but it really does feel like the end of my childhood). I mean, I was thinking about how much I’ve changed in the past 10 years. And just everything going on in my life right now.. And I realized how happy I am. I mean, when I was crying earlier today because I thought the tickets were sold out, it wasn’t because I wanted to see the movie so badly (believe me, I did want to see it), but it was because I wanted to be there with my best friends. Honestly, I didn’t really feel like I was worthy of being best friends with anyone until I was talking to my best friend before the movie.. And I realized how much she really does love and trust me, and I think this is the first time I’ve never felt insecure… Like I’ll never have to worry, “Oh, what if they’re not really my friends?” I mean, it’s stupid to wonder if they aren’t because I know they are, but I just realized tonight that I really do never need to worry that they love me.. That’s what I would have missed out on. Also, I love how the series just connected people.. I mean, at the beginning of the movie, I was so annoyed by the girl sitting next to me who wouldn’t shut up. But then I realized during the movie, look we have so much in common, we’re both hysterically crying over a movie.. How could I be annoyed by this person. Okay it’s silly, but I felt this connection to everyone in the theater (even the kid’s in my school who were there being their usual selves). Like, for those two hours, I forgot all the shit they ever did to me, all the bullshit they said about me behind my back, and all the irritating shit they were doing even that night. And I thought I would never say this, but Harry Potter really did have a huge effect on my childhood, even though I didn’t realize that until tonight…

Harry Potter has taught me to choose the good in me over the evil part of me.. It's taught me the true value of friendship before I had friends of my own.. I don't know how my childhood would have turned out if not for these books. I didn't think it was a big deal until I saw the movie tonight and realized how much I love the series and J.K. Rowling. That is what Harry Potter means to me.