AuburnChick's Adventures

Saturday evening, I completed a quest I’d been on for the last fifteen months.

I finally finished reading all of the books in the Harry Potter series.

I read the seventh book in under a week.

On Saturday, I read the final 250 pages.

I read everywhere that day…the bathroom (TMI), the car on the way to the beach, the beach, back in the car to go home, the ride back to the beach to see a movie, the way home.

This final book had so much action packed into it that I could not turn the pages fast enough!

I got mad several times as important characters died.

When you’ve invested so much time into reading these books, you develop relationships with the people in them, and your heart breaks when they don’t survive their circumstances.

I needed to find out if Harry successfully finished his quest.

It may be hard for you to believe, but I’d never watched the movies nor read the books previous to this time, so I had NO IDEA how the story would end.

I can honestly report, without spoiling the surprise for anyone, that I am happy with the ending.

This series is deep on so many levels and provides lessons that we can apply to everyday life…love overcoming evil…the ramifications of judging others based on external appearances or circumstantial evidence…loyalty…bravery…daring to go against popular opinion…believing in the underdog…untapped potential.

The characters were so unique and gifted with special talents that, when put together with the other characters’ talents, made for breathtaking scenes in the books.

Professor McGonagall is a wonderful role model for me…a blend of strictness balanced with tenderness and courage.

Mrs. Weasley reminded me of my best friend’s mom when I was growing up.  She took me under her wing, prepared my favorite food when I stayed over, and always had a warm hug ready for me.  As Harry found the unconditional love and acceptance that he had missed out on for the first eleven years of his life, my heart soared.  Throughout the books, his relationship with Mrs. Weasley evolved to the point where he was treated like a son.  This is what I think we humans are called to do…love each other with the same kind of abandon and acceptance.

I so appreciated how seemingly minor characters eventually played very important roles.

For the record, Neville Longbottom will forever be one of my favorite characters ever…such a sweet boy who only needed a bit of encouragement to blossom.

My vocabulary will never be the same.  It now includes words such as muggles, lumos, and patronus.  I am giving serious thought to teaching my students roots/prefixes/suffixes using the names of the spells cast in these books.

I would kind of like to say that I’m sad I didn’t read these books sooner; however, I don’t know that I would have fully appreciated them had I done so.

Now that I am older and a teensy bit wiser, I can see the multiple layers of storytelling that occurs in each book.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, Hagrid, Sirius, and the rest of the gang will live on in the part of my heart reserved for those special characters in literature who do more than occupy pages in a book.  They will continue to challenge me to be a better friend, not take the easy way out, and not judge circumstances according to what my eyes see.

Filed under: Books | Tagged: books, Harry Potter, reading |