Harry Potter - What it means to me

So unless you live under a rock you will know that it is the release of the 8^th and final Harry Potter Movie this week. I usually only talk about books on my blog and don’t worry, I’m not going to go into much detail about the movie but I want to share with you guys a quick post about what Harry Potter means to me.

I know a lot of people claim that Harry Potter changed their lives and in many cases it is true. Harry Potter didn’t “change my life” as such but it made things different and by different I mean better.

When I was little, like really little, I loved reading, I know that I used to make my sister read to me before bed but I can’t remember much about what I read, The animal Ark series and a Shetland Pony series (I can’t remember what they were called!) were my favourites but then I think I fell out with reading. I found it boring and frequently mocked my sister for reading ALL THE TIME! I read a little bit but only because we were forced to at school. Let’s put it this way... I was part of the “popular crowd” in my first two years of secondary school and it wasn’t cool to read!

So I read a little and stuck to purely contemp stuff – the Georgia Nicholson series and The Babysitters club, a few point horrors here and there. But pretty much I read anything I didn’t really have to think about. Until harry Potter.

I was 13 when the first Harry Potter came out. I was in my second year at secondary school and an ongoing battle emerged in the run up to the movie between me and my sister. I wanted to see it but she said I couldn’t go if I didn’t read the book. I didn’t see her point but eventually she said that if I read the books she would take me... and I believe she through in that she would pay but I can’t remember too well!

So I started reading. I always laughed at her for reading Harry Potter. I thought they were children’s books because of the covers and I thought I was soooo mature because I didn’t want to read about witches and Wizards and I wanted to stick to the contemp stuff! Oh man, how much I changed my mind after just the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone! I loved it and I couldn’t put it down. I think I had asked my mum to buy me them (but again... it’s a bit hazy, I can’t remember much! Bad memory!) and she bought me the first 3. I didn’t stop reading after the first, I read the second straight away and really couldn’t wait for the movie!

Fast forward 6 years and you get to July 2007.. My sister had been to uni and I missed her while she was at uni. Harry Potter had gotten me into reading and that got me closer to my sister. July 2007 saw the final book published, it also saw me and my sister living on our own after my parents had left the country (don’t worry I told them to leave me behind! Lol) I was at work the night that it came out, working til 11 at night and my sister turned up at 11 so we could go down to the bookshop to pick it up together. It was surreal. Standing in an open bookstore at 11 at night... with loads of people, kids included! Weird! We didn’t get home until like 3 in the morning and without saying a word we went into our own bedrooms and knew that we wouldn’t see each other until we finished the book – the end of an era. I stayed up most the night, I think I gave in around 8 and went to bed for 2 hours, then woke up and finished the book without leaving my room. When I finished I stood straight up and went to talk to my sister about it. We both cried, a lot, and we spent most of that day discussing what we thought of the book. It was awesome!

 

This is now a regular occurrence for us, we will call each other after we’ve both seen each movie or re-read each book and discuss other bits that we picked up or discuss the movies in detail. We saw most of the movies together I think but since we live further away now we don’t get the chance as much. In November last eyar when Deathly Hallows part 1 came out we spent about an hour and a half on the phone talking about the movie and we have already agreed not to call each other this weekend at all as she will be seeing Part 2 on Thursday at midnight and I can’t go until next Tuesday! We both know that the Wednesday night will involve a good few hours on the phone chatting about the film! 

Hary Potter changed my relationship with my sister. We were always close but we got a lot closer because of Harry Potter. I can’t imagine not discussing Potter developments without her and after I watched the red carpet videos of the premiere last week I called her straight away to talk about what the actors said and stuff like that. I love that Harry Potter gave me and my sister so much fun to bond over and I think the only thing that would have made it better is if our secondary school was Hogwarts!