Going Back For The Last Time

The opening number of the internet sensation fan-created show A Very Potter Musical is called "Going Back To Hogwarts." (If you haven't seen it and want to see Part 1, click here.) This week marks the end of an era for a generation of Potter fans who very early Friday morning will watch the last part of the last movie based on the last book in J.K. Rowling's imaginative series.

I feel that a stroll down Memory Lane (a.k.a. Privet Drive) is in order.

I first heard about the Harry Potter books from my brother around Christmas 1999. That year, we drove up to Buffalo, NY for New Years to ring in the Y2K with some friends and a band we liked. On the drive, he and I and our 2 friends read aloud the first few chapters of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. It was enough to whet my appetite.

It wasn't until the summer that I made time to start reading the series. The summer of 2000 was my first summer away from home. I was working in 2 of the libraries on campus by day, watching videos and DVDs with my friends by night. Being the kind of person who keeps track of these things, I know I started reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on Bastille Day. One amazing week later, I finished reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (which had been released July 8). Between those two, I also read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (which finally made sense).

Before the end of the summer, I had re-read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Along with the rest of the world, I anxiously awaited the release of the first movie in the fall of 2001. I was stage managing my first big show the weekend it came out, and even though I hosted the cast party Friday night, Saturday morning, my roommate and I (and a bunch of small children and their parents) went to see Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. That was a truly magical experience.

During my internship in Louisville, KY, the 2nd movie came out in the fall. A friend of my brother's drove down from Chicago, and we saw Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on opening night with my future sister-in-law.

I had worked with this amazing child actor that fall, and in early January I sent her a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Her mother invited me and some friends over to the house on what turned out to be the day the book arrived in the mail. We spent some time that afternoon reading aloud to each other from the book, and I remember that in the rotation, I got to read one of my favorite parts: the last paragraph of the first chapter. Here's a photo from that night:


When the fifth book was released, I was working in Aspen, CO. I had pre-ordered it on Amazon.com because my job that summer was crazy busy, and the only bookstore in town was a tiny independent store that was hard for me to get to because it only kept business hours. On the day the book was released, I forgot about it. I got home from work to find my housemates all lounging comfortably in the living room, I got myself a snack and went to my room where I found a happy little cardboard box with a very familiar and special font all over it. I opened the box to find 2 old paperbacks, neither of which were Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. When I questioned my housemates, they held strong for a while--saying there must have been some kind of Amazon or UPS mistake, but finally caved (they told me I looked like I was going to cry) and told me the book was in a drawer in my room. What gave them away was that the old paperbacks were stamped Pitkin County Library, the library in Aspen.

I remember while I was reading Book 5 in Aspen that summer, I was in a park one afternoon, and a kid--must have been no older than 12--passing by said, "Umbridge is a bitch!"

In February of 2004, I did my first re-read of the whole series so far, Books 1-5. The following summer I saw the 3rd movie, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, opening weekend with my college roommate while we were in the same city for the wedding of two mutual friends.

In the summer of 2005, I re-read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone but did not manage to re-read the other 4 before the release of Book 6. It was my first summer of summer stock in Connecticut, and my brother and sister-in-law had just moved to New Haven for her graduate studies. I went to visit them when my parents were passing through town which happened to include the release date for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. My brother pre-ordered us each a copy, and he and I went to the midnight release party at the Yale University Book Store. While we were waiting in line, I got a phone call from the little girl to whom I'd given the first book 2 years before; she and her mom were at a release party and she had dressed as Moaning Myrtle. Here's a photo of my brother and I that night:


After that book came out, theories started flying about where true allegiances lay and whether main characters really were who they seemed to be. It was starting to get very exciting.

That was the summer I moved to Chicago. The 5th movie came out that fall, and I am loathe to admit I did not see the midnight preview or opening night, though I did go opening weekend: I saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire late Sunday night before leaving for a 3-week Nutcracker tour the next morning.

I did my second re-read, at this point Books 1-6 in the late spring of 2007, in anticipation of the release of the last book that summer. I went to the midnight premiere of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with some co-workers, and 10 days later, Amazon.com gave me a little trouble when they did not deliver my pre-ordered copy of the final book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It arrived a few days later, and I purposely took a month to read it because I did not want it to end.

It was two years before the 6th movie. After I watched Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in the summer of 2009, I re-read Books 6 and 7. Then I re-read those bittersweet last 4 chapters of Book 7 again.

At some point, a decision was made to make two movies from the source material of the 7th book. Last fall Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I was released, and in a serendipitous turn, I went with a lot of friends and acquaintances from work including one of the friends with whom I'd seen the 6th movie in Connecticut 3 years before.

This Thursday at midnight, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II will be released. I have a ticket to the 12:06am showing and in case it isn't glaringly obvious by this post, I already feel nostalgia for the series. Through these books and movies, I have bonded with friends and found common ground with acquaintances and complete strangers. Looking back at the series I started reading 11 years ago, what I love about it is that re-reading it now is still as exciting and funny and magical as it was then.

At this point, I have read Book 1 four times, Books 2-6 three times each, and Book 7 twice. I have not re-watched any of the movies in full, though I have caught parts of them in friends' homes or if they were airing on TV. I have a leather-bound Collectors Edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone from the UK, and a copy of Harry Potter e la Camera dei Segreti (the Chamber of Secrets) from Italy. I also have Tales of Beedle the Bard, Fantastical Beasts and Where To Find Them and Quidditch Through The Ages. I used to have a Hogwarts t-shirt, and I presently have a "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good" t-shirt which I will probably wear on Thursday. In March 2008, I had my photo taken with Lego versions of Hagrid, Ron, Harry, and Hermione:


I can hide it pretty well when I want, but I'm a huge fan of the Harry Potter series, and I'm proud to share the books with others and re-read them as much as I like. And I like visiting with my old friends Harry, Ron, and Hermione a lot, and I look forward to my first full 7-book re-read soon!