Though I'm super excited to see it, I am burdened by a strange sadness. I am a rabid Harry fan, and for me, this marks the end of an era. The true ending of my childhood will be when the credits begin to roll after I view Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
I became hooked on Harry when I was 11 years old. The same age as Harry was when he got his acceptance letter to Hogwarts. I remember being glued to the pages, absolutely engrossed, the first time I read them (and the millions of times after.) Goblet of Fire had just come out when I got into the series, and I remember sitting in front of the heater in our NZ house and feeling my stomach just drop when "Cedric lay spread-eagled on the ground. He was dead".
The first movie came out the following year, and my 12 year old self could not get enough of it. I saw it at the cinema seven times. My friend Ellen and I could recite the ENTIRE THREE HOUR SCRIPT. I had a raging celebrity crush on the then baby-faced, slick-haired Tom Felton. (Yeah, I even kept his picture in a frame in my room, what of it? It's still healthier than being a Belieber).
Not long afterward I remember the adrenaline rush when the doors opened on one of the department stores in Palmerston North and running in to grab my copy of Order of the Phoenix.
This general excitement (minus the Draco crush, I soon got over that.. kinda) has continued for TEN YEARS. Waiting outside bookstores, waiting in cinema lines, devouring words from pages, crying, laughing out loud (seriously, any author who can do that is a good author in my opinion) and swooning at the screen... it has been - no other way to describe it - magical. My friends and I have grown up with Harry - our ages always seemed to coincide as the books were released - and the actors are all around our age too. It'll be like saying goodbye to friends I've known for a decade.
But in the words of the brilliant J.K. Rowling at the last Premiere:
Whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.
Jo, you are a genius, and thankyou for extending my childhood to the ripe old age of 22.
Harry will always have a special place in my heart.
