Moira the Explorer: December

Please allow me to be a nerd for just one moment.  I must admit- albeit shamelessly- that I love Harry Potter. I have always loved Harry Potter. And I will always love Harry Potter. And as I sat in my red movie theater seat watching the most recent film (The Deathly Hallows Part I) I had a disconsolate revelation: it was all coming to an end.

Let me provide some background. I first started my love affair with the saga in first grade. I would tote the books back and forth to school in my tiny green backpack. At the time the 300 some page novels were the largest books I had ever read. Sometimes my mother would read me a chapter while I imagined myself in the great halls of Hogwarts.

I was convinced for years that I had magic powers. I also convinced the entire second grade as such; my friend Ryan still professes that he saw me fly once. Everyday we played quidditch during recess using tinfoil balls as the snitch and the monkey bars as goalposts. Flying around on my invisible broomstick provided a joy incomparable to anything I have experienced since. The downfall came when at age twelve I realized I had passed the age where one would receive a Hogwarts acceptance letter. Crushed that I was doomed to be a muggle forever- I admit that I cried.

Being doomed to a non-magic world did not decrease my love of Harry Potter any less. In fact it increased the allure of the books as they provided an escape. Personally I think that is the reason the series has become such an international phenomenon. The world of Harry Potter is so wholly developed that any person can wrap themselves in it and feel at home.

And so I, along with all of my peers, found myself at all the midnight novel releases- wand in hand with a scar drawn on my forehead. Our whole generation would rush home and fall asleep with the book still open on the pillow. And as each person finished the books they would gush over the cliffhanger or mourn the tragedy. And each time people were anxious for more. The conflicts and issues that J.K. Rowling writes about transcend her magical world. The villains are frightening because they threaten the very things that humans value the most- equality, love, and freedom.

The movies have opened up the series to a whole new audience. And not surprisingly the new audience similarly fell in love. With the continued and releases of books and movies the entire franchise has been producing new material for about twenty years. When the final movie is released in June it will be the end of an era. There will be no more midnight releases, no more cliffhangers, no more surprises or plot twists.

I feel as if the end of this Harry Potter era is highly symbolic of my generation. We grew up with Harry and Hermione and Ron. We matured from a having naive investment in quidditch and magic tricks to having an influential part in the bigger, and slightly darker world we live in. As the era ends, in a way, so does our childhood. By no means am I suggesting we put down our books, but they can no longer hold the same freshness they once did. Like memories from our childhood we can revisit them fondly and even often. But now we have to face the big questions and the big conflicts and fight our own Lord Voldemort.

Therefore I know that I for one plan to go all out as the final movie is released. I will once again find my magic wand and dust off my wizard cape. I’ll ask my mom to draw a scar on my forehead with lipstick and I will go to the midnight showing. And although it will surely be the end of an era- with my wand in my hand at least I can feel prepared.