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This post contains some Harry
Potter spoilers. If you have yet to read
the books, or seen the movies, you have been warned. I will also expect an apology, and I question
our friendship.
I first learned of Harry Potter in
5th grade. I’m assuming it
was in the second half of the year, but no promises – actually, it might have
been the first half, but not that important.
Moving on. It was great class because
there was already a big presence of football and star wars in the classroom, so
I was in my element – Skyler nerdvana.
So anyways, the teacher started reading it, and I fell in love with
it. I didn’t like the idea of waiting to
hear the end of it, so I went out and got the book – and by that I mean my
parents bought it for me. I finished it
in time for a class book report that we had to do, but the teacher asked me not
to spoil the ending, so I couldn’t say too much about it in the report. But by the time it was all done, I was hooked
on the books, and wanted more.
If I remember correctly, I got the
2nd book the same way I got the 1st, through my
parents. As a side note, I think I got
it from Christensen’s (same with book 3 and 4).
I don’t really remember my experience with books 2 or 3 because they
weren’t events. I got the books and read
them as soon as I could. I don’t
remember much about two, other than I liked it more than 1, and the only thing
I remember about 3 is how I took the book with me everywhere. I recall reading it at my brother’s city
league basketball grade out in the hallway when someone spoiled a small part of
the book. I won’t name names because I’m
facebook friends with the person. I doubt they would read this, or remember the
event, but still, no need to be mean.
I don’t remember the specifics
around book 4, other than it took me 2 days to read it and at this point I was
a known Harry Potter nerd. I got asked
at church how many days it took for me to read the book, and when I said 2, the
person who asked me laughed and said he knew someone who was so proud he read
it in 3 days, but figured I had read it in a shorter time, so decided to ask me
while at church. Goblet of Fire was also
when I started to really think about the series and notice little things
mentioned in the text. I’m not sure why,
but I’m sure some of it was due to the fact that I couldn’t keep reading to my
heart’s content but that I had to wait.
One of the things I noticed that I
still have no answer for to this day is at the end of Goblet of Fire (when I first wrote this post [it took a long time] I didn't have an answer, but now I think I do), Harry is
talking to Dumbledore and Harry mentions that Voldemort is back, and there is a
line about something in Dumbledore’s eye, be it a gleam or fire or something of
that nature. I don’t want to look it up. The point being, at this time, I started
guessing what it could mean, or what could happen next. Let’s just say my guess was wrong, and I have
some new theories, but either way, I was hooked and waiting for the next book
release.
The movies were released, which helped ease my pain and waiting, but still, I needed more books. During the summer of 2003 – the year Order of the Phoenix was released – I had youth conference up at SUU cabin. It turns out the release date of book 5 was one of the last days of youth conference. This made me none too happy, though youth conference wasn’t horrible. I do remember not feeling super great at the end of the day, and I made sure to play it up so I could go home a day early and read the new book.
Fortunately my mother knew of my
situation, and I was able to get the book the next morning. I still remember how I would read book 5 and
6 (they each took 2 days as well).
Sometimes it was in the chair in my parents’ living room. Other times it was laying on the couch, and
rotating which side I was laying on, while also rotating the book with me. I do enjoy the book, but I also have some
hateful feelings towards certain parts of the book. Those parts would be
Umbridge, Sirius being killed off, Umbridge, the moodiness and angst of Harry,
and of course Umbridge. Other than that,
I love this book too. But I really hate
Umbridge. I just wanted to make that
clear.
So there was more waiting for book
6, and more speculation and guessing on my part – again, all of it wrong. The circumstances to the acquisition of book
6 were very similar to book 5, except instead of youth conference, I was at
Helaman’s Camp. I’m not sure why the
last two books had conflicting schedules with my church stuff, but I wasn’t
happy about it. This time I couldn’t
leave early though. I did encourage my
dad to drive really fast though on the way home. I got home, showered (3 days of no showering
and manual labor…Even I thought I should shower before reading Harry Potter),
and then went to buy the book. That might
have been the first Harry Potter I bought with my own money.
So I read and read and read and
read (it was a Saturday) and I surprisingly took a break for a birthday
party. I’m not sure why I did, but I
did. I won’t say my mom forced me to go,
but she strongly encouraged me to get out of the house. The fact that I went is still kind of
surprising, I mean I didn’t even have a romantic interest in anyone who would
be there, so I’m still shocked. All I
remember is that I went to the party for a little bit, and then came home and
kept reading until sometime late.
I had church the next day, and a
girl in the ward was bragging how she was already done and some other
junk. I was mad because I would have
been done too had I had all day to read it, but that didn’t seem to
matter. Also, I don’t know why I thought
that was such a big deal, but it was (and it was for book 7 too). She also offered to spoil who died, but I
wasn’t having any of that. Anyway, I got
home from church and read and read and read.
Finally I got to the part where Dumbledore died. I put the book down and walked away. I think for a good half hour, I wouldn’t pick
the book back up because of that. I
don’t know why I took it so personally, but I just sat and thought about it in
a mad/bitter state. I never liked Snape,
and I thought that he had betrayed Dumbledore.
After reading the 7th book, I still don’t like Snape, but at
least I understood the motives. Anyway,
I eventually finished the book, but it emotionally took a lot out of me.
The waiting game began again. I did some small guessing, one of which I
finally got right. I figured out who
R.A.B. was pretty quickly (I don’t remember if it was because I had previously
reread the series or what, but I believe I guessed it while still reading the
book), but couldn’t figure out why he took the Horcrux, or why Dumbledore had
to die.
So the
final wait was on. Fortunately, I had my
junior and senior year to distract me. I
made sure to keep up on the rumors using J.K. Rowling’s website (back when it
looked cooler than it does now). I don’t
think any of the spoilers were right, but I’m sure someone out there knows if
any were right.
The day
finally came for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to come out. I was ready to go. I had the whole day free, I had several Amp
energy drinks in the fridge, and I was ready to campout to get the book. I was hanging out with friends that evening,
counting down to midnight. At some point
I went and got snacks at Smith’s, and noticed some people there also waiting in
line for the new book. So I went back to
the store on Main Street to keep waiting with my friends. As a funny side note, it was the first time I
remember playing phase 10, and I was horrible at it. My wife would probably argue I’m not much
better now, but that’s not the point.
Midnight
came and I eventually got my book while in line. Turns out because I didn’t reserve the book
by paying the extra $5+ a month in advance.
I was livid. I had waited all day
for this moment and it was taken away from me.
Somewhat fortunately, a friend of mine was in the same predicament. So we hopped in my car and drove over to
Smith’s. There were plenty of books to
go around, and few people to actually grab them. There was enough people that there was a line
for checkout, so we started reading in line.
We didn’t get too far before we had to go. I drove him home and then raced home myself
so I could keep reading.
I grabbed
the energy drinks from the fridge and started reading. It was awesome. I was texting a few people that I knew were
reading it as well. They had a head
start on me, so I didn’t feel too bad about being behind. Eventually everyone said they were going to
bed and would pick it back up in the morning.
I kept going and going and going.
I think I only stopped for a few bathroom breaks (I did have a few
energy drinks) and I did take a whole 15 minutes to eat breakfast.
I eventually finished before
noon. It was (sadly) one of my proudest
moments (I take that back I’m still proud of it) up to that point. I’m no speed reader, so for me to get through
that fast, and be that dedicated.
Anyway, I’ll quit patting myself on the back – in a minute. I had texted the few friends from the night
before and told them I had finished, and that they were in for a treat. I don’t think it was more than 5 people I had
texted. Yet, somehow some friends had
heard that I had finished it and told me that they were impressed. My nerdy proudness knows no bounds. Now I’m done with the self-promotion.
At this point, my good buddy Randon
was off serving his mission, and he would write on occasion. He was better at guessing what was going to
happen than I was. I didn’t want to
spoil it for him, so I never would confirm nor deny anything. I never did ask him when he eventually read
it. Maybe I should do that. Randon, if for some reason you read this
blog, and you got this far, you should let me know.
That was that. It was a rewarding experience to finish, but
it was also sad. I had grown up with
Harry, and now it was over. I think that
might be part of the reason I love the books so much – I feel like a kid again
when I read them, and that I’m able to go back and visit my friend. It was the first book series that I started and read in order. After I started reading Harry Potter, I decided reading other series in order would be important, but Harry Potter started it off for me.
Well enough of that emotional
mess. I’m going to go back to watching
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and then I may find some youtube clips
of Diagon Alley. I may write more at
some point – but it could take me months to get there (this one took much
longer than I meant it to). If you stuck
through this post, I hope it was worth it.
If you didn’t, I don’t blame you.
