The Blessed Day Has Arrived

Nashville, Tennessee will always hold a special place in my heart because it was there that the culmination of the Harry Potter series and eight years of my life occurred. Anna and I were the first to Borders to receive color coded wristbands corresponding to when we could stand in line that night to receive our books. At 8 a.m., with a Starbucks right down the block, people kept walking by the store, wondering why we were waiting outside so early. More and more people started to gather and more and more people started to wonder what was going on. We were the wizarding community to those outside muggles who didn’t know what day it was.

Anna and I went back to Borders that night for the Grand Ball, Anna with her roaring lion witch’s hat and me with my pink hair. People greeted us as Luna and Tonks. It was more fun than I’ve had in a long time.

As for the book, can I quote the Goo Goo Dolls song that says “I went to fiction to look for the truth?” Because that’s what I feel like when I read Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling is a master story teller who underlies her stories with the fact that we have a choice in our actions in this life, that doing the right thing is always better than the easy or responsible thing, that relationships with people are one of the highest priorities in our lives, and so much more.
Reading her books is an aesthetic experience. You open that hard binding, you see that familiar font, you quickly dive into her style of telling the story from Harry’s point of view. The Harry Potter series are the only books that I have a preference on hardback or paperback.

And it is here that you need to stop reading if you haven’t read the 7th one yet.

There are several scenes that I just want to read over and over so I can have them engrained in my memory so I can think of them later, verbatim, with perfect clarity.

1. Hermione and Ron’s kiss. “Hang on a moment!” said Ron sharply. “We’ve forgotten someone!” “Who?” asked Hermione. “The house-elves, they’ll all be down in the kitchen, won’t they?” “You mean we ought to get them fighting?” asked Harry. “No,” said Ron seriously, “I mean we should tell them to get out. We don’t want any more Dobbies, do we? We can’t order them to die for us…” There was a clatter as the basilisk fangs cascaded out of Hermione’s arms. Running at Ron, she flung them around his neck and kissed him full on the mouth. Ron threw away the fangs and broomstick he was holding and responded with such enthusiasm that he lifted Hermione off her feet. “Is this the moment?” Harry asked weakly, and when nothing happened except that Ron and Hermione gripped each other still more firmly and swayed on the spot, he raised his voice, “OI! There’s a war going on here!”

2. Snape’s memories of Lily. “Does it make a difference, being Muggle-born?” Snape hesitated. His black eyes, eager in the greenish gloom, moved over the pale face, the dark red hair. “No,” he said. “It doesn’t make any difference.”

His voice trailed away; she was not listening, but had stretched out on the leafy ground and was looking up at the canopy of leaves overhead. He watched her as greedily as he had watched her in the playground. “How are things at your house?” Lily asked. A little crease appeared between his eyes. “Fine,” he said. “They’re not arguing anymore?” “Oh yes, they’re arguing,” said Snape. He picked up a fistful of leaves and began tearing them apart, apparently unaware of what he was doing. “but it won’t be that long and I’ll be gone.” “Doesn’t your dad like magic?” “He doesn’t like anything much,” said Snape. “Severus?” A little smile twisted Snape’s mouth when she said his name.

“He fancies you, James Potter fancies you!” The words seemed wrenched from him against his will. “And he’s not…everyone thinks…big Quidditch hero…” Snape’s bitterness and dislike were rendering him incoherent, and Lily’s eyebrows were traveling farther and farther up her forehead. “I know James Potter’s an arrogant toerag,” she said, cutting across Snape. “I don’t need you to tell me that. But Mulciber’s and Avery’s idea of humor is just evil. Evil, Sev. I don’t understand how you can be friends with them.” Harry doubted that Snape had even heard her strictures on Mulciber and Avery. The moment she had insulted James Potter, his whole body had relaxed, and as they walked away there was a new spring in Snape’s step…

These scenes mean the most to me and I have no idea why. Probably some combination of girlish hope for Ron and Hermione and some much needed understanding for Snape.

All in all, the book was a brilliant way to end a brilliant series. No commentary of mine could add to what she has already done, and the need for you to read it!