HPDHP2

well. it seems like yesterday that i was writing my blog post for deathly hallows part one. what a lucky girl i was then- still a whole movie to go. 9 months to mourn. this is it, folks. no more dressing up for a midnight show or book release. no more reading maniacally into the wee hours of the morning like a jonesing addict, no more theorizing, contemplating, comparing film to book. i really can't describe to you how honestly sad i am. i don't mean in an annoying, fan, crazy sort of way (although i definitely have my share of that!) i really mean that in a sense my childhood feels like it is coming to an end. i know i'm 23, but i haven't had that defining moment yet that makes me truly feel like my childhood is over. like i'm officially an adult. and so this is it- the world i entered as an eleven year old is really, finally closing it's doors and silencing it's adventures. i know that harry potter isn't real, i know that hogwarts is a place jo rowling dreamed up. i know that try as i might, i'll never really get to platform 9 and 3/4. but that is the REAL magic in harry. even though you know that it isn't real, the story is so tangible and so tasteable that it practically is real. it is real in jo's head, and as much as you want it to be- in your head. you can literally be at hogwarts eating treacle tart in a split second. mere apparation time.
the bottom line, after watching the trio and rowling speak at the london premier, all of their appearances and interviews on the tv shows this week, and the world's reaction to this decade of magic coming to an end, is that it never truly will end. i can be a muggle whenever i want to. as jo said, "whether you come back by film or by page, hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home." and i guess that is really what makes everything okay, and will make it so i hopefully don't bawl my eyes out at 2:30 tomorrow morning: hogwarts has seriously become my home. the magical world is really where i feel safe and happy, and that is not ending. the movies are done, and years ago the actual story finished, but it isn't disappearing. i have those books right next to my bed and probably will the rest of my life. i can pop a movie in anytime and see my beloved ronald's face. i can go home for a visit any day, any time. it's okay. i feel lucky to have been part of this huge experience. i am so glad that i opened harry potter and the sorcerers stone when i was eleven years old. it is ingrained in me and that will never end.
jo rowling, you amazing woman. thank you for harry. thank you for gifting the world with this perfect, perfect other world. i don't know that i would have been kind enough to share it! i might have kept it all to myself. and thank you dan radcliffe, emma watson and rupert grint- for being the only imaginable harry, hermione and ron.