I’m kind of phoning it in with this week’s Friday Spotlight. But I think I have a pretty decent reason. I’ve mentioned before that I live in San Antonio, Texas, and while San Antonio thankfully did not get hit by Hurricane Harvey, my hometown of Corpus Christi did. Luckily, my mom was able to drive up from Corpus to San Antonio last Thursday night. She stayed with me until Monday night, and fortunately my home wasn’t damaged too badly. My mom and I could not stop watching the news for updates as Harvey made landfall and I didn’t know if I was going to be called in to work, so I didn’t read at all over the weekend. And then when I did go to work on Tuesday and Wednesday, it was a bit crazy as my hospital is taking care of evacuees from Corpus and other areas hit by Harvey on top of the patients we usually have from San Antonio. So I have been a little bit exhausted. I want to shout out all of the other healthcare workers and first responders who have been absolute angels during Harvey. I am also sending thoughts and prayers to all of those who have been affected.
I didn’t want to completely miss out on posting this week, though. I am trying to keep Friday Spotlights as reviews of my recent reads, but since I haven’t read anything new that I haven’t already recently posted about, I was thinking about what I could write about. And then I realized that today is September 1st, aka the day all young witches and wizards go back to Hogwarts. And it is also officially 19 years later, aka the day that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child begins. So I figured it would be the perfect Friday Spotlight.
I have written on here previously about Harry Potter when I did my reviews last year during my yearly re-read of the series. But I don’t think I really went into my love for the series and exactly what it has meant to me these past 18 or so years.
I have always been a slow reader and because of that, I despised reading when I was younger. I only picked up Sorcerer’s Stone because a) my sister had read it and loved it (and I wanted to be cool like my sister) and b) it was worth a lot of AR (accelerated reader) points and I needed them for school. Lo and behold, my life was changed. I still wasn’t the biggest fan of reading unless it was Harry Potter but it did set up the stage for me to pick up other books like A Series of Unfortunate Events, the Clique series, and Gossip Girl as I got older. I really think that Harry Potter is the reason that I am the reader that I am today.
And while admittedly I don’t have that many memories of reading Sorcerer’s Stone, Chamber of Secrets, or Prisoner of Azkaban for the first time, I vividly remember reading Goblet of Fire during Latchkey after school while listening to the end credits song to Moulin Rouge! on repeat on my walkman. Even today, when I hear that song, I am back in the cafeteria of my elementary school reading about the Quidditch World Cup. This memory is just one of many that I have attached to Harry Potter.
I don’t remember exactly when this occurred, but at one point, my sister, her friend, and I had created “character” profiles for ourselves that included what our wands were made of, what house we were in (we were all Gryffindors, which I would identify as until about two-ish years ago when I realized that I am very much a Ravenclaw), what our schedules were going to be, and for my sister and her friend, what Quidditch position they played (in our scenario, I was just a first year and therefore ineligible). It was my earliest engagement in RPG and still my favorite, to be honest. I’m like 99% positive that if I were to go back home and look in my guest room, I’d find the book where we had everything printed (on awesome galaxy paper). We also made our wands using the rods from old hangers and took turns wearing my mom’s college graduation robe. We got these awesome bottles from Pier 1 Imports and filled them with water and food coloring to make potions. Those days were some of my absolute favorite from my childhood.
I also remember going to midnight release at my local Barnes and Noble for Deathly Hallows. I hadn’t gone to the previous ones because either my mom would or she had our books shipped directly to the house. It was so much fun to just wander around the store and interact with other Harry Potter fans, see all of the different costumes, and do the different activities that the store had set up. I didn’t get my book until later that day (as we had opted for the shipping rather than the actual picking up) but I remember staying up and tearing through the book. My sister got to the part where Mrs. Weasley kills Bellatrix and screamed out “GO MRS. WEASLEY” so loud that I heard it in my room through a closed door. Which made me want to read even faster because I just HAD to know what Mrs. Weasley did. And then I proceeded to scream out, too. I’m pretty sure my mom had a good laugh at the two of us.
The first HP movie that I saw at midnight was Half-Blood Prince. I spent the week leading up to the movie hanging out with my sister in Austin and her roommate. We got to the theater ridiculously early because we were just so excited. We took silly pictures as we waited and when the movie was over, we proceeded to stay up and have a lengthy discussion about what we liked and didn’t like about the movie. I also proceeded to proclaim on Facebook that Half-Blood Prince was my favorite Harry Potter movie.
When I was done with my AP exams my senior year, my teachers didn’t really have us doing anything in class. So that meant I had two weeks of half of my days being blow-off classes. So I toted around a bag full of arts and crafts supplies as I was working on a scrapbook for my best friend (who was also graduating high school) and a Harry Potter present for my sister (who was just about to finish her first year of law school). I made her her own Potter Puppet Pals, replicas of some of the props from A Very Potter Musical (which she had introduced to me), and a book full of recipes and lore from the books. It was seriously the best way to end my senior year.
Deathly Hallows Part Two came out the summer before I went to college and my best friend, sister, and I splurged and got tickets for the double feature of Part One and Part Two that my theater was offering. We got dressed up, took pictures, went to Chick-Fil-A, and then made it to the movie theater. Part One went perfectly and then there was about a thirty minute break before Part Two was supposed to start. Only, it started to play almost right after Part One finished. Except, it was green and pink, almost like a watermelon. And then it stopped. And then the actual movie started playing for about three minutes. Only to stop again with a theater employee coming in to explain that legally they couldn’t start the movie until midnight. Everyone in the theater was crushed, but we knew that there was only about 20 more minutes until the movie would start for real. When Fred died, someone in the theater who was dressed up as him actually got up and left. That night is still one of my favorite nights that I’ve ever had.
For Christmas my freshman year of college, my sister got me my very own wand. And what made it so special is that she chose one that was meant for healers, and as I eventually went on to become a registered nurse, it was one of the most thoughtful presents I’ve ever received. Along with the acceptance letter to Hogwarts that my best friend got for me for my 21st birthday. I literally cried when I opened both of them.
I joined UT Austin’s chapter of The Harry Potter Alliance, Keep Austin Wizard, my freshman year of college. It was one of the first places that I felt like I truly belonged once I got to college. I am forever grateful for the friendships I made, the nerdy discussions we had, and the campaigns that we participated in. It was also through HPA that I tried my first butterbeer, played Muggles and Wizards (our version of Sharks and Minows), went to my first Yule Ball, and watched Quidditch for the first time.
There are countless other memories I have related to Harry Potter but I’ve hit the ones that stick out the most to me. However, I haven’t even touched why the story itself is so important to me.
I grew up feeling like I was friends with Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Ginny, and Luna and like I wasn’t alone. I felt like McGonagall, Sirius, Lupin, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and Hagrid would take care of me if I was in the wizarding world. I learned that good always wins. I learned that friendships can be messy but that you are always there for your true friends. I learned the meaning of bravery. I learned the meaning of sacrifice. I learned that society can treat others poorly (through the treatment of house elves and the whole ideal of being pure-blood). I learned that even a teenager can change the world. My first fictional crush was Oliver Wood (and let’s be honest, I still have a crush on him). Hermione Granger was my first role model. I wanted to be her when I grew up. It meant so much to read about a girl who was not only smart, but kind, brave, and incredibly loyal. When we were introduced to Luna, I saw that it was okay to be different. I just, I have a lot of feelings toward this series and I’m having a really hard time putting them into words.
I will always be a Harry Potter fangirl. And I will always add to my Harry Potter collection. To date, I have four complete copies of the series (my original paperbacks + hardcover of Deathly Hallows, the U.K. paperbacks, the French paperbacks, and the audiobooks narrated by Jim Dale), and two complete copies of the Hogwarts library (the originals and the newest editions that came out earlier this year). I am also working on completing the French audiobooks and the illustrated editions. I have quite a few pieces of memorabilia, including my wand, a full sized Marauders’ Map, a laptop case, fan art, and several Funko Pops, to name a few.
No matter how old I get, Harry Potter will always be a huge part of my life. My sister and I are going to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in February as a (extremely late) nursing school graduation present for me and a birthday present for her (we’re going the week of her 30th). Harry Potter connected us in ways we never could have imagined and so it seemed only right that we would take our first “sisters only” trip and go there.
I’m getting super emotional just thinking about all of my memories connected with this series and what all it means to me, so I think I’m going to leave it here.
I would love to hear everyone’s memories/favorite moments related to Harry Potter.
And happy first day at Hogwarts!
NerdyNurseDaria 