Letters Between Two Potter Fans

As many of you are aware, the final part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is to be released in ten days.
My good friend Nieriel and I grew up with Harry Potter, and are not at all ready to have it end. These e-mails are our discussions on the topic.

Me: I... I just can't completely grasp that it's actually over. I can't imagine a life without Harry Potter. Just looking back and remembering everything about our childhood... it all wouldn't have been so great without Potter. Every new school year, there was something new: A movie, book release...something. Everyone made friends because of a mutual love of the series. Nobody hid their love for it. Ever. 
I can just remember reading the first book every night before bedtime, going to the first movie with Sean and my Dad, and we were the only ones in the theatre... Hiding from Voldemort at night, staring out my window for ages hoping to see an owl instead of the occasional seagull. If someone you knew hadn't read or seen any Potter, you lent them the book and waited for their obsession to start. 

    We are the leaders of the Harry Potter generation, Nieriel! Think about it: We grew up and matured as Harry grew up and matured. We learned as Harry did. We loved, lost, and gained many a friend and loved one just like Harry. What would our lives be like had it not been for Harry? Had it not been for Hermione? Or Ron? Or The Weasley Family? Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Mad-Eye, Snape, Hagrid? WithoutDumbledore? Would we still be reading what we are, writing what we are today without the Potter series? 

    It's a world-wide phenomena that we made famous, Nieriel. Us, the young readers, the bookworms, the buyers of useless merchandise, the people with posters, the children who wished they had glasses just so we could be like Harry, the children who ran around speaking in a fake British accent just so we could be like our favourite characters. We, the Fans of Harry Potter. 

I just don't want it to be over. Ever.

Nieriel: I don't think I can remember a time in my life without Harry Potter. As a child, my mom would read it to my brother and I every night, and she fell in love with it so much that she would keep reading to herself and got farther than Ryan and I, and she would keep hinting to us that awesome things happen in the other books, or reading really funny scenes to me from the other books, and we'd laugh imagining it. I saw almost all the movies in theatres, saw all the midnight releases from the fifth one up, play pretend with the Harry Potter characters when I was in second grade......

 

My mom and I always love this, but think about it: there were NO midnight releases for books before Harry Potter. It all started with that. I remember going to the midnight release of the Order of the Phoenix dressed as Hedwig (my mom made the costume....in fact, I think I still have it in the attic), and the same for the Half-Blood Prince. The one I'll remember best, though, is definitely the Deathly Hallows release. That was when I had officially become a completely ballistic fan of the series and had read all the books, so I got all the costumes and jokes and everything. It was such a magical night (no pun intended), and in some ways I'm glad the night was so amazing for me, because it was the very last one, for the books at least, and the book releases had a special magic to them then the movie ones. I guess because half the people at the movie midnight premieres hadn't read the books, so half the crowd was just not into it. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't wish to be able to go to just one more book release for Harry Potter. If I could go back in time, I would go back to the midnight release of Deathly Hallows and drink it all in, just one more time.

 

GOD, I.......I don't want it to end, either. You're right. We are so lucky to have been a part of the Harry Potter generation.

This post from AverageWizard made me cry, but not as much as your email has:

To those who cried when they counted up the deaths. To those who waited in line for hours at midnight to get the first copies of the book. To those who watched every movie. To those who were very annoyed when some of the movies just didn't match up. To those who cried the second time they read the book, and Fred said, "When I get married." and they realized it wouldn't happen. To those whose books fell to pieces from being read to much. To the Harry Potter generation. To Dumbledore's Army. To the Muggle branch of Dumbledore's Army. To Dobby, Fred, Hedwig, Tonks, Lupin, and all of the nameless dead wizards. To The Greatest Series Of All Time. To Hogwarts, and To Dumbledore and Sirius. To everyone who will cry after the movie. To Us. The Harry Potter Generation. LONG LIVE HOGWARTS!!!

Me: Oh, Lord, that made me misty-eyed. :)

The wonder of it all is that it will never really be "over". Hogwarts will never die. Harry will never leave our hearts. 

(Back in Brigantine, my local library had a "Harry Potter Day" every year during the summer. We would go in, get sorted in our house, get our wands, schedules, and tour the library as if it was Hogwarts. I remember fondly making slime in "Potions" class... I was a Ravenclaw! :D)

But for people to say that it's just a book series honestly makes me ill; It's so much more than that! 

Yes, we make fun of Twilight endlessly (mostly because it's detestable) but their fanbase is nothing compared to the Harry Potter Generation! The people who make fun and scoff at Harry Potter are the ones who fawn over Edward and Jacob and write horrendous fan-fics about them.

It's different for the Potter fans. Yes, we are all guilty of writing HP fan-fiction, but the majority of them are remarkable! Stupendous, even! Without Harry Potter, I wouldn't be a writer. Without Harry, I wouldn't enjoy reading as much as I do. Without these books, I don't think I'd have ever become who am I today without the confidence that Jo Rowling gave me through her writing. 

To quote Andrew Futral: “Harry Potter is about confronting fears, finding inner strength, and doing what is right in the face of adversity. Twilight is how important it is to have a boyfriend."

Nieriel: I swear, I am keeping every last ounce of HP memorabilia, and when I have kids I am going to read Harry Potter to them as early as possible, pass down my Harry Potter memorabilia to them when they're old enough, let them see it as soon as they grow old enough to be able to show some interest in it, and I WILL make sure that they have read all seven books and seen all eight movies by the time I die. I will quote Harry Potter to them, I will play the movie soundtracks to them while they're infants (and even in my womb), and I will put up the posters in their bedrooms. When they're teenagers, I will show them AVPM and AVPS (assuming Youtube is still around) and eagerly engage them in HP/AVPM/AVPS-related jokes and puns whenever possible. 

I will make sure they know, with pride, that their mother was a major member of the Harry Potter generation.  And who knows, maybe--JUST maybe--they'll start up a whole new generation of Potter fans.  

Me: Do it! So am I! 

And who knows? You or I, or any other Potter fan could be the next J.K. Rowling. 

It's just such a magnificent series! (Even the Doctor loves it! You saw that scene from Doctor Who when he quotes it, yeah?)

I don't think there will ever be a series as successful and as loved by so many as Harry Potter is, but mark my words, our writing will come VERY close! 

Nieriel: Yes, Harry Potter will forever go down in history as one of the greatest book series of all times.

Me: Indeed, my elven friend.

**EDIT**

No, my friend's name is not really Nieriel. For her sake, I use her name in Elvish when she is mentioned to make sure she is comfortable with what she is being mentioned in.