Here we are
As zero hour approaches, we are being hit with not only the actual evidence that this is the end, but the flurry of emotions that everyone in the “Potterverse” is inevitably feeling.
The only comparison I can make is the feeling of graduation week from high school. You are anticipating the momentous occasion and you know that nothing will be the same after it happens. You have gone on a journey with a group of people and you have ambivalent feelings about it ending. On one hand, you feel excitement- the future is about to start, on the other hand you feel unready and wonder where the time has gone. Throughout the time leading up to graduation, exciting things happen every day. One day there is a Senior Dinner, the next day, an awards ceremony. Throughout this time there is a mad scramble to sign as many yearbooks as possible and to try to hold on to the moment for as long as possible.
These last few months and even more so these last few weeks have been like this for me. We started on a journey 10 years ago- some of us were fans from the beginning, some of us were turned on to the books by an eager relative or friend. We are all here because we have fallen in love with something.
Everyone says that Harry Potter “turned a generation back onto reading”. But they did so much more than that. They allowed children of all ages to become immersed in a world of fantasy, drama and mystery. They allowed us an escape when life felt overwhelming. They allowed us to read about a boy who was probably not so different than we were. A boy who made a difference whether he wanted to or not.
So, now I would like to publicly thank JK Rowling for giving us Harry Potter. We know that she didn’t write the books for us, but the fact that they have touched so many of our lives is a testament to the wonderful work she has done. So, for: the trips to Diagon Alley, the Quiddich matches, the Prophecy, the relationships (R/H forever!!), the thestrals, the earwax (alas!), the DA, the nitwit, blubber, odment and tweak, the Mauraders, the spells, the potions, the professors, the 1:1 talks between Dumbledore and Harry, the O.W.L.s, the indignant looks of Hermione, the jokes, the Weasleys, the house elves, the pure evil of characters like Bellatrix and Umbridge, the chamber of secrets, the exclamations of Ron (Blimey, Harry!), the warewolves, the brooms, the Daily Prophet, the Felix Felicis, the horcruxes, the Slytherins who we loved to hate, the mandrakes, the blast ended skrewts, the Cedrics, the Creevy brothers, the OoTP……(we could go on and on)….Thank you.
And to all of our fellow Potterverse fans. Thank you for the fansites, the websites, the podcasts, the blogs, the fanfiction, the fan art, the wizard rock and so much more. This has been a wonderful journey to embark on with all of you.
“And now Harry, let us step out into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.”
-Penny
July 20th, 2007 at 9:52 am
You completely summed up what I have been feeling since last week. It’s so close. And we Potter Fans wouldn’t ever have bonded, we wouldn’t have ever become friends, we wouldn’t have had an escape route from the muggle world, if Jo hadn’t gotten on that train and thought of Harry Potter. If she became discouraged when several publishers turned her down, then Harry would only have remained a character living in the back of her mind for years. I’m glad she decided to persrevere…let this be a life lesson from Jo.
She turned a generation back on to reading. She made and will make millions of children and adults happy. She created a beautiful world we can escape to anytime we want to. She…I could go on and on for many hours without fully explaining how she has changed the world. And it all goes back to that train ride 17 years ago.
I cannot say much more on this matter other than thank you, Jo. Thanks for everything.
July 20th, 2007 at 9:55 am
Ohmigosh!! I cant wait for the book to come out. I am having mixed feelings though. I don’t want for it to end. I know that Bloomsberry has the depression station or whatever… But I dont live in the UK so that could be a problem… Anyways. I am PSYCHED!!
July 20th, 2007 at 10:07 am
My tummy is totally FILLED with little squirmy things right now. BUT the good part is I’m going to the midnight release with my dad!!! It is next to impossible to sit still for more then 15 seconds. I CAN”T WAIT!!!!!
July 20th, 2007 at 10:17 am
I’m having weird mixed feelings. I want to laugh, I want to cry, I want to mourn, I want to eat, I want to get out and do something, but I’m afraid of spoilers, I want to to stay indoors, I want to sit on the porch, I want to be peaceful, but I’m reckless, I want to listen to my iPod, but I want to hear sounts other than podcasts and music, I want to take a shower, I’m nervous, scared, confused, anxeious, but most of all exciteted!
July 20th, 2007 at 10:36 am
Mine gets here tomorrow (we’re a day ahead of you guys by the dateline) . . . Ambivalence is definitely the word here . . . still, like finishing up “the Return of the Kings” the first time, it will be a fantastic experience no doubt . . .
My wife invited her friends over on Sunday – needless to say, I will be absent, locked in my office “working” through Harry’s finale . . . you would think she’d know better . . . duh.
BTW – I flamed the book reviewer via email to the NY Times. What an opportunistic idiot…
Signing off (for real this time) until I finish the book . . .
July 20th, 2007 at 10:41 am
Thank you Penny. That is just beautiful. One of the things I’m most grateful for is the three wonderful friends that Jo has created for us- I feel like I know the trio, and it’s so hard to say goodbye. Better to have loved and lost, I suppose.
Maybe we could organize an HPprogs “thank-you” book and send it to Jo.
July 20th, 2007 at 10:50 am
Ooh Michal that is a good idea. Thank-you books are always fun.
July 20th, 2007 at 11:47 am
Penny, that was beautiful.
It made me cry…
And I’m at work lol!
But I feel exactly the same way you do, and it is a lot like graduation actually, I kind of never thought about it like that before.
And Michal, I think a thank you book would be awesome as well!
July 20th, 2007 at 11:50 am
I like the idea of a thank you book. What would it entail? Michal- do you want to arrange it or does anyone else want to do it?
July 20th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Nicely written, Penny!
Sadly I’m at work as well, and I’m so antsy for tonight! Ten years in the making…and it seemed like it’s crept up on us! But I am just really looking forward for DH, and I know that we’ll all be talking about it for a long time!
Whew, this year has been emotional overload, first graduating high school just a couple months ago, and now this! LOL but it’s all been great, and I’m psyched for midnight!
-Spens
July 20th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
“So, now I would like to publicly thank JK Rowling for giving us Harry Potter. We know that she didn’t write the books for us….”
You are wrong about that. She did write it for you. And for all of us….
Thanks again for helping to make the journey as enjoyable as the destination.
July 20th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
(Yes! Something else to think about!!!)
Hmm… I don’t think I’d mind arranging it. The way I’m seeing it now would be people emailing letters (or artwork, etc) just organizing it into a binder and sending it off to Jo.
Any other ideas?
July 20th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Oh that was beautiful Penny you completely hit all the things flowing through my mind. It’s a grand bittersweet feeling and in a matter of hours its going to be all over. For a while I dreaded this day but I’m happy it’s here in the end, we finally get to see what happens to our beloved Harry Potter.
July 20th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
I’m sitting here, hours away from the midnight book release. I’m so not ready for this to be the end. As a preteen geeky girl, I used to take long walks looking for some secret passage to middle earth so I could go find hobbits and elves. As a grown woman, I have lost myself in the pages of Rowling’s books. I guess I’ve always wanted to believe that there are magical places that exist.
I remember first starting to read the books and I for some reason remember when they were about to make the first movie and there was some interview with Daniel Radcliffe that said that when he found out he had been selected to play Harry Potter he had been in the bathtub when his mother told him.
I feel like and the hearts of both the 9 year old reader and the 50 year old reader. I have been amazed at Rowling’s incredibly creative mind.
I am just sad to see this all end.
Thank you, Jo, for sharing your brilliant creativity with us.
July 20th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
That summed up everything beautifully Penny, I have 2 hours until the book is released here in NZ and I woke up this morning full of anticipation and excitement.
I was in my mid 20’s when I started on my HP journey and have loved every moment of the books and the community. I can’t see my journey ending with book 7 as I’m sure like Jo’s daughter my books will be read and re read until I have to buy new ones and then hopefully my children will do the same.
I have loved the way the books have opened up a whole world to the thought of magic, fantasy etc especially when everytime you turn on the TV to watch the news it is full of dread and despair. For this I thank Jo, because I don’t think the world is the same for children as the one I grew up in and I think these books bring back imagination to those who read them. The fact that we can ourselves imagine ourselves in her world, sort ourselves into one of the houses on our personality is pure genius.
I would like to thank her personally for fighting to get Harry published because I don’t think the world would be the same without him.
Thanks also to you Penny and Greg for giving us an “adult” perspective on HP, being an older fan left me sometimes in limbo like I shouldn’t have been reading the books, but you have taken it to a new level with your intelligent insights and theories.
I will still be here after reading the book (my children are going to be motherless for the next 24 hours) and I hope to continue my HP journey as he has now become part of my psyche.
July 20th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
Yeah, I know, and after all this waiting, amazon.com has to go along and mess up my credit card info on their server. They didn’t email me about it until after the cutoff date for preordering it, so i may have to be one of those super-nerds outside walmart waiting to get in at midnight tonight.
July 20th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Ds man, That happened to me too. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix release. It screwed up. I haven’t preordered anymore books. I am the super-nerd outside Banes and Nobel waiting to get my wristband to get my book.
July 20th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
In a few hours, at 10AM the bookstores here in Barcelona will open and I will lay my hands on Deathly Hallows, finally. Here is a last minute theory:
Jo Rowling said that Dumbledore is positively dead. If we were to think that she is lying about that, I have a theory that might explain how he survived. Fawkes is a really old and smart creature and Dumbledore was originally the transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts. What if… Dumbledore had been transfiguring Fawkes to a human form for years and teaching him how to talk? Then… Is it posible that the avadakedavra spell that Snape shot actually hit Fawkes instead of Dumbledore, cause it was really Fawkes who was that night at the top of the tower? Fawkes was impersonating Dumbledore. Since the bird is immortal, no one really died. I know it is far fetched, but I believe it to be feasible. I’ll find out in a few hours.
July 20th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
I’m crying!!!
Well this is my last comment until I read the book so everybody have a great weekend! (OHHH! I’M SO EXCITED!!! THERES ABOUT THREE HUNDRED PEOPLE HERE AT BORDERS!!!)
July 20th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
But why would JK lie? It would decrease her status and make the book less enjoyable for the reader. Then again, i guess it doesnt matter since 2.5+ million people have already reserved books, plus those who are waiting at barnes and noble =).
July 20th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
I am stuck at work right now and keep yelling to everyone on the hour when I will leave this place and head to Borders to pick up my copy. It is a bit annoying acctually…lol They are all used to it though because I have been counting down for a Month.. I will probably be up all night reading which will get me in trouble tommorow because. I have to work. Lord give me the strength to put it down. Penny’s words were right on the money for many of us. We will never be rid of Harry though because we will read and reread as long as we own the books.
July 20th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
Emotions are icky! I feel like I got cooties.
July 20th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
Michal I think that the thank you book idea is great. That would be a good plan to start with just a Binder of sorts in my opinion. I think Jo would love that.
July 20th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
OMG I have on my wristband! Only…*checks timer* 3 hours and 54 minutes my time! Yeah!
Fernando…what an intresting theory! I wonder how you would teach a bird to talk though…Polly wanna cracker? just doesn’t seem to cut it. And it would have had to act exactly like Dumbledore…and how could it look exactly like Dumbledore, sound like Dumbledore, and even have the same shrivled hand as Dumbledore? Now, Dumbledore would have had to use some pretty advanced magic, and he would, after he transformed him for the 1st time, would have had to transfigure Fawkes’ hand to look like his own. And they had the body, remember? Hagrid carried him to the tomb. Unless Fawkes could be fake dead for hours and be sealed into that tomb forever, not to mention the fire that engulfed the casket after Dumbledore (Fawkes?) was laid to rest. If it was really Fawkes, it wouldn’t have harmed him. How could Fawkes get out? Would he just stay there forever? And where would the real Dumbledore be? Hiding? That is very unDumbledorelike, to me. Plus, JKR said he was dead anyway. And why would she lie to millions of fans?
Sorry I just contridicted that, I had to. It was…called for. Sorry again.
July 20th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
I am indeed becoming a HP Nerd. Just got back from Walmart where they were giving out the wristbands for the midnight selling. =D
July 20th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
I got mine! I got mine!!!
July 20th, 2007 at 8:47 pm
Thank you for finding a way to sum up the feelings most of us are having at the end of this amazing journey but were unable to conjure ourselfs. I first heard of Harry Potter during the summer of 2000 when my little sister (9 at the time, I was 17) told me she thought I’d like them on a family road trip. a few years later after enjoying the first two movies I finally read PoA just prior to it being released on film, and have procceded to read them many times sense. It has been a form of bonding not only between siblings but also parents. I cannot begin to explain or thank Jo for all the Joy that she has given to me let alone everyone else out there, all I can say is thank you for the ride from the bottom of my heart and thank you for letting us crazy fans be able to theorize and have fun in this world that you have created. Thanks for letting us play in your sandbox.
July 21st, 2007 at 7:19 am
I live in Australia, and I have already finished it…please do a podcast on it as soon as possible as some parts confused me and I know you will be able to explain what was going on!
July 21st, 2007 at 9:12 am
That completely and utterly summed it up for me. This has been an amazing ride for fans and I am honored that JKR created a world so fantastic as this for me to be a part of.
I have been asking myself all week — what I am going to do now? I finished the book last night and know I am going to be doing a reread shortly only because I must have missed something — SO MUCH INFORMATION!!
Thanks for letting me come in and join in this little world!
July 21st, 2007 at 4:54 pm
Finished… OH. MY. GOSH. Loved the surprises at the end. Very satisfying if a little confusing initially…
July 21st, 2007 at 5:27 pm
So I’m about 300 pages into the Deathly Hallows and it’s amazing.
THATS ALL IM GOING TO SAY!
I’m spolier-free and I will be until the time is right.
July 21st, 2007 at 9:00 pm
I have finished also. There will obviously be much to speculate about. You guys have to be almost finished, so let us know when you’re done and we’ll start talking.
July 21st, 2007 at 10:13 pm
Just finished DH. NO spoilers here. I do feel a little a little bittersweet. I know how the series ends, but that means the series if over I do feel a little sense of sadness (not book related, do not read anything into this).
July 21st, 2007 at 10:25 pm
I’m done!!!
Excellent book; best one of the bunch if you ask me. Ok, I may be punch drunk from reading all night and all day, but I LOVED it!! We need a podcast to cover all the information and so I can gloat about all the stuff I predicted correctly .
July 21st, 2007 at 10:28 pm
Penny, Are you guys done reading yet?
July 22nd, 2007 at 2:36 am
Just came to let you know that JK Rowling Door is open… There’s only a letter but I guess it’s worth giving a look…. I’m exhausted….I’m not finished yet but I’m loving it!
July 22nd, 2007 at 2:51 am
3/4 of the way thru!!! ALMOST DONE!
July 22nd, 2007 at 6:13 am
I finished almost a day ago. It was the first time a book had brought me to tears (also not plot related, I was pretty overwhelmed in the final 50 or so pages that it was all crashing to a close, whether I was ready or not I had to keep reading). And the funny thing is, usually I would be embarrassed to say that. I mean, it’s a book for crying out loud. But this isn’t just any book, obviously….
I loyally and impatiently await your next episode…. =)
July 22nd, 2007 at 7:29 am
I just finished the book this morning, and, while I’ll need to re-read to get some salient plot points I missed, in two words: “Oh my.” In one word: “Wow.”
I’m looking forward to the lively discussion to take place over the next several weeks and months at HPProgs, and I’ll be steering all my friends here for it as well!
July 22nd, 2007 at 9:13 am
Hello Penny and Greg and all!
I’m done! Finished it at the kitchen counter last night while cooking the kids their dinner
JK is right, it is the best of the lot by far and I’m looking forward to hearing what everyone has to say. What will the first topic of discussion be!?!
Cheers!
July 22nd, 2007 at 10:52 am
I might just wait for the movie to come out.
July 22nd, 2007 at 3:56 pm
because pop culture is still culture, because you’ve stuck with me until the very end, because you dared me to dream about all kinds of magic— good luck, Harry, wherever you are—if you read this, we’re all behind you. Long live Harry Potter.
July 23rd, 2007 at 9:59 am
Lovely letter Penny! You summed it up so well.
I got my copy yesterday morning, and still have about 200 pages left.
Long live Harry Potter! I hope you got the pictures. I really don’t mind if you use any of them.
July 21st, 2008 at 8:22 pm
[...] My final emotional post right before Deathly Hallows came out. I still get tears in my eyes when I re-read it. [...]
March 28th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Wow, I just read this for the first time and it actually brought a tear to my eyes! Even so long after – it completely summed up how I felt/feel about the series!
October 13th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
ive just read that entry and i know what you feel like because the harry potter series changed a genration and it will contuineue to forever . readin that made me feel how grateful i am for these books from such a brillant , unique author who will never be replaced or forgotten , probley in a hundred years time , film directors will remake the films and people will feel how we do about it .
that speach brought a tears to my eyes and id like to say ” THANK YOU SO MUCH J.K.ROWLING ”
“LONG LIVE HARRY POTTER .”
xxx