Harry Potter

It's no secret that I love Harry Potter. And tonight is the premiere of the last movie, meaning all of my social networks are full of statuses about how everyone is excited to be at midnight showings all across the country. Unfortunately, because all of my friends are miles and states away, I will unfortunately not be seeing the film until tomorrow morning. A few years ago this would have been a major problem for me, but I'm twenty now. I'm mature. I swear. Still, I have the compulsion to commemorate this night and my nerdy dedication in some way. So I suppose I am going to reflect and remember all the great times I have had because of Harry Potter and how much I truly owe this series my whole generation has grown up with.

Oh, does that mean another list? I suppose so. Win-win.

-The day Deathly Hallows (the book) was released, it just so happened my yearly week at band camp began. So I think it was understandable that I spent almost every moment I was not marching, playing off-key, or sweating on a football field buried in the book. I was reading so much my friend referred to me leaving the group to read as me visiting my boyfriend, Harry. I didn't fight this.

Also, if for some reason, anyone ever needs proof of my incredible, lifelong nerdiness, just see the above passage. Harry Potter and band camp. This is my life.

-In the summer of 2009, I had just graduated and was enjoying frequenting many, many grad parties. When the Half-Blood Prince movie came out, I was approximately four days from moving across the country, leaving my hometown and my best friends. The midnight showing was the last big hurrah I had with some of the most important people to me. My best friend and I were too poor to buy any of those cheesy Hot Topic shirts, so we just made our own.

It also turns out I didn't need to have paid for the movie, because my friend, who came hours beforehand to get seats, just pulled me from the line and brought me into the theater. Oh wait- nevermind. That was Twilight DON'T YOU JUDGE ME.

-My senior year, we had an assignment for AP Psychology, where we were given a bunch of random lines, and had to make them into distinguishable pictures and objects. I decided to make mine a series of Harry Potter-related doodlings. It was AMAZING. I just quite literally tore apart my closet looking for it, because I know for a fact I saved it, but tragically was unable to find it. I'm very sorry. Also, I gave the idea of doing a similar thing to my friend, who did his as Lord of the Rings, and then actually won the prize for being one of the best. And he didn't even share his award of a Snickers with me. Oh, the injustice.

-Needless to say, I was terrified to start college. I was in an entirely new area, attending a state school where tons of people would know other people from their high schools, and I most definitely would not. But I was able to bond right away with the roommate the school assigned me over our shared obsession with Harry Potter. I believe the first few sentences we ever said to each other went something like this: me-I see from your Facebook profile that you like Harry Potter. This could work. Hayley- Saying I like Harry Potter is a bit of an understatement.

The year we shared a room included taping "Lumos" and "Nox" notes on our light swtich, seeing Half Blood Prince in the student union, drawing Harry Potter doodles on our dry erase board and her giving me a wand for Christmas.

-The trip I took to Edinburgh this winter was pretty much entirely fueled by Harry Potter motivations. I know I already wrote a complete post about this, but still. We were regulars in the Elephant House, where JK Rowling wrote bits of Philosopher's Stone, for the three days we were there, I participated in the awesome Harry grafitti that exists in the bathroom there, and we saw many familiar names in the local cemetary. Plus, that's where my friend Emily bought her strawberry hat. I know that's not really relevant, but it's pretty vital to the history of our friendship. And friendship is a key theme in Harry Potter. So BAM.

-This past spring, I was able to attend an event for the DVD release of DH part 1, which I have also previously described here. Basically, I have the signatures of Tonks, Mr Weasley, Luna, Griphook, and Neville. And I managed to not puke on Matthew Lewis, so that day, I succeeded.

-On our day trip to Oxford, also this spring, we saw the steps the kids wait on before heading into the Great Hall to be Sorted, and we recreated that scene with Malfoy offering Harry his jerktastic friendship. Also, can we all just appreciate my friend Stephen's face? Pretty sure we told him, "He just insulted your family- look embarassed" and he gave us that golden expression.

*sigh*

I love Harry Potter.