The 2014 Re-read of Harry Potter

A few pictures of Myself (brown) and my lil Sister (blonde) at Harry
Potter Studios. Excuse my deathly pallour- worst cold ever...

Following a visit to Harry Potter Studio Tours over May half term, I decided that it was time to re-read the Harry Potter series. This is kind of a big deal for me. I've gone about 8 years without a whiff of Potter. I've thought about picking them up again, but was always scared that it wouldn't be as good. I didn't want to break the spell that Hogwarts has had over me for the majority of my life. I can't live in a world where Harry Potter was disappointing.

From the age of about 12 to about 18, I read nothing else. Apart from stuff they made you read at school Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, Abomination and Of Mice and Men, for the record). I remember Prisoner of Azkaban coming out, thinking "GOD another of those stupid Harry Potter books?? What is it, the millionth one?" Yes I was that cool, way too cool for Wizard books. But then I read Philospher's Stone in an afternoon and never looked back.

I read them over and over. I remember my English teacher pleading with me at parents' evening to read something else. Not having any of it. Then  Goblet of Fire came out (after an agonizing wait and many rotations of books 1-3) and that got added to the cycle, then  Order of the Phoenix and so on, round and round until Deathly Hallows in 2007. And then it stopped. It was done. After waiting years for the circle to be complete, it was. I read other things.

Until three weeks ago when I burst the cellophane on my new hardback boxed set and read them again. The only way I can describe it is coming home after a really long holiday. As daft as it sounds, Harry Ron and Hermione are my friends too, even though it's been a while. I earned them with the hours and hours I spent with the books, the held breaths and the tears and the out-loud laughs. The end of Order of the Phoenix still chokes me up and I dawdle towards the end of Half Blood Prince try and delay the inevitable...You feel the rage, grief, pride and struggle as much as anybody in the book, and I'd forgotten how brave and brilliant Neville and Luna are- they're unsung heroes that will die for their friends and their cause. It might not be the most sophisticated prose in the world, but it's so ridiculously powerful and it's storytelling at its finest. It is simply the perfect series.

My sister is currently re-reading now too, as is my Aunty. It's catching #PotterForLife