Just as a disclaimer, this is not a why I love Harry post, rather how I feel my life was different because of the books. So the fanatics might not care...
I would say that Harry Potter has impacted my life. Without being able to change the past/know the future, I would say it impacted me dramatically...
changed me even.
So, I don't really care for Harry Potter.
Yeah, weird to start off that way. I guess this story starts out in elementary school. Kindergarten through 3rd grade I went to Abby Sawyer Elementary School (Which just took down the pirate ship on the playground!!! WTF!!! They built that my first year there! We had a "christening" party days before my first day of school! All that, GONE!!!) but I digress...
My family moved across town and I attended Gertrude Fellows Elementary School, such lovely names am I right? Now, I have no idea how important which elementary school I went to is to this story, but some theorists say it may have made an impact. Fourth grade I was the new kid. Is he serious? Whatever. So I had to make friends with people I didn't know. Luckily, I knew a few kids from preschool, but I didn't have anything in common with these Fellows veterans. One day during class; Fall '99, who knows if I had any friends yet, I heard some classmates talking about this book which I had never heard of. They were discussing it in the back of the class and were getting excited and whatnot, and I took interest to this.
I asked them,
What are you guys talking about?
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
What?
Harry Potter, the third book just came out.
I don't... huh?
You don't know Harry Potter?!?
(and you know the tone you use when someone hasn't seen or heard of something you assume everyone else has, and subsequently attempt to shame them in front of everyone else for not knowing it? right there.)
Not making a good case for being the cool new kid.
I had never heard of this book, and it's not like I was the biggest bookworm either. We've all been tricked into summer book lists by the public library, but I kept it real. Though my go-to book was Captain Underpants. Side-note: Who didn't love book orders?
So I was informed of the wonderful world of wizardry and how cool this book series was. I don't want to say I jumped on the bandwagon, but Harry Potter seemed like the Beanie Babies of my fourth grade. Everybody was doing it. I should've never taken the tags off...
Relating back to my schools, did my friends at Sawyer not know about HP either? Or was this a North Side School sort of thing. I mean kids from Northridge went to Fellows... just sayin'
Anyway, I asked my parents for the first book because I was curious. I got it for my birthday and I was excited to read. What? Did I say that? I read it, and I actually enjoyed it. It was not a bad book. I looked forward to getting the next one. I can't tell if it was just the intrigue of the book, or me trying to catch up with my classmates in an attempt to be socially accepted. The world may never know.
I got the second book some time later, and read that in the car on my way to my grandparents over winter break. I zoomed through that thing. I liked it a lot as well. When I came back to school, I made this killer book report with drawings, themes, and of course poetry. A+. yup.
So was I hooked? I don't know. But I really wanted to keep reading the series. So of course I asked for the third installment for the next gift receiving holiday. Thanks to Uncle Dan and Aunt Nancy, I got it. EXCEPT... this is what changed the game completely...
this was the paperback version. How could this be? I had envisioned the entire series neatly organized on mahogany shelves of my future homes library. All in hardcover of course. Encyclopedia style. But this dream was quickly shattered by a short, stubby, paperback version of Prisoner of Azkaban. It was small, hard to turn the pages, the book didn't feel right in your hands, it was disgusting. So I set it aside and distastefully thought about buying my own hardback version.
But I was a kid, I didn't have money, and that idea was brushed under the bed, much like the lowly paperback Potter. In my unwelcoming actions of a gift I had asked for, I misplaced the book, never to be seen again actually. I have never found that book again, nor picked up another Harry Potter book to continue reading... and that's how Harry Potter changed my life.
Looking back, it seems like a spoiled, superficial thing to do as a preteen. Not reading a book because it wasn't like my other two. But that's how I felt. I wanted the "real" version of the book. But I didn't get it. I didn't continue on the wildy whimsical adventures of wizards and witchcraft, and I grew up just fine.
A few years later, the first movie came out. Needless to say, I was excited to see it. It was a great movie. Critics can all agree. It was fun and exciting. Everyone wanted to see more, and we all did. The movies really helped the popularity along with my peers. People were talking about it more, and I don't know why, it never got me re-motivated to keep reading. People were so excited for the books to come out they would wait in line. Fans would dress up and camp out in front on movie theaters to be the first to see the movies. But I was not one of them. I never attended a Harry Potter party. I never played Harry Potter board games. I did get this sweet Harry Potter game where you have to move this ball lifted by a fan through this obstacle course, BUT I never memorized spells or read the follow up books about unicorns and the dark arts.
And now with the final movie coming out, it is all coming to an end.
Seeing people around get so excited and emotional about this is a strange feeling to me. There is a part of me that wanted to be part of that. There are parts of me that wants to know how to make body hair grow at the flick of a wand and parts of me that wants to read about the inner workings of the Hogwarts nooks and crannies. I wanted to be excited about a midnight showing and ordering my tickets a month in advance. I wanted to do all the stuff a Harry Potter freak would want to do (freak used nicely here). But I didn't. What if I did? Would I have the same friends? Obviously, I made friends with the people who weren't obsessed with the book, but would I have gotten to know different people? Would my obsession lead me to do different things? Would I read more? Would I be playing HP video games instead of Madden? Would I have been a different person? All of these questions can only be answered by J.K. Rowling herself.
This doesn't tear at my heartstrings or have me on the edge of my seat, but what if I would've read book 3?
I don't know, would having a new fascination really changed me that much? It would've given me something to be excited about and look forward to. I could be arguing the intentions of a character on message boards or counting the days until Part 2's release, but I don't really care now and it is just crazy to think of what could've been. I haven't even seen the last 3 movies...
Now I am in NO WAY blaming Uncle Dan and Aunt Nancy for changing my life. In fact, it may have been for the better. I love them very much and thank them for everything they've done for me. I am so close to being a Harry Potter fan though...
Maybe, I will go check out a FREE copy from the library. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. But I saw the movie anyway so I know what it's like, but... maybe that will spark something. I may read the rest and then finish the film series or I could play basketball with my friends. The world is a crazy place, and Harry Potter changed it for me.
