Raise your wands to the sky because JK Rowling has released the eight Harry Potter book! This release comes on the 36th birthday of “The Boy Who Lived”- Harry Potter. Potterheads alike lined bookstores and streets, and dressed in Hogwarts attire to celebrate the newest arrival to the successful franchise.
Personally this eighth book had been much anticipated for me, I had pre-ordered my copy two months prior to the release date and anxiously waited for the day. As for many, Harry Potter holds a special place in my heart. They are the books that made me fall in love with reading, the movies that I grew up watching at sleepovers and seeing the midnight showings with my Uncle. Once the seventh and final book was released we waited anxiously for the movies to catch up and put into life the pages that we read.
Most of us could not put the books down, claiming that we belonged to the beloved houses we were reading about, feeling at home when we watched Harry, Hermione, and Ron walk through the Great Hall and were welcomed by their friends. We laughed when Seamus played with pyrotechnics and cried when Snape died after confessing his love for Lily Potter.
We grew up with these characters, they taught us more life lessons than most required high school readings; loyalty, bravery, honesty, and friendship. As the last scene of the eight movie ended most wondered IF there would be more to the story, and IF we would get to see these characters evolve into the parents we hoped they would be.
Our questions have been answered with this 8th and as for now final installment. We start the book where we left off on Platform 9 3/4 , Harry, Ginny, Hermonie, and Ron are watching their children leave for Hogwarts reassuring them that it will be the best years of their lives. However Harry’s son Albus does not seem so sure that he will be placed in Gryffindor let alone live up to the family name. It is throughout a turn of events that Albus finds that even in the smallest of people and the most unlikely of friendships can one truly become a hero.
After finishing the book it occurred to me that Albus was everything that Harry is not, he was not popular, he struggled in school, and was not athletic. He did not feel that he was worthy of such a name as Potter. I feel that in today's society this book shared the message that it is not who we follow that will define who we are but the legacy we leave behind. We need not to worry about those who came before us, we cannot compare our accomplishments to those of our parents or peers; instead we need to focus on the goals and accomplishments we must make in order to fulfill our own life prophecies.
As the books that I grew up with come to a close it is imperative to remember to ALWAYS keep your imagination flowing and to strive for the happiest of days.
As the great Albus Dumbledore said, “Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times. If one only remembers to turn on the light”.
