Getting Into Harry Potter

Post by **Rames** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 11:55 am

All stories added up to this point. Keep posting /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

Post by **Hunter Stone** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 10:34 pm

I had heard about it when it first came out,so I borrowed a copy from my friend,and loved it and I have bought every book the day it has come out,since then.

Post by **Ashley Denver** » Sun Aug 14, 2005 3:31 am

Well in the beginning I was like most anti Harry Potter people. I started seeing a lot of the merchandise everywhere, socks, blankets, glass ornaments, etc and I got really annoyed with it. I didn't even know what Harry Potter was, all I knew was that it looked like some other childish fad coming out.
Then I saw the previews for the first movie come out and the previews confirmed my suspicions that it was some childish book. At that point I didn't know how many books were out and when my sister told me they were probably making movies for every book I rolled my eyes. I still didn't want anything to do with the books or movies and I tried to ignore it the best I could.
About two years ago my neighbours little seven year old boy recieved the third Harry Potter book but he had trouble reading so he asked me to read it to him. I read him the first chapter of it, he was a clever boy and told me that he didn't want me to read anymore because he didn't believe in witches or wizards. I asked him if I could read the rest to myself because I wanted to know what happened.
He told me that I could keep the book if I wanted because he didn't want it and he didn't understand why his friends liked Harry Potter so much. So as soon as I was done babysitting I went home and read the rest of the book, I couldn't put it down because I thought it was really good. I was of course curious about the first and second book since there were references to them in the third book and automatically I went to the public library to get them. I enjoyed both of them and wanted to read the fourth book but my library didn't have it, so I had to wait until school started to see if the school library had it. To my surprise they had the fourth and fifth book and I knew that the fifth book had only just come out and the school was slow on ordering new books. After I was done those two books I started visiting all the fan sites and also started writing fanfiction to it. It was the first time I ever wrote ffiction for a book before. I just wish I would have read the books sooner but oh well.

Ashley Denver (Hufflepuff, as618, Canada.)

Post by **Kitt Kephryn** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 4:10 am

Just a few years back, I began my first year as a special education teacher in a public high school. The curriculum for one of the freshman reading and creative writing courses included JKR's Sorcerer's Stone. While I wasn't teaching this course, there were many students in my guided study hour who were taking this class. (Guided Study is a special education class that is similar to a study hall, but there are several teachers there and we actually help students with their assignments.) I hadn't actually begun to read the Harry Potter books at this time, but did skim through various chapters to help students formulate rough drafts and outlines for essays that they were writing on the storyline. I became a bit intrigued, but busy as I was with grading, creating lesson plans, and reading materials for my own graduate coursework.. I never entertained the thought of reading the books myself! Also, I have to admit here (sheepishly with head down) that I automatically labeled the series a "children's series". Being a prolific reader and graduate student, how could I *possibly* maintain interest in juvenile fiction?! [WINK!] --Of course I know better now that I am obsessed and highly impressed with JKR's artful and highly addictive writing skills!

ANYWAY... I'm rambling here.. Don't want you all snoring into your butterbeers...

Two years later, my husband and I were on our way to a vacation in Las Vegas. During a very looong and boring layover in Denver, I stopped to browse through the airport bookstore to look for some light reading. What popped out at me? The paperback version of Sorcerer's Stone. Intrigued again, I couldn't resist and thought it would be fun and very light reading that I could page through quickly and pick up & put down easily between flights. Ha! Within the first several pages, I was HOOKED. I mean, REALLY HOOKED. We're talking pathologically ADDICTED to Harry Potter.

By the time we checked into our room, I was 3/4 of the way through Sorcerer's Stone, and I sent my husband off to the blackjack tables without me. I headed for the pool with my book in hand, and I stayed there until the sun began to set and I had finished the book. The next evening as we were heading home from our casino exploits, I stopped off at an all-night drugstore and purchased Chamber of Secrets, which I snuck by the chapter throughout our vacation and finished on the flight home. I spent the rest of the summer (and also the end of my pregnancy) reading the rest of the books. Luckily for me, OoTP was released within weeks after I had finished Goblet of Fire! I also began seeing the movies as they were released, and of course, re-reading the books to prepare for the release of HBP. (I tried to talk Hubby into naming our daughter Fleur, but he wouldn't go for it..) [Joking!]

There you have it. A reluctant beginning and the happy ending story of how I became a through-and-through, properly-obsessed Harry Potter addict. Thanks for letting me share!

--Kitt Kephryn (Gryffindor House, HOL-ID: ki631, USA)

Post by **Isabella Kettleburn** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 2:13 pm

I actually didn't get into Harry Potter until around the time Goblet of Fire came out. I worked in a library so I had heard all the Harry Potter hype (and I tend to have an aversion to things with a lot of hype) so I decided to give them a try, read the first chapter of Book 1 and thought it sounded like a Roald Dahl ripoff and stopped reading it. A bit later we were visiting a seaside town with a small bookshop. I remember seeing signs on their door saying they were out of Goblet of Fire but they would be getting another shipment in a few weeks and I started thinking maybe there was something too all this Harry Potter stuff.

My decision was made for me when a member of a sci-fi/fantasy bookclub I belonged to chose Sorcerer's Stone as her pick for the month (so I *had* to read it) and I never looked back. I was totally hooked - curse her! /biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />. I immediately went out and bought the first three books (which were out in paperback by that time). I'm not one that usually buys books either, I am very much a borrow from the library for free type of person.

I guess the lesson I learned was that just because something has a lot of hype and merchandising and hoo-ha, doesn't mean I shouldn't give it a try.

Isabella Kettleburn (Ravenclaw, is608, USA)

Post by **Madison Aries** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 4:49 pm

Let's see. It all started when I was a little seven-year-old. We go to my mother's parent's house about once a month. When my uncles weren't there, it got really, really boring.

My grandparents are those kind of people who collect all the books they can get their old, shriveled-up hands on. As a seven-year-old who had been reading 5th grade level books recently, I sulked through "the book room," as I called it, to find something interesting. I looked through the think books, just for a challenge. That's when I came across Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone. I sat down right there, on the floor, and opened it up. Three hours later, when it was time to leave, i begged my grandfather to let me borrow it. He agreed and I took it home. When I finished, I went to the library and borrowed the second one, when i finished that, I borrowed the third one, and so on and so fourth.

Come to think of it, I never gave them back the first one. Ah well, they don't miss it.

Madison Aries, Ravenclaw, ma634, USA

Post by **Lavendie Bregell** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 7:45 pm

Well...It was my seventh birthday and I had quite many presents.The last present I opened was from my father and it contained quite thin book(for me who had read many big and thick books)with a golden,beautiful title:"Harry Potter".Inside it had an inscription from my father and I liked this book from the first moment.

When I started reading the book,I didn't think it's beginning was very interesting.But I continued reading and soon I dived to Harry Potter world.When I finished the book,I wanted the second part and I got it,and soon the third one.And that's the story of how I got into Harry Potter.

Post by **Aranel Vengeance** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 8:56 pm

I really didn't want to read them, then my friend put the book in my hands and clamped my hands to it until I read the first page. Then I turned the page once I'd read the first one automatically. And I was hooked!

Post by **Sophia Ross** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 9:27 pm

Well, actually one of my classmates, known here as Julius Hoffburn was obssesed with it...So I decided to watch the 2nd movie and saw the guys.....catch my drift? OK so then I started to read the books.....And even though I read the books because the guys in the movies were hot, I really loved the books. Now I have cost my mum a lot of money on books and videos/dvd's......I have read all the books except the first one, and cannot wait to read the 7th book!!!!!! I love JK for writing these books, and JK......Get the 7th book out NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Post by **Bridget Connelly** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 9:31 pm

My mom was part of a Book-Of-The-Month Club, which was how we got the first book. My mother tried to get me to read it, but to no avail. I refused to read it and chucked it on the highest shelve in my room. Then, several months later, my mom bought the second one, hoping that I had already given up and read the first one. I told her she was crazy and The Sorcerers Stone was soon joined by The Chamber of Secrets. Then a year later The Prisoner of Azkaban was up there, too.

It wasnâ€™t until 6th grade when I read them, which was not long after PoA came out.

It was my friend Jackie who recommended them to me. She told me how great the series was and that I just had to read them. I thought she had teamed up with my mother in desperate hope for my to read them. I wondered why my mom would be so desperate. Later, I realized that my mom didnâ€™t know Jackie. And then I read them. Itâ€™s been six years, and I am now the most Harry Potter obsessed of my friends. I also now listen to my mother when she recommends a book.

Bridget Connelly (Ravenclaw, br628, USA)

Post by **Seren Edwards** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 10:06 pm

I discovered Harry at a time in my life when I really needed a form of escapism. I had just had a lovely baby but an old problem that I had with my spine, had flared up. It resulted in me having to rely on some pretty strong pain killers to get through the day, having to retire from my job as a manageress at 26 and face up to the fact that this was degenerative. For a while I was really down and someone reccomended a centre where you can go and do classes for free, such as computers, mosaics, Hat making, Drama and loads more. One day during break a load of the girls starting talking about a book that they were so excited about. Talking about Diagon Alley and Snape and how lovely Harry was. The excitement was infectious and I had to know what they were on about. The look of shock on their faces was hilarious, I just started laughing. It was as if I had commited a terrible crime, "Who's Harry Potter ? " was one reply and " cor, even your mum has read them". was another reply. The next half hour was a very condensed introduction to the world of Harry and I was bitten. I rang mum the minute I got in and she dropped the Philosophers stone in for me that night. The rest is history and Master Potter is a wonderful way for me to forget things for awhile. When I am reading about Quidditch and Hermione dishing out her words of wisdom, or the shopping trips to Diagon Alley, I could almost be there. Books have always been very important to me but there is something about Harry that has me literally enchanted. Maybe JK has bewitched all of the books with some amazing Euphoria charm /biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" /> , because they never fail to make me smile. ( and cry and laugh and chew my nails )
Seren Edwards Hufflepuff se614 1st year UK

Post by **Dolphin Burgess** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 10:17 pm

Ok, it's all my sisters fault that I even saw the Harry Potter movies, let alone read the books. I, like a lot of people I know, thougt that HP was just for kids... not something an adult could seriously get into. I was visiting my sister in NM when my twin nephews were only 8 months old and she made me watch the movies. Thats when I got to hear the word "muggle" for the first time and I had to ask what that was. So i finally stopped asking questions long enough to watch the movies, which were far better than I could have ever expected. Afterwards, she took me to a store in her area that had everything, books, movies, rentals... that kind of thing. That was when i bought my first copy of Harry Potter and the Sorceres Stone.... she gave me the remaining 4 books (OTP was only available in the hardback edition at the time) and she bought herself a box set of the first 5 in hardback.

I couldn't put them down. No sooner had I gotten done reading one book, then I was off reading the next one, and the next one... until I had read through all 5 books. not once, but 5 times before I gave myself a break from reading the series. Now I can't wait to see the next movie, and read the last book, just to see where things will end and how much speculation as to how it will end becomes a "reality" of sorts. I even requested the weekend off of work when HBP was released just so I could read the book without any interruptions.

Now that I've read the books and seen the movies, I have actually found a lot of "closet Potter fans" in my area. Who knew that something that might have been written for the "under 30" crowd could bridge such generational gaps the way nothing I have ever seen has. There isn't a book series or a movie thats out even today that can come close to the ...... addicting (if thats even the right word for it) nature of the Harry Potter series.

Dolphin Burgess (Gryffindor, do608, USA)

Post by **Charlotte Reine** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 5:32 am

I first began reading the Harry Potter books in 1999, when I was 11 years old. I was in the sixth grade and everyone was going crazy over the books. A friend of mine whom I was quite fond of brought a few of them to school once, so I asked if I could borrow one. I initially read Philosopherâ€™s Stone out of boredom, and was instantly hooked.

After Philosopherâ€™s Stone, I was unable to get Chamber of Secrets, so I went straight to Prisoner of Azkaban. This was a bit confusing. I read Chamber next, and it became my favorite. Note: My favorite has since changed to Prisoner of Azkaban. That summer I went away to camp, and noted that Goblet of Fire was to be released on the day I returned. I asked my mother to pick me up a copy. When she picked me up from the bus station on my last day of camp, I was so excited to read Goblet. I started in the car on the ride home.

Well, Iâ€™m not terribly fond of Quidditch, and I wasnâ€™t too thrilled at all of the emphasis put onto it near the beginning. I cast the book aside and didnâ€™t pick it up again for 6 months. Harry Potter almost got away from me, but I randomly decided to give Goblet a second try, and was glad I did.

Thankfully, most of my friends now love the books as well, giving me people to discuss Hogwarts events with. If I had that before, I probably wouldn't have immediately rejected book four! I nearly missed out on all the fun to come.

Charlotte Reine (Ravenclaw, ch643, USA)

Post by **Cristy Perez** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 5:42 am

Well, back in the spring of 2000, I was in eleventh grade. My english teacher, assigned us to read Harry Potter and the Sorecere's Stone. I thought, "great, another book to read" But once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. She gave us a test on it and I got a B, but I know that if she gives me that test right now, I would get an A+. I found out from other students that there were more books to the series, so I bought CoS, but since I had read SS in english, I decided that I wanted to read in spanish. Bad idea, because it didn't seem to have the same effect on me as it did in english, but I still liked it very much. I went out and bought the third one in english and read it.

In the summer of that year, I noticed that GoF was released, and I bought a couple of weeks after the release. I read it. And then I watched the movies in the theaters, and bought the DVD's. I knew that OotP was going to be released byt accident one day at Borders, a couple of weeks before the release. I went to the midnight party, but didn't buy it until a couple of days afterward. At that time, I had only the each of the books once. My obssesion started right after the PoA movie. I went to see it on oppening night, and after the movie I releazed that I had forgotten a lot of the things that happened in the books. So I started reading the books again and again and again and I haven't stopped!!

Cristy Perez (Ravenclaw, cr601, Puerto Rico)

Post by **Rosella Ryu** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 10:07 am

I was gifted the books by family and friends.

Post by **Eddie Valon** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 7:08 pm

How I got into Harry Potter...

It was bright and sunny spring day in 2000. The birds were singing and the sky was blue, and my teacher started to read to us... "The Boy who lived" It went on like this for several more months, of course, it wasn't always nice outside, but we were in the comfort of our own portable.

I then started to have my own books to presure at my liesure. Then, i started to get into fanfiction, Harry Potter News Sites, and yes... HOL.

It was interesting day that was, i was merely strolling around the web until i hit this amazing community. Sure i have my share of inactiveness and not doing homework. But you always accepted me back in the end when i had missed you so.

Thank you everybody, thank you for being nice, kind, and most importantly, yourself

Signed:
Eddie Cheung
Gryffindor, Ed401, Canada

Post by **Pim Robertson** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 9:39 pm

I can't really remember when I got into the Hp books but I remember my cousion reading them and she kept telling me to read them and I wasn't really into books then. Then for birthdays and christmas, family were sending me Hp books so I read them and I loved it. Then Hp and the Philosophers (I think thats how you spell it) stone movie came out and thats was like really great then I just kept waiting for the rest to come out. Then more books came out and there we go /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

signed: Pim Robertson (pi602, Hufflepuff, Scotland)

Post by **Kat Benton** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 10:12 pm

I did not get into Harry Potter until Goblet of Fire came out. I'd known about it for several years, though. My good friend Craig had given me a copy of Sorcerer's Stone for Christmas 1998 (our first one in college), but I hadn't gotten around to reading it.

A couple of weeks before Goblet came out, my sister, who was about 9 at the time, started getting really excited. She wanted to go to the midnight release at Barnes and Noble, and everything. I didn't know why she wanted to go out so late (I'm up for a bookstore anytime, but she didn't always seem like the reading type at that age), so I decided it was time to pull out the forgotten paperback and see what the hype was all about.

I finished it in a day.

I borrowed my sister's copy of Chamber of Secrets, which was read almost as eagerly (work kept getting in the way). Then, with a few days to go until Goblet was released, I started on Prisoner of Azkaban. Best book yet! I started bugging my sister to read Goblet very, very quickly.

She got the book the day it came out, and started it right away, but it was very slow going for her. I finished Azkaban three days into her reading, and started getting anxious. I threatened to sneak the book off her dresser at night, after she'd gone to sleep, and read around her. She started locking her door at night.

Luckily for me, Mom had forgotten to cancel her order of Goblet from her book of the month club, mostly because she'd forgotten it was the book of the month. It arrived in the mail about five days into my sister's reading, right when I was thinking I had to go buy the book myself, as soon as the paycheck hit my bank account. She gave it to me, rather than sending it back, because she could see how much I wanted to read it. My collection and fandom's been growing ever since.

Thu Aug 18, 2005 5:57 am

When J.K. Rowling had just published the first Harry Potter book, I was a child in grammar school. The Harry Potter craze had not hit the minds of the school yet. It entered through a book catalog. We used to get an excellent catalog for children, with reviews from readers and critics and all the sort. My mother had read such reviews for Harry Potter and took an interest in it. So she hit the bookstore and bought it. While I was at school, she read it. When I came home, I read it. Swapping back and forth every day sharing this book, we finally were able to finish it by the end of the week. And then the world turned upside down........and my new obsession (because obsessions are a definition of life for me) was Harry Potter and the life of a student in Hogwarts.

I studied that book from front to back....from back to front. At that time I was new to the internet....and of course, the first sites I hit were Harry Potter fan sites of all sorts. I tried on sorting hats. I looked to buy my own wand (but I didn't at that time...:-( ) I even began to build my own Hogwarts online, which did function for a while (I had everyone and everything planned out and full out organized). I must admit, that was a huge job for one person on a regular server like geocities.com. But, it was much fun nevertheless.

Then the movie came out- oh!! A dream come true to see it on a screen instead of my head. Surprisingly, much of what they portrayed was similar to what was in my head. That movie is the closest a movie ever got to my brain :-D. But when we saw Harry Potter in the movie theatre.....I remember seeing the trailer for Lord of the Rings (which I had never heard of until that moment). The theatre was silent. And another obsession began :-P

So I slipped out of Harry Potter and into Lord of the Rings (though HP was always close to heart, and I anticipated every book and movie). After HBP......the obession went full throttle..........and I finally bought a wand :-D

And now I am here.

Elerronyar Morilinde (Ravenclaw, el626, USA)

Post by **Ceeje Queen** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 5:24 pm

In 2001, I was doing some day-after-Thanksgiving shopping and spotted a table full of copies of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. At the time, I was a Middle School teacher (teaching grades six through eight) and thought that it would be a good addition to the books in my room. I thought my students might like to read it during free time. Well, of course, they did! I didn't read it because it was a "kids book."

By the spring of 2003, I was a stay-at-home mom and still had not read it. My son, Koty, was a in third grade now and wanted to read it. I live in the southeastern United States, commonly known as the "Bible Belt." Mnay people in the "Bible Belt" think that the Harry Potter books teach kids about devil worship and the occult. In fact, at my son's school, I had to sign a permission slip for him to check out a copy from the library. So, I began to wonder what was in this book that made so many people think badly of it. I dug out my copy from my classroom and gave it a read. I finished it in one night and loved it. I immediately signed the permission form and went the next day to buy Chamber of Secrets. I read it equally fast and fell more in love with the HP series. Prisoner of Azkaban followed the next day, and then the next day, I ran out and got Goblet of Fire. I was completely addicted! My sister got Koty a copy of Order of the Phoenix when it was released. Of course, I devoured it as soon as it hit my hands. For The Half-Blood Prince, I waited in line at midnight for my copy. By Saturday afternoon, I had finished it and was already discussing it with my on-line Potter buddies.

At first, I acted like I was reading the books just to make sure it was suitable for my kids. Now, I freely admit I'm a Potter-freak! And, I've converted all my kids too! Imagine a two-year-old little girl who calls Harry "My Potter" and a four-year-old little boy who runs through the house, in costume, yelling "Expectro Fratronum." (Yes, that is what he *knows* Harry says to make the deer come out.) My oldest, Koty, recently started a new school year. One of his friends was bragging that they had a copy of HBP. Koty replied, "Yeah, I do too. and I've read it." His friend didn't have a reply. /biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />

Ceeje Queen (Gryffindor, ce602, USA)