Getting Into Harry Potter

Post by **Saria Lee** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 1:45 am

Ahhh, why is it my favourite series of books you ask? Why did I read them? Let me tell you...
When I was in Year 3 (I am now in Year 8) our school was having a Book week. This meant that there were all this books and our class had a special one. Anyone, we also had to dress up as a chracter from a book or movie. I chose to go as a dalmation from 101 dalmations. (LOL)

We also had to parade around wearing our outfits. I walked over to my friends and realised they were fighting over something. This is what they were saying : "No we agreed yesterday that I was going to be Hermione!" And about three girls were dressed up as hermione, one was Ginny Weasley and one was Harry Potter.

When I was in Year 4 I never really had an interest in my books, unlike my friends who had read all the Harry Potter books 3 times and I had never read them. Anyway they told me to read them so I decided I would. My mum had bought me the first 2 books. Back then I was a hopeless reader, i tried to read the first chapter of the Philosopher's stone, but I found it too hard. I Gave up on it and 2 weeks later I wanted to try again. Except the fact that I started reading on the second book instead of the first because I found the first chapter easier.

My mum told me to read the first book or I wouldn't understand what they were talking about. So I read the first book and I stuggled, then the second, and third and fourth. I kept reading the series over and over again because it was so wonderful and I was soon obsessed. I really got into it. Now in Year 7 the fifth Harry Potter book came out and I was so excited, I lined up really early to get it. I took me 3 days to read the book.I was the first in my grade to finish the book (and I spoiled it for everyone else since I told them about it /tongue.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":P" border="0" alt="tongue.gif" />)
And that's how my life got into Harry Potter! Now I'm really obsessed and have read every book over 10 times!

Signed: Saria Lee (Gryffindor, sa518, Australia)

Post by **Melui Kurayami** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 4:19 pm

Back in grade four, I had to do a book report. My mum had heard of these "Harry Potter" books from her friend and they were supposed to be really good. I was a little bit skeptical because I wasn't really into fantasy books so much at the time. However, my mum asked me to just try reading it. So I did. But the time I finished the first chapter, I was intrigued. By the time I had finished the next few chapters I was completely hooked! I ran out and bought the second and the third books. By then I was completely obsessed. I bought book four the day it came out and book five at 12:01am the day it was released. I stayed up all night to finish Harry Potter 5. Because of a printing error, I had to stop after about 200 pages, but I got another copy in the morning. Read all day and stayed up all night until I finished it!

Signed, Melui Kurayami (Slytherin, me505, Canada)

Post by **Ash Night** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 5:05 pm

Well, it was Christmas, and I recieved the first three Harry Potter books. I had heard of them vaguely and I wondered why my mom bought them. I asked her and she said I had asked for them, even though I was positive I hadn't. After a little less than a year, I started to read the first one and I got to the chapter entitled Halloween, and forgot about it, I hadn't followed it very well.

After about another year I found it underneath a bunch of junk and decided to start over since I had forgotten most of it. I read it obsessively and quickly moved on to the next 3 books. (The 4th one had come out by then).

I now have read the first 4 about 6 or so times, and the 5th one twice. If you couldn't tell, I love these books. /wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" />

Signed: Ash Night, as500, USA

Post by **Charlotte Black** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 11:39 pm

My mom had made a trip to Barnes and Nobles and came home with the Sorcerer's Stone (this was before Harry Potter was well known). She read it, and I remember her asking me what I thought the golden ball (about the size of a walnut) with silver wings was. A rather tall, gangly looking boy with black hair and a lightning-shaped scar was trying to catch it; and to my surprise, he was riding a broomstick. /blink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":blink:" border="0" alt="blink.gif" /> I told her it was the Sorcerer's Stone (well, hey, from the title, right? I hadn't read the inside flap). My mom gave me the book to read after she was done, and I read it in two days. I loved the book, needless to say. /happy.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="^_^" border="0" alt="happy.gif" /> When Chamber of Secrets came out, I immediately purchased it and continued the adventure. Same with Prisoner of Azkaban. I also read newspaper articles on Harry Potter (another sign of my addiction; I donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t read the newspaper except the comics). CoS and PoA became my favorites. /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> When I heard GoF was coming out, I was there at the bookstore at midnight all dressed in wizarding clothes, with my trusty Cleansweep 7 by my side (I was, of course, a Ravenclaw beater). And here I am, a few years later, hopelessly addicted to Harry Potter. /cool.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="B)" border="0" alt="cool.gif" />

Charlotte Black. Ravenclaw. ch504. USA.

Sam Slick · Post by **Sam Slick** » Tue Aug 03, 2004 4:27 pm

Hmmm...Mine is quite simple. I was walking through Borders, I saw a book, and picked it up. We had read about them in class. I had no idea that one simple book would create such love and hate (burnings), in some cases.

I am amazed that one book led me here.

Post by **Gyllian Faethorne** » Tue Aug 03, 2004 10:16 pm

How i got into Harry Potter started some years back when i was not living in NYC.
I saw the books one day in the store (the story was up to only the 3rd book, if i remember correctly) And i pointed them out to my mother.

Some days after i got her into the store again, to buy me Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone - However it was in Spanish. It took me several days to read it because i had school work to finish, so in about a week i finished the book (I've always loved to read), and i couldnt help to read the other two that i saw in the store... But school year was ending and i needed to put all of my effort into finishing my year with high scores, so i couldnt read more. (( i happened to be a junior student of High when i was in my native country, D.R. unfortunately, when i moved here i was only 14 and they wouldnt allow me to stay as a junior, so i had to start all over as an ickle high school freshman, drats *stares*))

FINALLY, my so-longed-for Summer came, and i moved to NYC, I almost forgot about the books for about a month until school was starting again ((It seems like i love picking books to entertain myself more than learn either when school is starting or ending, doesnt it?)) and since i frequently visited (still do) the public library, i saw the books once more and checked them out, in spanish, again. I read through them several times... I really dont remember, what i could assure is that i read the spanish versions more than three times each. After being in school... we had this list of 25 books we had to read by the end of the school year. my first books in the list were the HP ones lol. - then during the second term i got exchanged to another school >.> Which is more strict because it's one of those schools that do not admit many students - usually it only takes a few in order to prepare them to join one of the Ivy Leagues.

At that point, i forgot about the books again, but we still had the same list, this time it was 30 books to finish at the end of the year for the freshmen, i entered my new school when there were only 5 months left... So in about 3 months i had 25 books in the list - all of them surpasing the 500 pages >.> didn't make it to the 30s, but had more books than anyone could ever read in my year in only 3 months (erm, i read a lot, and they were lazy). Once more, the books were in my list, but this time i had changed into the english version... which so far i've read... erm... many times, too many to count.

Right now three of my close friends are into HP, a pair of twins and my other close friends, two others... i am seriously getting them into it lol.
Something that got me more into HP was that i frequently visited Mugglenet and the #IRC channel for it.

So, yeah, that's pretty much my story.

Gyllian Faethorne, Slytherin, gy500, USA.

Kelina Rose · Post by **Kelina Rose** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 9:41 am

It was all Snape's fault that I got so into the Harry Potter series. When the Harry Potter books first came out and were becoming popular I was determined not to read them. There just seemed to be too much hype about how cool the series was and it seemed like it was going to be one of those kiddy fads like pokemon cards or goosebumps books. I was too old for that sorta stuff and the fact that it was so popular with everyone just made me wanna read them even less. Plus, my little brother told me some stupid rumor about the books that I found out later was completely false.

I did finally get into the books in 2002 right before the first movie came out. I was a Senior in High School at the time and my English teacher decided to start reading the first book to the class. (I suppose she did this because she really liked the books and she knew no one would really read it if she just said, "You should read this.") By this time I was starting to get curious about the books anyway because the movie was coming out and having the teacher read it to us in class was better than doing grammar tests or something so I was all for it. The rest of the class wasn't so thrilled with it though so the teacher eventually stopped reading it in class. This was about the same time as the first preview with Alan Rickman in it came out. I'm a big Alan Rickman fan so I was now very eager to find out what character he was playing.

I asked my older brother, who had started reading the books sometime earlier that year, and he said Alan Rickman was most likely playing Snape. My English teacher had stopped reading the book to us during the Sorting Hat chapter right before Snape was introduced so I didn't know anything about him and it was killing me. Finally, after it was clear the teacher was going to continue reading the Sorcerer's Stone to us, I caved and bought the first book. I loved it! I finished it in no time at all and quickly went out and bought book two. It took me a little more than two weeks to finish all four books. I finished them all just a few weeks before the first movie came out and I've been hooked ever since. I can't believe it took me so long to read them and, to be quite honest, if it hadn't been for Professor Snape I might never have read them at all. ^.~* Hehe, I guess I should forgive him for what he did in book three then.

Thanks Snape but I still like Lupin more.

Kelina Rose, Gryffindor, ke502, USA.

Post by **Adeline Agape** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 5:25 am

I first got in to Harry Potter through the first 2 movies actually (don't hurt me). Then, about 6 months before the POA movies came out a friend of mine who is very involved with HP encouraged me to read the books. She told me to start with book 3 and work my way up to 5 and then back to the first 2. She told me to do this because the first 2 movies are actually very much like the books. So I decided to read POA. To be honest I was a little worried...there was so much hype behind these books and I was so scared I was going to dislike them. Thankfully I was completely wrong and here I am today...completely obsessed and happy to be so. /laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":lol:" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" />

Post by **Morgan Fenwick** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 11:45 pm

I first heard of Harry Potter when I was in 8th grade...back in 1999. We were getting ready to write book reports in our English class and our teacher told us that the only books we could use for our project that weren't on the booklist (list of special books chosen by school as appropriate for reports, etc.) were the Harry Potter books.
"Harry Potter?" I thought. "What the heck are the Harry Potter books?" I was oblivious. Furthermore, I didn't care. Then I saw them in stores and heard people talk about them and I discovered that they were just some kids' books about a boy wizard. I thought it seemed kinda silly and I never gave it a thought. I had several friends that liked it, but I always assumed it was childish and not in the same class as what I liked to read. HOW WRONG I WAS!
Finally, I heard they were making the first book into a movie. Big deal, I thought. All my friends saw it. They loved it. Whatever, I thought. Then the Lord of the Rings came around. "Now THAT'll be good!" I said. "The Fellowship of the Ring will blow Harry Potter out of the water." I said jeeringly at a pool party.
Then Harry Potter came out on DVD and I heard tons of great things about it. "Eh, why not?" I said.
So I rented it. I watched it. I loved it. I read the first book, bought it, and devoured the other three all in less then a month. The rest is history.
Now, I have a large painting of the Slytherin crest on my wall, a large laminated print of Harry and Hedwig, SS and Cos on DVD, SS movie soundtrack, all of the HP books (which each have been read at least six times, and OoP was bought the day it was released and was responsible for me losing two nights of sleep) a picture of Dumbledore over my desk, and a long, velvet and silk deep purple "wizard's robe" which was made by my grandmother.
The girl who once said "Who the heck is Harry Potter?" now actually calls herself a witch (which really just translates into Huge Harry Potter Fan) and wants to marry one of the Weasley twins (or Pro. Snape...I know, huge contrast). She'd also take Oliver Wood. /laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":lol:" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" />

Post by **Salana Mondego** » Fri Aug 20, 2004 3:14 am

i first got into harry potter about 2 years ago. i was one of the bunch determined not to read them. i was CONVINCED that the books were all hype and would die out eventually, like all other new fads.

i remember actually rolling my eyes everytime i saw someone with the books in hand, or having to listen to my coworkers endless rants about them.

i was geocery shopping one night and was browsing the magazines in the check out stands. you know the ones about alien babies and such quibbler like articles. lol. anyway, they had chamber of secrets on sale for $3 bucks, so against my better judgement, i bought a copy.

i was hooked before harry even arrived at the burrow, as well as an instant weasley fanatic. i think i was up until 3 am reading it, and went to work the next morning a groggy mess. lots of coffee that morning!

i picked up azkaban and sorceror's stone the next morning, and spent the entire weekend with my bedroom door locked and yelling everytime my roomates inturrupted me.

that was two years ago, and i haven't looked back since. i starting reading and writing fanfic, obsessing over the movies, ect.

recently my friend russ mentioned to me that an old survey on one of my websites had the following line:

what do you think of harry potter?: whatever.

he teased me about it, and i've since replaced my original answer with hardcore fan!

Lyra Levski · Post by **Lyra Levski** » Fri Aug 20, 2004 9:16 pm

My "Getting into Harry Potter" story starts back when I was in Elementary School. Unfortunately, this was so long ago that I'm afraid I have forgotten many of the details, but this is what I do remember.

The first book, PS/SS, was first released in the United States when I was in 5th Grade. At my Elementary School, each student received the monthly Scholastic Book Club Newsletter. One month while looking through my copy, I noticed the Harry Potter books on the front cover, and was immediately intrigued. When I returned home that afternoon, I asked my mom if we could buy the Harry Potter books. To my surprise, she told me that we already owned them! Apparently my dad bought the first three when all the Harry Potter hype began, intending to read them. (On a side note, he still has not read them to this day, no matter how much I try to convince him of their greatness).

Although my memory becomes fuzzy after this point, I suppose I must have read the first three books. I know that I instantly loved them, and read them many times over. One day when we had off from school, I specifically remember having a little "Harry Potter Marathon." I sat down in a comfortable chair with the first three books, and determinedly re-read them all in that one day.

I think I was too young to completely understand the Harry Potter craze and fandom back then. However, I did go to my local bookstore the day GoF was released and bought a copy, before quickly reading it in one day.

As I grew older and began to spend time on the internet, I started to become a part of all the fandom. Luckily, one of my good friends was also a huge Harry Potter fan, and we entered the world of Harry Potter fandom together, and drove the rest of our friendsÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ crazy with our constant Harry Potter rambling. We both went to our bookstore on June 20th to wait until midnight to buy OotP. When we both finally had our copies, we sat down and read the huge tome in one day. By the end of June 21st, my vision was very blurry. /rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":rolleyes:" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />

I consider myself to be very lucky. Ever since I began reading the books, I have always been around Harry's age and going through similar experiences. As Harry was entering Hogwarts, I was entering Middle School. I could relate to 15 year old Harry's angst throughout OotP, as I was going on 15 when I read it. I probably will have surpassed Harry's age by a few years by the time the last book has been released, but it certainly has been a privilege to be able to grow up alongside the Boy Who Lived.

Signed,
Lyra Levski ( Gryffindor, ly506, United States )

Post by **Mackenzie James** » Fri Aug 20, 2004 9:52 pm

How did I get into Harry Potter? Funny you should ask!! It all started on a warm, sunny day... Okay, I don't exactly remember what kind of day it was, so we'll just say warm and sunny.

I was just getting into my first period class, during my 11th year at Belle River High. It was a Dramatic Arts class, my most favorite class of all!! We were all sitting around, waiting for the bell to sound so that we could start working, when the student teacher came into the classroom, carrying a copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

I immediately began to laugh. "That's a child's book, is it not?" I questioned her.

She just gave me a stern look and retorted, "hey, don't knock it until you have read it. Its actually really good. Its something you would like, I bet!"

I chuckled and smiled at her. "Nah, that's alright. I try to stay above a Grade 3 reading level." She just walked into the office, not even acknowledging the fact that I was laughing histerically.

After class, I stayed behind, being a student helper, that was my job. She approached me with her copy of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone, and placed it in my hands.

"Just read it. Look, its not THAT long, and I'm almost certain that you will love it. If not, well, I'll burn all my Harry Potter books."

I looked at her with a challenged look.

"All of them?" I asked.

"All!"

I looked at her and smiled the widest smile, and walked out of the classroom, determined to proove her wrong.

*******************************************************************

Boy, was I ever wrong. I couldn't help but sit there, Monday morning, and wonder if I had ever been more wrong in my life. I was totally eating every word I had said against Harry Potter. The worst part about it, was I had to tell her I liked it. It would have been different, if her books weren't themselves on the line. I could have easily said, "nope! HATED it! Boy were YOU wrong about me and these books." But, as I am human, and have a conscience, I couldn't live with burning the books.

So, same time, different day, I enterred the classroom, with a puzzled look on my face. In fact, the same look I had been sporting all weekend.

It took her one look, and she knew she was right. She just handed over the rest of the 3 book series, and said "That good, huh?"

To this very day, I read Harry Potter every night before I go to sleep, and I tell people everywhere I go who make fun of the book. "Don't knock it before you read it".

Fri Aug 20, 2004 10:19 pm

The way I got into HP is kind of funny. I was in home room class my junior year. My frinds and I got in trouble and got kicked out of the class. So we went into the class next door. The just heppened to be watching HP SS. So I joined them. I only saw about 20 minutes but it was enough to get me started on the book. See, sometimes it is good to get into some trouble!

Post by **Emma Black** » Sat Aug 21, 2004 3:12 am

I got into Harry Potter actually by a very lucky accident. I was walking into my local book store with my brother Benjie, and I was browsing the shelves when I saw a whole bunch on books on Magic. My brother Benjie really wanted to learn a few tricks like card tricks and stuff like that. So we went up to pay and the lady told us that it was a buy one book get the second half off. We were rushing around looking at books because their was a line and people were waiting. So I picked up the nearest book and it happened to be Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone.
I had the book a couple of months before I finally decided to read it. It was a very slow process because I kept getting interupted when ever I did try to read it. So finally one very stressfull I day I decided to just sit down and read it, and I did. I loved it so I went back to the same book store and got the other two Harry Potter books that were out at the time. My brother noticed that I was reading a lot lately and wanted to know what I was reading all the time. So I gave him the book and he started to read, as he read you could just tell he love it because he never put it down. He read the first book in a few days and talked about it just as much.
After he read the first three books the fourth one came out about a year later and since then we have read all of them over and over again. At first it was really hard to get into them but since, reading is a passion we did, and we were very thankfull.
Emma

Post by **Kimri Elchi** » Sat Aug 21, 2004 6:38 am

I didn't really "get into Harry Potter" right away. My mom got my sister Harry Potter and the Sorceror's stone for Christmas right around the time it was new. She said that it was on the best seller list and so she thought it was a good idea to buy it for my sister to read. (My sister is not big on reading, but my mom tried anyways /wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" /> ) So, my sis started reading it and she never finished, so about a few years later I noticed it sitting all alone on her shelf collecting dust. I like to read, but I am not into finding out what is popular or not, so I had no idea what I was in for. Of course, I absolutely LOVED the book. I stayed up late hours just to finish it, I could NOT put it down. But I didn't follow up on any of the other books. Then of course I saw the movies, first one on HBO and COS at a friends house just last year. Then POA this summer. I also watched COS about six times on satellite tv this summer /tongue.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":P" border="0" alt="tongue.gif" />

I wanted to read the rest pretty badly by then, so this summer while I was vacationing at Colorado I went to the local Wal Mart and I bought the remaining four books of the series. I had a pretty darned good summer reading HP over and over...Goblet of fire most, that is my favorite one /laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":lol:" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" />

So naturally I have been a potterholic ever since and I can't wait for the sixth book to come out! That is my story of how I got into Harry Potter...and I know I will NEVER get out.

Geoffrey Harnewski · Post by **Geoffrey Harnewski** » Sat Aug 21, 2004 10:32 pm

My story of Harry Potter is actually quite funny.

When Harry Potter first came out into bookstores, I really was not a big fan. I thought it was a childrens' book and it would not spark any interest to a high schooler like myself. My older brother started to read the books because of his friend's constant praise of how the books were written. I would often make fun of my brother because he would spend the whole night reading about a boy wizard and get so into the book. I soon discovered the reason he was acting like that.

I went to the library one day and saw a HP display with most of the books. I read the HP and the Chamber of Secrets first and fell in love with it. While i was reading this, my mother, a very christian woman, would yell at me because i was reading stories about a wizard and magic or whatever. So I then had to sneak reading the rest of the books. I then just started reading them whenever. Next came the movies and i was hooked on them. Although i must admit, HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban was a much better book than movie.

I then started telling my friends about HP and then they were obsessed with it. I have everything from puzzles, to action figures. I went from an anti-potter to an obsessed potter in the span of a summer.

It is just so good i can't wait for the next book to come out.

Sat Aug 21, 2004 10:34 pm

How did I ever start reading Harry Potter? Well, it's simple.

It started one day when my sister wanted to read her Harry Potter book to me. I agreed, not because I wanted to read it, maybe because it was rare that my sister was actually being kind to me for once. So she began to read it, starting with Privet Drive. She stopped after a while, and before I knew it, I had taken the book and read it for myself. Then the second book came along, and I read that, and the third book. Then the fourth book made its first appearence, and naturally, my sister checked it out from the library. That was when we weren't allowed to read Harry Potter, and my sister got angry, and the book was to be returned tomorrow. Late at night, when no one was watching, I snuck the book into my room and read it. It was good, I loved it, and it made me fall asleep. The next day, the book was gone. We checked it out again, and again, and that was the basic begining og my Harry Potter Craze.

Abbigail WrainRight, Ravenclaw

Post by **Darce Diamante** » Sun Aug 22, 2004 3:30 am

How I got into HP.

Well, it all started in 6th grade(I'm in 11th now). Quite a few of my friends had already jumped onto the Harry Potter Bandwagon, but I absolutely positively refused. So, over time I strarted thinking about it... "Should I read the books...just one of them? It might not be that bad..." So every time I went to the book store, I would go look in the little HP section and pick up HP& the Sorcerer's Stone and just look through it. I never bought it though. I figured my parents would make fun of me after my resentment towards HP & then just randomly get the book.

Then. that Christmas, my aunt came to town and for presents she gave me *drumroll please* ALL 3 Harry Potter books. At first I was like "Hmm...ok...Great..." but later on that week, I picked up the first book and enjoyed it. Ever since then, I have been such a Harry Potter freak. And now here I am sharing my wonderful experience with everybody!

-Darce Diamante Hufflepuff

Post by **Lane Araujo** » Sun Aug 22, 2004 7:53 pm

How i got into HP (thank you god for that!),
Well, I think it started 3 or 4 years ago...I remember I thought that HP was rubbish, and that just because LotR was coming out, they did the smae with HP... I remember i hated HP when i didnÃ‚Â´t even have watched the movies...(How i was stupid!)
But than, one beautiful day, my father arrived from a trip and he gave me the HPPS (or HPSS) tape. I couldnÃ‚Â´t care less for it, but my father thought i would love it so i didnÃ‚Â´t throw it in the garbage (OMG that was close). Than, at night, i didnÃ‚Â´t wanted to sleep, and i was bored, nothing good was on tv, so i saw the tape, and it saw me; it looked deep into my eyes (magical moment) and i thought "Oh, what a hell! LetÃ‚Â´s watch!". So i putted the tape in the VSR and pressed the play buttom. When i saw that old man dressed as a woman with a very large beard and hair (Sexy Dumbledore), i fell in love with it.
I always liked Wizards and Witches and that kind of stuff, but i never cared for HP till that day. Seven days after i watched the tape i was already obssessed with HP, the books were in my bed, my computer had HP all over it, and everything i thought or said was: "HP!HP!HP!" and "Dad, i want money to buy books" (I had never even touched a book (just compulsory school books) till that time).
That definitly showed me how appeareances can be decieving... /biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />

Post by **Azelma Roark** » Mon Aug 23, 2004 1:59 am

It all started with my sister.

I've never been a person to get into the "fad of the moment," and often avoid such a fad out of principle. My sister, however, is my complete foil; she keeps up with the "fad of the moment" religiously, from gigapets to Pokemon to (gasp) Harry Potter. About five years ago, she read SS in about one week flat, and begged me to read it. Being the dutiful sister that I am, I picked it up begrudgingly. I opened the book, began to read, and experienced a profound, magical epiphany...

Actually, no, there was no magical epiphany. In fact, I thought it was very, very silly. So silly that I had to put it down after about fifty pages, much to my sister's chagrin. I was more of a science fiction person and didn't care much for fantasy (LotR being the only exception at the time). And then, a period of my life that I'm not too proud of began: the Mocking of Harry Potter Era.

And, oh, did I mock poor ol' Harry. "Yeah, I read part of that book, man was it dumb, all those weird names of spells and animals and stuff. It's like watered-down LotR for eight-year-olds. How ridiculous that ADULTS actually read them..." On and on. I think I loved mocking Harry Potter more than some people loved reading it. Years passed, and the first and second movies came out. I watched them to get a laugh, and mocked Harry Potter some more ("Stupid people spend gobs of money making a movie about the stupidest book of all time. Man are they stupid."). I heard on the news about people who were burning Harry Potter books, and laughed about that, too ("Stupid people who think these books are evil, when everyone knows that the only thing evil about them is their utter, utter stupidity!"). Goodness, I think some esteemed board members are going to kill me after they read this! For this reason, I'll edit out some of the mocking. It did continue, nearly nonstop, for about five years.

I suppose some of you are wondering what this has to do with my sister. Well, a few months ago, PoA came out (as everyone knows). I went to see it (par usual), eager to do some long-awaited Harry-Mocking. I sat down with my chocolate and lemonade that I smuggled into the theater, waiting for the fun to begin. Only...it didn't. At least not in the way I expected. Somewhere between Harry finding out that a psycho-murdering-fiend was after his life and the introduction of ringwraith-like creatures that suck people's souls, I began to think truly frightening thoughts. Thoughts along the lines of: "Umm...this is actually...kinda...interesting...I don't remember THIS from Sorceror's Stone...this movie is NOT supposed to be this good..." I got out of the theater, and I had questions. Burning, important questions about all the cool people in this (gasp) interesting story. When I got home, my sister tossed me PoA and said, "give it one more chance." So I did.

I read books three, four and five in the span of a month. That's with my 12-hour-a-day-six-days-a-week job. Never have I been this engulfed in a book series before. I am reminded of how much I truly despised Harry Potter just a few months ago; I was probably in the top five percent of the Potter-Hating population, no joke. Now, as the old Beach Boys song goes, I'm quite busy eating my words with a fork and spoon. If I can love these books, then no one can escape them. I'm a certified and self-proclaimed Potterhead, and it's all my sister's fault. I'm reading SS and CoS currently; they don't have Sirius in them, so I'm not likely to love them as much as my other Potter endeavors, but I'll read them nonetheless. Looking back, I find my anti-HP behavior truly disgusting; I can't believe that I, a self-proclaimed "crusader of tolerance" would dismiss a book series in such a way without giving it a proper chance. I love Harry Potter, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

It all started with my sister. I should thank her.

EDIT: Because I'm a stupid n00b and didn't think that I'd need to add my student id:
Azelma Roark
Ravenclaw
az504
USA