The End of an Era

In summer 1999, Mr Boring and I were bought three books by our Grandparents. I can remember fighting over who got to read them first. Over that summer, I think I must have read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone four or five times over the course of the six week holidays that year. 

 It's fair to say that I was hooked. An instant Fan For Life. I wasn't one of those people who pre-ordered their copy of the new book, neither did I queue outside WH Smiths for 24 hours in order to get a copy. But I did enjoy reading the stories. Over and over again. I was enough of a fan to want a Gryffindor scarf, but not enough to pay £40 or whatever it would have cost to buy an official one. So, I got on the phone to my Official Scarf Maker (Granny), who, after searching high and low for wool in the perfect shades, sent me this:

During the winters of Years 9 and 10, I wore it religiously. I still love it today and wish I could find a coat to do it justice. I will never get rid of it. EVER.

The films are, in my opinion, a mixed bag. The first three were quite good (taking into account how young the actors were). Number four was good. Five was BORING (and Emma Watson started getting full of herself). The sixth was a marked improvement on five, and I was quite relieved. Personally I think it would have been better to have the same director all the way through (and John Williams doing the music all the way through because he is unequivocally, a God) but what do I know?

When I first heard that The Deathly Hallows was going to be split into two films, I was a bit unsure what to think. Luckily, it seems to have worked quite well. I saw the final episode last night. It was GOOOOOD! Obviously there was lots of plot missing, but that was to be expected from a series of books containing so much detail. It was the best one yet (luckily) and was a good way to end things. I won't say much because I don't want to ruin it for people who haven't seen it yet, but the action was good, everything was resolved nicely and it was great to see lots of the old favourites. Madam Pomfrey, Professor Trelawney, Slughorn, McGonagall, Seamus and of course, Neville were all there. There's no way the films could have done the books justice, but they had a pretty good stab at it I'd say.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some (re)reading to do!