My Seven Years at Hogwarts

                     It was nearly seven years ago when first starting reading the Harry Potter series. Best decision ever. My mother had the first four books, and I devoured them as ravenously as any eleven-almost-twelve-year-old could. I spent literally every waking moment with my nose stuck in those books, waking up and going to sleep at ungodly hours just to read a few more chapters. It got to the point where the adults in my household were actually sick of me reading so much. They would get angry and I actually got in trouble. Sure, I brought the book to the table. And the bed. And the bathroom. And every single place we went. But c'mon, I was reading. Reading is highly applauded in my family, and I'm quite all right with that, but I guess my mother thought I was going a little overboard.
                     Regardless, I borrowed the rest of the series from various people, and now I have all the books except the Order of the Phoenix sitting proudly on my shelf (I really gotta complete my collection sometime. Ah well, that one is my least favorite of the series anyways). Since then, I've regarded myself as a Potterhead (though at eleven, I didn't know members of the fandom were called that). Of course I began watching the movies, and when I was thirteen, I got a boxed set of the first five movies for Christmas. Merlin knows where they all are now, since I've (regrettably) let my younger brother watch them as he pleases.
                     Well, Deathly Hallows part II came out a good two years ago, and I had so wanted to see it in theatres, as it was released soon after my birthday, but to no avail (too bad aswell, as I've never seen any of the HP movies in theatres). And just last week I reached the final chapter, and finally watched the eighth movie. It really seems to have come full-circle now. I was eleven when I first- to put it magiphorically- found the portkey to the wizarding world. The same age as Harry was in the first book. And though I finished reading the whole series I estimate by the age of thirteen, the movies held a good part of my fanmanship (That's not a real term, and I don't think it even works in that context, forgive me). So now, at the age of seventeen, I feel almost as if my time with Hogwarts has, along with Harry, also come to an end. Everything really fell into place well. I can't help but marvel at this seemingly trivial twist of fate. Oh come on, you may think, it's just a book series. But as a true Potterhead, I can tell you: No. It's not.
-K

P.S. I started writing this blog post probably about a month ago, and just hadn't finished that last paragraph, so when I say "last week" it wasn't actually a week before the date this post was published. Not that it matters.