Hello fellow Potterheads! Today I'm participating in Aentee from Read At Midnight's #PotterheadJuly! I'm going to be talking about my journey with Harry Potter! Where mostly I just babble about Harry Potter related memories I have!
My first introduction into the wizarding world of Harry Potter was when I was ten and my mom gave me the first book to read. You'd think that's where the love story begins, right?
Not so much. I read the first chapter and thought it was so horrible and dull. I gave it back to my mom and was like, "Thanks, but no thanks." Flash forward to November and my 11th birthday. My mom wanted to take me to the first movie. She was so excited to see it, how was I supposed to say that I would really rather not?
Well, friends, the movie is what sealed the deal for me. I was ENTHRALLED with that movie from beginning to end. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. And by the time it was over, I was hoping for my own Hogwarts letter. I was the right age at the time!
It pains me to think of what amazingness I would have missed out on if I had stayed in my little hater corner.
Okay, so I think that was my 5th grade year. That same year in school, my grade put on the school's annual 5th grade bake sale. All the money raised from it was used to take the whole class to the bookstore and let everyone pick out a book. What did little Cyra pick out?
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, of course! That was back in the day when I didn't believe I needed to read the first one since I had seen the movie. I'm pretty sure I just read the second one and went from there. It's been so long since I read the books, I honestly don't remember if I ever actually read the first one.
Anyway, despite possibly not having read it, I did acquire a copy of the first book shortly after. My teacher in 5th grade gave out points for good behavior and these points translated into cold hard cash that we could use in an auction he held twice a year. One of the items up for auction was a paperback copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
It ended up being a little bit of a bidding battle, but I ended up victorious and went home with my now VERY beat up copy of the first book.
The other memorable acquisition of a Harry Potter book for me was when I got my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I think it was the summer between my sophomore and junior years of high school when it came out. Two of my friends and I went to Walmart for their midnight release of the book. I remember telling my mom that that's probably the time when all the weird people with brightly colored hair and crazy facial piercings come out. I think the most interesting person there just had on really brightly colored tights.
That wasn't the most exciting release in the whole world. I think they just had chairs set up near where they were going to hand out the books so we just sat there til midnight and then went on our way.
I think all but one of the movies came out around my birthday. So my gift every year from my grandma was going to dinner and the new Harry Potter movie. I always looked forward to that so much!
I remember the last movie came out after I met my boyfriend and we went to see it at the drive in theater near where I live now. Those are not movies to see at a drive in theater because they're really dark movies. The drive in theater doesn't wait for it to get dark enough to see that kind of movie so I mostly listened to it that time.
As I was writing this post, I remembered that back in the day, I used to write Harry Potter fan fiction in a little notebook I carried around with me. I'd generally stick to the storyline, but insert myself into it somewhere. This is mortifying because I read it out loud to my grandma on an eight hour car ride. Ugh.
And the journey is going to continue this month because I'm going to hit up the midnight release party for The Cursed Child at Barnes and Noble in Bismarck, ND! I'm so excited. I talked the BF into going with me and staying the night up there so it's going to be a fun little trip. I am even toying with the idea of ordering a set of Hufflepuff robes complete with tie and sweater vest looking thing. It's only like $35. I think I need it to wear to the release party. Scratch that, I KNOW I need it.
And then there's the release of the Fantastic Beasts movie this year! I think I'm going to be able to go to that with my grandma again like the good old days! I am so excited!!
And the journey is going to continue this month because I'm going to hit up the midnight release party for The Cursed Child at Barnes and Noble in Bismarck, ND! I'm so excited. I talked the BF into going with me and staying the night up there so it's going to be a fun little trip. I am even toying with the idea of ordering a set of Hufflepuff robes complete with tie and sweater vest looking thing. It's only like $35. I think I need it to wear to the release party. Scratch that, I KNOW I need it.
And then there's the release of the Fantastic Beasts movie this year! I think I'm going to be able to go to that with my grandma again like the good old days! I am so excited!!
What is your fondest Harry Potter memory? Are you hitting up the midnight release for The Cursed Child? Excited for the movie?