July is Potter Month!

3 days before the opening of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  6 days before I get to watch it.

But my most anticipated countdown of all...

13 days before the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!  Less than two weeks before every Harry Potter fanatic gets his/her hands on the LAST BOOK IN THE SERIES.  Just the thought of the story coming to an end makes me have mixed feelings.

I can relate with this article (I guess every HP fan does):
Goodbye, Harry by Stephen King

I guess it's really hard to say goodbye to something that you grew up with.  It's sad closing a chapter of your childhood.  To pick a few lines from Stephen King's article:
"Think how it must be for all the kids who were 8 when Harry debuted in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, with its cartoon jacket and modest (500 copies) first edition. Those kids are now 18, and when they close the final book, they will be in some measure closing the book on their own childhoods — magic summers spent in the porch swing, or reading under the covers at camp with flashlights in hand, or listening to Jim Dale's recordings on long drives to see Grandma in Cincinnati or Uncle Bob in Wichita."

I started reading Harry Potter when I was 11 (and Harry in book 1 was also 11).  I'm 17 years old now.  Harry in book 7 is 17.  It's quite plain to see that I'm also growing up with Harry as I am reading the series.  And now all of it is coming to a close (and Harry might possibly die).  And it's sad.  I may not have the same experiences mentioned by King like "magic summers" in a "porch swing", "reading under the covers at camp", or "listening to Jim Dale's recordings", but I did have my moments with Harry.

Goodbyes are always hard.  I guess my feelings of sadness after reading the seventh book will be stronger than the feelings I had when I finished reading Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings.  Don't get me wrong.  I also liked those two series.  But I finished reading them in just a month or so.  But Harry Potter is going to take me 7 years to finish reading the entire series.  That is the main difference.

After I'll finish reading Deathly Hallows, it's back again to the real world.  No more Harry Potter world to escape to.  Though I can reread the series, it's just not the same when you know what's going to happen.  In less than a month, I will have to bid farewell to one of my childhood companions.  Being with Harry has been great, but it has to end.  So long Harry, I'm going to miss you (because I know you're going to die! mwahaha).

I'm going to cap off this post with the last lines of King's article:

"But there's comfort. There are always more good stories, and now and then there are great stories. They come along if you wait for them. And here's something I believe in my heart: No story can be great without closure. There must be closure, because it's the human condition. And since that's how it is, I'll be in line with my money in my hand on July 21.

And, I must admit, sorrow in my heart."