Harry Potter will always be part of us

Harry Potter is over. Never again can we look forward to a night of dressing up as Harry, Ron, Hermione or, in my case, a Death Eater, excitedly awaiting outside a bookstore or movie theater the newest installment of the Harry Potter series.

I think that I am part of a special generation. While there are avid Harry Potter fans of every age around the world, I am of the generation who grew up with Harry Potter. I was a young child when “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” was first published, and here I am now at the age of 20, having just seen Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. It feels as though not only my favorite book series is over, but part of my childhood.

I know, based on the many depressing Facebook statuses of my peers, I am not the only one who feels this way. But here’s how I am choosing to look at this: Harry Potter isn’t really over. To paraphrase Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter will only truly be over when no one is longer loyal to him. These books and movies have become a real part of us through the years. We’ve all imagined ourselves as a student at Hogwarts, studying transfiguration, playing quidditch, and fighting Voldemort. Any time we crack open the books again, we can relive the adventures we immersed ourselves in as children.

Harry Potter will never be truly over because he is as much a part of us as Voldemort was a part of Harry. Harry Potter will never truly be over because, as Dumbledore said, “Of course this is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

Alyssa Arkin

Arlington Heights