First,
I was so fucking happy I could not stop smiling. It took me weeks to reread the
whole series and I had a smile on my face the entire time. As I’ve mentioned in
a past blog, Harry Potter basically saved my life. Rereading it brought back so
many emotions for me. My love for Harry Potter has not wavered in the
slightest. I knew it hadn’t, but rereading the books and being reminded of that
love was the greatest treat.
There
were so many things I remembered about the books, and so many things I’d forgotten.
Those books are so big and filled with so much stunning detail, it is hard to
remember absolutely everything. But I did remember most things. The things I
didn’t were great fun to read. There is a thing online where people say they
could have selective memory loss so they could go back and reread their
favorite books with fresh eyes. I would choose Harry Potter if I got that
chance.
My
favorite Harry Potter character, besides HP himself, is Fred Weasley. Now, I
knew that the twins were featured proximately in the books, but I’d forgotten
how much. I also forgot that Fred was so much more of a character than George was. Fred got three times more lines, and jokes, and actions than George. Fred
was funnier, he was more loving, caring, protective. He was more important than
his twin brother George. I had originally thought they were equally as
important to the stories, had equal lines and actions in the books, but when I
reread them, I realized JK Rowling’s love for Fred was far more than it was for
George. And then she killed him. Reading Fred’s death for the second time was
nearly as hard as it was the first time. The first time I read it I wept. This
time was not as bad, but I was just as heartbroken.
And
that’s the thing, I already knew all the deaths, all the sad things that
happened, but that doesn’t mean reading them for the second, third times,
wasn’t any less real or gut punching. Like my hatred for Dolores Umbridge. I
might have hated her more this time around. Ugh. And Snape. I know he turns
into a hero in the last book, or was one the entire time, but that doesn’t mean
that I still hated the way he mistreated Harry, Rom, Hermione and everyone
else. Well, all the other Gryffindors.
I
had wanted to reread HP for the longest time. I was also in a bit of a reading
pickle. I still loved reading, but I wasn’t exactly in a good place with my
reading life. I was reading a lot of books, but it felt like I was just reading
them to reach a reading goal, to get them done so I could move on to the next
book. It was almost as if I wasn’t truly enjoying reading. But then I started
rereading HP. I fell back in love with reading. I realized that I could take my
time with books, take my time to fall in love with them and appreciate them
properly. I didn’t need to burn through books. So not only did Harry Potter
save my life when I was younger, HP has now saved my reading life. Harry Potter
will forever be the best thing that has ever happened to me. Always.