I discovered Harry Potter through my grandparents. These two intrepid retirees had already devoured the first three books when I stumbled on their Potter stash on a bookshelf under the staircase. I was on holiday in my second year at university, and after attempting The Sound and the Fury for English II, I was desperate for a little light reading.
I had never heard of this Potter boy, and while my grandfolks expounded on the delights of JK Rowling, I remained unconvinced until I hit book two. From the moment that Harry and Ron flew that old car into the whomping willow, I was sold. Since then I have associated the joy of a new Harry Potter yarn with the rocking chair in my gran’s lounge and the smell of the sea.
Harry’s showdown with the evil Voldemort will leave a huge void in the life of fans everywhere, including mine and a couple of octogenarians I know. The imminent conclusion of the series has sparked an outcry from Rowling’s fan base, and a widely publicised petition has gone out begging JK to continue Harry’s life beyond Hogwarts.
But it doesn’t end there. Thanks to the internet, fans are able to expound their theories, and debate the merits of each of Harry’s friend and enemies. To mark the release of the grand finale, a group calling themselves The Great Potter Re-Read was started on the social networking site Facebook, enabling fans to re-experience all the books.
And, very interestingly, fans have been allowed to reimagine Harry and the world Rowling has created for him, over and over again, through the innumerable fan-fiction websites. Should Rowling decide to ignore her fans’ pleas to continue the series, my guess is the fan fiction will only blossom.
For every person who appreciates Rowling, there is someone who is ready to rubbish the books for being either infantile and too popular for their own good, or positively evil, espousing witchcraft and devil worship. And all this over what remains fundamentally a story, just a story.
That is perhaps the most magical thing about Harry Potter and the seven instalments of his life. A simple tale, spun by a British woman, has gathered around it millions of children who might never have experienced the joy of reading, given that they are inundated with a thousand alluring forms of technology every day. And, perhaps just as importantly, it has reminded a million adults, near-adults, old codgers and many a child at heart, that there are simple joys in the world to be found only between the covers of a book.
