For over ten years, I grew up side by side with Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley.  I remember the first time I picked up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, a fresh birthday present, and promptly got lost in the wizarding world. Every book holds a place of honor in my book case, much loved and well-worn since I haven’t put any of the books down since.  And like so many other fans, I pretended that the owl carrying my acceptance letter from Hogwarts was merely a couple of years late.

It’s why sitting in a darkening movie theater with my best friends, awaiting the start of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”, was such a terribly sad moment.  It was truly the end of an era.  With the publication of the last book, Harry Potter fans were in denial, hoping that really JK Rowling was holding out on us, and there were more books on the way.  But the last movie was a final goodbye to characters that had become friends, and places like Hogwarts that had become home.  Unsurprisingly, I found myself tearing up multiple times throughout the movie.  Also unsurprisingly, I don’t want to say goodbye to Harry Potter.

And so I find myself looking for Harry Potter blogs where the author reminisces about how great it is to be a fan, analyzes the books or weeps about how it’s all come to an end.  I find myself watching countless YouTube videos about the ten year journey Harry Potter has made.  It’s become addicting, I swear.  I’ve even signed up for Pottermore, the mysterious Harry Potter website that JK Rowling created to reel in her fans a little more (like she needs to).  I didn’t need to turn to social media when the books were being published, because they were more than enough.  But now that the last book has been published and the last movie has been revealed, I find myself looking for Harry Potter anywhere on the Internet, blogs or YouTube, to keep that connection going.  And so I’ve become a participant, because I’m in agreement with the billions of other fans…it would be heartbreak to really let go of Harry Potter.

Image via greatnewmovies.com