Growing Up with Harry, a Photodiary
This has very little to do with the words in a series of books, and Reader, I hope that's the only time I type that sentence. This time, I'm afraid, it's true.
As the second Deathly Hallows comes out this week, I spent the day walking in and out of ABC Family's Harry Potter weekend, movies 1-5 in quick succession. I was seven when The Sorcerer's Stone was published; I was seventeen for the release of The Deathly Hallows. Suffice it to say, I grew into Hogwarts. I was just young enough to half-hope I'd get an owl on my eleventh birthday, and just old enough to not be devastated when it didn't find its way through Newark airport. (That's what happened. I'm telling you.)
When Harry had grown up, so had I. I was the same age as the actors in the movies; I was the same age as Harry in the Hallows. Even as slowly as the books came out, it felt like we grew up at the same pace, and something about that has made him matter to me. I don't enjoy the books nearly as much as most people, but I need the culture. I need it a lot, and after this movie, I'm going to miss it. I hope it stays.
In Reverse Chronological Order:
July 2010, King's Cross Station
Alpha, 2007, F/SF-loving teens set loose on Pittsburgh.
Photo courtesy of the lovely Arin Greenwood.
July 2007, Barnes and Noble release party of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I didn't finish the book until after the workshop. Arin read all night.
[Unpictured]
June, 2000 -- "Box Hogwarts" overpowered the living room. I used old boxes from BJs. It was taller than I was, and it had working steps. I wish there was a picture. The remnants are rotting in the attic, but dear, it was fun.
Which leads me to The Trunk.
Yes, this still exists. All pictures were taken tonight.
Calligraphy set borrowed from my mother; telescope with working lens less powerful than my digital camera. I was so in love.
Years of stocking-stuffers atop a large, felt, floppy red sorting hat. Once, I dragged my mother's friend into the garage. My friend placed the hat across her head, eyes, nose, while I hid behind a folding table and whispered "sorting hat words" into her ear. Have I mentioned I grew up with good sports?
The next year, that same friend of my mother's gave me this. :) The ornament hangs in my room. The box has other uses.
Potion ingredients.
Potions bottles, glow and the dark spiders in an emptied oregano jar.
Hand-drawn crest notebook, since there was no HP store. Halloween cauldron, "dragon-skin" (gardening) gloves, print-out of the preliminary HP lego characters, which were the highlight of that Christmas.
Wizarding for Muggles.
Signet Ring, as described in the Book of Wizard Crafts. If you're wondering, those are pieces of an old man-calla board game.
I found more!
Understand, these rings were years before the time of Horcruxes. It was before the HP games, when I had to find my own immersion, and it was wonderful. The rings are pathetically waggy, shapeless, and I love them.
So long, Harry. It's been great. I hope, for my sake, you hold onto the cultural fabric even after the movies have all come and gone on DVD.
This entry was originally posted at http://rlmcnulty.dreamwidth.org/7431.html. You can comment here or there using OpenID.