This is not a beauty/fashion post, so if that's all you're into, you might want to stop reading here. These are merely my thoughts, provoked by a certain film that opened at midnight (and that I'm going to see in a matter of hours). A little ramble, if you will. 

                                                                       (image via Tumblr)

Last night I found myself attempting to summarise the Harry Potter books and I realised that is impossible. How do you explain it to someone who isn't at all familiar with the series, someone who has never picked up one of the books or watched one of the films? I ended up saying it was about good versus evil, but you just can't strip these books down like that. It's not the battle between good and evil that draws the readers in, it's the world created, the empathy you feel for the characters, their stories, the magic that created all of this, and by that I mean J.K. Rowling's talent and the way everything comes together in the final book, not the actual magic in the books. Although that is pretty cool as well.
I remember reading the very first one the year it came out; I was 9, a voracious reader, and I started reading it in the car (note - I would not recommend this). I remember how the back of the book didn't inspire me as it didn't reveal sufficient detail about the plot (I was a nit-picking little critic even then). I also remember how, two pages in, I was hooked. And I have been ever since. I remember two years later waiting expectantly for my Hogwarts letter (what Harry Potter fan hasn't done this?) and even in my teens my sisters and cousin and I would pretend to hold Hogwarts classes over the summer. We even mocked up O.W.L.S! Even today at the age of 22 I own a robe and a wand, courtesy of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (and my fiance and Stephie, of course). I'll be wearing them tonight, of course.






I think the reason I have been so excited for this particular day is due to all the waiting. I miss waiting for each new book to come out, I really do. Now the penultimate film is here, and I'm a little bit sad that we're one step closer to all this being over. It feels like the end of an era, if that makes sense. I've never liked the films as much as the books; in my opinion, the films are an extension of the books, not replacements, and I find it sad that so many people rely on the films to give them their "Harry Potter experience" rather than the books. I have never been so emotionally connected to a work of literature before; never have I laughed so much, never have I cried so hard at a book. The chapter 'The Prince's Tale' still makes me sob uncontrollably, despite having read the book six times, so much so that I have alarmed my mother every single time I've read the chapter in her presence (she always thinks something awful has happened until she sees the book I'm holding and dripping tears all over).  I just can't get over how perfect it is. The way Snape's story is told. The way it all starts to make sense. Severus Snape is an excellent character and I would be honoured if I could one day write a character even half as perfect as he is. I love the way details that seemed insignificant in previous books all have a meaning in the last, I love the way everything is resolved so perfectly and yet so sadly as well. 
This post is somewhat pointless. I can't put my love for these books into words, there are no words, only emotion (and lots of it). I know I will cry tonight after this part of the film finishes. I know I will sob and sob during the last film. And after all that, I will reread the books and remember how much they affected my childhood and beyond, and I look forward to reading them to my children, and hoping they too will understand the magic of Harry Potter. 
I will love these books forever, it is as simple as that. I feel my love for them is summarised quite perfectly by Snape himself, in that particular scene in the final chapter that never fails to bring a tear to my eye: