After almost fifteen years of Pottermania, the release of Deathly Hallows Part Two will mark the end of an era. What's next for the Potterverse - and how are fans coping?
There were emotional scenes in London last week for the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Fans camped overnight in Trafalgar Square, wearing Hogwarts robes and carrying banners. Emma Watson broke down as the actors, together with J K Rowling, mingled with fans and thanked the crowds for their support. And the Guardian honoured the proceedings by liveblogging it all.
When the newspapers covered the event the next day, it was revealed that many of the fans they'd talked to very much saw the premiere of the final film in the series as being a farewell to their childhood and a 'thank you' to the inspirational Rowling for creating the characters which have shaped their lives. Most of the media coverage detailed the emotional atmosphere among the crowds.
"They haven't come to see us really, they've come to say goodbye to their childhood," Jason Isaacs, aka Lucius Malfoy, told The Huffington Post's Sarah Dean.
The effect the series has had on a generation of young people is plain to see from browsing through blogs like Thank You J K Rowling or the entries on Dear Mr Potter, the website and charity project which encourages fans to tell the story of what Harry's life has meant to them. Many of the letters have been put together as a book, which is being sold to help support the youth literacy efforts of social justice and equality nonprofit The Harry Potter Alliance. Moving and guaranteed to make you smile, many of the posts express sentiments like these from Christianna, 19:
"There are many ways Hermione Granger influenced my life. She made me want to read more. I used to hate reading until I read about Hermione in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. After that, I begun to read a lot and read the other books in the series. I also felt that I can be myself no matter what. I got the courage to face some of my fears and troubles. I sometimes ask myself, 'What would Hermione do if she were in my shoes?' and solve my problem from there."
Sometimes I wish I was a few years younger, so I could have really experienced what it was like to grow up with Harry Potter, as those who were children around the time the first books were released - like my sister, who is young enough to have had Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets read to her as bedtime stories. Or the teenagers interviewed at the London premiere last week who spoke of their enchantment as they saw Hogwarts brought to life.
I watched my sister obsessing over the books and the first couple of films, but dismissed them as being 'for kids' - that is until I finished my exams for the very last time at school and was faced with a long summer before heading off to university. I devoured the first five books in the series in a week while sunbathing in my back garden - and by the time Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was published my sister and I were queuing up together to get our longed-for books and special edition carrier bags.
Reading the Potter books as an adult has been awesome. I've stayed up until dawn reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows after purchasing it at midnight; I've got more and more excited as the trailers have been released, from the earliest teasers to the full theatrical versions. The books are my go-to for a somehow comforting yet page-turning read. But as of this week, there'll be no more releases to get excited over - and that's kind of sad.
Until, of course, later in the year when J K Rowling's newest venture, the hotly-anticipated website Pottermore, reveals more of what it has to offer to a desperate legion of fans. Unveiled at the end of June and accompanied by a video of Rowling explaining her vision for the site, Pottermore promises fans a wealth of new material about characters and places in the series, together with games, e-books and plenty of interactive fun.
It's Harry Potter for a new generation - and such was the demand to sign up for a chance to gain access to the site early - at the end of this month- that the site crashed. I'm not going to lie - I can't wait for its full launch in October and I suspect I'm not the only adult Potter fan who feels this way. Rowling has stated many times that she doesn't intend to write any more Harry Potter books, so we'll have to be content with the memories.
Hannah Mudge writes about all things news and feminism-themed for BitchBuzz. You can also read her blog, We Mixed Our Drinks or follow her tweets as @boudledidge.
Image via Beacon Radio's Flickr