With the Last Harry Potter Book, Childhood Will Live on Eternally but End with the Last Word

The other night, I had a dream. So it was a dream about me reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, before its published date. But the fact I had this dream made me realize how strongly my life has centered around a fictional character for the past 7 years of my life, a good half of it. And I always knew that the end was inevitable, and it will end this summer. How bittersweet the feeling is!

I remember seeing the pictures where Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson were just cast for the Harry Potter movies. It was a thrilling feeling based especially on the fact that I was their age at the time and realizing I had that one connection with them when they were relative unknowns. And as I reflect on it, it was even more thrilling to grow with them. Go through puberty with them, go through school with them...they were like my actual best friends, almost.

It couldn't have been more perfect when J.K. Rowling announced when the book was coming out. July 21, 2007. Just a few days ago, I turned 18, the age where children become adults. And when I hold that precious, the long-awaited book, the one thing I have centered my life on this summer, I will relish and hold it close to my heart forever. Because once I hold that last book, read the last chapter, turn the last page, and end with the last word, my childhood will be locked away, into eternity.

I always wondered at my extreme obsessiveness I seem to have for the bespectacled boy. He was my age after all, and I could relate to the words and the feelings he expressed in his mind. His crushes, his hates, I revelled in all of that. But yet he seemed to be more adult, mainly because of the fact that his parents died when he was so young. I grew with that understanding. He is one of the most real people in my mind. I don't think I can understand or begin to comprehend the fact when J.K. Rowling does choose to kill Harry. To see his death in words on the page will be devestating, mind-blowing, and all the structures and foundations of my life will crumble and fall into ashes.

Sure, maybe I'm being overdramatic. It's true that J.K. Rowling has lived with Harry a much longer time and created him, but I know, as I have known each time, when someone that real in my mind dies, a part of me, a part of my soul dies along with him.

Besides, I love living through the actors. Though they do not entirely represent the characters for me, though they are a part of the trio that I grew up with. It's exciting that Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint have chosen to do other movies, especially with regards to the scandulous Equus that Dan is performing in. For my part, I can't wait till I watch the play this summer, when I graduate as a senior from high school-- it is just another way I am becoming an adult. I am just as excited as he is to see how unique and talented he is in bringing life to different characters other than Harry Potter.

My life is mine, and I have chosen Harry Potter to live with me during my childhood. I don't regret it. He has been the most poignant, real person I have known, thanks to J.K. Rowling. I can't wait to see how it ends with him. Hopefully, J.K. Rowling, the Writing Goddess, will write other books as well. I, for my part, just like with Daniel Radcliffe, am excited to see different aspects of her soul as well.

It will be a sad and bittersweet ending, but ecstatic as well. Thank you, Joanne Kathleen Rowling, for sharing Harry with us. He'll live in my heart forever, and I can't wait till the day when I can introduce Harry to my own children.