An affair with a wizard

This month marks the first anniversary of the release of the last installment of the Harry Potter series. I was one of the millions of fans who eagerly awaited for the Deathly Hallows. National Bookstore offered a preorder system then for acquiring the book. Two months before the scheduled release, I paid National the required preorder fee. The book was released on a Friday, July 21. I got my copy at exactly 9 am, just minutes after National opened, and took a leave from work the following day so I can devote some time for reading it. Although a lot of people in Cebu have preordered The Deathly Hallows, there were no people lining up in National to get their own copy on its first day of release. It took me less than 5 minutes to get my own book.

I spent the next two days reading the book. The Deathly Hallows provided almost all the answers to the questions posed by the previous books. J. K. Rowling has bewitched me. I can't imagine how a children's book could affect me in the most intense of ways. I was deeply moved when I learned the truth about Snape, the most viled teacher of Harry. Deathly Hallows has completely turned the spotlight from Harry to Snape.

So how did I fell for Harry? I discovered Harry through the DVDs played by my sister, who is a die-hard fan. I was out of the country when the bruhaha over Harry started so I was so clueless why millions were raving about the boy wizard with a scar. The movies offered me an idea of the greatness of Rowling's creations. Right there and then, I vowed to myself that I will read the books. It was in 2006. I scoured all the bookstores in Cebu to find HP 1-6 in vain. The only available books then were HP 5 and 6. I wanted to buy the entire set but there were no stocks anywhere. So I turned to Amazon but they required credit card, which I don't have then. I eventually acquired the books through a friend. She was so generous for giving me the books. Thank God for friends like her.