A Severe Case of Harry Potter Nostalgia

Warning: this random rant is directed to die-hard Harry Potter fans.

If you don’t like Harry Potter I genuinely believe that there is something wrong with you. Not having read the books is relatively acceptable but the films are a must. Some might think: “Oh, you must be crazy writing about something so far gone, how could you still be interested in Harry Potter?” And my answer would be: “Always.” Forever I will be charmed by the idea of a magical world, of characters so perfect and finished.  What is the summer vacation for if not to treat yourself with a Harry Potter marathon? I do it almost every year and yet I still find myself crying over the most heart-melting scenes. Harry hugging Hagrid and saying: “There is no Hogwarts without you, Hagrid.” and everyone standing to applause him. Cedric Diggory dying. Sirius Black. With Dumbledore, Rowling already pushed it way too far. But Dobby and Fred, and Lupin? Why?

Aside from the deaths, almost everything in this series brings joy to my reckless soul. I would never understand how a person who had no writing experience whatsoever, managed to shape such an amazing storyline with unbelievable plot-twists. Speaking of plot-twists, I always wondered how Alan Rickman felt about portraying the best fictional character ever to exist. Yes, I know everybody loves Snape now, and no, I didn’t see it coming and logically hated his guts. But I can’t deny it was an absolutely genius move and most importantly, it made perfect sense. While I understand that most of the population on Earth knows everything there is to know about Harry Potter, I would like to indulge in some random facts that completely conclude the story and attain the perfect ending. As I said, I recently re-watched the series and I remember quite good what was mentioned and what not, but excuse me if I repeat some information that is obvious.

We all realize that Voldemort’s weakness was the fact that he could not feel love. But do you know exactly why? His mother, Merope Grunt (direct descendant of Salazar Slyderin), grew an obsessive love for Tom Riddle, a muggle. So she bewitched Tom with Amortentia – a powerful love potion. It was due to her enchantment that her son was incapable of love. His lack of feelings may be the thing that made him so evil and powerful, but then again this lack killed him. It was the only weapon Harry had against him. As Dumbledore said to him: “Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all those who live without love.”

One of my favorite elements of the story is the concept of the three Deathly Hallows. There is the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone and the Invisibility cloak. At first I didn’t realize, as many others, that the cloak was already been with Harry throughout all those years. It is said that most of the invisibility cloaks are not very powerful and their function fades away through the years. But not Harry’s. Most importantly, both Harry and Dumbledore have been in possession of all three of Deathly Hallows which basically makes them the coolest wizards of all time.

Harry is an amazingly brave wizard and therefore he has many abilities, but one of the most bizarre ones was his skill to speak Parseltongue (talking to snakes) – it is something only the heir of Slyderin could do. When he was eleven years old he communicated with a snake in the zoo and that didn’t seem that odd at the time. Later, he realized that it is absolutely unusual even for the magical world. For me personally it was quite obvious why he had this ability – he shared a connection with his enemy. The night Voldemort tried to kill him, part of his soul rebounded and clung to the only living thing it could find. Naturally, of course, when Voldemort himself tried to kill Harry in the Forbidden Forest, he actually destroyed his own unintended Horcrux. After that, Harry lost his ability to speak to snakes forever.

I hope I have not bored you to death with my nostalgic rant. It is something that I am very excited about and even if one single person likes it, I will continue with this Harry Potter series. Do you know any interesting facts that I may have neglected?

~I.