The Final Movie: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and how I prepared for the end of an era

When the Harry Potter series first came out, I turned my nose up at it. It was around the same time that Pokémon became a thing, so I just decided that it must be just as childish! I wasn't going to waste my time on it!

It also didn't help that we had recently moved away from my hometown, and I rebelled against everything else, too.

And then we moved back home.

I was 12 years old when I gave in to the Harry Potter craze. I had just moved back to Pennsylvania, and some friends from my grandmother's church convinced me to read the first book.

I was hooked.

It was right before the 4th book came out, so I tore through the first three in one week and even ignored visiting family in order to do so (to the dismay of my mom's best friend, whom I call aunt, and her three kids).

I hid in the upstairs rooms, curled up in an over-stuffed chair for hours and hours.

With each new book release, I was buying whatever I could find, greedily using my mom's money on my newfound love.

With each movie premiere, I dressed up and usually coordinated midnight premiere showings with 20+ people from school. Those nights are etched into my memory!

With each page turned, I had the ultimate adventure: growing up with a fictional character.

As I face the end of this journey 10 years later at 22 years old (adult? what's that?), I find that I'm needing to take steps to help come to the realization that the Harry Potter Generation is indeed ending.

And with that thought, I spiraled! I needed to make it NOT end! I needed to make the memories of the LAST movie so vivid that it would linger in my demented mind at age 146!

My best friend Katey and I decided we were going to start our awesome memories by making t-shirts. We've known this for the past two weeks, but we didn't know exactly what we were going to put on them, and we didn't even buy the shirts until last night.

Last night, two days before the premiere (!!!!!), Katey and I were like, "Oh!" and bought materials. We spent close to 2 hours on our masterpieces.

We both decided that we would have the same thing on our shirts, just with varied colors. The front of our shirts say "Until the very end." This phrase is part of J. K. Rowling's dedication in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

It was bittersweet glitter-painting those letters, and I choke up thinking about it as I type this up now!

The dedication reads thus:

|      THE

|

|        DEDICATION

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|           OF THIS BOOK

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|        IS SPLIT

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|   SEVEN WAYS:

|

|TO NEIL,

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|   TO JESSICA,

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|      TO DAVID,

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|         TO KENZIE,

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|                TO DI,

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|         TO ANNE,

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|      AND TO YOU,

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|   IF YOU HAVE

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|      STUCK

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|         WITH HARRY

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|              UNTIL THE

|

|            VERY

|

|         END.

What Katey and I decided to put on the back of our shirts is another phrase from the books, but it's something Harry himself says:

"I'm not going home. Not really."

At the end of HP and the Sorcerer's Stone (American title), Harry turns to his friends Ron and Hermione and says this before he leaves with his aunt, uncle, and cousin for the summer away from school.

I felt this in my bones. Hogwarts was my home, too.

"He must have known I'd want to leave you."
"No, he must have known you would always want to come back.”

As Ron laments his leaving Hermione and Harry in an angry fit, his friends express exactly how each of us in that theater will feel tonight!

Because just as Jo Rowling herself said,

“Whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.”

Katey and I wanted to have our own dedication to Jo and her amazing series of books, and we thought choosing words from the books was the perfect way to do this.

Katey and I decided that these words describe exactly how we feel. We will be leaving the theater tonight with our hearts heavy. This is the ending of an era that has lasted over a decade. These stories have become our "homes," and we wanted to express this. We have even decided that after the movie, we will be switching our shirts backwards so that the back becomes the front.

I HOPE I DON'T CRY.

Because the last premiere is during the summer, we decided that we were not going to wear our usual Hogwarts students uniforms like usual. With it being so hot outside, we have opted for comfort over fashion. I am wearing black shorts with the above t-shirt, a black and green cloak, and a witch's hat.

I have done my nails. My toenails and fingernails match. With a silver background and glitter top coat, I have drawn Deathly Hallows symbols on my thumbs. I figure my Deathly Hallows tattoo on my right big toe is enough design for my feet.

I am about to step out the door and see the very last Harry Potter movie premiere there will ever be.

This is it. This is the end.