Twenty years of Harry Potter Magic!

On this day, exactly twenty years ago, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone hit the book shelves, setting up the foundation for a magical, literary phenomena spread over several books (you can’t forget the spinoffs!) and multi-million dollar movie franchise. It’s been twenty years since wizards, witches, and Muggles became mainstream!

It’s been twenty years (two decades!!!!) since the Harry Potter books were published. Twenty years since the Boy Who Lived stole hearts all over the world. I hope that this series continues to entertain several more generations. Twenty years! It’s so hard to believe. But twenty years or what, these books still haven’t lost their charm. I don’t think they ever will… because this is one such book series that will steal your hearts and hold them captive forever. And the best part is that you’ll love every bit of this captivity!

I was introduced to Hogwarts and this magical series when I was seven years old. Ever since I first read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Philosopher’s Stone, to some of you), I had been branded for life. And now at 22, I’ve spent most of my life (15 long years!) obsessing over this series. I’ve been a Potterhead for so long, that I can be safely classified as a Harry Potter nerd.

It made me realize that reading was fun and also that there were books that I could actually read and understand! Every year, during my summer vacations I used to re-read all the books in the series. (read: the ones that had been published till date) That should explain why I’m so obsessed with Harry Potter even today. 😀 It wasn’t the first book that I read but it was the first to occupy a place in my heart. As a child, this was one book series that I could connect to and the movie franchise further fuelled my obsession.

I had been totally obsessed with the books, the movie series it had spawned, and in short, anything and everything, that was even remotely related to Harry Potter. Needless to say, I own all seven books and they are the most battered books in my collection; made worse for wear, by the countless times I’ve read them, over and over again.

So obsessed had I been, that I had even gone to the trouble of making a scrapbook of sorts, and filled it completely with almost every “Harry Potter” newspaper cuttings, that I could lay my hands on. I would carefully cut-out any article that appeared in the newspaper that was even remotely connected to Harry Potter. As a 90’s kid, I didn’t have constant access to the internet those days and so I treasured (read hoarded) those newspaper cut-outs. 😀 My scrapbook contains all those meticulously sourced newspaper cut-outs, my own commentaries, and notes, a list of all the spells that have ever been cast at one point or other in the series, and much more. It is clearly one of my most treasured possessions. If I’d been living in London (or at the very least, had the means to get to London.) I’d have stood in line, waiting for hours on end, wearing a cloak, just to get a signed copy from J.K. Rowling.

So if you haven’t already read this amazing series, go ahead and pick up the first book. Please!

P.S: I love Pottermore. When I took the sorting test, I ended up in Hufflepuff. Any other fellow Hufflepuffs here?

P.P.S: Well… Okay then, I’m off to start a marathon God-knows-what-number-it-is-“re-reading”-session of Harry Potter. I just had to write a post to record this moment! (The things you tend to do when you’re a self-confessed Potterhead!) 😀

“After all this time?”

“Always”

© 2017 Shweta Suresh. All rights reserved.