Friday, July 20, 2007 @9:13 AM
Finally, at long last.
After months and months of anticipation, eagerness and impatience, it's finally here.
HARRY POTTER 07 - THE DEATHLY HALLOWS.
Oh, how I've yearned for its arrival. Tomorrow, at last, it shall be mine. I shall be able to hold it in my hands, feel its pages with my fingers, devour it with my eyes.
I fell into the magical world of Harry Potter at Primary 5. Believe it or not, I was once the most anti-HP person you could possibly find around. Mostly due to my dad's influence. "Rubbish", "nonsense", "WHAT magic" were amongst the kinder labels he hurled at the series. Without any justification whatsoever. So, gullible me was taken in, and was staunchly against HP.
Until one day, my cousin persuaded me to watch Chamber of Secrets with her at her dad's club. I agreed reluctantly, and that was only cos it was very rare that I got to spend time with my cousins. I went into the cinema, the blurrest of all sotongs, asking stupid questions like "What is that? Is he good or bad?" In reference to Dobby. And I actually believed my cousin's explanation of why Harry didn't end up in Diagon Alley after going through the Floo Network, that it was cos he had said "diagonally" instead, thus he literally went diagonally. Oh, the stupidity of moi. Of course, now, I know that it was cos he went off at the wrong grate, at Knockturn Alley.
So I was sitting there, feeling vaguely bored. Partly cos I didn't exactly understand what was going on. And then. And then.
Enter Draco Malfoy/Tom Felton. Oh gosh. My first ever obsession. Goodness. Who is that, on the screen? The camera moved upwards, from his feet to his face, slowly. My cousin leant over to me and whispered, "I can't STAND this guy!". What? Couldn't stand him? Who couldn't? Note that she's about the biggest bandwagon-jumper I had ever met. So, Draco = bad guy = cannot stand him. Uh-uh. For me, it was Draco = bad guy = ohmygoodnesswillsomeonetellmewhyIhavethisweirdfeelinginmyheart.
After the movie, the next day, I demanded to borrow the COS book from Sandra. The moment I got it, I didn't read it from the beginning. Oh no. I flipped through the book like a maniac.
Sandra: Uh, exactly what are you looking for?
Yinfei: The parts with Malfoy in it.
Well.
Then I came to my senses and decided to read the whole book. Then, HP magic took over. Sure, it was Draco Malfoy who got me interested in the series in the first place, but it was the book, the series, the story, really, that got me hooked. I borrowed SS from the ever-obliging Sandra. After I was done with that, every time I went to a bookstore, I would search for a copy of POA and read it. When we left the bookstore, I would remember the page which I had stopped at. The next time I went to a bookstore, I would take it to read again. Till I had finished it. Yep, I had converted Popular to a library. Then I entered RGS, and went every recess in Sec 1 to the library to read GOF. We went to China at the end of the year, and I persuaded my dad to buy books 1 to 4 for me. He agreed only cos it was in chinese, and he thought this would somehow increase my interest in the language.
Well, I still couldn't stand it. I received books 1 to 4 as my birthday present the next year. I then bullied my parents into buying OOTP for me when it came out. And subsequently, HBP. By then, I had morphed from anti-HP-forever to diehard, insane, HPforever fan. As well as a "walking harry potter thesaurus", in Zhihua's words.
So here it is, then, the final book. I'm so excited, and so sad. This is the last time I'll ever be looking forward to a Harry Potter book coming out.
Here's to JK Rowling, the wonderful creator of the series without which my life would never have been quite as complete. The cause of the millions of fansites, billions of fanfics, zillions of happy fans. I cannot quite put into words the utter respect I have for you.
Thank you so very much.
- JJ, for persuading me to watch COS that fateful day.
- Draco Malfoy/Tom Felton, for getting me hooked onto the series.
Deathly Hallows, I await thou with bated breath!