”
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of No. 4, Privet Drive, we’re proud to say
that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the
last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or
mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense.
”
These were the indelible first words of Ms. J.K. Rowling in the
first installment of the Harry Potter series,
”
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
”
Since then,
”
the Boy who Lived
”
has entranced millions with his tale.
“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of No. 4, Privet Drive, we’re proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense.” These were the indelible first words of Ms. J.K. Rowling in the first installment of the Harry Potter series, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” Since then, “the Boy who Lived” has entranced millions with his tale.
It is difficult to accurately describe the enormous effect Rowling’s series has had on the world. She has created a fan base like no other; a fan base that is wholly and completely devoted to her world, and to Harry.
Her books inspired a generation and motivated people of all ages to read. Her incredible transformation from a destitute single mother to one of the world’s few female self-made billionaires gave hope to struggling authors.
And now it is all coming to an end.
After more than a decade of Harry Potter book and movie releases, the last Harry Potter film is set to premiere in the United States Friday. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” posters can be seen hanging in myriad locations, declaring the three fateful words, “it all ends.” This blunt declaration is no doubt leaving fans thinking, “But how? How could this all be ending?”
This proves to be a more legitimate question than one would think. Relatively recent developments have made it difficult to believe that the Harry Potter phenomenon will really end with the final cinematic installment of the beloved series.
On June 23, Rowling revealed the purpose of her new website, Pottermore.com It is meant to be an interactive Harry Potter experience, where readers have the opportunity to relive the novels by becoming a part of the world. It seems to be a sort of online game, though no one is aware of the full details yet.
The website will be open to the public in October, and will also become the only place to purchase Harry Potter eBooks. Rowling has also promised to reveal more information about the Harry Potter world that she has been holding for quite some time.
Meanwhile, fans are finding numerous ways to keep the Harry Potter spirit alive. The International Quidditch Association, or the IQA, is an association that organizes tournaments among the world’s Muggle Quidditch teams. Quidditch has become a popular college sport over the past few years, and the United States now has 272 teams, according the IQA. The Quidditch World Cup will be held in New York City Nov. 12 to 13, 2011.
Lily Zalon, a 16-year-old from Connecticut, has also recently humored Rowlings fans’ insatiable desire for more Harry Potter material. Looking for a way to contribute to the Harry Potter fandom herself, she came up with the idea to ask fans to write letters to a Harry Potter character and share how much the books mean to them. These letters, along with fans’ photos, have been compiled into a book titled “Dear Mr. Potter.” “Dear Mr. Potter” is also a fully functioning blog, where, although the book has already been completed, people are always welcome to write their own letters to Mr. Potter.
Zalon has donated the proceeds of the book to the Harry Potter Alliance, a nonprofit charity that, “takes an outside-of-the-box approach to civic engagement by using parallels from the Harry Potter books to educate and mobilize young people across the world toward issues of literacy, equality, and human rights,” according to their mission statement.
The organization has met with considerable success. They’ve donated more than 80,000 books in hopes of improving literacy worldwide, and in 2010 the organization won a $250,000 grant from a “crowd-sourcing philanthropy program sponsored by J.P. Morgan Chase.”
With all these new developments in the Harry Potter world, it is hard to believe that on July 15, “it all ends.”
How can it?
A visit to Hogwarts is only a page turn or flight to Florida away. The love for the series is still inspiring fans to do ridiculous things like starting a Quidditch team, or creating a new genre of music called Wizard Rock. People are bettering the world in the name of Harry Potter. In fact, fans seem to be sending the clear message that it will never end.
Sabrina Werts is a junior at Ann Sobrato High School. In addition to writing, she enjoys piano and dance.
