It started in 2003. My mom had heard about Harry Potter and thought it would just be a stupid book. She didn't care much for the idea of magic. Then her mom called. She kept talking about how amazing Harry Potter was. So my mom bought a used copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone at a thrift store for 99 cents. She started reading aloud a chapter a night. I know when she first started reading it, I was terrified to listen because I thought Harry would die in the first chapter, even though it's called The Boy Who Lived!
This is that copy today, 8 years later:
Soon after we finished reading the 1st book, my sister and I got strep throat. It wasn't pleasant, but Harry Potter and Jell-o got us through. It kept coming back, so we eventually had to get our tonsils removed. Recovery wasn't pleasant either. We'd sleep on the couch, eat jell-o on the couch, watch PBS Kids on the couch, and read Harry Potter on the couch. We went through the next 3 books very quickly. By this time we were addicted.
I remember that my dad went to Walmart at midnight to pick up the Order of the Phoenix. We went through that book so quickly. We hungered for more, but there wasn't more yet. So instead we listened to the audio books repeatedly. I have no idea how many times, I just know that I had them memorized.
Some time soon after that, my parents felt the need to upgrade to a DVD player. So we went to Walmart and bought a DVD player and the first 2 Harry Potter DVD's.
We watched the movies so many times. I loved them SO MUCH! I loved watching my favorite books come to life. Chamber of Secrets was always my favorite. The early scene where Dobby drops a pudding on Mrs. Mason's head scared me. I don't know why, I just know it took me 2 years before I could sit down and watch it.
Then my family's life got crazy. We had 4 kids. My dad decided to join the Army which meant moving around. We left our little house in Iowa to go live with our grandparents in Virginia while our dad was at boot camp. It was fun for a little while, but soon it grew less and less fun.
What made everything fun again was the Prisoner of Azkaban movie coming out. We went to see it at least 3 times.
Then about a year later the Half Blood Prince book came out. In Richmond there was a giant Harry Potter fest to celebrate the release. We went. It was so much fun. There was wizard chess, and chocolate frogs, and Ollivander's wands. The night of the release we stayed up until 3am reading the book. We finished it the next day. It was so much fun.
About a month after that, Jim Dale was going to be doing a book reading in Richmond. We went. He read some of the books. He also talked about where he had come up with all his voices. I got to go meet him and he signed our copy of the Half Blood Prince.
After that we moved to Europe and spent lots of time traveling. My mom, my sister, and I actually got to go to London. We stopped by King's Cross and found Platform 9 3/4.
Then on July 20th, 2007 we celebrated Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix coming to our theater. We were sadly dissapointed, but that was alright because the Deathly Hallows was coming out at midnight! The book store that was right next to the theater was having fun games all day. We bought 2 copies so we wouldn't have to fight with each other. Little did we know that my mom had already ordered 2 copies from Amazon. So now we have 4 copies.These are the 3 I could find:
The 3rd book is the deluxe edition. I LOVE the artwork! It is so beautiful!
So now, let's fast-forward to today! Last November I went to see the Deathly Hallows. IT WAS AMAZING! I'll be more detailed in my review later on.
And now I've invented this fun way to count down to the last movie.
So that is my Harry Potter story!
About Debz
"I had no idea which of the dwarfs it was, and come to think of it, I wasn't sure I could recall all of their names. There was, um... Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Boring-- no wait, Boring wasn't actually a dwarf. I was getting the dwarfs confused with my schoolteachers. " 
