Harry rescues muggles from mundane lives

  Maegan Carberry Carberry is a
fourth-year political science and English student who can’t get
enough Harry. If you love him too, e-mail her at [email protected].

Nov. 16 brought 153 minutes of relief to countless Harry Potter
fans. For a fleeting moment, we muggle groupies of the
world’s greatest wizard were able to indulge in the magic
while we were reunited with the scrawny little boy that changed our
literary lives. As I begrudgingly returned to the car on Friday
night, I thought longingly of March like a kindergartner on
Christmas Eve.

How can I wait almost five months for the answers I so
desperately seek? At night as I try to sleep, I wonder in vain if
You-Know-Who is just outside the doorway, waiting to wreak havoc on
the world as we know it. Will the Ministry of Magic protect us?
Will Dumbeldore ever tell us why Voldemort killed Lily and James
Potter? Will Cedric Diggory be avenged? And what is the deal with
the two wands of the same phoenix?

I need some help, J.K.

I have never loved a book or character as much as I love Harry
Potter. I was once trying to explain it to my parents, and I
laughed as I caught myself saying “It’s just magical
the way it takes over you.”

And it’s more than the magic spells, the cleverly imagined
Hogwarts magic courses, or the magical world behind Platform 9 and
3/4.

It’s the magical connection between the reader and
Rowling’s characters. I absolutely abhor Draco Malfoy. I
cringe at the thought of Filch and his cat. I think Professor
Trewlaney is full of crap, and I have unyielding faith in Professor
Dumbledore. I trust Snape about as far as I could throw him. And I
bleed maroon and gold for Gryffindor. It almost hurts to come to
the last page, shut the book and put it back on the shelf because I
hate to leave these fantastic characters and their magical world
behind.

All I can say is that Rowling is a genius. And when I have Harry
Potter in my hand, nothing else in the world matters, because I am
simply mesmerized.

This is why I went online to buy tickets to Harry’s movie
debut a week in advance. And why my boyfriend and I sat outside for
a few hours before it started so that we could have good seats.

The movie couldn’t entirely capture the book’s
magic, because condensing something so great into a couple of hours
and trying to make the imaginary real is an impossible task. But it
did allow me to go back into Harry’s world for a little
while, and this is all I wanted ““ a break in the constant
bleakness that is waiting for March and the next installment of
Harry’s adventures.

I usually avoid things that are the “hip” or
“in” thing to do or read, but this is one instance
where the hype is everything it claims to be. And any loyal Harry
Potterite can corroborate my claim. So for all you pop-culture
haters out there, you don’t know Harry until you’ve met
him. No matter how much you resist, you will be sucked in. I
guarantee it. (But be sure to read the books first, and just enjoy
the movie for the great effort it is.)

If you haven’t read Harry yet, I suggest you drop
everything you are doing, and head immediately to the nearest
bookstore. Do not pass Go or collect $200. As for me and the rest
of Harry’s zealous fans, we’ll just have to settle for
the ever-bland and trying Muggle world, until the magic returns in
107 days and counting.