Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which I have just finished

[raven]

Okay, what follows under the cut is not a review of Harry Potter. It is, however, massively spoilery, and I think anyone who has both a) read the book and b) known me for any length of time, will know what it's about.

Remus Lupin is dead. REMUS LUPIN IS DEAD. hathy_col carefully checked on my mental state more than once this afternoon, because, well, it's Remus. WAAAAAAAH.

Okay. I have decent commentary coming up, probably, at some point, where I will put my grown-up hat on and talk about, I dunno, themes and morals and narrative arcs and the soppy epilogue. Maybe. But before that, this. I am twenty years old. I picked up my first Harry Potter book when I was ten. I've been in fandom for most of the intervening period, too. So that's half of my life that these characters have lived and breathed in whatever the place is where fictional characters live, and they've been part of a glorious story that I've been listening to for half my life, and I don't feel any embarrassment whatsoever for sniffling through the last few chapters.

And more that - it's a damn good story. It's a story about good and evil, naturally, and about the importance of tolerance and co-existence, and about friendship. And the thing that stuck with me when I was ten was that Harry, at the beginning, is nervous about going on to secondary school even when he doesn't know he's going to Hogwarts. It was summer when I read it, and in September I was nervous about secondary school too, and I remember thinking clearly that it was funny, and kind of nice, that the same worry persisted through the shift into worlds of magic. And I worried about making friends, and library books, new subjects, house points and tuck shops, and GCSEs and A-levels, too. (Although I note with weird amusement that I got my A-levels and Harry never got his NEWTs!) There was a current of simple reality going through the stories which I appreciated for the ten years that followed.

And everyone knows that I loved Remus Lupin a whole, stupid, idiotic lot. It's quite a long time to have loved a fictional character, and I really have done. Yep, he's not real. Not even close. He's still dead, and hathy_col are going to have a long lunch on Monday, and weep and wail and get thrown out for excessive displays of emotion.

So this is me raising a late-night toast - to Harry Potter, and the stories, characters and friends I've met through him, and to ten years of my life. Cheers.

Comments

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

OFF PAGE. OFF PAGE.

*flails and shouts stuff*
*cuddle*

[casirafics.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking about you where Remus was concerned, particularly thanks to Making Moony Laugh and Mapmakers - Fred and Remus are both gone now and it's killing me, and it's in large part your fault, damn it all. *smiles, hugs*

There are so many ficlets I need to write now. Oh, so many....

[leiascully.livejournal.com]

I am SO ANGRY that Remus died off screen and having been miserable for most of the book. Argh. Argh. Whyyyyyy?

Ah well. At least he is happy and with Sirius again.

[likethesun2.livejournal.com]

When I got in from work today, I spent about an hour sitting in the room where Kib was reading HP, stopping her at intervals to ask "Who's dead now?" And when she got to Lupin, I died a little inside for you. I actually think I said, "WAH," which earned me a puzzled look.

[amchau.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

I feel sure that some kind of memorial should be set up, for Characters We Have Loved.

[absinthe-shadow.livejournal.com]

*wails afresh at memory of dead Sirius, Remus, James and Lily because it is Just Too Sad*

*clings to fic and shoebox*

[pinkishmew.livejournal.com]

[cuddles] As soon as Harry was made godfather, there was a sense that I knew it couldn't end well.

[schlagen.livejournal.com]

I did think of you when I read that he'd died. I'm pretty pissed he didn't get a decent send off as it were, just 'oh yar, there's remus & tonks dead on the floor. Right oh.' And Mad-Eye. She could have scraped the epiloge and used the word count to write Lupin a proper death.

I love Lupin too, although I fell in love with him in the films the moment he turned the grammarphone on in the DADA lesson in Prisoner of Azkaban. I shall join you in the mourning for Lupin.

[thunderemerald.livejournal.com]

The first stage of recovery is denial, right?

EXCELLENT.

Hai guyz, my literary boyfriend is SO STILL ALIVE.

[nerves-patterns.livejournal.com]

I cried when I read that Remus was dead. Flat-out cried. Tears rolling down my cheeks in front of everyone. I'm glad there are others who got so attached to him. I wish there'd been more devoted to his life/death in this book.

[tau_sigma]

Ohhh. It's over. This wonderful thing that started nearly ten years ago is just over.

I thought of you when Remus died. *pets* He was great, yes, and there was a sad lack of him in this book, actually - he didn't even get a proper death scene!

Oh. Oh, Harry Potter.

[rosariotijeras.livejournal.com]

I have not spoken to you in ages (have been a headcase/work/summer before higher education, etc., etc.), but your paragraph on the significance of Potter basically sums up everything I've been thinking since I finished it.

Also, stop talking about Slings & Arrows. There is absolutely nothing worth fanning over, and I do need to be buying the S&A DVDs to fill that void in my life!

[thecapitalc.livejournal.com]

I thought of you when I saw that too :(