HPDH Part 2

Finally saw the last Harry Potter film last night with TC and Bert! Too bad about work, otherwise we would have done the midnight showing but settled for late Fri night instead!

Of course we came dressed up. What better occasion than the last Harry Potter film to wear our Hogwarts outfits? TC in her Gryffindor robe and tie and pleated gray uniform skort (by French Toast, a uniform company; bought online thru Amazon). Me in my Slytherin robe (bought in 2006 from online wizard store, Alivan's; Slytherin patch from Ebay, Slytherin tie from the Warner Bros store; white blouse and gray skirt my own). TC's wand was Hermione's while mine was Snape's.

TC's outfit was an older Halloween costume from 2006. The only thing new was her skirt and white button down blouse. My outfit was also from 2006 and we've both worn them on and off for the past few Halloween seasons. I was wearing a couple of pins TC bought from Whimsic Alley (a wizard store in L.A.). One button had the killing curse, "Avada Kedavra - If only..." and the other had a photo of young badseed Tom Riddle with the words, "I can make bad things happen..."

Bert's "Dark Mark" tattoo...(fake)

You can't see them that well but the earrings are silver snake charms which is fitting because snakes are the symbol for Slytherin house. I added a green czech glass bead above each snake then attached hooks to the bead. I had a longer and darker gray pencil skirt but it's a bit too small, so I went with this gray mini instead.

Don't make me do the Unforgivable Curse!

Bert and I started reading the HP books in 2000 when I was still pregnant with TC. I went through the first four books that summer ("Goblet of Fire" was the newest one that year) with Bert following close behind. We wer both hooked. I've bought the rest each year they came out, hoping and wishing for the day when we could pass the books on to TC. She began reading the first book (although with some difficulty due to the dialogue) at the end of first grade and was instantly hooked. The books' sophisticated vocabulary, humor and Britishicisms were part of the appeal for TC.

I remember her telling me, "It's hard to understand when Hagrid speaks" when she was still young. She was referring to the way Hagrid's dialogue was written in his manner of speaking.

Examples:
"Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot..." (page 56 of "Sorcerer's Stone"/Book 1).

and

"I'm--er--not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff - one o' the reasons I was keen ter take on the job--" page 59, Book 1)

 She loved reading the books and finished the last book in a one week marathon session. Her obsession with the books is one that I am happy to indulge. We are thrilled that our daughter enjoys reading whether it's J.K. Rowling or Rick Riordan or whatever she's currently into. I'd rather that she enjoy reading than play mindless video games.

We also introduced her to the movies as a young child. The basilisk from the 2nd movie "Chamber of Secrets" used to freak her out. Same with "Aragog" the giant Acromantula (spider). Her favorite characters are Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.We love to quote lines from the movies as well. Surprise, surprise.Geek alert! Her first HP movie in the theatres was "Order of the Phoenix"; everything prior to that was watched on DVD. My personal favorites? "Goblet of Fire" and "Half-Blood Prince". I think the movies got darker (and better) after "Prisoner of Azkaban".

It has been an amazing experiences to see the movies evolve over the years and to watch the young actors grow up in these movies. Professors from the past make their appearance (Sprout, Lupin, Flitwick, Slughorn, Trelawney). Students from previous movies also reappear (Cho Chang, Padma Patil, Lavender Brown, Seamus Finnegan and whoa, a way taller Dean Thomas!). Rather than bore you a review on "HPDH-Part 2", just simply know that as a family, we truly enjoyed the movie and found it to be a satisfying end to the beloved series.

It was sad knowing there will be no more books and movies, but we left the movie theatre smiling and reminiscing over our favorite scenes...

If you're a Harry Potter fan, which were your favorite books and/or movies? Any favorite characters and why? Enquiring minds (mine) want to know! :)