Last ‘Potter’ brings closure

Closure: something I never wanted. I expected unwanted closure when I picked up my copy of J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” However, I didn’t expect to feel so nervous and uncertain at the end of every chapter.\nLong lines packed every bookstore across the nation as anxious readers counted down to 12:01 a.m. on July 21. As I waited for the book, I reflected on the past ten years of my life. The past six school years at Hogwarts have been filled with O.W.L examinations, Quidditch matches and obviously the suspense of Lord Voldemort’s many attempts at returning to power. \n“Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows” is not about passing a test or helping house elves with their civil rights but about finding the truth in the past and the future, not to mention cheating death on several occasions. \nHarry has learned that things aren’t always as they seem. People in his life upon whom he once wanted to seek vengeance have turned out to be his saviors.\nIn the months prior to Saturday’s book release, rumors circulated in interviews and articles that there would be a major death in “The Deathly Hallows” and that Harry himself might die. Instead, I found that people and creatures close to Harry die throughout the book, and not just in its final chapters.\nThis book is the climax of a war that had been in the making since before Harry was born. His whole life and purpose are realized in the end, right before he faces Lord Voldemort for the final time.\nHarry’s seventh year at Hogwarts is not truly at Hogwarts at all. He and his two trustworthy friends do not even return to their school until Chapter 29.\nAs I began to read the dreaded epilogue, I found myself wanting the closure that it would bring to the Harry Potter saga. The wizard world that thrived in Rowling’s books and my imagination is not really over. I’m sure that someday I will relive Harry’s world all over again when my children experience it for themselves. \nDon’t cheat yourself by waiting for the movies. Read the books.