By Anjali Nayak
As a senior awaiting high school graduation (June 6 here I come!) and the start of college, I have reached the beginning of the end. In a desperate attempt to maintain some semblance of my childhood, I decided to reread the entire Harry Potter series cover to cover. Hopefully, in the hands of JK Rowling—whose bigoted, transphobic views I do not agree with whatsoever—I will fight the impending realization that my adulthood is sooner rather than later.
Back in the day, I was a huge Potterhead. My first email was “keepcalmandslytheron7@gmail.com,” I forced my entire fifth-grade class to reenact scenes from the movies during recess, and one time I threw my mom’s phone out of spite because I got Gryffindor instead of Slytherin on the OG “What house would you be sorted into?” quiz. Not to mention, I have read the entire series at least four or five times.
But it’s been a bit. About six years later, I constantly mix up my Hagrids from my Hippogriffs, my Death Eaters from my Draco Malfoys, and…who dies during the sixth book again?
Something needed to be changed. Fifth-grade Anjali would not have been proud.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, ah the first installment of the Potter universe. Though I had previously checked out the Harry Potter series from the library as an elementary school student, I came back with a new weapon in hand—the picture book version of the first novel. Pictures! A sure superpower against my decreasing attention span and overall lack of ability to do anything for more than thirty minutes. From the very first few pages, I was locked back into the wizarding world. The nostalgia hit me like a train; suddenly, I was an eight-year-old awaiting my own letter to Hogwarts.
Harry Potter does a great job of maintaining a timeless setting and overall feel that honestly makes for a pleasant break from reality. The only bits of electronics we see in the series are in the first book—Harry’s cousin Dudley, a Muggle who’s not actually in the wizarding world plays video games for a brief few sentences. Instead, in Harry’s world, there are gold coins where there would be credit cards, traveling fireplaces where there would be traffic jams, owls delivering letters on parchment where there would be email, floating candlesticks where there would be twinkling lights, and so on. Harry Potter is escapism at its finest.
Okay…Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Personally, I believe that this is the most underrated book in the entire series. Though it does not take the cake for my favorite book—more on that later—it was the first one that made me physically, literally, go “WOW!” Like that plot twist at the very end in which we learn that Tom Riddle is Lord Voldemort? That had me absolutely gobsmacked. Throughout the novel, Rowling is able to balance a spooky and dark secretive side of the wizarding world while also making it still magical and tempting. But I am not gonna lie. Dobby is really annoying. He destroyed the mood for some of it. Abolish S.P.E.W.
Now for Andy Evan’s favorite book. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. In this one, Hermione Granger morphs into an absolute academic weapon and incidentally disrupts the balance of time. A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. This book also introduces my two all-time favorite characters in the entire series. Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. I want to be like the two of them when I grow up. Without the whole convict on the run and werewolf thing of course. Prisoner of Azkaban is the first book in the series that appears to have an underlying theme. A majority of the book focuses on fear; how it affects us and how we overcome it. You have Dementors, who are the literal embodiment of all things horror and despair, and then the Bogart, which transforms into whatever you fear most. However, visualizing something funny, or in the Dementor’s case, thinking a happy thought, is enough to conquer it. That’s all it takes. A glimmer of positivity gives us a sense of control over our deepest fears and anxieties. Also, if anyone was wondering, my Patronus is an otter.
Come back for Issue 9 to read my thoughts on the rest of the Harry Potter series!