Ok, I'm late on this but I just finished your book and I had to look for more bits of the interview with JKR. :)

I was in my 3rd year of college and knew other people who had read HP. I refused to read it because I thought it was a trend; it was just trying to copy Lord of the Rings (which I'd just finished and loved). Plus, it was a kid's book. Seriously? When the second movie came out, a friend was bored so we decided to see it. We hadn't read the books or seen the first movie but I remember falling in love with the scenery and the world of HP. That summer I started dating this guy who insisted that I would love the books. OOTP was about to be published so I had about a month to read 1-4. The guy loaned me the first book and I finished it in 2 days. I could've read faster but I was trying to work 2 summer jobs. I went through the entire seies at that point by the next week. We went to the midnight party for OOTP and I tried to talk him into reading out loud on the drive home (we went an hour for the party). Needless to say I got hooked.

I was in third grade when I read the first book. i was friends with a group of boys that - at the time at least - could only be described as nerds. They had all read the books and enjoyed them and I believe(I'm trying to remember six years back) that they suggested the books to me. I was planing on reading them , but the school library system had us visit the library every two days, so i felt like i'd have to take two days to read it. That's a short time for an eight ear old to read a 300 some page book.

One day my dad had me and my sisters watch the first movie. I loved the movie when I first watched it so I decided to - finally - read the books. I remember reading the first book in April in California on vacation before we left we stopped in a small secondhand bookstore and bought the second one. During the summer my parents bought me the third and fourth books (the fifth still wasn't out). I immediately fell in love with Harry. Unfortunately, the length of time that has elapsed has made the timing of this story fuzzy (as in the year i first read the book and when i watched the 2nd movie which i recall being February b/c our theater gets movies late)

When the Potter books first came out I was determined not to read them for the simple reason that they were popular among my friends and I was bound and determined not to be a part of anything that was popular. This was of course silly in the case of books because I love to read and in the fourth or fifth - its been so long I can't remember - I was just discovering how much I loved to read. My little brother Nick and my best friend Emily loved them and refused to tell me anything about them. On the way to school they would say things like, "Poor Squirrel" and later in became, "Bad Squirrel!" I was thinking, "Why the hell is there a squirrel in the book?" Finally I read Nick's hardcover edition and loved it. For my 13th birthday Nick gave me the paperback becuase I prefered paperbacks to hardcovers. I read it again and fell in love with it again.

Years later Nick turned 14 in May 2003 and I told him I would buy him the fifth book for his bithday even though it was coming out a month or so later. A week later he died unexpectedly but I bought the book for him anyway and wrote a birthday note inside the cover. I read the book non-stop when I got it because it was teh only thing I really had to keep my mind off of what was going on around me. I was in such a dark place that I needed to escape from the real world. But what did I find? Harry lost serious, the one person he had that was his last grasp on his parents, his family. He lost Sirius without getting to say goodbye, just I as I had lost Nick without getting to say goodbye. I have never cried as hard as I did when I read that chapter. Never. I felt for Harry and I wanted to tell him it was going to be alright, that he should lean on the people he still had. I knew not everything would be ok and that he would always hurt but I wanted to tell him that, too. I wanted him to know that being sad was ok. Through Harry I saw myself. After I finished the book my older brother Chris read it and we cried together. The two of us are closer than ever although we have always been close.

Thanks to Nick pestering me to read the books I found Harry and because of Nick I was able to be with Harry when he lost a membe of his family. I helped me get through that dak time and has made the fifth book my favorite book of teh whole series.

A customer of mine loaned the audio versions right before the first film was released. I had heard of Harry before that with an article in USA Today reporting on the midnight release of GOBLET OF FIRE. I eventually bought my own and the first one I actually read was ORDER OF THE PHOENIX.

I know this is a really late post, but I started reading other posts and wanted to add my own.

I started reading Harry Potter back in 2002, while studying in the UK. It was two other Americans who convinced me to give the series a try, so I went to the Waterstone's on campus and bought the first book. I figured, even if I hated it, I was sure to find someone to give or sell the book to when I was done with it.

Well, I stayed up way past midnight finishing the entire book (something I hadn't done since I was about 12) and went back to the Waterstone's the next day to buy the remaining 3 books that had been released at that time. After I devoured those over the course of 4 days (GoF was just too long for me to finish in one sitting, which just ate away at me until I was able to read the rest of it).

I absolutely fell in love with everything about the books and the universe of Harry Potter. I had been having a hard time in the UK until then. It was the first time I had ever been homesick and I had no friends from my college there. I was making new ones, but there were other people from other universities that had a close-knit support system with them when they came to Lancaster, so I always felt a bit outside. When I had read the HP books, it gave me common ground with a few others who were in a similar situation and gave us a little something extra to bond over.

I then, of course, had to have the 5th book and wanted to know when it was going to come out. My new American friends just laughed at me in one of those 'welcome to our world, but we've been here longer' tones and said I'd have to suck it up like everyone else and wait.

After that, there was nothing to do but turn to the fansites. I never really contributed much; being so new to the fandom, I figured everything I could have to say had been said already, but I read the news, theories, and discussions on several sites religiously and with the same urgency as when I read the books. I tried to get friends to read the series, with varying degrees of success, but in the end, even those who enjoyed them never got as immersed in the fandom as I have.

The first time I heard of Harry Potter was one night when I was six, and my mother picked them up and started reading them to me. I didn't like them at first - I think I found Uncle Vernon far too scary for my tastes at that time - but Mom read me the first three and I got hooked.

Books had always been my substitute for friends, for the most part, and Harry Potter just increased that. At that time, the first four had been released and I raced through them. There was never one thing that hooked me in (well, perhaps Hermione, with whom I still identify quite a bit), but rather the entire story.

The only book that I was there for with the fandom was the last one, and that's probably the only think I regret most.

(Late post, sorry!)

I know this is a late post but I figured I'd add to my story to the already long list of stories for you to read. :)

I actually didn't start reading the books until after HBP was published. I had, up to that point, been against the whole "HP phenomenon." I was one of those people who claimed the series was just a kids' series, and was tired of seeing, hearing, and reading about them everywhere I went.

Then one day my mom, tired of my complaints, said "Just shut up and read them already!" And so I did...and fell in love. Even though the series is over, I still can't get enough. I have reread each book at least once, and I can't even begin to count how many times I've listened to the audiobooks during my long commutes to work. The books have totally changed my life in a way no other book or series has been or ever will be able to do.

Lucky that I listen to my mom eh? :)

I have since come to learn that my story is very common.
I was first aware of Harry Potter whilst sitting on a lunch break and watching another staff member devouring Goblet of Fire. I did ask what the big deal was and that was that.
It was only during the lead up to the HBP and GoF film that I finally decided to find out exactly what the big deal was.

And like so many doubters before me I was hooked.

I was working at an incredibly boring job as a receptionist at the time and in between staring out the window and transferring calls I would scour the internet for information, quickly discovering fanfiction and the theories which only intensified my interest.
My bosses didn't really like me being on the internet so a co-worker just happened to have the books on his computer (I know, I know, I'm sorry, but I have bought all of them I promise!!) and I was able to disguise the books as emails and read to my hearts content, again and again and again.

I, too, am an older fan. I had originally picked up a paperback version of Sorcerer's Stone when I was vacationing in Alaska, but I had never gotten around to reading it. However, I was having a particularly bad day at work the day that the Sorcerer's Stone movie was released. I left work at noon, and since I didn't really want to go home, I decided to go to the first showing of the movie and see what the "Harry Potter hype" was all about. I so enjoyed the movie that I went straight home, dug out the book, and promptly sat and read the rest of the evening. I fell in love with Harry! I quickly got caught up with reading what books had been released and then became one of the thousands of fans who couldn't wait until the next one came around.

I am another one of the older readers how came to Harry late in the game. I am really not a reader at all, but more of a movie lover. My wife and I saw each of the movies as they came out. With the first 2, there was criticism about how they followed the books too closely, like that was a bad thing. Then we saw PoA, and heard about how much was left out. Well, by then I was hooked on the story, and had a funny feeling that something was going on with Ron and Hermione. I wanted to know more! What came next? What was different in the books? I started checking online sites. Their was so much information out there, but it didn't make any sense without reading the books. So, I did a terrible thing... I found copies online and read them. GASP!

I read they first 5 books on my computer as fast as I could, in just over a week. I was hooked. Near my work was a used bookstore, and I popped in to find 4 of the first 5 books. I bought them immediately, and started re-reading them the proper way, and kept checking the bookstore for GoF. Alas, it wasn't in when I completed PoA, so ran out to find a copy, and dove into it. I think I must have read those first 5 books 3 times waiting for HBP to arrive. I took part in online discussions, got my head bit off on the Mugglenet shipping forums, and opted to avoid it in the future.

When I got into podcasting (listening, not recording), I sought out Harry Potter podcasts. Their wasn't much their. I had become a regular visitor to Leaky and Mugglenet. After Mugglecast came out, I remembered thinking, "Why came the grownups at Leaky record a podcast?" My wish was granted a few weeks later, and I have been a happy listener ever since.

Thanks for all you do Melissa! Your hard work and dedication has made being a Potter fan all the more enjoyable.

Steve

Since I was 14 years old (1994) I spent every summer working at my aunt's bookstore. It was a very small bookstore and it catered mainly to those seeking books for the many private school in my country. I grew to love books, to read the classics. I was seduced by the smell of ink and paper, I have been a book addict since.

In the Summer of 2000, I will never forget, I met a little girl who came with her Mom to our bookstore looking for some of the books on her list. I noticed that she couldn't have been more than 8 years old and she was carrying this enormous, very colorful book. I was very surprised, as this book was almost as big as the girl's head, it seemed to have over 700 pages and not in her native tongue (I come from a Spanish-speaking country). She was halfway through, and I just couldn't resist asking who this Harry Potter fellow was. She let me know that he was an orphan wizard, who had two very good friends and who was persecuted by this bad guy, Lord Voldemort. I asked the little girl when had she gotten the book, to which she proudly replied, "yesterday". This 8-year-old girl had read half of the book in 24 hrs for FUN! I knew there had to be something great about it if a little girl was spending her summer break reading this massive book. That same afternoon, when I was driving to my house, I stopped at a bigger bookstore and bought the first 3 books. I read the "Sorcerer's Stone" that same night and was caught up by its spell.

I graduated College in 2002 and parted to graduate school, books in tow. The night "Order of the Phoenix" came out I was at a Dixie Chicks concert and ordered my copy along with my roommate's and best friend's copies through Amazon. When we came back home at 2 AM, eager to read the copies we thought were at our door, we were horrified to see a "pink slip" from the post office letting us know they had our books! We went to sleep that early Sunday morning. After a few hours of sleep, my friends and I, scoured, in vain, every bookstore trying to get copies. We went to get some food and low and behold, they had the book at our local Stop and Shop! We were fed and started reading, knowing full well that I will be returning 3 copies the next day!

By the release of Half-Blood Prince, my fascination had escalated to such heights that without even a second thought I had branded myself with indelible ink: I am the proud wearer of a Dark Mark on my left arm. Graduate School had been a greater challenge than I had expected and I felt a Dark Mark then and a Phoenix after I was done would balance me out. Anyhow, I went to the book release and took pictures with every single "death eater" there, as rumor of my very real tattoo swept the bookstore. To this day, I laugh every time I go that particular store when I remember random people bowing and following me around.

When Deathly Hallows released in 2007, I was in the midst of writing my Doctoral Dissertation. My husband, his little brother, my best friend and I waited for 12 hrs outside the bookstore and were the first ones to receive our copies. I was elated and read all through the night until I finished my copy. I cried my eyes out for Dobby and smiled with pride alongside Dumbledore. It was bittersweet, as I finally knew the end of the story but also knew that I wouldn't be reading anything else about my beloved trio.

Now, I have a real job, a house, and expecting my first born. I walk into my baby's room and all I can think off is the time I will spend reading those stories to him or her, hoping they will fill them with joy and wonder as they did Mom and Dad. Thank you, Jo for giving me the opportunity of sharing your wonderful magical world!

Well, I sat down at my computer this evening with the intention of checking my email and then turning off my computer by 10:30. But I found this website because I was trying to find clips of Daniel Radcliffe on Inside the Actor's Studio, and then one thing lead to another... I found a link on Leaky and then this page, and well, I've been sitting here reading people's stories. Alas, I gave up at about October 29th... There are simply too many to read all of them, although I actually feel inspired to do so. I have to say, my particular favorite is the one who thought Harry Potter was Peter Rabbit. As long as you can laugh at yourself... It's a good story. One of the things that I love about this is that it is a story that has given us stories to tell, to share, and we all want to talk about it, we're all willing, even inspired to ramble about it, and stories have power -- so I won't apologize for the length of this post, rather preface it with a note that it will probably be another long one.

Harry came to me in the form of a mysterious christmas present from a colleague of my mother's at work, who I knew only a little. I was 8, I believe it was the year the book came out in the US (1997, it would have been). I'd never heard of it. And that's probably a good thing, because I would have been one of those, "Ew, it's popular, take it away!" types if I'd discovered it any other way. But this way my pride remains intact (at least on that front). I remember unwrapping it by the tree in the late December light and thinking, "What is this?" I may have been a little rude about it. But mum (I've called her mum helplessly because of Mrs. Weasley. I can't call her "mom" anymore unless I'm annoyed.) talked me around a bit and convinced me I should at least give it a try, and anyway the cover intrigued me enough to pick it up. I wanted to know what everything had to do with everything else. The man in the robes with the silver glasses was most interesting. Anyway, I've always been a fast reader, and I probably finished it by bedtime. I identified strongly with Harry. His uncle reminded (and still reminds me) in ways of my mother's partner, who treated (treats) me at times with a similar type of paranoia masked by anger, and Harry's lack of close friends was familiar. I was bullied extensively in school (largely because I was annoying and smart and Hermione-ish, but also very sensitive and cried at anything), and usually had only one friend at a time. I was very familiar with a feeling of being "not normal." It was a bit like a lifeline. "Hold on. There are better people out there." I was too young, though, to really understand what it all would mean. To me, to my life and to the rest of the world.
I don't remember much else of the early years. I devoured Chamber of Secrets and liked it as well as the one before, especially when Harry Stands up to Lucius. I remember hearing kids in my class discussing the third book. I didn't believe them when they said it was called The Prisoner of Azkaban. I thought it sounded like one of the mystery/thriller novels that grownups read about political things in the middle east or whatever. It didn't sound fun, and it didn't sound like Harry Potter. But once I'd been proved wrong, I was on it. The way that particular story loops back on itself so neatly has always been pleasing to me, and I am still mad about the third movie which completely destroyed it-- the Dementors were all wrong and floaty, Hermione was a ditz and far too pretty ("oh is that how my hair looks from the back?"*gag*), Sirius looked and acted nothing like my Sirius... I have reread PoA so many times that the binding is beginning to crack. I have doodled little extra illustrations all over the inside.
At the GoF midnight release party at our local store I remember showing up and being disappointed when I hadn't thought to dress up and the other kids had. I don't actually remember being so jealous in my life of anything else, except that those kids were wearing bathrobes and carrying sticks and I was just wearing clothing. It seems like such a long time ago... All my real first impressions are lost, as if in the rereading of those first four books they became so much a part of me that I forgot about what I was without them. And then the Fifth book. I was in middle school, still a social outcast, though less of a misfit, and this time I certainly didn't fail to dress up. The line went all the way out of our local mall and around the parking lot. I put on a ramshackle outfit, filled a bag with books and actually managed to get it to split and fall all over the bookstore floor [actually it was an accident, but oh well]. I also had the satisfaction of hearing some girls behind me say, "Oh, I wish I had dressed up too." I read it in approximately a night and a day. I remember the next day was the local Garden Tour which I was supposed to help out with, but I ended up simply wandering about with my nose in the book (on no sleep) until I'd finished it. Oddly, Sirius' death didn't upset me in particular. I read right through. I think I was just in shock. Harry's argument with Dumbledore was what really got me. Umbridge was a particularly favorite outrage. I had a lot of arguments with my classmates and cousins who hated that book because Harry was "so annoying" and I remember saying, "It wouldn't make any sense if he didn't start yelling. Look what he's been through!" At the time I was dealing with a best friend with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder who treated me like dung one day and like sunshine the next. The whole ordeal was very trying and I had only just come out of a deep funk when OotP came out. I've spent a good deal of time on people's cases for not reading HBP and DH because they didn't like Harry in OotP.
By the time HBP came around, I was sixteen and in high school, and much better settled. I had a friend who forced me to read a very long fanfic which I only very vaguely recall which involved Harry and Draco accidentally switching bodies and many quotes worked in from Blackadder and other sources. I believe it has since been taken down. Anyway, by this point I was much more active on the internet, and had discovered the fandom and JKR.com, and I stayed up late that night with a much better perspective on exactly how huge this thing had gotten, though I'm sure I still can't fathom it. But I stood in line with my father watching "Hagrid" drive in on a motorbike with a pile of books, discussing who I thought the Half Blood Prince was with a complete stranger behind me (who thought it was Hagrid) (I thought it was a new person). We pulled back into the driveway and I read the first chapter out loud to dad, who had to work and therefore couldn't read with me, though he wanted to. So I huddled at the top of the stairs listening to him typing (he was a finishing his own book) and I got so excited when Harry and Dumbledore talked in the spidery broom shed that I called out and dad came out of his office and I had to convince him not to let me spoil him. seven hours later, having eaten a chocolate bar, I lay on the couch feeling the sunrise and traveling back to Hogwarts with a sick Dumbledore and a frightened Harry. When I turned the page and saw the dark mark over Hogwarts I began to shake and cry. I felt as though I'd seen it over my own house. I grieved for about two hours after I'd closed the book, feeling spun about and exhilarated and determined and excited. Then I absolutely devoured the Leaky/Mugglenet interview with JKR. I still have it printed out in a folder on my desk. It was my mother's partner, who I easily compare to Vernon Dursley, who of all people got the idea into my head that Snape was not evil, that he and Dumbledore had planned it all, and this stuck with me. And as I grew up a great deal, and watched the fandom explode with analysis and theories, and I listened to podcasts to keep me company during the long, lonely rural summers, I had a swelling sense of movement, of how enormous and important this story had become to all of us, and I looked to the seventh book with anticipation and some concern that it wouldn't be what I hoped. As I prepared to begin my senior year of high school, to turn eighteen (only three days after the 7th book was to be released) and to go off on a whirlwind college tour, I set to rereading the entire series out loud with my father. We managed it somehow or other, and found ourselves with an audience as we read out loud on a ferry boat. The midnight party itself, while it was enormous, hardly phased me. I dressed as Rowena Ravenclaw, little knowing her significance. I wore a long blue skirt and a voluminous black cape, scarves, trinkets, and I carried a flute cleaner wand. I didn't really know anybody there, and so picked up my book and dashed home, where I hurled myself onto the couch, heart beating, still in full costume, and stayed there until, mind spinning, dizzy, hungry and disoriented I snapped the book shut eight hours after I'd begun. Mum had already come downstairs and begun to cook a breakfast, but I had paid her no heed. It was as if I were asleep. I couldn't speak or move until the book was done. I sat silently pouring saltwater all over the page, gasping, laughing bouncing. It must have looked rather funny. At the end, I walked outside into the misty summer morning and stood barefoot on the deck, relishing the dewdrops under my feet and breathing deeply as if just stepping into the world for the first time. I'm sure I laughed for no reason. But I was struck by the overwhelming simplicity of the first thought... it's over. And the second, surprising one: and I'm ok with that. I'm ready. I have this story now. And I will be an adult in three days. And I can step into the world and start a new phase of my life. Harry came to me at the beginning, and he's been here every since. I feel very much a sense of this being part of my coming of age like nothing else could have been. Later, I would read Harry Potter aloud to my mom as we drove from New England to Indiana looking at colleges, and stop on the way at a live Mugglecast where I said something incidental and academic and tried to keep mum's ears from getting spoiled (and failed). And now, over a year later, having withdrawn from the internet, being not quite so excited about the movies in general, I find myself accidentally renewed again. Harry Potter has been for me about stories, about storytelling and wondering and finding new parts of myself, feeling a part of something, staying up past my bed time, wearing ridiculous clothing, having partially imaginary friends, determination to see the best in other people and to stand up for what I believe is right, willingness to listen to what others think, hope that we can overcome the challenges we face, and not feeling alone in any of this. We the generation of Potter, if we stand united, will move and shake in so many ways, because we share a common story, a common experience.

This website, the eloquent and intelligent musings and insight you, Melissa, have provided, and the stories you have given houseroom here have gotten me excited again. I didn't even know you were writing a book, but I shall certainly be going off to purchase it, Christmas notwithstanding. Thank you!

Goodness, I said this might be long, but... I didn't realize how long long is... Still, I shan't apologize. I hope my story may be of some interest to the reader as all these others have been to me.

I started Sorceror's Stone shortly after it was published in the States, when I was around 8 years old. As loathe as I am to admit it now, I hated it. I would read Harry Potter every night before going to bed, and though I liked the first part well enough, some parts were pretty scary. But when the trio finally made their decision to go through the trapdoor, I had to put the book down. I was very similar to Hermione, when she exclaims how the trio could have been "killed - or worse, expelled." I hated getting in trouble more than anything as a kid; even the softest reprimand from a teacher could bring me to tears. I was afraid that Harry would die (irrationally, since at least one subsequent book had already been published), but moreso I was terrified that they would be caught by the teachers and punished, and that was something I couldn't bear to read. So I quit the book cold-turkey, something I had never done before in my life, and I lived a few happy, Potter-free years while the series gained immense popularity around me. Then came 2001 and the first movie. Although ten years old by now and not quite as easy to scare, I had no interest in seeing it, until our teacher handed us an issue of National Geographic for Kids. Among the articles we had to read for class was a piece about the new movie that included an interview with Dan, mostly talking about how the Quidditch scenes were filmed. I don't know what it was, but something about that article really excited me, made me feel like the movie was going to be great. So I saw it when it came out, and I still remember the wonder I felt while watching it. By that point my memory of the book was murky, I only had a few vague recollections of the plot. Seeing the movie was a blast from the past in the most literal way I have ever experienced: words, phrases, and images from the books jumped out at me from corners of my mind that I didn't know existed, as I watched the book being brought to life in front of me. This time, when the trio once again decided to go through the trapdoor, I was on the edge of my seat, ready to know what happened, what I had been missing all this time. I still remember the shock I felt when it not Quirrel, not Snape, who was the culprit all along, the triumph when the trio all survived, and the irony when, after all my worries, they didn't even get in trouble. As soon as I got home from the theatre, I grabbed my copy of Sorceror's Stone from where it had been gathering dust on the shelf, and from that point onward, I was hooked.

I'd love to say that I like many other's got into Harry Potter because of the wonderful and essential to every child's school life experience of reading hour; where our teacher sat us down on the carpet and we sat enraptured as she read us the tale in the soft and soothing voice that all primary school teachers have in your head. Unfortunatly I'd been ill the first week that our year 5 teacher began to read Harry Potter and the Philsopher's Stone and so when I arrived back in week 2 I was utterly lost as to what was going on. I arrived into the story somewhere in the middle of the scene in Olivander's which throughly confused me and to make matter's worse it was a supply teacher doing the reading this week-as our normal teacher was off sick--I sinserly hoped that my illness of the previous week had nothing to do with that--and to our utter horror she had the most boring reading voice known to man--so I'm very sorry to say that this first experience greatly put me off the series for a while. However about a year or so later my aunt and uncle bought me Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Askaban for Christmas upon the assumption that I was a child of the right age and so must have read the first book (they themselves were avid readers of ther series and have a lot to answer for regarding the obsession gained by both myself and my cousin and best friend Angie). So not being a stranger to reading books compleatly out of series order--I also later read half of The Amber Spyglass before I twigged that there must have been some books previous to this-- I started with Prisoner of Askaban because I liked the cover better---ah the ficclness of young children--and devoured it within a couple of hours. I then decided that perhaps I should read the first book before I preceeded to the 2nd so I promptly went and bought a copy from the bookshop in town that very afternoon with my Christmas money-which leaves me still mystified as to how I appear to have a 1st edition--not of course a first print run but non the less its odd given that my friends who bought the book about the same time all had second editions. By the end of the day I have read the fist and second books for the first time and having naturally spotted the fact the Sirius had been mentioned in the very 1st book had avidly devoured the 3rd once more with the same feeling of "its all conected" that you described feeling in your book---despritly searching for clues. And thus my love of Potter begun--so nearly lost by a poor incomplete rendition and luckily saved by and assumtion made by my aunt and uncle to whom I am eternally gratefully.

Melissa, first off, I would like to say that I've read Harry, A History, and I'm telling everyone I know about it, Potter fan or not.

Anyway, I only began to read Harry Potter this summer. What lead me to it? Well.... I'm 12 right now, and I've been hearing side comments about HP all my life. The example I most remember happened when I was in first grade. I had seen the trailer for Sorcerer's Stone, over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again, without knowing what it was for (besides obviously promoting a movie)! (To this day, I still have that vivid image of Ron and Harry on the Hogwarts Express, when Ron says {and I'm paraphrasing madly}"So you've really got it? The - the scar?" And most especially what he says after Harry lifts up his hair to show him his scar 'Wicked'.) It was just those two words 'Harry Potter'.

And then, July 21. Things were still the same; I heard side comments without really knowing what they were about, but was more than that now, it was Deathly Hallows. Before, what I heard might have been whispers, but now they were buzzings. I remember being in my dad's car one day (driving over a river)when out of nowhere, NPR starts talking about DH and JKRowing. Then, only a few days afterwards, the radio host on my favorite station starts talking about (again) DH, the release date, and how much kids (it was a sort of a news story, and 'kids' were their focus) wanted to go.
But amazingly, I was still pretty ignorant. The most that I had learned, was that it was a book series and that Harry might die.

That was in fifth grade, then it was sixth grade. Some classmates had begun saying how much they liked the series after a good chunk of the year went by, and then my best friend began reading it too. (Very reluctantly, and because her brother and our teacher had insisted.) So she began. In fact, she was almost always reading under her desk. (Luckly, out of the teacher's eye sight.) After some time, she began recommending it to me.

So the year went by, and then summer vacation began. I told myself that I would read the books. Why? I think it had to do with the fact that I had heard murmurings all my life, and people (friends, classmates)had finally started talking about it with me, not to mention that it had 'a lot of fans' and made headline news quite often. (And to top it off, I had my BFF's recommendation.)So I went to my public library and checked it out. When I got home I put it aside. To tell the truth, I was a bit afraid of reading it; I haden't heard anything about banned books, or Laura Mallory, but I was still scared. Simply because it was something totally new to me unlike anything I had ever heard of, and the large fan base it had (weird, I know). So I told myself 'Just read one chapter. Just one; try it, you never know what it might be like.' So I did. And I fell for it. Just reading that first line: 'Mr. and Mrs. Durley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much' washed away any fears I had, and had mehooked.

So here I am now, I've read all the books, read Harry, A History, and now I'm trying to catch up with what I've missed all these years (however remotely.)

I apologize for rambling so much, but it feels good to finally let it out. :) (Lol, what I've been doing since then, is another complete story.)

Hi Melissa,

as everyone else is posting comments here, here's mine!

I had heard of Harry Potter for the first time around 2000, and actually got a translated copy of the "Philosopher's Stone" (in Italian), and skimmed through it, but I didn't really get hooked. Maybe it was the bad translation, I don't know, but it didn't really touch a string. Until the first movie came out. I had moved to a different country by then, I had heard of the hype surrounding Book 4 when it came out, and I went to see the movie out of curiosity for the whole HP phenomenon. I liked the movie a lot and decided I would give the books another go, so I bought the first 4 in the Bloomsbury edition. Well that did it for me. Love at first sight! I haven't been able to put them down since. Literally: I always have one of the HP books by my bed, no matter what else I am reading.
I kept following the movies, but also exploring the Internet for theories, news and what else. MuggleNet was good at the beginning, but disappointed me in a couple of occasions, so I went looking for another "web home" for my Potter addiction. That's when I discovered Leaky. And thank you, thank you, thank you all for such good work over the years: your love and dedication to the books and the author are exemplary. I don't know how I would have survived in the wait for Book 7 if it wasn't for PotterCast. I don't have that many friends I can discuss all matters Potter with, and listening to you was a lifesaver, something to look forward to every week.

Since, I fell for the books, I started waiting for new releases with greater and greater excitement. After waiting for years for OotP to come out, I discovered that the release would be during the weekend of a friend's wedding in the US, a wedding held in the middle of nowhere! Not a bookstore in sight! It's an awful thing, but I thought of the book for the whole weekend, and the moment I got to the airport to start my journey home to Europe, I bought the book immediately and read it in one go during my 7-hour flight. Oh how I cried. SIRIUS! The other passengers must have thought I was mad...
Fortunately, I haven't missed the release parties for the other 2 books, including a wonderful night for Deathly Hallows, proudly wearing my Tonks outfit. The whole release week in July 2007 was just overwhelming.

What now? Well, I'm 33 years old and a Potterhead to boot. I'm enjoying your book very much Melissa, and will recommend it far and wide. I'm also preparing a talk on the role of ICTs in the Harry Potter fandom for my New Media students. They'll probably think I am mad, and so let them.

1999, I was in Highschool, my friend's father was reading book 1. Why is there such a craze over this book series? Isn't for kids? Why were adults reading that? My sister had purchased the first two books, and out of curiousity I read the first chapter of the first book while hiding (from family) in her room one day. I saw the first movie, I thought the movie was brilliant. It reminded me of the Worst Witch, a movie I had loved when I was a kid.

In August of 2002 I had just gotten my first apartment I was in my Junior year of College. I borrowed the first two books from my sister so I could read them before school started. Two weeks later I was home and asking my mother to take me to Walmart, I needed the third book. We drove to Walmart at 8:30pm and had little time before it closed (yes the Walmart closed, no Super or even a 24 hour Walmart in my home town) We bought the boxed set of paper backs so I could have all four. I went back to school, read in the back of classes, and texted my sister about it, she wanted to borrow my copy after I finished. I had to read the fourth book, but with so much homework! I had a friend that would come over and read outloud to me so I could do my homework and still get my Harry Potter fix at the same time. I loved Mad-eye, just loved him! She would say, "oh just wait"! When I finished the fourth book a month after I started reading the first, I was desperate to know when the 5th book was coming. I got online and started trying to find any scrap any clue any hint what was coming next.

That is how I found the Leaky, and Jo's website. I checked them regularly. I had to know.
Of course Hermione and Ron would end up together it was so obvious! I really hoped Harry and Ginny would get together, if he survived the books. I read other books in the time between books, going back to an old favorite, the Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander, and reading Manga. In the summer of 2003 when book 5 came out while my friends were at Barnes and Noble I slipped into walmart and was at my apartment, less than 30min after midnight, with my fiance each a seperate end of the couch reading the book. I was under the weather and taking summer classes, so I skipped school and stayed home so I could finish the book, it took me three days to read. I hated umbridge! There wasn't a way to discribe feelings I had toward this imaginary woman. And Sirius! Why oh I cried, I was so mad (not really) at Jo for a little while, WHY SIRIUS! My favorite!!!!
Then it was get on Leaky to see how everyone was reacting, I never really posted on the message boards, and I might comment on articles but I mostly just read what other people were posting. Always Snape love him or hate him he was a hot topic. Now it was time to wait for book six, I read and re-read the series trying to get clues.

The summer book six came out I had been married for a year, and I was doing my internship and was graduating finally! My hsuband and I again went to Walmart, bought two books, because we both wanted to read the book and didn't want to have to take turns. We live right next to the walmart literally so we were home in a flash and texted our friends, "we have the book allready! :P" While they were still at Barnes and Noble, I know they went for the experience, but I just wanted my hands on that book!

I read and read and then I got on Leaky, I waited desperately for Melissa's interview of Jo, to be posted! I read, and triumphed in my guesses that she thought of too. Again what is Snape who is Snape? Good/Evil/both? I thought he was both, not a double agent, just Evil but in it for himself, so something had to have happened that made switching sides worth it to him. Though sometimes I think my love of Alan Rickman might have gotten in the way, would I have thought that he could possibly have some good in him if Alan Rickman didn't play him in the movies? December 2005 came and I didn't have a job because of the economy the company I was working for had to let me go. Every time I heard something I would tell my friends, did you know this, have you heard this, they really didn't seem to care, but they went to midnight parties, shouldn't they care? I gave up letting them know about articles, and occasionally one would send me an email with an article from MSNBC or AOL or somewhere, and I would be like yeah I know, I read Leaky. So they stopped sending me things because I knew about them a week prior to the article hitting mainstream news thanks to Leaky.

I was pretty desperate to talk to people about Potter though. I was playing housewife, on my husband's salary and help from my parents. I was getting the conversation of how many resume's did you send out, have you heard anything, did you try calling them again? It was bad enough that I was out of work without my family reminding me everyday that I didn't have a job, though it was meant as encouragement it made me feel like a failure. There was always Harry to turn to, to re-read, and to check Leaky, to read the articles and comments from people sharing an interest in Harry with online friends that didn't know I was there reading with them, they couldn't tell me I needed to be looking harder for a job.

While waiting one book 7 I also dove into the English classics of Jane Austen I love her books, I had started reading them after seeing Emma Thompson's Sense and Sensibility, I used to have Austen parties with my highschool friends. We would read and watch movies and it was our own little Jane Austen Society. Something that I truely missed. I had Friends that liked Harry Potter and who went to see the movies but then they were done. They brought up Harry at a party after the publication of the 7th book was announced. They were discussing what would happen, I put out my view, but they were more interested in discussing what they would do if they were writing it, my friends being writers themselves thought there was a certain way to go about it and they all agreed, I was horrified by their thoughts, "Ginny must die" I thought why must Ginny die? There is no need for her to die? She CAN'T kill Ginny, she musn't kill her! I finally got work in Spring 2007, the book came out that summer.

A week before the book came out I swore off the internet mostly, and stayed away from Leaky. I didn't want any spoilers, though I knew that Leaky was against them, just in case there was an issue I stayed away. We had moved out of the city, we couldn't just walk into Walmart to get the book, it was the only option in town or the next. We had gotten to walmart early so we could get the things we needed and then grab the book on the way to the checkouts, but there was a line that formed before midnight. We agreed on only one book this time, though when it was our turn to pick up a book my husband grabbed one too. We get home and read as late as we could, we both had to be at work early on Saturday.

I didn't bring the book with me (though one other person at work hid the book and read on breaks or when no one was looking) I wanted to read the book in private and I didn't want it to be over quickly. I also didn't want to get in trouble for reading or forgetting the time and coming back from break late.

There were times when I was reading book 7 when I would giggly and shout things like "I knew it" and my husband would ask me what page I was on, and then tell me to be quite. As soon as I finished my husband could tell it was favorable or I would have been mad. I had told him that before we purchased the book that if she kills Harry I will never read the books again, then I gave in, okay I will never read book 7 again I will pretend that it didn't exist and just be happy with the other 6. So when I wasn't upset he knew that Harry didn't die, or at least that he lived.

I got back to leaky as soon as I could, my husband and my sister were not finished with the book yet, it had been several days since the book was released, almost two weeks without the internet and without Leaky. I got online to check Leaky and to check Jo's website. There were still questions I felt that needed to be answered and I wanted to know if other people knew them, if Jo was going to post them on her website, if I had missed something in an interview.

Now September 2008, we have moved back to civilization, and I am back without work (apparently places where no one wants to live there are jobs a plenty but in the big city, no jobs). I am playing housewife agian. (And forgetting to start cooking super because I am on here...oops) I have Harry a History and I am reading it at a snails pace. I am also reading book one over again and just read a few pages at a time before bed. I am in no hurry to be done.

I was never a great reader, I had older siblings that read and would tell me stories, Narnia and Lord of the Rings, I knew the stories I didn't have to read. Even fairy tells and Greek Mythology. When I was in highschool it took me a year to get through Dracula (I love Dracula!), and when I was 18 and first in college two months to read Pride and Prejudice. I was 20 years old when I started reading the Harry Potter books. It has made reading easier for me. Books aren't as intimidating as they used to be. I am still horrible at spelling, but I can read more easily. Its not scary or frustrating. Its fun and exciting, not that it wasn't before its just some how different, its easier, and I read all the time now and not just Harry, I read other books, I have branched out so much more, but I still make time for Harry.
Horridly long I know.

So I have loved Harry Potter since I was 6, which was 9 years ago. I don't really remember the details about how I started reading them, but I had the books, I just learned how to read, and I read SS/PS. I immediately fell in love with it. At that point, CoS and PoA were out, so I read them right after, or soon after. Because I was 7 at the time when GoF came out, and popular belief was that it was a very scary book, my parents didn't buy it for me. The bought it for my older sister, who was 10 at that time, and she got it while she was at sleep away camp. When she came home she had finished the book, and I stole it from her and read it. At this point, I loved the books, but there was still this feeling that this series wasn't mine, and I was not as into it as I am now. That all changed in 2003 when OoP came out. When I got the book, I just felt this sense that Harry Potter is where I belonged, or at least that I belonged with the books. From then on I have been in love with the books, and I never see that changing, especially because everyday day, and every time I read them or see the movies, or listen to a PotterCast, or Wizard Rock, I love it more.

I got into Harry Potter when I was in fourth grade in 1999. My teacher gave out those Scholastic catalogs and stressed that we would love this new book called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Since I was easily persuaded, I went to my mom that night and said my teacher told us we HAD to read this book so could she buy it. The class put in its orders and a couple weeks later she handed out about twenty copies of the book and let us started reading. I immediately fell in love with the book; I got the next two books in hardback for my birthday that December. I was able to read the fourth book in a few days, the summer it came out. I was obsessed from the beginning and despite being teased for constantly reading the books, my love was never diminished.

I remember when the movies were coming out and I had no school the day the first film came out but had to wait around all day until seven o'clock cause I was going with about fifteen people. Eventually, I saw the first film seven times, the second (8), third (10), fourth (7), and the fifth (9). I have about fifteen-ish Harry Potter posters in my room and several DVD displays. I went to the fourth movie display and almost got Rupert Grint's and Robert Pattinson's autographs but security made them move (Rupert Grint actually took my pen to start signing when he was moved). I went to the Live Pottercast/Mugglecast at B&N that night and it was so great to be with the fans and take part in the event. If you listen, my brother is the one who asks about the "Wangoballwime?" scene.

When the fifth book came out, I finished in twenty-four hours. The fifth book midnight release was the first party I attended and I'll never forget it. The sixth book I was able to read in twelve hours. The most memorable release for me though, was The Deathly Hallows. I got in line outside of a Barnes & Noble at 8:24 a.m. I was first in line with my brother and friend. We set up camp with an umbrella to block the sun, blankets, drinks, bought a pizza, and played games. I was interviewed for two newspapers and like four people took my picture but I never saw anything in the news (boo.) I was slightly mad that I couldn't be first in line to get my book because they were raffling the first place in line. At about eleven-thirty p.m., they did the raffle and MY number was called. The employee shouted into the microphone "It turns out that our winner was actually the person who was first in line this morning at eight in the morning!" It was certainly an amazing moment and all my friends shouted with excitement and I was in a daze, somewhat glued to the spot with my heart pounding. Later I spent the night reading with my two best friends and I finished that day. I remember when I read about Hedwig and looked up and saw my stuffed Hedwig and I yelped; it took my friends about forty-five minutes to catch up to that part. Last night, I reread parts of the book and I could pick out my tear-stained pages of when Dobby died and Harry was walking through the forest.

Harry Potter has been one of the most important things in my life because he has gotten me through a lot and has made me so happy; reading Harry, A History has just made it so clear that Harry isn't going anywhere because the fans aren't going anywhere.

My fifteen minutes in the fandom was in this CBBC article. :) http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/club/your_reports/newsid_1859000/1859778.stm

How I was introduced to Harry. (A history?)

I was visiting with some cousins (this was around the year 2000, I think). One of them was nine at the time, and a voracious reader. She came bounding up to me and asked if I had read the Harry Potter series. Horrified that my answer was no, she demanded to know why not. I mumbled something about how I thought they were just for little kids. Well, this "little kid" gave me a harrumph and a look that very clearly said, "This is not over," then walked off to do something else.

That night, as I was getting ready for sleep, I noticed that her copy of Book 1 had been placed on my bedspreads. I sighed, and picked it up to glance through it so I could tell her I had looked at it.

Three hours later, of course, I had become completely engrossed in the story. The next time I visited her, I had caught up with Books 1-4, and was eagerly awaiting Book 5 with her and the rest of the world.

The end. :)

I was six years old when my teacher decided to read a book called Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone to the class. Naturally, I wanted to read it as soon as possible: I loved it. I was the school bookworm, and all the teachers knew about my love of books. In class, we'd read up to Chapter 5. I just had to read more and more and more. I begged my dad to buy my PS, and he did. That was one of the first books I bought. The school library catered for everything else. ;)

I finished the book in just under a week. Remember, I was 6. Another teacher had just found out about me reading Harry Potter, and we had a lengthy conversation about it, which resulted in her lending me her copies of CS and PoA. I read them both in two months, and managed to steal GoF from the school library so I could read it over the summer. I was in heaven. I eagerly anticipated the arrival of OotP, and had to fight to control myself.

The night before HBP was released, I was watching the news. Reports had come in of fans queueing up outside Waterstone's to get the book. I turned to my dad and did my best little-girl-lost impression. It didn't work. I got the book, read it, loved it. I finished it within two days, beating all the other girls in my class (none of the boys had brought it. Or, if they had been reading it, none of them brought it into school) and impressing my teacher. But that's not important. XD I cried my heart out at Dumbledore's funeral. He'd been a hero for me.

The next two years were hard. I re-read all the books again. I'd made it a regular thing to read the book when I am that age. For example, I read PS again when I was eleven.. CS when I was twelve.. Of course I re-read all the other books too, but I made it a point to read those particular ones in that year.

I was twelve when DH came out. Again, the night before I'd heard of queues outside bookshops and this time I insisted I HAD to be there. No such luck. The pre-release hype had been getting to me almost nine months before the actual release. I'd been reading Book 7 fanfiction over and over again. I'd made my own theories on the book, and the only person I had to discuss with was my younger cousin. I'd converted him, which I feel was a success. He hated reading, so when he watched the movies, I lent him my copy of PS. He was hooked. But still he wasn't as into it as I was.

I didn't want to sleep that night. I counted down the minutes 'til midnight and wished I was at the release, buying my book. My English teacher had already confirmed she would camp outside the book store, be the first in, and if there was only one copy left and someone else took it, she was prepared to rugby tackle that person. I fervently told her I'd be right by her side.

Well, I woke up amazingly early the next morning, kicked my dad out of his bed and handed him the car keys. He drove me to Asda, the supermarket, where I bought four copies - one for myself, three for my cousins (Yeah, the oldest two are girls and they were avid readers of the series too, under my counsel of course ;) )and while my dad paid, I had my nose buried in the book. I remember an old couple walking past me and commenting, "Can't get enough of Harry Potter." I was too busy to think of a witty comment back. I refused to get out of the car when we dropped by at my cousin's house, and I spent the rest of the day engrossed in the book. My dad had convinced my mum to let me off chores for the day, for which I am eternally thankful. I finished the book exactly twenty-four hours after I began. And I went on a non-stop Harry Potter spree for about 3 months.

The book was heartbreaking, a tear-jerker.. and beautiful.
Yeah, I should shut up.

I'm still waiting for my dad to come round about your book, Melissa. I sincerely hope he'll let me buy it.

Melissa,

This is something I wrote for a friend's website that posts YA book reviews. Right before the Book 7 release, she asked us to share some thoughts about what the series has meant to us, and this is what I came up with. I recently reposted it on my personal blog, along with my thoughts on your book. Hope you enjoy.

Love at Third Sight: or How Harry Potter Made Me Late to My Brother’s Wedding Reception

My first encounter with Harry Potter came by way of the Rosie O’Donnell show in 1999. I was the mother of a 13 month old girly, and five months pregnant with girly #2. Still in the throes of terrible morning sickness, I didn’t move off the sofa all that often. I read a lot of books and watched a lot of TV. During this time, having been inspired by Oprah, Rosie launched her own “book club”, this one being aimed at children. On this fateful day, (the date of which escapes me, because, let’s face it- it was eight years ago and I was pregnant! It’s a miracle I remember anything at all!) Rosie’s guest was a British author named J.K. Rowling, and she was talking about her latest book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Needless to say, I wasn’t impressed.

Well, that’s not exactly the truth. I was impressed with J.K. Rowling. Her life story was inspirational- a single mother, living on welfare, writing out her story on bits of napkins and paper in a coffee shop, all while her small daughter napped in the pram.

I wasn’t impressed by anything else. I’m the first to admit it; I often will judge a book by its cover. As Rosie held up the American hardback edition with Mary Grand Pre’s artwork on the cover, all I could think was, “Urgh!”. Nothing about it appealed to me. Not the drawing, not the colors, nothing. That was the first strike.

The next strike was that the book was being promoted as ‘Children’s Fantasy’. I’ve never considered myself a fan of the fantasy genre, and in my mind, a book about a boy wizard certainly fell into the category. Strike three was that I was the mother of a toddler and pregnant. I didn’t get out a lot. Even if I had been desperate to read the book, it would have taken time and effort to track it down, and I just didn’t care that much.

My next encounter with Harry came about nine months later. My husband and I had moved in with my parents and younger siblings. I was now the mother of a 20 month old and a three month old. To say it was a stressful time would be an understatement. One day in June 2000, amid all the chaos, my 11 year old brother Matthew reminded my mom that she had promised to purchase him the new Harry Potter book when it was released in a few weeks time. Harry Potter? That name sounded familiar. Oh, that’s right! I saw a Harry Potter book on Rosie. Evidently the author had done quite well for herself in the proceeding nine months, and now a new release by her was quite a big deal.

The release day came and went.

I still felt like the books wouldn’t be my cup of tea. Matthew raved about them, and told me I just needed to give the books a chance. Finally, I gave in- I decided to read the books. I went to Matthew and asked to borrow his copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Huh. He had loaned it to a friend who hadn’t given it back yet. I wasn’t about to start a new series without reading book one! So much for that idea. About a month later, I volunteered at a school book fair. A paper back copy of Sorcerer’s Stone was for sale. I picked it up for $5.99 with the idea that I would put it away and give it to Matthew for Christmas.

Encounter number three happened in Early November. I was cleaning out a closet and came across that paperback. I was at loose ends, book-wise. I put it on my nightstand with the intention of starting it that night. This time, I actually followed through. I think you can figure out the rest of the story.

I was hooked, big time.

I flew through the first three books in two days. I finished Prisoner of Azkaban late on a Thursday night. As luck would have it, Matthew had loaned out his copy of Goblet of Fire to another friend. Starting that book would have to wait until I could get to the store the next morning and buy myself a copy. This posed another problem. We were supposed to be on the road first thing that morning, on our way to Florida to attend my brother’s wedding reception.

Talking my husband into stopping at the store on the way out of town wasn’t a big deal. The difficulty came in trying to meet the needs of two small children while trying to read this amazing, inspiring, jaw-dropping piece of fiction, all while traveling in a car. Luckily, it all worked out.

We were only moderately late the reception.

Thus began my obsession with Harry Potter. It’s been seven years now, and we’re almost at the end of the adventure. My girlies (now 8 ½ and 7) have grown up with Harry Potter as a part of their lives. My husband has been drawn into the world, as well. I discovered the amazing Harry Potter fandom that exists online. The movies have added another exciting dimension. I’ve planned vacations – nay, entire summers – around the release of a new Harry Potter book three times. And now it’s all coming to a close.

It took my third encounter with Harry Potter to finally discover the magic. It seems fitting in a way that this will be the third book I anticipate, and it happens in the year that I will turn 30. Surely someone out there could find significance in all of this through arithmancy or divination. I can only hope that I get to spend my next thirty years enjoying Harry, Ron, Hermione and all of the other magnificent characters J.K. Rowling has created just as much as I have for the past seven.

Sorry this is so long, I got a little carried away...

I received the Sorcerer's Stone for Christmas from my parents in 1998, when I was in 7th grade. It must have already had quite a buzz because I remember hearing about them before I received the book, and I wasn't much of a reader. I remember the first few chapters with the Dursleys feeling like a bit of a chore to read through, but once he got to school it became really enjoyable. I ended up trading my hardback of the first book for a hardback of the second, PLUS a paperback of the first with my neighbor (he got screwed!). I thought the second book was okay, still sold on the series as a customer. Oddly enough, I don't remember how I got my hands on the third one, but that is the book that turned me from a fan into a complete psycho for all things Harry Potter.

Does anyone else have this experience with PoA?. I don't think it's the best book by any means, but it changed my attitude from "Those are good books!" to "Oh my god, I'll die if I don't shut myself away for two days to finish them!" I think part if it has to do with the reference to Sirius Black in the first book. I think it's maybe the first clue in the series that JK Rowling had this whole series planned out from the get-go, and that made it all the more enticing.

I was afraid of being branded as a nerd if I discussed what I was going through with classmates, so I vented it all off on my parents, who finished the first three with my persuasion. It seemed like when I was in high school, 2000 - 2004, people started to catch on and I was seeing more and more Harry Potter books. While it felt nice to not be the only one interested in HP, I did resent it a little bit. "Oh so now you think it's cool!" was my line of thinking.

It went on this way for books 4 - 6. Excited when they came out, read them for two days, discussed them for two weeks, then forgot about Harry Potter until the next book. I think I was most excited when Deathly Hallows came out, which would have happened regardless of the excellent marketing idea of the coinciding release of DH with the OotP movie. It's my favorite book by far. Perfect mixture of action and drama - and would be nothing without having 6 books that lead up to it. My two favorite HP experiences happened with the release of the Deathly Hallows:

1. I skipped two days of work in order to read Deathly Hallows. I ended up getting fired at my job at Six Flags because of it. No regrets there!

2. My family took a vacation trip to the beach a week after DH came out. For one glorious night, half of my family, aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters, boyfriend / girlfriends, all ranging from age 16 - 45, locked up in a condo and discussed the book for about 4 hours. Theories were expressed, voices were raised, it was awesome.

Hi Melissa!

I just finished your book today and loved every minute of it. As you said, and as so many others have said, it led me down my own road of memories. So in answer to your question...

I discovered HP while working at a Waldenbooks in college. It was our big push item, late summer 1999. When parents or kids would come in looking for a new book, we were supposed to recommend it. So I did, and then started hearing rumors of mild controversy. I decided that maybe I should read this book that I was recommending to so many people, just to be sure that I *wanted* to recommend it. But things were happened with work and school (I was entering my final year at UGA, approaching student-teaching, planning my wedding, changing jobs from Walden to B&N) and so I just kept putting it off. Finally, I had a few extra dollars and so ordered the first three off of bn.com just before Thanksgiving break, feeling that I might have some extra time over the long holiday weekend. The books came on Wednesday but I didn't get around to reading them until after I got back to Athens on Friday. Then, I read all three before the big game on Saturday afternoon. I loved them and couldn't wait for my fiancé to read them so that I could talk about them with someone! And that led to other parts of my story, which don't really relate to your question, so I'll save them for later. :)

I think my story began in Septemberish 2001 when I was in 8th grade. The school bookfair was coming up so the school showed a cheesy infomercial thing on the diferent books. It mentioned GOF it seemed pretty interesting but I knew I wouldn't have any money for the bookfair. I do remeber wanting to read GOF after see how big it was at the bookfair.

One of my freinds was sitting behind me in class the next day and he was reading SS. I asked him if he liked and he said he did and let me borrow it. I finished it that day during school and was instantly hooked. I explained the whole plot to my stepmother when she got home. She was upset that I'd read it; I realized later it was because she bought me the book for christmas and thought that I wouldn't want it anymore. Silly woman.

I got COS and POA the next time I went to the store; begged my mom to let me see SS in theatres, the fact that she made me miss the last 10 minutes of the movie because she said it was over still makes me mad, and the SS playstation game is still by far one of my favorite games.

And seven years later I'm still as much a fan of Harry as I was the very firt day.

Hi Melissa! I can't wait to read your book! It sounds really awesome. (Yes, I know it's strange that I'm waiting, but it's a Christmas thing. Long story.)

Anyways, when I was in grade school, I was a total bookworm. I was always reading, whether it was during recess, during lunch, or on the bus. I always had a book with me. I had gotten to the point where I had read almost everything in our school's library (we were a very small school). So one of my teachers took pity on me and recommended the Harry Potter books. Later on, of course, they were banned, since I went to a Catholic school, but at the time only the first few had been published and they weren't seen as quite so bad by our teachers/pastors. Even after they were banned I still read them outside of school, despite the letter that was sent home about them. I was such a rebel!

And the rest, they say, is history. :)

I read through all of these posts as was determined to tell my story about my love of the Potter world.

I was in my 1st year of teaching. I was confused, scared, and completely overwhelmed at the tremendous task laid before me. Anyone who knows the wondrous joys of you first year of teaching knows exactly what I'm talking about.

Anyone who also knows about your 1st year of teaching also knows that the worst sickness in all of your life will occur in your 1st year. I thought I was going to die.

As I laid on the couch doing my best to break a 104 degree fever, I looked through a stack of books I brought home from school. In it was Sorcerer's Stone. I read through the whole book in just a few hours. I am not a fast reader, so for me it was incredible. I immediately called a friend to bring me over her copies of books 2-4. I managed to finish them during the week-long bout with the flu.

Ever since then I have watched my life and teaching career evolve with the Potter books. A statuette of Hagrid adorns my desk as well as my seven favorite novels with Potter bookends.

I cannot begin to explain my gratitude to Jo for making me learn to love reading again. She has influenced my teaching as well as made me a better father to my 18 month-old son. I always ask myself when struggling with issues, "Would Harry give up?"

I look forward to the day when my son reads through Daddy's favorite books each night as he settles into dreamland.

Thanks Melissa for keeping the world alive and I look forward to reading your book.

Shawn.

Hey Melissa,
I thought I'd answer your question about how I met Harry. I met Harry out of boredom.

I come from a family of science fiction and fantasy readers. My first name, Valancy, comes from a character in a book by Zenna Henderson (series is short stories usually called "The People"). I grew up on Star Trek and Star Wars, Jane Yolen and Anne McCaffrey. As such, like some children, I had no interest in them and therefore, when a friend nagged at me to read "these really good books about a kid wizard", I adamantly refused. Repeatedly. For over a year.

One day I went over to this friend's house, moaning I was bored, that I was burned out from my honor's thesis work, my friend used the opportunity to inform me I was reading "this book". It was Sorcerer's Stone. I read it, it was good, so I asked for the next one. Chambers was good too, I didn't like it as well but I was interested enough to go ahead with Prisoner of Azkaban. After that, I became RABID. Goblet of Fire had just come out maybe a month before. A full time student with a part time job, I purchased Azkaban in hard back as well as Goblet. I snagged up Stone and Chamber in paperback. I made my best friend read them. (It was payback, actually, for getting back into reading Batman comics). Then I got my mother reading them. My father took them with him on the road (he was a truck driver). He enjoyed them as well. I've hooked my entire family, gotten every friend and acquaintance I've ever met reading them. I'm now hooked on fan fiction (reading and writing), listen to Pottercast every week, bemoan the fact I can't go to the conferences (someone needs one in Kansas City!), and eagerly await the next wizard rock concert in my area. I am easily a 35 year old who should know better but is still too young to care!

My story isn't life shattering, it isn't earthquaking, but Harry and the gang have been stories I buried myself in during my father's death from lung cancer in 2003, his mother's death the following Easter in 2004, my subsequent depression and anxiety attacks...Harry's story is my way to escape from bad times and create new ones. I've met new friends, found something in common with old friends, made me think about topics I would have never considered and made me read books that I would never have bothered to before. All because of Harry. And you know, it may not have helped me through a horrible illness or brought me a long lost family member but Harry's been good to me all the same!

This is not a story of how I met Harry, but rather the first (and only) time that I debunked somoene's theory.

I was chatting with a fellow student from my college in the airport and we got on the topic of Harry Potter (this was before book 7). He said, "I have a theory about Hermione that no one's been able to disprove. She's a werewolf. In the third movie, she howls to Lupin and he comes to her; wouldn't a werewolf know the difference?"

Apart from the obvious response of NO SHE'S NOT A WEREWOLF, I explained that if she were a werewolf then she would have transformed at the same time Lupin had. My friend sheepishly said "Oh. Right." That was the first time I felt like I was a bonafide Harry Potter Expert - although, truth be told, basic logic could have deduced that as well.

Dear Melisa,

Harry Potter is the most fascinating book I have ever come across. I am from southern India and of late harry is so popular here. I was 17 when Harry Potter -1st book was published. My cousin Naren, who at that time lived in a town in southern India, was the one of the few to purchase the first book. Honestly, I flipped through a few pages and didn’t actually read it fully. I in fact regret not reading Harry…those days.
My grandpa once read something about Harry Potter series in one of the newspapers. He just told me once to try them. Then again, I didn’t pay heed to his words. Kept hearing about Harry…Harry...so many times from people all over!!
It took sometime for me to get my hands on them. I am really happy that I finally read them. I love all the 7… just too good. J.K Rowling conveys a message- that imagination has no boundaries. I guess she would be one of those amazing writers who brought people back to the wonderful world of books. I saw the movies first…then the books. You would go paranoid…If I have to tell you how many times I read and re-read Harry Potter. There is chart I maintain which tells me how many times I have read each of the books. 1st book – 4 times, 2 – 3 times... I just don’t mind increasing the count, out there. Each time I read….I get this urge to read it again. My most favorite is Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. It’s the most beautiful book…it unveils the story in a very nice way. I read the first four… and grew so restless that I forced myself to a book shop to buy the rest of the series. A week back, a friend of mine wanted to by the 5th book. It was strange, yet true. We couldn’t find it in any of the bookshops near by. We hunted some 20 shops throughout Chennai and finally bought it for her. We walked and walked for Harry Potter – Part 5, I guess even Harry wouldn’t have walked so much…the irony is we never felt tired. We just wanted the book.
With friends, I play this Harry Potter trivia – and it’s so much fun. We form teams and question each other about incidents or characters in the book. It is a great learning. Magic and fantasy brings so much color to life. People, are once again getting back to books…which is J.K Rowling’s greatest success as a writer.

Just a concern, in India we don’t get to see or buy Harry Potter merchandise. All we have is one set of stickers that almost all Potter fans would have… Other books on Harry (Quidditch thru ages” or “fantastic beasts and where to find them”…) are rarely found in India. Just a few copies… once sold, you don’t find them again.

Please ensure all of Harry Books are available in India… there are so many fans out here.

I just hope…I get to read Harry, A history…

Good luck Mellisa…I am sure you stole millions of hearts.

By the way, forum is a great idea!!!

I was 40, and travelling to London for the first time. My somewhat misguided sister-in-law decided a good bon voyage gift was a Waterstone's gift certificate for 200 pounds sterling! The folks at Waterstone's wouldn't give change back from the gift certificate, so we wandered around for hours picking up books (which we ultimately had to purchase a separate bag to take the books home and pay huge over-weight charges). This was 1998 and the paperback edition of Philosopher's Stone had just released, so I threw it in the pile, knowing nothing about it. I don't even know why I picked it up along with all the Winnie-the-Pooh. It was on a display, but it didn't look like anything special. The book languished on my books-to-read shelf, which is always stacked two-deep in books. A couple of years later I picked it up and read it. Instant love. Ran out and looked for more books at the local Barnes and Noble. (I think 2 and 3 were out then.) I started researching Harry online...not much on the web then but I printed out anything I could find. Huge notebooks filled with Harry arcana ensued. I watched as Leaky and MuggleNet grew. I went to midnight release parties for books 4,5,6 and 7. At 49 years old, finishing the final book, I cried. I had spent so much time with these books, like many others, I felt like I had lost a friend. What I most treasure is the way reading the Harry Potter books opened up my reading habits to embrace children's fiction and fantasy of any sort, which before I had shunned. I treasure my tattered paperback British edition of Philosopher's Stone, which sits proudly beside a new American hardback edition of Sorcerer's Stone.
I just finished your book, Ms. Anelli, and thank you for writing it. I read it in one sitting and will read it again. I was going to pass it along to some friends, but they'll have to buy their own copy.

I was 6 when i discovered harry potter. I remember going to town with my mum, and my mum promised to buy me somthing in town (that was probably the only reason i went). Then we saw a huge que coming from the book shop.

We went in the shop and I just remember a huge book display of harry potter books and my mum saying "choose one then" and for some reason I have never quite understood I chose COS. I think it was the flying car that enticed me.

My mum read it to me every single night and I would be really annoyed when i had to go to bed! I then doscovered the stephen fry tapes and i loved them all the same.

Every book day at school,we could dress up as a character for our favourite book i would always dress up as Hermione. i even had a ginger cat!
On my 8th birthday i had a harry potter party. My mum baked a hogwarts cake!!

But the thinkg with harry potter is that you can always relate to it, even though it's a completley different world. Last year before book 7 came out, my friend was killed and when i read DH, and when Fred, tonks, lupin, dobby (a little bit snape) died it was felt different than any other book. It was just like i understood it better, i understood how it is to loose someone. And it's like Harry grew up and so did i. The books are more than just books.

At the beginning of my harry potter journey my mum read me the books every night and now i read my little sister the book every night. so harry is very special :)

I was in the fourth grade when Sorcerer's Stone came out. Every day we'd get in from recess, hang our coats up, put away our lunch boxes and sit together on the floor as our teacher would read a chapter or two out of the novel. I was hooked. My entire class was. We sat in various poses. Some with their back rigidly straight, others leaning on their friends. I always laid on my stomach, my chin resting in my palms as I eagerly absorbed every word coming out of my teacher's mouth. Once we finished Sorcerer's Stone, my teacher moved on to Chamber of Secrets. By the end of the second novel I had moved up to fifth grade and when I saw Prisoner of Azkaban sitting on a shelf in Costco I begged my mom to buy it for me. I read the third novel, which was quick to become my favorite, in a manner of days (which was quite a feat considering I had struggled with reading all throughout elelmentary school). Harry Potter taught me how to love reading. I'm so thankful that I went to school in a time where it was okay for teachers to read stories about young wizards to children.

So if the first three taught me to read, the fourth taught me to analyze. Jumping up and down in line at the Goblet of Fire midnight release party, I proudly displayed my Gryffindor badge which I recieved after being sorted into the house for a trivia competition. I remember being interviewed by a newscaster who kept referring to Harry as "Harry Porter". Becoming annoyed I informed him in a very Hermionie-like way that his name was "Potter". I wonder if the newscaster knows how to say the name now. It was after the fourth book that I discovered the fandom. A legion of online readers who loved Harry and his world just as much as I did. It gave me a sense of belonging.

Finally, after years of waiting, the fifth book came out. Harry was 15 and so was I. Suddenly, Harry wasn't just a character. He was my friend. His pain, fear and joy--I shared them all. I think it is this connection that contributed to the succes of the stories. They weren't just books to me. They weren't just books to a lot of people.

I have felt so special sharing my age with that of Harry at the time of the release of the last three books. My favorite moment in being a fan of Harry Potter was when I was nearing the end of the seventh story. Harry was walking toward the forrest preparing to die. I set the book down for a moment as I realized I was crying. No matter what 'literary genious' it might have been to kill off the main character, I didn't want him to die. I didn't want my friend to die.

I fell in love with the books because I love a good hero story. I cherish them because Harry's story has been such an integral part of my life.

By the way, I can't wait to read your book!

Reading the book has definitely helped me remember my beginnings in the fandom. :)

I started reading Harry Potter when I was 15, in early 1998. After school I would come home and pop on the TV, and one day I happened to watch an episode of Rosie O Donnell that featured an author of what was apparently a great children's book. The author seemed to be humble, but funny, and I immediately liked her. I made a mental note to try and find her book, but as I didn't write it down, I completely forgot both her name and the name of the series.

My little brother's birthday was in August, and my father gave him three books that he had heard were really up and coming, and great for kids. One was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I recognized right away that this was the book I had been curious about, and borrowed it to read while my brother read his other new books. I devoured it. It was amazing. I eagerly asked my father if there were any more. Chamber of Secrets was in fact out at the time, but my father discovered that a 3rd would be out the next month, and so he'd order them for me together.

While I waited, my brother got around to reading Sorcerer's Stone. He loved it right away as well. He was indignant that I'd gotten to discover the joy first, especially when it was a present for him. When books 2 and 3 arrived, he was given permission to read book 2 first, but I couldn't wait, so my initial reading of the series went 1- 3- 2. Luckily 3 didn't spoil anything in 2 for me!

And that's when the real wait began. I would take the books to school with me, reading them over and over in study halls. I drew loads of (awful!) Harry Potter fan art, and found a few fan sites to pour myself into. I was a frequent visitor of the unofficial Harry Potter fanclub, and you can still find (much to my embarrassment) a Lily and James piece that I did on Harry Potter Realm.

By the time Goblet of Fire rolled around I had managed to convert quite a few of my high school friends into HP fans. A handful of us attended the midnight release at Barnes and Noble. We were "sorted" into houses upon entering the store. I was placed into Ravenclaw, and held it as my house for years (until I actually sorted myself based upon my personality, instead of random chance, and have been a Hufflepuff ever since). I still have the pennant-style Ravenclaw sticker from that night, glued into the trunk I took to college.

When my friends finally got their books (my father pre-ordered mine on Amazon, so I had to wait. A mistake I never made again.) we gathered at a table outside and took turns reading the book aloud. I'm not sure what time we finally left, or at which point in the book we stopped. My friend Daphne, recognizing my desperate obsession lent me her copy of the book, so that I wouldn't go mad waiting. I was headed off to take some advance college courses in another state the next day, and wouldn't be able to get my copy until the end of summer. I didn't interact with anyone at the summer program until I'd finished. I spent a while wandering around in a daze after Cedric's death. I hadn't been ready for the sudden dark turn the book had taken.

That summer, while at the college program, I learned that a giant birthday card I had drawn (Dumbledore and Fawkes on the front, with a heartfelt message, and at least 20 different students inside, wishing Jo a Happy Birthday, probably 11x17 or more when opened) had won third place in The Unofficial Harry Potter Fan Club's birthday card contest, and would be sent to Jo. I've always wondered if she got it, and liked it. Perhaps back then I should have found a way to write or email her and ask. Today I'm sure I'd never get through for a response. I hope she got it. :) I was so pleased when I found out it would even be sent. The box of prizes I got from the website didn't hurt either.

That incident kept me digging for more Harry websites all of the time. I eventually settled into Hogwarts Elite at Livejournal, which has been my favorite HP outlet for years. Through that community I've made friends, traveled to conventions, held fundraisers, and gotten more involved than I ever could have imagined. There's so much more to say, and I'm sure I've gone way past my allotted comment space, but these books have brought me so much joy, and the fandom has literally saved my life on many occasions. It's even worked its way into my wedding (my fiancé had to finish the series before our wedding date, and a tiny silver badger is being worked into my bouquet. My best fandom-friend is making the trek from Texas and is my "internet bridesmaid."). I don't know where I'd be without it.

So my story is coming a little late 'cause I've been without internet the last few days and was just able to check the site, but anyways...

I always get teary eyed, when I think about my early days with Harry and how much I've come to love it since then..

Well...Fantasy, I must say, had always been my least favorite genre of literature. Back in middle school, fantasy was a section of the library in which I had no particular interest. My shelves were filled with mysteries and dramas, historical novels, coming of age stories, some classics and several horror tales by Edgar Allan Poe. I had even managed to devour most of Louisa May Alcott's works within a few months, so really, no one can say I was not a reader. Works of fantasy, however, continued to remain very unappealing in my eyes. Therefore when my friend at the time suggested that I give Harry Potter a try, I refused with a resounding no.

I would like to say that I was introduced to the series when it was first released, that I began reading as a small fourth or fifth grader as it is the case with many of my friends. The truth is that by the time this friend of mine approached me with the idea of dropping my latest historical fiction for "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," I was in eighth grade and the first two movies in the franchise had already been released. I had watched the movies and although I had enjoyed them, I thought nothing more of the story itself. I even remember not knowing of the existence of Harry Potter books until my friend told me of them. She had sat down in front of me one day at school during our lunch period and, in true Hermione behavior, she propped open a book to read while eating. I was intrigued and my curiosity prompted me to ask the title.

"Oh, it's the third Harry Potter book, ‘The Prisoner of Azkaban’," she answered. I was surprised and then went on to tell her that I was not aware that the movies were actually based on novels. And saying that -- oh, saying that was somewhat of a mistake. Or at least I thought so at the time. She proceeded to explain, with wonder in her eyes and colorful description, the incredible nature of these books in which I had no interest whatsoever, then continued to persist for several weeks afterward that I give the series a try. Somewhere along the way I must have agreed (she was persistent to the point of annoyance) and she quickly lend me her copy of the third book. My line of thinking at the time was that it was pointless to bother with the first two when I had already seen the films. She didn't quite agree with my flawed logic, but accepted it as being the only way in which I was going to give this series a fraction of my attention. Her determination that I not only read these books, but enjoy them as well, was rather fierce and I decided to resist it with as much of a strong will as I could manage.

Well, so much for that.

I can't really explain what it was that reeled me in. I had started reading with the thought that this was going to be the worse piece of literature I had ever encountered, only to find myself excited at the prospect of learning what these dementor creatures were while in the middle of chapter five. And I could see it and feel it all quite clearly: a game of Quidditch in the pouring rain, Harry's disappointment at not being able to visit Hogsmade, the annoying and frequent arguments between Ron and Hermione. I was unknowingly being absorbed by a book for which I had terrible pre-conceived notions and that I never imagined would catch me by surprise with its incredible ending. I can also remember it vividly when I timidly asked my friend to borrow her copy of the fourth book about a week or two later. She still, to this day, takes pride in knowing that I love Harry Potter because of her and has never really let me live it down. That day, she gave me a knowing look and a small smile as she handed me the book and we both knew that I had been wrong and that I was in for quite an experience.

While my late entry into the fandom allowed me to wait for a year at the most before “Order of the Phoenix” was finally released, everyone else, the huge fandom that I was not aware of, had waited three. I had experienced for the first time the agonizing feeling of having to patiently wait in hopes of soon knowing what direction Harry’s adventure would take. The thing is that it was an adventure for me as well. I had, at that point, become a fan and whatever resistance I had put up at the beginning had not prevented me from taking Harry’s story to heart.

And to me, Harry Potter became about escaping into a story that was unlike anything I had ever read, even still to this day. It became about hungrily reading into the late hours of the night or reading straight through and not sleeping at all. It was about theorizing what might happen next when the last chapter was read and another long wait began. It was about trying to figure out who was on Harry’s side and who wasn’t. It was about shipper fights, Snape debates, Horcrux predictions, tears shed over the deaths of dear characters, lines by characters that made me laugh. It was about fan sites, podcasts, fan fiction and fan art. It was about midnight releases, waiting hours in line, counting down the minutes and desperately avoiding spoilers.

Going into Barnes and Noble on July 21st I realized, with a mixture of sadness and excitement, that it was probably going to be last time I would go to a midnight party. But that night didn’t only bring an end to a great literary phenomenon that actually made some in my generation want to read. It was, in a sense, the end of my childhood as well. I had spent my high school years loving these books and met some of my closest friends through them. And during that time I’d gone and discovered what I liked and didn’t like, realized, for the most part, what I wanted to do in the future, met incredible people, suffered through some terrible teachers and learned a thing or two about life from others. But at the end of day, my favorite books, Harry and his world – they were always there as a reminder that I was still a kid, that I could lose myself in the adventure and perhaps become a little more than obsessed with it. I had grown up with Harry and the rest of the characters and I knew that night, with the series coming to a close, that in the future I would look back on all those years as wonderful childhood memeories, great times spent with friends and an exciting book phenomenon that I was incredibly lucky to have lived through. I read the last few pages of “Deathly Hallows” with tears running down my face, not only over the deaths of some of my favorite characters, but also because I knew that the world of Hary had, for the most part, come to an end. Closing the book, still crying, I realized that at 18, I would move on to a different part of my life very much the same way that Harry would do so as well at the end of chapter thirty-six.

And I did. I went to college and made new friends and learned new things and made a huge change in my life in moving to a different country. But today, Jo's world is still very dear to my heart and I'm pretty certain that it will be that way for the rest of the my life.

I'm still waiting for your book, but from what I hear from friends that already have it, I'm sure that reading it will be like revisiting all of those wonderful times again. I definitely can't wait for it! =D

Over and over again, you hear Harry Potter credited with helping kids love to read. My younger brother is one of those kids, a kid who at 13 had never really read a book for pleasure, despite the hundreds of books available to him in my bookshelves alone. It was only because he lost a bet that he read the first 100 pages of Order of the Phoenix; within two weeks, he'd finished the series. Two weeks after that, book 7 came out.

I first read Harry Potter when I was nine (almost eight years ago now). Reading the first four books was one of the most important things that's ever happened to me, but I can't claim it's what got me interested in reading - in fact, my mom says the exact opposite happened. Before reading those books, I had read hundreds of others, seven or eight a week - read and reread the Baby-Sitters Club series, 200 books long, so often that every other week or so Mom'd press something new into my hands and beg me to read it. When she gave me Harry Potter, I read it, and she got her wish - I moved on from the BSC books. For two years, I read little BUT those four books, over and over again, wearing out my copy of Goblet of Fire within six months. Those two years, I spent time on the internet, read fanfiction, started shipping - I don't think my mom regrets giving me that first book, and I give her credit for trusting me and letting me become involved in the fandom at such an early age, because I've been a part of it ever since. By the time Order of the Phoenix came out, I was first in line at Barnes and Noble, and as anyone who loves these books can understand, reading it for the first time was an experience I've only had three times in my life.

I have an obsessive personality, it's been said, but I don't regret anything about the past eight years I've spent with Harry. I'm enrolled in the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Creative Writing department, which is a pre-professional arts training program for aspiring writers - none of my teachers there understand why I keep coming back to these books, rereading them up to fifty times. I tell them the only thing that I can, which is that Harry is something that makes sense to me, that has been constant in my life through the normal toils of adolescence but also through years of panic disorder, through packing up my home and spending a month in Texas when Katrina hit; Harry and Ron and Hermione are constants, reliable and always there.

This past October marked one year to the day J.K. Rowling came to New Orleans. I was at the Convention Center that day, by luck, fate, bribery, mostly just sheer determination - that day, I listened to her read, answer questions, and wrote down everything I saw and heard - partly because I'm a writer, mostly because I wouldn't have remembered any of it otherwise. When I reached her and gave her my book to sign, I also gave her a letter, one that I began the day it was announced she'd be coming to New Orleans and finished the morning of October 18th. I don't think it's possible it conveyed how much she, and her world, have effected me.

The thing I treasure most about that day is the fact I did manage to say something to her, something that I'd expressed in the letter because I wasn't sure I'd be coherent enough to actually say it. I'm so thankful that I was - I told her "Thank you for Harry," and even though that was all I could choke out, it was enough.

I first read SS/PS in 2000. I was 32 years old and had just moved to Wisconsin from California with my husband and three children, the oldest of whom was just turning 10. My Mother wanted to get Harry for my daughter for Christmas, but I had heard all the nasty rumors about the witchcraft and "evil" things in it and was concerned. I told her I wanted to read it first to see what it was all about, just in case. My Mother sent me the book and when I first settled down with it, it was with the idea of skimming through, just to be sure there was nothing really objectionable in it.

I started skimming. I was taken with the opening, but my mind was on finding problems, so I kept flipping pages until I found myself at the zoo with Harry, disappearing glass and a talking snake. WAIT A MOMENT! What just happened there? My attention was caught. I went back to the beginning, and that was it. I was caught, hooked, charmed, entranced. I couldn't get enough. I finished it at lightning speed and waited in a fever of impatience to run out and get the next, then the next and every book after that. The wait for OoTP... interminable. HBP, torture. Then DH... no words for that one. I went temporarily insane. I had nightmares of being unable to open the book, or opening it to find all the pages blank. I had nightmares of Harry dying. I drove my entire family and all of my friends crazy. Every topic related to Harry (and still does to this day.) If I had not had Leaky to come to every single day I think I might have spontaneously combusted. Leaky saved my life in the lead up to DH.

I will never forget the night DH was released. My family and I went in costume (of course) to the midnight release at our local Borders. I had waited (first in line!) since 4:30 AM that day for the colored bracelet to determine my place in line for the book, then we went back that evening right as the festivities were starting. There were amazing costumes everywhere, including a particularly convincing Rita Skeeter.

We participated in all of the games, but my husband finally dragged me away from the Trivia contest because some of the kids were starting to get a bit disgruntled with me for winning all the prizes. The Great Snape Debate was WILD. Then the costume contest started. First prize was the right to be first to purchase the book when it was rolled out at midnight! By that time I was holding our places in line while my husband followed the kids around. He entered the adult category for the costume contest (he was dressed as Hagrid) and he WON. I could hear the screams and yells all over the store, then my kids came running up to me, screeching that Dad had won and we would get the first three books I had reserved out of the box. I could not believe it! It was like getting that golden ticket to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. We'd get the books first. We wouldn't be spoiled! They even took us to a separate register to pay so we didn't have to fight our way through the line at the front of the store. We grabbed our three books, paid and ran to the car as fast as we could. I was literally shaking. The book was in my hands! It was here!

I'd spent several weeks planning how I was going to read DH. I had my supplies all ready, snacks, drinks, tissues. I had a comfy pillow and warm blanket on the couch to snuggle up in and read, and I planned to not move a muscle until I finished. My daughters had their own copies and were spending their time reading in their rooms. My husband and son went on to bed. I read straight through, from the time we got home from the store at about 12:30 AM until I finished later that morning around 9:30. My son came down early, just as I was reading about Dobby and panicked to see the tears streaming down my face and hear me sobbing that way. I started crying from the dedication page and never really stopped, but Dobby brought out the worst storm of emotion to that point.

I will never forget that first time through that last book, or the first time through any of them. I have read them so many times now that I have large sections practically memorized. I read a lot of authors, but there are no books out there anywhere that compare to Harry or mean what Harry does to me.

I have come across the last two or three people on earth who have yet to read any of the books and I badger them incessantly. They are going to start reading them, just to get me off their backs. My own husband is one of them, but he has finally started them now, after listening to our daughters and I talk about them non-stop. There is an assistant at my kids' orthodontist who has read all of the books except DH, which she got for Christmas LAST YEAR. She practically cowers when she sees me coming!

My favorite articles of clothing are my Leaky and Mugglenet t-shirts, or my "I Solemnly Swear..." one. It's a problem because I can't get replacements from Leaky or Mugglenet and those shirts are about worn out. I have three "I Solemnly Swear..." ones in a drawer as back-ups.

I have a love/hate relationship with the movies because of all the changes and things they leave out, but I think most book fans do. They will never match the books, but they are pretty awesome in their own rights. Dan, Emma and Rupert do a fabulous job, I love watching them and the rest of the cast. I sent 20 Howlers when HBP got pushed back, signed petitions and ranted on Leaky for days on end. My family just roll their eyes.

We started a tradition with the first film. My oldest daughter and I went to that one alone, just the two of us, and it became our ritual. When my middle daughter got old enough she joined us, and now we have an entire crowd of people who go with us, their friends and I all in costume for the midnight release. My son and husband will join us for HBP now that my son is old enough.

One of my fondest hopes is to visit Leavesden studios someday, and I am determined to go to the theme park as soon as it opens. In fact, I am part of a large group of Leaky devotees who all plan to attend together. We met and became friends on Leaky and none of us can imagine experiencing that without our entire group being together. I wish I had signed up for LeakyCon.

Melissa, I am one of the lucky ones who received "Harry, A History" early, and I LOVED it. I tried to send you a little note on Leaky but the server was down, so I will just say here that I laughed and cried all the way through it. You brought everything back, evoked all those strong, passionate and wonderful emotions, made it all so immediate again. Thank you. It was really a delight to read, almost like getting a new Harry Potter book. I am so glad, and relieved, that Leaky did not come to an end after DH, I would be lost without my daily dose of HP and my Leaky friends. I don't ever want my HP journey to end!

I actually wrote my Creative Writing non-fiction paper on my experiences in the Harry Potter fandom! This is the first page or so.

A hunger arose in me when I first picked up a Harry Potter book in third grade. The hunger for more stories, plot twists, fantastic beasts, and the need to know what happens next pulsated through me. I was whisked away to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and found a place were I could forget whatever was really happening and learn about an orphan boy with a strange lightning bolt scar. Harry, Ron, and Hermione became friends to me, people who I shared adventures with and I knew all of their secrets. As I grew up and the things in my life turned sour at times, the Trio, as my fictional friends are called, were a sweet constant and a comfort to me. To get my mind off things, I would go through the story’s intricate plot for clues to what would happen next.

I got into the series after the release of The Goblet of Fire and was left ravenous to find out more about the Dark Lord’s return. But, alas, the fifth book of the Boy-Who-Lived would not be released for over a year, so I had to pass the time in the realms of other author’s imaginations. I soon found Eoin Colfer’s fairies and Philip Pullman’s daemons filling, but not enough to overshadow my Harry Potter appetite. Finally, The Order of the Phoenix came out and it only took me a week to gobble up the 784 page story of triumph for Harry and company along with the grief of the casualties of war. I laughed, I cried, and I wished beyond anything else that my approaching eleventh birthday would bring a Hogwarts letter, as is customary with the young wizards and witches within Rowling’s pages. But as September came and went and I did not cross Platform 9 ¾ to the Hogwarts Express, I began to feel that rumbling within me again. Harry Potter was becoming not just a fun book, but an obsession, a necessity as much as food and water.