HARRY POTTER.

[Ariel]

My name is Ariel and I first started reading the books after my thirteenth birthday. I went to see The Goblet of Fire with my friends and they all knew what was going to happen and I had no idea. The next day I bought books one through six, all the books that were out at the time, and pretty much devoured them.

I'm a Ravenclaw. My favorite of the trio would have to be Hermione. People tell me I look a lot like Emma Watson in the first three movies, actually. I love it. My favorite pairings are Harry/Draco and Hermione/Draco. I legitimately thought Hermione would ditch Ron for Draco in the end. I was a tad bit delusional.

Kate, I know what you mean! My last English teacher said she never got through all of the Harry Potter books but would openly criticize them in class! She made it through all of the Twilight books, though, and she had Twilight and New Moon movie posters all over her room. This was my senior AP English teacher. That was an interesting year.

[Mary Sandals]

My name is Mary and I started reading Harry Potter when I was around 7 or 8, my brother got it for his birthday and didn't want it...long story short, I fell in love. I even have a Harry Potter tattoo. It is the letters D.A. behind my ear for Dumbledore's Army and I will NEVER REGET IT

The only ship I was ever really behind was Ron/Hermione. The Harmony people made me so angry back when I was like 13. I've written an incredible amount of badfic about the series though, including a Hr/Draco fic...sigh.

On the subject of English teachers and HP/Twilight, my favorite teacher of all time has to be my AP English teacher Mrs. Reinholt. She lost some respect points because she told me not to write about Harry Potter on Q3 during the AP Exam. However, I took an Education Seminar class (a class for kids who want to be teachers) and I had to observe a teacher whose room was completely decked out in Twilight propaganda...cardboard cutouts, posters everywhere, the works. I shudder to think about it. To be fair, I think she was Mormon and that's why she was so into the books.

[Dodger Thirteen]

Hello, my name is Cat and I'm a Harry Potter fanatic/Potterhead.

I started the books when I was ten years old. My fifth grade teacher began reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to my class and coincidentally, my mother bought the book for me a day or two later. I immediately devoured the poor thing, along with the subsequent novels. My original copy of Book One was sadly stolen, but my new(er) copy of the book is so battered that it's essentially fallen apart. I've read each novel over ten times - excluding Deathly Hallows. I need to buy one of the trunk sets and re-read all of them as my copies are all falling apart!

I'm a Ravenclaw without a doubt. My favourite characters all died by the end of the series (Sirius, Fred, Lupin, Tonks, and even Hedwig). Of the remaining, I would have to say Charlie, Luna, and Neville. I guess. I was so upset when Sirius died that I threw my book across the room and dented my wall; it's still there. The dent, not the book.

As for the trio, Hermione is easily my favourite of the Trio, though I do love them all a bit equally. When I was younger, I was under the delusion that I could try out for Hermione Granger in the films. I had the frizzy brown hair, semi-big teeth, and a know-it-all attitude. I just wore glasses and wasn't British-born, so that kind of threw my hopes, sadly.

[embonpoint]

May 29, 2011 22:07:08 GMT -5 Dobby said:

I hate it when people write Harry Potter off as being children's books...

This is not really relevant to HP specifically, but I feel the same way. A lot of my favourite novels are 'children's books' but that shouldn't mean they aren't wonderful and interesting and worthy of being read past the age of ten or whatever. Children's literature is incredibly important and a valid choice even for adults (adults still like Disney films, don't they?).

[brosephargh]

Hi, my name is Joey, I think I might be the only guy on this thread so far. I've been heavily into the Potter realm since I was about 9, and I don't plan on ever giving it up. I'd have to say I ship more crack pairings than the normal canon ones, simply because they're more fun. :] My favorite book was definitely Deathly Hallows, and my favorite characters are Seamus and Draco. I know. Weird. But they are.

Anyway, I saw the mention of a Harry Potter tattoo. I've got several tattoos already and I definitely plan on making my next one a Harry Potter tattoo. I'm not positive on what exactly it's going to be though - any ideas?

also, if anyone wants to be friends I have a personal tumblr(-brosephargh) or a harry potter tumblr(thebloody-baron) you may follow if you wish :]

Oh, and, I'm a Slytherin, if you didn't guess. ;]

[embonpoint]

My sister wanted to get a feather... which strikes me now as not being Harry Potter-related but at the time she mentioned it, I'm sure it was.
I thought about getting a wand on my index-finger.
There's always Fawkes, a Snitch, a quote ("It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live", "all was well" and a couple of others which are quite common), though you might not want something everyone else has.
There's a Harry Potter tattoo tumblr around - I think it's "bloodyhellhptattoos".

[brosephargh]

May 30, 2011 14:39:13 GMT -5 embonpoint said:

My sister wanted to get a feather... which strikes me now as not being Harry Potter-related but at the time she mentioned it, I'm sure it was.
I thought about getting a wand on my index-finger.
There's always Fawkes, a Snitch, a quote ("It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live", "all was well" and a couple of others which are quite common), though you might not want something everyone else has.
There's a Harry Potter tattoo tumblr around - I think it's "bloodyhellhptattoos".

Ooooh, thanks I'll check it out! And yeah, I've seen plenty of snitches and phoenixes (which, I had originally wanted for it's non-HP qualities, but that's another story entirely) as well as the typical quotes. But I kinda wanted something a little more unique, but still recognizably HP, you know? Definitely not the deathly hallows sign, haha.

Not sure what yet though..

[Mary Sandals]

I have ideas of more HP tattoos once I move out of my father's house and can get them anywhere I please. I can't find a picture of my D.A. tattoo but I do love it. I want to get 'mischief managed' on my wrist, with the sets of paw prints, because I love the Marauders to pieces. I almost got Sirius Black's prisoner numbers instead of the D.A. tattoo, but I settled for the latter.


Also, my friend is drawing out a phoenix for me that I'm going to get over my self-injury scars. I had a very terrible habit for a long time and I think a phoenix would be perfect to symbolize both my love for Harry Potter and the fact that I'd quit my bad habits.

[krista]

I'm a huge Harry Potter crack fiend! I remember starting the series in elementary school and taking the themes and story lines with me through most of my childhood. The fact that the last movie is coming out in July is very bitter-sweet for me. I just graduated college and it is as though the movie is a sign that my adulthood is emerging. I have not met one HP person that I did not like, either!

[KatjevanLoon]

I've been a huge Potterhead since it first came out in the US (I was 12: mom threw the book at me to wake me up one morning, I started reading and didn't look back). My favourite character is Hermione, hands down, and she was super important to me growing up because she was pretty much the only strong female character I (personally) had in my reading during high school.

Hermione is the reason the Trio ever made it ANYWHERE -- Harry was the Chosen One, which means he was just damn lucky. Ron was Harry's best friend, and so gave Harry the courage to go on -- combined they were much more powerful than either of them were alone. But Hermione...Hermione did the research, the legwork -- she read the books and practiced the magic. She thought on her feet and saved the Trio more times than they could count.

Anyway.

Let's see. I've long told myself that I'd be a SlytherClaw but I've come to the conclusion that I am actually more of a RavenDor. If I have to choose one house and not have a hybrid, I'd be a Gryffindor. (Prof. McGonagall is my hero, though, so I guess it's ok. ) I wouldn't play Quidditch but I would watch and cheer from the stands. I would totes be an Animagus, and would turn into a very large cat. Like, lioness-sized. Maybe a cougar? Yeah. Cougar.

As for HP tatts, I'm getting mine this summer -- I hope before the final film comes out. It's going to be fairly simple: the word "Mudblood" in brown ink, with a simple graphic of a wand with a spark coming out of the tip underlining it. Not sure yet where I'm going to get it, but I'm thinking the right shoulder.

I'm half-sad that HP is ending, officially, in July, because it's the end of an era for me -- an era that I shared with others, that changed my life. But I'm also kind of happy, because most of the films have been a royal disappointment to me, and if part 2 of DH is as good as part 1, then we'll be ending the series on a good (and rather epic) note -- which is really all I can ask for.

Also, this is a video that gets me totally pumped for the final film and also makes me cry, so I am le sharing. It is also full of spoilers, though I am sort of assuming that everyone here is up to speed.

[devilishlybookish]

I've been a Harry Potter fan since I was 11 years old. My 5th grade teacher had been reading it on her own, but one day recess was rained out so she pulled it from her bag and started from the beginning for us to keep us from revolting at the injustice of no play-time. I immediately went home and asked for my own copy. We used the library back then; the waiting list was huge but I eventually got a copy and stayed up all night to read it in one sitting.

From there I went to all of the release parties, have gone to the movies, and even picked up a set of British editions while in England. The odd thing is though is I'm not a seriously devoted fan: if asked what my "fandoms" were I probably wouldn't even think of it. But I look back on Harry Potter very fondly. It was a huge part of my childhood.

[Marina]

Hello, my name is Marina. I read the first Harry Potter book in sixth grade, so I was about eleven. I read it in Russian, because I didn't speak English well yet. But I don't think I've read the rest of the series until late middle school, or maybe even high school, that's when the last book came out. I read the last one a year after everyone else did, because I didn't want to buy it.

Sirius is my favorite character, and I cried for the rest of book five after his death and I'm pretty sure I was depressed for days afterwards. Same thing happened after Dumbledore died, and Doby, because I know all of you weeped like little babies at that part in the movie! Admit it!

[Boss Wolfbender]

I guess I've been reading Harry Potter since I was in 4th grade. If I recall correctly, my mother was actually making her book club read the first book, so I saw it around the house and became interested. We also had to make a lot of long car trips to my mom's family during Christmas vacation, so during the 4-5 hour car ride, we would listen to the audiobooks read by Jim Dale.

I was really into Harry Potter fanfiction from elementary school until the middle of high school. When I was younger, it introduced me to a large amount of free reading material that I could access at a moment's notice, and when I became older, it helped me distinguish "good" writing from "bad," so I could improve me own writing by looking at the constructive criticism some of my favorite stories were subjected to. I think it's definitely the book series that contributed the most to my growth as a person, and even though that was a combination of fandom + the books themselves, it was a very big part of my youth.

I think Rowling's use of foreshadowing is superb, and the fact the books feel more like a mystery series than adventure novels to me is something that I really enjoy about them.

I think the first four books are probably my favorite, because I spent a lot of time rereading them in the three years between GoF and OotP's release. I really liked the older generation a lot (Sirius, Remus, Harry's parents, Snape) because they provided an excellent contrast to Harry, Hermione, and Ron's life, having grown up in a very different time period. I was really glad when Deathly Hallows revealed so much of their story.

[Umbvix]

I've been a Potterhead for almost as long as the books have been out. When the first book came out, my older brother's teacher read it in class and he fell in love with the series. So he bought the first book, and because I always wanted to do what he was doing, I read it after him. I distinctly remember having no idea how to pronounce McGonagall's name, and so I mentally blocked it and connected it with the character without really acknowledging that was her name. I also remember the ending conflict with Harry, Quirrell, and Voldemort scaring me a bit.

I got very emotionally attached to the series xD I realize the writing wasn't groundbreaking or anything and there are flaws, but if I enjoyed it, I don't feel I should have to really defend it. (Such as I once actually enjoyed the Twilight books until I took a step back and became a little miffed.)

[moosethemoose]

I love Harry Potter, but more than the stories, I love noticing the way the world falls down when you analyse it closely. The economics of the thing is all wrong.

I'm a Slytherin, but mainly for laziness.
Prisoner of Azkaban was probably my favourite, though it's hard to choose.

May 29, 2011 19:07:45 GMT -5 Lizzie said:

I thought I would kick off the inevitable Harry Potter thread.
Some basics: My name is Lizzie and I have been a Potterhead since about 8 or 9 when I first read Sorcerer's Stone. I am a Ravenclaw and my favorite of the trio is Ron. My favorite wrock band is Draco & The Malfoys. I am currently rereading the series and I'm more then halfway through Goblet of Fire.

I'm sorry, Lizzie, but did you say 'more then halfway'?