All right, I know everyone in the world is blogging about Harry Potter right now. I just thought I'd jump in and join the herd.

It's hard to believe that this is the last one, that we will never again be able to analyze a new cover for hidden meanings, have a betting pool on which characters will die, reserve another copy. (This, by the way, was the only time I've ever reserved a HP book. Waiting around for the book was actually quite fun, especially because of the people we brought with us.)

This seventh book is actually really symbolic for me. I started reading these books in fifth grade, when I was 11. Fifth grade was actually a tumultuous year for me, and Harry Potter and writing became my escape. My friend Maggie and I would always play Harry Potter at recess, too. We always had fun inventing new situatuions and characters. Did you know Voldemort had a twin sister, named Violet Trema? Who we then converted to the good side and she became our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, at least until Voldemort kidnapped her back, and we had to go rescue her.

*Ahem* Getting off that tangent now....

It's for me that this is the last book, which would have been Harry's last year at Hogwarts came out after my final year in high school. (With a handful of exceptions, I have more fondness towards Voldemort than the people I graduated with.) When my sister, her friend and I were driving to pick up our bracelets, we were talking about how dark the series had gotten. I mean, the first three are okay, but I think the rest get too scary for kids. (GOF scared the eleven-year-old shit out of me!) We really have grown up with Harry Potter, though. (We were fifteen at the same time...for awhile.)

You know how when you finish a really great book, you close it, stare at the cover and let out a sigh? It's like saying goodbye to a good friend. So the seventh book is really bittersweet for me; it's saying goodbye to several years of friends.

My predictions:

Snape, good or evil, will die.

Harry will see Dumbeldore again.

Dumbeldore really is dead.

Harry Potter will not die!!

Though, I think this is what might really happen (minus the Dumbeldore bits):

Dear Harry Potter,

Please don't die. It wouldn't be very nice of you to break my heart.

K.E.N.