...that tonight, hours away from the very last Potter release, I still have no clue what to wear to the midnight showing.
Seriously. This is why I'm in this mindstate. What with:
The recent confirmation that Kurt's last season on Glee is Season 3 (NOOOOOOOOOO!!)
My work schedule for next week being utterly crazy-cakes (i.e. ANNOYING)
Work itself (I want back at the Derb ASAP)
I haven't spent more than four days at home since Christmas.
Packing and moving over the next three weeks or so, complete with all its confusion, annoyances, and stress-inducing situations, and
Oh yeah, and the fact that after the credits start rolling tonight, my childhood, my adolescence, will have come to a close. I will wake up tomorrow morning and things will feel different. They will BE different.
Too much emotion right now. With the distress and stress and excitement and every other emotion coursing through my veins right now, I am surprised I haven't imploded yet.
But even with all this, I am so very excited. I will cheer, I will cry when appropriate. Bring it on, Seth Childs. Now to figure out what to wear....
The trailer debuted online on Thursday, and I know I should have mentioned it then, but that was also the same day as Pottermore's clues were put up, so I was a little overcome with various emotions and all I could do after class that night was sit and watch the trailer for the first time. I didn't full-out cry, but I did gasp, and tears did well up....and I had to process it.
The full water-works will hit when watching the film for the first time. I'm almost certain of that. When reading the book, right at the end of "The Prince's Tale" is when everything hits me like a big yellow school bus and I can't stop crying for years, it seems. It starts to pick up when Harry tells Neville to make sure to kill Nagini, and Neville tells him, "We're all going to keep fighting, Harry. You know that?" (p558, UK edition). And it gets worse when Harry talks to his parents and Lupin and Sirius. Never have I cried harder when reading a book, never have I felt the emotions so strongly or passionately. (That's the kind of power Jo Rowling has when she is armed with pen and paper.)
Which is why, when in the trailer, Harry is suddenly talking to his parents and Sirius and Lupin, that I almost fell out of my chair.
It still has not hit that this is going to be the very last Harry Potter movie, ever. (And it probably won't fully hit me until I'm sitting in the theatre, watching the last few minutes of film before the credits.) Since I was a sixth-grader, waiting to find out what happens in Goblet of Fire (which came out the summer between my sixth and seventh-grade years), there has always been something a little more to look forward to. This final release will definitely not reach the kind of emotion of ending that reading Deathly Hallows did, but it will also be the ultimate release of something that has become a part of who I am now. With the release of the book, we still had three movies to look forward to. Now, however, there will be nothing more tied directly to this series that will be released.
I keep thinking about a song by The Byrds, which is based on a set of Bible verses from Ecclesiastes. Things have their time in this world: each and every one of us will have our time, events in our life will come and go. I understand that, and as the years have gone on, I have come to accept it and love it, however affecting the loss in question may be.
But at the same time, however, I'm remembering the excitement of the wait: where we would make predictions about what was going to happen based on mere titles of each book and the precious few tidbits and hints that we were given before each release. I remember fighting with Heidi and Prairie about who was going to get together, Ron and Hermione or Harry and Hermione*--and seeing R/Hr clutching each other at 1:40 kills me because there's so much beauty and power and love and protection there and I want to cry because I had almost the same reaction as FYA did. The rawness, the newness of it all, the joy of spending releases with fellow fans who get that feeling of excitement/fear/love/community...I'll bring that with me for the rest of my life.
The trailer itself is gorgeous, and I'd argue the best of all of them--which is only fitting, since it will probably be the very last one we'll ever get (I'm not counting the TV spots). The dragon's in it, and that made me super excited to see the Gringotts sequence, which is one of my favorite parts of the book because it's so badass. And then the suits of armor (!!), and the Room of Requirement, and all the battle stuff, and I think you also see Neville with sword somewhere in there....Part 2 is going to be amazing. And the way they begin with clips from previous movies? So much awesome packed into 3 minutes.
Honestly, though this is the last movie, and it will be sad beyond comprehension to fully accept that, there will always be more. Perhaps not in the same sense, but certainly in spirit. Rereading the series (something I've meant to do for ages), rewatching the movies, and FREAKIN' Pottermore, when it's true identity is announced to the world next week. And then, anything that J.K. Rowling publishes in the future will surely be top of my to-read list. Also, if I do get married and have children, there will hopefully be a day that my children decide to pick up the books for the first time, taking in every word as I did, eager to find out what happens next.
Most of all, though, I'll keep the books, films and experiences close to me, because they have become a small part of who I am today. These books made me realize how much I love reading for the sake of reading rather than for a few Accelerated Reader points. The many wonderful themes will stick with me, the ones of love, friendship, and many more. Jo Rowling is one of my inspirations for wanting to be a writer. The characters of Luna Lovegood and Ron Weasley--and Snape, too--will always be models to look at when thinking about character. Through these books I've met many people, discovered and fallen in love with Wizard Rock--which led me to meeting even MORE people--and being a part of something more. There is so much more that I will encounter in my life, but I will carry every single aspect of this with me; it's part of me.
*My friend Alicia posted another BRILLIANT R/Hr video on her FB, and I love this one as much as the other one. It's soooo good....where does she find these things? And whoever made it should get an award or something. Seriously.
With the exception of maybe Prisoner of Azkaban, I have a firm belief that at least on of the deleted scenes for each of the Harry Potter films should have been included in the final cut. I don't have a lot of quips when it comes to Deathly Hallows Part 1, because there's still a whole half of the film to see, but there are a few of the deleted scenes I really wish they'd included in the movie.
The Petunia/Harry scene is a given (Prince's Tale, anyone?). That should have been there. Somewhere. I don't care where. But also, I really, really wanted the skipping stones scene to be included.
Reasons This Scene Should Have Been Included in the Final Cut:
This would have contributed positively to the emotions felt when Ron leaves later.
It's incredibly adorable to watch Hermione pretend like she doesn't know what the hell she's doing. (And it's very Hermione of her to let Ron show her how to do something she probably already knows.)
You see a glimpse of Aberforth, which is crucial for setting up for Part 2.*
It's a nice pause moment, much like the one earlier in the film of Hermione teaching Ron how to play Fur Elise on the piano. (I mean, overall, both scenes serve basically the same function, but I'm selfish.)
I'm a Ron/Hermione shipper, and any moment of them building up to their relationship is like candy to me. Plus, it's another excuse to poke Heidi and Prairie, who are Harry/Hermione shippers. :) **
And then there's the tent discussion.
Ron mentions the taboo, which would help explain why the Snatchers suddenly show up at the Lovegoods (because Xeno says the name).
It actually explains a LOT about the particulars of being on the run. Without it, those who haven't read the books will be confused as to why things happen as they do.
Harry lists the horcruxes they know about at that point. That's also important for Part 2.***
I also really, really like the mention of the locket's heartbeat. But that's just me.
*They really, really need to explain the mirror well. As of Part 1, there is no explanation for why Harry is carrying it around--and sufficiently OBSESSED with it, and I want them to be able to make up for the fact that it was never explained in OotP...
**Have you seen this R/Hr fanvideo? A friend of mine posted it shortly after Part 1 came out, and it popped up on my newsfeed, and since then I've been very near obsessed with it.
***Also, I'm curious how they have the trio find out about the cup and the diadem. You know, since Dumbledore never gave any info about them to Harry in the HBP film.
