I read the first four books of the Harry Potter series when I was fifteen.
It was during a heatwave in Adelaide and I was living in a caravan at the beach, about to move to the UK with my family. We’d sent all our belongings on a ship to England, had sold our house and had a few stray weeks to kill before leaving.
My friends had all started the school term again, so I was bored, boiling (it was like, 44 degrees and our caravan had no air conditioning) and going a little bit stir-crazy.
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Devastatingly, I then had to wait over two years for the next book to be released. The waits between books were torturous; the only relief was the trickle of films being released at intervals.
I finished the last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, along with the rest of the world in 2007.
And I haven’t re-read any of them since.
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Re-reading the Harry Potter series as an adult
This year, my siblings bought me the best birthday present ever: a box set of the Harry Potter books. Thanks bro, thanks sis.
Excited to relive the joy I’d first experienced over fifteen years ago, I opened the cover of the first book and dived straight in.
A week later, having completely neglected all blogging and general adulting duties, I emerged, having finished the first three books with as much vigour as I did in that sweltering caravan.
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It’s now been seven months and I’ve just turned the last page on the last book. My face is still streaked with tears as I type.
23 thoughts I had while re-reading the Harry Potter books as an adult
Anyway, having now re-read all seven books as an adult, here are the 23 thoughts I had throughout the process (I’d put a spoiler alert in here but really, if you don’t know what happens in Harry Potter by now you can’t possibly care if I give something away).
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- The first book is really, truly written for children.
- I’m so glad I know, from the start of book one, that it’s pronounced her-my-oh-knee. At fifteen, I was convinced it was her-me-own.
- The second and third books are also written for a very young audience. This is great for fast reading, but it does feel a little painful as an adult.
- Dobby used to be exceptionally annoying. Now I love, love, love him, and sympathise way more with the plight of the house elf.
- S.P.E.W. was also really pointless to me the first time I read the books. Now I’m like, YOU GO HERMIONE! FREEDOM FOR ELVES!
- As a teenager, I thought Cho and Harry were a legit couple. Um, they barely even talked. There was a disastrous kiss and a half date and that was it. A relationship that does not make.
- I literally never picked up on the fact that Ginny and Harry had been in love for like, ever. When they finally did get together, I was all, huh? But this time I noticed, from the start, that they were totally destined for one another.
- Harry is (for good reason, obvs) intolerable in the Order of the Phoenix.
- Dolores Umbridge is so much worse the second time around.
- Why, oh why, didn’t Harry ever tell anyone about Umbridge’s detentions? There really doesn’t seem to be a good reason. Again with the intolerable Harry.
- Evanna Lynch singlehandedly brought the character of Luna to life for me.
- I was more upset about Hedwig than Moody. What kind of monster does that make me?
- Even though I knew what was going to happen at the end, I hated – no, despised – Snape throughout.
- Harry kissing a snitch is just weird to try to picture.
- What the heck happened between Lily and James to make them fall in love? That’s just skipped right over.
- No no no no no no no Remus and Tonks!
- Fred was a twin. A twin, J.K. Rowling. Do you have any idea what you did to us with that one?
- Snape. Lily. Heart eye emoji. Broken heart emoji. Uncontrollable crying emoji.
- I genuinely don’t get what the weird Voldemort baby thing was in the King’s Cross death scene.
- Selfless bravery makes me cry.
- I shouldn’t read this on the bus.
- I shouldn’t read the last scene of the last book while my husband is around. He had to console me, and now thinks I am a crazy person.
- I still wish I wasn’t a Hufflepuff.
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
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I came across your post while looking for experiences in Paris, I have no idea how! But your post was like coming up for fresh air. I’ve read harry potter a number of times I don’t quite remember but surely more than I can count on my finger tips and it still gives me the same goosebumps and tears every-damn-time.
Thank you for this <3 A lot of my thoughts were here!
So many feelings! Re-reading them as an adult makes me so much more aware of how vulnerable they are as children; when I was the same age as them it seemed totally legit for them to be fighting the most powerful dark wizard of all time at the age of 11 and not trusting the grown-ups around them but when I re-read I go full on Molly Weasley on them – they should have kept themselves safe! And the abuse that Harry suffers at the hands of his aunt and uncle seems so much worse to me; children’s literature is full of orphans so it didn’t seem weird to read about at the time, but now it breaks my heart that nobody loved him for his first 11 years – no wonder he’s a bit of dick in the rest of the books!
Haha your comment genuinely made me laugh out loud. Isn’t it funny that our perspective changes so much (and that kids think it’s totally acceptable that Harry was fighting Voldemort alone!)? It’s like a brand new experience reading them again so many years later. Now I want to do it again!!
LOVE this! I can’t wait to reread the books myself!
I really enjoyed this post! I have reread them multiple times and still think I discover something new each time. I felt the same about Ron and Hermione’s relationship – it becomes obvious much earlier on!
Oh my god! Some of your remarks were exactly what I was thinking!!
Although I have to say, I saw ‘Harry and Ginny’ happening from miles away and I do have to say I an a bit more fan if Snape after the ending – it just explains like everything in his whole life and character!
But anyway, I find it cool that as adults, we can still discuss and analyze Harry Potter books. And that they still make us cry (yes, I cry like a baby too).
I’ve read each of them about 4 times now and have been thinking about doing so again. Over the top? Maybe. But who cares :).