Tonight, Harry Potter ends for me...

OMGski! I am going to see the final Harry Potter movie tonight. The IMAX, in 3D!

I was taken to the Odeon cinema on Freeman Street, Grimsby, by Mr Chris Hallam, to see my first Harry Potter film, The Prisoner of Azkaban. It wasn’t a ‘date’ but I think he may have winked at me whilst I bought the popcorn...maybe he didn’t, a boy can dream.

I had previously rejected Harry Potter and all the nonsense that surrounded it. To me something that popular seemed to be massively flawed. I presume there would be no room for a personal interpretation and I would have to sit through either several hundred pages, or several hours, of meaningless crap.

As soon as Harry came on the screen, I knew that I was wrong.

After the film had finished I went to the nearest shop that sold DVD's and bought the first two films and spent that evening watching them.

My only criticism of the films is that due to changing directors and to a lesser extent, advances in technology, the vision of the Harry Potter world changed from film to film. I can accept smoother CGI but changing the whole look of the Hogwarts, give me a break!

The stories are not incredibly well written and they were even used as examples of bad writing on my degree course, however the stories are excellent. No one in a generation has captured a public like J.K.Rowling has. On top of this she has inspired thousands, if not millions, of children around the world to read. For that alone, she deserves all the riches that now lay at her door.

They say the devil is in the detail and one huge thing that I have noted is that as my own breadth of knowledge has expanded, I have come across words, symbols and myths that Rowling placed within her novels. This amount of research, in addition to such a captivating story shows what an innovative and wonderful thinker Rowling is.

I read all the books in the two weeks before the final one was put on sale. I missed university classes, I didn’t eat, I just read. I lived and breathed the stories and was saddened and delighted along the way. I felt everything you could feel when reading a book.

Lessons learnt and inspiration taken, I am very sad that it has now come to an end. Maybe it is a good thing because I can now focus on taking the positivity forward.

I will forever be saddened that I didn't go to Hogwarts...