Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

So the RIC was discussing how the deaths of your favorite characters in anime make you enjoy the show less. This made me think of how I felt reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for the first time, so I'm going to recount the experience for you.

wahmbulance Obvious Spoiler Alert is VERY Obvious. Also, I use a lot of bad words here. =3 wahmbulance

July 20th, 2007, about 11PM: I'm exhausted from an awesome day at Otakon, and Mom takes me to the midnight book release party at the closest Barnes & Noble.
... The party kinda sucked, you guys. I went home crying and feeling let down, and went to bed.

July 21st, 2007: Instead of staying up and reading until the book is finished, I went to Otakon for day #2. At one point, I saw a sign that had a bunch of spoilers on it. I only looked at the thing for about one damn second and then went "OHSHITSPOILERSLOOKAWAAAAAAAAY!" Enjoyed the rest of Otakon that day without thinking about spoilers.

July 22nd, 2007: I wake up at about 10AM and eat breakfast. The book is sitting on the kitchen table. “So this is Deathly Hallows,” I said. I touched the book kinda hesitantly, then I finished off my breakfast and began to read. It went a little something like this.

Chapter 1: WHAT THE HELL, utterly and completely creeped out.
Hedwig dies: Oh no you didn't.
Mad-Eye dies: Oh s**t, this is not good.
Wedding: Oh thank GOD, something actually HAPPY!
Kreacher's tale: Ohhhhh. I get it. Dude, that's depressing!
The Ministry of Magic scene/chapter: Creeeeeeeeeeeeeeepy.
Ron leaves Harry and Hermione: I cried really hard, put the book down, and reconsidered allowing my children to read the books.
Graveyard scene: I think I was still crying, I can't remember.
The bit with Bathilda the snake: WTF... Oh, God, he's thinking back on Harry's parents' deaths...
Destruction of the locket: WOO-HOO! ******** yeah! That was freaky, but ******** yeah!
The part with Luna's dad: I basically drank in every bit of that.
Dobby dies: SOB.
The Gringotts scene/dragon-napping: WHOA. BADASS.
Aberforth's explanation of Dumbledore's past: Drank that in too.
Battle: By this point, I'm a little bit numb emotionally, and I'm at Red Lobster with my nose stuck in the book.
Fred dies: WHAAAAAAAAAT?!
Snape dies: The only reason I didn't cry was because I was in public.
The forest scene: I was hyperventilating and blinking really hard, and the only reason why I didn't actually cry was because I was in public and there was food in front of me.
"Kings Cross": Drank all that in.
"NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU b***h!": I saw the word "b***h" and did a huuuuuuuge double-take. I actually had to read that sentence a few times before it sunk in that J.K. Rowling, and further, Molly Weasley, had actually said that. Then I was like, "Oh hell yeah!"
The final Harry vs Voldemort showdown: I think I'm lucky I understood all that on the first reading. But I did, and when it was over I breathed a huuuuge sigh of relief, even though I was still really, really upset that Lupin, Tonks, and Colin died too.
The epilogue: WHAT THE ********, THEY HAVE KIDS?!
"All was well.": The end.... This is the end of Harry Potter. Wow... Just... Wow.