famous Harry Potter, can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page

NO SPOILERS don't worry

So, on friday night i couldn't sleep.
i clearly remember lying in bad, staring at my glow-in-the-dark coloured stars and planets on my ceiling (hey i've been in this room since primary 1, lemme off the hook) checking the clock every once in a while. Everytime i did, i was crushed by the fact that only 20-30 minutes had passed. What had happened in Half-Blood Prince was still playing out like a feature film in my head (having spent valuable study time attempting to reread it before Deathly Hallows was released on Saturday) and i was still suffering from the aftershock of Dumbledore's death. The same raw emotions from my very first reading of HBP came right back and it was actually painful to get through that chapter..it was as if i'd never read HBP before. So the anticipation was understandable..who else would have to die for the greater good? Plus, i'd stayed COMPLETELY spoiler-free,thank you very much, even going to the extent of staying away from mugglenet for the past 3 months and cancelling my podcast subscription to mugglecast (you know how hard that was?!?!) Plus i hadn't read the papers for the last 2 days cos i caught a glimpse of Life! attempting predictions and shiz for who's die and all that.

i guess that's the torture you have to put yourself through when you're waiting impatiently and anxiously for the one book that will provide you closure (whether its crafted in a satisfactory way or not doesn't matter). Closure is important especially when you've followed a series since its (sort of) inception. My copy of Philospher's Stone is all tatty now, and the pages are positively yellowed with age. To think, its only been 7 years...i thought they'd start yellowing after a much longer time period *shrug* Also, its my copy; not my brothers'. On the inside of the front cover it says "Dear Anjali, Pleasant Reading. With love, Auntie Jenny & Uncle Bala- Dec 2000". Twas a christmas present and undeniably the best one i've ever gotten (Xmas prezzie i mean). So the immense emotional connection to the story and the characters is completely warranted..having literally grown up with them...Harry IS only a year younger than me in the series.

Having pre-ordered the book (thanks to my dad who did it for us) and being the first of the three of us to have been slated to read it (my bro's had each had their turn at reading OOTP and HBP first, so now it was my turn to go first. perfect timing, if i say so meself! *grin*), i was up since 6, knackered and barely functioning, waiting for the damn postman to deliver the book. He eventually only came at 8.30 (BAAAASKET!) and i signed for the book which came in a less than impressive SingPost plastic bag. i was stunned though, to see that the cover looked very different from any of the other copies of HP we owned. GAH my dad ordered the adult version. But besides that inconsistency with the rest of the collection, i thought it was quite fitting, that as a semi-adult we got the adult version. i feel SO grown up now :) But it was so satisfying, just to trudge off straight to my room, plonk myself on my unmade bed and peel open the first pages of the book

OK TEENY SPOILER WARNING (that doesn't count, really)

i was mighty chuffed that the book was partly dedicated to me! well technically it went like this:

The Dedication of this book is split in seven ways: To Neil, to Jessica, to David, to Kenzie, to Di, to Anne, and to you, if you have stuck with Harry until the very end

and it was even shaped like a bolt of lightning! GENIUS!

after having spent in excess of a day reading it at 3-4 hour stretches (and with the really unnecessary interruption that was "Rapture") i have so much to say but i can't do that without spoiling it and that is overstepping the true Potter fan protocol. Now i really wish blogger had LJ's Under The Cut function *kjsd;afjasda*

in the words of the greatest proponents of love, "All you need is love"