A small tribute...

I first came across Harry Potter while I was around 17 or 18, sometime in the middle of my JC years. A good friend of mine who sat beside me was avidly absorbed in it, and though I had some initial doubts about its appeal as it was a children's book, I was hooked the minute I turned page one over. I immediately progressed to the second (my least favourite of the seven) and the third (I borrowed it from my GP tutor, and found it so marvellous that I did the rare act of buying my own copy). By the time the fourth book came out it was to a hungry, Potter-crazed worldwide audience.

There are many reasons that one gets drawn to the story. The fantasy theme - which is set in present times, with non-magical people living alongside wizards and witches, a school set up for magical education in another world out there, something that offers a wonderful break from the drudgery of Muggle life. The style of the author's writing, which is altogether captivating, engaging and fluid. The various little historical facts, names, figures and legends which are sprinkled throughout the book, concealed in various interesting trivia and characters made up by the writer. The enduring themes of love and courage that carries the characters through their toughest times in life. The mystery that surrounds the title character of Harry, interlinked with those of his beloved headmaster, his least favourite schoolteacher and his nemesis. As the layers slowly unravel themselves through the series, the pursuit of the truth behind it all is what drives so many to keep on reading and speculating.

And now, with the release of the seventh and final book, it is over. My journey of seven years has come to an end. It was a bittersweet kind of feeling, reading the last line in the last book over and over again, almost refusing to believe that it's already finished. To me, it does not really matter that the ending is as such. I mean, such epic stories are supposed to end in such a manner. It doesn't make sense to end it otherwise. What's important is how the writer gets to the ending. And she didn't disappoint. For a brief moment I had this really sinking feeling in my heart when it was revealed that the death that everyone said would happen was supposed to happen. But thankfully it didn't. And Ms Rowling rounded everything up nicely, which really made me want to go back to the first book and start over, so that I can fit in all the pieces of the puzzle. Alas, time does not permit such an ambitious attempt.

Was there a clue in the last line that there could be more to come? But this could just the "refusing-to-accept-the-truth" part of my brain that's talking. No matter what, all good things...would have to come to an end. Adieus, Harry Potter.