It All Ends Here

3,407 pages. 8 movies. 7 books. 3 unstoppable friends. 1 legacy that will live on.

The trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 is all over the Internet. Not going to lie, teared up a little.

It seems like it was just yesterday the Sorting Hat shouted "Gryffindor!" Many of us have grown up with Harry, many of us were the kid under the stairs. At eleven we half expected to get a letter delivered by an owl and sealed with the Hogwarts crest. We subconsciously sorted our friends into houses, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, or Slytherin. We whispered, "Muggle," about those who did not believe.

What I love about the Harry Potter series is that it made magic tangible and real, as though wizards were really living underground under the statute of secrecy. It just seemed so real and now it's almost over. HP got kids reading again. J.K. Rowling is definitely my hero for that.

Here's how to cope with Harry Potter withdrawl:

Save everything! Someday you can introduce your children to the wonderful wizarding world of Harry Potter and then they can be awesome little nerds like you. I am refraining from giving my kid the middle name of Lupin or Hermione.

Have HP movie nights with friends and read the books until the binding sags. It helps to have people around you who understand. One of my worst fears is that I'll be the only one in the room who gets a Harry Potter reference.

Dress up as a HP character for Halloween! I would love to dye my hair pink in memory of Tonks. In words of Sirius Black, "The ones who love us never really leave us," And I believe that each of those characters unconsciously loved me a little bit. I was part of their lives, watching, reading, worrying when things got bad. And they were a part of mine sharing in their adventures and fears.

Don't let the muggles get you down. Keep believing!