FAREWELL, HARRY




courtesy of: artorg.info

 

I first met Harry Potter in 2000 at the National Bookstore in SM Fairview. It was my first year of teaching and since I got my own money, I decided to have my own teeny-weeny library in my teeny-weeny room. Seeing the vibrant cover of the Sorcerer’s Stone – a boy in round glasses with a bolt in the forehead flying in a broom - I picked it up and checked the blurb (the ‘teaser’ or sort of synopsis at the back cover of a book), and decided that it was well worth my money to belong in my precious shelf. I have no idea that it was a New York Times Bestseller, or that it was being made into a film. I am not much into contemporary/modern literature back then for I was more engrossed in Shakepeare and Poe, and I didn’t even like books about witchcraft, thinking it was one, but I wagered in the end.

Picking up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone has been my ticket to the Hogwarts Express at Platform 9 ¾. Everything in it was riveting – the unusual arrival of Harry at the Durley’s doorstep, the vanishing glass at the reptile house, the arrival of the letters, the giant Hagrid, Diagon Alley, Gringotts, Hogwarts Express, the sorting, the sardonic Draco Malfoy, He-who-must-not-be-named, Quidditch, meeting Ron, rescuing Hermione from the troll, and much, much more. I remember reading the book in one night (which I’ve done in almost all of the books), oblivious that the sun had almost risen up when I finished. When Chamber of Secrets came out, I was drawn deeper into Harry’s world as I met Dobby, the mandrakes, Aragog and the basilisk. I even filed for a sick leave from work and pretended I had dysmenorrhea just to finish reading it. Finishing Books 3 to 5 had similar tales of filing for sick leaves and/or sleepless nights, transforming me into a bystander along the halls of Hogwarts.  Finishing the rest of the books (Books 6 and 7) had been easier yet woeful. Easier, since I was not a prisoner of the bundy clock anymore. I was able to reserve each book at National bookstore and became one of those who had finished it while drinking chocolate chip frappuccino at the nearest coffee shop. Woeful because of the sudden deaths of people I have learned to respect and cherish, and knowing that like death, the ending of Harry’s story is inevitable. Reading the epilogue of the last book felt like a lump in my throat had been removed, yet an empty hole in my chest formed. But I forced myself to smile, knowing that the movies are still coming. And now that they had, I still felt sad, but at least I have prepared myself for this. Yes, there was sadness, but its a sadness you feel when a loved one moves away, a feeling of knowing that once they left, you will never see them again, yet you know that they are just out there somewhere.

The HP series is indeed spellbinding. Personally, the series has unsealed a world where I want to purchase my own real estates, one at Privet Drive, one at Hogsmeade, another in Godric’s Hollow; a world I seemed to watch from the other side of the veil in the Department of Mysteries; a world where I rejoiced for all of Harry’s triumphs and where I lamented for all of his loss – from Sirius to Dumbledore to Dobby and to Lupin and Snape. (I cried whenever someone dies, not just because I adored these characters, but because I agonized with Harry.) Each time I enter Hogwarts, whether through the books or the movies, I am a child again - a Gryffindor like Harry, a Slytherin like Draco, a Hufflepuff like Cedric, a Ravenclaw like Luna.

JK Rowling is a genius that we, fans of Harry Potter, are indebted to. She had been the architect of this universe, not unlike a parallel reality where there are good – but not perfect – people like Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Hagrid and Snape; where there are not-so-good people like Voldemort, Lockhart, Umbridge (the character who annoyed me the most), Bellatrix, and Pettigrew; where there is hate, jealousy, treachery, bigotry along with love, friendship, devotion, loyalty and courage. And for that, I thank her.

And as for Harry, the boy who lived, “It has been an honor knowing you.”

(Eggheads, did you know that by the time Book 7 was released, everyone I bumped into along the mall’s corridors were clutching copies in their hands? Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows holds the Guinness world record for fastest selling book of fiction in 24 hours in the US, and it was reported that sales reached a rate of 15 books sold per second.)

SPEECH TO CONVINCE: Muggle Studies

I just gave my students their first quarter project on my English Elective class. I asked them to write and deliver a speech on a particular college course assigned to them, from the point of view of someone who has been presently working in the field related to their college degree. I made the speech below as an example.



The Speaker, Meenataur Diggory
Photo courtesy of: hogwartsreborn.forumotion

Professor Dumbledore, our Headmaster, had once told us that “It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” Professor Dumbledore had always been an eccentric man, but he never failed to amaze me with the wisdom and truth behind his words. Indeed, a man is not made up of intelligence, skills, and abilities alone. We are more than that.

Good morning to all of you, young witches and wizards, and of course to the Hogwarts staff especially to our Headmistress, Professor McGonagall. It has been so long since the last time I set foot on the Great Hall. It was just after the Great War, and every Hogwarts alumni had returned to help restore the castle, which took less than three days. Now, I stand here in front all of you this morning, not to speak about the war, but to enlighten and inspire you as you plan for your future. I just didn’t know that standing on the podium where all the previous Hogwarts headmasters and headmistresses had stood would make me this nervous.

Many of you may have known me, but for the sake of those muggle-borns who had just met me this morning, I would like to introduce myself. I am Meenataur Diggory, a graduate of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, from the house of Ravenclaw. As a student, I gained twelve Outstandings in N.E.W.T. (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test) and excelled at Transfiguration. After Hogwarts, I went to Marseilles, France and studied at Beauxbatons Academy of Magic for two years where I majored in Muggle Studies. After school, I went to America and became a professor at the Salem Witches’ Institute for three years. While teaching, many of my writings had been printed in various publications including Transfiguration Today, Wizarding Genealogy and Ministry of Magic Weekly, to name but a few. In addition, I had been the editor-in-chief of the Daily Prophet for two years and during these times, I have authored several books including Advanced Transfiguration, Home Life and Social habits of American Muggles, The Great War and its Impact on Muggles, which was co-authored by Mrs. Hermione Granger -Weasley, head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation and Defensive and Offensive Magical Theory - co-authored by Mr. Harry Potter, the head of the Auror Office.

At present, I am the head of the International Magical Office of Law under the Department of International Magical Cooperation at the Ministry of Magic. It is an agency that attempts to get wizards from different countries to cooperate in wizarding actions both political and public. Our work includes keeping track of laws and policies set down by the International Confederation of Wizards and advising Britain's Minister for Magic and the Wizengamot on matters of international law in order to prevent contradictions between British magical law and its international counterpart. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement actually enforces the international policies and laws of the International Confederation of Wizards on British soil, albiet often relying on the advice of the International Magical Office of Law.

Majoring in Muggle Studies had contributed a lot to my success in the several fields I have been to – that of being a teacher, an editor, a writer and a head of the Office of Law. Muggle Studies is considered by some people to be a soft option while in school, but I personally affirm that it is important for magical people to have an understanding of the non-magical community, especially if they work closely with Muggles, such as in the Ministry of Magic. I was not very good at Runes, nor adept at duels or fighting, nor skilled at Quidditch, but I was told many times that my charm could work wonders especially in dealing with different people, so I pursued this course. Taking up Muggle studies would give you a proper viewpoint of Muggles and educate you to detest bigotry, which I believe is something that brought us the Great War. MS would also open doors for various fields that you may want to venture into after NEWT.

I would like to end my discussion this morning with another statement quoted by Professor Dumbledore, which had become an adage among Muggle Studies students: "It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be." Wizards are humans. Muggles are humans. Half-bloods are humans. What else could we be but a group of bipedaled sentient beings?


Thank you and a good day to all.

(Eggheads, do not forget that when you deliver your speeches next week, everyone must be in business attire.)