I'm not sure how many times I have read the first in the Harry Potter series. Maybe four or five? It seems like more, it is so very familiar to me, but that might have more to do with the fact that certain lines are blazed into my memory, and other pieces of the book were lifted and pushed into the screenplay for the first movie, now ten years ago. And you'd think, at this point in time, that the majority of people would have read the books or seen the movies by now... but I still meet people who have not yet experienced Harry's world. So... if you haven't and don't want to know certain things that are commonly known as SPOILERS, please stop reading.
No really, don't read any more. You'll hate me forever if you do, and I cannot stand the idea of you hating me. I cannot. So stop reading. Now. Do it now. Go read the books and you can come back to this blog post. It will still be here. I think.
Now that we've seen how Rowling mapped and plotted her series, it was very easy to pick up on bits and pieces of the future plot sprinkled through Book One. I now saw that the mystery of this series was not what would happen between Voldemort and Harry... that is clearly pointed to in Dungeons of Hogwarts as they meet again. They will remain mortal enemies until the last. But rather, the mystery was how. How would they come to resolve this tension? How would Harry truly defeat Voldemort?
Other pieces of the story that seemed to jump out at me, that now seem to mirror Book Seven: Snape's hatred for Harry, thanks to his father, jumps out quickly at the reader, though now I see an equal amount of interest in Harry, thanks to his mother. Dumbledore explains to Harry that this strain between teacher and pupil is because James Potter had once saved Snape's life. Of course, we know there is more to the story, that James was not 'innocent' in that relationship, that the relationships between these two men and Lily Evans was more than enough for them to hate one anotherrr. But at the same time, Dumbledore draws the connection between the animosity that Severus and James shared, and that of Harry and Draco Malfoy. I will have to check Book Seven again, and though I doubt that Rowling draws this specific connection, I can't help but wonder... after everything Harry knew about everything that had happened up to that moment, did he think of his own father in making the decision to help Draco?
From the beginning we can see Ginny Weasley's infatuation with Harry. And Ron and Hermione are already an old married couple. Dumbledore is barely present in the book (compared to the books to follow), except as a legend, and then a brief guiding hand. Small things are said, strewn about and have been seemingly innocuous. Let me say this... this is no LOST. Rowling actually knew what she was doing when she wrote these books. I'm sure things changed and grew over time, I know there are mistakes and inconsistencies. But she knew where she was going, from the beginning, and followed the path to get to the end goal. I like that. She brilliantly has created a story that holds together. It took work, sweat, tears, and years. This book was a risk, but it has paid off.
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