Always.

My first encounter with Harry Potter, famous wizard, The Boy Who Lived, occurred one fateful afternoon at my family’s rental beach house. I was around six at the time that I met him, and it would be nearly four more years until I fell absolutely head-over-heels for the green-eyed legend. (Of course, at the time, I had no way of knowing the true color of his eyes, seeing as Daniel Radcliffe’s are blue.) But that’s beside the point because we didn’t even watch the movie (which we found behind the aptly sand-colored couch on the first day at LBI) until the summer after I turned 10.

One and a half years later, we had very nearly forgotten about Harry. Or at least we thought we had until he showed up on our doorstep along with a ton of clothes and books my sister’s Pre-K teacher’s daughter didn’t want anymore. (Did she really expect that we would dress him in oversized girl’s clothes?) This time, he came in the form of two barely even opened books; clearly, Kristen hadn’t loved him like I would come to.

Even so, it took me (and pardon me if my math’s wrong here) two and a half more years before I actually opened the first book and leapt into the truly magical world of J.K. Rowling’s creation. But when I finally did, I fell completely in love.

Once I started reading The Sorcerer’s Stone, I found it impossible to stop. I begged my mother to take me to Barnes & Noble to buy books three and four; I purchased books five and six at my school’s spring book fair. By the end of the month (May), all six books had been read and reread, and I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of the seventh book. (Of course, my mother had to draw it out even longer by refusing to give me my preordered copy until the trip to LBI in August.)

But this was, in a way, fitting; the place where Harry first entered my life would be the place where I would eventually say goodbye, or at least until I saw the next film. As it so happened, however, our parting would not last long. We were reunited that very same vacation when my parents finally agreed to take me to see The Order of the Phoenix at a nearby theater.

It was around the start of the fifth grade when I first entered into the Harry Potter fandom. I dived right into the Fanfiction.net HP community, immediately boarding the great ship Dramione. Quite honestly, I had always loved the characters of Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger, and the shipping only elated that feeling. To this day, Dramione remains my OTP.

Since then, Harry has followed me wherever I’ve gone. I sat in my fifth grade classroom and read The Deathly Hallows alongside my first Real Boy Crush (as opposed to Book Crush like, say Draco*), formed a lasting friendship with theadorkable timelord through our shared love for Harry Potter and his wizarding world, been both Hermione AND Bellatrix for Halloween, totally fangirled out when the last three movies entered the theaters, screamed ridiculously loud when Pottermore was announced (and doubly as loud when I got sorted into Ravenclaw) – the list goes on and on.

[I would write up an extremely long post about how great and deep and amazing of a character Draco Malfoy is, if I didn’t know that theadorkabletimelord would veto it immediately. She doesn’t like him very much… Wait – nevermind, she actually said okay! Well then, there is definitely a Draco Malfoy post in the near future! :P]

The final movie in particular meant so much to the scores of Harry Potter fans, including myself. It was the end of an era. Harry Potter had gone out with a bang, leaving a hole in all of our hearts that I truly believe can never be satisfied by any other phenomenon. This was made clear at the recent MTV Movie Awards, where Harry Potter was voted Best Hero, beating out even Katniss Everdeen fromThe Hunger Games by a landslide. Because even though there will be no more books or movies centered around our boy wizard to look forward to, the Harry Potter fandom remains strong. The hole left by the completion of the series is at this very moment being filled with fanfiction and fanard and real life Quidditch matches and all sorts of other contributions in honor of Harry. And now, one year after the premiere ofThe Deathly Hallows Part 2, the fandom is more dedicated than ever.

Harry Potter is far frome gone; J.K. Rowling’s creations continue to and will continue to live on in the loyal hearts of their fans. And I can say with utmost certainty that there will never be another hero quite like Harry Potter.

I LOOVEE HARRY POTTER!!!!

I remember the first time I watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone when it first came out. I was terrified from pretty much the very beginning and remained that way throughout almost the whole film. The boa constrictor Harry unknowingly sets free at the zoo? the goblins at Gringott’s Wizarding Bank?  Fluffy, the three-headed dog? Mr. Filch? Norbert, Hagrid’s pet dragon? Professor Quirrell’s Voldemort-bearing skull? FANG? They all scared me. They CREEPED me out. I couldn’t bear watching the film. I couldn’t watch The Chamber of Secrets either, because I found Dobby absolutely revolting (I WAS AN INSANE CHILD). I was also weirded out by Sirius Black in The Prisioner of Azkaban, as well as by Remus Lupin in his werewolf phase.

It wasn’t until I was about eight or nine that I actually started liking them. My dad got  the DVDs and the four of us would devote our Saturday afternoons to watching J.K. Rowling’s genius come alive on our television. 

Harry, Ron and Hermione became sort of heroes of mine. Hermione embodied the kind of person I wanted (and still want) to be. I started shipping Harry and Hermione, though it wouldn’t be until a few years later that I would learn what ‘shipping’ was, or that I would be completely obsessed with Harry Potter.

When we watched The Goblet of Fire, I decided I wanted to be a Griffyndor, and took silly fan-made Sorting Tests, that always put you in Harry Potter’s House no matter which answers you chose. A few months ago on Pottermore, I was sorted into Ravenclaw (wooot woot!!).

[RANDOM: the first time I heard about Doctor Who  was when my dad was changing channels looking for something good to watch, and we saw David Tennant (Barty Crouch Jr. on The Goblet of Fire) running across a rooftop ‘shooting’ at stuff with what I later learned was the Sonic Screwdriver. That was way before I met Elizabeth and Maddy who turned me into a Whovian.]

I made my parents take me three times (I think!) to see The Order of the Phoenix and I will admit I developed a deep hatred for Cho Chang for being so absolutely despicable, as well as for Bellatrix Lestrange for killing Darling Sirius Black.

In the time between the release of TOoTP and The Half-Blood Prince, I became a Proper Potterhead. Ellen started sending me fanfiction, after I read all seven books in the latter half of sixth grade. When THBP came out I begged my parent’s to take me to the Midnight showing, but they said no. I re-read the book twice during Day Camp, and listened to the Audio Book before we went to see the film. Oh how I fan-girled. I squealed quietly all throughout, cried like a MADWOMAN when Dumbledore died, thought I had died when Harry and Ginny kissed, and cheered (somewhat loudly…) when Hermione set her pretty birds on Ronald. My heart broke during that scene between Harry and Hermione in that balcony after Ron’s victory party. And when Lavender and Hermione started arguing in the Infirmary, in front of the Professors, I fan-girl DIED.

The Deathly Hallows part I was Literally The Most Amazing Movie In The History of Movies despite the ending. COULDN’T THEY HAVE FOUND A BETTER TIME TO CUT? GEESH. I still wanted to kill Ron half the time, and grew even more conflicted: HarryxHermione, or RonxHermione, or HarryxGinny? THAT DANCING SCENE between Harry and Hermione sent me into a squealing fit. I DIED for the millionth time.

I watched the Deathly Hallows pt. 2  London Premier on the Youtube Livestream. I was a mess. How I wished I could have been there! How absolutely marvelous everyone looked! Emma! Dan! Rupert! Tom! Gary! Ralph! Robbie! JO! When she gave that little speech, the part in which she says that “Hogwarts will always be there to welcome [you] home” I cried.

On the fifteenth, a year ago, my uncle took us to see it for my cousin Harry’s birthday. I drew Scars and Wands and Signs of The Hallows all over my arms. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I cried (again) when George, Remus and Tonks died. I cheered when Molly said THAT LINE. “Not my daughter, you BITCH!”. Molly Weasley: I LOVE YOU. I melted when Ron and Hermione finally kissed.

One Woman.Seven Books. Eight Films. MILLIONS (if not BILLIONS) of Fans. A Decade.

It was too much to process. I cried that night.

It’s still a bit weird to think that there’s no more Potter films coming out any time soon. There’s no more Potter books coming forth. The chances of having such a MAGNIFICENT cast together, working on a production that LIFE ALTERING are pretty slim.

Unless, of course Moffat gets his Blank Check to make a Doctor Who/Sherlock crossover. THAT WOULD BE FREAKING EPIC!!!!

HelloGiggles – Cat Ladies Can Be Cool, I Swear

HelloGiggles – Cat Ladies Can Be Cool, I Swear.

I feel like this sums up why I should get a cat. Whom I would call Doctor Sherlock Sirius James Severus Benedict Cumberbatch Dumbledore-Watson (if it was male), or Hermione Lily Luna Summer Amelia River Song- Cumberbatch-Holmes-Potter-Watson (if it was female).♦

Hi, I’m Ellen.

Hi, I’m Ellen, “theresonatinglight”, and obviously, I’m new. To this blog, but also to WordPress. D: I like emoticons. I am sorry (for you) if you don’t. I also really love books, so that’s probably what you’ll catch me writing about most of the time. That, and my little sister. For various reasons.

See, I have a smart phone and a computer hogging eleven year old little sister, so it’s either blog from my phone or get into a horrible feud with Lily that will last for the rest of our lives. (Side note: My name is Ellen, not Petunia, and my little sister is NOT a witch. : P) Needless to say, I am currently typing away on my DROID RAZR’s way-too-small keypad and praying that I’m hitting the right keys and thus not making a fool out of myself… Yeah. And also getting closer and closer to going over my data usage for the month.

Right now, I would like to defend my presence on this blog. Although I have never watched so much as five seconds of Dr. Who or Bones or Sherlock (though I DID read all of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, including that odd bit about Mormons and Utah in A Study in Scarlet) or really any other television show, and I am nowhere near being a true feminist, I do love Harry Potter and numerous other books and also ranting, so yeah. My point is that though I am vastly different than theadorkabletimelord, I hope you will still like me.

I write in the same way that I talk most of the times, which is a habit I am trying to break, sort of, and so in the meantime, I am sorry if my writing style offends you. In addition, my transitions between thoughts are kind of nonexistent. As you probably know by now. .___. But that’s me, WARTS AND ALL. : )

“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”

Both J.K. Rowling and Kathy Reichs have books coming out!

J.K. Rowling’s first adult-aimed novel, about the not-so-idyllic English town of Pagford. Out September 27, 2012!

Nearly five years after the publication of the last Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling’s latest book is finally coming out on the 27th of September–just two days before my own birthday!

Virtually nothing is known about Rowling’s first non-YA Fiction works, except what little its publishers–Little Brown Book Group–have let on, which in all fairness is not much:

”When Barry Fairbrother dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war. Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils… Pagford is not what it first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?”

So far it brings to mind Ellen Raskin’s The Westing Game. Neighbours fighting against their neighbours, for something that remains largely unknown throughout the story. And of course, the Mysterious Character’s Death, which causes strange events to take place, and such.

I’m already starting to think Fairbrother’s death was by murder, not by natural causes.

Too many Kathy Reichs books, perhaps?

Kathy Reich’s Fifteenth Installment of the Temperance Brennan series finds our favourite Forensic Anthropologist in the middle of an awkward love triangle, and on the trail of three dead babies’ runaway mother.

 For the last  fifteen years, Kathy Reichs has been providing readers with a more realistic take on Forensic  procedures, than they are offered by popular Procedural TV Shows such as CSI, CSI: New York, CSI: Miami, Castle, and of course, Bones.  This latest installment revolves around Tempe’s ability to examine and identify the corpses of three babies found in Montreal. The investigation is complicated by the fact that Dr. Brennan’s long-time love interest, Detective Lieutenant Andrew Ryan is investigating the babies’ mother. To further complicate matters, the mother flees, and causes a Royal Canadian Mounted Police sargeant with whom Tempe had had an ill-advised fling over a decade earlier to join the investigation. 

Like all of her prior novels, Bones are Forever seems to have the just the right balance between Forensics, Drama and Love-Triangle-ness that the show lacked throughout the last season.

Look for it on August 28!