Last summer, Jason brought home the new Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. He was excited about it. An aquaintance from work was practically sitting by the door one night, purse in hand and her I-prepurchased-a-copy wrist band firmly strapped on, heading out to the midnight give away.

I'd never read any of them. Nor had I watched any of the movies. The only real reason I can think of was that I was afraid I'd get addicted to them.

So Jason bought me a gift set of the first five books. And I read them straight through in about two weeks. See? I know myself to well.

The above mentioned work aquaintance and another were already fans. As they discussed the happenings in Half-Blood Prince, I'd stick my fingers in my ears and sing in a such a dramatic fashion that they would stop. Or maybe it was my caterwaulting that passes as singing I don't know. Probably.

The big question everyone was discussing was the death of "a major character". For those who haven't read it, I'd stop here cos I'm gonna spill the beans.

Spoiler Alert....

I must say, I read the book with a certain amount of apprehension, worrying who it might be. But when it turned out to be Dumbledore, it didn't surprise me at all. It made perfect sense. In almost all mythology (and this is mythology), the young hero must face his enemy alone. There can be no hope or possibility of help or rescue. It is his moment to stand alone and become the man he never thought he could be. The one his teacher always knew he would become.

Then, because I'm such an addictive thing (right now it's TicTacs, can't stop eating them, it's insane), after I read all the books, I had to watch all the movies. Then after I watched all the movies, I wanted to read all the books again.
I didn't get much done last week.

Tonight, we are meeting a work friend to see the new movie, The Goblet of Fire. I'm excited. It'll be the first one I've seen on the big screen. And now, I must go dig out my huge going to the movies purse, the one that will hold a bag of microwave popcorn, some candy and a couple of sodas.

Kidding! Kidding! Calm down, I know it's against the rules, Hermione.