I have been re-reading the Harry Potter books for a paper that I am writing. I am eagerly awaiting the publishing of the 7th book in about a month so that I can see whether or not my ideas about how Rowling may finish the 7-book series are correct.
While the scholar side of me has one set of ideas, the fairy-tale lover in me has a very different set. I've read the 6th book 4 times, and I've cried through the final chapter every time. Isn't that ridiculous? Dumbledore and Snape are characters, not real people, yet I miss Dumbledore and hate Snape. Like millions (billions?) of other readers, I don't want Hogwarts to close or the series to end. I want a happy ending where Harry is successful at defeating Voldemort (I really hope that somehow Voldemort's own evil eliminates himself), marries Jenny in a double wedding with Ron and Hermione, after, of course, Hogwarts reopens and they finish their NEWTS. I keep hoping Rowling will decide to write prequels and sequels.
It's not the magic tricks that attract people to these books. It's the real magic of invention that delights us. Rowling has created this delightful world, full of clever places and events. Her forte, however, is in the creation of characters, much in the same vein as Charles Dickens, who had a similar breadth of imagination and had a similar gift for inventing memorable, lovable characters. One more book just doesn't seem enough.
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