Magic Moment

Vista Hermosa Bookshop, its familiar organized book stacks, so unlike Bookpeople, greeted me as I hurried through its opened doors. It was July 21, 2007, the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I waited, anxiously, but patiently, for the seller to wrap an elegant package for the couple ahead of me. Finally, after asking for my name, she hustled into the back and returned with a plastic wrapped copy of the book, with my name on it. As we exchanged Quetzales for the book, I felt a shiver run down my spine. I could hardly wait to open its beautiful yellow cover and begin the final installment of the epic Happy Potter series.

Yet, I had made myself promise to finish listening to Number 6 before creaking open Number 7. Impatiently, that evening I listened to the final hours of Number 6, hugging Deathly Hallows to me, before I fell asleep to Jim Dale’s soothing voice as he read about Dumbledore’s funeral.

The next morning, I sat with Harry Potter in front of me and, with trembling fingers, reverently opened the final novel. My breathing came shallow and fast. I felt shivers run up and down my spine as I read J.K. Rowling’s dedication of seven parts, concluding with “…and to you, if you have stuck with Harry until the very end.” Slowly I began to read the novel, absorbing every word, every thrilling event in the novel. My body continued to quiver with the anticipation of this most anticipated book.

This moment, this Magic Moment, is the very moment Scholastic worked to protect as the release of Harry Potter approached. I read an article about this protection and that the true magic of the Potter series comes when one sits alone with the book and opens the novel for the first time to begin the latest journey. The burst of excitement that emerges in physiological changes, the child-like abandon with which one gives oneself up to the magical world of witches and wizards, the moment when one discovers whether good will vanquish evil, this is the Magic Moment.

The Magic Moment came to me strongly, as I sat, absorbed, pouring myself into the book and into this refuge from the world. My Magic Moment where I know, in the end, good will always overcome evil. We must just let that side of ourselves be revealed in order to heal and nourish our beloved world.