I solemnly swear this is 100% a true story.

Talk about a time when a book or author that made headlines affected you personally or your work.

Note: Sorry guys. This one is a long one, but its worth it. 

The book/series that has always affected me personally is the Harry Potter series. My late aunt and I bonded over the series to the point when the new book came out, we had to buy two copies so we wouldn’t fight over it. Once she passed, I kind of lost interest in reading. I lost interest in a lot of things, because I was severely depressed. My aunt was my best friend and when she died it crushed me. Harry Potter was the only thing that seemed to bring me out of the dark hole I found myself in. It was the only thing I was willing to read. So, I have a very personal relationship with the series because it reminds me of my aunt and the fun times we had. However, when I was 17, just about 4 years after she passed, I had just met my now husband. In the beginning of our courtship we spent a lot of time just talking. That was one of the things that drew me to him is that we could talk for hours, sometimes about nothing in particular, and others an array of subjects. In one of those conversations we talked about books, naturally, and he told me that he had never read the Harry Potter series. Pretty sure my jaw literally hit the floor. Those books were my life, my rock, my soul, my comfort. I was speechless. He was a pretty avid reader himself as well, and never thought about touching the books. He said, “they have movies, what do I need to read the book for?”.

So, as a devout Hufflepuff with Slytherin tendencies (I’ve taken may quizzes for my Hogwarts house and I either get Hufflepuff or Slytherin. I’m fine with both, but I feel I fit a little better in the yellow house, but green is my color. It’s almost an even split) I challenged him. If he could read the series faster than I could re-read them then I would give him something. I honestly can’t remember what I offered as a prize at the time, but it didn’t matter because he lost in the end. Since it was a challenge, that is all we did was read for the better part of a week or two. Even when we were together, we were reading. However, even though he lost in the end, he had a severe advantage. I was still in high school and he was in college. He was a tutor at Ivy Tech when he wasn’t in class and he rarely did his homework, so he had a lot of free time. Even more when he didn’t have any students to tutor, but I was determined to win. I did have the advantage of already having read the series, but there was a lot of finer details that I didn’t remember, and if you know my husband, there was going to be a quiz to make sure I didn’t cheat. I read the first book when I was 8, so it had almost been 10 years by the time I read it again.

I did NOTHING in any of my classes for a week, because I HAD to win (Slytherin tendencies). I read all day, every day. I think I finished the whole series in 10 days. We started on a Friday and we were done by the following weekend. I read through every class and didn’t do any homework that week. I was reading every moment I could. The only time I wasn’t reading is if I was at work, driving, or bathing. I pissed off some of my teachers that week. Some of them just let me do it because they knew I could make up whatever I missed. I was a good student for the most part regardless of my inner depression I was battling. School work tended to keep my mind off things, so i really focused on it so I didn't have to cope with the pain I felt. I graduated top 5% of my class, so I was on the good side of most teachers and they kind of let me do what I wanted. Of course, there is always the one exception. One teacher in particular tried to make an example out of me, it backfired. We were already on bad terms prior to this incident, because she was physics teacher but couldn’t do math correctly. If you know anything about physics, it’s very math oriented, and I called her out a lot on her mistakes. She didn’t care for that. I can’t tell you how many tests had to be curved because she didn’t provide the right answer to the question because her math was off. It was bad. I wasn’t doing it maliciously, but I was, and still am, very good at math and wasn’t going to let her teach me wrong. I was also, as most 17-year old’s are, kind of an asshole. So, most days, I didn’t pay attention in class. I was either doing homework for another class, or I was reading, but I definitely wasn’t doing physics. Well, one day, during my week of the Harry Potter marathon, I think she finally got fed up with me “goofing off” on her class and we got into a disagreement. 

I never really paid much attention to her while in class anyway, so I don't really know what tipped her over the edge that day. We ended up arguing on the proper method to solve a problem. I didn't do it the way she did because it didn't make sense to me. My way made sense to me and it was still mathematically correct. She eventually told me that she would meet in the principals office after class and I said something along the lines of, “For what? I did what you asked, therefore I am not being insubordinate. You said I could read if I got them right. I did, no thanks to you. I never said I would stay here to read, and since I am feeling victimized, I thought I would remove myself from the classroom and go read elsewhere. I could go to the principal’s office and read there, but then I would feel inclined to tell them that they hired a teacher that can’t teach a class she claims to have a degree in. So, in the effort of not getting you fired, even though you might deserve it, I will be leaving, and if I were you, I would learn how to do math before you try to teach physics.” I walked out and left after that outburst. I’m pretty sure she was speechless because she didn’t say anything as I left. I ended up a few doors down to my pre-calc and homeroom teacher’s classroom and just sat down on the floor by her desk. She was in mid-class and she stopped to look at me to ask me if I was ok. I told her we could talk after class and I opened my book and kept reading. My physics teacher didn’t say anything to me the rest of the week and I called her Umbridge for the rest of the year.

Needless to say, Harry Potter was/is a huge part of my life. I gave up almost everything for that series just because it brought me a small amount of joy from the one that I had lost. Looking back on this now, the whole situation seems like something out of a movie, and I now realize how much of an asshole I had become in those 4 years after she died. Teenage angst + loss - parental control = one messed up kid. My parents always told me that I tested their patience a lot during that time, but I was so lost that I didn’t care. I hated the world. It wasn’t until I met my husband that I started to find myself again, but that is a different story. However, the part that really tugs home to me is that Rowling wrote these books to cope with the loss of her mother. I read these books to cope with the loss of my aunt. I never knew that as the books were coming out. It wasn't until after the movies were making their debuts that I found out she wrote them for her mother. That really hit home for me and they are a much bigger part of my life now. I even tried to convince my husband to let us have a Harry Potter wedding. He didn't go for it. he did go for Superheros though.