Lady Norbert (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ladynorbert) wrote2007-07-20 07:23 pm
ladynorbert) wrote2007-07-20 07:23 pm
My last thoughts before I read book seven.
Just read book six for only the second time, in preparation for whatever tonight will bring. Heart freshly re-broken.
I took a test once, a Harry Potter personality test that told you which character from the books you're most like. Humorously, my results were a five-way tie -- according to the test, I am, all at the same time, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Remus Lupin, and Albus Dumbledore. Having read that book, I'm inclined to give that some thought.
I have often said that Hermione is me. This isn't just about the physical appearance or the fondness for redheads. I was as obnoxiously self-righteous about my intellect and as hung up on rules as younger Hermione is shown to be in the earlier books. I am also as warm-hearted, as well-intentioned (SPEW, anyone?), as protective and as motherly.
There is Ron, who I usually say is Kevin. I have Ron's laziness, large appetite, and ability to be distracted by shiny objects, as it were. But Ron's better qualities are often overlooked by some; he is almost unfailingly loyal, smart in his own way, furious in his defense of those he most values, and inclined to go at difficulties with as much bluff good humor as he can muster. Also, we both play chess, although I sure I am not nearly as gifted as he is.
What about Lupin, the werewolf? Obviously I don't wander around howling at the moon. But I have been injured, sustained physical impairments that will never be healed. He will (most likely) never know life without monthly transformations; I will never know life without metal bars fused to my spine. Considering how young we each were when our respective ailments first were inflicted on us, neither of us really remembers what it was like not to live this way. Oh, yes, I relate to Lupin -- perhaps it is for this reason that I've always liked him more than James or Sirius.
I'd be pretty egotistical to set myself up for comparison with the greatest wizard of the last few centuries. I can't claim to be as brilliant as Dumbledore, or even as brave. But we have a lot in common in our personalities; we're both kind of weird. We have a lot of fun toys in our respective offices. We both want to do the best we can for the younger people who have, by whatever circumstances, been placed more or less under our care. And when I die, I hope my funeral is a lot like his, attended by people who feel like I made a difference.
But Harry?
Harry Potter?
What have I got in common with him?
Well, a lot, and I'm not talking about having interesting scars. Or the fact that we both look a lot like our fathers, but have our mothers' eyes. Oh, there are other superficial similarties; we'd rather play than work, we don't understand why things have happened to us, we don't always get the lesson until it's almost too late. But it wasn't until I reread books five and, now, six that I realized some of the deeper connections.
In book five, Harry lost Sirius, his beloved godfather. In the year of book five's release, I was as sick as I have ever been with the unidentified neurological problem that continues to plague my life from time to time. I had put my cat to sleep; I was in a near-fatal car accident; it was a thoroughly nasty year. I finally cried during my second reading of the book -- not because of Sirius's death, but because of Harry's reaction to it, which I could understand a little too well. And because of Dumbledore, explaining one thing above all. In the end, it was your heart that saved you.
In book six, after a year-long roller coaster ride, Harry lost Dumbledore. This moved me to tears on my first reading, but now I'm in a different place in my life than I was at that time. Now I see that Harry losing Dumbledore is very much like me losing my grandfather. Though we both have gone through some difficult times, Harry could always count on Dumbledore and I could always count on Pop. But now they're gone; for reasons beyond anyone's control, they have left us. And there is nothing that can change that.
The one thing that will make this bearable, for Harry and for me, is that we are not alone. We never have been.
So thank you, quiz-makers, for the sincere compliment of likening me to my five favorite characters from J. K. Rowling's books. I will concede that I have a fair bit in common with each of them, and maybe if you somehow smushed them all into one person, the result would not be too different from the body occupying this chair. But in the end, I'm probably more like Harry than anyone.
In the end, it's always been my heart that saved me.
I took a test once, a Harry Potter personality test that told you which character from the books you're most like. Humorously, my results were a five-way tie -- according to the test, I am, all at the same time, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Remus Lupin, and Albus Dumbledore. Having read that book, I'm inclined to give that some thought.
I have often said that Hermione is me. This isn't just about the physical appearance or the fondness for redheads. I was as obnoxiously self-righteous about my intellect and as hung up on rules as younger Hermione is shown to be in the earlier books. I am also as warm-hearted, as well-intentioned (SPEW, anyone?), as protective and as motherly.
There is Ron, who I usually say is Kevin. I have Ron's laziness, large appetite, and ability to be distracted by shiny objects, as it were. But Ron's better qualities are often overlooked by some; he is almost unfailingly loyal, smart in his own way, furious in his defense of those he most values, and inclined to go at difficulties with as much bluff good humor as he can muster. Also, we both play chess, although I sure I am not nearly as gifted as he is.
What about Lupin, the werewolf? Obviously I don't wander around howling at the moon. But I have been injured, sustained physical impairments that will never be healed. He will (most likely) never know life without monthly transformations; I will never know life without metal bars fused to my spine. Considering how young we each were when our respective ailments first were inflicted on us, neither of us really remembers what it was like not to live this way. Oh, yes, I relate to Lupin -- perhaps it is for this reason that I've always liked him more than James or Sirius.
I'd be pretty egotistical to set myself up for comparison with the greatest wizard of the last few centuries. I can't claim to be as brilliant as Dumbledore, or even as brave. But we have a lot in common in our personalities; we're both kind of weird. We have a lot of fun toys in our respective offices. We both want to do the best we can for the younger people who have, by whatever circumstances, been placed more or less under our care. And when I die, I hope my funeral is a lot like his, attended by people who feel like I made a difference.
But Harry?
Harry Potter?
What have I got in common with him?
Well, a lot, and I'm not talking about having interesting scars. Or the fact that we both look a lot like our fathers, but have our mothers' eyes. Oh, there are other superficial similarties; we'd rather play than work, we don't understand why things have happened to us, we don't always get the lesson until it's almost too late. But it wasn't until I reread books five and, now, six that I realized some of the deeper connections.
In book five, Harry lost Sirius, his beloved godfather. In the year of book five's release, I was as sick as I have ever been with the unidentified neurological problem that continues to plague my life from time to time. I had put my cat to sleep; I was in a near-fatal car accident; it was a thoroughly nasty year. I finally cried during my second reading of the book -- not because of Sirius's death, but because of Harry's reaction to it, which I could understand a little too well. And because of Dumbledore, explaining one thing above all. In the end, it was your heart that saved you.
In book six, after a year-long roller coaster ride, Harry lost Dumbledore. This moved me to tears on my first reading, but now I'm in a different place in my life than I was at that time. Now I see that Harry losing Dumbledore is very much like me losing my grandfather. Though we both have gone through some difficult times, Harry could always count on Dumbledore and I could always count on Pop. But now they're gone; for reasons beyond anyone's control, they have left us. And there is nothing that can change that.
The one thing that will make this bearable, for Harry and for me, is that we are not alone. We never have been.
So thank you, quiz-makers, for the sincere compliment of likening me to my five favorite characters from J. K. Rowling's books. I will concede that I have a fair bit in common with each of them, and maybe if you somehow smushed them all into one person, the result would not be too different from the body occupying this chair. But in the end, I'm probably more like Harry than anyone.
In the end, it's always been my heart that saved me.