Harry Potter's Birthday Party/The Cursed Child Release

[MegGonagall]

 

Happy Birthday Harry!!

Happy The Cursed Child Release Date!!

 

 

As we all know, July 31st is Harry’s birthday, and this year it is also the release of The Cursed Child Screenplay. What better way to celebrate than a party!

 

Like any good party, there will be a Refreshment Table, where you can leave pictures of what you’re bringing to the party, or leave recepies for the delicious food you’ve come with.

 

And you can’t have a party without music, can you? Take some time to stop at The Dance Floor to enjoy, or even create, some of the top hits the Wizarding World has to offer.

 

You’ll also find a Gift Table that you’ll definitely want to stop by. The Gift Table is where you will find a Writing Challenge where the winners will receive a review, from a number of your very own Prefects, and Mystery Prizes!

 

Feel free to use this thread to post your thoughts on the Harry Potter series as a whole. How you discovered it? How old were you when you first read the series. How did it change your life? How do you think your life would be different if JKR never introduced us to this world we all know and love?

 

Also we can gush about The Cursed Child finally being released! Please keep in mind that this is a Spoiler Free Zone. If you wish to discuss major plot points, or anything that would spoil the story on those who have not yet seen, or read it, you may post here, **which is full of spoilers*** instead.

 

The party will rage on from now until Midnight GMT on August 5th.

 

Have fun everyone!!

[Stella Blue]

I'll help get this started! Wow, so much I could say about HP and how the series has changed my life.

 

This is kind of an embarrassing fact: I first read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone when I was about 10, I think it was pretty soon after it had come out, and: I DIDN'T LIKE IT. (*gasp* I know.) I read half of it and then gave up.

 

Fast forward five or six years and one of my friends found out I'd never read the series and basically told me that was outrageous and that I needed to go read the series, stat. So I did. I powered through the six books that were already out and wondered how I'd ever gone without the series. I'd fallen in love with the characters and with the story so quickly, and then like everyone else, I had to wait for the next book. While I was waiting, I discovered fanfiction.

 

The first place where I wrote fanfiction no longer really exists, but in that community of reading and writing I made good friends who I still talk to, ten years later. When that site went down I moved to HPFF in 2013 and the same thing happened- I found an amazing community of readers and writers and I'm sure that I will still be friends with many of you in ten years time.

 

So yes, JKR and her series of books changed my life, for sure. I began writing. I found some amazing friendships. Eventually, I got a lot better at writing. I used writing fanfiction as an outlet to help me cope with stuff in real life at one very low point, which was more helpful than I expected it to be. But the wonderful people I've met and the things I've learned about myself because of this fandom - I will cherish that forever. (Or, I should say, always.)

[Lost Muse]

Okay so I really should be working on my assignment which is due tomorrow but I'm so excited about the Cursed Child & Harry's birthday that I just had to stop by to gush a little bit.

 

Harry Potter has been such a huge part of my life. In my teenage years, when I was suffering through depression and stuff, it really helped me come out. Harry's world helped me re-discover myself and gave me so many friends and introduced me to the world of reading. I lived and breathed his story and it was just amazing to read all the books and watch all the movies and then discover fan-fiction. It also got me into writing which now I love. I've moved into the world of OF but I'll never ever forget what brought me into it, and it's because of Harry Potter that I started writing in the first place. So much nostalgia and memories. To celebrate the release of an 8th book (sort of), and the coming of Fantastic Beasts later this year (yay), I'm actually going to go and get a Deathly Hallows tattoo in the next couple of days. It'll be my first tattoo ever and I'm super excited - not just because it reflects my passion for Harry Potter but also because it's a symbol of hope for me and I'm looking forward to carrying it around with me.

 

My pre-ordered copy of the Cursed Child arrives in two days and am waiting with baited breath, and trying to stay away from all spoilers in the meantime. I really wish I'd been in England to be able to see the play too, but gah being from a different country is difficult. Oh well. I hope someday they do an international tour & the play comes to India so I can watch it live Until then, I'll make do with the book - and well reading is fun after all!

 

THANK YOU JK ROWLING FOR BRINGING HARRY INTO THE WORLD. WISH YOU BOTH A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY! AND THREE CHEERS FOR THE CURSED CHILD RELEASE!

 

*end of emotional ramble*

[UnluckyStar57]

Happy birthday, Harry Potter (and also JK Rowling, lol)!

 

I actually found out about Harry Potter when my grandfather gave me the third book for Christmas when I was in third grade. He gave me the fourth for Christmas in fourth grade. I tried to read them, but quickly gave up because it doesn't really work to start in the middle of a series...

 

Also, I think I thought that they were Bad and From the Devil because I literally knew zero things about them.

 

And then in fifth grade, I was like, "Okay, I'll finally try this Harry Potter stuff." AND I ATE THEM ALL UP. REALLY FAST.

 

I remember being in middle school when book 7 came out, and my friend/rival told me that she finished it in 9 hours. And me, being a jerkface, said, "Well, I finished it in 7 hours, and then I read it again!"

 

I discovered fanfiction much much later, starting, of course, with the immortal My Immortal, and then I quickly moved on to HPFF (and greener pastures). As I've grown older, I've had my disagreements with JKR about stuff in the series and addendums to the series, but I don't think I'll ever actually stop loving the series itself. Or fanfiction.

 

Right now, I'm hoping that I can find Cursed Child somewhere (like a stupid girl, I didn't preorder it) and read it to see if all the strange spoilers are actually true or not.

[Guest Tanda]

 

I'd like to jump on the bandwagon!

 

Happy Birthday, Harry Potter and J.K.Rowling!

If my memory is correct, my first encounter with HP world was when my sister recommended the first book in English to read. I started reading it while I waited for the trains at platform, stopped in the middle and almost forgotten the existence. Then the first film was released, me and my wife went to see it, we became completely crazy about the fandom. I restarted reading the book and continued exploring J.K.Rowling’s magical world. I bought the series before the translated versions came up. I bought the translated ones to make sure what I interpreted was right. In some points, I respect the translator as well. I could enjoy the books twice in that way!

 

Every time the next film came up, I felt unsatisfied. Some important episodes or characters were left out, you know? Maybe the frustration is one of the reasons why I started reading fanfictions on the Internet. Due to the big earthquake in 2011, the last film was postponed. The disaster accelerated craving for more stories to read bed time stories for my son. As I kept searching the good ones for him, I started writing fanfictions by myself and posting them on HPFF in November 2012. I needed much courage to post the first one. I know my English isn’t good, but I couldn’t stop creating the stories. I had no idea that I would write stories in English when I was studying the language at uni where I almost slept while English reading teacher forced us to read Agatha Christie’s mystery.

 

One day, I noticed an invitation subscript to the forums on HPFF. As soon as I stepped in, I found awesome fellow authors there. They are all friendly, generous and their nationalities are various. I can’t stop to communicate with all of you, wonderful people!