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2024: It’s been four years and I’m rereading with my teenagers, challenged by the thirteen year old to join her in a reread. It’s part of our summer movie lineup so why not. Just yesterday she astutely stated that I would view Harry differently if I had his world available to me when I was a kid. I answered maybe. J.K. Rowling published the Sorcerer’s Stone in the U.S. in 1998, the year I finished my first year of college. Harry is according to Rowling, less than a year younger than me, born July 31, 1980. The battle of Hogwarts took place in 1997, the year I graduated high school. Perhaps, all seven of these books are Harry’s memories in a pensieve, told in flash back form. Would I have viewed the books differently as kid? Maybe. I was always a cerebral book worm. My parents have little use for pop culture. I didn’t watch A New Hope for the first time until I was at a weekend event in high school. Maybe as an eight year old I would have looked at Harry in awe. By age eleven I was reading adult books but lacked life knowledge to appreciate them. I would have loved to have Hermoine around for companionship. So that is the long answer to her question. She rolled her eyes, of course.

As usual, book 4 is the one I read in anticipation of what will happen, knowing the course of events backward and forward. It is the crossroads book because of what we know that occurs in the last fifty pages. Instead of feeling angered in the book’s closing chapters, I cried. That’s right. After twenty or so times reading this book, I cried over Mrs Weasley’s motherly treatment toward Harry. The rest of the book, I laughed, cringed, and grew frustrated at the appropriate times, but I rarely show tears at anything- only tears of joy when the Cubs won the World Series. So to answer my daughter, yes, I most likely would have viewed these books differently as a kid. I would have related to the kids in the stories as the kids they are rather than over analyzing every last move. I would have detested Snape because Harry does and cheer for Sirius because Harry does that as well. Would I view the end of book 3 as my favorite still, remains to be seen. My daughter wise beyond her years is correct in assessing that I was denied a childhood pleasure not having Harry available to me as a kid. I am fortunate to have had him around for my entire adult life. Rather than viewing these as adventures, I have viewed the septology as a world that I can escape into every few years or so when I need a dose of magic in my life. If Harry can get the better of the Slytherins, the child in me is all for it. Now on to my most detested book 5 and hope it does not soil my summer.

2020: Here I am in March 2020. It is day eleven of isolation and no school or work for most of us. I have four kids all learning by phone conference call or online chat, all on slightly different schedules, and I am here utilizing my education degree in case anyone needs clarification on an assignment. I wish I did not have the opportunity to put my education degree to such hands on use. Under normal circumstances, I would be gearing up for another baseball season and preparing for Passover, the dual rites of spring, but 2020 is hardly normal. With a new temporary normal upon us, I decided to reread Harry Potter along with two of my kids, who are embarking on rereads of their own. As the series grows progressively darker, there is also the underlying presence of hope. In these dark times, we all need a daily dose of magic in our lives, and, like an old friend, Harry is there for us.

If Harry Potter were real life, Harry and his friends would be moving onto high school after completing their first three years at Hogwarts. With important discoveries at the end of their third year that penetrate magic at its deepest reaches, Harry is about to begin his fourth year of his magical education. Dark forces are gathering, as had been predicted throughout the first three books. With his servant returned to him, Lord Voldemort is determined to rise again, more powerful and lethal than ever before. Harry senses that something may be amiss because his scar, his connection to Voldemort, has bothered him over the summer. Reaching out to his father figures, it is apparent to all that Voldemort is gathering strength, and Harry represents the best chance to conquer him; that is, if he can get through a year at Hogwarts complete with teenaged love and angst and new magical tasks awaiting him as he furthers his education. With these forces both inside and outside of Hogwarts building up, determined to do Harry in, the fourth year at Hogwarts figures to be the most dangerous one yet.

With summer vacation nearly over, Harry returns to his friend’s Ron’s house named The Burrow to see the final of the Quidditch World Cup. Rowling introduces readers to new characters at every chance she has, starting with the eldest Weasley brothers Bill and Charlie. Ron has always been conscious of the fact that he is a youngest brother, and now we see that Bill and Charlie have indeed been successful since leaving school. This theme of it measuring up to either Harry or his brothers stays with Ron for the rest of the series, and undoubtedly for the rest of his life. Here the family is at its magical best from the twins inventing jokes to the fully qualified wizards using their wands to perform mundane everyday tasks. We find another form of transportation, a portkey, an everyday object that allows the user to be teleported to a new location instantly; of course, a portkey will reappear later in the book as Rowling does not introduce minor characters or items unless they have a purpose later on. The scene in the movie while the kids look so innocent traveling awash in color contrasts how their lives are about to change with these dark forces conspiring to overtake the world. The color and innocence of childhood is about to end, and then Harry, Ron, Hermoine, and their contemporaries return to another year at school.

Professor Dumbledore introduces the Tri Wizard Tournament to be played against champions from two other wizarding academies. One must be seventeen to enter by placing their name in the goblet of fire, which is guarded by Dumbledore’s age line. Fred and George would love to enter as the winner receives one thousand galleons, which they would love to start a joke shop; even they are no match for Dumbledore’s advanced magic. Somehow, someone who wants Harry dead places his name into the goblet of fire. Although only fourteen, Harry is now bound to participate along with the other three champions. His friends and enemies show their true colors as the tournament progresses, those aligning with him as a beacon of hope and those who support the other Hogwarts champion while also being staunch pure blood wizards who are eagerly awaiting the return of Voldemort. The tasks in the tournament, which include battling dragons, Mer people, and various magical creatures and hexes pale in comparison to the constant fear that would blanket the wizarding world should Voldemort return to power. Harry, exhibiting the mettle that has allowed him to overcome Voldemort on multiple occasions, represents the best hope for both the tournament and defeating Voldemort again. Here as the arc of the series reaches its apex, it is obvious that Harry will be destined to fight Voldemort again. The education he receives during this fourth year will be crucial down the road if he is to win that battle.

Rowling interjects light moments throughout the book as well: Fred and George’s determination to create jokes, Ron and Hermoine’s growing relationship which comes to a head at the Yule Ball, the foul reporter Rita Skeeter. Readers acquire more magical knowledge as well. Dumbledore siphons his thoughts into a basin called a pensieve. This object will continue to play a role throughout the series, but here we learn about the trials against Voldemort’s supporters during his first downfall. We find new information about Neville’s family as well as Professor Snape, and wonder whose side he is really on, something that isn’t resolved until the end. Hagrid notes that whatever comes, will come, and Rowling notes that the division within the magical community between those who value pure blood and those who value ability are more pronounced that ever. House elves and giants play a prominent role, dementors bide their time to rejoin Voldemort, and Sirius returns to play his role as Harry’s godfather to the best of his ability. Sirius�� presence throughout this book tethers Harry to the magical community more than ever as he is there as a mentor and father figure, taking his place as the family Harry never had, and reminding Harry the need to defeat Voldemort once and for all.

Three long books remain. As I am at home with more time than I anticipated to read this series, I may finish sooner than later. It is always bittersweet as I reach this turning point in the series, as Hagrid tells Harry to brace for darker days ahead, just as we are doing in real life now. My kids and I are here for the long haul, both in our new reality of 2020 and on Harry’s journey to eradicate darkness. We will cheer his triumphs and shed some tears as friends succumb to dark powers. Even though this may mirror what is going on in real life, at least for those hours that we are immersed in Harry’s world, we are experiencing a world other than our own, a world full of magic where one person gives us hope that life will be righted sooner rather than later.

5 stars