Harry Potter must not go to Hogwarts.

The end is here. Oh sure, we have two more movies coming, probably over the next four years, but the surprise and suspense will soon be over. The anxious anticipating of millions of people around the world will never quite be like this again. Sure, they'll all look forward to the movies, and the, dare I say, magic, will be gone. And I will surely miss it.

On a worldwide scale, I don't think there has been anything that even resembles Harry potter in terms of literature (or really, anything). Sure, there have been books that have exploded, but because of the times, the shrinking of the world, and honestly, movie technology, Harry Potter far exceeds them in sheer awesomeness. Magazines and people keep asking, "What will be the next Harry Potter?", and I'm sure many new series will be hailed as it over the next years, but it's a lie. There will never be another Harry Potter.

Personally, I've read a lot of books, especially fantasy, and particularly serial fantasy. And while I have been excited for each new release in a series (more excited for some than others), never has the whole world been excited with me. And while a few friends have enjoyed the same books that I have (yay them!), never have almost every one of my friends been waiting for that release date along with me.

It really pissed me off in the early days of HP when people would dismiss HP because it's children's literature. Unfortunately a lot of people probably still think this. These are the same people that dismiss The Chronicles of Narnia as children's literature. They are children's books, but they are also so much more. I challenge anybody to find a more complex, ambigious, love/hatable, and discussable character anywhere than Snape. (Irina Derevko in "Alias" comes close). He alone takes the series out of the "dismissable" genre of children's books into something entirely different (I say "dismissable" because some of my favorite books are considered children's literature and I don't dismiss it at all). But if you think that he is the only thing adult about the series, then I get to punch you.

I don't know if Rowling purposely matured the style of the books as Harry matures (probably not), but that's what has happened. The entire series is seen through Harry's (admitedly questionable) eyesight, and as he matures, so does how he (and we) see his world. The first book is much like The Hobbit in that it's all about goofiness, a new magical world, interesting people, and solving puzzles. The second book is much of the same, although Rowling is preparing us for the dark turn that will happen in the next book with a handful of characters almost dying.

One the second book ends, however, the real series begins. For the first time (at least for me) we feel as if Harry is actually in danger. There's a sense of foreboding in the book that hasn't been present in the first two, and it's just plain dark. This is not the style of your typical children's book. Then the fourth book comes along which draws and shapes the anticipation of something bad happening until it actually does.

The fifth book is my favorite book because there's a dark comedy hiding underneath it's children's exterior. Most people just see the dark, with Harry whining and complaining his way through most of the book, but Rowling decides to make it a dark comedy by exaggerating Umbridges hatability and pitting her against Fred and George. This is no longer children's literature, but literature which prominately features children in it.

The sixth book is no longer really about children, as Harry has matured beyond his years, and Ron and Hermionie are almost ignored, or only put in for comic effect. The story is really about Harry, Snape (as the Half Blood Prince and himself), and Dumbledore, with a bit of Tom Riddle thrown in for flavoring. Sure, there's childish drama about snogging, jealousy, and other run of the mill teenage problems, but that's not the heart of the book, it's just thrown in because it's funny.

All this to say that I'm going to miss waiting for the next Harry Potter book to come out, and I'm going to miss guessing how the characters are going to react. I know I'll be re-reading these books for years to come, and probably talking about them to whomever will listen, but the mystery, the potential, the fear of the next bad thing to happen to Harry will be gone. Instead, it will just take its rightful place next to the Lord of the Rings, the Chronicles of Narnia, and the Belgariad. And actually, as much as it pains me to say it, depending on this last book, it might surpass those. We'll see tomorrow.