My cousin Dianne and I have been on a Harry Potter high since our Harry Birthday party in July. If you don’t know us (yet), our shared love of Harry Potter is one of the cornerstones of our relationship (actual blood relation aside), and now that she’s moved out of town, tickling the sleeping dragon (e.g. our Harry Potter fandom) has been a great way of dealing with separation anxiety.
So after the party, we started a leisurely read-along of the books (e.g. one book a month; so far we’ve finished Philosopher’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets) and we’ve been running up our phone bills with a flurry of messages throughout the books because we can talk Potterverse until your ears fall off. For cousins who’ve never been far apart for very long their whole lives, who can communicate to each other with nary a bat of an eyelash — Harry Potter has offered a lot of comfort even though we’re miles apart.
Our latest obsession (while waiting for the October 6 release of the illustrated edition Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and vainly attempting to ignore the presence of a £135 deluxe illustrated slipcase edition) is the new Pottermore website.