We have immersed ourselves in a world of grave danger and relentless evil that is make-believe enough not to bleed into our own messy Muggle reality. The adults in the audience have slid back into the breathless, compulsive readerly absorption (and cinematic enthrallment) of childhood, while our children have, with equal breathlessness, leaned forward into the complexity and exhilaration of growing up. We can all feel, under the spell of these stories, as if we were in full possession of our powers.
At midnight tonight, ten years later, we say good-bye to our young Gryffindors.
Respectfully yours, Harry, Ron, and Hermione,
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i wanna cry