All was well.
Those were the three spine-tingling words that spelled the end of
J.K. Rowling's seven masterful Harry Potter books.
For a generation, it poignantly marked the official end of childhood, as well as of a series of the most widely adored books ever written. In the space of seven novels, J.K. Rowling changed the face of children's literature forever; a set of stories almost universally cherished by adults and kids alike.
It speaks volumes that, all these years on from the release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - the first book - fans are as passionate and ardent as ever in their obsession with all things Potter, 20 years after we were first introduced to the boy with the lightening scar.
The first of September - today, in other words - marks the start of a new school year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, meaning that a whole crop of new young witches and wizards, wide eyed and excited, will descend upon Kings Cross station in London, charge their way through platform 9 3/4, and board the Hogwarts express.
If you didn't receive a letter, fear not, author J.K. Rowling has a message for you:
[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/607463633971507200]]
This year - this particular year - though, is even more special than usual in the context of a new school year at Hogwarts, because, within the logic of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' final chapter, set 19 years after Harry triumphed over Voldemort - 2017 is the year that Harry returns to platform 9 3/4 for the epilogue of the book.
J.K. Rowling has been tweeting about the special day in typically brilliant fashion
[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/903511124288688128]]
And reminded onlookers to give Teddy Lupin and Victoire Weasley some private time
[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/903516317860458500]]
Meanwhile, today is a highly emotional day for all Potter fans, as a quick glance through Twitter will tell you. Potterheads have been paying tribute to J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter world, thanking the author for adding a considerable portion of magic to their lives.
[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/BeingSalman5555/status/903515565242724352]]
Frankly summing up the feelings of Potter fans everywhere, Twitter user Salman Khan wrote, "These books literally shaped my life. You made me fall in love with reading. Thanks for bringing magic into an otherwise mundane world."
If you want to get involved and share your own emotions and memories of reading the Harry Potter books, Potter lovers are using the hashtag #19YearsLater on Twitter.
It might be 20 years since Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone first captured the imagination of a generation, but children and adults alike are still very much under the spell. Like an ardent lover bound by amortentia, as unshakeable as a well performed body binding curse, Harry Potter has come to transcend genre and anticipated norms of children’s fiction; almost universally adored and utterly without peer in its creation of a world that is nigh on as tangible as our own. As Albus Dumbledore so neatly put it; “Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”.
Mischief managed.
