Blogging From A to Z Challenge: Harry Potter

Welcome to today's post for the Blogging From A to Z Challenge, the letter H. For Harry Potter. My second favorite book series.

I know that not everyone loves it. Some people even hate it. And we could sit here and debate for months and never get anywhere except frustrated. So I'll tell you my three favorite things about the series. If you want to read the series or have read it, great. If you don't, fine by me.

Warning: Spoilers ahead.

1. Good wins. But after a long battle and it's hard earned. The series spans seven years (if you don't count the epilogue in Deathly Hallows) and it's a fairly rocky seven years. Harry has to fight for his own life, the lives of his friends, and humanity in general. But he doesn't always succeed in saving everyone. People do die. I'm glad that Jo put death in the books because it gives you a starting place when talking to children about a very real, very hard life lesson.

2. The underdog can find the strength they need to win. Oh, Neville Longbottom I adore you. Poor Neville is an easy target for the bullies, but he comes through in the end. He tries to stand up to the trio in Sorcerer's Stone. In Order of the Phoenix he fights right along side Harry and the other members of the D.A. at the ministry. And finally in Deathly Hallows after being brutally tormented by Voldemort, he kills Nagini. He promised Harry he would, so he does. I would take Neville in my corner every time. And of course, the very best line in the entire series came from an underdog. I'd like to see the person who didn't cheer when Molly Weasley boldly tells Bellatrix Lestrange "Not my daughter, you bitch." In every book, Molly was portrayed as the stay-at-home mother, little woman type. Yes, she's the glue that holds the Weasley family together. But really, she doesn't do much through the series in the way of actual fighting. She's a support for the Order, not a fighting member. But in that moment, after she's lost a son and her only daughter is being attacked, she will fight and die for her child if she has to. She takes on, holds her own against, and defeats the second-strongest evil character in the books.

3. At the end of the day, they provide an escape. My favorite thing about about reading in general is the escape from my real life. For that time while I'm reading a book, I'm someplace else. I'm someone else. I can be Molly Weasley defeating Bellatrix. I can be on that hippogriff with Harry. I can play quidditch. I can chase a Cornish pixie. I can turn my hair pink and marry a werewolf (who happens to be my favorite character). While I'm in the Harry Potter world, I don't have to worry about my own problems. I can concentrate on Harry and his problems. Because his are so much more interesting than mine.

So there you have it. My three favorite things about the Harry Potter series.