A series that has been a part of many lives for more than a decade will begin its end with a double finale in less than two months. This first part of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” is set to release on November 19, 2010. The second part will be released in July 2011. I feel like as a generation, we have been through so much with these movies — starting with piecing together Harry’s past to figuring out what will become his future while he defeats many evils.

We have also been through many deaths, with Harry’s godfather, his mother, father and finally Dumbledore in the latest DVD release “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.”

Harry Potter may not be the biggest legacy, but I do know there will still be long lines at the midnight showing to see how it all ends, or at least the beginning of its ending.

If you have read the books this may be a different story. While the movies have brought us through gut-wrenching moments and many laughs, the readers of the series know even more details to the intricate story.

But now to see it all end is sad. For Harry Potter fans, the excitement of new releases will be over.

In a 2005 interview with J.K. Rowling, she stated that “even though I have known it is coming for the past 15 years, I have known that the series would end, I think it will still be a shock.”

Overall, I think that shock will hold true when the movies come to an end in 2011.

This shows how much the movies will affect the people working on them. So many people have done things in appreciation for these movies, including our very own Quidditch Club at ETSU. (For those of you who do not know about Quidditch, it is a sport played on magical flying brooms with three types of balls: the snitch, the quaffle, and the bludger.)

People are also forming these teams around the world.

In the end, we have all enjoyed watching these movies, and some of us have probably felt like flying on a broom or casting “Stupify” at someone we hate. Some of us might have wanted to drink Polyjuice Potion and turn into someone else.

No matter how much you may have liked or disliked these movies, they will soon come to an end, like all legacies eventually do.

This, however, does not mean they will go away forever.

The magic will still live in the hearts of us true fans who grew up with the series, clutching onto the words on the page like we were a part of the stories ourselves.

We will share these stories with future generations, and they too will experience the magic begin to brew in their hearts as it grew in Harry’s when he first picked up his wand.

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