Harry Potter – A Family Tradition

I bought the first Harry Potter book when Alex was just two years old, imagining it would be something we could grow into together - a little mother-son adventure through pages of magic.

He wasn’t interested.

But the girls? Oh, the girls.

They devoured it.

And just like that, a tradition was born - one that would become far more magical than I could have ever planned.

We’ve read every book (more than once). We’ve hosted annual Harry Potter movie marathons each December, wrapped in our matching HP pajamas, sipping homemade butterbeer from our character mugs. It’s not just a fandom in our home - it’s a full-blown, spell-casting, trivia-slaying, quote-reciting obsession.

We don’t just watch.

We recite.

We feel.

We belong.

These stories became more than just books and movies - they became memories. A language. A legacy. A thread that quietly stitches our family just a little tighter.

No Hogwarts letters ever came (we checked the mailbox more than once), but the magic?

Oh, it found its way to us.

And now, with the new HBO series on the horizon, the cast officially revealed, I find myself… conflicted.

Not my photo - taken from Google search

I want to be excited. Truly, I do. But it feels out of place - like a song I know by heart suddenly sung in the wrong key. I look at the new faces and think, You’re not Hermione Granger. (Bless them, they never stood a chance.)

I’m torn between curiosity and protectiveness.

Do I welcome this reboot into our cherished tradition?

Or keep it at arm’s length like I did with the Fantastic Beasts films - watched, appreciated, but never woven into the fabric of our December marathons?

Time will tell.

Maybe this new version isn’t for me.

Maybe it's for a newer generation - one waiting to build their own traditions, speak their own magic, and get lost in the wizarding world for the very first time.

And maybe... just maybe... that’s where the real magic lies.