H is for Harry Potter

"We are the Harry Potter Generation".
This is how my kids (aged 21, 19 and 18) were classifying themselves the other day. The first Harry Potter book was published in 1997 though my eldest daughter didn't discover them till a few years later when she was about 11. From the fourth book onwards, we were staking out bookshops to get a copy as soon as they were published. This led to the the extremely awkward phenomenon of at least four people trying to read the same book at the same time. Cue swearing about lost / misplaced bookmarks, and people attempting to hide or abscond with the book to ensure reading exclusivity. The books have been read and reread numerous times. You can see how shabby, they are getting in this photo of the Harry Potter Doll I made for my son. (The making of the Harry Potter Doll was the subject of my first ever blog post - read more here).

As well being cracking great read and basis of a truly phenomenal series of movies, Harry has a lot to teach us.
So here are The Life Lessons we learnt from Harry Potter:

• Girls really are smarter than boys. Boys are braver though although bravery may be confused with sheer stupidity.
• Death is but the next great adventure (Albus Dumbledore)
• It's not who you are, it's your choices that matters.
• Love is the most important thing.
• Sometimes teachers will inexplicably hate you for no reason (except perhaps that you have you mothers eyes - awkward).
• Chocolate fixes all sort of magical injuries. It really is good for you.
• If you dwell on the past, you waste your life.
• Any relationship that starts with nicknames is bound to end in failure (Lav Lav and Wron Wron? really?).
• There is strength in numbers. You can always rely on a true friend. Friends will be Friends, right to the end (Oh wait a minute, that's the lyrics to a Queen Song).
• Rules are meant to be bent, mangled and broken or totally ignored if you are a Weasley Twin. Except the locked door at the end of that creepy out of bounds corridor. maybe don't go in there.
• Magic is just freaking awesome
• Feed large horses fire whiskey, it's how they survive.
• Tartan is always an appropriate outfit
• Never follow Hagrid's advice, you'll just end up being killed by giant spiders
• If you ever encounter a giant snake let a rooster crow near it, it will die everytime.
• Red heads do have souls.
• If you die in the Tri-wizard Tournament you will most likely be raised as a sparkly vampire creep, just watch out for that one.

 (OK, I asked the girls for help. So that got a little carried away.)

The boy went through a very Harry Potter phase when he was a lot younger. So we re-decorated his room quite a few years ago in faux stonework - think castles and dungeons. These days it's still going strong and it has morphed into a boy cave. Now he wants to add industrial signage and maybe something tasteful in Neon.