K.L. Kranes

I have a confession, a reading-related confession. Prepare yourself to be shocked.

I’ve never read the Harry Potter books. (I’ll give you a moment to pause and let that sink in.) I know it seems crazy that a YA fantasy author , who wrote a book about magic, and a lover of fantasy books has never read Harry Potter. (Please don’t hold it against me.) I mean I don’t even know the right way to spell the houses without looking them up – Griffendor? Griffyndor? Gryffindor? (I think that last one is the right.)

I blame my husband. About 10 years ago, he read the first book and said it was “meh” and that turned me off to the series. I also blame myself. The series has been talked up so much and is so beloved I’m worried my expectations are too high. I don’t want to be disappointed.

But, I’ve watched my daughter’s love of the series grow over the years. Even though she read the books several years ago, she still guards those books like some huge monster may come and crush them at any moment. And for the holidays she asked for a total of maybe 5 things and one of those was a Gryffindor scarf.

So, I’m going to make a active choice now, my first New Year’s Resolution – I will read the Harry Potter series in 2017.

To get myself in the mood, I visited the Pottermore.com website so I could get sorted and find out my Patronus. (I have seen some of the movies so I do have a vague understanding of what these things mean.)

Here’s what I got:

• House: Gryffindor
• Patronus: Dapple Gray Stallion
• Wand: Maple wood with a unicorn hair core, 10″ and pliant flexibility

My husband decided to participate also, he got:

• House: Hufflepuff
• Patronus: Grey Squirrel
• Wand: Fir wood with a dragon heart core, 13″ and hard flexibility

My daughter did this forever ago and memorized her information, she told me it was:

• House: Gryffindor
• Patronus: Stoat
• Wand: Spruce wood with a phoenix feather core (and Harry Potter has the same core, or so my daughter informed me), 12.5″ and brittle flexibility

Harry Potter fans, a question, does this mean my husband and I are incompatible in Harry Potter terms? Or can a Gryff and a Huff be married? I hope to have a better opinion on that when I actually read the books. Until then I’ll try not to make any drastic choices about the future of my relationship. (That’s a joke, in case it’s not obvious.)

I must confess, though, even though I want to read the books and I will, a part of me is still worried I won’t be one of those people that falls in love with the Potterverse. I just recently watched A Christmas Story for the first time – that beloved holiday classic. Cute? Sure. But it didn’t rock my holiday movie world. (Elf and White Christmas, I still love you best.) I don’t want the same thing to happen here. I want to love these books. I want to be pulled into the magical realm.

But, I’m optimistic. Honestly, what’s the worst that can happen? Even if I don’t end up loving the books at least I will finally understand half the things my daughter is talking about. And that’s a win.