Go ahead and cry! (Or not)

None of the Harry Potter books or movies have moved me to tears the first time around. I have been deeply affected by the series but it wasn’t until my paternal grandfather passed away that our resilient protagonist’s journey really struck me as poignant. When I reread the books after that I couldn’t help but cry because painful feelings resurfaced and I felt more empathetic toward how the characters felt and behaved. It all really hit home for me and I could better appreciate how Rowling shaped the stories and her characters.

I’m pretty sure I’ve cried during more movies than books. Off the top of my head, these are some of the books that have made me cry:
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls (read it in 5th grade, always remember this as the first book to move me to tears)
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Movies that make/have made me teary:
Everything is Illuminated
Little Women (gets me practically every time)
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (don’t judge me! I liked it and even read the whole series)
Pocahontas
Titanic
Up
Finding Nemo
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
Atonement
Good Will Hunting
(I’m sure there are more)

I’m curious to see if I’ll have cried by the time I see the end credits roll for the last Harry Potter film. Out of all the films this one has the highest chance of bringing up that kind of emotion in me. I have high hopes for this film and feel confident that I’ll like it—I might even love it or consider it my favorite of the bunch. I’ll have to wait and see, of course, but all this is how I anticipate feeling. And of course there’s a bittersweet note in that this is the last film in this series. I think it’s too late to decide to attend a midnight screening but definitely sometime this weekend I’ll see it.