How and when did you get in to Harry Potter?
I am actually a recent fan. I wouldn't have classified myself as one before the month of November of 2002. In fact, before that time, I had never even picked up a copy of one of the books, and I had seen the Sorcerer's Stone only once. But it must be noted that I liked the first movie very much when I had seen it some time around the month of September of 2002, just months before my fall into the classification of Harry Potter Fan Supremo.

Well, one not so eventful evening in mid-November which sadly happened to have been a Friday (the 15th to be exact), I found myself with no homework left to do, no books to read, nothing I wanted to write about, and no work to go to, so I thumbed through my local newspaper to see if there were any good movies playing. "Hmm, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I didn't know that they had made another one. I wonder if it's any good?" I thought to myself (yes, I know that's horrible). Well, at seven o'clock the show started, and it was only six thirty. Stupidly, I drove to the theater in which the movie was showing, and tried to get in. Yeah right. The seven o'clock show had been sold out since three o'clock that afternoon. But, by some miracle, there were three — JUST THREE — tickets left for the next (and last) showing of the night. And, since I had gotten myself interested in watching the movie, I bought the third to last ticket for the ten-thirty showing of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Well, with a few hours to kill, I realized that I didn't really remember what had happened in the first movie. So, I drove to the video store to rent it, and found that all of the copies had been rented out. I was now on my own quest to find an unrented copy at 6:45 on a Friday night without driving all over town. Yeah, well that didn't happen. 7 o'clock hit, 7:30 rolled around and still no Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. So, in my growing impatience I went to Wal-Mart and just bought it, remembering that I had indeed liked it the first time I had watched it, surely it would get watched if it was added to my ever-expanding movie collection.

So after an hour of searching, I found myself at home kicking my best friend off the television because I was going to watch Harry Potter. She laughed at me and called me weird after realizing that I was going to go and watch Harry Potter of all things on a Friday night completely alone. She had a point of course, but I didn't so much care. I was now officially in the mood to watch Harry Potter and nothing she was going to say was going to stop me.

So I watched both movies of Harry Potter that very night and completely fell in love with the story and its characters.

Saturday morning came and I officially had Harry Potter on the brain. It was actually that very day that I bought all four of the Harry Potter books. By the end of the week, I had read them all. Each of which I fell in love with only pages into them. After a month had passed, I had seen the Chamber of Secrets five times, and watched the Sorcerer's Stone (that I now owned) many more times than that. That was back in November. Now that it's almost July it should be mentioned that I have read the Prisoner of Azkaban seven times and the Goblet of Fire five times. Right now, I'm halfway through Order Of the Phoenix my second time around.

Which Harry Potter book is your favorite?
Currently it's a toss up between Prisoner of Azkaban and Order of the Phoenix. Prisoner of Azkaban because it's the book where my favorite character, Sirius Black, is introduced. I have read that book so many times already it's starting to fall apart. And I've only owned it since November! I have lines highlighted all over the place, wrinkled pages from when I've fallen asleep right on top of the book because I couldn't put it down until I finished the chapter I was on...and then didn't quite make it. Order of the Phoenix is already tear-stained. I was bawling like a baby for goodness knows how long as I read the last couple of chapters. I really like Order of the Phoenix for many reasons. Firstly, because it answers a lot of questions that I had brewing in my head after reading the last four. Secondly, because my favorite character has a bigger part in the book than he did in Goblet of Fire. Thirdly, I really like Harry in this book. Not to say that I didn't before, but in this one particularly, I was completely behind him in everything he did, felt, said, thought...you name it, I felt that if I were in Harry's shoes, I'd be doing the exact same thing and feeling the exact same way.

What character can you relate to most?
Probably Harry himself. I tend to bend the rules more often than not, and usually by some miracle, I end up getting away with it. :) But more than just that, Harry is a very good friend and an all around good person, which is someone who I am at least trying my very best to be.

Are you satisfied with the handling of the "boy/girl stuff" in book 5?
Yes, I am. I believe that the "boy/girl" stuff was quite tastefully done in fact. I was actually quite happy that Harry got a little action! After all life has handed him, he needs a little "snogging."

What did you think was the most exciting thing that happened in book 5? What was the most disturbing? What left the biggest impression on you?
As far as the most exciting, I thought the D.A. was quite interesting. I think that it's awesome that Harry is recognized by his peers, that he is not just a boy with a scar but a talented and skilled wizard. I think it's great that they are taking it into their own hands to learn things that they know are important, and the whole of it is exciting to me that they went out of their way to do it, even though they knew they were not only breaking school rules but Ministry laws.

For the "Most Disturbing Award" in my book, I would definitely say that finding out that Voldemort can, in a sense, possess you. That is just a frightening thought to me and I feel immensely sorry for Harry having to put up with that.

And as for what made the biggest impression on me would be "The Death" of book five. Sirius Black is my favorite character in the books, and I bawled when I read it, and still cry just thinking about it sometimes!

Was the character that died the one you thought it would be? (Be honest now!)
Actually, yes and no. When I found out a long time ago that a character was going to die in book 5, the one who actually did die was my first thought. He was my favorite character in the book, and if I had written it myself...he'd have been the first to go! My friend and I would get into serious discussions about it, because she was sure that Lupin was going to die, but I thought it would be Sirius. In the end, she convinced me that I was wrong, because Sirius was the closest thing Harry had to a father and JK wouldn't dare take him away yet. So, I had changed my mind and thought that it was going to be Lupin or Snape because I thought that they might have a bigger impact in the fight against Voldemort...at least until Sirius's name was cleared. I guess I should have stuck with my gut instincts.

Out of all the spells used in the books, which one is your favorite, and why?
My favorite spell would have to be "Accio!" The Summoning Charm! I mean, how useful would that be!? "Hey, I'm thirsty... Accio water bottle!" Or, "I can't find that stupid remote... Accio remote control!" It would just make things that much easier in life I suppose. And I wouldn't have to spend a frantic ten minutes searching for my car keys that I always seem to misplace! (well, not always, but I won't deny that hasn't happened every so often.)

Do you have any interesting HP stories to share?
If I ever show an interest in anything at all, I consume myself in that interest completely. In the case of Harry Potter, I pretty much buy anything and everything I can get my hands on. But...responsibly so. I don't buy things I know I won't use. Take for instance, my Harry Potter beach towel, that I had spent months looking for. I knew that they made them, but couldn't ever find one whenever the urge to buy it came. I swim a great deal, and so my HP beach towel does not go unused. My toothbrush and toothpaste, both Harry Potter. The toothpaste, by the way is grape bubblegum, very tasty. I have Harry Potter posters to decorate my walls with, a Harry Potter Calendar, a Harry Potter coffee mug, both the movies, both the movie soundtracks, a kite which may have been going a little too far I'll admit, a stuffed Hedwig, a bobblehead Fluffy, and my utmost favorite...my Harry Potter throw blanket that follows me pretty much everywhere, whether I'm sleeping, watching television, or traveling in the car. I wouldn't tell you the story about my search for Harry Potter boxers, though it was funny. It was unsuccessful and therefore rather dull to share.

My story here rather involves a bag of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans and some amusing instances with them. To start off, I must tell you that I don't much like jelly beans. But I was at the concession stand with my little sister buying popcorn, candy and pop for the whole family because we were there watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets for my (20th) birthday which falls just a few days after November 15th. Anyhow, both my sister (who is 12) and I are HP fans and knew exactly what we'd be getting ourselves into if we bought a bag of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans and tried to eat them. But they were there! Right there at the concession stand, a bag of those wonderful candies that Harry and Ron and Hermione themselves eat all the time. Knowing that, I wanted some too! So, I bought them, glad to learn that they came with a card that labeled the flavour of each bean and showed it's picture. Not that it so much helped by the way, because in a dimly lit theater, Grass and Green Apple look very similar, as did a number of others that I cannot recall at the moment. After the previews had began, my sister and I had quickly learned that Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans should NOT be eaten in the dark because without light, it became rather difficult to see the coloured speckles on the beans which could quickly result in the unwanted consumption of a Bogie flavoured jelly bean when your taste buds had been set on Lemon! However, we knew quite well that neither of our brothers had the slightest clue that we even had jellybeans, or that anywhere in that bag of candy, Vomit, Dirt, Black Pepper, Spinach and other equally foul flavoured beans awaited them. So casually, we donated one of our bags of Every Flavour Beans to our two brothers, knowing that they would gladly take any unwanted candy off our hands without question. So, as they ate them, we watched with angelic smiles on our faces, though we fully well knew we were feeding them particularly awful flavored candy. The funniest thing about it was that neither of them ever said a word. It was only after a couple beans a piece that they left the bag untouched. Since that day though, neither of them will take food from us! It's great, because our candy stashes in our bedrooms are untouched!

Do you have anything else you'd like to add? Maybe a theory you've concocted, a shout-out?
I don't really have a theory exactly. I think that Neville is holding some secrets, and in the end I think Harry and Hermione will get together, even though everyone says it will be Ron and her. I have no evidence to back that up...it's just a feeling. But other than those two thoughts...I haven't really come up with anything. I usually try not to.