Getting into Harry Potter's characters

“Stop zapping everyone, mum!”  “Mum, please stop!”

Those were some of the comments my teenagers directed at me for being totally immersed in the character of Bellatrix.  I was going crazy zapping everyone in sight and cackling up with laughter.  I was enjoying myself too much to stop! 

To the uninitiated, Bellatrix Lestrange is a death-eater and is Lord Voldemort's (I mentioned his name! duh? so what?!) most loyal supporter.  See, saying Voldemort’s name (I did it again!) is a big NO NO to the Harry Potter’s legions of fans, of which I am not.

Back to the topic of getting into character.  My elder teenager is an ardent Harry Potter fan.  To her the finale, Harry Potter - Deathly Hallow Part 2 is a death knell to her childhood bedtime story.  She wanted to make this movie outing a memorable event.  So we all agreed to get into characters that she assigned for us. 

Thou shall be Bellatrix Lestrange!  And so I was, a pure-blood witch!  I’ve always love taking part in dramas especially if the part I am playing is a dramatic part.  I had no idea whatsoever who or what Bellatrix was.  With less than 24 hours notice, I had to read up about Bellatrix and try to get something that resembled as close as possible to my character.  To know that she actually cackled – boy!  was I ecstatic to find out this piece of information.  I can cackle and cackled I did, and zapping everyone at sight from the carpark to the cinema and back to the carpark!

Then there was my precious little Dobby, the House Elf.  He was just as excited as me getting into character.  He practised taking out the trash though at one point, this naughty elf retaliated only to be reprimanded by the vivacious in-house Dementor who was also putting her powers into play.

The Dementor took her part seriously and met her match in little Dobby.  The screaming matches they had were certainly no music to the ears.  There was also a soft side to this vivacious Dementor.  She made sure Dobby had his outfit and personally made Dobby's outfit staining it to perfection.

 

The main character, Harry Potter was assigned to the man of the house.  He had to dig out his old spectacles and allow us to draw the lightning bolt on his forehead.  He was such a sport!  He allowed the Dementor to play director with him.  Dementor took pleasure directing him what to do whilst Bellatrix sprung into action to attack him with Dobby coming to his rescue.

The ardent fan took the most important part, in my opinion.  She was the Hogwarts Express – yes a ‘choo-choo train’.  But this is no ordinary train.  It was a magical train that carries students non-stop from Platform 9¾ at King's Cross station in London to Hogsmeade Station, near Hogwarts.  

We needed the train to get to the cinema, right?  The Dementor and Bellatrix were so tempted to get Hogwarts Express dry ice to put on top of her head – this idea and the image we conjured up in our heads, had the Dementor and Bellatrix cracking up so much that we laughed till out stomach ached with tears of laughter streaming down our faces. 

It was such a fun-filled night.  Getting into a character is so liberating.  We even had fans!  People came up to us and ask to take photos with us!  It was also a whole new experience for my “Dobby, the little House Elf” which he enjoyed tremendously.

The character that endeared to me the most in the movie was Severus Snape whose lifelong love for Harry's mother, Lily Evans, was really something.  Harry Potter on Snape's lifelong love for his mother :

"Snape's Patronus was a doe, the same as my mother's.  Because he loved her for nearly all of his life."

For my Hogwarts Express, it was a night of mixed feelings.  She was super excited but also sad to know that her all time favourite childhood story has come to an end, finally….  I'll end with our favourite quote where Dumbledore and Snape discussed Snape's continued love for Lily Evans

Dumbledore : "After all this time?"

Snape : "Always."